November 2019 issue of Bido Lito! magazine. Featuring: THE MYSTERINES, NUTRIBE, TRUDY AND THE ROMANCE, KEITH HARING, BLACK LIPS, RICHARD DAWSON, LYDIAH, BALTIC WEEKENDER, IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE, RED RUM CLUB and much more.
ISSUE 105 / NOVEMBER 2019
NEW MUSIC + CREATIVE CULTURE
LIVERPOOL
THE MYSTERINES / RICHARD DAWSON
NUTRIBE / TRUDY AND THE ROMANCE
Thur 24th Oct
Jake Clemons
+ Ben McKelvey
Fri 25th Oct
Keywest
+ Keir Gibson
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
Sun 3rd Nov
Loyle Carner
Fri 8th Nov
MONKS
Fri 8th Nov
Bear’s Den
Sat 9th Nov
She Drew The Gun
+ Peaness + Mamatung
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
The Steve Hillage
Band
+ Gong
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’
+ Jim Bob from Carter USM
Sat 30th Nov
Pearl Jam UK
Thur 5th Dec
Shed Seven
+ The Twang
Fri 6th Dec
Mountford Hall,
Liverpool Guild of Students
Happy Mondays
+ Jon Dasilva
Fri 6th Dec
SPINN
Fri 6th Dec • 7.30pm
Conleth McGeary
Sat 7th Dec
Prince Tribute -
Endorphinmachine
Tue 10th Dec
Mountford Hall,
Liverpool Guild of Students
Razorlight
Wed 11th Dec
D Block Europe
Thur 12th Dec
Mountford Hall,
Liverpool Guild of Students
Daniel Sloss: X
Fri 13th Dec
Mountford Hall,
Liverpool Guild of Students
Dermot Kennedy
Fri 13th Dec
The Lancashire
Hotpots
Fri 13th Dec
Scouting for Girls
Sat 14th Dec
The Smyths
… The Smiths 35
Sat 14th Dec
Ian Prowse &
Amsterdam
+ The Supernaturals
+ Steve Pilgrim
facebook.com/o2academyliverpool
twitter.com/o2academylpool
instagram.com/o2academyliverpool
youtube.com/o2academytv
Wed 18th Dec
The Darkness
+ Rews
Thur 19th Dec
Cast... All Change
Album
Fri 20th Dec
Cast... Mother Nature
Calls Album
Sat 21st Dec
Cast... Magic Hour
Album
Sat 21st Dec
Limehouse Lizzy:
The Greatest Hits of
Phil Lynott & Thin Lizzy
Wed 29th Jan 2020
The Interrupters
+ Buster Shuffle
Tue 4th Feb 2020
Mabel
Mon 3rd Feb 2020
Kano
Tue 25th Feb 2020
The Murder Capital
Thur 27th Feb 2020
Kiefer Sutherland
Thur 5th Mar 2020
Gabrielle Aplin
Thur 12th Mar 2020
Tragedy: All Metal
Tribute to the Bee
Gees & Beyond
+ Attic Theory
Sat 28th Mar 2020
Becky Hill
Sun 29th Mar 2020
Cigarettes After Sex
Sat 4th Apr 2020
808 State Live
Sat 2nd May 2020
The Southmartins
(Tribute To The Beautiful
South & The Housemartins)
Sat 9th May 2020
Fell Out Boy & The
Black Charade
+ We Aren’t Paramore
Sat 16th May 2020
Nirvana UK (Tribute)
Sat 23rd May 2020
The Bon Jovi
Experience
Fri 11th Dec 2020
Heaven 17
THUR 24TH OCT 7PM
MICHAEL RAY
FRI 25TH OCT 7PM
LITTLE COMETS
+ RATS + SEPRONA
FRI 25TH OCT 7PM SOLD OUT
INHALER
+ APRE
SUN 27TH OCT 7PM
STRIKING MATCHES
FRI 1ST NOV 7PM
REIGNWOLF
FRI 1ST NOV 7PM
DAUGHTERS
SAT 2ND NOV 7PM
STONE FOUNDATION
+ STEVE PILGRIM
TUE 12TH NOV 7PM
HUGH CORNWELL
ELECTRIC
WED 13TH NOV 7PM
BLACK LIPS
+ YAMMERER + OHMNS
+ PISS KITTI
+ DJ CARL COMBOVER
THUR 14TH NOV 7PM
THE REGRETTES
+ LAURAN HIBBERD
FRI 15TH NOV 7PM
KNE
SAT 16TH NOV 7PM
LONDON CALLING
PLAY THE CLASH
FRI 22ND NOV 7PM
BLOOD RED SHOES
+ QUEEN KWONG
+ GEN & THE DEGENERATES
FRI 22ND NOV 7PM
SLADE
FRI 29TH NOV 7PM
SPORTS TEAM
SAT 30TH NOV 6.30PM
SKINNY LISTER
SAT 30TH NOV 7PM
HERMITAGE GREEN
WED 4TH DEC 7PM
ALDOUS HARDING
THUR 5TH DEC 7PM
BEAK>
FRI 6TH DEC 7PM
POLAR STATES
& WILD FRONT
SAT 7TH DEC 7PM
IAN MCNABB &
COLD SHOULDER
TUE 10TH DEC 7PM
THE PAPER KITES
WED 11TH DEC 7PM
ECHOBELLY “STRIPPED
BACK”
THUR 12TH DEC 7PM
BEABADOOBEE
+ NO ROME + OSCAR LANG
SAT 14TH DEC 7PM
NATALIE MCCOOL
MON 27TH DEC 7PM
SLEEP TOKEN
FRI 7TH FEB 2020 7.30PM SOLD OUT
THE LATHUMS
FRI 21TH FEB 2020 7PM
JAMIE WEBSTER
SUN 23RD FEB 2020 7PM
JULIAN COPE
SAT 7TH MAR 2020 7PM
PINS
SUN 29TH MAR 2020 7PM
WILLIAM DUVALL
(OF ALICE IN CHAINS)
TICKETS FOR ALL SHOWS ARE AVAILABLE FROM
TICKETMASTER.CO.UK
90
SEEL STREET, LIVERPOOL, L1 4BH
EVOL presents
plus support from
ticketmaster.co.uk
11-13 Hotham Street, Liverpool L3 5UF
Doors 7pm unless stated
Venue box office opening hours:
Mon - Sat 10.30am - 5.30pm
SATURDAY 09 NOVEMBER 2019
O 2 ACADEMY LIVERPOOL
11-13 Hotham Street, L3 5UF
TICKETS £12 ADVANCE PLUS BOOKING FEES VIA SEETICKETS.COM & TICKETMASTER.CO.UK
o2academyliverpool.co.uk
@CLUBEVOL @SheDrewTheGun
TATE LIVERPOOL
14 JUN – 10 NOV 2019
Supported by
Media partner
The Keith Haring Exhibition Supporters Group
Tate Members
Keith Haring Untitled 1983
© Keith Haring Foundation
Photo © Annik Wetter
What’s On
November –
December
Sunday 17 November 7pm
Film
Merry Christmas
Mr Lawrence (cert 15)
Tuesday 19 November 7.30pm
Calexico and Iron and Wine
Wednesday 20 November 8pm
Music Room
AKA Trio
Saturday 23 November 7.30pm
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Elton John –
50 Years of Your Song
Tuesday 10 December 7.30pm
Film
Elf (cert PG)
Monday 16 December 8pm
Music Room
Awake, Arise – A Christmas
Show For Our Times
Saturday 28 December 7.30pm
Sunday 29 December 7.30pm
Ghostbusters: Film with
Live Orchestra (cert PG)
Box Office
0151 709 3789
liverpoolphil.com
LiverpoolPhilharmonic
liverpoolphil
liverpool_philharmonic
JERRY MANE’S DEFINITIVE COMEDY SLAM
KAZIMIER STOCKROOM 13 NOV & 4 DEC 2019
JOHN COLPITTS MAN FOREVER
KAZIMIER STOCKROOM 8 DEC 2019
THE AUSTRALIAN PINK FLOYD
M&S BANK ARENA LIVERPOOL 17 NOV 2019
POSITIVE VIBRATION FESTIVAL DJS & LEVI TAFARI
THE CHRISTMAS SPIEGELTENT 8 DEC 2019
DR. FEELGOOD
THE EPSTEIN THEATRE 20 NOV 2019
BEANS ON TOAST
PHASE ONE 20 DEC 2019
LIAM GALLAGHER
M&S BANK ARENA LIVERPOOL 21 NOV 2019
THE FLYING LUTTENBACHERS
KAZIMIER STOCKROOM 20 DEC 2019
RICHARD DAWSON
STUDIO 2 23 NOV 2019
CRAZY P SOUND SYSTEM
CONSTELLATIONS 31 DEC 2019
BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH
THE CHRISTMAS SPIEGELTENT 28 NOV 2019
SOUND CITY 2020
BALTIC TRIANGLE 1 - 3 May 2020
TOMORROWLAND PRESENTS DIMITRI VEGAS & LIKE MIKE,
GARDEN OF MADNESS CENTRAL DOCKS 7 DEC 2019
CREAMFIELDS 2020
DARESBURY 27 - 30 AUGUST 2020
Henri Matisse, L’Escargot (The Snail), 1952-53. Lithographic reproduction (1958), 46.7 x 57.7cm. © Succession H. Matisse/ DACS 2019
Matisse
Drawing with Scissors
25 October 2019 to
15 March 2020
liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/matisse
Armistead Maupin
11 November
Nadiya Hussain
13 November
Mark Grist: Mark Can’t Rap
15 November
James Rowland: Revelations
16 November
HoneyBee
18 November
Benjamin Zephaniah
23 November
Luke Wright: Poet Laureate
28 November
Festival Finale Poetry Party
30 November
plus many more!
find out more at storyhouse.com
HALLOWEEN WEEK
25TH OCT : LOST ART SOUNDSYSTEM
26TH OCT : DRE OF THE DEAD
31ST OCT : AN ALL THAT X MELODIC DISTRACTION
1ST NOV : CARL COMBOVER
2ND NOV : FAT WHITE FAMILY DJ SET
3RD NOV: LOYLE CARNER AFTER PARTY FEAT NO FAKIN & ANTI SOCIAL JAZZ CLUB
40 SLATER STREET, LIVERPOOL. L1 4BX THEMERCHANTLIVERPOOL.CO.UK
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New Music + Creative Culture
Liverpool
Issue 105 / November 2019
bidolito.co.uk
Second Floor
The Merchant
40-42 Slater Street
Liverpool L1 4BX
Founding Editor
Craig G Pennington - info@bidolito.co.uk
Publisher
Christopher Torpey - chris@bidolito.co.uk
Editor
Elliot Ryder - elliot@bidolito.co.uk
Digital Media Manager
Brit Williams – brit@bidolito.co.uk
Design
Mark McKellier - mark@andmark.co.uk
Branding
Thom Isom - hello@thomisom.com
Proofreader
Nathaniel Cramp
Cover Photography
John Johnson
Words
Elliot Ryder, Sophie Shields, Jordan Ryder, Scott
Charlesworth, Christopher Torpey, David Weir, Brit
Williams, Ambre Levy, Jennie Macaulay, Craig G
Pennington, Sam Turner, Rhys Buchannan, Scott
Burgess, Nina Franklin, Lewis Dohren, Jack Turner,
Dr Ariel Edesess, Daniel Blunt.
Photography, Illustration and Layout
Mark McKellier, John Johnson, Michael Kirkham, Keith
Ainsworth, Scott Charlesworth, Carin Verbruggen,
Shea McChrystal, Sally Pilkington, Yana Yatsuk, Fin
Reed, Glyn Akroyd, Stu Moulding, Robin Clewley,
Lewis Dohren.
EDITORIAL
The longer nights were always going to be the home
for this new nadir of uncertainty. Turn the clocks back
three years, not just the customary hour, and you’d be
forgiven for thinking the minute and hour hands have
frozen and reality ceased.
Everyday absurdities rendered
meaningless. Career-ending soundbites
now campaigning rhetoric. Every day,
the same excruciating arguments evenly
squared off by the BBC, Question Time
now being an exercise in self-harm. The
vernacular of logic has been crowded out
in favour of blind-hope terrace chants.
Consequence has been removed from
the vocabulary of those at the wheel of
political madness.
With Bido Lito! being a collection
of voices, stories and song, it’s perhaps
most disheartening to witness this
growing desecration of language. What
should remain a medium free from
fearmongering, division and deceit has
been weaponised in the most odious
manner – all in an attempt to win the
stalemate with little regard for the irreparable chasm it carves
between us all. It wasn’t so long ago that discourse rewarded
those who had a way with words. Now, discourse is a battlefield
for those who want their own way with the help of words.
This being my first editorial as Editor, it feels somewhat
hollowing to know it’s delivered with a tone of anxiety. But it’s
important to acknowledge that the arts and music can’t reside
offshore from these bizarre goings on. This is not to say all art
FEATURES
“There remains a
strong appetite for
visual language
that takes on the
biggest issues
in society with
positivity and hope”
should aim to reflect, respond and protest these times ahead;
to do so would be limiting and unfair. In return, artists must
be granted space. However, it’s clear that those at the levers
of power are drawing an ever-tightening perimeter around
free spaces of thought and ideas,
movements and cultures. Art should
allow for the momentary escape free
from ideological borders, many of which
are currently under threat from a barrage
of isolationist rhetoric.
Looking to our cover feature, The
Mysterines break with the haze of
shadow-encrusted language and tell
us how it is. They let their music do
the talking and, surprisingly, leave little
else to mystery. We also come to see
the effervescent hip hop trio Nutribe
as an antidote all should endeavour
to experience. As they put it across
themselves: “Everyone likes to hear
positivity. Why wouldn’t they? People
like to see three MCs having a good
time, chatting goodness.” This direct,
positive language is not solely reserved
for lyricism in this issue. As we see in Jordan Ryder’s assessment
of Keith Haring’s work, there remains a strong appetite for
visual language that takes on the biggest issues in society with
positivity and hope. It is perhaps the visual artist’s energy and
belief we should look to when the longest nights roll in.
Elliot Ryder / @elliot_ryder
Editor
Photo by Robin Clewley
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All contributions to Bido Lito! come from our city’s
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carbon footprint and ensures there is less CO2 in the
atmosphere as a result of our existence.
14 / THE MYSTERINES
Take a deep breath and hang on tight as the ascendant trio wind
up to release the full force of their hair-raising repertoire.
18 / NUTRIBE
Fresh from renowned Future Bubblers programme, the
effervescent hip hop trio bring us up to speed on the
interplanetary aura that unifies their artistry and being.
20 / COMING OUT THROUGH THE
GIFT SHOP
As the hugely successful Keith Haring exhibition moves into
its final month, Jordan Ryder ponders whether there is a battle
to sustain the artist’s campaigning sentiment in the face of its
aesthetic appeal.
22 / TRUDY AND THE ROMANCE
Oliver Taylor walks us through Trudy’s pillow-headed paradise
and towards a new musical world yet to be shaped.
24 / THE DIRT I’M MADE OF
Writer and photographer Scott Charlesworth locates the
homebound escapism of the River Mersey.
29 / RICHARD DAWSON
“The power of a word or a melody can be quite profound: it can
change the way in which people perceive things”
31 / BLACK LIPS
“I grew up in a church that was way more wild than any rock ’n’
roll show”
The views expressed in Bido Lito! are those of the
respective contributors and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of the magazine, its staff or the
publishers. All rights reserved.
REGULARS
12 / NEWS
26 / SPOTLIGHT
32 / PREVIEWS
34 / REVIEWS
44 / ARTISTIC LICENCE
46 / THE FINAL SAY
NEWS
Mellowtone @ 15
Mellowtone
From a leap of faith back at the The View Two Gallery in
2004 all the way to the here and now, MELLOWTONE are
celebrating 15 years of gigs, parties and quietly creating
a stir. To mark the occasion, the promotions companycum-record
label are hosting an exhibition at Buyers
Club featuring 15 original screenprints. The show opens
on 6th November, where the specially commissioned
illustrations and posters will sit alongside historic flyers,
prints and ephemera from the Mellowtone archives. There
is also a programme of free entry shows in collaboration
with Handyman Brewery, with the Smithdown Road
establishment brewing a special beer for the occasion. A
host of Mellowtone favourites and regulars from down
the years will be turning out, including SEAFOAM GREEN
(Wednesday 20th November), ANWAR ALI AND DAVE
OWEN (21st November), EDGAR JONES (23rd) and NICK
ELLIS (24th).
Dig At The Dock
The Royal Albert Dock’s independent spirit is soon to
be bolstered by the arrival of Bold Street favourites Dig
Vinyl. Far from just a tired replication of the popular city
centre vinyl emporium, DIG AT THE DOCK will be offering
memorabilia, books, art prints and merchandise related
to music and Liverpool, alongside a mixture of new and
vintage vinyl stock. Due to open in November, the pop-up
will bring the local scene to the Dock, as the Diggers look to
work with other independent Liverpool businesses that fit
alongside their vision. We can soon look forward to music
having a firm presence within one of the city’s biggest
tourist destinations, in line with the docks being Liverpool’s
access not only to trade, but also to music from across the
globe.
Dig At The Dock
Laces Out, Dan!
Laces Out!
LACES OUT! trainer festival celebrates its fifth birthday on 16th November, by returning to Camp
and Furnace for its biggest event yet. There have been 11 Laces Out! festivals since it began back
in 2014, and with its return to the venue where it all began for AW19, there’s a lot in store for
sneakerheads. The usual array of rare footwear, deadstock and streetwear will be on hand from the
dozens of independent retailers, offering unique deals and services to sneaker enthusiasts. Even if you
don’t consider yourself a trainer expert, there’s still a great selection of artwork and apparel for the
discerning sports casual. Key industry figures will be on hand to share their wisdom and experience
during a number of panel discussions, with guest DJs on hand throughout to make sure it’s as smooth
as your Air Jordans. lacesout.co.uk
Louder Than Words
A Year In Liverpool Music
A famous comment (erroneously attributed to Elvis Costello) suggested
that writing about music is like “dancing about architecture”; in other words,
a tricky, abstract thing to even attempt. However, many careers have
been forged by those interested in working across the worlds of music
and writing, and that is what one panel at the LOUDER THAN WORDS
festival will attempt to unpick. The panel features our own publisher
Christopher Torpey, who joins a discussion with a number of storied writers
and journalists: Professor Martin James, Dr Lucy O’Brien and Dr Simon
A. Morrison. The whole festival, which takes place between 8th and 10th
November at the Principal Hotel in Manchester, will bring together a host of
intriguing panels, interviews and workshops, with Edwyn Collins opening
the event. Full details can be found at louderthanwordsfest.com
The 2019 edition of the Bido Lito! Journal is now available to pre-order!
Collating and celebrating 12 months in Liverpool’s creative and cultural
endeavours, the Bido Lito! Journal will bring together the story of 2019
in a supreme, glossy format. Printed in a limited edition run, the Journal
will feature a selection of the best photography and commissions from
artists we’ve covered throughout the year. It’s our way of reflecting on
another amazing year in Merseyside for new music and creative culture,
and to showcase the talent that makes this city such a vibrant place to
live, work and create in. It’ll arrive in time for Christmas, too, so it’s the
perfect gift for yourself or for the music and culture-loving pal in your
life. Head to bidolito.co.uk to find out how to pre-order a copy.
River Of Light
River Of Light
The River Mersey is the stage once more for the RIVER OF LIGHT celebrations.
The annual spectacular returns as a nine-day festival of light and colour, with
the huge fireworks spectacle on Sunday 3rd November as its centrepiece.
Titanium Fireworks – one of the world’s leading pyrotechnic companies – will
lead simultaneous displays on both sides of the Mersey from 6.30pm, with a
firework show soundtracked by artists who have been popular in the region during
2019. Around this, Liverpool’s waterfront will be transformed with a number of
spectacular light commissions between 1st and 9th November, featuring some of
the most exciting visual artists in Europe. The Royal Albert Dock will be the canvas
for two light installations, with the Liver Building, Wapping Dock, Liverpool Parish
Church and Mann Island also being illuminated. visitliverpool.com/riveroflight
12
DANSETTE
The Zanzibar Club’s Scott Burgess
picks out a selection of songs that
have been on constant rotation on his
virtual jukebox of late.
Sam Cooke
A Change is
Gonna Come
RCA Victor
Winter Arts Market
Open Culture’s WINTER ARTS MARKET will set up
home again in the Anglican Cathedral on 7th December,
the festive sibling of the sunnier Summer Arts
Market. The independent shopping experience brings
together over 200 artists, designers and makers under
one magnificent roof for what is always a heartwarming
day out in the festive hustle and bustle. Whether you’re
looking for screen prints, photography, paintings or
homewares for yourself or for that hard-to-buy-for
family member, it’s likely you’ll find something that fits
the bill here. In addition to the main market, there’ll be
craft opportunities for little ones in the Kids Craft Lab,
and a pop-up vintage and clothing fair in the cathedral’s
Concert Room. You may even find some music, too,
if you go exploring the cathedral’s many nooks and
crannies.
2020 And Beyond
Winter Arts Market
Playing Fast And Loose
The Merseyside Guitar Show, which takes place
at Aintree Racecourse on 24th November, is the
setting for the launch of a new line of instruments
by Cumbria-based guitar builders LUCEM GUITARS.
Having made guitars for ex-Verve guitarist Nick
McCabe, Slowdive’s Neil Halstead and Greg Dulli
from the Afghan Whigs, Lucem have a cult following
in the high-end custom built market – and their new
Silver Series is a more affordable line. The logo on this
series has been designed by Brian Cannon at Microdot
Creative, who was the man behind many iconic album
sleeve designs from the 90s (Oasis, The Verve). The
new guitars will available at the Merseyside Guitar
Show to view and demo in a private booth, and guitar
maker and designer Graham Skimming will be present
– along with a special guest – to take questions.
This song always has a place
in my heart. My mum was
a massive Motown and disco freak, and this massively
influenced my musical likes and dislikes when I was
growing up. Music transcends time and this song takes me
back to sitting in my mum’s car, listening to the CDs belting
out tracks.
Run The Jewels
Lie, Cheat, Steal
Mass Appeal
These guys are focusing
on real issues across the
world, from poverty to gun
crime. They do this in a really
comical way with beats which deserve the best bass face.
If you’re already a fan of RTJ, I recommend watching Killer
Mike’s docu-series Trigger Warning. Lie, Cheat, Steal is
basically about how everyone is doing everything in their
power to rise to the top, regardless of the consequences.
This song is the revolution.
National Museums Liverpool has announced a run of outstanding exhibitions and new permanent
displays for 2020, with a focus on art, photography, technology and revolution. Opening on 25th
April, the LINDA MCCARTNEY RETROSPECTIVE at Walker Art Gallery will feature some iconic
photography taken by McCartney during the 1960s, some of which have never been on public
display before. Alongside depictions of luminaries of the 60s music scene, a number of her private
shots of family life with Paul will also be on show. The major piece for summer 2020 comes at
the World Museum, as AI: MORE THAN HUMAN arrives after an acclaimed run at the Barbican.
Running from 10th July to 1st November, it will give visitors a thrilling glimpse of the future through
interactive and immersive artworks. Find more at liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/nml2020.
Imtiaz Dharker
A Literal Feast
Chester Literature Festival is one of the UK’s oldest. This year it celebrates
its 30th anniversary, with 128 events taking place at Storyhouse between
9th and 30th November. Major authors ARMISTEAD MAUPIN and MICHAEL
MORPURGO will take part in evening discussions about their work and life, with
writers and broadcasters NADIYA HUSSAIN and JOHN OSBORNE also stopping
by. The festival is a great chance to engage in discussion and find inspiration
for new work, with the words of poet IMTIAZ DHARKER joining those of Lemn
Sissay and Hollie McNish on the walls of Storyhouse’s vibrant library, cinema
and theatre spaces. Dharker has even penned a special poem for Storyhouse,
which can be heard when she is joined by friends CAROL ANN DUFFY and
KEITH HUTSON for a special event on 22nd November. storyhouse.com
Red Rum Club
Would You Rather
Be Lonely?
Modern Sky UK
I first heard these guys way
back when I was a bartender
working in Some Place and
I heard them soundchecking downstairs in The Zanzibar.
I had to pop my head in when I heard the brass come
steaming in. From then I was hooked. We have a few of
their songs on the playlist in Some Place and, no matter
what time this song comes on, the feels are there. When
half the bar are singing along to an awesome homegrown
band and an equally awesome song, how could this not be
on the list?
Cymande
Cymande
Janus Records
Sweet Release(s)
We’ve been lucky enough to hear tonnes of great new music
again this month, far too much for us to fit in a single issue.
It would be remiss not to mention some of the finer releases,
however, such as the fabulous new effort from ambient wizard
LO FIVE. The producer’s new LP, Geography Of The Abyss, is a
masterpiece of downbeat techno that’s full of sumptuous synth
work, and is a late contender for your favourite record of the year.
Songsmith EMILIO PINCHI is back with a six-track mini-album
on 15th November, and new electro noir trio RISE ATHENA have
made some waves with their first track, Jericho. Any new music
from the world of idiosyncratic songwriter and producer News
From Neptune is something to enjoy, and the new EP – Fields Of
Industry, credited to NEWS FROM NEPTUNE FEATURING THE
SINCLAIR C5 – is a beguiling brew of twinkling guitartronica.
Lo Five - Geography Of The Abyss
I recently discovered this
album while deep in the rabbit
hole of YouTube. They are a
British funk band who were
active in 70s, and they reunited recently. They’re also
massively overlooked considering their unbelievable talent.
Cymande is derived from the calypso word for ‘dove’,
symbolising love and peace. This album is pure escapism:
sit back, close your eyes and feel the Calypso funk.
thezanzibarclub.com
Head to bidolito.co.uk now for an extended list of song
choices on Scott’s Dansette.
NEWS 13
Blink and you’ll have missed The
Mysterines’ rise from smoking area
adulation to the name on the lips of the
country’s biggest taste-makers. This
is merely the start. Take a deep breath
and hang on tight as they wind up to
release the full force of their hair-raising
repertoire.
THE MYSTE
Over the last 18 months, you might have noticed posters surfacing around the city’s
streets crying out ‘Who are The Mysterines?’ Those early few who knew, knew. But,
beyond the striking shredded typeface, there was no explanation. Who, what or were
THE MYSTERINES? Overheard whispers in the smoking areas of venues gave the odd
hushed clue. But, even if you didn’t know, it felt like you should care.
Until now the band have had little internet presence and only a handful of songs to go with
their poster campaign. Yet, even with a relatively low profile over the last year, the trio have been
able to build a fair amount of excitement, just in time for the release of their statement EP, Take
Control.
People love a mystery. Everyone strives to be the first person on the pulse of a new band, to
be the first person to bring them up in conversation. However, after supporting Miles Kane on his
UK tour and with fans in Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephens, the aforementioned heavyweights
have beat many to it. The Mysterines are fast becoming less mysterious to discerning rock fans in
Liverpool and further afield. Word is spreading.
So, here I am on a Saturday night at the O2 Academy, preparing myself for my first full
experience of their much-touted live show, one that so many have attested to in Liverpool since
the arrival of those posters. It’s a sell-out in the main room for tonight’s headliners Red Rum Club,
so it’s fair to assume most up-and-coming bands would feel a hint of pressure in the situation. Not
quite. Rather than smile and be thankful for the opportunity, the trio offer a direct lesson in the
need to turn up for support acts.
No frills, no fuss, no hype. Just grungy guitars, dirty bass riffs, pounding drums and rough
vocals that sound like a combination of PJ Harvey, Courtney Love and Dua Lipa. The show pretty
much carries on in this vein for the rest of their set, with a distinct absence of unnecessary chatter
from the lead singer, or anyone for that matter. The band don’t need it. The crowd don’t need it.
The music speaks for itself.
Take the eponymous EP opener. There’s no revving up of the engine or false start. It’s a
juggernaut already in monition, like a brick laid on a muscle car accelerator pedal. The soaring
vocals that career alongside give off the cool of a Ray-Ban clad James Dean. Hormone is pumped
full of wiry attitude, a song that begs to played with the windows fully rolled down with little care
14
“There’s a lot you can
take from being at this
stage so young, but
there is also a lot that
can fuck you up”
RINES
for the decibel level. Gasoline and Bet Your Pretty Face are as unsparing as they are anthemic; they
could happily draw the curtain on a sunburst backdrop as you speed off in the distance. The EP as a
whole sounds like it was recorded with a white-hot intent; it’s clear no single thread of energy was
spared in its assembly.
Seeing all of this live forces home the feeling. Their lack of online presence means their whole
persona, style and stage presence is a surprise until curtain call. It harks back to the good old days of
not knowing what to expect from a show. When you couldn’t pre-watch glimpses of sets on YouTube
seemingly recorded by a potato. When setlists were still something to be anticipated. The Mysterines
are bringing back that first time excitement of going to gigs.
Behind the posters and lashings of overdrive, The Mysterines are a three-piece band from Wirral.
Lia Metcalfe provides their fierce vocals and guitar, George Favager adds gritty bass and Chrissy
Moore relentlessly bangs the drums.
Yet, mysterious by name and mysterious by nature. When I meet up with Lia a few days after the
show, even though I had seen her on stage a few days prior, I have no idea who I’m looking out for.
I try to make myself look obvious in the bar we are meeting in; laptop and notebook poised,
pen in hand, anxious knee tapping. After a number of bodies and faces come through the door, she
eventually arrives. It’s clear who she is. Lia oozes a sense of nonchalant coolness, one I’d never be
able to achieve in a million years. Much more sedate in nature now, but with a lot more to say than the
weekend’s stage presence. She’s only 18 years of age. Suddenly, I feel old.
In between their Red Rum Club gig and pending support slots with Seagirls and The Amazons
we sit down to address the posters and finally answer the elusive, A2 sized question: ‘Who are
The Mysterines?’ We start at the very beginning, with a good old blast to the past. Well, one not so
distant; Lia and George are 18, and Chrissy is only 23, after all.
“My dad was a singer-songwriter in a band,” Lia starts, when asked how she got the impetus
to explore the world of music and eventually form her own band. “He taught me my first two chords
when I was nine and I just wrote songs off the back of that.” She recalls this while shrugging her
shoulders as though learning how to play guitar at nine is commonplace. “I didn’t want to learn guitar.
Weirdly, I just wanted to learn tunes, so I sort of skipped learning to play theoretically. It’s only the
past few years I’ve been like, ‘Shit, I really need to learn some stuff’.”
FEATURE
15
16
“Sometimes you
need to take the
artist for what they
are; music first”
Having known Chrissy pretty much since birth (“his parents
used to babysit mine!”), Lia had a readymade drummer at her
fingertips when needed. George’s acquisition can be as much
owed to his aesthetic as his ability with a bass. “When I met him
I just thought he looked quite cool,” she confesses, before adding,
“I assumed he played an instrument, just from the way he was
dressed.” A little further social media detective work and the
band’s fixtures were in place: “I stalked his Facebook until I found
him and sent a really long message like, ‘I’m not a weirdo, I’m just
looking for band members’.” It paid off, and the band have carried
on an upward trajectory since, sharing a journey from practices
in the front room, a first gig at 14, right up to the release of their
debut EP in August and selling out a December headline show at
Jimmy’s – almost three months in advance. It’s been a progression
they’ve undertaken together, as Lia explains: “It’s the first band
I’ve ever been in, so we’ve all grown up together with it.”
Despite starting so young, the three of them have grown into
the musicians they are under the watchful eye of James Skelly of
The Coral and Skeleton Key Records, who is also credited with
shaping the world of The Mysterines. “As we were so young
when we first started, Jay said to keep everything condensed,
music-wise. I suppose the mystery thing was an unintentional
way to protect our personalities because we were so young. But
then people caught on and we just blagged that we came up
with the idea. We’re sort of mysterious, but not to ourselves.”
The question on everyone’s lips then: why the name? Lia
starts: “I think we wanted something that was quite 80s, a Lost
Boys sort of thing,” she explains. “Jay was saying The Coral
got their name from a mouthwash in the 90s called Oracle or
something, so we were joking about saying Listerine and then Jay
said ‘Mysterine’. We were like, ‘Yeh, let’s just use it!’”
With Take Control now out in the open, the ‘Who Are The
Mysterines’ mantra less prevalent than regular mainstream radio
plays, it leads to the question of whether the band are now
looking to take control of their identity. Will they opt to sculpt
more shadows or present an open book to go with their hairraising
rock ’n’ roll? “I think it will be a good idea to keep [the
mystery surrounding the band] because we are still so young and
have opinions that probably shouldn’t be let out into the world
yet,” Lia adds with humour, casting light on the fact that the band
are still likely to be asked for ID upon entry to most venues they
play. “It’s like a cautious thing. I don’t really like sharing too much
as more music gets released either. I think, sometimes, you can
attach the artist to the person a little too much. For certain artists
that can work, but sometimes you need to take the artist for what
they are; music first.”
Lia’s maturity is palpable. Mainstream media tends to create a
preconception that young people in the music industry aren’t able
to handle the pressure. In this instance, writing music and gigging
from the age of 14 has sped up the steps towards gaining
confidence in ability, especially when it becomes your livelihood.
“There’s a lot you can take from it going in so young, but there
is also a lot that can fuck you up because you’re so young,” Lia
muses. “You don’t really understand how people work yet. When
we first started we just got thrown into the deep end. We were
just saying yesterday, it’s mad to think that we haven’t been to
that many gigs as spectators. Instead we’ve played hundreds.”
Playing such a large number of gigs is no easy feat, especially
when you’re trying to juggle school, the added pressure of
fronting the band and essentially being the spokesperson for
the group. It’s a role that Lia is happy to be taking on, but not
without its caveats of expectations for musical progression and
development. Lia shrugs off the standardised thought of these
expectations. “You get compared to people who have been in
the industry for years, like grown women and men. I haven’t
even finished puberty yet, you know,” she jokes. And it’s not
only confined to the stage and recording studio. While the
efforts are paying off, taking the reins of The Mysterines is an
all-encompassing endeavour. “It can get stressful because I write
everything. I do everything; social media and stuff, too. It’s all
from me, really.”
However, Lia is quick to outline that it is far from a selfreflective
endeavour. The Mysterines are a band that are toploaded
by the lead singer-songwriter and guitarist, but only with
all the other parts pulling in tandem do they become a force to
be reckoned with. “When I bring the songs to the boys they turn
it around in a different way. It’s like putting bread in the toaster,
the toast is the final product,” Lia explains. I like the analogy.
Bread is always better after a quick run in with the toaster; gives
it an edge. “There is definitely an energy there that needs to be
communicated when we play live.”
Beyond strong influences from Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, PJ
Harvey and Patti Smith, I’m intrigued to find out where she gets
her songwriting inspiration from. If I think back to when I was in
my early teens I wouldn’t know where to start with writing my
own music, yet Lia has managed to turn those turbulent times
into clever lyrics and angsty songs. “I think it’s changed over
time,” she muses. “Initially, when I was younger. it was from
my perspective on feelings, which it still is to a certain point.
Sometimes I’ll write something and I still don’t realise what it’s
about until I’ve got over the issue. I’ll look back at the song like,
‘Oh shit, that’s what that was about’. I think now, because I’m
a bit older, I like to get points across in songs, especially from
a female perspective. But love is probably the main thing, it’s
probably the main thing everyone writes about, really.”
Touching on the female perspective she mentions can often
be a subject lingered on when speaking to female musicians.
But when you’re fronting a heavy rock band in a city that lacks
this sort of genre, more so with the recent end of Queen Zee,
I want to find out how she feels being in this position as a
young woman. Does society load it with a greater responsibility,
expectation and rules, and does she even notice the pressure
at the age of 18? “I feel like a lot of people get those questions
and they are quick to jump to the answer of, ‘Being a girl in the
industry is no different to being a boy’, but it really is. There
is a major difference,” she says passionately. “The way you’re
perceived and treated is sometimes even more positive than
boys, but then sometimes it’s really degrading,” she adds,
with an expression that lightly leans on the experiences she
is mentally recalling. “The lads have gone through it with me
as well. Their perspective on feminism has changed over time
because they have watched me deal with it. Two years ago, if
you had asked them if sexism exists in the music industry they
probably wouldn’t be so certain, but now they would say, ‘Yes’.
It’s not in the way that girls are better than boys or boys are
better than girls. I think it’s more the fact you become a gimmick
in some ways. It’s mad, sometimes people shock you and treat
you normally, it’s good when that happens because you feel a lot
more comfortable.”
The Mysterines are certainly no gimmick. They’re in good
company, slowly on their way to sharing a platform with some
of the biggest female voices the band take their cues from. The
Mysterines are leading a charge. They’re leading it with a power
and maturity the music industry needs. They are only just getting
started with an exciting future built from the humble beginnings,
one where the alluring charm of mystery has paved the way to
near ubiquity within the Liverpool scene.
“It’s hard to see far ahead,” Lia says, as we wind down our
conversation. “We’re just taking it as it comes and not getting
ahead of ourselves because the pressure kicks in then. I’m just
letting myself grow into a style as a writer. Hopefully we’ll still be
doing this in five years, because if not I’d have to get a job,” she
laughs. As far as I can see, the only job now for The Mysterines is
to keep the music coming and the posters at eye level. Finishing
with a sigh and a smile she ends with a grounding comment, “It’s
been a long road and there’s probably more shit to come, but it’s
been great. It’s all worth it.” !
Words: Sophie Shields / @sshields43
Photography: John Johnson / johnjohnson-photography.com
soundcloud.com/themysterines
Take Control is out now via Pretty Face Recordings. The
Mysterines play Jimmy’s on 7th December.
Thanks to Vessel Liverpool Studios – and keep your eyes open
for behind the scenes content from this photoshoot on Bido
channels.
FEATURE
17
NUTRIBE
Fresh from the renowned Future Bubblers programme, the effervescent hip hop trio bring us up to speed on
the interplanetary aura that unifies their artistry and being. Time to understand the ‘ness’ of Nutribe.
It’s difficult to imagine NUTRIBE ever sitting still. As they
lock into pose to have their picture taken, the lens has barely
snapped shut before they’ve contorted into another elastic
shape. And even when their bodies hold still just for a
second, there’s a constant harmony of staccato noises emitting
from their formation; you can almost see the rapids of thought
and ideas rushing between their heads as their bodies feel the
suppress of static. Their unified presence is a life force of its own.
That’s even before you add their music into the equation. When
they pull together into frame, they become a North Face, fur hat
and beret-clad megazord; a three-headed hip hop hydra sporting
razor sharp rhymes instead of deadly teeth.
For a number of years, the trio of Stickydub, Yloh and
Doopsman have been injecting a dose of classic hip hop and
boom bap into Liverpool’s rap scene. But they’re by no means
heritage-facing revivalists. They sound like a trio from the
year 3,000 who’ve dug up dusty artefacts left behind by De
La Soul, Slum Village and The Roots, inspired to put their own
raps to record. The product is music centred on feeling and
bodily movement – the latter often choreographing the vocal
accompaniment. It’s an energetic blend that has led to support
slots with the GZA and taking to the main stage at Africa Oyé.
But, more recently, they’ve caught the attentions of Gilles
Peterson’s Brownswood Music, featuring in the third cohort of
the Future Bubblers artist development programme.
Now back in their home city, Elliot Ryder sits down with the trio
get the inside track on transcending the energy of the Nutribe ‘ness’.
You’ve been releasing tracks for a few years now, with a recent
inclusion on Future Bubblers 3.0. When did the world of
Nutribe start coming together?
Doopsman: When I was born.
So, friends first and the music came after?
Yloh: Yeh, the music came last though. We went through a lot of
things first before we got to music.
D: We all studied dance at arts college in Liverpool. We all parted
ways for a year; Sticky went to London, I went to Leeds and Yloh
stayed here. Then we met back up a year later in London.
Y: The London era was like a level up for the music, we
concentrated on it a lot more when we got there. As for when
all this started, you could say from the first time we met; that
first time we all jumped on Virtual DJ. From there we just started
writing raps and bars.
D: One of the turning points was a
night out we went on in London. We
were on our way to an event and we
came across some turntables just left
in the street. We were like, ‘Ah, should
we take these back?’ but we were
going out, so hid them and planned to
get them on the way back. Anyway,
at this event, the DJ failed to show,
so we ended up filling in and DJing.
When we went back, the turntables
just happened to be there, which in
any other circumstance in London,
they would not have. So we took
them home – now we make music…
So it seemed like it all started pretty
casually. Is it still quite laid back, or was there a moment you
thought, ‘We should try at this with a certain intent’?
Stickydub: There was one moment when we were having a jam
with our friends in London, and I remember listening back to the
voice memos and I was like, ‘Oh, shit, we can do stuff you know’.
Then we started hitting up open mic nights, practising.
D: We started with Butcha B, our big brother – man’s got pure
flavour. I remember on my 21st birthday in Leeds. We were in a
circle, spitting, singing and just chatting shit. There was, like, 20
people around us and we were just in this zone of making noises
together. It was a pretty pivotal moment.
Y: It’s pretty mad how people get the expression of what we give
off, like the warmth. When it resonates, it resonates. It’s genuine.
“It’s not how you
dress, it’s how you
think – your way of
being. Anyone can be
a part of Nutribe”
You started out as part of the Collecta Family, a
multidisciplinary art collective. Are you still part of this scene?
D: It’s still got the family umbrella, but without the name. It’s just
Nutribe. That’s the family, that’s the thing.
Would you say you’re a reflection of a changing community,
or one that was developed in your
youth?
S: I’d say it’s hard not to be a reflection
of the community we were brought
up in. A reflection doesn’t necessarily
mean the same, though, but you can’t
escape that similarity. We’re part of so
many communities; we’re of complex
culture. Lots of our families are
mixed, we’ve lived in different cities,
our identities are complex. We’re a
reflection of many, not just one. That’s
what Nutribe is.
There’s quite a democratic style in
the way that you perform in that
there’s a collage of voices often
present at one time. How did this develop?
D: I think it’s just how we are with each other. We have a respect.
We strive on communication so much. That makes everything so
much easier. So, if Yloh was like, ‘I wanna spit there’, we’d be like,
‘Spit there, go for it’. Standard. Cool, let’s hear it.
Y: It’s one of those where if Doops says he’s coming in, I know
he’s going to come in with something that I’m going to be gassed
with. We have that mutual artistry that is one collective voice. It’s
just different voices in the one voice.
S: We just know our ‘ness’, n e double-s. We just know what
our ness is. Our ness, our vibe. We’re just lacing our words with
the same vibe, you get me? I just trust them. I don’t care how
much that I say. I’m norrarsed. It doesn’t matter. I’m still there, my
energy is being represented, pushed out.
D: We have a track without Yloh on, and obviously it’s not the
same exact flavour, but it’s still got the same ingredient.
18
So, Nutribe is a feeling?
D: It’s a way, it’s a ness.
Y: I can make a track by myself, that’s Nutribe. I could make
pottery, that’s Nutribe. Doesn’t matter what the instrument is, it’s
the expression that’s within in it.
Are each of you bringing a certain style, or have a certain
musical responsibility? Is it very much a socialist sort of make
up to the group?
Y: We all have unique tools, but we’re all happy to give opinions
on each of them.
S: It all comes together in the expression.
D: I view it as a kitchen. If we were
all head chefs on day one, it wouldn’t
work. You need the Sous-Chef, the
porter. We switch roles. And whoever
is more active on a certain topic, we
just roll with it.
Listening to the likes of the Wu-
Tang Clan, there’s a strong feeling
that every member is jostling for the
mic, wanting their moment. Were
these influences prevalent in your
early days, and how did you break
from the more self-promotional
display?
Y: We do have tunes where each
of us have our time to shine. But,
you know, it’s not like one of us would be like, ‘Yo, it’s my time’.
Rather, one of us would be like, ‘Yo, it’s your time, we want you to
take the lead’. As much as we all shine together, there’s a certain
time when one of us has got something special, and we want to
highlight that.
D: Our music isn’t something we’re specifically trying to get out,
it’s just what we do, how we step. We don’t bring each other
down on that; we big each other up all the time. It’s not fake.
What would be the point? I know mans is going to spit fire bars,
why would I dash the mic from him?
S: Even back in the day when that competitiveness was there, I
still believe in the Wu-Tang’s language, it’s like a sparring match.
It’s not a bad thing.
Would you say your style derives from freestyle?
S: Most of our songs are written verses, but we write in very
“We’re part of so many
communities, our
identities are complex.
We’re a reflection of
many, not just one”
different ways. We incorporate that into our shows a lot. Usually
we have a whole track that is just freestyle. We do write though,
whether it be through voice notes, or notebook and pen.
D: Because we all project the same thing, we don’t need to be
in the same place to write. Even without a topic, we can gel our
words together.
So it’s almost like a subconscious being; one of you could write
a few lines, and the other will naturally have the hook, or the
harmony
D: It’s the ness. Once again, it’s the ness!
S: We know the lifestyle innit, and we live the lifestyle of Nutribe.
We’re in that; it’s not a choice. What
we talk about, it’s all within that. The
cohesiveness is embedded in that.
Was there a moment where you all
collectively understood the ness?
S: Before we made music, we were
already creating together, dancing
together. I think the ness was
something that was visible to others
before it was visible to us. Other
people could pick up on the energy
between us.
Can other artists be part of the
ness?
Y: Yeh. But other people think that
they can’t be part of the ness as much as they actually could
be. They might see an aesthetic, and not feel a part of it, but
we understand it in a different way. It’s not how you dress, it’s
how you think, your way of being. Anyone can be a part of it; it’s
open.
S: I think just being around the ness, you become subject to the
aura of the ness. If we’re here just nessin, then ness with us.
Y: It’s not exclusive.
A lot of your raps have a distinct colloquialness. Do you think
you benefit from having the Scouse accent in a rap game
dominated by southern accents?
D: Yeh, 100 per cent.
Y: It’s very stylised, unique in its own way.
D: Even without music, Scouse captivates an audience, just
talking. It’s a recipe isn’t it?
Lately, so much of language seems bound up in charged
rhetoric for negative purposes. Do you think it’s important to
use language in a celebratory way?
Y: I think it’s important to be honest. You can write, see negativity
and reflect on that. Everything you create, you can reflect on and
learn more about yourself. As an outsource, everyone likes to
hear positivity. Why wouldn’t they? People like to see three MCs
having a good time, chatting goodness. Not your typical moody
language.
S: I wouldn’t say that it’s necessary to emit positivity for an artist.
I’d agree it’s all about being honest. You shouldn’t be trying to
control your expression. I don’t think people should try to be
positive, I think we just are that way. I wouldn’t write something
and think, ‘Oh, that’s not positive enough’. It’s where we are at.
Does the mix of music, writing and dance help sculpt your
style?
S: Out of all of those there, the one that we’re doing is movement.
The broader term. This is all movement. It’s the first thing you do
in your life. Without movement, there can’t be language.
Y: Everything is intersectional. Everything affects the other, you
know, connecting those dots within yourself. You see that in
yourself. There are times where I’ve written a verse, dancing
around at the same time; I can see the similarities in the way the
words and my body move.
So, do you have to see Nutribe to get Nutribe, to understand
the ness?
Y: Best way is to be around it. The more you get, the more you
get.
S: It’s just a higher dosage.
Y: Some people are fluent in music and get the whole picture
from just listening to it.
S: It can depend on the person, though. But sometimes you can
bump into people and…
Y: …and they just get it!
S: They just get it. !
Words: Elliot Ryder / @elliot_ryder
Photos: Michael Kirkham / @Mrkirks
Sittin On The Step by Nutribe features on Future Bubblers 3.0
compilation, which is now available on Brownswood Music.
FEATURE
19
COMING
OUT
THROUGH
THE
GIFT
SHOP
20
As the hugely successful Keith Haring
exhibition at Tate Liverpool moves into
its final month, Jordan Ryder ponders
whether there is a battle to sustain
the artist’s campaigning sentiment
in the face of its aesthetic appeal.
I
recently got my nose pierced. Yes, that
darkening shape you can see on the horizon is
my 30th birthday. Maybe I can blame that. Or
I can blame my boyfriend for catching me at a
weak moment and making a long held (but crucially
hypothetical) desire happen. Regardless, the weight
of my already sizeable head has increased marginally
and I travel everywhere with a bottle of saline. Both
my mother and a number of my male friends have
remarked that they like it, it suits me, and “it makes me
look more gay”. Brilliant. But, I suppose that was part of
the point, when I think about it. This fairly unexceptional
act of identity assertion happened aged 29. American
artist KEITH HARING died in 1990, aged 31, of AIDSrelated
complications.
Over the course of his career he challenged the
American government’s ignorance of the AIDS crisis,
promoted safe sex and addressed the crack epidemic
in 1980s New York, as well as highlighting the dangers
of nuclear power. In conflating these two I do not seek
to elevate my choice of metallic facial furniture to that of
confrontational activist art, but rather highlight just how
young Haring was to be one of the visual voices of socially
conscious art during the Reagan era, and how an earlier
knowledge and understanding of his work may have eased my
own reconciliation with my homosexuality.
Had I been exposed to his art beyond the T-shirts of
my more fashion conscious friends, would I have felt more
comfortable in myself? I’d like to believe this is the case. Equally,
for any persons unsure of their gender, sexuality or even morality
that visits, or has visited, the exhibition. Subtracted from this line of
questioning, however, the exhibition is a huge success. Not just for
the Tate, but for Liverpool in general.
Returning to my point: if you expand this further, can art, in any
format, provide a focal point for solidarity and identification in the
same way music can, or is the message of an image or object more
firmly rooted in the time and place of production? Does radical art
only remain radical for so long, its didactic power only temporal and
therefore limited?
Essentially, can an exhibition of political art ever avoid the castration
of that art’s political message? Indeed, can a work of art retain its political
undertone without being part of a biographical retrospective?
Take Haring’s Silence Equals Death (1989), for example. Building on
the campaign of the same name by the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power
(ACT UP), Haring’s image recreates the infamous pink triangle on a stark
black background. The reclaimed triangle, initially used as a marker of
homosexuality in Nazi concentration camps, is plain and flat in the ACT UP
poster, but in Haring’s work is overlain with figures representing the ‘see no
evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ maxim. The overall effect is striking in a very
different way to the ACT UP poster. The tumble of human figures inevitably
connote a pyramid of bodies, Haring certainly conflating the AIDS pandemic
with the Holocaust, presenting both as a systematic eradication of a group
maligned and ignored by the ruling class, the wilful ignorance and inaction of the
Reagan administration set alongside the ideological antisemitism of the Nazis.
As a 29-year-old gay man in 2019 this work of art represents not just a
period in time and a particular aesthetic style, but a pivotal moment in the history
of people like me, one that has shaped not only my perception of what it is to
be gay, but also why it matters to not simply accept the superficial equality that
is framed as progress. But I wonder whether that is the same for younger gay
people, less politically aware gay people, or people who are not part of the LGBTQ+
“The exhibition preserves and
promotes an undeniably brilliant
and important artist. Maybe
an aesthetic appreciation will
lead to a greater engagement,
therefore provoking a discovery
of the radical activism”
Tseng Kwong Chi - Keith Haring in subway car, (New York), circa 1983. Photo © Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc. Art © Keith Haring Foundation
community. Do they enter the final room of the Haring exhibition – where much of the work he
produced around the AIDS crisis and his own AIDS diagnosis is situated – and leave with the same
hollowed out, ‘there but for the grace of God’ feeling that I did? Or, despite the obvious trauma
of those images, are they more preoccupied with Haring’s “attractive and lovely and wearable”
designs? And if they are, is that a bad thing?
Exhibitions and Displays Curator at Tate Liverpool Darren Pih endorses the view that Haring
created “images that communicated in the moment” and “reflect the paradoxes of American
culture”. In a way this supports the idea that the true fire of Haring’s activism is lost in the exhibition
of his work, in that it implies that Haring’s work is unextractable from the time and means of
production, that his work is both a product of and “symptomatic of the possibility of the 1980s”.
The work then becomes historically categorised, situated alongside Bonfire Of The Vanities, Angels
In America, American Psycho, and Wall Street as artefacts and touchstones of a time and place,
historically important and certainly contemporarily relevant, but reduced in their potency, lessened
in their impact. Have they been superseded, are they victims of culture’s desire to historicise and
periodise, the easy categorisation much more tempting than asserting their continued relevance?
This question, and others, I ponder as I make my way through the Tate Liverpool retrospective
of Haring’s work. The 1980s are not so long ago to feel so distant to teenagers in 2019. I wonder
whether the queer and questioning young people who see Haring’s work (maybe for the first
time) will allow it to validate their feelings and support their sense of self, or whether, encased in
the riverside gallery with Kandinsky, Dalí and Warhol, Haring’s work has been institutionalised,
neutered, made part of the static aesthetics of the artistic canon. That is not to denigrate the Tate
Liverpool exhibition in any way. It is a brilliantly conceived space that presents Haring’s work in a
way that is accessible to strangers and illuminating for acquaintances. The exhibition leaflet is a
necessary partner, providing vital details about the consistent motifs that percolate Haring’s work,
not simply an illustrative map or reproduction of the text found in the exhibition. Further note must
also be given to the exhibition’s wider programme which coalesces around the world of Keith
Haring to provide advanced context. Be that in the form of his city’s music, captured on Soul Jazz
Records’ carefully curated compilation, fashion displays and talks about LGBTQ+ art and its activist
sentiment. But one does wonder whether this exhibition can fully retain the activism and social
consciousness of Haring’s work, the radicalism that spurred the production removed so that it is
only the aesthetic visual that remains. Pih, believes that one of the values of Haring’s work is that it
was “not constrained by the studio”, produced (as much of it was) on walls and in subway stations.
If Haring’s work is to have continued significance beyond the aesthetic, if it is to retain its social and
political relevance, one assumes that it cannot be constrained by the exhibition.
Cultural leader and collaborator Amy Lamé, who will speak at Tate Liverpool in November
about Haring, LGBTQ+ activism and art, believes that Haring’s political consciousness is
“inextricably linked” to his art work and that the two are “almost impossible to separate”. But, I
wonder if I disagree. Because Haring’s work is “so accessible [...so] commodifiable because it’s pop
art”, I wonder if it suffers from an inevitable dilution. It looks so natural on T-shirts, shoes, as easily
bought wall art. Did the teenage boys that my friends once were realise they were clothed in the
socially conscious work of an AIDS campaigner who was heavily influenced by indigenous art and
semiotics? As Lamé acknowledges, Haring “was able to use his art to get across really difficult
messages in a deceptively playful way that didn’t seem threatening, because it looks like cartoons”.
But, for me, this creates a problem. The messages are muddled (or entirely ignored) in favour of
the aesthetics. Banksy in many ways suffers from the same fate, existing in reproductions and tea
towels, commodifiable to the point that even a self-destructive piece is extortionately valuable and
the take home point is sorely glazed over. But where would Haring’s art reside if it not were for
the curatorial ownership of his activism taken upon by Tate Liverpool? Faded away on the subway
station walls? Hidden in personal collections? While the messaging can be seen to be diluted in its
impact and ubiquity, it still has the power to convince when grouped together to be viewed as a
time-stamped artefact of his fight. Ultimately, it’s needed. Otherwise it could disappear altogether.
All art is a social commentary in some way, at the very least a visual time-capsule for the
means of production of the artist. But for those artists who seek to use their art to convey a political
message, I feel that their political reach only extends as far as their life does. Banksy can, in his/
her/their own anonymous way, clarify and reclassify the meaning and message of the work they
produce. Haring is denied this opportunity and so his work is free to be marketed, commented on and
scrutinised with no reply from the most authoritative voice of its existence. While this isn’t entirely
perfect, I realise that the exhibition preserves and promotes, and allows those sections of the public to
access the work of an undeniably brilliant and important artist. And maybe an aesthetic appreciation
will lead to a greater engagement, and therefore will provoke a discovery of the radical activism of the
producer of these jelly baby figures, these flat monochromatic images filled with life.
For all my concerns about the constraining and neutralising power of the exhibition hall, I was
able to wander around with my mother, avoid her in the more risqué moments, and watch the
tears swell as the true fear and horror of the 1980s manifested itself in Haring’s later work. Art and
artists are conduits for understanding society, for making sense in a (normally) single space of our
multifarious world. As we left the exhibition together, Keith himself watching the exit door, there
was understanding where once there may have been unease between our relationship, and maybe
that is enough. !
Words: Jordan Ryder
Images: All Haring Works © Keith Haring Foundation/Collection Noirmontartproduction, Paris
Keith Haring at Tate Liverpool runs until 10th November.
Amy Lamé, A Conversation on LGBTQ+ Activism And Art From The 1980s - Today takes place at
Tate Liverpool on 4th November. Tickets for the exhibition and talk can be purchased online from
tate.org.uk.
FEATURE
21
TRUDY AND
THE ROMANCE
Following on from the band’s debut album, Sandman, released earlier
in this year, Oliver Taylor walks us through the record’s pillow-headed
paradise and towards a new musical world yet to be shaped.
“When you record
anything with music,
it becomes real in a
sense. It becomes
more powerful. You
can become anything
when you put it down
on to record”
22
Wake early enough and you’ll find a circuit of
joggers making their way around the Sefton
Park perimeter. The daily ritual is as much about
fitness as it is about an understanding of self. Not
all make their way around at the same speed. It’s sometimes the
slowest that return with the greatest discovery on that given day.
At least this is the case for Oliver Taylor, a sort of stray amongst
the pack.
Wake earlier than most and you might come across him
drawing his own circuit of the wooded area. It’s a personal
(albeit quite recent) ritual no less integral to self-understanding,
inspiration and capability, even if its undertaken at a walking
pace. Rather than keep an eye on time, the TRUDY AND THE
ROMANCE frontman is there to relieve a sense of restriction.
A place where new songwriting ideas are being finely tuned
internally while all others are tuning all things cardiovascular.
New songs, he says, that lend inspiration from the singersongwriter
greats – Bruce Springsteen, Joni Mitchell and Kate
Bush. “Something you could maybe tell around the fire,” he notes.
“Cosy little stories, perhaps a little bit deeper. Somewhere beyond
the fantasy.” Maybe somewhere beyond from the celestial doowop
stylings the band had come to perfect.
Foregoing a punctual agreement with the sunrise, it’s closer
to midday by the time we meet beside the park and amble
around its paths and discuss the fantasy of his band’s debut
album, Sandman, released in May. The current backdrop might
not reflect the rhythmic lineage of inner-city doo-wop; a genre
that would be at home tapping its foot around the craning streets
of 1950s New York. But the band’s depiction of the genre is as
much space-age as it is heritage filled. There’s a clear escapist
sentiment to Trudy’s music.
In the collage of croons, harmonies and train-track rattle of
guitar, it feels like the music has been trapped in an old transistor
radio where it stewed, warped and mutated for decades, before
being released from its dust encrusted capture with a zest for
contemporary life. The album was a present force, but seemingly
elsewhere in its pining and desire. Looking at the 12 tracks
through the prism of Taylor’s newfound meandering, the pensive
space of the park provides a warming fit for the seemingly upbeat
songwriting.
Turn the clock back three years and Trudy arrived in Liverpool
via Leeds. It took Olly, Brad and Lew less than a year to carve out
their own scene, alongside Her’s and Pink Kink. It owed much to
their boyish knack for tunes hardwired with moonlit melodies and
delivered with a Brylcreem slickness. The combination marked
them out as an intriguing oddball, but one with a distinct talent.
They were the slicked-back slackers, howling under a neon light
wired into their amplifiers. A slew of singles and an EP in 2017,
Junkyard Jazz, helped retain their presence, before the release of
the anticipated full-length record.
“We started writing the album quite a long time ago,”
Taylor tells me from within his flat, just a short walk from the
park. We’re perched at a table by the living room window, each
adorning socks of the jazzier variety. Although my cautious grey
with stripe is easily trumped by his patchwork ensemble of red,
yellow and blue, picked up in Hamburg on tour only a few days
earlier. “We’d been sitting on some songs for a long time, so we
decided that Sandman was going to be a concept record,” he
informs. “The early singles – My Baby’s Gone Away and Sandman
– they sort of told their own stories. They were quite theatrical. I
thought they could be amid other songs similarly theatrical and
that carried an emotion through the storyline.”
The concept saw the record spread across a double-sided
narrative. Side A introduces the listener to the character of the
Sandman, a sort of keeper of people’s dreams. Or the “bad guy
of love”, as Taylor puts it. “The idea was to have side B slip into
dreams, which I think happened quite naturally where the songs
turn a little bit more psychedelic.” Aiming for a concept album
is an ambitious step for a debut record. However, in doing so, it
opened up for exploration of a theme that had been brewing in
well-worn songs.
“It added a greater theatre to it,” he agrees. “Therefore, it
was consciously quite cartoon. It gave us the space to get away
with more, to create more. You could sing in certain ways, say
anything really in terms of lyrics. We aimed to push the barriers
of the narrative, without being too cheesy.”
The cartoon, doo-wop pastiche typifies much of the band’s
music. Even the fantasia smattering of colours on his socks seem
to take cues from the music’s visual palette. Through this you can
see the connectors to the 1950s aren’t solely in the barbershop
refrains, the baited melodic hooks led with such endearing charm
that even the most timid voices would struggle not be pulled
into harmony. Sandman draws in all of the throbbing colours of
post-war US advertising. Its soundtrack has the smoky charm
of a teenager trying their luck in a suit three sizes too big.
The hopeless intent eventually bowls you over with its sweet
bubblegum pop. “It’s sort of autobiographical,” Taylor underlines.
“It was meant to be a bit of a break-up album,” he adds, musing
on the authenticity of the record’s fictional narrative. “The themes
and memories weren’t all so recent. It had to be stretched out a
bit. There was a tongue in cheek element to it, harking back to an
age that shaped your future. I wanted it be sort of like the Ziggy
Stardust approach, pretending to be famous before you were.”
You can detect that the record’s atmosphere stems from a
rekindling of youthful ambition, a belief blinded by the alluring the
haze of cartoon innocence. “For us it was like amplifying all of our
experiences to appear as though we’ve lost ourselves in this new
world. When you record anything with music, any sort of lyric,
it becomes real in a sense. It becomes more powerful. You really
can become anything when you put it down on to record, even if
you don’t feel like you’re worthy of saying it.”
Generating a hospitable world for the music required adding
new layers of atmosphere. Moving away from the DIY, lo-fi
aesthetic of Junkyard Jazz and the releases that proceeded it,
the record builds around luscious arrangement with the added
reverberations of a session choir. The finished product was to be
something much more cinematic than previously produced. At
very least a feature length cartoon. Taylor notes the addition of
Alex Stephens (Strawberry Guy) – who played keys on the record
– as a catalyst for the music’s dreamier, pillow-headed aesthetic.
“It naturally softened everything up,” Taylor attests. “We wanted
to instil an attitude that was inspired by Pet Sounds and take a
calm approach. Instead of struggling through it, we wanted to be
a bit more in control. I’d like to think you can listen to it a lot more.
It’s not quite so intrusive. It’s just more in charge of itself, with the
hope of being a little bit more timeless.”
Much of Sandman was recorded in 2018. Come its release,
the make up of the band had shifted from its original line-up of
Brad on drums, Lew on bass, and, more recently, Alex on keys.
All three are no longer part of the set-up. Now, the band takes
the form of a touring five-piece. At the centre remains Taylor. The
great singer-songwriters he mentioned earlier are strewn across
the walls of his flat and serve as the ideal company for a new solo
written endeavour.
“Me, Brad and Lew had played together for five years, so it
was really important for the album to be our album,” he starts,
assuring how Sandman will always be a reflection of the earlier
incarnation of the band. “For the record we took on the form of
fictional band The Original Doo-Wop Spacemen. From them we’d
move on to something else.”
Similar to the runners that pass him most mornings, the
musical set-up hinges on control. Being the sole architect of a
fantasy landscape may, in turn, lead to urges of being the sole
engineer implementing design. “Having that control is quite a
sad thing, because you want to have that approach and turn up
and doing everything together, but it’s realising how you do it.
And I think I’ve realised how I want to do it.” Taylor’s expression
is one of self-understanding. It is clearly a painful acceptance
to relinquish the world of the original doo-wop spacemen, but
seemingly the only viable route. “I would really like to be open
with songwriting. I will be. You want to respect people and their
instruments and what they’ve got to give. But it’s important
not to confuse things and promise things that you cannot give
away. They had their own projects [Brad Stank, Terry Venomous,
Strawberry Guy] that were quite different, and I don’t think I
was really quite understanding of that. I had this kind of Beatles
outlook where somewhere down the line we’d all write a song
each on the album. But it wasn’t there straight away. I think they
were smart about that, so would write for themselves.”
Now in a more defined position of writing for himself, Trudy
is in a new phase. “It’s a bit like take two now,” as he puts it.
Taylor will remain the frontiersman, striding away into new lands
with an equally cinematic score. The effort to sculpt music with
its own atmosphere, aura and colour palette will remain. It’s just
perhaps the hues might not be as bright and luminous as before.
And much of this, as he admits, is the departure from innocence,
or “growing up and taking responsibility for who you are”. The
departure of the bright-eyed fascination and boyish swagger that
carried Trudy towards the album. Now he’s going someplace else,
somewhere new. “Maybe somewhere where I can understand
myself a little bit better.” !
Words: Elliot Ryder
Photography: Keith Ainsworth / arkimages.co.uk
trudymylove.com
Sandman is available now on B3SCI Records.
FEATURE
23
In his works The Dirt I’m Made Of, displayed as
part of his first solo exhibition at Output Gallery
in September, writer and photographer SCOTT
CHARLESWORTH locates the homebound
escapism of the corridors that stretch over
the idling sweeps in the River Mersey. The
collection of photographs and poems capture
his personal reflections of a landscape subtly in
transit, momentarily freed from its foundations
by the lives that pass over its contours.
A
s strange as it seems to use a symbol of the motorway in my exhibition,
the work itself was birthed from the act of travelling up and down constant
motorways within my life. Firstly, as a child and as a spectator, where
everything seemed possible. Secondly, as a young adult and looking out
through the window with a more cynical view of the world, repenting the past in hope of
pastures greener. Then thirdly, as who I am now and whatever that may be; humbled by
the place that I simultaneously owe nothing and everything to. There was one evening
that I drove past The Sporting Ford pub, the one featured in this series. It was always an
establishment that I’d been wary of, mainly because I had never seen its curtains drawn.
On that one evening, despite having been set alight the night before, The Sporting Ford
revealed more of its battered and boarded up self than it had ever done in my lifetime
of passing it by. It was as a result of this that I felt compelled to look at old settings
with the eyes given to me through these three stages of my life, catalysing the heavily
romanticised and nostalgically intertwined photograph that I felt compelled to take.
Words and Photography: Scott Charlesworh / @Scottcharley
scottcharlesworthphotography.com
THE DIRT I’
The Dirt I’m Made Of
White lines on blue signs lead
me back to friends of old.
Perennial youth, once made of
stone, succumbed to attrition.
Their faces disfigured and weathered;
their hands ground to bone.
The cracks in familiar pavement
have pulled further apart;
now pits upon the floor.
The meandering workers’ misery
march, still out in full force.
The same eight grey towers pollute innocent skies
in the only way that they have ever known.
Once thought invincible Northern grit
now washed upon the Western bank;
yet steel structures still stand strong.
24
M MADE OF
Concrete Cord
Their demise was once thought a given.
No hope or nearby neighbour to call to arms.
Two towns, written off to
the outer world
that had
stripped them
of all their possessions,
united by industrious pillars.
Now joined by
concrete cord
and never to be without each other again.
Through Soot-Stained Eyes
Cooling towers and steel scarecrows
stand tall in the polluted wind;
pointing the way back home
to the children of one club towns.
We feel it,
in heart and lungs alike,
yesterday’s golden embers.
Beacons of old still remain,
cemented deeply,
within their unshakeable
concrete roots.
The romanticised dream,
and their simpler times
get barked back
at setting sons,
in the same seats
their fathers took.
The furnace may have cooled,
or been made redundant altogether
but through the most gentle of reminders,
the once smoldering flame
returns for one last fight.
FEATURE
25
SPOTLIGHT
“It’s almost
therapeutic to spill
everything onto a
page. People can
always draw from
your emotions”
LYDIAH
This attentive singer-songwriter
pores over tales that provide a
stark reflection of their teller.
If you had to describe your style in a sentence, what would
you say?
I’d describe my music as alternative folk. It’s very emotionally
strung with vividly poetic lyrics.
Have you always wanted to create music?
I’ve always loved music, but didn’t really delve into it too much
until I was around 14. I had sung for years and used to write
poetry. I wanted to be able to add that to an instrument, so I
made it my mission to learn the guitar. I played day in, day out
for hours on end and, once I was able to form a few chords,
I was able to write my own songs and it blossomed from
there. I entered a competition with my first ever song – Peter
Pan – and ended up winning which gave me a huge boost of
confidence to really delve into music as a career.
Can you pinpoint a live gig or a piece of music that initially
inspired you?
Joni Mitchell is someone who I take a huge amount of inspiration
from; Both Sides Now is a classic. I listened to her earlier version
of the song then later found she’d re-done it in her later life.
It was even more emotional than the first time I heard it – like
her career had come full circle and the song had even more
depth and meaning. The lyrics really spoke to me and there was
something about the tone of her voice that made me want to cry.
Do you have a favourite song or piece of music to perform?
What does it say about you?
One of the first pieces of music that really resonated with me is
Landslide by Stevie Nicks. I can remember listening to it when I
was 13 and being blown away. It’s just always resonated with
me personally and still does now, so I always slip it into a set. No
matter how many times I play it, I still get the same feeling as
when I first heard the song.
What do you think is the overriding influence on your
songwriting: other art, emotions, current affairs – or a mixture
of all of these?
It’s definitely a mix. I tend to write foremost from personal
experiences and emotions, though. It’s just natural for me to do
it that way. I feel that everyone pulls from personal experience,
even if it’s not a conscious decision, although mine definitely is. I
get to be completely vulnerable this way; it’s almost therapeutic to
spill everything onto a page. It’s raw and honest and I find there’s
not enough of that, lyrically, these days. People can always draw
from your emotions. If you’re connecting with a song that you’ve
poured your heart into, then the people listening to it will too.
If you could support any artist in the future, who would it be?
It’s always been a dream to support Damien Rice. I think my
life would be complete if I accomplished that. There’s another
artist not too dissimilar called David Keenan who I think is just
an incredible folk influenced singer/songwriter. He’s grown really
organically in the music scene and I admire that. More recently I’d
say Sam Fender. His lyrics are so hard-hitting – really depressing,
but relevant and raw. I admire him so much for writing around
these subjects since I write around very similar topics.
Do you have a favourite venue you’ve performed in?
My favourite venue to perform in is 81 Renshaw. It was the first
venue I had a real gig in, so it’s always going to be special. The
whole atmosphere is just so welcoming , not only the musicians,
but the audience are so respectful and genuinely interested in
what you’re performing.
Why is music important to you?
Music has helped me massively. My entire life revolves around it.
It has such great power to move people. If I can help someone out
with what I write I think that would be an incredible feeling. You
can write a song and sing it to a room full of people and they’ll all
connect with it in different ways. I think it’s incredible.
Photography: Robin Clewley / robinclewley.co.uk
soundcloud.com/lydiah_official
26
LITTLE
GRACE
Callum Horridge introduces us to
the trio’s luscious pop stylings,
which are pulled together with a
collage-esque freedom.
“Music is like a
photo album for us”
If you had to describe your music in a sentence, what would
you say?
I guess we’d define it as DIY pop, there is certainly a strong
element of RnB in there though.
How did you get into music?
It was a pretty spontaneous decision. We all went to college to
enrol on courses that we weren’t ‘qualified enough’ to be on. We
all enjoyed playing music and decided that this sounded like a
good idea. I don’t think, at the age of 16, any of us were really
thinking about the future of this decision.
Can you pinpoint a live gig or a piece of music that initially
inspired you?
My mum has always been into Motown/soul, but my dad played
me a cassette of him and his friend when I was younger. I had
this strange feeling, which you might say is ‘cringe’, but I think
something really resonated with me back then. I felt like it was
a definitive moment and I thought, ‘I could do this; I could be a
singer or a musician’.
Do you have a favourite song or piece of music to perform?
Perhaps Silence, our latest release. We’ve never actually
performed it at a show, but we have done a live video with some
amazing musicians, vocals and synths. We got our friend Tee
involved with that, which was an honour. He put a verse over it
and it’s just the heaviest.
Why is music important to you?
It’s a huge therapeutic measure. Some things we write in our
songs we could maybe never imagine saying them to the person
who it’s directed at, so being able to put that in a line and letting
it be said, that can heal a person. Also, there’s a documenting
side of it; we often reflect on songs that we’ve written and who
was involved in our lives at that moment in time. It’s like a photo
album for us.
Do you have a favourite venue you’ve performed in? If so, what
makes it special?
Churches. The live video I mentioned earlier, that was shot in the
Church of St Matthew and St James in Mossley Hill. The way the
sound travelled in the room was haunting. We also played in a
church in Leicester with Sofar Sounds. It hadn’t been used for 30
years prior and it had no heating, in the middle of February, so it
was a cold set. They passed around those foil safety blankets it
was that cold.
What do you think is the overriding influence on your
songwriting: other art, emotions, current affairs – or a mixture
of all of these?
I’d be lying if I said we stick to one thing when writing, but we
do focus closely on mental health. If there’s something that we
can’t really voice in general conversation, it’s most likely in a tune
somewhere. We’ve also been known to lend from other artists,
such as Tracey Emin on our track My Bed.
Photography: Shea McChrystal
littlegrace.org
Silence is out now, as well as a new version featuring a verse by
Tee.
NIKKI & THE
WAVES
Drift away on the cloud-lined melodies of
this Amsterdam infused outfit who are
sweeping through the local scene.
“It wasn’t until I
moved to Liverpool
and met other
musicians that
something clicked
with regards to
music making”
If you had to describe your style in a sentence, what would you
say?
Breezy, dream-laced pop, surf and new wave elements.
Have you always wanted to create music?
Nikki: I started playing piano at age 12 but never practised very
seriously. I tried writing some songs in my room when I was
a moody teenager, but the grassroots scene in Amsterdam,
where I am originally from, is basically non-existent. It wasn’t
until I moved to Liverpool and met lots of other musicians that
something clicked in my head with regards to music making.
Can you pinpoint a live gig or a piece of music that initially
inspired you?
Tom W: When my dad played me Black Magic Woman by
Fleetwood Mac for the first time on tape as we were driving
through France looking for somewhere to pitch our tent. It made
me love Peter Green as a songwriter, and the early Fleetwood
Mac allowed Mick Fleetwood to definitely influence my drumming
style.
Do you have a favourite song or piece of music to perform?
N: I really love playing our new song Romance At The Sha-La-La.
It’s one of the few songs that I don’t play keys on, so I get to walk
around on stage a bit more. Our new single Welsh Mountains is
always really nice to play as well because it starts off so softly
but builds to something more cinematic.
Jake: About You because I dig the way it starts with a Crumbstyle
riff and then progresses to a heavy, Tame Impala-esque riff,
which shows off our versatility.
What do you think is the overriding influence on your
songwriting: other art, emotions, current affairs – or a mixture
of all of these?
N: My own emotions and memories as well as observations I
have of the people around me. I’m also inspired by other artists
and bands and films that portray a mood or atmosphere that I
tried to recreate through music.
Why is music important to you?
N: I guess music has and will always be a way for me to relate to my
emotions and feel less alone. It’s not just writing music that makes
me feel like I can express myself – even just listening to something I
really love, or that speaks to me at that time, can do that.
Tom S: It’s everything.
Do you have a favourite venue you’ve performed in?
N: I think we all agree that it’s probably the Palm House in Sefton
Park. We played there in March for Fiesta Bombarda. It was such
a surreal and beautiful setting to play in; glass, plants and palms
all around us. Totally different from the usual dark and moody
basements.
If you could support any artist in the future, who would it be?
N: We each have our own idols and dream artists that we would
love to support. As a band we would love to play with Whitney,
TOPS, No Vacation or Metronomy. Though I would be lying if
I didn’t mention Arctic Monkeys, even if we don’t fit that well
musically.
Photography: Carin Verbruggen
facebook.com/nikkiandthewaves
Welsh Mountains is out now.
SPOTLIGHT
27
lonely up here in Middle England,” laments
RICHARD DAWSON on Jogging, the first single
lifted from his latest solo album 2020. It would
“It’s
appear Northumberland’s finest harbinger of doom
has bid farewell to the sixth-century kingdom of Bryneich that
provided the grizzled backdrop to his last record Peasant, turning
in favour of an all too familiar contemporary scene.
Whether detected in the nervous sideways glance of the
jogger, in the pained expression of the Civil Servant severing
another Disability Living Allowance, or stood quivering in the
piss-specked shoes of the fulfilment centre employee peeing in
a bottle to save missing their quarters, it’s easy to make out the
emerging figure of a conflicted 21st-century Britain in Dawson’s
tales.
Yet, despite the bleakness, 2020 still triumphs through
instances of courageousness, black comedy and real lingering
beauty. Tasked with decoding his aching accounts, David Weir
caught up with the Hen Ogledd main-man to discuss UFOs,
time perception and the ins-and-outs of writing a minor-key
masterpiece.
There’s definitely a stronger pop feel on 2020 compared to your
past records. What triggered the move away from acoustic and
brass in favour of synths and vocoders?
Well, I think a big factor is Sally’s [Pilkington] influence. She’s
been introducing me to a lot of classic pop that I’ve never really
explored. Artists like Kate Bush, Erasure and Prince. This record
needed to be really direct or ‘direct sounding’. So, I wanted to use
the language of rock music to create these big, anthemic choruses,
but then the words would be in opposition to that. I hope it makes
for a really awkward feeling, but you might not even really pick up
on why. Musically, it should almost sound ubiquitous. Peasant had
a very distinct sound design. For instance Angharad Davies’ violin,
I saw this almost as if it were a weather event, like frost.
This record needed to use this ‘common language’ of electric
guitar and drums. It feels more familiar, like the estate where you
grew up. These blocks of sound, all semi-detached houses. Then
hopefully, the melodies and the words are the lifeforms that aren’t
quite fitting in to that blander picture. It’s a strange aim to make a
record that’s bland sounding!
Peasant and The Glass Trunk required a lot of archival research,
whereas 2020 is obviously more concerned with current affairs.
Against the constant flood of news and media content, how did
you manage to narrow down the individual accounts in these
songs?
Well, I’m quite lucky in a way, people will just open up to us about
things. This time around it was more through my own experiences,
talking to friends, family and to a lot of people at gigs. I’m not one
of those vulture kind of writers, always on the hunt for lyrics. But
repeatedly people would mention the same kind of issues they
were going through. It just felt like this was worth writing about.
When I’m working on a piece – I’ve had this sense more and more
recently – of the people being real and alive. I recognise it could
be a symptom of my mental health situation, but I’m convinced
that it’s possible to be in touch with people in different ways and
different times. You know our perception of time is that it goes in a
line. Well, that’s our experience of it, for the sake of our bodies to
manoeuvre them safely through space. But actually, I find time… it
doesn’t work like that.
I’ve been singing this song about a mother in 15th-century
Hexham and I really like this person, she’s alive! It’s not an act of
imagination, it’s just a different way of life. When you’re working
on these songs and these people make themselves known –
whether or not this is all bollocks, and it’s just my imagination
and I’m disguising that, the fact remains that you have to be
honourable to these people and treat them with respect. It was
just a case of trying to do right by them.
Certain tracks remind me of David Foster Wallace’s short stories
Brief Interviews With Hideous Men. Wallace was interested in
our approach to ‘dreary, seemingly meaningless routines’. He
spoke about the kind of freedom that’s truly important is the
one we rarely hear about in the ‘great outside world of wanting
and achieving’. I was wondering if you feel that crops up in the
narrative at all?
I guess it’s more about what’s the stuff of life? In the space of all
of this, how do you keep your eyes and heart open? How can we
really express something about what it is to be alive? Because
these things like having to brush your teeth, wipe your arse, put
on clothes in the right manner, it’s so basic yet it amounts to so
much time. It has a massive effect on our day, though, and it’s not
separate from a big life event.
If you don’t feel comfortable in your clothes, you’re going to feel
awkward and anxious in public. Even just walking past people in
the street, everyone you pass you’re going through an internal
dialogue in your head at a hundred miles per hour. I don’t see
separation between this and maybe more dramatic events. It’s
amazing to think about brushing your teeth, all those little germs
and microbes that you’re dislodging. If you could zoom in and see
all the living things that are in between your gums. There’s drama
at every level.
People in these songs are often simply just trying to catch their
breath or start their day on the right side of the bed…
Yeh, for sure. We wake up and we just get stuff hurled at us in a
way that has never been part of the human make-up ever before.
GIG
PREVIEWS
RICHARD DAWSON
Parr Street Studio 2 – 23/11
The North Eastern bard casts his gaze towards 2020 and locates an
endearing magic found in the most common sets of eyes.
Just the sheer amount of information we’re processing and the
different ways we’re engaging with faces and people, all the
streams we’re looking at. It’s so brand new. We haven’t adapted. I
think it’s a really crazy time to be a human.
We wonder why we’re kind of confused and a bit lost, but the
landscape has just changed so dramatically that it’s no wonder. It
would be more of a wonder if we weren’t anxious or depressed.
It’s more of a physical reaction to being surrounded by stress,
information and fast change.
Black Triangle is a standout for
me. It begins with a UFO sighting.
Do you feel these kinds of reports
are founded in escapism or
something else?
From my experience with these
kind of things, no. I’m sure that’s
an element to it, you see all these
conspiracies on YouTube. But this
song is not about that for me. None
of the album is autobiographical,
but the first half of this song
is drawn from something that
happened to me and my pal Neil.
We did see this incredible black
craft come over my parents’ house
and it wasn’t a commercial aircraft
either. The government released
papers on this phenomenon, as it’s the most widely spotted
UFO. It was so crazy the explanation they gave, they said it
was a “triangular illusion” created by plasma. I can tell you with
certainty, this isn’t what we saw. This was a solid thing and it
moved incredibly fast and silent. So, it’s either a secret aircraft or
it’s extra-terrestrials. I don’t see that there’s any other explanation.
It’s a hopeful song in some ways. He goes out to the country with
his daughter and they share in watching the stars together. I can’t
think of a happier moment than that, really. There’s a lot of hope
on the album, even if it is predominantly sad.
It can regularly feel as humans we’re chasing some form of
magic or mystery. How do you feel that plays into you work as
a songwriter?
I believe in magic. I’ve talked in a few other interviews about Alan
Moore and an interview he gave where he speaks about the role
of the bard. In the past, the role of the bard was doubly important
“The power of a word or
a melody can be quite
profound: it can change
minds, it can change
the way in which people
perceive things”
because not everyone had access to the written word. So, to cast
a spell was simply to ‘spell’ – this is Moore talking, not me. I’ve
thought about this a lot since, what the role of a musician is.
The power of a word or a melody combined is something I think
can be quite profound: it can change minds, it can change the way
in which people perceive things, it can change the way people act.
So, it’s absolutely the highest honour and of grave importance to
try connect with people. Without wanting to be self-righteous, you
feel that you’re maybe fighting the good fight. It’s probably a losing
battle but those are the only battles worth fighting anyhow.
So, is that how you keep faith,
then? Does sharing it within
a musical community help
strengthen that feeling, maybe
making it more impactful?
You don’t have a choice whether
you do it or not, really; you just do
it. People have always made stuff
regardless of the scene or what the
wider picture is. Even just playing
music at home, you’re communing
with something off in some far
place. Music is alive and that’s
enough. But, if you share it with
other musicians and audiences,
you can really change things. We’re
all making an impact. Hence why
you’ve got to be careful with your time and be considerate of how
you live. It all has an effect. Whether you’re doing something public
and outgoing or something quiet and private. I think that as much
as I treasure the role of the bardic tradition and my place in that,
I see that it’s not brain surgery. It’s not being a nurse, fireman or
teacher. I’d be very remiss to place it in any hierarchy, because how
can you say anything is more life-changing than those jobs. !
Words: David Weir / @betweenseeds
Photography: Sally Pilkington
richarddawson.net
Richard Dawson plays Parr Street Studio 2 on Saturday 23rd
November. 2020 is out now via Weird World.
PREVIEWS
29
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In anticipation of their Liverpool gig, Brit Williams spoke to
bassist Jared Swilley about the band’s new album, growing
up in a religious family, and what’s help keep the Black Lips
alive for two decades.
PREVIEWS
Black Lips have a little bit of a connection with Liverpool. You
guys have worked with Sean Lennon before. How did that
happen?
We have actually known him for a while. Three albums ago
we were recording with Mark Ronson and we needed a guitar
player, and it happened to be Sean who came in. We kind of
just stayed friends after that and we all had mutual friends. We
also played SXSW with Sean’s band and with Fat White Family,
so we both discovered them at the same time. Sean ended up
recording the Fat Whites and they invited Cole [Alexander] to do
guitar. We didn’t really have a label at the time and didn’t have
many resources. Cole was up there in New York and Sean just
said, ‘Come record here’. So we moved in with him.
I heard you locked yourself in his recording studio for two
months. Do you normally go into the studio like that, with
nothing written?
That one took a little longer than usual because we didn’t have
a lot written, and we didn’t have a drummer. We also just had
the luxury of being on this magical mountain in the middle of
nowhere, so it was easy to kind of just turn off and tune out.
Both aspects have their ups and downs. I mean, I prefer to have
at least something done. That one was probably my favourite
recording experience we’ve ever had, just because we were in a
point of transition and it was such a magical place.
Do you feel like, as you get older, you are writing about more
mature topics, or are you just trying to stay as authentic as you
know to be?
Oh yeh, I don’t really try to set out to write about anything. I
mostly write about stories. Everyone has their own different
writing style. I never really wrote love songs. I mean, the last
sort of love song I wrote was a couple getting separated on
Kristallnacht in Berlin. I was trying to think of one of the most
devastating ways to split a pair up.
We hear you might be playing some new music on tour?
Yeh, our album’s done. It’s been done for a while. By the time
we get to Liverpool we’ll have some of those singles out and
already be playing a lot of those songs. We like country music
and always flirted with that kind of style. It’s not a purist country
record by any means, but we just felt like had to go back to our
roots and do country music. That’s where we’re from.
Can you tell us what it’s called?
Oh yeh, I don’t see why not. It’s called, The Black Lips Sing In A
World That’s Falling Apart.
Love that. What inspired the name?
My family are all preachers and they put out a lot of gospel
records from the 50s to the 80s, and they had an album called
The Swilley Family Sings, and then we had a lyric on our album
“in a world that’s falling apart”, so I wanted it to sound like an old
gospel record title.
Coming from such a religious background, at what point did
you pick up a guitar and get into music?
Before I can remember. I grew up on the stage. I’ve seen
performances of me on stage that I don’t even remember doing,
so basically my whole life. It’s like the family business, kinda.
So what does your family think of you being in the Black Lips?
They’ve always been a very accepting, liberal theology. My dad’s
a homosexual; he came out a few
years ago. He lost his main church,
but he still has his church. They
mostly preach love and acceptance
and all that. There was never a
conflict at all. I got most of my
inspiration from the church, ’cos I
grew up in one of those churches
where they’re screaming and the
music’s wild and they’re speaking
tongues. It was way more wild
than any rock ’n’ roll show I’ve ever
been to.
That must be where some of the
outrageous onstage antics come
from?
Totally. I always thought that if I
could get just a [bit of their vibe],
’cos those people are doing that on
a Sunday morning with no alcohol
and they’re going wild. And they’re
singing about something that they think is eternity and is way
more powerful. We sing about, I dunno, dumb stuff. Well, not
dumb, but if we could get even a fraction of this energy into our
shows, I’d be happy.
Do you think there will still be garage rock bands in the digital
age?
I think there will be a few, but I don’t really think you’ll see any
GIG
“I grew up in one of
those churches where
they’re screaming
and the music’s wild
and they’re speaking
in tongues. It was
way more wild than
any rock ’n’ roll
show I’ve been to”
BLACK LIPS
Arts Club – 13/11
Garage outfit BLACK LIPS have resided in an all-encompassing
rock ’n’ roll lifestyle for the better part of two decades. Their story is
one that has grown from the suburbs of Atlanta into countless nights
on tour, audience-led stage invasions and work alongside some of
music’s biggest names, including Mark Ronson, The Black Keys and
Beatle-descendent Sean Lennon.
bands doing what we did. It took us seven years in a van, eating
shit. I mean, that was self-imposed. We were middle-class kids,
we didn’t have to; it was self-imposed poverty. I don’t really
think there’s a formula any more. I could be wrong. But now it’s
so easy to connect with everyone. When we started, no one
had cell phones, and it was a very
different thing. We never used the
internet and we still are luddites
about all that stuff. Even ’til this day,
I can barely use the internet. I can
email, but I don’t even know where
to look for stuff.
Yeh, there’s almost too many
resources these days. It’s kind of
exhausting.
I only had a few sources when I was
younger. Mail order catalogs and
Maximum Rock ’n’ Roll and that was
it, but those were physical copies.
I’m glad that there’s people like ya’ll
still having stuff in print. I like stuff I
can pick up.
What do you want the crowd to
get out of your performance?
I want people to get their damn
money’s worth because it’s not cheap to go out. It’s kind of like
an escape ’cos the world can be rough and you need to just go
out and let loose. We just want people to have a good time and
meet each other. One of the best compliments is that we’ve had
a few Black Lips babies, from people who have met at our shows
and got married. That makes it all worth it. I love seeing Black
Lips tattoos, too. If you have one of those you get into all of our
shows free for life.
What have you been listening to lately?
As far as new stuff goes, I am totally out of the loop. I was just
in Croatia to go and check it out. I actually got my tooth busted
out a while back, so I heard they do cheap general surgery
over there, and I was just cruisin’ around the mountains in the
most beautiful place I’ve ever been and I think I listened to The
13th Floor Elevators all together for 22 hours straight. Last
night when I was up in Malibu I was listening to Loretta Lynn
and Tammy Wynette. I found the music I like a long time ago.
In my record collection at home I’ve got about 300, I don’t buy
any new records. Mostly just 45s now. I just listen to a lot of
country music and gospel, soul and R&B. It got a bad rap, the
South. It’s not really what most people think it is. It’s real dear
to me. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I think most forms
of popular music came from the South East. It was the first time
you had all of these different types of people thrown together,
living in poverty. You had poor Irish, mixing with slaves and
Native Americans and it was such a weird mix of stuff where
everyone shared their ideas and came up with some really cool
styles.
What do you think has kept Black Lips alive for 20 years?
This is what we do. This is what me and Cole set out to do
when we were kids, and we don’t really have that many other
skills. If we hadn’t gotten into music it would have been prison
or the military. That’s what a lot of the kids I went to high
school with ending up doing, so it kinda saved our lives. !
Words: Brit Williams @therealbritjean
Photography: Yana Yatsuk
black-lips.com
Black Lips play Arts Club on Wednesday 13th November.
PREVIEWS
31
PREVIEWS
Warm Worlds And Otherwise (Anna Bunting-Branch)
EXHBITION
YOU FEEL ME
FACT – 01/11-23/02
The rigid power structures that govern our world have profound impacts on our
everyday experiences, such as the way we relate to technology, politics and each
other. FACT’s new exhibition seeks to challenge the traditional ideas around those
who hold this power by compelling us to question who ultimately benefits from it.
Presented by FACT curator-in-residence Helen Starr, you feel me_ will transform FACT’s
galleries into alternative worlds. Interactive artworks will suspend in the air, float in a hazy
mist and explode onto walls. The immersive exhibition includes a range of different artworks
that reaches beyond FACT’s usual digital remit: there will be ceramics, virtual reality, artificial
intelligence and game design in play. The result is the creation of a mystical space, free from
division and bias and a sanctuary for healing.
ANNA BUNTING-BRANCH’s Warm Worlds And Otherwise contains a mix of artworks,
centred upon the piece META, which uses experimental animation and digital technology to
transport viewers between environments, including unknown planets and a restaurant orbiting
in space. MEGAN BROADMEADOW’s Why Can’t We Do This IRL? is a virtual reality experience
that is based on the video game Red Dead Redemption 2. The two-part artwork will challenge
a viral video from the game in which a player uses his in-game avatar to kill a suffragette.
Blending the boundaries between the game world and the ‘real’ world, the work exists as an
act of justice. The video game character is placed on trial to be judged ‘in real life’, with the
‘verdict’ set for December when the artwork will be installed in FACT’s galleries in its final form.
When looked at through the prism of restorative justice, it is hoped that you feel me_ will
make it easier for the viewer to imagine a world without division. By challenging the systems of
power that are all around us, and allowing otherwise marginalised voices to flourish, maybe we
can disrupt the world in a way that creates a fairer system for all.
fact.co.uk
LECTURE + CABARET
WHO CALLS THE
SHOTS?
Museum of Liverpool and The Bluecoat – 30/11
Theatre maker and associate director for Graeae Theatre Company, NICKIE MILES-
WILDIN, is the keynote speaker and host of the annual Edward Rushton Lecture,
which takes place at the Museum of Liverpool at the end of the month. Titled
Disabled Women In Arts And Culture: Who’s Calling The Shots?, Miles-Wildin’s
address looks at the representation of disabled women in the arts sector – and is part of a
two-pronged event from DaDaFest as part of RISE Liverpool, a season of exhibitions, events
and happenings featuring extraordinary female artists, thinkers and leaders in Liverpool.
This annual free event is inspired by the strength and revolutionary ideology of human rights
campaigner Edward Rushton, who was born in November over 260 years ago. Following the
lecture that bears his name, a lively panel discussion will interrogate the theme further. Chaired
by DR ERIN PRITCHARD, lecturer at Liverpool Hope University in the Department of Disability
and Education, the panel of artists – JACKIE HAGAN, CHERYL MARTIN and TAMMY REYNOLDS
– will look at how stereotypical portrayals of disabled women affect our perception of disabled
women in reality.
The second part of the day’s activity sees the action move over to The Bluecoat for Raw.,
where attendees are invited to “dress to impress… yourself”. A wild night of raucous, irreverent
and inclusive cabaret centred on disabled women’s voices in the North West, Raw. is hosted by
Liverpool legend MIDGITTE BARDOT, and boasts an incredible line-up of performers, including:
CHERYL MARTIN, IVY PROFEMME, Jackie Hagan and MARILYN MISANDRY.
Both events are part of DaDaFest’s ongoing programme of activity that uses the arts to
educate, challenge attitudes and remove the barriers that restrict life choices for disabled and d/
Deaf people to live independently and equally in society. Head to dadafest.co.uk to book tickets
for both events, which have limited capacities.
DaDaFest
EVENT DISCOVERY PARTNER
ticketquarter.co.uk
32
GIG
Mac Demarco
Bramley Moore Dock – 28/11
Mac Demarco
MAC DEMARCO’s magnetic charm has seen his star rise from lo-fi slacker to full
blown superstar of the indie scene. But he’s far from a one trick pony. While his
earlier records drifted by with a soft summer breeze, his two most recent efforts -
This Old Dog and Here Comes The Cowboy - see the laid back crooner display a
slower, more introspective side to his songwriting. Rather than swerve between
sweet reverb washed licks, he’s embraced more acoustic guitar, hardwiring
personal narratives into the music to complete an intriguing transformation to
campfire storyteller with hints of expansive country. But where his music has
grown softer curves, his live show still appears to flex every musical muscle of his
discography. Setting up at the sizable Bramley Moore Dock, this stop on his UK
will serve as an opportunity to refamiliarise yourself with Mac the showman.
THEATRE
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
The Playhouse – 11/11-16/11
Mary Shelly’s Gothic masterpiece has become a totem of the horror genre, with its
DNA embedded in our modern day fascination with the shadowy dungeons of the
human condition. Much has been made of the teenage Shelley’s formative travels
across Germany and Switzerland in the early part of the 19th Century, but what of
Shelley’s own place as a young woman in this tale? This adaptation of the revered
story of Frankenstein’s monster, by the award-winning writer Rona Munro, places
Mary Shelley in the drama as a character. As the action rages around her, the
writer is forced – in an eerie mirroring of the travails of Frankenstein himself – to
wrestle with her creation, and also with the stark realities facing revolutionary
young women, then and now. Tickets available at ticketquarter.co.uk.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
GIG
Declan Welsh & The Decadent West
Phase One – 09/11
This has been a busy year for DECLAN WELSH. Along with his band, the Glaswegian
songwriter and poet has been touring his taut indie rock across sold-out shows in the
UK, topped off with an electrifying, Billy Bragg-approved appearance at Glastonbury. By
way of introducing their new album, Cheaply Bought, Expensively Sold, to the world, THE
DECADENT WEST are stopping by Phase One for a show with Edge Hill University and
their label, Modern Sky UK. Supporting Welsh and co are THE INDICA GALLERY, whose
psych-inflected indie surrealism will be the perfect foil to Welsh’s unapologetic, direct
swagger. Experimental Welsh artist ANI GLASS is charged with adding an air of mystique
to proceedings, and we recommend you don’t miss her synth wizardry.
GIG
Têtes De Pois
The Jacaranda – 19/11
ParrJazz’s regular dose of telescopic sounds welcomes the much-touted Leeds
ensemble TÊTES DE POIS for a good old knees up in the Jacaranda basement.
Meeting as students of Leeds College of Music and forming the band in 2016,
the seven-piece have been quick to win plaudits for their intra-band fluidity; each
member happily carries leads and can navigate the group through switches of jazz,
neo soul, Afrobeat and hip hop – all of which is executed with an enviable harmony
and flair. You might even say they play with the snugness of seven jazzy peas in a
pod. Head on down and watch their instruments unify to take on the role of a deep
digging DJ. Head to TicketQuarter.co.uk now to pick up your tickets for this show.
GIG
Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi
Grand Central – 28/11
Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi
The combination of Italian jazz multi-instrumentalist FRANCESCO TURRISI and singer-songwriter RHIANNON GIDDENS
produced one of the most awe-inspiring albums of 2019. There Is No Other was heralded for its daring fusion of genres that
sees the two strike up a partnership that covers Mediterranean, African and Arabian influences. The pairing’s mastery is the
glue that holds it all together. The album’s alluring folk compositions will be on display in an equally baroque setting when the
two import their music into the confines of the Dome in Grand Central. Perhaps one of the more thought-provoking shows
throughout the month, the exhibition of genre fusion will leave little to the imagination once their set has completed its sonic
travels.
GIG
Calexico and Iron & Wine
Philharmonic Hall – 19/11
Emerging from the ‘desert noir’ outer edges of the Californian border, long-standing indie
Americana duo CALEXICO head Liverpool way for a journey to the atmospheric, Latin-infused
landscapes encapsulated in their sound. First playing together in the early 90s, the band have spent
the best part of the last three decades crafting soundtracks pulled from sunburst sunsets and the
open landscape hugging the Mexican ridge. One of their most memorable records, 2005 EP In
The Reins, was a collaboration with indie folk singer-songwriter IRON & WINE, who is also set to
appear on the bill for the show at the Philharmonic. The EP is lauded in the Americana world for
its ingenuity and groundbreaking soundscapes, with their combination live on stage as stirring as
it is uncompromising. Expect to hear further cuts from their new collaborative effort Years To Burn,
released in June.
Calexico and Iron & Wine
PREVIEWS
33
REVIEWS
“Baltic Weekender is
vital to the existence
and quality of
Liverpool’s electronic
music scene”
My Nu Leng (Fin Reed / @finlayreed)
Baltic Weekender
Baltic Triangle – 27/09-28/09
September has always been a standout month. It signals
a particular new starting point. More so than January. At least
a more realistic one. This starting point is not static, but very
much in motion, bridging two seasons and taking place at
certain crossroads in people’s lives. Be it the beginning of a new
academic year, a new work environment or simply a revitalised
perspective after glorious summer holidays, September is
a month of promise, anticipation and excitement. It seems
only right that the organisers of BALTIC WEEKENDER have
chosen this period to take the next step forward in the festival’s
development.
Baltic Weekender is a two-day, multi-venue event which,
until now, has taken over the whole of the Baltic Triangle
during the last weekend of May, or the first weekend of June.
Upon launching in 2017, it instantly became one of the most
important dates in Liverpool’s electronic events calendar. The
musical talent collated by Andrew Hill of Abandon Silence and
24 Kitchen Street’s Ioan Roberts is vital to the existence and
quality of Liverpool’s electronic scene. Baltic Weekender is a
celebration of the musical flavours that have graced the Baltic
Triangle throughout the academic year, bringing many genres of
electronic music to the fold including house, techno, disco, grime,
bass music and more. Showcasing renowned pros of the game
as well as the new generation breaking in, Baltic Weekender
September Edition displays a renewed awareness and thirst to
place Liverpool on the electronic map.
To start off, we head straight to Constellations. The garden
is beautifully lit, refreshingly vacant and extends a mellow
vibe. There is a modest gathering around the far left corner
where good friends GIOVANNA and SOFIE K are going b2b.
Both having a penchant for cosmic sounds; the DJs flood
Constellations with tumbling melodies, harmonising their mix
with the setting in which they are playing. But this is a short-term
harmony. A rapid yet seamless switch-up takes the crowd by
surprise as some infectious UKG filters its way into the speakers.
Shortly, a mixture of Italo and Balearic house flows in, syncopated
by powering basslines. I turn my attention to the two selectors as
my view of them begins to be obstructed by committed dancers.
Whether it’s an approving smile at the other’s drop, animated talk
concerning the queued track or cheerful and carefree dancing,
Giovanna and Sofie K are in constant interaction with each
other which helps establish the general atmosphere as intimate,
unentitled and groovy.
I leave the warm revels of Constellations Garden to check out
how different the atmosphere is at Hangar 34, where bassline
dons MY NU LENG are in the process of obliterating the crowd
with their infamous wobblers. Queuing for entry, I wonder how
many people bought their tickets just to see My Nu Leng. Once
I’m in, I realise probably quite a few. Hangar is rammed with
people dishing out gun-fingers to every wob they hear.
Returning to Constellations Garden, I’m greeted with a crowd
dancing to a twinkling 4/4 beat on top of the venue’s chairs and
tables. It’s not even 12 yet, so we’re all good here. As I head in
to get my spot for the upcoming boogie marathon courtesy of
DAN SHAKE, I catch the end of ANDY GARVEY’s set. Playing
to a gaggle of about 15 dancers, the Australian producer and
label boss of Pure Space instils an extra-terrestrial soundscape
composed of leftfield techno, breaks and acid rips, all lending
from the darker spectrum of musical tones. The change that
takes over as Dan Shake steps up to the decks is mind-blowing.
The dancefloor is packed and sizzling within mere minutes of
his mixing. The crowd is electrified with funky disco and jackin’
house overlaid with blaring trumpet solos and roaring vocals.
The groove is infectious. Dan Shake knows it. As he alternates
between galvanising acid house, rolling percussions, disco
classics with euphoric screeching vocals and more, he does
justice to the latter part of his name. It’s 30 minutes before
the end of his set when he delivers his biggest weapon: The
Chemical Brothers’ Mah. I see Dan Shake turn the volume up
to its fullest with a grin as the build-up progresses towards
its pinnacle. The track’s infamous swirling acid rips zero in on
us through the speakers – we are all floored. I look around in
disbelief asking my friends, “Did he actually just do that?” It’s no
surprise that people are still present when the lights come up at
4am. We leave Constellations reeling.
Stretching into day two and I’m drenched. Aside from being
cold, the main nuisance caused by the unrelenting rain are the
venue changes. KORNEL KOVACS is on duty at Blundell Street,
superimposing his trademark tropical house with some farreaching
trance, but is shortly moved inside as a result of the
weather. A chaotic rush ensues as everyone attempts to secure
their spot in the venue. I make it about three metres in before I’m
pushed out. I check the set-times and head to District to get a
healthy dose of jungle and DnB instead, courtesy of NICANDER
HI-FI b2b OUTHOUSE SOUNDS.
Conscious of time, I make my way over to Kitchen Street in
order to guarantee a spot for HELENA HAUFF. Apart from the
Kitchen Street sign that is lit up in ruby red, all the lights are out.
The queen of electro appears behind the decks seemingly out
of nowhere. She is ruthless in her takeover. She unleashes unto
the under-prepared crowd overwhelming pieces of dark electro
punctuated by rugged industrial clanging. Thrown into the mix
is barbed acidic techno and apocalyptic breakbeats which engulf
the room in a paradoxical sense of exhilaration. Paradoxical
because the particular thrilling sense of release experienced
during her set is achieved through exposure to fierce intensity.
For some, this is too much. I notice people are restless when a
man shifts his attention to the giant disco ball which hangs over
the centre of Kitchen Street and begins to swing it. Others join in
and it becomes clear to me that this is an attempt to distract and
regain control of themselves, finding the absorption into Hauff’s
nebulous world too extreme.
It’s 2am and I’m enveloped in Hauff’s murky mystique,
unsure of where to go next. I set my sights on Constellations
where L U C Y is set to take us through to the end of the night
with dashes of footwork. The room is just under half full, with
the lights erratically projecting colours across the room. As
I make my way to the front I stop short and stare at the DJ.
Her face is hidden by a surgical mask – an accessory that she
always wears when mixing – upon which is drawn a disfigured
nose and mouth, with a bright red tongue dangling out of it.
Amid the multi-genre 160-190 bpm chaos she’s playing which
encompasses bass, breakbeat, grime, dubstep, happy hardcore,
and genres I’m pretty sure only exist in a post-apocalyptic world,
I’m taken by her contrasting tranquil composure. Despite her
lashing out disorientating bass, L U C Y seems introspective
as she slowly sways to the insane voltage she’s mixing. She
throws quick glances to the crowd as she unfurls a universe of
sounds accompanied by jagged and pitched-up one-word vocals,
distorted sirens and old school arcade sound effects. By the end
of the set, the expression drawn on her mask is the expression I
found on every face in the dance – including my own.
Returning to new beginnings of projects already in motion,
Baltic Weekender September Edition marks a turning point for
the series in terms of musical tone, diversity and crowd. What I
experience is not the summer social event that everyone goes to
once exams have finished; instead, Baltic Weekender hosts an
event wherein burgeoning lovers of electronic music ae given a
chance to get what they really want: the discovery of new sounds
and new perspectives on those that are familiar. These dual toned
editions are the best way forward for the future development of
Liverpool’s electronic scene, alternately offering visibility on the
one hand and an indulgence in intricate musical curiosity on the
other. Baltic Weekender is the tangible proof of Liverpool’s power
of community; the city’s ambition and its ever-growing passion
for dance music – whatever the season. !
Ambre Levy
No Fakin (Fin Reed / @finlayreed)
34
Ibibio Sound Machine
I Love Live Events @ Invisible Wind Factory
10/10
The couple of hundred people who are at tonight’s show are
the lucky few. Inside it’s a different world from the dreary October
night of the real world and it’s a shame more people don’t get to
see the spectacle.
Without exaggeration, IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE produce
one of the most entertaining and engaging gigs that Liverpool’s
seen for a while. From the moment Eno Williams stalks on to
the stage and launches in to I Need You To Be Sweet Like Sugar
(from this year’s album, Doko Mien), to the last note of Basquiat,
it’s a night that’s full of pure joy, happiness and dancing. So.
Much. Dancing.
Without exception, the eight-piece group is made up of
incredible musicians (more of whom later) but the focus inevitably
falls on to Williams whose stage presence, movement and voice
are incredible. She commands attention and mesmerises the
audience. Singing in a combination of English and Ibibio, her
voice is powerful but maintains its clarity, and her chat between
songs charismatic and so lovely. She makes it look easy – dancing
round exuberantly with a charming smile, keeping time and note
perfect, all in treacherously high heels.
Her energy is contagious: with each song the mood lifts
further, building to a euphoria by the end of the night. It’s a
furious riot of sound – the riffs of the guitars and percussion
work with the three-man brass section to build a multi-layered
sound. It’s a wonderful atmosphere that fills the cathedral-like
dimensions of the IWF with ebullience and joy.
It’s not an overstatement to say that Williams’ voice is close
to perfection: it’s a well-judged mix of raw power, control and
warmth. When she’s not singing, she dances with the band
during their solos and positions the microphone just so it’s
in the right position to capture the sound of the trombone or
saxophone.
The brass section lifts the sound and adds a playful punch.
It’s reminiscent of the 70s and 80s and the links to disco and funk
jump out, but it’s anything but backward looking as the electronic
sound, courtesy of the keyboards, brings a contemporary element
and adds layers. The styles could clash in a cacophony but it’s
amazing, vital and a wonderful combination – the genres blend
together to create something new that defies easy definition.
It’s a multi-layered sound from talented musicians that
looks forward and which has an energy and creativity bubbling
underneath. Alfred Kari Bannerman is the coolest looking lead
guitarist in any band. The pace is furious and is maintained
throughout with the exception of one track (I Know That You’re
Thinking About Me) which gives everyone a chance to catch their
breath.
There are not many gigs where the majority of the audience
are dancing – and I mean properly giving it some – from the
first note. There’s a vibrancy and urgency that makes dancing
inevitable: coats are discarded and everyone’s moving as the heat
builds. The atmosphere is lovely and the crowd is a really friendly
bunch. There’s no demarcation between audience and band by
the end, just a group of people having a party.
It’s a raucous sweaty affair that makes you feel the world
would be a better place if Ibibio Sound Machine gig tickets were
available on the NHS. When they tour next, be kind to yourself
and go.
Jennie Macaulay
Ibibio Sound Machine (Glyn Akroyd / @glynakroyd)
Ibibio Sound Machine (Glyn Akroyd / @glynakroyd)
PuzzleCreature
LEAP @ Invisible Wind Factory – 7/10
“We have decided not to die,” announces the voice of artist
Madeline Gins. The opening statement projecting from the eight
speakers hung around the inflatable venue we find ourselves in.
As the show begins, three dancers have recently entered via the
zip-up door, quickly, so as not to deflate the translucent structure.
Those dancers stare down audience members and inspect the
mesh plaster casts of different parts of the body which are
suspended from the ceiling. We’re collectively trying to solve
PUZZLECREATURE.
Gins’ words are part of her and partner Arakawa’s philosophy
of Reversible Destiny. The artist-philosopher-architects worked
with theories of architectural bodies – the human body’s
interaction and blending with its surroundings and, more famously,
worked on designs which looked to achieve immortality in their
inhabitants. It’s ambitious stuff.
The eight speakers now deliver Sebastian Reynolds’ specially
commissioned soundtrack for the piece. It’s warm inside the plastic
walls, yet the bassy drones, which ebb and flow in intensity, put
the audience on edge. The three dancers contort into impossible
shapes. They reflect and react to the white floating casts, copying
the poses and inserting their own forms inside.
Through projects like The Reversible Destiny Lofts and
Bioscleave House, Arakawa and Gins sought to solve the issue
of mortality by designing liveable environments which constantly
questioned and challenged the way we live. In a statement after
Arakawa passed away in 2010 Gins said “this mortality thing is
bad news”. It is difficult to know how serious or sincere the artists
were in their mission but they were consistent throughout a
number of projects over several decades.
The dancers lean on the soft walls of our temporary venue,
climb over audience members and gyrate into the middle of the
room. Audience members suppress smiles as they are pulled
into the performance. The music gathers momentum and the
dancers merge together before splitting off and exiting the
inflatable arena. No one’s sure whether this signals the end of the
performance and the questioning is palpable.
We are then invited to leave the tent as quickly as possible
and await the second half. In the exposed environs of the
Invisible Wind Factory’s main room we experience a chill as we
see the tent we called home now partially deflated.
Across the undulating landscape the dancers tentatively
begin again to engage with their expressive movements and
each other. Atop the structure they are never still, slowly walking
towards the audience, bending in and out of one-another. It’s
difficult to look away. The scene is reminiscent of a sci-fi movie as
one dancer is cocooned in the tent while the others move around
them.
Arakawa and Gin’s Reversible Destiny Lofts were all
about defying conventional living by design. In prompting the
inhabitants of the loft to constantly question and analyse their
own processes of domestic routine the artist believe they could
stave off the inevitable.
By the end of the performance the inflatable stage is all but
flat with some internal air still animating it. The dancers are all
smiles after an hour of provocative or inscrutable expression.
It’s the end of the performance and, while the inspirations
of this piece Gins and Arakawa have since left this mortal stage,
their ideas and challenges are a puzzle that won’t be solved and
therefore live on.
Sam Turner / @samturner1984
REVIEWS 35
REVIEWS
Modern Nature (Stuart Moulding / @Oohshootstu)
Modern Nature
Harvest Sun @ Shipping Forecast – 18/9
In a time when it’s growing increasingly harder to connect
with the natural world, MODERN NATURE’s music provides a
fitting soundtrack for such escapism with their debut long player,
How To Live. The band’s identity is very much a sum of its parts,
featuring names from Ultimate Painting, Beak and Woods. As
you might expect, the resulting sound is cosmic, reclined and
altogether warming.
They take to the stage without drawing too much attention
to themselves The modestly decent turnout quickly edge forward
to fill any unused space and what follows is an explorative and
soul-soothing affair. Opener Bloom is an elegant introduction,
commencing the set with an atmospheric and solitary saxophone.
It’s clear from the off that these musicians are meant to be
together; they simply glue so well.
Jack Cooper’s voice has been key to the success of his many
past projects and things aren’t much different this time around.
There’s such an effortlessness behind the quartet as they
continue to dispatch How To Live in its entirety. Evidently the
record was built to flow, but also to retain a sense of freshness
and surprise. There’s a light and shade throughout the night, as
the band lull the crowd into their meandering jams before quickly
bringing the tempo up into new territory.
Theon Cross
Stepping Tiger @ Storyhouse – 06/10
Entering Chester’s Storyhouse to the unmistakable Nigerian
electro-funk of William Onyeabor, it’s clear Stepping Tiger have
something wilder in store than your average Sunday night at
the theatre. Bordered by bookcases with pink ambient lighting
riding the walls, the venue’s open-plan spread does have an air
of sophistication about it. Just over the shoulder of a guy carefully
buttering scones we spy Ben ‘Roman’ Haslett DJing, the man
bringing THEON CROSS and so much more to our walled city.
Incredibly tight from the off, REMY JUDE ENSEMBLE open
up and ease us in with a deep four-part harmony. Mellowing into
a blend of alt.jazz and hip hop, there’s shades of Tom Misch and
Loyle Carner in their sound. Occasionally they shift feel and a little
funk slips in, vocalist Amber Kuti and keys player Max O’Hara
being Galactic Funk Militia ex-recruits, after all.
The fluid interplay between Jude and Kuti on hook-heavy
standout Band Bak 2Geva quickly wins attendees over. Coming
Home then segues into Yes Music, where a smooth-tongued
Remy urges us to “thrust those shoulder blades when you hear
those stabs”. Dropping down to a Cinematic Orchestra-esque
bridge, Kuti’s melismatic scat inflections weave their way around
a tasteful lead guitar and Jude’s fired-up MCing.
Having made his name as one of the breakout talents of the
UK jazz scene, Theon Cross is known for bringing the almighty
There’s not much room for any dialogue between songs.
They take a breather halfway through the set which opens the
door for some discussion. “So we’re halfway through the album
now and this is the part where you flip it over,” says Jack Cooper,
jokingly. They continue into the track Nightmares, a track puts the
listener into a weird dream state if anything. It begins to verge on
peculiar just how calming and absorbing this experience begins
to become; there are big saxophone solos, wandering guitars and
hushed vocals that seem to soak into the crowd.
This band don’t look like they have joined forces with a
mission to flip the music world on its head. Instead, you get the
feeling that this is a more informal project constructed to satisfy
their own creativity. Despite exploring a vast landscape of psych
on the record and in the live environment, it’s hard to see this
project doing anything radical in the near future. Perhaps that
could eventually be seen as a limitation, but none of that really
matters tonight. This is a bunch of accomplished musicians who
are clearly comfortable in their own skin.
What we see tonight is a band confident enough to tackle
their ideas; they’ve got the history and experience to back up
their humble ambitions. As long as this group keep their hunger
to create then it looks like we’ll be gifted with some great material
in the coming years. And while it’s early doors for this particular
project, it already feels like Modern Nature are well on their way
to becoming a finished package.
Rhys Buchanan / @rhysbuchanan
bottom-end with Sons Of Kemet and guesting with Steam
Down. As soon as Cross and touring line-up Chelsea Carmichael
(saxophone), Patrick Boyle (drums) and Nikos Ziarkas (guitar)
take the stage, the audience shift forward, filing up the stairs and
mezzanine.
Veering wildly between improvised solo bursts and dub
bass lines, the versatility of the tuba in Cross’ hands is quite
astounding. You’ll normally see a tuba played sat down in an
orchestra; Cross performs spinning on a heel, teasing it from
gurgled drawl to blaring sustain. Coasting the outer fringes of
jazz, at times the songs appear formless, yet the quartet remain
violently in sync.
After a euphoric The Comet Is Coming-styled excursion, they
slip into a sleazy Latin/bossa swing, almost verging on spiritual
jazz climbs before settling into an afrobeat groove. Then after
goading Carmichael and Boyle into a lengthy improv spin-out,
Cross takes the mic and talks humbly about the importance of
self-belief when writing music, before powering through CIYA
and two encores.
Granted there will have been sweatier stops on the tour,
but for a damp Sunday evening in Chester tonight’s scenes are
simply unprecedented. Cross is undoubtedly at forefront of a
movement that’s no longer confined to London.
David Weir / @betweenseeds
The Good Life Experience
Hawarden Estate, Wales – 12/09-15/09
We live in unprecedented times. Politically, socially,
technologically, environmentally. However you skin your daily
existence, you face a cocktail of decisions, challenges and
dilemmas, the like of which our species has not seen before.
Faced with this cacophony of noise, two concepts become more
important than ever; escapism and the quest for new ideas.
And it figures that the two are closely related. In order to
shape new ideas, we first need to sidestep the daily treadmill, the
24-hour battle for our attention, the glare of those omnipresent
screens. We need to create environments for open minds,
expansive conversation and spaces to challenge our digital-norms.
We need to reset. God, we need to breathe.
With this in mind, THE GOOD LIFE EXPERIENCE embraces
both and it seems is expertly tuned to our times. A well whittled,
wonky, welly-clad, weird weekend of perpetual wellness that
implores its guests to slow down, take stock, learn crafts, cook,
care and commune.
I succumbed to the temptation to take to the open water at an
artist-led swimming session, followed by freeform poetry writing
around an open fire. In the wrong hands this could all be very
Nathan Barley, although under the tutelage of Vivienne Rickman-
Poole the reality is anything but. It is hugely uplifting, invigorating,
elating. I dive back in.
Once suitably de-compressed and unplugged, the festival’s
pinpoint curation manages to envelop its audience with wide
ranging and outlook-shaping conversations led by truly inspirational
subjects. Set within Hawarden Castle’s reading room, ANDREW
EVANS speaks with astonishing openness and humility about his
experience as a haemophiliac on the wrong end of the contaminated
blood scandal, currently the subject of a public enquiry. Listening
to Andrew recount his story – one that saw the wonder-drug he
self-injected as a five-year-old inadvertently leave him HIV positive
and almost dead as a result of AIDS by his late teens – is a deeply
moving experience. His subsequent fight for justice for all those
effected (taintedblood.info) goes on and his message here is simple:
keep fighting. Right on cue as I leave the reading room, I notice a
bookmark underfoot, inscribed simply: “ideas change things”.
JNR WILLIAMS’ crystal neo-soul marries clean lines and vocal
acrobatics with spades of individuality. I doubt he has played to an
audience containing such a high concentration of neckerchiefed
whippets before, but he leaves them (and their owners) aghast.
Come night time and we’re dancing the jive with the assembled
pre-schoolers at the vintage disco to Duffo’s take on Walk On The
Wild Side (our Georgia steals the show). It’s a fitting curtain call
to the weekend, an off-kilter take on conventional wisdom which
catches you off guard, that suggests another way.
The Good Life Experience is for the curious. I implore you to join
them in raising a glass of organic nettle ale, delving into the sound
of Welsh birdsong and leaving your preconceived conventions in the
car park. A slightly better version of yourself may well come out the
other side.
Craig G Pennington
36
ADD TO
PLAYLIST
Red Rum Club
EVOL @ O2 Academy – 28/09
It’s a packed, expectant and hot O2 Academy that awaits
RED RUM CLUB. Everyone’s up for a good time with these local
crowd pleasers; there’s almost a sense of reverence towards
them.
In terms of set design it’s perfectly pitched: the tension and
excitement are built to a peak before the silhouetted band walk
on behind a red curtain, fitting with the Matador theme, which
tumbles to the floor to reveal a group rightly confident in their
abilities accompanied by a celebratory explosion of confetti and
the first notes of Honey.
Singer Fran Doran’s adept at whipping up the bodies before
him to near hysteria. Before he’ll start playing Would You Rather
Be Lonely? during the encore, he insists people get on shoulders
– it takes a fair while and leads to some precarious pairings. He’s
got the swagger and charm all the best frontmen have and that
mysterious ingredient which means all eyes are pinned on him.
On record Doran’s voice is at times reminiscent of Ian
McCulloch (which is such a lovely thing) while on a couple
of tracks – Kids Addicted in particular – the overall sound is
reminiscent of latter day Manics (OK, but not breaking any new
ground). Live these subtleties are lost in the mix: the vocals are
still strong, but the ubiquitous trumpet drowns out the guitars
meaning at points it becomes one unstoppable mass of brass.
Red Rum Club (Stuart Moulding / @Oohshootstu)
They seem like a group who are loving the acclaim they’re
receiving after years of working hard. Doran speaks with
understandable pride about their album after seven years of
graft, and what they do they do well. They come across as a
band who’ve been selling out arenas for years. If the success of
tonight is anything to judge it by, their stock will continue to rise.
Performance wise they’ve got the confidence and charm
nailed and, technically, all six are really good musicians. It just
depends what you’re in to and people here are very much on
the Red Rum Club team – as the inflatable trumpets proffered
towards the band attest. It’s a packed-out singalong, but
at points it teeters precariously close to being the musical
equivalent of Live Laugh Love, guaranteed to whip up emotion
in a hometown crowd on a Saturday night. Not necessarily a bad
thing, depending on what you want from a band.
A cover of Golden Slumbers is lovely and fits the bill,
showing in whose trail they’d like to follow: if success is built on
confidence, they’ve smashed it. They could and will be playing
venues far bigger than this soon – commercially their songs
strike the right note between indie guitar rock and radio-friendly
earworms. They’re fully formed and rounded as a live act ready
for much bigger things – but sometimes a bit of edge does us all
good.
It’s definitely crowd-pleasing, if not ground breaking, but it’d
be petulant to argue with a room so full of joy.
Jennie Macaulay
ADD TO PLAYLIST is the 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.
Manra International
Presents
The Ultimate Spice
Mix
Night Slugs
Oh man, well if the artwork alone doesn’t sell you on it,
then what will? This compilation is practically a who’s
who of some of the best global club DJs and producers
at the moment, with 8ulentina, Foozool, Scratcha DVA,
Ikonika, Manara and Bok Bok all bringing dishes to the
potluck. With proceeds going to international human rights
organisation Restless Beings, what’s more you’ve got your
pre-going out playlist pretty much sorted for the rest of
eternity. Canned hype, extra spicy.
Hanna
I Needed
Melodies International
Floating Points’ reissue label,
Melodies International, is back
to school with another dusty
crate dig. Warren Harris, aka
HANNA, offers up some laid-back classic Chicago house
and a little tipple of sunshine to take the edge off all this
autumn nonsense. It’s strictly buttery smooth edges and
no surprises, filled with sultry street soul vocals, no-baddays
keys and a lithe garage skip. Expect to hear this at a
trendy biodynamic wine bar very soon.
Anunaku
Forgotten Tales
Louder Than Death (Michael Kirkham / @Mrkirks)
Whities
Louder Than Death
The Go-Go Cage and No Fun @ The Zanzibar
– 13/09
Leaves hang like cobwebs throughout The Zanzibar, a retro
space that feels like a treasured discovery among the new venues
around Liverpool. Tonight, however, it serves as the perfect fit
for an intimate gig presented by garage-rock madman King Khan
and his newest outfit, the ferocious LOUDER THAN DEATH.
The band, who are currently blazing around Europe in
promotion of their album Stop Und Fick Dich! have collected a
troupe of punks from The Spits and Magnetix along the way,
however, much to our dismay, Spits member Sean has been held
up in customs.
The lights dim as Khan walks out on stage to applause from
the room, dawning pleather short-shorts, a police hat and a
denim vest speckled with patchwork. Armed with a bouquet
of roses, he sets a light, careless tone for the evening; “I’m just
trying to make some money on the side here if anyone wants to
buy a flower,” he laughs. Raging on, LTD rip-roar through a set
with songs dedicated to Lemmy, Bad Brains, Christian conversion
camps, Al Capone’s syphilis, Hermione from Harry Potter and, for
good measure, the punk rock women of England. The prerequisite
pogoing ensues in front of the stage as King Khan and his cohort
bring their 77 punk style to with a blast of spilled beer, sweat
and pleather. As the night extends, then begins the stage banter.
After three or four stop-starts of a song they learned just that
day, Khan, ever the gifted spokesman, keeps the extremely
patient Scouse crowd entertained with one-liners.
On a night saturated with a lo-fi, raw and dirty attitude from
the makings of a band who seem like they’re just having a really
damn good time, we are indeed given what we were promised: a
full throttle onslaught of much needed energy and fun on a Friday
night.
Brit Williams / @therealbritjean
Tasker’s Whities label has
pretty much become buy-onsight,
barely putting a foot
wrong over the last couple
years. Whities 024 is no different. Although the release has
little to do with its alleged zeitgeist theme of ‘mythology’,
the three tracks explore the intersection of global
percussion and club music, careening from screw-face
breakbeat to polyrhythmic drum loops. Forgotten Tales – a
shimmering, padded ambient techno track – stands out as
the smart, well-heeled slice of the moment. For fans of Yak,
Minor Science, Poly, Leif etc.
Words: Nina Franklin
melodicdistraction.com
Melodic Distraction Radio is an independent internet radio
station based in the Baltic Triangle, platforming artists,
DJs and producers from across the North West. Head to
melodicdistraction.com to listen in.
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FREE
ARTISTIC
LICENCE
This month’s offering is a selection of writings and artefacts taken from The Casserole Of Nonsense, a new
book pulled from the bubbling mind stew of Lewy Dohren and Jack Turner.
If you had to describe your style in a sentence, what would you
say?
A reaction to the plight of new age confusion, caked inside an
embryo of semi-hysterical tripe.
It’s fair to say that poetry isn’t your primary creative outlet.
When and why did you start writing for The Casserole Of
Nonsense?
Lewy: It had probably been festering inside our minds for years
without realising. But I had started writing some stuff while I was
in Berlin, just as a reaction to the confusing hilarity of modern life. I
was telling Jack about it at this fezzy, and while we were there we
started writing down some of the shite we were coming out with.
Jack: Yeh, something defo got switched on at that fezzy.
Almost as if our collective mental pen drives got hooked up to a
mainframe of ridiculousness, and both of us pressed ‘download’
at the same time. Not to plagiarise MLK but I also had a dream
about it.
Can you pinpoint a moment or a piece of writing that initially
inspired you?
L: I remember reading Caravan by Nick Power on a train journey
in the cold depths of winter, during the crescendo of sensory
bombardment that is Christmas. And I thought it was amazing
(the book, not the bombardment). That got the inspiration cogs
nice and oily, I reckon. I should probably say thanks to him here as
well, because he offered us some good advice in the early stages
of the project. Tar lid!
J: We’ve been spewing up nonsense butties ever since we met
many moons ago, but it was when he told me he’d started writing
stuff down in Berlin, that’s when I thought, ‘OK, maybe we should
try and get something down together and see where it takes us’.
Where does the inspiration come from for your work? Are
there any particular influences (everyday life, the outside
world, other art, people, society, politics, etc.)?
L: Probably just an amalgamation of years of confusing existence
and the monotonous struggle of day-to-day life. Mushing
together the generic boring things we all encounter with a packet
of cold hard insanity.
J: Dreams, nightmares, supermarkets, TV, GFs, current-eff-airs,
mates, pets, pubs, clubs, whatever’s left in the bottom of the
tea cup and a large dollop of the social medication we’re all
unflinchingly prescribed to.
If you could read at any event, work with any artist, or be
published anywhere, what would you choose?
Behind the bins at the Mecca Bingo in Birkenhead with Derek
Acorah, published in the Bible’s Ultra-New Testament.
Sound and rhythm are key to the emotional punch of The
Casserole Of Nonsense. Why do you think that slang and
vernacular speech works so well with your message?
L: Maybe because it feels like you’re in there actually swimming in
the pond of our fragile minds or something. Part of the confusing
world we’ve created for yer.
J: A lot of the poems and stories in here are written in the same
way they’d be spoken. The localised references comprised within
that would be impossible to avoid having lived on both the upper
and lower lips of the Mersey for pretty much all of our lives.
Why The Casserole Of Nonsense?
L: The name, or why are we even bothering to do this? The name
came in a dream and the rest, well, we’ll wait and see if it’s all
gonna be part of that same dream…
J: Who knows, someone could very easily just tap us both on
the shoulder… and there we are both standing in the middle of
that sweltering summer festival. Dazed, confused, bareback and
speechless to the fact that none of this has ever even happened.
Loser
An Ode To A Bifter
A Clean Sweep
-
-
I lost the nerve
And lost the receipt
I lost the number
And the street
I lost the tickets
And all the money
I think I’ve lost the beak
And my sunnies
I’ve lost my card
And my jacket
I lost the plot
Cus I thought you had it
But one thing I haven’t lost
That I didn’t mean to find
Is you.
Oh fuck where’ve yer gone…
Lewy Dohren, September 2018
Your silky sweet and sultry scent
Has in my heart now left a dent
A dent for all those times we shared
A toast to all lost eyebrow hairs
I’ll take with me these yellow teeth
Laid round my mouth, a stale wreath
Commemorate the biffs I’ve lost
Whilst balking at the total cost
And so to you I bid farewell
Tears in my eyes now start to swell
The plaster’s on, I can’t look back
A smoky curtain fades to black
Jack Turner, August 2018
There it was
A warp of time
A pool of self excrement
5 past nineteen ninety nine
Containers of excitement
Swamps on the Wirral line
Contract with the sphincter
Read and then sign
Sunshine and sins
And the start of a new deal
Good meaty hands
Keep them behind the wheel
Tape player’s wrecked
And we’ve broken the seal
It’s been 48 weeks
Since we called in that meal
A long forgotten pop star
Picking chewy off his toes
A sly fart from nostalgia
And I’m selling Matalan clothes
Stuck behind the tills
Getting necked by a rose
Is this still my birthday?
Fuck, nobody knows
Memory lane asylum
Wheelie bins of thoughts
A lifetime in the cloakroom
Wanking over Sunday sports
Sniffing loadsa fentanyl
With Sooty, Sweep and Paul
I’ve got it all on VHS
And in my school reports
Lewy Dohren & Jack Turner, March 2019
44
Bohemian Chiropody
Is this my real foot
Or is that just fungal cream
Caught in my bird’s tights
Can’t escape the reality
The specialist sighs
She looks down at her notes and says
‘You’re just a poor boy
No cash for Bazuka Gel’
Cos my feet are sad, I can’t ignore, a little dry, a little sore
Any way my shoes walk, it doesn’t really matter to me, two feet
Mama, just removed a sock
Sat on the chair and bent down low
A once-white Donnay had to go
Mama, they never used to smell
But now I’ve had to throw them all away
Mama, am so uncouth
I didn’t mean to scrape your eye
I’ll hack these toenails off this time tomorrow
Sand ’em down, sand ’em down
They’re turning into daggers
It’s too late, my letter’s come
Got a referral from the quacks, now there ain’t no turning back
Goodbye rotten pinkies, you’ve got to go
I gotta buy a pumice stone and make you smooth
Mama, gotta face the truth
I don’t wanna go
I sometimes wish I’d been born with no feet all
I see a little white-clad body of a man
Wielding tools and he says ‘can you feel your verrucas?’
Sharp harsh pain and white bits, need things to take my mind off please!
(Chips and mayo) chips and mayo, (Brian Oviedo) Oviedo, dormant volcanoes, figgy rolls
I’m just a poor boy, nobody loves feet
He’s just a poor boy with some snide scabby feet
Spare him his soles for their callosities
Easy scrape, with a stone, banish that whitlow
As if that’ll go! It will not fucking go
(Make it go!) As if lad, it will not fucking go
(It’s tryna grow!) Oh shit lad, I think we’ve lost control
(Ah me toe!) Pus began to flow
(Ah me toe!) What a holy show
(Ah me toe!) Ahhhhhhh...
No no no not my big toe
Give it here, pass it here, give it here that’s my toe
The chiropodist has just left it on the side for me, for me, for me!
So you think you can charge an extortionate price? So you think you can chop feet and
leave me to die? Oh, maybe, I’ll see you at the Old Bailey
I just gotta get out, I just gotta get right out of here
My feet don’t really matter, cos no one ever sees
My feet don’t really matter
My feet don’t really matter to me
Any way my bunions grow
Jack Turner, December 2018
Vision for Condiments
For as far as her stagnant vision would carry her glazed eyesight
There were Nettos
Like bald yellow fish
In a big and badly ventilated pond
Each new sighting brought a slightly more pungent joy
She could almost taste the 16 for 1 whole chickens
Knowing that the synthetic bag would keep them fresh and
frozen well into the next century
Only the big man in the discounted sky would know how...
Hurriedly she scampered down the first aisle
Past the fruit and veg void
Through the household deterrents
Across snack sanctuary
Until finally
The cool stale air reached her trembling lips
The smell of iced plastic was almost too much to bear
She began to quiver with excitement
Clutching her branded reusable and degrading bag like a symbol of her unity
She slowly turned to face the glory of the frozen section
And there...
There it shone...
Like a portal to another dimension
Rows upon rows of deteriorating iced coffins
Radiating their frozen advertisements
Offering carnivorous delights for such menacingly cheap prices
She could barely walk
Never had she been in such awe
Never in her wildest misery, had she imagined she’d make it this far
Overcome with emotion she gripped tightly onto the nearest freezer
A frozen lid of fulfilment propping up her dreams
A glistening tear trickled down her ageing face
And for the first time she looked down at what glorious opportunities awaited
her
Peering down into the frosted glass she began to try and read what was on
offer...
V..
Vee...
Veal?
She couldn’t make out the words past her haunting cataracts so she asked the
shining yellow angel stocking the shelves nearby for assistance...
“What is the offer here sweet cherub?”
“Oh are you on frozen aisle love?”
“Yes dear... I’m from the Emerald Isle of Frozen Love”
“Haha, if you say so... 2 seconds, wait there.”
Surely it can’t be the vegetables again, she had already passed that section
“Yeah it’s all vegan now isn’t it... legal requirement... been like that for about 6
months I think. So what you’re looking at there is a vegan cod, 2 for 1 on those.”
Words and Design: Lewy Dohren and Jack Turner
The Casserole Of Nonsense is available from 1st November.
Lewy Dohren, October 2018
ARTISTIC LICENCE
45
SAY
THE FINAL
Working at the heart of the
North West based Low Carbon
Eco-Innovatory – a university
affiliated research and action
group – Dr Ariel Edesess and
Daniel Blunt underline that the
fight to reverse climate change
is nearing the final round, yet the
contest is far from decided.
It was the 1950s and 60s: World War Two was over and the
world was trying to heal. With the end of the war came a
global population boom. The rate of growth reached a peak
of two per cent per year in the late 1960s (as compared
to one per cent per year now). This accelerated increase in
population, coupled with limited food resources, was alarming to
many, and sparked what is now called the Green Revolution, or
the Third Agricultural Revolution.
In this “revolution”, resources (both financial and human)
were diverted towards collaborative research and technology
initiatives designed to increase food production. The Green
Revolution was, for the most part, a resounding success. And,
while it is true that an unacceptable amount of people are still
without basic nourishment, this is due to unequal distribution of
resources and inequality, not the amount of food produced.
We are presently faced with creeping global warming,
perhaps the greatest threat to the human race we have ever seen.
The oft-used description of global warming is as an “existential
crisis”, named so because it could threaten the entire existence of
the human race. For most of us, global warming exists mainly as
something to be afraid of, to rally up against, to use as an excuse
to rage against capitalism, or to deny is happening at all. The
success of the Green Revolution in increasing food production
(notwithstanding its many flaws) provides us with a blueprint of
how to approach another, seemingly, Herculean challenge.
Every day, I work closely with the public and small-tomedium
sized businesses in Liverpool city and Lancashire regions
to meet the goals laid out in the various local and global emission
reduction plans. While the range of feelings about climate action
is as broad as the issue itself, the majority of feelings encountered
can be roughly summarised by the following: recognising the
problem and feeling anxious and motivated to contribute to
solution; recognising the problem but believing that, because of
their sector or business, they are not part of finding a solution;
recognising the problem but struggling to see any financial
benefit for making changes; recognising the problem and feeling
“The fight is not yet
lost – the world as
we know it today is
not set in stone”
overwhelmed and incapacitated to help; recognising the problem
but feeling that it is hopeless or caused by large corporations, and
therefore not their individual responsibility.
While these are wholly understandable reactions to an
immeasurably complex problem, they should not dictate how
we move to address the challenge. Luckily, this is not the first
time humanity has faced a major global crisis and we have some
examples to help readjust how we approach and think about this
crisis.
With the recent passing of Paul Polak on 10th October, a
world-renowned innovator, entrepreneur, anti-poverty warrior
and one of my personal heroes, the urgency to highlight his
accomplishments and what we can learn from them for the
current fight against global warming has increased. Born into a
Jewish family in Czechoslovakia in 1933, Polak fled the advancing
Nazis with his family when he was six years old. Following a
perilous and terrifying journey through Germany, where young
Paul even paraded as a member of the Hitler youth to hide
his family’s true identify, the family eventually found refuge in
Ontario, Canada.
This experience could have left him with a bitterness towards
humanity, but instead he chose to direct his innate curiosity to
understanding and trying to help others in need. Polak practised
psychiatry for two decades before shifting his attention to the
problem of global poverty, especially those who were surviving
on $1-2 per day.
Animated by his experiences as a child and equipped with his
training as a psychiatrist, Polak sought to fill the gaps where the
Green Revolution failed to reach those most in need. What made
Polak special was where others saw insurmountable obstacles,
he simply saw challenges that needed solutions – or, as he said
to me once, “People often say I’m an innovator... if innovation is
walking along a sidewalk and, on reaching a step, you step up
and continue walking, then sure, I’m an innovator.”
Polak understood that the key to changing behaviour and
affecting change was to look for solutions most in harmony with
the people for whom the solution is intended, to include them in
the process, to track progress, and to adjust the approach when
needed. His most basic tenet was to treat people who are lower
on the socio-economic ladder (in his work, those making $1-2 a
day) as customers rather than charity recipients. At the heart of
this message is an appreciation of the role of human dignity and
feeling of accomplishment in promoting behavioural change.
The climate crisis fight is not the same as the anti-poverty
fight or the Green Revolution, but they are all inescapably linked.
Mountains of research show over and over again that it will
be people lower on the socio-economic ladder who are most
impacted by the climate crisis. This is true worldwide, from
Kolkata to Merseyside. Here in Liverpool, it might not look like a
community decimated by wildfire or a village washed away in a
hurricane, but it might look more like fuel poverty, leaking houses
due to extreme rainfall and flooding, or rising food costs, and it
will be those already struggling to make ends meet who are hit
the worst.
The climate crisis monster we find ourselves facing
encompasses far more than the environmental realm – its roots
are buried in centuries of deep-set behavioural patterns and
social paradigms. Years and years of damaging activity, pursued
even when we suspected, and then became fully aware of the
impacts, have driven us to this crossroad. Tackle the beast and its
many faces? Or be blissful in our apathy, ignorance and business
as usual?
We all know which is the easy option, and we’ve probably
all felt justified in reneging on our personal responsibilities to be
better – to use less, reuse more, throw away less, and vocally
support difficult or disruptive plans, policies, or technologies.
It is exhausting, and anxiety-inducing to be in a constant state
of worry about the looming destruction of humanity and it is
much easier to ‘opt-out’ and just keep planning your next trip to
Tuvalu – yet we all play a big role in challenging the climate crisis.
So, how do we take on this issue as individuals (yes, yes, we
are all individuals!) and maximise our impact? Put simply, there is
no single answer. There is not one action you could do that would
be the ‘right’ way to go – each one of us must choose our own
way to contribute. Your contribution is not just certain individual
choices you can make, like choosing to go meat and/or dairy-free
a couple of times a week, reducing and reusing water whenever
possible, or driving less – your most important tool is your voice
and how you exercise your expectations of how society should
operate.
But, more important than any action we can take today is
our resilience and drive to insist on change, to be different and
better from how we were before. The fight is not yet lost – the
world as we know it today is not set in stone, and “that’s just how
it is” is not how it should always be. We should learn from Paul
Polak’s philosophies, such as talking to the people who have the
problem and listening to what they have to say, focusing on small
solutions to big problems, seeing and doing the obvious, and
learning from mistakes and adjusting when required.
Polak is an example that each one of us can be an influencer
and that each one of us has the capacity to affect major change.
When choosing your own path forward to address the crisis, here
are four useful points to remember: keep it local, keep it timely,
keep it personal, and keep it honest – uncertainty is not your
enemy. I’ll leave you here with a reminder from Hannah Arendt:
“We are free to change the world and start something new in it.”
By reading this piece, I hope you’ve felt encouraged to take
action. This list is by no means comprehensive, but here are some
activities to take part in/actions you take:
• Clean ups (CleanupUK, the National Trust and Keep Britain
Tidy all have easy routes to involvement).
• Seed bombing (get yourself some seed balls and go wildflower
guerrilla gardening – like a rebel Alan Titchmarsh).
• Write letters to local government to insist on reducing public
transport prices and build better green infrastructure. I mean,
it feels like Liverpool City Centre is actually a deterrent for
cyclists right now (believe it not, your letters are actually read
and if enough people speak up, they are obliged to take action).
• Change daily habits: reduce water use, turn off lights, don’t
charge phone overnight, switch off cars at long traffic lights,
reduce and reuse waste (standard but worth remembering).
• Promote holistic solutions – think creatively. Ask questions, find
supportive peers.
• Adjust expectations, both of yourself and of the companies you
spend money on. Demand drives the market, we can influence
the market by changing our consumer behaviours.
• Engage your company or place of work with the Low Carbon
Eco-Innovatory at LJMU. We exist to help small-medium
businesses in Liverpool, Sefton, Wirral, St Helens, Knowsley
and Halton develop low carbon products, processes and
services by engaging them with our team of researchers. We
work across all sectors and love to be given a challenge! Want
to decarbonise your business but don’t know where to start?
Give us a shout. Developing the next great piece of green tech
and need it testing? You know who to call (Disclaimer: it’s not
Ghostbusters).
Words: Dr Ariel Edesess and Daniel Blunt
Photography: Robin Clewley / robinclewley.co.uk
ljmu.ac.uk/ecoinnovatory
The Low Carbon Eco-Innovatory is a partnership between
Liverpool John Moores University, University of Liverpool and
Lancaster University. Find out more about how to get involved
with their Clean Growth UK action at @EcoInnovatory.
46
Richard Dawson
SATURDAY 23rd November
Studio 2, Liverpool
SOLD OUT
Beans on Toast
FRIDAY 20th December
Phase One, Liverpool
The Local Honeys
Wednesday 22nd January
Gulliver, Manchester
King Creosote
Performing a live accompaniment to the film
From Scotland with Love
Monday 16th March
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
@Ceremonyconcert / facebook.com/ceremonyconcerts
ceremonyconcerts@gmail.com / seetickets.com
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