Issue 87 / April 2018

ISSUE 87 / APRIL 2018
NEW MUSIC + CREATIVE CULTURE
LIVERPOOL
FACT AT 15 / DAWN RAY’D / PIZZAGIRL
BEIJA FLO / WILEY / BONEFACE

Wed 21st Mar
Fickle Friends
+ Valeras + Haarm
Sat 24th Mar
AC/DC UK
& Dizzy Lizzy
Sat 24th Mar • SOLD OUT
Gary Numan
Sun 25th Mar
Soundwaves Music
Competition – Liverpool Final
Northern Heist + John Paul + Tabitha Jade
+ Dying Habit + Nikki & The Waves + Positronik
+ Tranquil Sea + Evil Pink Machine + Tongue Of
Fire + Eastcote + Daywalker + The Icon
+ Skylights + Sophie Bernice + Maggie Murray
Thu 29th Mar
The Wonder Stuff
& Ned’s Atomic Dustbin
+ DJ Graham Crabb (PWEI)
Fri 6th Apr
3 Generations of Ska
With Stranger Cole + Neville Staple Band
+ Sugary Staple + The AC30s + Buster Shuffle
Sat 7th Apr
Showhawk Duo Live
Sat 7th Apr
The Smyths
Unite & Take Over Tour 2018
Wed 11th Apr
Henry Gallagher
Fri 13th Apr
Dirty Sanchez Live
Sat 14th Apr
Aston Merrygold
Sat 14th Apr
The Amy Winehouse
Experience ...A.K.A Lioness
Sat 14th Apr
At Mountford Hall, Liverpool Guild of Students
The Festival of Light
Wed 25th Apr 7.00pm • SOLD OUT
Frank Turner
& The Sleeping Souls
Fri 27 Apr
Liverpool Rocks Final
Sat 28 Apr
Novana - A Tribute to Nirvana
Sat 28 Apr
Don Broco
Sat 5th May
Marmozets
Sat 5th May
The Verve Experience
Mon 7th May
Gomez
Sat 12th May
Guns 2 Roses
facebook.com/o2academyliverpool
twitter.com/o2academylpool
instagram.com/o2academyliverpool
youtube.com/o2academytv
Thu 17th May
Tragedy:
All Metal Tribute To The Bee Gees
Sat 26th May
Deep Purple Family Tree
Fri 1st Jun
The Beat starring
Dave Wakeling
Sat 2nd Jun
Nick Heyward
Sat 16th Jun
The Psychedelic Furs
Sat 23rd Jun
The Skids
+ Pete Bentham & The Dinner Ladies
Thu 30th Aug
Protomartyr (USA)
Sat 23rd Sept
Fish
Fri 28 Sep • SOLD OUT
Half Man Half Biscuit
Sat 29th Sept
Red Rum Club
+ The Jackobins + Life At The Arcade
+ Columbia
Sat 6th Oct
Definitely Mightbe
Fri 12th Oct
Elvana:
Elvis Fronted Nirvana
Sat 27 Oct
The Southmartins
Beautiful South & Housemartins Tribute
Sat 3rd Nov
Old Dominion (USA)
Fri 9th Nov
At Mountford Hall, Liverpool Guild of Students
George Ezra
Sat 10th Nov
Antarctic Monkeys
Sat 10th Nov
Carpet Crawlers
Sat 17th Nov
UK Foo Fighters
Sat 24th Nov
Pearl Jam UK
Fri 30th Nov
The Doors Alive
Tue 11th Dec
Bjorn Again
Fri 21st Dec
Sex Pissed Dolls
Sat 22nd Dec
Ian Prowse & Amsterdam
THU 22ND MAR 7PM
FIELD MUSIC
SAT 24TH MAR 11PM
BLACK PARADE
00’S EMO ANTHEMS
SAT 24 MAR 7PM
BLANCMANGE
WED 28 MAR SOLD OUT
THU 29 MAR SOLD OUT
DEAF SCHOOL
FRI 6TH APR 7PM
SPINN EP LAUNCH
FRI 13TH APR 6PM
LAZY ARCADE
FRI 13TH APR 7PM
ALEX CAMERON
SAT 21 APR 7PM
COURTNEY
MARIE
ANDREWS
SAT 21 APR 7PM
WEAREYOU
SAT 21ST APR 11PM
METAL NIGHT
SAT 28 APR 7PM
REEF
SAT 12TH MAY 7PM
COCO AND THE
BUTTERFIELDS
THU 17 MAY 7PM
CLAP YOUR
HANDS
SAY YEAH!
+ RONGORONGO
TICKETS FOR ALL SHOWS ARE AVAILABLE FROM
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FRI 18TH MAY 6.30PM
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THE WEDDING
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TOUR
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TUE 12TH JUN 7PM
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SAT 23RD JUNE 7PM
JOHN
BRAMWELL
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SAT 28TH JULY 7PM
JOE SYMES AND
THE LOVING
KIND
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WED 8TH AUG 7PM
STEVEN PAGE
FRI 5TH OCT 6PM
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WAKEFORD
EXPERIENCE
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THE DEFINITIVE
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BACK TO OUR ROOTS BACK TO THE HEART OF THE CITY
5TH - 6TH MAY • LIVERPOOL BALTIC TRIANGLE
SATURDAY 5TH MAY
DMA’S
THE SLOW READERS CLUB
IDLES
PICTURE THIS
KING KHAN & THE SHRINES
BLACK HONEY • WYE OAK
SUNDAY 6TH MAY
PEACE
SUNSET SONS • BAXTER DURY
THE NIGHT CAFÉ • DERMOT KENNEDY
JAWS
SUPERORGANISM
YELLOW DAYS
STEALING SHEEP’S SUFFRAGETTE TRIBUTE
BILLIE MARTEN • LOW ISLAND • MATT MALTESE • NEON WALTZ
NICK ELLIS • PARIS YOUTH FOUNDATION • PUMA BLUE • SAM FENDER
THE ACADEMIC • THE BLINDERS • THE ORIELLES
PLUS 100S MORE ARTISTS
SOUND CITY SHOWCASE PARTIES
ATC • BIMM • DITTO • DIY • END OF THE TRAIL RECORDS • GETINTOTHIS
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What’s On
Liverpool Philharmonic
April – June
Saturday 7 April 8pm
Music Room
MODERN RITUAL
–
Thursday 12 April 8pm
Music Room
TALISK
–
Thursday 17 May 8pm
NILS LOFGREN
–
Friday 25 May 8pm
Music Room
The Legendary Dennis Bovell Presents
THE STORY OF REGGAE IN BRITAIN
–
Tuesday 5 June 7.30am
Film 15
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE
EBBING, MISSOURI
Box Office
liverpoolphil.com
0151 709 3789
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Thanks to the City
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Image Nils Lofgren

From Sat 14 Apr

CONTENTS
New Music + Creative Culture
Liverpool
Issue 87 / April 2018
bidolito.co.uk
Second Floor
The Merchant
40-42 Slater Street
Liverpool L1 4BX
Editor
Christopher Torpey - chris@bidolito.co.uk
Editor-In-Chief / Publisher
Craig G Pennington - info@bidolito.co.uk
Media Partnerships and Projects Manager
Sam Turner - sam@bidolito.co.uk
Assistant Editor
Bethany Garrett - editorial@bidolito.co.uk
Reviews Editor
Jonny Winship - live@bidolito.co.uk
Design
Mark McKellier - mark@andmark.co.uk
Branding
Thom Isom - hello@thomisom.com
Student Society Co-Chairs
Daisy Scott - daisy@bidolito.co.uk
Sophie Shields - sophie@bidolito.co.uk
Intern
Maya Jones
Cover Photography
Robin Clewley
Words
Christopher Torpey, Maya Jones, Matthew Hogarth,
Del Pike, Julia Johnson, Sinéad Nunes, James Davidson,
Mike Stanton, Sam Turner, Bethany Garrett, Craig G
Pennington, Glyn Akroyd, Christopher Carr, Jessica
Fleming, Richard Lewis, Sophie Shields, Daisy Scott
Photography, Illustration and Layout
Mark McKellier, Robin Clewley, Boneface, John Latham,
Rob Adamson, Mook Loxley, Day Howarth, Glyn
Akroyd, Pete Carr, Darren Aston, Keith Ainsworth,
Gareth Jones, Anthony Chappel-Ross.
Distributed by Middle Distance
Print, distribution and events support across
Merseyside and the North West.
middledistance.org.uk
9 / EDITORIAL
Editor Christopher Torpey looks at some
research that proves how vital art is to our
ability to build connections with our fellow
humans, and how deepening these links can
help us build a more civil society.
10 / NEWS
The latest announcements, releases and nonfake
news from around the region.
12 / FACT AT 15
Since it opened in 2003, FACT has established
itself as a central pillar of the city’s thriving
arts community, sparking a generation of
experimentation in film, art and media.
16 / PIZZAGIRL
A tasty pie of heartfelt synthwave and cheesy,
retro sensibilities is the order of the day with this
bedroom pop sensation.
18 / DAWN RAY’D
The anarchist revolution is coming, and it is
going to be soundtracked by DAWN RAY’D’s
battle-ready, poetic take on black metal.
20 / SOUNDTRACKING… A
CLOCKWORK ORANGE
Ahead of the Everyman Theatre’s production
of A Clockwork Orange, Del Pike revisits the
cult music and imagery of Kubrick and Burgess’
great Horrorshow.
22 / ARTS CENTRAL
In the latest in her series focusing on the
region’s arts centres, Julia Johnson looks at
how THE ATKINSON is maintaining a longheld
tradition of arts participation in Southport.
24 / BEIJA FLO
A daring approach to musical performance is
just one aspect of the activism and art of BEIJA
FLO, one of the most ambitious artists working
in the city today.
26 / DIE WITH YOUR MASK ON
Lifting the mask on the artist tasked with
drawing the sound of QOTSA ahead of an
upcoming exhibition of his new work at Buyers
Club.
32 / SPOTLIGHT
We take a closer look at some artists who’ve
been impressing us of late: Chupa Cabra, Wilroy
and Yammerer.
34 / PUBLIC SERVICE
BROADCASTING
Mike Stanton catches up with J. Willgoose Esq.
of the multi-faceted archive raiders ahead of
their Liverpool Olympia date in April.
35 / PREVIEWS
Looking ahead to a busy April in Merseyside’s
creative and cultural community.
40 / REVIEWS
China Dream, Manchester Collective’s 100
Demons, Wiley and The Wailers reviewed by
our team of intrepid reporters.
54 / THE FINAL SAY
Copy
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.

EDITORIAL
Photo by Robin Clewley
“The power of great
art is that it has the
capacity to make
us connect deeply
with the emotions
of others”
With all the talk about the irrelevance of printed
publications that arose recently in the wake of NME’s
demise, it was very satisfying to pick up my copy
of the new-look Loud And Quiet magazine when it
landed with a substantial thwack on the doormat. The publication
celebrated its 123rd issue by overhauling its format with a stylish
revamp – fronted by cover artist David Byrne – that now runs across
20 more pages and three different paper stocks (print nerds, you’re
in for a treat). But its most triumphant success is that it is actually
here, still going strong, proving that there is still a place for critical
and enjoyable music journalism in 2018. And offering proof that
being a freesheet doesn’t mean you need to dumb down. Publishers
at Time Inc., take note.
There’s a neat symmetry in David Byrne gracing the front cover of
Loud And Quiet as it embarks on this new era, as his outlook mirrors
the publication’s desire to be mischievously forward-thinking while
remaining respectful, rather than wedded to, the past. In between
recording his new album, American Utopia, running a record label,
dodging rumours that he is William Onyeabor and being a general
artistic polymath, Byrne also recently found the time to host a lecture
tour under the playful title Reasons To Be Cheerful. Intended as a
hopeful look at various progressive initiatives from across the world,
Reasons To Be Cheerful highlights humanity’s proclivity to do good
even in the most challenging of circumstances. If Byrne originally saw
the project as a symbol of hope amid the increasing bleakness, he’d
be pleasantly surprised to find that the examples he has selected
(amassed at reasonstobecheerful.world) have come to be seen as a
kind of online observatory of world improvement.
Citing groundbreaking programmes tackling prison reform
(Norway) and chronic drug addiction (Portugal), Byrne points to a
number of pragmatic examples that have brought about real change
across the globe over the past decade. One report from the many
fascinating references found in the section titled Cultural Institutions
– Knock-On Effects really jumped out at me, a report that proved
how arts and humanities can have a beneficial impact on society.
A three-year study by the Social Impact Of The Arts Project at the
University Of Pennsylvania demonstrated that the presence of libraries
and other cultural institutions in boroughs across New York not only
improved health levels and children’s academic achievement, but it
also reduced crime rates. This is backed up by anecdotal evidence
from cultural hubs built in barrio neighbourhoods in Bogota and the
AfroReggae initiative in a favela in northern Rio de Janeiro. As Byrne
himself summarises, “To lower crime, we don’t need more prisons or
stiffer sentencing. Part of the solution might be to build a library or a
performance space.”
This conclusion – that if you’re connected with the society in
which you live, through art or broader cultural community activities,
you’re more likely to care about it and do something to protect it –
intuitively makes sense and is now backed up by data. A 2013 study
by the University Of Birmingham into the factors that predicted rates
of volunteering by UK youths (aged 10-15) added further weight
to this body of research. It found that young people with high levels
of “cultural capital” – or artistic engagement – are more likely to
volunteer. “Going to the theatre, concerts, sports events, museums or
art galleries had the greatest influence on youth volunteering and civic
engagement.”
And there’s more: a 2012 Cambridge study in the journal
Psychology Of Music showed that a group of children who
participated in musical activities were more attuned to their peers’
emotional needs than those who had taken part in general communal
activities; and researchers from the University At Buffalo were able
to prove that students who had read various passages from Harry
Potter and Twilight novels quickly began to self-identify with the
characters they were reading about, pointing to reading as fulfilling
a fundamental need – the need for social connection. “Books provide
the opportunity for social connection and the blissful calm that comes
from becoming a part of something larger than oneself for a precious,
fleeting moment,” wrote the report’s authors Dr Shira Gabriel and
Ariana Young.
Art, and its attendant culture, is a vitally constructive aspect in the
development of humanity, and we can now prove that a lack of access
to arts is damaging to society. This may be a conclusion that seems
instinctual to us who work in the arts and humanities, but without
demonstrable proof it’s a mere theory. Bolstered by this knowledge,
we can now approach the conversations around developing a
new framework for our city region’s cultural strategy with greater
conviction.
The power of great art is that it has the capacity to make us
connect deeply with the emotions of others, and improves our ability
to see things from another person’s perspective. In an article written
for the Guardian in January 2017, the then outgoing Chairman of
Arts Council England, Peter Bazalgette, referenced many ways
in which art and culture have demonstrably benefited our ability
to empathise and thus become more ‘humane’. “Arts and popular
culture, with their stories about the human condition are, if you like,
the empathy gymnasium,” he writes, expanding on one of the many
compelling arguments he used to lobby the government to increase
their investment in arts during his tenure. “And why does it matter?
Because empathy is a glue that enables families, communities and
countries to function in a civil and civilised manner. If you can see
things from someone else’s point of view, then you can go on to act
compassionately towards them.”
It’s a theory Bazalgette develops thoroughly in his book The
Empathy Instinct: How To Create A More Civil Society, hailing
the development of MRI technology in allowing scientists and
psychologists to pinpoint areas of the brain activated by artistic stimuli.
Closing the book’s chapter on The Art Of Empathy, Bazalgette
emphasises: “It’s clear that if we assure each generation immerses
itself in arts and culture, in all its many manifestations, we’ll build better
citizens who understand each other’s feelings and needs. That is what
it is to be human.”
So, you see, we need music, and art, and the ability to create –
as much as we need the venues and institutions to showcase and
consume these creations. It’s not an indulgence, it’s part of our make
up – as a form of expression and as a way for us to understand the
deepest motivations and feelings of others. And you don’t need to have
David Byrne’s polymathic abilities to see that; you just need the ability
to feel.
It is with great sadness that we heard about the passing of
musician Jonny Walker just as we were going to press. Jonny was a
great advocate for the rights of buskers and street performers across
the North West, and promoted the idea that public spaces should be
places where artistic expression should be encouraged. All of us at
Bido Lito! would like to pass on our sincerest condolences to his family
at this time.
Christopher Torpey / @CATorp
Editor
09

NEWS
LIMF’s New Generation
For the past five years, LIVERPOOL INTERNATIONAL MUSIC
FESTIVAL has delighted punters across Merseyside with its Summer
Jam – for 2018, they’re pulling out all the stops, bringing some of
the UK’s most popular and critically acclaimed contemporary acts
to Sefton Park on 21st and 22nd July. Alongside big hitters like
EXAMPLE and DJ WIRE and longstanding Godfather of Grime,
WILEY, there are hotly-tipped newcomers like STEFFLON DON and
MAHALIA, and Mercury Prize winners YOUNG FATHERS, whose
new album Cocoa Sugar is a shoe-in for record of the year (yeh,
we’re only four months in but it’s that good). Keep an eye out for the
new iteration of the much-loved itsliverpool Stage too – Next Gen
will continue LIMF’s tradition of platforming the best new talent in
the city. The festival will be ticketed this year, but for a mere £5 a
day it doesn’t really take much thought. Head to limfestival.com for
more info.
Young Fathers
Alight Of Night
LIGHTNIGHT represents the best chance of experiencing a huge
chunk of the city’s cultural offer in one foot-blistering swoop. For
one night galleries, museums, venues and other spaces in the city
open their doors for special events running from late afternoon
to after darkness falls. This year’s ‘Transformation’ theme sees
some enticing commissions from sound artist Patrick Dineen,
another light and sound spectacular at Liverpool Cathedral and
the British Music Experience hosting an interactive installation.
Bido Lito! members will be able to experience the highlights with
our own guided tour. For more info on this year’s programme go
to lightnightliverpool.co.uk.
LightNight (Photo by Pete Carr)
WoW: Crossing Borders
Lily Allen
WRITING ON THE WALL – Liverpool’s literary festival that takes over the city each
May – are not shy about addressing some of the most pressing questions of our time,
and they’ve surpassed themselves with their plans for 2018. Taking on the theme
of ‘Crossing Borders’, their events will explore how society can move forward and
champion more voices at a time when building, and reinforcing, barriers and borders
are challenging progressive thought. They’ll be addressing Justice4Grenfell with input
from LOWKEY and LILY ALLEN, questioning the prison system, celebrating the work
of city writers, and taking on toxic masculinity with two of the most prominent voices
in the UK to speak out about it – comedian ROBERT WEBB and Rizzle Kicks’ JORDAN
STEPHENS. Find out more at writingonthewall.org.uk.
Plotting The Mind Map
It’s Time To Talk About Drugs
Sleaford Mods, Shopping and The Orielles are among the musical
guests on new interactive mental health website THE MIND MAP which
launched in March. Developed with clinical input from NHS Liverpool
CCG and Mersey Care along with Liverpool John Moores University,
the site provides wellbeing advice and signposting to mental health
services along with interviews with artists, young people and health
professionals. The Mind Map launched with an exhibition (which runs
until 8th April) and conversation with Everton footballer Leighton
Baines at Unit 51. They’ll be continuing activity locally with mental
health and media workshops with the Merseyside Youth Association’s
mental health group in April. Find out more at themindmap.co.uk.
An important subject is being tackled head-on at the Jacaranda
in April with Resonate Liverpool coordinating a discussion on
drug welfare at UK music venues. Looking at the expansion of the
multi-agency safety testing (M.A.S.T.) programme operated by
community interest organisation The Loop, and following the policy
recommendations of West Midland Police, the discussion looks to
move the conversation forward rather than simply re-treading old
ground. The panel event on Saturday 14th April at the Jac consists of
representatives from The Loop, Fabric London nightclub (the nightclub
which implemented M.A.S.T.’s anonymous drug testing initiative after
reviews to their licence) and national committees on drug issues.
Beautiful World, Where Are You?
Ari Benjamin Meyers
The 10th edition of LIVERPOOL BIENNIAL will be exploring the
question ‘Beautiful World, Where Are You?’ this year with artists from
across the globe arriving in our midst. Exhibitions in art spaces and
special commissions in the public realm will once again transform
the city with works by artists from various countries’ indigenous
communities, community collaborations and the rediscovery of our
city’s treasures. Among the highlights are Oscar-nominated Belgian
video artist AGNÈS VARDA’s first work in the UK, works by artist ARI
BENJAMIN MEYERS exploring Liverpool’s musical heritage which is
set in the Playhouse, and a ‘healing’ garden to be produced by artist
MOHAMED BOUROUISSA in Toxteth.
10

DANSETTE
Former Engineers songwriter
MARK PETERS reveals some of
the inspirational records that have
proved seminal in his musical
education, and especially during the
making of his new solo LP, Innerland.
Jo Mary Land A Seabass
Everyone’s favourite naked sleaze rockers
JO MARY start their monthly residency at
Sound Food and Drink with a roll call of artists
celebrating the underground. The Wirral rockers
have lovingly picked their favourite acts from the
Leisure Peninsula and beyond for a regular night
entitled Seabass, which promises to be a living,
breathing jukebox of “carnage, mayhem and most
of all just good music”. For the opening night
on 28th April the band are joined by SAMURAI
KIP, BILL NICKSON, UNCLE JANE and a DJ
set from Bido Lito! affiliate Hog Roast. Future
gigs will see the likes of MEATRAFFLE and
STARLIGHT MAGIC HOUR (26th May) enter the
subterranean creative haven.
Meatraffle
Articulating Women
Despite a conscious push for greater gender equality infiltrating
mainstream discourse, we’re still a long way off, and often when
discussing these issues our Anglocentric focus neglects the
bigger picture across the globe. Looking to address this is a new
initiative from Christ University Bengaluru, The Bluecoat, FACT,
and Liverpool Hope University. Mixing art, film and education,
ARTICULATING WOMEN will host an artist in residence
from the Karnataka state of India at The Bluecoat, produce
educational materials for teachers and community volunteers, as
well as host film screenings at FACT and in Bengaluru, alongside
much more. They’ve also launched a competition to produce a
mini-documentary around the theme of women and community,
which is open to students in higher education in the UK and
India. For more information on the project and how to get
involved, head to empowering-women.net.
Harold Budd/
Brian Eno
A Stream With
Bright Fish
Editions EG
This slapped me around the face when I first heard it. It’s
the perfect representation of 4am in mid-summer. The
simulated crickets obviously help, but there’s something in
the interplay between the piano and effects that is really
riveting. It annoys me when people criticise music for its
passive qualities; I think it’s akin to impressionistic painting –
not a literal depiction of a place and time, but a very accurate
reading of the feeling you had in that place or time.
The Durutti Column
Madeleine
Factory
This was the first track I heard
by them and it’s still one of my
favourites. I love that you can
hear the origins of loads of other music from the North
West in it. I saw Vini Reilly play in York a few years ago
and it made me rethink my music making. That expressive
northwestern feeling in his playing made me realise that I
should stop ignoring that aspect of myself – it’s a rich seam
that has produced some of the world’s best popular music.
The Wytches
Tom Verlaine
Spiritual
Rough Trade
Shed Talks Over The Threshold
ACROSS THE THRESHOLD takes place this month, a scaled
down version of the popular grassroots festival which
has taken over the Baltic Triangle every year since 2012.
Part of the festival for this year – which hosts the likes of
EMERGENCY TIARA, PETER J SMYTH and MIXNOTS – is
an interactive programme of discursive sessions which aims
to address a wide range of pertinent issues facing the city’s
creative community. SHED Talks will cover such ground as
the future of festivals in Liverpool, how the Baltic Triangle can
thrive in the current climate and traversing the tricky terrain of
social media for budding promoters.
Calling Card
After a couple of years’ absence, LIVERPOOL CALLING
returns this year bigger and better than ever. Boasting a
top line-up consisting of PULLED APART BY HORSES and
THE WYTCHES, the homegrown festival will be welcomed
back by music fans. Taking place in venues across the Baltic
Triangle with an additional opening programme of gigs in city
centre venues, the event looks quite different from its humble
beginnings five years ago. Joining the headliners on the bill
are some Bido Lito! favourites including PEANESS, SPQR
and CRAPSONS and a bunch more local acts across various
venues.
Amazing as it is, it’s not all
about Marquee Moon for
me. I wish Tom Verlaine
had made more music like this. Like Vini Reilly or Richard
Thompson, it’s like he has the voice of ancient man in his
fingertips. I wonder sometimes if he’s almost debating with
an imaginary opponent when he’s soloing and dismissing
their opinions with the overwhelming truth of the resolving
moments. That, among other reasons, is why people like
this are far superior to your typical guitar ego wanker.
Haruomi Hosono
25 Dec. 1983
Yen Records
Vels Trio
Amen Corner
ON THE CORNER is the latest festival to be added to the Baltic
Triangle’s enviable calendar of innovative events. Over three days
at the end of April, Constellations will be playing host to a vibrant
cross section of progressive young artists. On the bill, experimental
jazz troupe VELS TRIO play Madlib’s Shades Of Blue, RnB singer
FATIMA returns after a stellar Liverpool show last year, and Melodies
International co-owner MAFALDA makes a Merseyside debut. Starting
with a launch party on Friday 27th April and ending with a day of
pop-up food stalls, an independent record fair and creative workshops
on Sunday 29th, On The Corner also brings two of Liverpool’s newest
venues into the fold with Brick Street and The Reeds hosting afterparties
over the weekend. Sections of the event will also be broadcast
live via Baltic-based internet radio station MELODIC DISTRACTION,
adding to the festival’s bold vision.
This is perfectly named and
I don’t know why. It’s not for
festive reasons either. It’s just
emotion expressed in a very pure way – not even one
emotion – from chord to chord comes elation and reflection
to reminiscence and back again. A time, place and event
captured very elegantly. He’s an unsung genius to me, a
little unfairly disregarded in favour of Ryuichi Sakamoto. His
music is less western overall, though, and it has that pure
Japanese folk voice that is very calming on a philosophical
as well as spiritual level.
Head to bidolito.co.uk to read (and listen to) more of Mark
Peters’ selections. An extended version of Peters’ LP
Innerland is released on 20th April via Sonic Cathedral.
Mark Peters also plays the Bido Lito! Social on 24th May.
NEWS 11

When it opened in 2003 it was the first new arts centre to be built in
Liverpool in 60 years; today, FACT is a central pillar of the city’s thriving
arts community. Maya Jones considers how this futuristic building
sparked a generation of experimentation in film, art and media.
“What makes many
of FACT’s exhibitions
so exciting [is] the
feeling that you are a
part of the artwork”
I
was 16 and impressionable when I first walked through
the doors of FACT – the Foundation for Art and Creative
Technology. After hours spent devouring The Art Of Pop
Video (2013), I left armed with a poster and the knowledge
that, when it comes to weirdly disturbing music videos, Die
Antwoord are the masters. FACT drew me in using popular
music, and showed me a glimpse of an art world I knew little
about. It was the first time I felt at home in an art gallery and the
beginning of a journey that, five years later, would see me return
to Liverpool’s art scene as a writer. And so that poster remains on
my bedroom wall as a reminder that some things are timeless: my
appreciation of FACT and everything it represents being one.
To celebrate FACT’s 15th birthday, I met up with the gallery’s
Director and CEO to discuss how the arts centre has evolved
since it opened in 2003. Like FACT, Mike Stubbs is unpredictable
and we begin our interview on the building’s roof. “For me,
it’s interesting to think about this building as a catalyst for
cultural regeneration in Liverpool.” He points to the surrounding
Ropewalks area: “20 or 30 years ago, this was pretty much
derelict and in a state of decline. Now, if we go onto the other
side of the building and walk down Bold Street, it’s all coffee
shops and restaurants.” It’s a comparison I’m familiar with: one
that is frequently used to express how this city has changed.
Stubbs tells me that FACT’s biggest challenge was “making
people realise that an independent area like the Ropewalks
could succeed” – and it did. FACT’s success as an arts centre is
reflected in the regeneration of the Ropewalks area, and that
alone is worthy of celebration.
So how did FACT begin? In 1988, Eddie Berg – the founder
and former executive director of FACT – launched the Video
Positive festival. “It started as a community collaboration
project,” Stubbs explains, “and then it became a desire to have
a national new media arts centre here in Liverpool, and not in
London.” Costing £11 million to build, FACT opened in 2003,
the same year that Liverpool won the bid to be European Capital
Of Culture in 2008. The city beat strong contenders such as
Bristol and Newcastle/Gateshead, and Stubbs suggests that
FACT was instrumental to this success: “When the judging
team came up here, they saw this futuristic building looking at
modern media and thought that Liverpool must be really forward
thinking. Prior to this, the last new arts building in Liverpool was
the Philharmonic in 1939. So in a sense, it was a really brave,
confident move for the city to invest in FACT; it was a signal that
Liverpool was confident in its future as a creative city.”
When Stubbs arrived at FACT in 2007, preparations for
Liverpool’s Capital Of Culture year were in full swing. He
describes a city on the brink of change: “We’d be looking out
here at a sea of cranes. The whole city was like a building site.”
It strikes me that this is similar to what I am looking at now; with
new luxury flats and student accommodation, the regeneration
of the Ropewalks area is an ongoing process that some feel has
gone too far. I ask Stubbs about the dangers of gentrification and
he is quick to point towards some of the city’s success stories:
Baltic Creative, for example, and the Kazimier merging with
Invisible Wind Factory. However, he is adamant that Liverpool
must keep its “idiosyncrasy and let people be truly creative, not a
corporatised version of what creativity can deliver.”
2008 was a year of celebration and culture for Liverpool, and
Stubbs believes it had a lasting impact on the arts industry. “The
European Capital of Culture was in my view really successful. The
local authority and everybody in this city has continued to believe
that arts and culture is important.” He remembers the exhibitions
from that year with particular affection. Jens Hauser curated
sk-interfaces, in which artists used their own biological materials
as art material and modified their bodies as artwork – as Stubbs
summarises, “this was some pretty weird shit.” FACT also
12

hosted the UK premiere of Gravity By My Friend, a “beautifully
immersive work” by Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist. ‘Immersive’ pops
up repeatedly throughout our conversation, and I realise that this
quality is what makes many of FACT’s exhibitions so exciting: the
feeling that you are a part of the artwork.
I ask Stubbs to recall the other projects that have stood out in
the 11 years he has worked at FACT. He names Chicago-based
Austrian artist Kurt Hentschlager and his work ZEE (2011),
which “blew people away, and blew me away.” The audiovisual
installation invited audience members to wander through a heavy
fog; it was designed to give the impression of time standing still.
Stubbs explains further: “We filled the gallery space downstairs
with a very heavy fog using dry ice. It triggered all sorts of brain
activity using non-ocular vision, just by playing light through this
heavy mist into your eye. It was weird and fantastic.”
He also mentions Tehching Hsieh’s One Year Performance,
1980 – 1981, which was curated by FACT for the Liverpool
Biennial in 2010. The exhibition documented one year in which
Hsieh punched a clocking-on machine every hour for the duration
of the year. Every time he clocked on, a frame of 16mm film
was taken and a time-lapse movie was formed. Hsieh was
interrogating the idea of wasted time. “It was an extremely
formal, regimented artwork. He managed to get up every hour
for a year, except for 133 times, and then he made this extremely
beautiful artwork out of the documentation, which FACT
displayed.” Stubbs shows me the photography, and I notice the
length of his hair changing as time passes. Boredom and bodilypunishment
appear oddly calming on paper.
There have been many seminal exhibitions at FACT over
the past 15 years. Readers might remember Shia LaBeouf’s
#TOUCHMYSOUL performative exhibition with Rönkkö and
Turner in 2015 – but it was 2017’s HEWILLNOTDIVIDEUS, in
response to Donald Trump’s election as US President, which
caught international attention when it angered members of an
alt-right discussion board on 4chan. After being forced to remove
his live webcam stream from outside New York’s Museum Of
The Moving Image, LaBeouf started a live-stream of a white flag
bearing the words ‘HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US’, and the alt-right
tracked down its location using a variety of complex methods.
After a bizarre series of events that resembled a message board
game of capture the flag, it appeared on the roof of FACT. Within
hours, it had been taken down due to trespassers. The whole
escapade was an important reminder of how powerful art can be
in the digital age, and of its potential to reach masses of people.
In a beautiful example of irony, the alt-right’s desire to silence
LaBeouf only reinforced his message.
Each of the exhibitions that Stubbs mentions is unlike
anything I have heard of before. It’s a quality I enjoy about FACT:
not knowing what I am going to get when I walk into the gallery
space. It makes this arts centre a welcome accompaniment to
some of the more traditional galleries in the city, and I am keen
to know how they choose which artworks to exhibit. “It’s about
choosing the right projects that people can get an easy entry
point to.” He mentions Richard Ramchurn’s The Moment, which
will be on show as part of the FACT At 15 celebrations. “In this
new project, visitors will wear a headset and sit in a caravan in
Ropewalks Square. It’s quite an attractive thing for people who
might not go into a gallery space first thing. Except they will go
into a gallery space: it will be the caravan.” He finishes: “We want
to make work that is critical, but also accessible.”
Stubbs also wants to ensure that FACT remains politically
relevant. “We allow artists licence to ask questions that other
people feel they can’t.” He cites a recent project called Future
Aleppo (2017 – 2018), in which “people could see a model of
what Aleppo looked like before it was bombed, and have a go on
VR for the first time.” In 2019, an exhibition called After The End
“We allow artists
licence to ask
questions that
other people
feel they can’t”
FEATURE
13

Of The World will explore climate change and sustainability 20
years on from the Paris Accord. Being internationally focused also
helps FACT to remain relevant and at the forefront of technology
and art. Stubbs points to projects in Shanghai and Panama as
well as a partnership with CERN in Switzerland as examples of
FACT’s broad, ambitious reach.
But FACT is not just known for its art. The building, which
contains a café, bar and cinema, has become a staple community
space for members of the public. The high, swooping ceilings
of the atrium and the floor-length windows create a welcoming
and calming atmosphere; a visit to FACT becomes a quiet respite
from busy Bold Street. Stubbs explains that the atrium used to be
sectioned into smaller, closed spaces before they opened it up:
“We wanted to make everything more public, and treat the entire
building as a gallery space. We also wanted to merge the people
who came for the cinema experience with those that come for the
galleries.” It is this open approach that makes it so easy to dip into
FACT’s exhibitions: a cinema or café-goer with 10 minutes to spare
is welcome to explore the galleries while they wait.
Not wanting to get too wrapped up in nostalgia, the gallery is
dedicating a week of programming to mark its anniversary, and a
major part of FACT At 15 will involve looking at the future of the
building. Though it has served as an excellent space for the past
15 years, Stubbs is keen to improve its accessibility and proximity
to Bold Street. “When the building was built, we had the option
of having two lifts or a fancy staircase and one lift. We chose the
latter.” The fancy staircase is now a staple of the building, but
Stubbs is keen to address the lack of accessibility. “We’ve had far
too many complaints from people tripping on cobbles or not being
able to get into the building – so we have ambition to redevelop
the building as much as we can.” Another issue is space: “We’re
always trying to use the space in lots of new ways. We’ve got two
galleries but we’d like more – we could use it.” Like the surrounding
area it has helped to shape, FACT must keep evolving.
Above all, FACT At 15 will be a celebration. “There will be
some pomp and splendour,” Stubbs assures me, “and we’ll be
marking all the people that helped make the original building
possible. Then we’ll thank all the people that have grown it.”
Highlights of the week-long activity include a live set from Robin
Fox at 24 Kitchen Street, which Stubbs points out is a very FACT
thing to be playing host to. “Robin is somewhere between a
sonic artist, musician and DJ. He started mucking about with
lasers and before you know it, you’ve got these incredible
audiovisual works. This links to my point of letting people muck
about.”
Speaking with Stubbs is like being given a whirlwind of
fascinating information; I spend hours afterwards absorbing the
brilliant stories and peculiarities that make up FACT’s history.
It is clear that FACT At 15 is both a celebration of the past and
a nod towards a bright and innovative future. 10 years after it
was named the European Capital Of Culture, Liverpool is leading
the way as a city of the arts and it has this building to thank.
As conversations on how to build this success into something
sustainable come to the fore a decade after 08, Stubbs has one
piece of advice for this evolving city, which sticks in my mind
long after we cease talking: “Whatever you do, create open
space for people to fuck about, play and try things out that they
don’t understand.” It is a perfect description of FACT. !
Words: Maya Jones / @mmayajones
Photography: Robin Clewley / robinclewley.co.uk
fact.co.uk
FACT At 15 runs between 11th and 15th April. As part of the
celebrations, FACT is asking for members of the public to share
their personal memories and experiences of the building. Tweet
your memories @FACT_Liverpool to join in.
“We want to
make work that is
critical, but also
accessible”
14

BUY 1 GIN
GET THE SECOND
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SUNDAY TO THURSDAY

Nightcrawler
Pizza choice: Mr White
(Oregano, ricotta, mozzarella,
caramelised onions, garlic oil)
American
Pizza Slice
“Cheesy, creamy ricotta, I like it
a-lotta. It’s the go-to pizza here.
Shout out to Jamie the pizza wizard.”
Pizza choice – Fennel Sausage
(Mascarpone, fire roasted red
peppers, Italian sausage)
“Mmm fresh cheese. It’s on a par with
Crazy Pedro’s, but it’s a bit like toast.”
PIZZAGIRL
A tasty pie of heartfelt synthwave
and cheesy, retro sensibilities
is the order of the day of this
bedroom pop sensation.
always said my style is, like, infomercial-esque
80s, 90s ironic pop, but sometimes it gets a bit
darker. I like infomercial music, like QVC, and smooth
“I’ve
jazz lift music… I like being weird, basically.”
Liam Brown, aka PIZZAGIRL (and the artist formerly known
as Lumen), is very much a child of the 21st Century – but you
wouldn’t necessarily know that to look at him. The 19-year-old
sat before me today is sporting a green and blue shell suit jacket
and natty pizza socks, in honour of the ‘pizza crawl’ we’ve invited
him on around some of the city centre’s popular slice bars. He’s
upbeat at the prospect of putting his culinary powers to the test,
but his positive demeanour is primarily because he has a new
EP out in April. Amazingly, An Extended Play is the first ‘proper’
collection of music Brown has released as Pizzagirl or Lumen,
beyond dropping a number of singles since he emerged on the
scene as a fresh-faced 17-year-old.
“At home it’s like The Shining,” he says about the bedroom
setup he has in his “Beatzeria” at home. “I’ll just sit at home and
stay quiet, recording a song a day. Basically, that’s all I do. I’ve been
sitting on quite a bit of music and it’s nice to just get it out and
have people listen to it.”
Brown has always been a prolific songwriter, but what he
has possibly lacked is the conviction to go with his work rate.
The newfound confidence that he has comes from the backing
of Manchester-based label Heist Or Hit, who’ve given him the
comfort he needs to just go and create. “They never change
anything creative about it, so anything coming out is 100% me in
my bedroom.”
“I feel like in my room I can make a fool out of myself,” he
continues. “I feel like I can experiment a bit more because no one’s
watching me.” Working alone offers Brown the freedom he craves,
where he can allow his creativity to truly express itself – but he
does occasionally miss the opportunity to bounce ideas off people;
which is where the internet comes in. As a product of the digital
age, Brown sees the internet as a tool, using it to locate rabbit
holes of musical inspiration which he can then disappear down. “I
love the internet like a person, it’s a thing of constant inspiration. I
like that idea of it being a thing, like a friend or an extra bandmate.
It’s where someone in a band would be like, ‘Have you heard this?’
Spotify is like my co-manager at the minute.”
Pizzagirl’s style is so obviously rooted in the garish aesthetic
of 90s children’s TV and synth-heavy 80s film soundtracks that
he fits right in inside the brightly-coloured pizza establishments
adorned with retro paraphernalia that we wander into. The
Pizzagirl shtick is a homemade version of all these influences,
yet deliberately and playfully off-kilter. “I just love pop culture,”
Brown exclaims, as he sits down to his second slice beneath
some Transformers skateboards. “I love all the fashion, the wacky,
colourful, ballsy stuff.”
Though Brown makes plenty of references to “properly
inspirational, smooth RnB pop stuff” – Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson
(“Let’s Wait Awhile by her is the ultimate power ballad, but it’s so
funky”), Jessie’s Girl and Don’t Stop Believing – there’s not a hint
of irony or pastiche in his music. Instead, the Pizzagirl oeuvre is
flavoured by a far stronger fascination that Brown has for the dark,
brooding synthwave film soundtracks to Drive and Bladerunner.
One listen to his singles Carseat and Coffee Shop will confirm this.
“I feel like I was born in the right time but the wrong time as
well,” he admits. “I want to be living in the 80s but at the same
time I wouldn’t have the same accessibility of 80s music if I were
16

Crazy Pedro’s
Pizza choice – Pedro’s Pepperoni
(Pepperoni and house cheese mix)
“The pepperoni slices are really evenly
spaced – it’s like an American flag! The
cheese-to-bread ratio could be better,
but the pepperoni spacing is like art.”
living then. Which is hard – it’s the constant burden I live with…!”
There’s a sense of longing on the louche track Seabirds from
the EP that hints at a deep seriousness in him, which makes the
whimsy of the Pizzagirl front seem like a wall that’s put up for
Brown to hide behind. This can be a delicate line to toe, but in
his mind he knows exactly where Pizzagirl ends and where Liam
starts. “I feel like Pizzagirl is a persona. If you look on Instagram
it’s like a wacky, exaggerated me – I’m not like that all the time, I’m
quite chilled out I’d like to think.”
“Hopefully Pizzagirl is a thing that other people can get in on,”
he states, adding that he wants it to be “a nice little world where
you feel warm in the nostalgia. I just want to take people back
20 years to forget about the climate that we’re in today. It’s quite
a bleak landscape. When I look back on the 90s, even though I
wasn’t really alive – I wasn’t born until 1998 – it just seems more
fun; everything seems a bit more alive and vivid.”
The change of name from Lumen to Pizzagirl is something
that Brown also credits as a big part in his development. “If I were
going to see someone called Lumen I would expect something
more pretentious than I was doing at the time,” he states, and it’s
also resulted in an uplift in expectations of what his live show is.
Brown credits a gig he played with Kero Kero Bonito at Liverpool
Music Week in 2017 for making him think outside the (pizza) box
about his live setup. “It was a perfect gig for me to do; all their
fans are really hardcore and they were all dressed up mad. Sarah
[Midori Perry, vocalist] had a flamingo, they were playing proper
mad synth patches, it was boss to watch. So I went home, got
some synths, and started doing it.”
This hits on what Brown thinks was an important realisation
for him in identifying the musician he wanted to be. He doesn’t
want to be viewed as ‘just another artist’ in an endless sea of
acts jamming their way through a set. “I want it to be like a party,
like a design,” he says, before revealing that he’s often bored by
bog standard live shows. “When I go to gigs I’m always sitting
there waiting for it to finish because I’m not really a big gig goer. I
remember seeing Peaches at Sound City; she was crazy, I love her.
Stuff like that, that blurs the line between music and cabaret, gets
me more excited than seeing just a band on stage with drums.”
“Pizzagirl seems like a novelty name but it’s just a moniker to
be a bit crazy,” he adds, showing no signs of flagging as his third
pizza slice arrives. “You don’t know what to expect, it could be
anything, and I feel like that’s better for me because I don’t have to
impress anyone. I wanted to do something that was so absurd that
you wouldn’t – you couldn’t – criticise it. It’s just fun, I don’t want it
to be too serious.”
The impression of a young artist reaching back to a period that
he barely remembers to co-opt the style can come across as a bit
of a calculated move. But the fact remains that Brown was making
music with a retro, synthetic kind of vibe long before Pizzagirl; and
the image belies the fact that this music has real heart and depth.
Favourite Song and Private Number (a song about falling in love
with a computer) are far from throwaway tunes; they’re heartfelt
and perfectly in tune with the twinkling synth passages.
“I’m not like some novelty Timmy Mallett or something, going
on stage making songs just to listen to once. I want to put a bit
more thought to how it’s done, but in a way that the lyrics would
be a bit deeper than the music. It disarms you by the fact that it’s a
bit ironic.”
The focus Brown puts on Pizzagirl’s accompanying visuals is
key to understanding him as an artist who successfully straddles
two eras separated by a digital revolution. “I like adverts, and how
media goes with music,” he states, demonstrating an acceptance
of advertising culture that is typical of his generation. “Ads are
sort of the little helper to give you what visuals go with the music,
but if I’d said this 20 years ago it would have been called selling
out. Aspiring to work with ads or brands shouldn’t be seen as
selling out – it should be a really good opportunity to do something
creative. You can’t just sit there and go, ‘I’m never going to work
with a brand because that’s my music getting tainted’, because it
isn’t! It’s fun. It’s weird, because a lot of traditionalists are like that.
You can’t make music without at least capitalising on it in some
way.”
Pizzagirl is far from the finished product, which is probably the
most exciting aspect about what he’s achieved with An Extended
Play. Still in a state of building on his influences, Brown admits that
he feels like he’s “just a bit of a sponge at the moment: any pop
culture thing or any film or TV or live act that sort of piques my
interest, I’ll take bits from it.” The image of Brown burrowed away
in his Beatzeria, filtering the wackiest corners of the internet into
his own singular identity, is one that gives you faith that the future
of music is in safe, if unconventional, hands.
“It’s exciting to not know, to see what’s going to happen. The
journey’s fun.”
Words: Christopher Torpey / @CATorp
Photography: John Latham / mrjohnlatham.com
mypizzagirl.com
An Extended Play is released on 13th April via Heist Or Hit.
Pizzagirl supports Her’s at EBGBS on 19th April.
FEATURE
17

DAWN RAY’D
The anarchist revolution is coming, and it is going to be soundtracked by
DAWN RAY’D’s battle-ready, poetic take on black metal.
18

There’s a lot of anger in the world today: things often look
very bleak, especially if you’re tuned in to a cycle of news
that knows how to prey on your deepest insecurities.
From the alt-right to the activist left – and everywhere in
between – there seethes a fury in all of us. It’s OK to be angry, it’s a
normal, human reaction – it’s how you process it that defines you.
Referencing this anger, and reacting to it in a way that is
cathartic and freeing, are DAWN RAY’D. Born from the ashes of
post-hardcore band We Came Out Like Tigers, this three-piece
pour their spite into a triumph of harmony and malevolence on
their debut album The Unlawful Assembly. Split into two parts,
the LP is an updated blast of black metal from what was found
on their 2015 EP, A Thorn, A Blight. The anger found on this LP
is not wanton, it’s channelled, showing that fury that is controlled
and directed well can be very powerful. Indeed, after selling
out of the LP’s first pressing when it was released in October
2017, Dawn Ray’d’s label – the progressive black metal imprint
Prosthetic Records, home to Scale The Summit and Skeletonwitch
– commissioned a re-pressing of the LP on silver and bronze vinyl,
to be released in April.
Dawn Ray’d take their name from a passage in a poem by
American anarchist writer Voltairine de Cleyre, which is a nod
to their own left-wing, antifascist views, and the poetic lyrics
of Simon B, who acts as a kind of lightning rod of the group’s
fearsome energy. Their stance marks them out as a group who
see activism and having a musical platform as equally important,
particularly against some of the more unsavoury, pro-right-wing
views of NSBM (national socialist black metal) artists.
Ahead of the re-release of The Unlawful Assembly, we caught
up with the band’s vocalist and violinist Simon B. to find out what
Dawn Ray’d’s take on a contemporary class war would look and
sound like.
The Unlawful Assembly is split into two parts, The Wild Service
and The Wild Magic. What does each ‘half’ represent, in terms of
competing emotions that make up the whole album?
Every release we have done in this band, and in our previous
bands, has focused around the vinyl release, so it was definitely
written in two halves. For me, The Wild Service, the first half of the
record, is very direct and straightforward, the lyrics are expressly
political, the songs are fast, angry, no-nonsense. It is very much
the ‘business end’ of the album. I liked
the idea that anarchism is a service
to humanity and to the world, it is
a very selfless ideology. The Wild
Magic is more expansive and lyrically
philosophical, more whimsical; it is
less literal for sure. Although we are
very political, we are also a black
metal band, so there has to be a
balance between the message and
the magic black metal is supposed to
create.
I also liked the idea of replacing the
‘side A/B’ format. It is another chance
to put extra imagination into the
record – I like the idea of using every
possible chance you have to express
yourself, not wasting an opportunity
to contribute to the magic or lore of
what this band is.
“Screaming as
hard as you can,
punching the air
and seeing people
scream the words
back at you is a
feeling like no other”
Would it be fair to say there’s plenty of rage on this album?
There are some fairly obvious targets for vitriol too (the church,
Nazi apologists), but is there a more existential rage embedded
in the whole thing?
Hmm… It is a very angry album for sure, I would say that is the
primary emotion on this record without doubt, but an anger that
comes in different forms; it is triumphant at times, sometimes
righteous, sometimes very bitter and malicious. There are definitely
targets that have been singled out – fascists, the abusers within
the church, the borders, prisons – but you are right, there is a
deeper anger for sure.
The Ceaseless Arbitrary Choice explores the faults of voting and
relying on a ballot box for change, and maybe what we could
do instead. We have songs that look at the constant drudgery
and malaise of living under capitalism, and of how resistance is
important for your mental survival. These issues, although they
must be confronted, are not going away anytime soon, so we have
to learn to both resist, but also live under the conditions we find
ourselves in. Does that count as existential?
Do you ever find it difficult to maintain this intensity when
playing the songs live? Or is it always a cathartic feeling?
Our live set is only 23 minutes, depending on how rambling my
pontifications get... We intentionally keep the set short and intense,
there’s nothing worse than watching a band and wishing they had
stopped 20 minutes ago! It’s a cliché that so many bands don’t
pick up on, but, for the love of god, leave them wanting more,
don’t leave people exhausted! It also means we can go as hard as
possible during those songs, put every ounce of energy into every
song and try and create a very intense atmosphere while we play.
I still really enjoy playing live, even if we have driven for 10 hours
with very little sleep; whether we play first or at a squat party at
2am, I am always excited to play. Even on the worst days on tour it
is a chance to vent your every frustration and bit of anger, it is an
incredibly cathartic experience for sure. Screaming as hard as you
can, punching the air and seeing people scream the words back at
you is a feeling like no other, I recommend it.
You’ve been very open and honest about the problems with
black metal and its tolerance of right-wing views and misogyny.
Have you experienced any conflict from the NSBM side of the
genre in response to this?
Nothing beyond a few bileful comments online. Actually, a
dude came up to me at our last Liverpool show and told me he
supported “white power” – he discovered very quickly what we
meant by ‘oppose fascists’ and he was shown the door!
Those far-right scenes on the whole are very isolated and insular,
and are finding it increasingly hard to operate. Taake had their US
tour cancelled because so many of the venues refused to host a
singer that had painted a swastika on his chest. Graveland had
their shows attacked and cancelled by antifascists when they tried
to tour the US and Canada, and bands that are clearly Nazis are
tying themselves in knots trying to convince people they aren’t, in
fact, racist.
With the recent increase in fascism in global politics, people are
seeing those ideas for what they are: abhorrent and worth fighting
back against. We get an overwhelming amount of support for
the things we say on stage, about opposing racism and bigotry,
because most people are decent and compassionate! NSBM is a
vocal but diminishing minority.
Some of the tracks on this album have been described as battle
hymns, and there are a lot of exhortations to action against the
targets of some of the stronger critiques. Do you ever worry
that this goes against your outspoken views on those black
metal artists who espouse more sinister action?
I don’t oppose NSBM because it is merely sinister, or has great
conviction. I don’t hate Burzum or Varg Vikernes because he
burnt down churches. I oppose those people because they are
ideological fascists. They would see the most important people
in my life destroyed, they would see the world enslaved under a
tyrannical dictatorship, they would oversee genocides, they would
pursue everyone they deemed different until there was no one
left to scapegoat, they would terrorise women, and make life a
nightmare, as we have seen too many times in history already.
People too often believe fascism is a synonym for violence, when
it is not. It is not the use of violence that makes something ‘fascist’.
When thousands of people went to St. George’s Hall here in
Liverpool and physically confronted the far-right groups that
tried to march through there, the force the Nazis were met with
was the community defending itself, it
was ordinary people doing what was
necessary to stop the spread of the
most evil ideas that have ever existed.
I think a good question is, ‘At what
point will you physically stop them?’
When they march in the streets? When
they succeed electorally? When they
have started to industrially kill people?
Physical confrontation of fascism is
not comparable to fascism, that’s a
misunderstanding of what that word
means.
I would gladly see every church in the
world pulled down if that meant the
widespread cover-up and abuse of
thousands of children at the hands
of the clergy stopped that same day.
Wouldn’t you?
What would an anarchist revolution look like in 2018?
Rojava. Or the Zapatista communities in Chiapas, I would imagine.
Some of the softer interludes on the album – and the closer
A Thought, Ablaze – bring to mind a different age of English
pagan heritage and the discordant folk music associated with
it. What does this atmosphere speak of to you? A simpler time
when we were closer to nature? An ideal state to aspire to? Or a
different manifestation of your rage at the state of the world?
For me it was a way to express the ideas on the album in a
different way. I felt that maybe if we only scream and shout
about those ideas they could start to lose their meaning, but to
be able to discuss them in a more emotional and calm way gives
them fresh impact, I think. Also, the lyrics in A Litany To Cowards
explore the idea that these are timeless struggles: ‘The language
might be different, the sentiment’s the same’, so it seemed fitting
to frame that within a folk song, which is a very timeless form of
music.
Why is music important to you?
Big question! I think for me, it is all about the imagination – your
experience of the world all depends on how you choose to frame
it. It also makes me feel a part of something, part of a music
scene that is infinitely more exciting than what is happening to
me at that very moment, more exciting than work, or bills, or life’s
stresses.
Life under capitalism is hard and can be monotonous, so to have
those few precious hours holed up in a practice room playing
extremely loud music, or touring in a van in a country you’ve never
been to, or meeting people you never would have met if you hadn’t
travelled to a far flung city to play a show, makes life worth living! !
Words: Christopher Torpey / @CATorp
Photography: Rob Adamson / 500px.com/robadamson
dawnrayd.bandcamp.com
The second pressing of The Unlawful Assembly is released on
27th April via Prosthetic Records.
FEATURE
19

20

SOUNDTRACKING...
A CLOCKWORK
ORANGE
Ahead of the Everyman Theatre’s production of A Clockwork Orange, Del Pike
revisits the cult music and imagery of Kubrick and Burgess’ great Horrorshow.
When the great Mancunian wordsmith Anthony
Burgess unleashed A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
in 1962, could he ever have imagined the impact
this piece of work would have on society, or that
its visual anarchy would still resonate in popular culture to this
day? The book itself – a visceral study of youth violence, set in
a dystopian London – is written in its own ‘yoof’ language of
Nadsat. Some readers had the luxury of a glossary at the back
of their well-thumbed paperbacks, but not all editions were so
lavishly produced. Nevertheless, stark exclamations such as
Ultraviolence, Droogs, Cutter, Korova and Horrorshow have
become, in varying levels, almost household words.
The stark visuals of the novel clearly begged to be dragged
kicking and screaming to the big screen. When, at the birth of the
70s, Stanley Kubrick announced he was filming an adaptation of
the controversial book, dark magic was in the making. Kubrick’s
juxtaposition of grand musical themes against his eye-menacing
visuals was a startling element of his auteur approach. The
unsettling humour of his musical choices in Doctor Strangelove
(We’ll Meet Again serenading the nuclear explosions) and the
heart-stopping themes in 2001: A Space Odyssey – in particular
Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra playing over the
epic opening shots – promised great things for the tale of a
Beethoven-loving sociopath.
“[Kubrick] really understood
the rhythmic impact
of two images coming
together. He also had an
extraordinary feel for the
pace or tempo, a musical
term, of a given scene”
Martin Scorsese
The music that sits at the heart of A Clockwork Orange’s
warped world has enabled the film version to maintain its
cult status for the past 47 years. It’s not merely the dramatic
soundtrack that Kubrick compiled, but the varying connections
between the artificial world of protagonist Alex’s being and the
very real sphere of music in our world.
The look of the film immediately lent itself to the glam rock
movement which was in full flow in Britain at the time the film
was released in 1971. You can see echoes of Marc Bolan in Alex’s
iconic look; the deeply lined eyes and elongated lashes which
are the focus of the film’s oft-imitated opening shot. Not even
David Bowie could ignore the influence of the film’s visuals, but
Burgess’ twisted language also intrigued him. “Hey man, Droogie
don’t crash here,” he sang on Suffragette City in 1972; 44 years
later, on the track Girl Loves Me from Blackstar, Bowie went pure
Nadsat, mixing his lyrical scat with smatterings of Polari (a slang
language popular in gay clubs in 70s London): “Cheena so sound,
so titi up this malchick, say / Party up moodge, nanti vellocet
round on Tuesday.”
In an interview in 1993, Bowie revealed that he saw the
film’s inspiration as the driving force behind his Ziggy Stardust
period. “The whole idea of having this phony-speak thing –
mock Anthony Burgess-Russian speak that drew on Russian
words and put them into the English language, and twisted old
Shakespearean words around – this kind of fake language… fitted
in perfectly with what I was trying to do in creating this fake
world, or this world that hadn’t happened yet. It was like trying to
anticipate a society that hadn’t happened.”
Bowie’s love for the film’s visual aesthetic was joyously
unashamed, particularly in the Ziggy era. His outfits from this
period wouldn’t have looked out of place in the record store
that Alex visits to pick up girls, a zeitgeist-capturing scene
which has been pored over by the film’s fans for decades. Alex,
played with delicious menace by Malcolm McDowell, is a music
fan who is seen perusing his local record store, strolling past
racks containing albums by The Beatles (Magical Mystery Tour),
Tim Buckley (Lorca) and a cheekily semi-veiled 2001: A Space
Odyssey soundtrack. Further references to groups The Heaven
17 and The Sparks are pure gold for fans, who still debate as to
whether those groups lifted their name from this sequence. The
actual shop scene was shot in the famous Chelsea Drug Store, as
mentioned in The Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You
Want. In 2015, a petition went up for auction that was created by
The Beatles: the intention of this fascinating document was to see
their mate Mick Jagger in the role of Alex in an early screenplay
that was being conceived by Terry Southern (Easy Rider, The
Magic Christian). Imagine.
The scenes set in the Korova Milk Bar are perhaps the only
other elements of the film to have had such an impact on the
world of music. Blur’s video for their 1995 hit The Universal is
perhaps one of the most beautiful homages to A Clockwork
Orange yet, placing the band in a re-constructed milk bar. Albarn’s
knowing eyeliner is a direct reference but throughout the clip are
more subliminal nods that only true fans may spot: the red and
blue men, the blink-or-you’ll-miss-them visual stings and the
singing diva all reflect iconic moments from the film.
Closer to home, Korova was re-appropriated as Echo and
The Bunnymen’s label in the 80s, and later as the name of the
Fleet Street bar that incubated the scene that developed around
Ladytron and many other alternative musicians in Merseyside in
the early 2000s. The Bunnymen also had a hit with The Cutter in
1983, borrowing from the line, “Spare me some cutter [money]”
that the Droogs’ first victim pleads in the damp subway. The milk
on sale in the bar, Moloko, was also borrowed wholesale by the
90s dance duo fronted by Róisín Murphy, and also gave its name
to a bar and eatery in the Ropeworks area.
The actual music used in the film is another whole world of
strange. Beethoven looms large and is integral to the plot. It is
he who drives Alex to take to the streets pumped with manic
adrenaline, ready for a bit of ultraviolence; but it is also the sound
of Beethoven’s music that controls him as he undertakes the eyestraining
Ludovico Treatment to make him nauseous towards the
violence he loves. One passage in particular from the novel shows
that Burgess’ love for Beethoven is at least the equal of Alex’s:
“Oh it was gorgeousness
and gorgeosity made flesh.
The trombones crunched
redgold under my bed,
and behind my Gulliver
the trumpets three-wise
silverflamed, and there
by the door the timps
rolling through my guts
and out again crunched
like candy thunder”
Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange
Segments from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 feature heavily
in some of the film’s most integral – and visceral – sequences, but it
is the synthesiser arrangements of the music by Wendy Carlos that
truly disturb and stay in the mind long after the film has ended. The
Rhode Island composer, who also provided the score for Kubrick’s
The Shining (1980), creates a soundscape that perfectly matches
the otherworldliness of Kubrick’s vision. Her title music, cocomposed
with Rachel Elkind, has elements of Beethoven’s work
but fits perfectly with the long pull shot from Alex’s face, revealing
the Korova Milk Bar in its full glory. Words like iconic and cult were
made for such moments.
The music of Gioachino Rossini is overlooked in discussion of
the soundtrack but it plays an equally powerful role, particularly
given the Carlos treatment. The Thieving Magpie passage
accompanies the still-shocking depiction of an assault on a young
woman carried out by Billy Boy and his gang and makes it all
the more horrific. Equally, Carlos’ take on Rossini’s William Tell
Overture adds humour and frenzy as Alex has speeded-up sex
with the two girls from the record store in his bedroom.
Carlos’ work on the film’s soundtrack is a masterclass in
twisting existing music to create a sense of comfortable familiarity,
while also re-presenting it in a jarring, futuristic context. These
Carlosian tweaks make the ‘straight’ faithful reproductions of
familiar songs even more powerful. Little touches like the inclusion
of Erika Eigen’s I Want To Marry A Lighthouse Keeper show
Kubrick’s humour and pathos as Alex returns home after his
treatment to find his room taken by a lodger. Similarly, the inclusion
of Gene Kelly’s Singin’ In The Rain makes for a sense of unease
in A Clockwork Orange’s famously shocking scene: Alex sings
the much-loved musical number as he and his Droogs brutalise
the writer and his wife, following a forced entry to the house.
McDowell met Gene Kelly some years later at a party and the star
walked away in disgust, so infuriated was he about the use of his
signature tune alongside such a shocking moment.
The power and influence of Kubrick’s film cannot be denied,
and it would be churlish not to consider how much the spirit of A
Clockwork Orange haunts Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting (1996).
The whole otherworldliness and dystopian gang mentality is
there throughout and key sequences ring with influences: the
nightclub is designed around the Korova Milk Bar with the
same iconic fonts on the wall; Renton similarly picks up a young
Devotchka; and Renton’s home is clearly modelled on Alex’s, with
Iggy Pop replacing Beethoven on his stereo. Themes of addiction,
rehabilitation, illicit sex and shocking violence all appear, and it
seems ironic that the treatment Alex receives removes all choice
from his life, the one thing that is the driving force behind Renton’s
entire “Choose Life” philosophy.
Imagery more than music has defined Stanley Kubrick’s legacy,
with things like his signature one-point perspective and meticulous
eye for detail celebrated and mimicked throughout his life and
beyond. But, the musical choices in his films were important and
need to be assessed more often. Despite I Wanna Be Your Drill
Instructor – a tie in single from Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket (and one
of the worst singles ever released) – reaching number two in the
UK chart in 1987, the film did inspire Oasis to shoot their stunning
video for D’You Know What I Mean on the abandoned film set at
Beckton Docks. Kubrick fans are diverse and musicians have always
found inspiration from his artful soundtrack work. Can you imagine
the balletic docking sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey taking
place to anything other than the enchanting Blue Danube waltz?
Burgess’s own 1986 script, A Clockwork Orange: A Play
With Music was performed at The Barbican in 1990 and featured
original music from Bono and The Edge. The track Alex Descends
Into Hell For A Bottle Of Milk/Korova 1 appeared as the B-side for
U2’s 1991 single The Fly. It is this same play that will grace the
stage at The Everyman this Spring, with composer and musician
James Fortune taking the lead on the play’s soundtrack. The
production by the Everyman’s new rep company will doubtless
recruit more fans to the cult of the book and film, and will surely
have the rest of us returning with real horrorshow to skvat the
sinny once more and viddy it well. !
Words: Del Pike / @del_pike
Illustration: Nick Booton / bruistudio.com
A Clockwork Orange shows at the Everyman Theatre between
14th and 21st April, and then again between 10th and 30th May.
Join us at the Everyman Bistro on 19th April for A Clockwork
Social, featuring music from Cartwheels On Glass, Eyesore And
The Jinx and some droogian theatrics.
FEATURE
21

York Helmet, courtesy of York Museums (Photograph by Anthony Chappel-Ross)
ARTS CENTRAL
In the latest in her series that focuses on the role our region’s arts centres play
in our communities, Julia Johnson looks at how THE ATKINSON is maintaining a
longheld tradition of arts participation in Southport.
History is having something of a moment on
Merseyside. The Terracotta Warriors at the World
Museum might be in the spotlight, but there’s a very
different civilisation taking over a short distance up the
coast. For the next few months, THE ATKINSON in Southport will
be hosting Vikings: Rediscover The Legend, a major exhibition
created with the British Museum and Yorkshire Museum that
challenges our preconceptions of how the Nordic invaders
lived and affected the country we live in more than a thousand
years ago. With Merseyside’s significant roots in Norse heritage
(which lives on in place names from Aintree to West Kirby) it’s a
perfect fit. It’s also no surprise that some of the artefacts going
on display will have North West connections – pieces from the
Cuerdale Hoard, found next to the River Ribble in Preston, appear
alongside more famous finds from the Vale Of York.
Their reputation may have been increasingly rehabilitated in
recent years from raping, pillaging aggressors to settling farmers,
but the imagery and legends of the Vikings still captures the
imagination. Throughout the exhibition The Atkinson will be
working to help people uncover more about the Viking heritage
all around Southport. “We know there were settlements nearby
like Formby and Crosby,” says The Atkinson Museum’s Principal
Director Stephen Whittle, “but there were also villages that
have since been washed away by the sea like Ravenmeols and
Argarmeols. This will be the first chance for people to see Viking
artefacts discovered right here and to gain an understanding of
the full extent of Viking culture in the region.” As we live through
a time where British politics works towards increased separation
from our neighbours, Merseyside is playing host to an exhibition
which will be encouraging its audience to consider their place in a
local, national and global heritage.
Visitors to the exhibition will undoubtedly also enjoy
discovering the rest of what The Atkinson has to offer. Its sheer
diversity is something to admire: surely few arts centres in the
country can boast of being home to a gallery, permanent museum
collection, theatre, café, library and bakery, not to mention space
for local artists to exhibit their work. Naturally the programme is
as diverse as the space, catering to all ages and interests. Works
by Andy Warhol and Ancient Egyptian artefacts have sat side by
side, while the theatre has played host to the likes of Dr Feelgood
and Ed Byrne.
From the outside, surveying its grand stone façade and
tower, you’d think of The Atkinson as being a cornerstone of
Southport’s history as a Victorian seaside resort, and you’d be
right. For the success of the major resorts required not only the
pleasures of the pier, but an appeal to aesthetic sensibilities
which could culture the mind – and, of course, provide an
attraction for when the rain set in. So, the original Atkinson Art
“Creating a new arts
centre doesn’t seem to
be high on the agenda,
but the success of The
Atkinson suggests
that it should be”
Gallery and Library opened in 1878, thanks to a bequest from
successful merchant and Southport resident William Atkinson.
But when the adjoining Cambridge Hall was restored from
dramatic decline in the 1970s – a building which, as an arts
school for 300 students, has its own history of developing the
arts – the buildings were combined to make one single Southport
Arts Centre. After another three years of refurbishment the
current incarnation of The Atkinson opened its doors in 2013.
The story of The Atkinson, then, surely contains a moral for
any town or city. The great vacant buildings of Liverpool either
tend to be turned into student flats and luxury hotels, or are left
to degrade in the limbo of planning. Creating a new arts centre
doesn’t seem to be high on the agenda, but the success of The
Atkinson suggests that it should be. Becoming an established
major venue within five years of reopening says something not
only of the ambition of the team behind The Atkinson, but also
of the public appetite for cultural activities to be within reach.
As traditional retail-unit economy slows down, The Atkinson
provides people with a reason to visit Southport even in the
depths of winter, and plenty to entertain audiences. It’s a venue
whose emphasis is on making audiences feel in touch with
the building, particularly the youngest visitors. Throughout the
venue there are spaces to interest and entertain children of all
ages, allowing them to feel from an early age that this is a place
‘for them’ without sacrificing the rigour of the exhibitions. In the
corridors, an ‘object of the month’ from the museum collection
brings you closer to the stories that even the simplest objects
have to tell about a place and time in history.
The Atkinson’s creative patron, Henry Normal, agrees that it’s
truly a space for everyone. “I can’t believe anyone couldn’t find
something of interest at The Atkinson on any given month. If they
had beds I’d want to sleep there as well.” Normal has enjoyed
success as a scriptwriter and producer – as Executive Producer of
Baby Cow Productions he’s had a hand in everything from Alan
Partridge to The Mighty Boosh. But it’s Normal’s career as a poet
that brought him to The Atkinson for a performance. Poetry isn’t
always the most popular or understood art form, but Normal is
very comfortable with its place in the modern arts scene. “There
are as many types of poetry as there are poets. If we think of
music we would see James Blunt very different from, say, Mozart
or Motörhead. My poetry is very much about my everyday life
in this modern day which is much like most other people’s lives.
It’s about communicating my view of that world, hopefully with
a little insight and a few laughs. Perhaps a little bit nearer James
Blunt than Motörhead these days.”
When asked to become a patron of The Atkinson it seemed
a natural fit for both parties. They not only share a love for
and belief in the arts, but a desire, as Audience Development
Manager Vicki Rutland puts it, “to do more and provide a safe
space for all the community.”
“I think it was the poetry about my autistic son, Johnny, that
struck a chord,” Normal says about being invited on board. “They
[The Atkinson] were just about to open a new café called A Great
Little Place, now run by Autism Initiatives.” More than just a café,
it’s a place where organisations meet to put autistic people and
their families in touch with information and training. His personal
experiences with the condition have made Normal understand
the importance of this spread of information. “A lot of what is
available to find out about autism is quite dry and academic
and I think it’s important to remember the human aspect here
and the many families involved.” His new book A Normal Family
is intended “to let other parents know about all the things I
asked when I was first told about Johnny’s condition,” and The
Atkinson’s A Great Little Place is part of the same mission of
positive outreach.
As well as serving as an ambassador of the centre’s
community-focused programme, Normal is looking forward
to Vikings: Rediscover The Legend as much as any of us.
“The Vikings are very much part of our heritage, but generally
have been miscast. I’m hoping this new exhibition will help us
understand the true nature of Vikings in Britain. They loved a bit
of poetry so they couldn’t have been all bad.” !
Words: Julia Johnson / messylines.com
theatkinson.co.uk
Vikings: Rediscover The Legend runs between 31st March and
7th July.
22

25 Parr St, Ropewalks, Liverpool, L1 4JN
OPEN 12pm - 3am
5pm til 9pm - SUNDAY TO FRIDAY
£2 Slices
£10 Pizzas
2-4-1 cocktails
cheap plonk
12pm ‘til 3pm Mon to Fri
Choose 2 Slices
23

24

BEIJA
FLO
A daring approach to musical performance is just one aspect of the
activism and art of BEIJA FLO, one of the most ambitious artists
working in the city today.
I
find myself walking with BEIJA FLO, wandering through the
brilliant white marble of a room within the Walker Art Gallery.
Smooth, firm faces stare back at us through milk and chestnut
and charcoal, contrasted against Beija Flo’s own face that is
speckled with flutters of canary and crimson. “I always wondered
how they make something so beautiful out of something so
hard. I’d struggle to make something like that out of playdough.”
Essex-born and brought to Liverpool by LIPA, the young artist is
one of the most exciting new acts on Merseyside, combining the
familiar elements of her music with more abstract, cutting-edge
and innovative ideas, much like the neoclassical gallery we find
ourselves within today.
“My name is quite interesting actually. It’s Portuguese for
hummingbird which is like me, beautiful yet frenetic, and that’s
what I was christened by my dad.” With her dad being one of the
first people to bring the music and dance-infused Afro-Brazilian
martial art of capoeira to the UK, the Essex native was exposed
to tropical and exotic influences, as well as the arts, from a young
age. “I was kind of raised by all these masters of karate and kali.
I think I was always interested in capoeira more than the other
martial arts as it wasn’t just about fighting, it’s the music and
the movement which is tied in. As for my mum, she’s just as
eccentric. She’s been in various cabaret acts and was a clown for
a few years as well. When people meet my parents they think I
make a lot of sense.” In the monochrome room, there is a certain
brightness which exudes from Beija Flo. Her wit and charm ooze
as she regales me with stories of the playful ghost of a child she
lives with and how she is in fact a fairy. We approach a statue
stood in the corner of the room carrying a palm leaf. “I’ve always
wanted to reach out and touch that to see if the leaves move.”
It’s this very same charged energy and charm which makes
her live performance so electric. Far beyond a gig, Beija Flo
offers so much more when she performs live. “When I do my
release shows such as the Secret Lady Garden Party, I have all
my actors go round and taunt the audience and offer sweets
and my message of the day. And then we offer things like Bad
Face Painting and draw vaginas. I feel that if you’ve been given a
space for an event, it’s important to really own it and make it an
experience.” A multi-sensory attack, the gigs are an onslaught
of art, dance performance and education. “I’ve always really
enjoyed acting and I do a lot of work with community drama and
children’s acting classes,” she tells me as we walk around the
mixed media exhibition from the Singh Twins. “I love the theatre
and my background is kind of in musical theatre and opera but
then my voice broke, so I thought I should see what I could do
down here and got more into pop. I never wanted to pick just one
thing and my show allows me to make music while making art
and incorporating elements of dance and performance.”
“For the big topics that I’m talking about I think it’s really
important to be really expressive and give ways that people can
get involved,” she explains as we stare past Perspex panes at
dresses inside an exhibit case. There’s a beat before she opens
up about the issues which inhabit her songs. “I do and don’t deal
well with the problems I’ve got. So I drink a lot and smoke even
more.” She was born with MRKH Syndrome, a condition which
causes the vagina and uterus to be underdeveloped or absent,
meaning that the body and sexuality are a massive part of Beija
“If you’ve been
given a space
for an event, it’s
important to really
own it and make
it an experience”
Flo’s world. “I think sex and the body is a key issue within my
work and always will be until sexual education for women has
drastically improved as well as just sex education in general.”
A disorder which affects one in five thousand women, MRKH
is a condition that Beija Flo has set to raise awareness of and
remove taboo from. “The treatment that I need to do to ‘stretch
said muscle’ is called Dilation Treatment which is used by a whole
host of people including women who have had radiotherapy,
trans women and it makes so much sense. So it’s like, ‘Why’s it
this big taboo which we just don’t talk about?’ So I had a load
of pretty dilators covered in flowers made and I just put them in
people’s faces. The only thing that’s going to make it easier for
women with MRKH syndrome is to be more open about it so that
when it comes to actually having sex it’s a much easier process.”
As we trek up the grand sprawling staircase we talk more
on the effect of such a rare condition on her relationship with
womanhood, and how she can feel distanced from certain
perceived aspects of being a woman. “There’s so much to take
in emotionally. There are always going to be moments where it’s
going to be particularly hard such as when people start getting
pregnant and the menopause, which sometimes makes me
feel as though I can’t contribute to a lot of conversations about
womanhood which I feel isn’t fair because there are so many
women like me. As a young woman I’m not that bothered about
not having kids but more so that I’ll never have penetrative sex
using my vagina. The media seems to ignore that because it’s
the less pretty side of everything and fits less comfortably within
society’s view of women.”
This emotion and frustration is channeled through her music.
Like all the most compelling music, heart and soul is central to
Beija Flo’s craft. “I’m on the planet to share every thought and
feeling I’ve ever had. For me it’s really important to show my full
emotion through my music as I can find it quite cathartic.” Part of
what makes Beija Flo such an interesting artist is her honesty and
openness. There’s a vulnerability there, sure, but this is equalled
by bursts of enduring positivity. This unreserved attitude is what
makes her so endearing and seems to connect with so many
people.
As we pass through the heavy doors into another gallery,
eyes stare back at us from every direction, gathering attention
from behind ruffs and pointed goatees and under crowns and
paupers’ hats, much like the cross-appeal of Beija Flo herself. “I
seem to attract a lot of different types of people. From musos
to the more arty types right through to the people who just
follow me on Instagram.” From the people who feel that they
can talk through their own issues to hyperactive six-year-olds
sitting entranced at hippy festivals, there is definitely something
magically captivating about Beija Flo’s work. It’s not just music
but a complete other world which you are sucked into whether
you like it or not. Much like the hummingbird she’s named
after, the music flutters, constantly moving, impossible to pin
down but always provides an element of the avant-garde and
experimentation. The downbeat baroque pop of songs like
One Of Those Things, a song about Dilation Therapy, could be
followed by the much more acerbic and charged Heads Or Tails, a
song which tackles her troubled relationship with her hometown
of Harlow and its title as ‘The Most Murderous Town in Britain’.
“I’ve never been one to stick to one genre, for me sticking to one
genre would limit my ability to express myself,” she explains
– and this is perhaps the key to her music. It’s not so much
based around style or genre but more around expression, thus
creating something much more interesting which sits outside
these constraints, allowing her to spread her wings and inspire
audiences to come with her and experience something which is
much more than just music.
Take her latest single Mary as an example: an intense
two-and-a-half-minute burst of sonic hypnotism, it’s almost
impossible to not hit repeat when it ends and go through it all
again. Add in the garishly lovable video and the whole experience
becomes something else entirely. With a mix of burlesque
performers, comedians, dancers and even members of Wild Fruit
Art Collective joining the party, there’s a gritty magical realism,
with mermaids and pink leotards juxtaposed against the bleak
brutalist architecture which surrounds them.
“I think Mary’s a lot of things,” Beija Flo tells me as we walk
back down the Walker’s grand staircase. “She’s my intoxicated
alter ego but she’s sort of also physical. She exists. Mary’s just
there, she’s like part of my sub-personality. Because I have
cyclical vomiting syndrome I shouldn’t really drink but she’s there
at the start of the night going, ‘Go on, go on,’ and by the end of
the night she’s calling me a fuckin’ idiot. It’s almost like she’s my
guilty conscience. She’s never really there when you need her to
be.”
Having spent over an hour walking past sculptures and
paintings and tapestries and films in one of Liverpool’s grandest
settings, it’s a shame when our time together reaches an end.
As we leave and take our separate paths one thing seems more
apparent than anything else, that the ambition and creativity of
Beija Flo is unparalleled in this city and the only limit to what she
can achieve is her own mind. That said, with a mind as expansive
and daring as Beija Flo’s, that really doesn’t put many barriers in
place at all. !
Words: Matthew Hogarth
Photography: Keith Ainsworth / arkimages.co.uk
soundcloud.com/iambeijaflo
Mary is out now via Eggy Records.
Beija Flo plays Sound City on 5th May.
FEATURE
25

DIE
WITH
YOUR
MASK
ON
Masked comic-style designer
and Queens Of The Stone
Age collaborator, BONEFACE,
comes out from the shadows
for a debut solo exhibition at
Buyers Club in April.
Lurking in the shadows in some half-forgotten Liverpool
wasteland is a mastermind of the warped and twisted,
plucked from some dark corner of the internet’s seedy
underworld by the world’s biggest sleaze ‘n’ roll band.
BONEFACE comes from another dimension, a world where
everyone wears some kind of mask and no-one dares ask what
lies beneath.
Described as ‘slimed pop art’, boneface’s work is a dystopian
world of comic book oddities, a horrifying collision of Marvel
superheroes and 50s Hammer Horror, all contorted bodies,
angular shapes and devil-on-your-shoulder weirdness. Featuring
superheroes and villains, leather-clad ghouls and skulls galore,
boneface combines dark imagery with badass characters. It’s a
perfect fit for the switchblade swagger of Queens Of The Stone
Age, with whom boneface has struck up a close friendship.
Developing a world of cover, video and poster artwork for
QOTSA’s two most recent LPs – as well as the gatefold artwork
for the Mad Max: Fury Road OST – has allowed boneface to delve
deep inside his collection of weird and wonderful characters to
bring to life a supreme visual realisation of the world hinted at by
the music.
Boneface’s highly collectable work has not only been shown
in galleries across the world, but stretches to character cards and
posters that give more depth to the vaguely sinister ways of the
universe that his characters inhabit. In April, he is coming out
from his secret lair to showcase his works on the walls of Buyers
Club, in his first solo exhibition. Boneface’s campaign to conquer
the entire world is slowly coming together – we caught up with
him before he disappeared down the rabbit hole once more.
There’s a recurring theme in your work of characters who wear
masks. Why do you think you’re drawn to masked characters?
Growing up reading comics, watching horror movies and loving
Halloween, I’ve always enjoyed masks and people hiding their
identity. In a world where everyone posts everything about
themselves all over the internet every single day, I think wearing a
mask and staying anonymous is my countermeasure.
Masks inherently add a layer of mystique to a person: ‘Why are
they wearing a mask? What does it represent?’ I always like to hide
hidden meaning in things in my drawings, usually small details,
that may or may not convey something – I also like to fuck with
people, so a lot of the time symbols I use mean nothing at all. I
sometimes use masks in this way. Also, faces are hard to draw.
“Without drawing
I’d probably be
some flavour
of menace to
society”
How much do you think your own ability to hide behind a mask
of anonymity allows you to lose yourself in your creations? Do
you think you can reach deeper levels of creativity by keeping
your artistic self away from the person behind the mask?
I wear a mask because, fuck who I am, that’s not important.
I always wanted to be a superhero – or villain – since I was a
kid, so it just came natural to me when I started doing this to
adopt a pseudonym and don a mask. A lot of my work is creating
characters and world-building; usually there’s a bit of a backstory
to everything I draw, so I guess the ‘boneface’ persona kind of fits
into that world and helps in the sense that I can immerse myself
amongst the monsters and freaks that inhabit it. Obviously, I
don’t wear the thing while I’m working... not always.
What’s the theme of your exhibition coming up at Buyers
Club?
As it’s my first solo exhibition, there isn’t really a theme per se,
beyond whatever recurrent themes appear in my work. It’s more
of a retrospective of what I’ve done so far in my ‘career’. I’ve
chosen some of my favourite pieces from the projects I’ve done
over the past few years to display the original linework, and got
some huge, in-your-face, A0 prints of some other pieces.
If you could get anyone else to illustrate a skull mask for you,
living or dead, who would you pick?
John Wayne Gacy. He wasn’t the greatest painter, but I know it’d
be creepy as fuck.
Could you just draw what anyone sounds like from listening
to their music? Or do you need to be embedded in their
background and motivations like you are with Queens Of The
Stone Age?
I think the reason my stuff compliments QOTSA’s music so well is
basically because we have a thorough understanding of each other.
I was never a massive QOTSA fan, but I knew the hits – No One
Knows, Go With The Flow, Make It Wit Chu – whatever I’d seen on
Kerrang! when I was a teenager; but even then I totally got what
they were doing. Our collaboration started when Josh [Homme] saw
an interview I did with Juxtapoz magazine, where I basically said
I hated everyone, and explained my dystopian view on the world
and everyone in it. He gets that and immediately got in touch and
asked me to work with them. Our relationship now is very much
like Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman; it’s a very specific
formula that seems to work pretty well.
How far can your collaboration with QOTSA go? Is there a full
comic series in it with the characters you’ve created?
People ask me about this a lot. The characters I created for the short
film we did for ...Like Clockwork seem to resonate with people and
they always ask me when the feature length film or comic expanding
on that universe is gonna happen. I think I’d much rather leave it
where it is though. That 15-minute animation is its own contained
story, you don’t need to know anything else about those characters.
Like I mentioned before, they do all have names and backstories that
I came up with while QOTSA and I came up with the concept for the
film, but I don’t care to delve back into that world, at least not yet.
Also, because animating is a lot of work – even though Liam Brazier
did most of the heavy lifting, making everything move – and I’ve
always been far too lazy to draw a whole comic book.
Why is art and illustration important to you?
Drawing is my outlet, the way I express myself. Without it I’d
probably be some flavour of menace to society. !
Words: Frankie Muslin
Artwork: Boneface
boneface.co.uk
Boneface’s Die With Your Mask On exhibition at Buyers Club runs
throughout April, with a launch event on Wednesday 28th March
featuring Bido Lito! DJs.
26

25 years of Urban Splash
1993 – 2018
31 March – 16 June 2018
Free Entry
RIBA North
National Architecture Centre,
21 Mann Island,
Liverpool, L3 1BP
#US25
‘It Will Never Work’ is an
unplanned trip from Madchester
to Brexit via Easyjet and driverless
cars, with a quick history of
unorthodox thinking and a few
buildings along the way.

E V E N T H I G H L I G H T S
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
@ECHOARENA
Roy Orbison:
In Dreams
17 April
16 September
Michael McIntyre
27-28 April
Tears for Fears
8 May
Jeff Lynne’s ELO
23 October
Joe Lycett
11 November
Star Wars: A New Hope Live in Concert
28 November
1 June
5 December
Paul Smith
23, 28-29 June /
18-19 & 25-26 August / 8 December
30 Years of Deacon Blue
8 December
Cirque du Soleil: Ovo
16-19 August
15 December
GET YOUR TICKETS AT ECHOARENA.COM | 0344 8000 400

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30

UPCOMING
BIDO LITO! EVENTS
Bido Lito! Social
A CLOCKWORK SOCIAL
Everyman Bistro - 19/04
So you’re keen on music...
To celebrate the Everyman Company’s run of A Clockwork Orange and
welcome issue 88 of Bido Lito! We’re inviting you to grab a moloko plus,
enjoy a bit of the old Ludwig Van and enter A Clockwork Social. Expect
horrorshow sets from EYESORE & THE JINX and CARTWHEELS ON
GLASS plus pop-discs and chepooka from HOWARD BE THY NAME - a
proper dobby nochy.
Bido Lito! Special Event
LIGHTNIGHT CULTURE CRAWL
Various - 18/05
Members can join the Bido Lito! team for a guided tour of highlights from
this years LightNight programme. Enjoy free treats, special insights and
a boss night taking in the best of what Liverpool’s cultural scene has
to offer. We’ll be stopping off at our favourite haunts and experiencing
the pick of the commissions from the festival and talking to some of the
people that are illuminating Liverpool this LightNight.
Bido Lito! Social
MARK PETERS
The Reeds - 24/05
Producer, songwriter and Ulrich Schnauss collaborator Mark Peters plays
a homecoming headline gig to welcome in Bido Lito! number 89. Taking
place at top new venue The Reeds, this showcase of leftfield electronica
will be a cerebral and celestial celebration of Liverpool’s innovative avant
garde.
MEMBERSHIP REVIEWS 31

SPOTLIGHT
CHUPA CABRA
The Deeside gutter punks signed to Trashmouth Records blend incisive
lyrics and shouty, unapologetic brashness.
“Music says
what you
can’t say”
There’s a lot to be said about the spirit of punk and whether it’s
dead or alive. If it’s the brash, insightful and critical strain that Poly
Styrene’s X-Ray Spex propelled that you’re seeking, then CHUPA
CABRA are likely to be right up your street. In the vein of punk,
music’s importance to the trio stems from its ability to provide a
space for them to express themselves that comes free from societal
norms and expectations, as guitarist and vocalist Hayden explains:
“I love performing because I spend the week working my shit job
at a certain French-themed chain restaurant, but at the end of the
week I can lose my shit on stage saying whatever I want without a
shirt on, because doing so is considered normal in that context.”
Music also represents one of the best ways of communicating
things that are difficult to put into words, and bassist Nathan
perceptively points this out: “It says what you can’t say. Like when
Morrissey says ‘Everyday is like Sunday’, we’ve all felt that, that’s
bang on. But I’d probably have expressed that like ‘Oh, you know,
Wednesdays are shite, but like sometimes so are Saturdays,’ and
no one would understand. Music says it for you.” Aside from lyrics
that know life well in a post-industrial town, they sound nothing
like Morrissey – you’re more likely to hear the influence of the
short-lived Scottish sleaze rockers The Amazing Snakeheads and
punk innovator Richard Hell in the Trashmouth Records signees’
short-but-sweet tracks.
The Deeside-based trio’s lyrics, especially on Cow and
Assembly Line, tackle rampant, conveyor belt consumer capitalism
and the lack of a fulfilling-jobs-for-all, post-industrial promised
land. Cow is particularly hard-hitting – take it from their drummer
Tayt who professes “I’ve never been so upset after playing a song
[live] every single time.” Explaining a bit more about those two
tracks in particular, Hayden says, “Assembly Line is about the
appropriation of subcultures and post-industrial decline. That’s
something I express a lot; Cow is about a similar sentiment,
probably because I’ve seen the town I live in decay over the time
I’ve spent there.”
Despite their generally heavy subject matter, humour is
definitely not lost on Chupa Cabra. As for influences on their
songwriting, Nathan cites “Johan Cruyff, Shakespeare. Just people
that are the business, out there on their own. People you just
look at and think, ‘I wonder what they smell like, I bet they smell
great. I wanna smell like them.’” Jokes aside, they’re more than
happy to champion other acts who are flying the flag for in-yourface
garage punk too. “We are good friends with a band called
Prowles. They are really great, really nice lads, great tunes. Really
nice van too. I’d recommend them. Also got a lot of love for Wild
Fruit Art Collective, cool Liverpool ruffians.”
The band take a short trip to Wrexham for Focus Wales in
May, which is fast becoming one of the UK’s most renowned
showcase festivals, bringing in a host of talent from Wales and
the wider UK, as well as international showcases. The town is
fostering some exciting prospects in art and music too, as Nathan
is quick to point out, “there’s a venue in Wrexham called Undegun.
It used to be a JJB Sports and now it’s just this really mint place for
gigs, art installations and all that. I’d go.” We would too.
chupacabrachupacabra.bandcamp.com
Chupa Cabra play Focus Wales on 12th May as one of three
artists presented by Bido Lito! at the festival.
32

WILROY
The widescreen, warped soul
music found on the Liverpoolbased
Canadian producer’s
new EP is the perfect way
to soothe a busy mind.
“I try to hone in on
a certain emotion,
making sure my creative
decisions are always
on that path to deepen
the expression”
How did you get into music?
I was very fortunate to have had a few incredible music teachers
in elementary and junior high school. They helped to instil an
appreciation for all different types of music. One year, Mrs
Metcalfe spent the entire music budget on a whole class set of
garbage bins, hubcaps and oil drums. Stomp must have blown
her mind, so there we were, in grade three learning basic rhythms
on fucking trash! Early days in band class and playing sax in the
jazz band, I was doing more arranging than anything. When I
picked up the guitar, I started thinking more about composition
and writing all the parts for the band. That led me to recording
and production, which is mainly what I do now.
Can you pinpoint a live gig or a piece of music that initially
inspired you?
I’d say getting into Stevie Wonder’s 70s work, especially
Innervisions and Music Of My Mind. That was what really turned
me on to harmony. I would study his chord progressions and
break everything down to truly understand what he was doing.
What do you think is the overriding influence on your
songwriting?
I just try to hone in on a certain emotion or feeling, making
sure my creative decisions are always on that path to deepen
the expression of that feeling. It’s probably why my music is so
maximalist; I’ll keep adding layers until I really hit the nerve. That
can also be dangerous because you need to know when to stop!
Do you have a favourite venue you’ve performed in? If so, what
makes it special?
I don’t do live right now, but what I can say is that cathedrals and
churches are the greatest venues, period. There’s a clip of Mount
Kimbie with James Blake from 2010 that was performed in a
church in Oslo. The atmosphere is just otherworldly. I saw Cory
Henry play St. Philip’s in Salford just after Prince died. Places like
that just heighten the experience.
Can you recommend an artist, band or album that Bido Lito!
readers might not have heard?
Donny Hathaway Live. This album should be issued at birth!
His voice is just devastating, his band is telepathic, and it’s just
packed with moments that will move you, one way or the other.
soundcloud.com/wilroy
Wilroy’s new EP Too Dark To See The Green is out now.
YAMMERER
One dose of madcappery
from the many-limbed beat
combo that is YAMMERER
will leave you smitten. Enter
the funhouse with the band’s
dynamic frontman Jason.
“Perspective
and perception
are two sides of
the same coin”
If you had to describe your music in a sentence, what would
you say?
I once heard someone describe us as psychedelic punk, which I
thought sounded nice. Especially with two open-ended genres
like that.
Have you always wanted to create music?
Well, the lads [in the band] have always created music, I’ve
always made up songs in my head. I didn’t have the attention
span or the patience to learn an instrument when I was younger,
so all I could do was write.
Can you pinpoint a live gig or a piece of music that initially
inspired you?
I wouldn’t say there’s a single defining moment. That kind of
stimulation happens all the time, you just take from it what you
find relevant.
Do you have a favourite song or piece of music to perform?
They all say something different so if I ever have a favourite it
will depend on the day. I can pick one out the hat and say that
Airport is about escapism, illusions and our ability to mislead
ourselves.
What do you think is the overriding influence on your
songwriting?
It’s the same process as inspiration, it’s in everything. I’m
interested in how we interpret these things, the lens we use
and how that determines our experience here. Perspective and
perception are two sides of the same coin.
If you could support any artist in the future, who would it be?
Whoever’s up for it… Are Papa Roach still about?
Do you have a favourite venue you’ve performed in?
We did an 80-minute set in the IWF basement [Substation]
once. That was class. I wore a headdress and strapped a
Selenite wand between my eyes.
Why is music important to you?
Music connects us to the universe and to each other in the
process. I’d say that’s probably not far off the reason it’s
important to most people though, or why it should be.
yammerer.bandcamp.com
Yammerer play Smithdown Road Festival in May.
SPOTLIGHT 33

PREVIEWS
“Those areas are still
dealing with the heart
of their communities
being ripped out, and
dealing with the betrayal
of their industry”
GIG
PUBLIC SERVICE
BROADCASTING
Liverpool Olympia – 12/04
Archive raiders PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING
combine music, samples and snippets of public
information films to create a fully immersive, multifaceted
experience. Mike Stanton speaks to them
about their latest album which focuses on the
history of Welsh mining communities.
Founded by bespectacled and corduroy-clad multi-instrumentalist J. Willgoose Esq.,
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING have now expanded into a trio, incorporating
Wrigglesworth on drums and JF Abraham on keys and flugelhorn. Right from the start
this idiosyncratic group’s ethos has been clear, with their music containing samples
gleaned from the BFI archives and other sources to construct a narrative set to post-rock with
large doses of electronics, funk and even jazz. Their first EP, One, was a taster of the band’s
philosophy, sampling an infomercial for a record player over propulsive, progressive indie rock.
The War Room EP followed a year or so later this time focussing on WWII, particularly the
Blitz, generating radio play and piquing interest. Their success was further enhanced thanks to their
famed live shows, which feature extensive and atmospheric projected films synchronised with the
electronic and often progressive rock and motorik backing.
Their debut album Inform-Educate-Entertain would bring all these concepts together in
a lushly-produced long-player and they enjoyed critical as well as popular success. Festival
appearances beckoned and suited their visual and sonic style perfectly. Two further albums, The
Race For Space and Every Valley tackled subjects as diverse as the 1960s space race and the
decline of the South Wales mining industry respectively.
Throughout this time Willgoose has expanded the live performance by utilising a brass
section and a 13-piece choir to move towards a more grandiose and symphonic experience while
maintaining the intimacy of his early gigs. Back on the road this April, Public Service Broadcasting
are revisiting old haunts such as Liverpool, this time at the Olympia on 12th April. Going by how
their last appearance went in the city, this should be a triumphal return. J. Willgoose Esq. took some
time out from his research to chat with us over the phone from his South East London home.
On your most recent album Every Valley you chronicled the decline of the South Wales mining
industry: why did you choose mining?
It was the desire to be a bit unpredictable and not to fall into a set pattern of working or set range of
topics I suppose… It also just felt like quite a timely thing to do. The more we worked on it, the more
the world was changing around us; it just felt like [the album was] not about its time but of its time.
Did you feel that it took on a life of its own?
Yeh, you set off with a rough structure and once you’ve done basic research for an album like that,
you plot where you want to get to – especially when you’re coming to a subject which we had no
history or association with. You go into it with your ears and eyes open and there were a number of
things we changed as we were going along.
Why South Wales as opposed to other mining industries?
It was more recent in the memory, so we could sit down and talk to ex-miners in South Wales. I
wanted to focus on a particular community… and there was something about the geography of
South Wales, the Valleys in particular, the way the communities are so defined by the industry they
grew up around and the solidarity of the community was a big factor. They were the most solid,
[and had] fewest returners to work during the strike of 84/85.
Looking at the other subjects you’ve tackled – WWII, 1950s consumerism and the Space Race
– these are two or three generations back, whereas with Every Valley a lot of the miners who
were involved in the 80s are still relatively young. Did this immediate connection play a part in
choosing this subject?
Well, we’ve been gradually moving forward in time as we’ve gone along and getting closer and
closer to the present day, so it did feel right to continue that momentum in a way. Those areas are
still dealing with the heart of the communities being ripped out and dealing with the betrayal of
their industry.
On this album, as with your others, you use sampling, giving your tracks a documentary quality.
When you’re writing a track are you looking at the story and the music and then adding samples
or is it the other way around?
It goes both ways really. With a song like Go! [from The Race for Space], it was finding the samples
and writing a song in response to that and trying to capture that excitement, so making it sound fast
and driving with that tension in it. With this album I think a lot more of it was written with an idea
of where we were trying to get to in terms of subject matter, like the song They Gave Me A Lamp:
the music for that was written before I’d found any of the samples and, luckily enough, after sifting
through material at the South Wales miner’s library I uncovered this stuff about politics and about
female empowerment and it all came together in the way that I was hoping for.
What kind of responses have you had from the subjects of your songs? For instance, in regards
to the album The Race For Space, have you heard anything from any of the people who worked
in mission control back in the 60s?
Yeh, various people have got in touch. I’m sitting looking at a signed photo from [NASA Flight Director]
Gene Kranz now actually wearing his famous waistcoat. It says “To PSB eagle, you’re go for landing”
– that’s nice isn’t it! He found [The Race For Space] on his own and bought a copy of the record, he
seems to speak of it in glowing terms which is incredible. And equally for the new album we’ve had
quite a number of responses from people who either worked in the coal industry or live in the Valleys.
The depth of support and encouragement and the connection we made with those people is very
humbling, actually it’s been overwhelmingly positive which is all you could hope for I think.
What kind of criteria do you consider when choosing your next subject?
Just whether it interests me really and how it fits into what we’ve done in the past and where we
want to go in the future: ‘Is it the sort of thing I can get excited about?’ It’s got to sustain you for a
good couple of years before you even start touring it. That’s one of the good things about the way
I work, writing in response to stuff gives you a whole different kind of vocabulary of music to draw
upon and pushes you in directions you wouldn’t always go in if you were left to your own devices.
Can you give us an insight into what might be coming next? What your next subject matter
might be?
Well we’re working on the EP for BBC Music’s Biggest Weekend in Belfast on the Titanic… we’ve been
trying to do four tracks to tell the story of the ship in a slightly more balanced way rather than everything
being so iceberg-focussed and disaster-shaped. There’s comparatively little written about the origins
of the ship, how and where it was built versus how it met its fate. There is a tie in to Every Valley in
that Belfast, being the former industrial hub, is one of the biggest shipyards in the world responsible
for making the world’s biggest ships. So the odd kind of thread still weaving through it all draws it all
together.
You played Liverpool a couple of years ago at the O2. You’re on tour in April and playing
Liverpool again, this time at the Olympia. Do you find audiences in Liverpool are particularly
responsive?
We’ve always found Liverpool really responsive even from the very early days. It’s a special place
with a special heritage and we try to get there as often as we can really. The last gig was really
memorable in terms of how the crowd were and we’re hoping for more of the same this time. !
Words: Mike Stanton / @DepartmentEss
Photography: Dan Kendall
publicservicebroadcasting.net
Public Service Broadcasting play Liverpool Olympia on 12th April, with support from Jane Weaver.
Every Valley is out now via PIAS Recordings.
34

Stealing Sheep
GIG
Crisis Fundraiser
Invisible Wind Factory – 06/04
You don’t need any more reason to go to a gig when the likes
of STEALING SHEEP, THE FLOORMEN and WILD FRUIT
ART COLLECTIVE are emblazoned on the line-up poster,
but when proceeds go to homeless charity Crisis, there’s no
excuse to not go to Invisible Wind Factory on 6th April. Put together
by Z Generation Programming with Musicians Against Homelessness,
the Crisis Fundraiser takes place in IWF’s Substation and is another
example of the city’s creative community coming together to address an
issue which continues to worsen.
On a national level, Crisis helped more than 11,000 people escape
from homelessness last year and they continue to be a powerful
lobbying voice for improving homeless people’s access to help
when it is needed most. Closer to home Skylight Merseyside offer a
range of free classes and activities to people who have experienced
homelessness in the last two years. The valuable work of Skylight
means those living on the streets, in hostels or those who are generally
without their own home can gain access to everything from one-toone
guidance on health and wellbeing, employment and volunteering
opportunities to learning practical skills and training.
Donations to Crisis will be welcome at this all-day event at IWF
with all proceeds going to the charity. Elsewhere on the bill, psych
odyssey voyagers THE PROBES will be making an appearance and
2017 Merseyrail Sound Station finalist NICOLA HARDMAN will be
presenting her Punk Rock Cabaret.
The brain child of the People’s Poet Tony Chestnut, the event
also has support from Musicians Against Homelessness, a national
charity which has recently launched its 2018 campaign with support
from the likes of Manchester Britpop giants James and Trainspotting
author Irvine Welsh. For more information on Crisis go to crisis.org.
uk and to learn more about Musicians Against Homelessness go
to musiciansagainsthomelessness.net.
Record Store Day 2018
Various Venues –
21/04-22/04
It’s that time of the year again when pressing plants get clogged up
with classic rock reissues and Steve ‘Lammo’ Lamacq gushes over
his favourite form of format fetishism. In Liverpool however, there’s
much to get genuinely excited about as partaking stores Jacaranda
Records, 81 Renshaw, Probe and Defend all stock the worthy releases
and have special plans for this year’s RECORD STORE DAY. 21st April
will see stockists come alive with avid music fans anxiously trying to get
hold of that limited-edition Sufjan Stevens EP as well as super sweet DJ
sets and live performances.
The Jac will be flooding all three floors with vinyl new and old, and
host live music and DJs running concurrently. Defend Vinyl are taking
their RSD party to Smithdown neighbours Craft Taproom for DJs and a
mini record fair. At 81 Renshaw Street crate diggers can enjoy live sets
from LO-FIVE, KIERAN MAHON and more, as well as bacon and veggie
butties for the early birds. Venerable institution Probe Records will be
stocking the cream of the crop of this year’s rare releases in celebration
of independent vinyl venders. Bold Street’s Dig Vinyl will once again be
conscientiously swerving the official programme but are opening their
doors at 10am as always for those who want to shop independent in the
spirit of the day.
Wax enthusiasts will also be able to gather at The Merchant for Anti
Social Jazz Pub where the likes of BILL BREWSTER, BERNIE CONNOR
and TENDERLONIOUS AND DENNIS AYLER along with representatives
from some of the aforementioned record shops and RSD themselves will
be playing tracks from the jazz diaspora. Fully-fledged jazzers and the
jazz-curious can get involved in a weekend of neighbourly vibes which
sees Anti Social Jazz Club join forces with Merchant tenants Useless
Wooden Toy Society, Nightcrawler Pizza and yours truly for a two-day
celebration.
PREVIEWS 35

PREVIEWS
GIG
Alex Cameron
Arts Club – 13/04
Australia’s alternative heartthrob ALEX CAMERON comes back to Liverpool
for a night of danceable disco noir. Cameron began his music career as part of
electronic music group Seekae before releasing his debut solo album Jumping
The Shark (2013), in which he adopts the persona of a down-at-heel musician.
His music caught the attention of Brandon Flowers who hired him to co-write
lyrics for The Killers’ 2017 album Wonderful Wonderful. Cameron released his
glorious second album Forced Witness via Secretly Canadian last September,
and embarked on an aptly described ‘Successful Tour’ with business partner
Roy Molloy. Catch him at Arts Club with support from fellow Australian act
JACK LADDER & THE DREAMLANDERS.
Alex Cameron
GIG
Shonen Knife
Arts Club – 21/04
Largely responsible for putting Japanese music on the radar
internationally in the 1980s, legendary alt. pop/punk outfit SHONEN
KNIFE continue to play around the world almost 40 years since their
formation. Influenced by The Beach Boys, The Ramones and 1960s
girl groups, the trio became firm favourites of US indie legends Sonic
Youth, Fugazi and Nirvana. Supporting the grunge icons around the
UK in 1991 just before Nevermind hit, Shonen Knife became 1990s
alt. rock fixtures, scoring regular plays on MTV and with John Peel.
With a 20-deep album catalogue and dates across the globe, the
J-punk outfit show no signs of slowing down any time soon.
Shonen Knife
GIG
Nathaniel Rateliff And The Night Sweats
Liverpool Olympia – 16/04
In 2013, Denver-based singer Nathaniel Rateliff adopted a seven-piece
backing band and became NATHANIEL RATELIFF AND THE NIGHT
SWEATS. Moving towards a more upbeat, soulful sound, Rateliff utilised the
full weight of his band to achieve the kind of depth to his heartland American
rock that he’d been striving towards for years as a solo artist. 2018’s new
LP Tearing At The Seams, recorded with producer Richard Swift (The Shins,
Foxygen), is more of a collaborative project than 2015’s self-titled effort,
making it richer in rhythm. The Night Sweats’ huge, 21-date European tour
sees them return to town after last turning in a triumphant set supporting
Kings Of Leon in 2017.
GIG
Wrong Festival
Various Venues – 28/04
Taking over the North Docks’ creative heartlands for the
day, WRONG FESTIVAL promises a cranium-pummelling
programme of some of the biggest hitters in the worlds
of punk, noise and psych. Headlined by Welsh rock
luminaries FUTURE OF THE LEFT and Can legend
DAMO SUZUKI, the all-dayer hosts artists in Invisible
Wind Factory, North Shore Troubadour and Dumbulls
for fans of the heavier and weirder end of the rock music
spectrum. Local representation comes from the likes
of SALT THE SNAIL, SPQR and OHMNS. Pray for your
cochleas.
EXHIBITION
It Will Never Work: 25 Years Of Urban Splash
RIBA North – 31/03-16/06
It Will Never Work
The story of Manchester-based regeneration company URBAN SPLASH’s 25-year history is one of
courage and innovation. Long before the Baltic Triangle had the name or even Wifi, and when Liverpool
city centre was a very different place, the duo of Jonathan Falkingham and Tom Bloxham set about
transforming our urban environment. Starting with Liverpool Palace and soon spreading throughout
Ropewalks and far, far beyond, Urban Splash re-wrote the development rulebook on an international
scale alongside a roll call of award-winning architects. That story is told in full at RIBA North, the Mann
Island centre for architecture in a joint exhibition, It Will Never Work, which starts this month.
CLUB
Circus Easter Sunday
Camp and Furnace – 01/04
YOUSEF presents CIRCUS’ EASTER SUNDAY SPECIAL at Camp and Furnace
with a line-up that is sure to keep you dancing all day. The party will carry
on into the night at Hangar 34, and wristbands will be available on the day.
Headliners include PATRICK TOPPING, one of the most in-demand names in
dance music, and JORIS VOORN, a pioneer of Dutch electronic music. Also
on the bill is MOTOR CITY DRUM ENSEMBLE, who has been making waves
in the industry for the past few years. Don’t miss out on the chance to party
through the day to the best house and techno on offer.
Joris Voorn
36

CLUB
DJ Boring
24 Kitchen Street – 14/04
Showcasing back to back sets from current resident, Wirralborn
DJ MELÉ and headline name DJ BORING, underground
music stalwart 24 Kitchen Street hosts an exemplary night
of euphoric beats in mid-April. A genuine coup, the event is
headlined by DJ Boring aka London-based DJ and producer
Tristan Hallis, who plays an intimate show away from the
major festival stages he usually frequents. Breaking into public
consciousness in 2016, the beatmaker made waves with his
track Winona which samples Gen X icon/Joyce Byers from
Stranger Things actress Winona Ryder (delete as appropriate
according to age).
COMEDY
Rob Kemp: The Elvis Dead
81 Renshaw – 18/04
Ever wondered what cult horror classic Evil Dead 2
would be like if reinterpreted through the songs of
the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll? Us neither. Comedian and
musician ROB KEMP, however, took it upon himself
to create the unlikely mash-up and the result is a
multi-award winning show which took the Edinburgh
Fringe by storm. Hailed by critics for its originality
and excellent execution, the comedy show comes to
81 Renshaw this month and deserves your attention.
Support on the night comes from Liverpool’s own
nightmare-monger THADDEUS BENT.
GIG
Trampolene
EBGBs – 18/04
Welsh indie rockers TRAMPOLENE’s star continues to rise
after their debut album Swansea To Hornsey was included
in the top ten of The Independent’s 30 Best Albums of
2017. With support slots with The Libertines and Liam
Gallagher, the trio are rapidly gaining a loyal army of fans
and their show at EBGBs is likely to be a lively affair. The
band have made a name for themselves through leader Jack
Jones’ lyrical musings on urban life alongside a shedload of
raw guitar hooks. Part of the latest This Feeling tour, their
gig at EBGBs will also feature sets from HIMALAYAS and
SOPHIE AND THE GIANTS.
EXHIBITION
States Of Play
FACT – 22/03-17/06
A new exhibition stretching across spring and into summer at FACT, States
Of Play: Roleplay Reality investigates the complex, contemporary landscape
of video games. Bringing together a diverse collection of works, the
season focuses on the theme of roleplay within gaming, and the medium’s
unique ability to merge the real and the unreal. The exhibition, similarly to
many gamescapes, allows the participant to experience reality from new
perspectives, or possibly discover different versions of themselves within it.
As part of the season, revered Australian audiovisual artist Robin Fox leads a
discussion about his work at FACT prior to his headline set at 24 Kitchen Street
on Friday 13th April.
Porpentine & Neotenomie, The World is Not My Home
GIG
Jah Shaka Sound System
District – 28/04
Jah Shaka Sound System
POSITIVE VIBRATION is bringing JAH SHAKA, aka THE ZULU
WARRIOR, and his full sound system to Liverpool. The legendary
singer and producer has been at the forefront of the UK reggae/
dub scene since the mid-70s. He is also the operator of the heaviest
roots/dub sound system in the world so expect a night of heavy
bass. This is a warm-up for Positive Vibration - Festival of Reggae,
which will return to the Baltic Triangle for its third year in June. The
festival is a celebration of Jamaican music and will host an array of
ska, reggae and dub musicians.
GIG
Gregory Porter
Liverpool Empire – 07/04
GREGORY PORTER holds a solid and worthy position amongst the greats of today’s jazz world. His smooth
vocals and uber-cool demeanour have earned him international recognition, and he has twice scooped the
Grammy Award for Best Jazz Album. Last October, he released his fifth studio album Nat King Cole And Me,
in which he sings songs that were recorded or inspired by Nat King Cole. It is billed as a personal tribute to the
singer, who inspired Porter as a young child and musician. Porter continues to perform to sell-out audiences
so grab tickets early for this unmissable show.
Gregory Porter
GIG
Girli
Sound Basement – 06/04
Girli
With her signature pink look and a stage name inspired by Blondie,
GIRLI (Milly Toomey) makes sure she stands out from the crowd. The
London-based singer and rapper started performing as part of indierock
band Ask Martin while in high school, before embarking on a solo
career in 2014 and has since released a number of singles that explore
gender, critics and social pressures. Her futuristic pop sound and punk
spirit combine on her EP Hot Mess, which was released in October
2017. Catch her at Sound Basement as part of her UK solo tour for a
typically playful and unpredictable evening full of girl power.
PREVIEWS 37

march - april
22nd mar - underground arts soc launch
23rd mar - cactus paradox extravaganza
24th mar - the isrights (dj set)
25th mar - ground floor open mic
28th mar - the mellowtone open mic
29th mar - uas - we want women
30th mar - hushushmedia takeover
31st mar - seafoam green (dj set)
1st apr - ground floor open mic
5th apr - the underground arts society
6th apr - ‘poib presents’ takeover
7th apr - dead houses + guests
8th apr - ground floor open mic
12th apr - the underground arts society
13th apr- joe astley & the black pages
14th apr - galactic funk militia (dj set)
21st april - record store day!!!
Monday / wednesday / Thursday / friday / saturday / sunday

Box office:
theatkinson.co.uk
01704 533 333
(Booking fees apply)
–
: TheAtkinson
: @AtkinsonThe
: @TheAtkinsonSouthport
The Atkinson
Lord Street
Southport
PR8 1DB
Music
Friends of Folk
Julie Felix
Thu 22 March, 7.30pm
Chris Difford & Boo Hewerdine:
My Life In and Out of Squeeze
Sat 24 March, 7.30pm
Solid Entertainments
Ladies of the Blues
Fri 30 March, 7.30pm
Grateful Fred’s
Connla
Wed 4 April, 7.30pm
Ross Ainslie & Ali Hutton
Fri 6 April, 7.30pm
Big Bear Music
King Pleasure & The Biscuit Boys
Sat 7 April, 7.30pm
Space
Sat 14 April, 8pm
Comedy
James Seabright
Adam Kay: This is Going to Hurt
(Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor)
Wed 28 March, 7.30pm
Laugh Out Loud
Sat 7 April, 8pm
Theatre
Dyad Productions
Jane Eyre: An Autobiography
Sat 24 March, 7.30pm
Murder Mystery Productions
Going Going Gone
Sat 31 March, 7.30pm
A Spoonful of Sherman –
100th anniversary tour
Thu 12 April 7.30pm, Fri 13 April 2.30pm & 7.30pm
FILM
Southport Film Guild
Hell or High Water (15)
Wed 4 April, 7.30pm
Image: King Pleasure & The Biscuit Boys

REVIEWS
100 Demons (Keith Ainsworth / ark images.co.uk) Oliver Coates (Keith Ainsworth / ark images.co.uk)
100 Demons
+ Vessel
+ Oliver Coates
Manchester Collective @ IWF Substation –
02/03
Conditions are Siberian outside Invisible Wind Factory,
but the world premiere of Daniel Elms’ 100 Demons is enough
of a pull for the crowd to opt to battle the elements and make
sure they’re present. In fact, tonight’s show draws the biggest
crowd of any show by Manchester Collective in Liverpool, in a
programme designed to explore the relationship between live
strings and electronics. Unfortunately, Elms himself isn’t present
as blizzard conditions in Yorkshire mean he isn’t able to hear his
new composition live for the first time.
There is a perceived wisdom in football about players who
come out of the tunnel wearing gloves, and I’m concerned to see
some members of the Collective appear on stage wearing woolly
hats, but any such anxieties are immediately dissipated in the
electric tension.
The first set showcases new material from VESSEL.
The Bristolian electronic maverick, real name Sebastian
Gainsborough, recently scored the trailer for Park Chan-Wook’s
award-winning film, The Handmaiden. This is the first chance to
hear material from Vessel’s forthcoming album, Queen Of Golden
Dogs. What we hear tonight hints at new directions since his
2014 album Punish, Honey. Where that record had an intense,
hermetic interiority, using homemade instruments to create an
intangible sound world, the new material feels more expansive,
drawing from a range of musical sources, including chants and
hymns.
It is a dense weave, featuring a fragment of fugue on
piano; a chanson; the chiming bells of a religious ceremony;
even an absurdist harpsichord passage. Each musical gesture
is decomposed, and twisted into something more sinister. The
effect is of a collapsing labyrinth, but Vessel’s touch is always
there guiding us, riding the tremendous momentum of the piece.
The upcoming album promises to be essential listening,
but Vessel’s role here feels ambiguous, as the substance of the
collaboration with the Collective is unclear. The musicians, having
introduced the music, exit the stage, leaving nothing to see.
Whether by accident or design, Gainsborough then plays the
entire set crouched down on the floor, where only those audience
members on the front row can see him. Everybody else is left
looking at an empty stage, in a general air of uncertainty. It would
“It feels almost as if
we are being protected
from the seductive
danger of desire and
consumption, instead
of being exposed to it”
be great to see Vessel performing live with the ensemble, but
perhaps we’ll have to wait for another occasion.
The second set features two works for solo instrument. First
up, the Collective’s Music Director, RAKHI SINGH, performs Steve
Reich’s Violin Phase. This is the most well-known piece of the
evening. An example of ‘Process Music’, the work is scored for
three violin parts, with two pre-recorded, and one playing live.
These musical ‘cells’ are shifted gradually out of sync, creating
new textures and rhythmic complexity. It’s a mesmerising
performance, and a privileged opportunity to see an important
work of the 20th Century played live.
The next work calls for solo cello, and features special guest
OLIVER COATES, who has just completed an international tour
with Radiohead. Industry, a piece for solo cello and distortion
pedal by American composer Michael Gordon, requires a delicate
balance of power and restraint, exploiting the cello’s natural
potential to sustain, with precise finger technique giving way to
sawing bow motions and open chords, as the distortion builds
and builds. Coates demonstrates total mastery of the instrument,
and of the conceptual impetus of the music.
The dialogue of instrument and electronics that emerges
in these works is significant, because it bridges perceived
gaps between academic music, and more popular forms.
This is a polemic that can be traced from Reich and Karlheinz
Stockhausen, through to Paul McCartney’s experiments in
such tracks as Tomorrow Never Knows. All the pieces offer
perspectives into this discourse and underline its continuing
relevance.
The question having been stated, the stage is set for the
evening’s climax: the anticipated premiere of 100 Demons.
Manchester Collective aim to commission one original work per
year, and for 2018 they turned to Daniel Elms. The Hull-born
composer is fresh off the success of Bethia, a work written for
the British Film Institute, to mark the City Of Culture year in his
hometown. Elms has also written for the screen, with his music
featured in such films as Ralph and Library Of Burned Books, as
well as for the TV series Taboo by Ridley Scott and Tom Hardy.
Elms is defiantly political in his writing, and for this latest
piece he has chosen to explore the modern phenomenon of
fake news, of internet conspiracies, and the populist hijacking of
media. 100 Demons achieves this by using a pre-recorded string
quartet that engages with the live performers, blurring the truth
of what we are listening to, as the audience becomes unable to
trust which sounds are real and which are fabricated.
The musical inspiration comes from a Japanese folk story in
which one hundred demons come at night to terrorise a village.
The inhabitants are forced to hide indoors and resort to magic
incantations to protect themselves. Elms uses fragments of these
incantations in the composition, but the most striking feature of
the adaptation, in his hands, is the way that the strings imitate
the playing of traditional Japanese drums.
As is to be expected with a premiere, the creation of the new
work is as challenging for the performers as it is for the audience.
The quartet of players are called on to use their voices as well as
their instruments, in a very demanding piece, to which they give
their all. Rhythmic intensity is the standout quality of the material,
sustaining a powerful tension, with a sense of latency, something
on the verge of taking place.
This is complex music that would reward further listening.
Is the full range of possibility for the de facto octet explored?
Audience members are looking at the speakers, wondering what
unexpected sounds might emerge, but the doppelganger quartet
on the recording are limited in the main to atmospheric thickening
of tension, rather than bold intrusions.
Likewise, as an effect of the brooding insistence on density
of texture, the natural urge of the violin to express itself in melody
is constantly restrained. The jingoistic seductions of propaganda
seem to lend themselves to melody, but that is the element of the
music that has been suppressed as an artistic choice. I’m waiting
for a tune, even a bad one in the mode of Gustav Mahler’s
treatment of banality in music, or a sarcastic development, as of
Sergei Prokofiev’s sonatas.
There are rich possibilities for the ghostly violin in
the speakers to call to the listener with melody, tempting
them outwards, or just to give contour to an exterior that is
undifferentiated. In the absence of such devices, it feels almost as
if we are being protected from the seductive danger of desire and
consumption, instead of being exposed to it.
100 Demons is, however, a detailed and ambitious work, and
one that promises to reveal more of its secrets on a second listen.
Deeper immersion required.
James Davidson
40

LA Town-Center Plaza by Cao Fei
“Both exhibitions
leave me with a
sense of wanting to
know more about
Chinese culture – be
that history or art”
China Dream
China’s First Emperor And The Terracotta
Warriors @ World Museum
Presence: A Window Into Chinese
Contemporary Art @ St. George’s Hall
It is near impossible to walk past the top of Nelson Street
without stopping to wonder at the towering ceremonial
archway that marks Chinatown. Liverpool is home to the oldest
Chinese community in Europe, and this monument symbolises a
prosperous relationship that dates back many years. At around
15 metres high, and painted with striking reds, golds and greens,
it is the tallest Chinese archway in Europe – and arguably the
most beautiful.
But for many, knowledge of Chinese culture ends with this
archway: a fact that CHINA DREAM hopes to change. The eightmonth
long programme of exhibitions, events and performances
brings modern China to the heart of Liverpool. Simultaneously,
the much-anticipated arrival of CHINA’S FIRST EMPEROR AND
THE TERRACOTTA WARRIORS at the World Museum tells the
story of ancient China. Together, they present China as a country
rich with history, art and tradition.
In 1974, a group of local farmers accidentally made one of
the world’s greatest archaeological discoveries. Exhibited in the
UK for the first time in 10 years, the Terracotta Warriors were
found guarding the tomb of the First Emperor of unified China,
Qin Shi Huang (259 – 210 BC). Alongside the warriors, the
exhibition showcases over 180 rare artefacts, many of which
have never been shown in the UK.
It is the size of the warriors that first draws me in; with
only a few on show at the World Museum, it is hard to imagine
that up to 8000 remain buried in China. I am also drawn to the
Emperor’s relentless fascination with death and immortality; he
ordered work to begin on his tomb when he was just 13 years
old. Ironically, it is the world-famous Terracotta Warriors that
bring the Emperor closest to immortality.
The strength of this exhibition is in its storytelling; the
curators have condensed 1000 years of complex Chinese
history into an accessible and interesting format. As I leave, I
am struck by how much I have learned. European classrooms
tend to favour the Roman Empire or the Egyptians, which makes
exhibitions such as this vital. Though the Terracotta Warriors
are billed as the main attraction, it is the information on Chinese
philosophy and the everyday objects on display that paint a truer
picture of what life was like for those living in China 2000 years
ago.
Across the road in St. George’s Hall, PRESENCE: A
WINDOW INTO CHINESE CONTEMPORARY ART offers a
wildly different picture of Chinese culture: one that is firmly
in the 21st Century. With pieces on loan from the University
of Salford Art Collection, the varied nature of the exhibition
reflects a thriving and innovative contemporary art scene.
The gloomy vaults of St. George’s Hall are the perfect setting
for a number of pieces that interrogate the idea of space. The
exhibition is worth visiting just for a peek at the depths of this
magnificent building.
That said, the artwork should not be missed. Upon entering,
I am immediately drawn to Lu Xinjian’s City DNA/Salford And
Manchester (2016); the bright, hand-painted patterns bring a
dull Google Earth image to life and, subsequently, reflect the
vibrant feel of the two places. Another highlight is Suki Chan’s
film Lucida (2016), which examines the relationship between
the human eye, brain and vision. The almost meditative nature
of the piece leaves me distinctly aware of my own process of
seeing; this is intensified by the oppressive nature of the dark,
dingy room in which I am sat.
Both exhibitions leave me with a sense of wanting to know
more about Chinese culture – be that history or art. While the
Terracotta Warriors have received much publicity, Presence is
a quietly exciting exhibition. People will travel from all over the
country just to see the Terracotta Warriors; the few minutes it
takes to cross the road are highly worth it for an alternate but
equally intriguing view of Chinese culture.
Maya Jones / @mmayajones
Terracotta Warriors, World Museum © Gareth Jones
REVIEWS 41

REVIEWS
Howie Payne
+ Marvin Powell
+ Zuzu
Harvest Sun and Evol @ The Unity Theatre
– 20/02
Wiley
+ Ms Banks
+ Rico Don
+ Wavey Joe
24 Kitchen Street – 01/03
Fans are almost spilling out of the door for the appearance
of WILEY, the East London rapper and Godfather of grime who
greets a sold-out, pumped-up, hardcore room in one of the Baltic
Triangle’s most exciting venues. Added to his UK tour due to
popular demand, the 24 Kitchen Street show sold out in days,
showing that Wiley’s ongoing relevance as a pioneer in the
British underground music scene remains undimmed. Opening
his set with Been A While, from his forthcoming album Godfather
II, Wiley erupts onto the stage amid screaming fans who ricochet
off the walls to his fast-paced delivery, proving he’s still got the
ability to pen a current hit two decades into his career.
Jumping from tasters of his early eskibeat instrumentals to
more mainstream tunes (Wearing My Rolex, Heatwave), Wiley
Wiley (Day Howarth / dayhowarth.com)
Wiley (Day Howarth / dayhowarth.com)
sprints through a back catalogue comprising 11 studio albums
and multiple genre-defining tracks. The dirty bassline of 6 In The
Bloodclart Morning has the room jumping, and Can’t Go Wrong
causes the crowd to explode with energy, chanting every lyric
back to him.
At this point in his career, Wiley could be playing sell-out
arena shows with ease, making this intimate show even more
special. Famed for nurturing new artists, Wiley knows the
importance of giving something back to the scene that nurtured
him. This gig follows suit, with Wiley flipping the programme
and bringing on his support act right at the end; a logical move
when showcasing rising talent, offering MS BANKS a platform in
front of a crowd already riled up and excited about the music on
the bill. Ms Banks kills it: her set is short, sweet and packed with
sass, and tracks like Come Thru and Bangs could confidently be
named amongst the highlights of the night.
Wiley shares the stage with local rappers RICO DON and
WAVEY JOE amongst others at the end of his set, and for us, this
is something to be celebrated, especially with the rude health
that Liverpool’s own grime scene finds itself in. Wiley continues
to take risks, promote exciting new acts, and ultimately create
experiences set to alter our understanding of UK rap music.
Sinéad Nunes / @SineadAWrites
While the Everyman picks up architecture awards and
plaudits for reintroducing its repertory company and the Empire
brings in large-scale West End productions, the Unity Theatre,
sitting pretty on a Georgian back street, quietly goes about its
business of putting on edgy independent productions which push
the envelope, hosting a diverse array of comedy, performing arts
and music shows.
Similarly in Liverpool, there are a host of names which
readily reach the lips of music fans when illustrating the city’s
fine lineage of songwriters, while others ply their trade with
comparatively less emphatic fanfare. Tonight, such institutions
align as two pillars of Liverpool’s independent music scene bring
together a bill of artists who deserve their place in said pantheon.
There’s a pleasing structure to tonight’s line-up. At the top
of the bill, HOWIE PAYNE is somewhat of an old hand, who has
long since worked his way into the hearts of Merseyside music
aficionados with a cult band from a golden age. In support is
MARVIN POWELL whose two EPs have won him many admirers
and who is enjoying a transcendence from the local scene.
And opening up tonight is a musician who, with only a couple
of singles in the public domain, returns to Merseyside with the
ink drying on a Virgin Records contract. Three generations of
Merseyside guitar slinging song mongers.
ZUZU admits to nerves as she enters stage-right and it’s
understandable as the Unity Theatre setting is a much more
sober one than the plastic cup and crowd surfing environs of the
O2 Academy (the Wirralite’s last appearance in the Bido Lito!
reviews section). As soon as she starts her set though the anxiety
dissipates. Tracks like Clever Gains, played solo with just an
electric guitar, show their quality in this stripped-back form.
Marvin Powell bounds on through the black curtain next to
effortlessly run through a selection of songs from his impressive
oeuvre. Whether on his own or accompanied by a second
guitarist, the Skeleton Key Records man weaves a thick web with
songs which mesmerise with melody and paint a vivid picture
lyrically. Wind Before The Train, with its carefree vignettes of
getting out of town to a seaside destination (“Pissing in the
dunes / Listening to our favourite tunes”) is infectious in its
spirit. Salt and Buried already sound like classics, partly due to
their 70s aesthetic but mostly due to the timeless quality of the
songwriting.
Howie Payne has a fan in tonight who apparently goes
to see him everywhere but threatens to rankle the captivated
audience tonight at the Unity. Each song is punctuated by a
flurry of drunken nonsense. However, Payne is unperturbed and
manages to diffuse the situation by drawing attention to the
rabble rouser; suddenly his slurred comments are taken in good
spirits. It’s testament to the man’s easy going charm (Payne’s,
not the drunken numpty’s). Payne’s set is a pleasing mixture of
new tracks from his latest album Mountain, some classics from
the back catalogue of his band The Stands and a selection from
his underrated solo debut Bright Light Ballads. The Bob Dylan
to Marvin Powell’s Nick Drake, Payne deals more in abstract
imagery which create a world we all willingly enter. Newer tracks
such as Some Believer, Sweet Dreamer retain the songwriter’s
Americana sensibilities and sit comfortably next to Stands
classics like Here She Comes Again and All Years Leaving. Again,
stripped down to their bare bones, these songs show their quality
in acoustic form.
Tonight is a remarkable showcase of Liverpool’s unsung
songwriting talent. The setting of the Unity allows the three
performers to hold the audience’s attention and gives their
extraordinary creations the room to lasso the imagination of
those in attendance.
Sam Turner / @SamTurner1984
42

The Wailers
O2 Academy – 07/03
It’s almost as if they know how vital their messages are at present. We have a
world that seems like it’s stuck on a firm downwards trajectory and people up-top
who only seem to be adding gallons more precious fossil fuels to the fire. Now,
more than ever, a beacon of hope is what we need. A reminder that we still have
some semblance of power and that we can affect change.
And sure enough, the proverbial call to arms is being answered for the second
time in as many years tonight in our city. The Academy is packed as devoted
followers young and old filter through into any space they can. There was a time
when most of these people could have scarcely imagined that a tour of this kind
would ever happen. A mix of elation, anticipation and reverence sweeps through
the room as people wait patiently for the band to arrive. Again, it’s surprising that
an act of this stature is playing in such a small room. Legacy alone could fill an
arena with adoring fans. The humble small-venue tour reflects the fact that these
artists are still going for all the right reasons.
Finally, after a slight technical glitch during the set-up, THE WAILERS arrive
complete with original members and additional members from the Wailers’ family
tree. Indeed, Marley’s replacement is the cousin of the legendary Wailers’ bassist
Aston ‘Familyman’ Barrett, Joshua Barrett. We also have legendary original
members Junior Marvin and Donald Kinsey on guitar with Tyrone Downie on keys
and organs. With Familyman’s son, Aston Barrett Jr., joining the band on drums,
it’s clear that the line-up is as close as it could be to the familial vibe of the original
incarnation.
There is a heavy groove that carries this performance and somewhat betrays
the skill level of the players. It’s undeniable that this troupe are some of the best
at what they do, with soulful guitar and key solos throughout. Yet somehow, they
make their work look, and sound, as fluent and inevitable as running water.
In remembrance of their Legend collection they play a whole set which features
almost every track on the record, plus a few extras. Classics such as Three Little
Birds, No Woman, No Cry, Buffalo Soldier and I Shot The Sheriff come through
thick and fast, prompting a strong chorus from the crowd, while tracks Roots Rock
Reggae, Exodus and others have the entire room nodding their heads in unison.
Joshua Barrett proves himself more than worthy of Marley’s mantle as his voice
soars through tracks such as Is This Love and One Love, while Aston Barrett Jr.
adds a wealth of texture and hypnotic groove to the proceedings which enriches
the sound as a whole. This is truly a family affair.
It’s fair to say that The Wailers have done their job. As they leave the stage
it has to be said the world seems like a happier place for those in attendance.
The music made by this band has inspired and empowered the entire globe for
generations and, at present, their power is in need. This show has been one to top
up our reserves of hope until – if we’re lucky – around this time next year.
Christopher Carr
The Wailers (Glyn Akroyd / @GlynAkroyd)
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REVIEWS 43

Mykal Rose (Glyn Akroyd / @GlynAkroyd)
Mykal Rose
+ One-A-Penny Soundsystem
Positive Vibration @ District – 17/02
Billed as ‘The Voice Of Black Uhuru’ (and known as just that during their most
influential roots reggae period of the late-70s to mid-80s), MYKAL ROSE – backed by
noted British rhythm section and producers Mafia and Fluxy (Bunny Lee, Gregory Isaacs,
Sugar Minott) – is the latest performer to take part in Positive Vibration’s mouth-watering
series of inter-festival concerts. Another congenial atmosphere is bubbling up in District
as ONE-A-PENNY SOUNDSYSTEM, one of the oldest in Liverpool, draw many of the early
arrivals straight on to the dancefloor.
Mafia (Leroy Heywood, Bass) and Fluxy (David Heywood, Drums) are joined by
Stephen Wright (Guitar) and Adrian McKenzie (Keys), who get things off to a jaunty start
with a version of Dave Brubeck’s Take Five before Rose hits the stage. Nattily attired in
shades and rasta-stripe hat, man-bag slung casually over his shoulder, Rose’s arrival is
the catalyst for the ensemble to cruise straight into the classic What Is Life? from 1984’s
Grammy-winning Anthem. Rose gets quickly into his stride, pacing the stage, breaking
into shimmying dance steps and sounding in great voice.
The set is littered with political and social commentary, protest and praise. A sublime
The Whole World Is Africa sets the bar high, its chorus a concise damnation of colonial
and post-colonial rule: “The whole world is Africa, it’s divided in continent states, stolen
cities have no pity.” “Stolen cities have no pity” – it could be a line from a Graham Greene
novel, murmured over a whisky by a worn-out priest or company man, conjuring up the
spite, greed, fear and corruption of the times. McKenzie’s bouncing piano drives it along
and the change of tempo is executed to perfection.
Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner references the boundary-pushing 1960s comedydrama
of the same name, replacing Sidney Poitier’s urbane African American doctor with
the spliff-toting Natty Dreadlock whose herb brings society together.
There is no between song chat and one song generally morphs seamlessly into the
next as we skank our way through a set of up-tempo rockers and cool grooves. That’s not
to say Rose doesn’t connect with his audience: he constantly involves them in the music,
call-and-response vignettes littering the set and enthusiastically echoed by the swaying
crowd.
All the above are driven by Mafia and Fluxy’s totally on-it grooves. That sibling
connection, so often heralded when vocally portrayed, is tonight displayed beautifully in
the rhythm, these two look and sound like they’ve been playing together forever. Leroy’s
heavy dub bass on I Love King Selassie positively throbs alongside David’s snappy
stickwork. That rhythm is decorated with Wright’s driving, choppy rhythms or full-on
ripping, blues inflected solos, accompanied by proper ‘rock god’ facials. McKenzie is
equally at home pushing the rhythm along or adding swathes of soaring synth or pure
rock ‘n’ roll piano. Rose’s scat singing on Plastic Smile delights, and a cover of Natural
Mystic celebrates Bob Marley’s birthday, the crowd joining in ecstatically.
After a stonking Sinsemilla and new number Zum Zum, involving another crowd
singalong, an apologetic Levi Tafari explains that there will be no encore. Thankfully, One
A Penny are on hand to keep the party rolling into the small hours on another superb night
for Positive Vibration and District.
Glyn Akroyd / @GlynAkroyd
44

The Stranglers
+ Therapy?
O2 Academy – 06/03
The chance to see a legendary (a word not used lightly) band such as THE
STRANGLERS play live is too good to pass up on a chilly March evening, and the
O2 is a great venue to witness the opening night of the UK leg of their Definitive
Tour. Many, or perhaps all, of the crowd gathered eagerly in the semi-gloom of
the Academy’s main room are hoping to recapture versions of themselves vaguely
remembered from 1979.
The place is a sell-out and anticipation is rising when support band THERAPY?
take to the stage. Lead man Andy Cairns powers out tune after tune, blasting
through selected items from their back catalogue causing the massing crowd to
jump, bounce and generally throw themselves around in time to the churning riffs
and pumping drums. The last time they played Liverpool was in 1991 at Planet X
according to Cairns, and he and his bandmates are clearly enjoying themselves.
Therapy? blaze through their set with the poise and swagger of veteran rockers and
warm the crowd nicely for the main event.
The Stranglers take the stage to huge cheers. Baz Warne, now fronting the band
with original members Jean-Jacques Burnel on bass and Dave Greenfield on keys,
get things going by launching into a powerful version of Curfew and muscle memory
kicks in for everyone present. Jerky dancing, pogoing and jumping ensues as the
room appears to rumble.
It’s The Stranglers’ distinctive sound that is most impressive, it’s unmistakable
with Greenfield’s Manzarek-style keyboard riffs and Burnel’s throbbing bass. Warne
is a terrific frontman; an accomplished guitarist and charismatic singer, he delivers
with the confidence and attitude of someone who owns each and every song.
At times it’s like the band have forgotten how old they are as they blast through
Bear Cage and Nuclear Device ably assisted by the crowd roaring the lyrics back to
them. Youthful abandon is conjured on stage and they prove that punk is not dead, it
is still vital, still surging from their core. Classics Peaches, Golden Brown and Always
The Sun are huge and demonstrate that the songwriting on display here is still gobsmacking.
The audience really come alive when these are played, chanting in perfect
harmony.
Warne and the boys plough on with Just Like Nothing On Earth and Freedom Is
Insane, by which point Burnel’s shirt is unbuttoned to the waist and he is prowling
the stage like a man possessed, buzzing the crowd with grins and shockwaves from
his bass.
This is a masterclass of musicianship – even the drumming of Jim Macaulay is
bang-on, tying the whole together to form a perfect package of propulsive punk pop.
The Stranglers may be into late-middle age but their energy, enthusiasm and quality
has not waned. Every member of the audience has experienced the burning power
of Warne and his merry men and we all file out into the cooling air of real life, ears
still ringing with counter-cultural anthems that chronicled our youth.
Mike Stanton / @DepartmentEss
The Stranglers (Keith Ainsworth / arkimages.co.uk)
PINK AUDIO
DYNAMITE
The monthly radio show from Bido Lito!
Listen to the audio accompaniment to this issue
of Bido Lito! online at iwfmradio.com
Featuring the best new music from Merseyside and
beyond including the artists in this magazine and
other tracks on the dansette at Bido Lito! HQ
Hear the show on the first Saturday of every month
or listen back at bidolito.co.uk/podcast
REVIEWS 45

REVIEWS
“They morph seamlessly
between styles and
tempos, punky basslines
sitting happily alongside
Sketches Of Spain
trumpet explorations”
Arun Ghosh (Glyn Akroyd / @GlynAkroyd)
Arun Ghosh (Glyn Akroyd / @GlynAkroyd)
Liverpool International
Jazz Festival
Capstone Theatre – 22/02 – 25/02
The sixth LIVERPOOL INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
(established by Liverpool Hope University and hosted in the main
at the Capstone Theatre on their Creative Campus) this year
focuses on “contemporary instrumental jazz” and, as ever, there
is a varied line-up mixing the stellar and the less well known
which promises quality throughout.
Friday night, and THE WEAVE kick things off in fine style.
Martin Smith’s critically acclaimed sextet play a short set that
mixes explosive improvisation with lyrical melody to mesmerising
effect. Smith repeatedly delivers exquisite solos before stepping
into the shadows to allow his colleagues time in the spotlight to
deliver their own riveting explorations, each solo drawing richly
deserved applause from the audience. The Weave quite literally
swing us into the evening.
Expectation is high as GET THE BLESSING stride onstage
in trademark suits, looking like a cross between the Bad Seeds
and Jeremy Vine. They hit the ground running with Adagio,
saxophone and trumpet riffing off each other over a muscular
rhythm. Pete Judge (Trumpet) and Jake McMurchie (Saxophone)
face each other from opposite sides of the stage as though in a
western standoff as they trade riffs. Jim Barr (Bass) has a dry,
engaging repertoire. E & O is apparently based on “dreams of
deep fried pizza cops” while Music Style P contains “no music
whatsoever”. It most certainly does, a jazz-rock workout of the
highest order relaxing into elegiac horn passages. “There’s some
really bad things going on in America” he opines, “but know
what’s the worst? The coffee. This is called Americano”. They
launch into a wash of surf guitar, stalking six string bass and
mariachi-like trumpet which dissolves into a furious funk squall.
They morph seamlessly between styles and tempos, punky
basslines sitting happily alongside Sketches Of Spain trumpet
explorations, dissonance and harmony embraced throughout, the
audience never quite sure what’s coming next. Barr’s ability to
play throbbing bass and shimmering lead on the same instrument
adds tension and Clive Deamer’s drumming switches from
effortless swing to pounding workout.
Judge and McMurchie occasionally kneel for intermittent
periods of judicious knob-twiddling which sends their sampled
horns spiralling aloft in washes of an almost psychedelic nature
– but they never overdo it, the effects adding to the complex
nature of the overall sound. That complexity is never allowed
to obscure Get The Blessing’s ear for a melody however, and
the set is littered with lyrical, evocative passages. Movie score
commissioners, please note.
“This is the Butlins moment,” announces Barr, “we want you
to clap along,” and everyone does, keeping pretty good time on
the pacey, rhythmic intricacies of OC DC. The band applauds the
audience, and, as well as an atmosphere of musical appreciation,
an atmosphere of good humour permeates the room. The stopstart
drama of Einstein Action Figure, brings a wild ride to its
conclusion and a hugely deserved standing ovation.
Saturday lunchtime, and the delightful aroma of Indian
cuisine permeates the foyer of the Capstone as the midday crowd
mingles ahead of the Milapfest co-promotion of ARUN GHOSH
INDO-JAZZ SEXTET. Ghosh, born in Calcutta, raised in Bolton,
has a string of highly praised albums to his name, the most recent
being 2017’s But Where Are You Really From? – a question he
was repeatedly asked during his formative years. If Ghosh was at
all angered by that he hides it remarkably well, preferring instead
to view such stereotyping with a twinkle-eyed amusement. It is a
demeanour that is immediately endearing, Ghosh has something
of the Lancashire stand-up about him and litters the set with
anecdotes of his Bolton childhood. One such concerns his family’s
regular walking trips to the Lake District and is a precursor to the
beautiful Pastoral Sympathy (This Land Is Mine), its haunting,
evocative clarinet and piano intro setting the scene for a piece
that, by turns, skips along like a spring lamb and bathes in an
autumnal melancholy, aided by its traditional bandstand brass.
Ghosh himself performs with a controlled intensity,
constantly rising onto his tiptoes, body swaying, clarinet thrust
at the mic to emit frenzied sorties that front a wall of sound
which rises from the polyrhythmic foundations of Dave Walsh’s
drumming and Gavin Barass’ slinky basslines. Alternately,
Ghosh’s clarinet fronts gentle lyrical passages, with Sarathy
Korwar’s pattering tabla rhythms scattering thoughts of Albion
eastwards.
After an interval, Smashing Through The Gates Of Thought
does just that, positively rocking the house with its pile-driving
rhythms, Ghosh’s clarinet and Chris Williams’ saxophone solos
flying, before River Song takes us on a journey as sinuous and
flowing as the title might suggest.
John Ellis’ driving piano motif illuminates Sufi Stomp and,
finally, they bring a thrillingly-realised Tomorrow Never Knows
full circle, Ghosh stalking the stage, clearly delighting in the
band’s playing before they take an ensemble bow as the
audience once again rises to applaud.
Closing the festival on Sunday evening are SOFT MACHINE,
back on Merseyside after their autumn performance at the
Wirral’s International Guitar festival of Great Britain, and
displaying the same virtuosity that we reported on then. Pioneers
of the British pastoral psychedelic and jazz fusion scenes and
showing no signs of slowing down, theirs is a legacy that bears
constant revisiting and reinterpretation. Yet again a full house is
on its feet.
It’s been a weekend of music that pushes the envelope,
played out to full houses, and which sees the Liverpool
International Jazz Festival go from strength to strength.
Glyn Akroyd / @GlynAkroyd
46

47Soul
24 Kitchen Street – 16/02
Mook Loxley provides us with an illustrative
review of shamstep collective 47Soul’s show at
24 Kitchen Street.
ROUND UP
A selection of the best of the rest from another
busy month of live action on Merseyside.
Yassassin (Darren Aston)
Down in the yellow basement of HUS a party is kicking into full swing. Jessica Fleming
joins promoters ICYMI for a celebration of their second birthday, and what better way to
commemorate the milestone than with a gig jam-packed with some of the best upcoming
bands around.
Leeds’ PARTY HARDLY are one of the night’s hors d’oeuvres, presenting a mixture of
tunes varying in styles from laid back slacker rock to heavy and fast-paced guitars. Frontman
Tom Barr presides over the stage, occasionally ditching his guitar to swagger off the slightly
raised stage to sing directly into the crowd. They’re a slick outfit and their energy is infectious.
The London-based five-piece punk band YASSASSIN are the night’s headliners, a band
who haven’t played in Liverpool since their set at Psych Fest back in September. That show
coincided with the release of their debut EP Vitamin Y, and since then the group have gone on
to play with Sleeper, Yak, and Skinny Girl Diet. The group attract a growing crowd who aren’t
afraid to dance along to the band’s rebel-rousing tracks, taking inspiration from lead singer,
Anna Haara Kristoferson, who is constantly giving it her all, whether it be with a guitar,
tambourine or mic in her hand.
Even with two new members, Nathalia on bass and Stephanie on drums, the group blow
the crowd away with one flawless song after another. The incredibly popular Social Construct
stands out, as does the slower and dreamier Cherry Pie, and personal favourite Pretty Face.
Alongside this, the band unveil a few newer songs, creating an exciting buzz around what is
yet to come and teasing at possible new releases soon. As Yassassin’s first gig of 2018, they
manage to set the bar high – starting their year with style, and making everyone present wish
for their return before they’ve even left.
It comes as little surprise that HOOKWORMS’ return to the city should be sold-out, and
Bethany Garrett finds them in fine form at their stint in Invisible Wind Factory’s basement
Substation venue. Their latest LP – Microshift, released in February this year – has racked up
some impressive critical acclaim from all the right places, while its propulsive lead single has
been plastered on the airwaves, a spurring, Kraftwerk-indebted track that has animated the
sleet-slowed trudge through the beginning of the year. It’s Negative Space that opens their
set in the packed-out Substation, and from the first beat, bodies begin to bop up and down to
their synth-laden neo-psych.
There is a lot of affection for the Leeds outfit from this Liverpool crowd – their 2014 Music
Week show at The Kazimier is a fabled one, and tonight there’s a similar feel in the air – that
much sought-after sentiment where you realise you’ve been fortunate to do that very lucky
thing where you catch a band at just the right time. The new direction of Microshift – a route
into a more expansive, synth-heavy sound – makes perfect sense live. The members of the
group are cast as silhouettes amongst metres and metres of wires and the multiple metallic
boxes and buttons that make up their expansive and well-used pedal collection. Behind
this, the 3D wizardry of Sam Wiehl’s artwork provides a constantly-changing onslaught of
abstract images that assault your vision, adding to the urgency of Hookworms’ frenetic and
futuristic sounding tracks.
47Soul (Mook Loxley / mookloxley.tumblr.com)
Full reviews of these shows can be found now at bidolito.co.uk.
REVIEWS 47

march + april
march 22 the wholls + hello operator, big bambora
march 23 m2tm heat 1 with special guests - prognnosis
march 24 liverpool beard and moustache championships
march 25 hair club live - open chair night
march 29 vinyl junkie & amp presents broken witt rebels
march 30 deathwave presents - pist + batallions
april 5 jd presents - circa waves + guests
april 6 m2tm heat 2 with special guests - exhumation
april 11 dusty pop presents - black sonic six
april 12 liverpool calling presents - mouses
april 14 ingested + this is turin, oceanis & guests
april 15 the sink club
april 18 this feeling presents - trampolene
april 19 evol presents - her’s + very special guests
april 20 m2tm heat 1 with special guests - warcrab
april 16 bdeathwave presents - alex + white tiger
Tickets available via skiddle.com - all shows 18+
Lorem ipsum

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THURSDAY 12TH APRIL
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FRIDAY 27TH APRIL
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LITTLE COMETS
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Tuesday 13th March
Michael
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Sunday 22nd April
Michael
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Thursday 26th April
Courtney
Marie Andrews
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Saturday 21st April
Peter Hammill
The Stoller Hall,
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Robyn
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The Rutles
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SAY
THE FINAL
“Now is the time
for action. Now
is our moment
to shape our
music future”
Photo by Fin Reed
Bido Lito! Editor-In-Chief
Craig G Pennington reflects
on Metro Mayor Steve
Rotheram’s announcement
of the establishment
of a Liverpool City
Region Music Board.
It’s 8am on a bitterly cold Wednesday morning in March
and The British Music Experience’s side conference room
is bustling. 36 hours prior, an email from Metro Mayor
Steve Rotheram’s Office announced that this early-morning
convening would see the announcement of a new Liverpool
City Region Music Board and the launch of a report into the
contribution of music tourism to the City Region economy.
Despite the meeting’s timing and last minute announcement,
it’s unsurprising to see a strong turn out from the local music
community – something which reflects the fact this latest chapter
feels like a decisive moment in the journey to establish a new way
of thinking about music in our city.
It is worth taking a moment to recap on why we find ourselves
here and where we are up to regarding the whole agenda around
Liverpool’s music policy. Since we ran an article in our April
2017 edition calling for a new form of sector-led music policy in
Liverpool, there have been a series of reports published in the
area; the Liverpool edition of the UK Live Music Census, Liverpool
City Council’s Music Strategy, the LJMU and Bido Lito! authored
‘Liverpool, Music City?’ report and now this latest offering focused
on music tourism from UK Music, the national lobbying body.
A year down the road and it is clear is that the message
has been heard. The political agenda has shifted and the idea
that Liverpool’s music community is a sector which needs to be
understood, protected and supported to grow is now accepted.
What has been unclear up until this point is the form that any
local authority support would take. Though currently absent of
detail – a situation which we are assured will be addressed in
the coming weeks – the announcement that a new Liverpool City
Region Music Board will be established (and is likely to be followed
by a complimentary body within the City Council to pursue a
collaborative agenda) is a welcome development.
The idea of a music board is based on the model currently
in operation in London and supported successfully by UK Music.
Established in April 2016 to “protect grassroots music venues and
support London’s grassroots music scene,” the body describes
itself as “an influential coalition of the music industry, music
education sector, community music sector, local authorities, the
Greater London Authority and tourism bodies.” For an organisation
not even two years old, the board has had a number of notable
successes, including its work on the London Live Music Rescue
Plan – which brought the dire trend of music venue closures to a
national audience – and their successful lobbying which resulted
in the Met Police abolishing form 696 (which discriminated against
marginalised music communities, particularly the burgeoning
London grime scene). The London Music Board was also a key
driving force behind the recent parliamentary move to assume the
Agent Of Change principle into UK planning law (the Spellar Bill).
This move should see the ludicrous – but depressingly familiar
– chain of events that sees music venues making way for new
apartments (as a result of developers being unprepared to sound
insulate developments adequately) resigned to history.
It is important to note the emphasis on ‘grassroots’ within the
London Music Board’s raison d’être. This is not an organisation set
up to protect the singular interest of the music sector’s traditional
big players. It is not about protecting the status quo. It is there to
help shape a city which provides a supportive and vibrant context
for music cultures to flourish at all levels. It is tasked with asking
difficult and disruptive questions and pursuing a transformative
new agenda.
A year ago we called for a new form of music leadership, “run
by Liverpool’s music community, for the good of Liverpool’s music
ecosystem.” When outlining how we envisioned such an entity to
be run, we described it thus: “It will be democratic and transparent.
It will not serve self-interest. It will be a truly honest broker. It will
work with the city to bring about positive change and develop
innovative music policy that sees music valued and prioritised
across all aspects of city life.” When you assess the structure,
achievements and ambitions of the London Music Board, it is
encouraging to see how much they chime with this vision.
On this wild and windy March morning we are yet again
presented with the familiar series of platitudes about Liverpool’s
musical past; how we’ve had more number ones than anywhere
else, how we’re the centre of the musical universe, how we sold
American music back to the US and changed the world in the
process. Indeed, that once was the case. But at the moment, it
plainly isn’t. Our sector is struggling and our city is missing out on
a transformational opportunity as a result.
The major difference between then and now is that, now, we
have the academic reports and evidence; we have the political
appetite; and we have demonstrated in our work with LJMU that
the Liverpool music community is ready to take its place at the
table. Now is the time for action. Now is our moment to shape our
music future.
We await the detail on the proposed Liverpool City Region
Music Board with great hope and cautious optimism.
54

GOT A GREAT IDEA FOR A
LIVE GIG IN BIRKENHEAD?
Wirral New Music Collective’s Live Music Innovation
Fund are providing a series of £500 grants for local
musicians, promoters or music lovers to put on an
innovative live gig in Wirral this summer.
CLOSING DATE: Friday 6th April
For more information and to apply go to wirralnmc.co.uk

BIOCENTRISM
ENERGY CREW PRESENT
FRI 30 MARCH 2018 ENRG PRES.
GOLDILOCKS PRINCIPLE
JON
HOPKINS
DJ SET
JOE
GODDARD
(HOT CHIP) DJ SET
BLEHRIN
In The Substation all night long, very special guests...
A LOVE FROM OUTER SPACE
ANDREW
WEATHERALL
& SEAN
JOHNSTON
Venue:
Invisible Wind Factory,
2 Regent Road,
Liverpool, L3 7DS
ENRG:
0151 707 5010
info@Energy-Crew.com
Tickets Online:
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Residentadvisor.net
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