Issue 93 / October 2018

ISSUE 93 / OCTOBER 2018
NEW MUSIC + CREATIVE CULTURE
LIVERPOOL
SPQR / NIKI KAND / VILLAGERS
SHE DREW THE GUN / PUSSY RIOT

Tue 11th Sep
The Stairs
+ Silent-K + Peach Fuzz
Sat 15th Sep • 6pm
Wayward Sons
+ Doomsday Outlaw
Sat 22nd Sep
Spring King
Sat 22nd Sep
The Notorious B.I.G
An Orchestral Rendition
Of Ready To Die
Sun 23rd Sep
Fish
Mon 24th Sep
Pale Waves
Fri 28th Sep • SOLD OUT
Half Man Half Biscuit
Fri 28th Sep
SPINN
Sat 29th Sep
Red Rum Club
+ Life At The Arcade
+ Columbia + Tracky
Wed 3rd Oct
The Magic Gang
+ The Orielles
Fri 5th Oct
The Night Café
Fri 5th Oct
Jilted John + John Otway
Sat 6th Oct
Definitely Mightbe
Sat 6th Oct • 10pm
VK Electric ft Tom
Zanetti & K.O Kane
Wed 10th Oct
Maribou State
Thur 11th Oct
Mo Gilligan AKA
Mo the Comedian
Fri 12th Oct • Mountford Hall,
Liverpool Guild of Students
The Coral
+ She Drew The Gun
Fri 12th Oct
Elvana: Elvis Fronted
Nirvana
Sat 13th Oct
Reverend And The
Makers
+ RedFaces + Sophie & The Giants
Sat 13th Oct
The Men They Couldn’t
Hang
Thur 18th Oct
Bugzy Malone
Fri 19th Oct
The Sherlocks
Fri 19th Oct
The Vryll Society
Sat 20th Oct • SOLD OUT
Tom Grennan
Sun 21st Oct
Dermot Kennedy
Wed 24th Oct • Mountford Hall,
Liverpool Guild of Students
SOLD OUT
First Aid Kit
Thu 25th Oct
Neil Hilborn (USA)
Fri 26th Oct
The White Buffalo
Sat 27th Oct
The Southmartins
Beautiful South & Housemartins
Tribute
Sat 27th Oct • 10pm
ABBA Disco Wonderland
Fri 2nd Nov
Bad Sounds
Sat 3rd Nov
Ladytron
Sat 3rd Nov • SOLD OUT
Old Dominion (USA)
Sat 3rd Nov • 11pm • Mountford Hall,
Liverpool Guild of Students
Festival Of The Dead
Wed 7th Nov
Hothouse Flowers
Fri 9th Nov • Mountford Hall,
Liverpool Guild of Students
SOLD OUT
George Ezra
Fri 9th Nov
Less Than Jake &
Reel Big Fish (USA)
Fri 9th Nov
Shaun Ryder’s Black
Grape
Sat 10th Nov
The Carpet Crawlers
Perform ‘Selling Foxtrot By The
Pound’
Sat 10th Nov
Antarctic Monkeys
Tue 13th Nov
The Dead Daisies
- Welcome to Daisyland
+ Massive Wagons
Fri 16th Nov
Slaves
Fri 16th Nov
Absolute Bowie Presents
50 Years of Bowie
Sat 17th Nov
UK Foo Fighters
Sat 17th Nov • SOLD OUT
Johnny Marr - Call The
Comet Tour
Thur 22nd Nov
Limehouse Lizzy
25th Anniversary Tour
Fri 23rd Nov
Stillmarillion
Fri 23rd Nov • 10pm
Foreverland
- Enchanted Forest
Sat 24th Nov
Pearl Jam UK
Sat 24th Nov
Heaven 17
+ Propaganda (Ger)
Wed 28th Nov
Natty
Thur 29th Nov
Bars and Melody
facebook.com/o2academyliverpool
twitter.com/o2academylpool
instagram.com/o2academyliverpool
youtube.com/o2academytv
Thur 29th Nov
The Damned
Fri 30th Nov
The Doors Alive
Sat 1st Dec
Alabama 3
Thur 6th Dec
Razorlight
Fri 7th Dec
The Lancashire Hotpots
+ Stu Penders & Spladoosh
Sat 8th Dec
Slade
Merry Christmas Everybody 45th
Anniversary
Sat 8th Dec
CKY
+ Sumo Cyco
+ Bullets and Octane
Sat 8th Dec • Mountford Hall,
Liverpool Guild of Students
Miles Kane + Cabbage
Tue 11th Dec
Bjorn Again
Fri 14th Dec
Polar States
Sat 15th Dec
Prince Tribute
- Endorphinmachine
Sat 15th Dec
Skindred
Fri 21st Dec
Sex Pissed Dolls
Sat 22nd Dec
Ian Prowse &
Amsterdam
Sat 22nd Dec • Mountford Hall,
Liverpool Guild of Students
Cast
Sat 22nd Dec
The Smyths
Wed 16th Jan
Enter Shikari
Sat 26th Jan
The ELO Show
Fri 1st Feb
Clem Burke and Bootleg
Blondie
Tue 5th Feb
The Dead South (CAN)
Wed 20th Feb
White Denim (USA)
Sat 23rd Feb
The Spitfires
Thur 7th Mar
Trixie Mattel
Fri 22nd Mar
Sat 30th Mar
Liverpool Rocks – Semi
Final
Sat 6th Apr
The Showhawk Duo
+ Benji & Hibbz
Sat 27th Apr • 6.30pm
Liverpool Rocks Final
Sat 25th May
The Icicle Works
FRI 14TH SEP 7PM
THE ANOMALY
SAT 15TH SEP 7PM
PINSTRIPE EP LAUNCH
+ THE HIGHERSIDE
+ THE BESIDERS
+ THE GEAR
SAT 15TH SEP 9PM
HORIZON:
EXCESSIVE FORCE
FT. ART OF FIGHTERS,
MECCANO TWINS,
DEATHMACHINE,
THRASHER, BIG WORM,
DEMONIC TECHNIQUE,
TUGIE & MORE
SUN 16TH SEP 7PM
JARET REDDICK
SAT 22ND SEP 6PM
CATHERINE MCGRATH
MON 24TH SEP 7PM
THE LAFONTAINES
SAT 29TH SEP 6.30PM
THE BLUETONES
THU 4TH OCT 7PM
WILD FRONT
FRI 5TH OCT 6PM
ODDITY ROAD
FRI 5TH OCT 6PM
THE DANIEL
WAKEFORD
EXPERIENCE
SAT 6TH OCT 7PM
A BAND CALLED
MALICE
THE DEFINITIVE TRIBUTE
TO THE JAM
SAT 6TH OCT 10PM
SONNY FODERA
PRESENTS:
SOLOTOKO ONLINE
TOUR
WED 10TH OCT 7PM
GLASVEGAS
THUR 11TH OCT 7PM
THE SHE STREET
BAND
FRI 12TH OCT 6.30PM
OMYO
FRI 12TH OCT 6.30PM
NICK MULVEY
TUE 16TH OCT 7PM
SUPERORGANISM
WED 17TH OCT 7PM
HER’S
FRI 19TH OCT 6PM
KILA
+ BILL BOOTH
FRI 19TH OCT 7PM
HERMITAGE GREEN
SAT 20TH OCT 7PM
WE ARE SCIENTISTS
THUR 25TH OCT 7PM
VILLAGERS
MON 29TH OCT 7PM
THE BLINDERS
FRI 2ND NOV 6.30PM
RHYTHM OF THE
90’S
SAT 3RD NOV 7PM
TIDE LINES
TICKETS FOR ALL SHOWS ARE AVAILABLE FROM
TICKETMASTER.CO.UK
90
SEEL STREET, LIVERPOOL, L1 4BH
SAT 10TH NOV 6PM
MIC LOWRY
SAT 10TH NOV 7PM
ROBERT VINCENT
SUN 11TH NOV 7PM
BRIX AND THE
EXTRICATED
TUE 13TH NOV 7PM
SHEAFS
FRI 16TH NOV 7PM
HINDS (MADRID)
SAT 17TH NOV 7PM
SOLD OUT
GRUFF RHYS
SAT 24TH NOV 6PM
MORGAN JAMES
FRI 30TH NOV 7PM
CLEAN CUT KID
SAT 1ST DEC 7PM
THE ALARM
+ RYAN HAMILTON & THE
HARLEQUIN GHOSTS
SAT 1ST DEC 7PM
THE WANDERING
HEARTS
SAT 8TH DEC 7PM
SAINT PHNX
SAT 15TH DEC 7PM
THE WEDDING
PRESENT
SAT 16TH MAR 7PM
ADY SULEIMAN
with special guests STEALING SHEEP and HAARM
SATURDAY 3RD NOVEMBER 2018
O ACADEMY LIVERPOOL
11-13 HOTHAM STREET, L3 5UF
DOORS 7PM 14+ SHOW | TICKETMASTER, SEETICKETS AND SKIDDLE
EVOL 15TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW PART 1
ticketmaster.co.uk
o2academyliverpool.co.uk
11-13 Hotham Street, Liverpool L3 5UF
Doors 7pm unless stated
Venue box office opening hours:
Mon - Sat 10.30am - 5.30pm
ticketmaster.co.uk • seetickets.com
gigantic.com • ticketweb.co.uk

An Arts Council Collection National Partners Exhibition
29 September 2018 to
17 March 2019
FREE ENTRY
liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
#leofitzmaurice
#ACCNationalPartners
Arts Council Collection is managed by Southbank Centre, London on behalf of Arts Council England
Image: Supplicant 101, 2008, Milena Dragicevic. Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London © the artist, courtesy Galerie Martin Janda, Vienna

ROASTS &
RECORDS
LIVE MUSIC
THURSDAYS
EVENT
LISTINGS
Roasts, resident diggers, tasty beats, free entry Live music, Thursday evenings, free entry What’s on in the event space this winter
OCT
Roasts & Records
Independent Record Fair
07/10/18
Roasts & Records
Plant Swap
21/10/18
Roasts & Records
28/10/18
NOV
Roasts & Records
04/11/18
Roasts & Records
11/11/18
Roasts & Records
18/11/18
Roasts & Records
25/11/18
DEC
Roasts & Records
02/12/18
Roasts & Records
Independent Record Fair
09/12/18
Roasts & Records
16/12/18
OCT
Addicted TV
Orchestra of Samples
04/10/18
The Jam Scones Quartet
11/10/18
The Art of Dffrnce
Xam Volo
18/10/18
Born to Roll
Apparel Launch
25/10/18
NOV
Seyni Diop
01/11/18
Mamadou & The Lekette Band
08/11/18
The Jam Scones Quartet
15/11/18
TBA
22/11/18
DEC
The Sneakbeats Social
06/12/18
The Remy Jude Ensemble
13/12/18
Godwash
20/12/18
OCT
Funzing Talks
Tales From a Psychedelic Researcher
02/10/18
Funzing Talks
Do You Have a Narcissist in Your Life
03/10/18
Gathering & Gig
World Mental Health Day
13/10/18
Soul Train
19/10/18
Funzing Talks
The Psychology of Raving
23/10/18
Soul Jam
24/10/18
LOST Halloween
27/10/18
Good Life Halloween
31/10/18
NOV
Mouvement
03/11/18
Funzing Talks
The Science of Self Esteem
06/11/18
DaDa Fest & Homotopia Drag Cabaret
17/11/18
Soul Jam
21/11/18
Liverpool Print Fair
24/11/18
DEC
Soul Jam
05/12/18
Soul Train
21/12/18
Boxing Night with LDF
26/12/18
New Year’s Eve with 303
31/12/18

What’s On
October– November
Monday 15 October 8pm
Music Room
Ragged Union
Saturday 20 October 8pm
Music Room
Liverpool Irish Festival
The Hot Sprockets
Monday 19 November 8pm
Live on Mars
Sunday 25 November 2.30pm & 8pm
Music Room
A Theatr Mwldan Production
Catrin Finch &
Seckou Keita
Tuesday 30 October 7.30pm
One Man Stranger Things
Friday 16 November 8pm
Seafoam Green’s
The Last Waltz
Box Office
0151 709 3789
liverpoolphil.com
LiverpoolPhilharmonic
liverpoolphil
liverpool_philharmonic
Principal Funders
Thanks to the City
of Liverpool for its
financial support
Principal Partners
Media Partner
Image Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita

SAT 27TH OCT
NORMAN JAY MBE
GOOD TIMES HALLOWEEN SPECIAL
FREE ENTRY
40 SLATER STREET, LIVERPOOL. L1 4BX. THEMERCHANTLIVERPOOL.CO.UK

New Music + Creative Culture
Liverpool
Issue 93 / October 2018
bidolito.co.uk
Second Floor
The Merchant
40-42 Slater Street
Liverpool L1 4BX
Publisher
Craig G Pennington - info@bidolito.co.uk
Editor-in-Chief
Christopher Torpey - chris@bidolito.co.uk
Media Partnerships and Projects Manager
Sam Turner - sam@bidolito.co.uk
Features Editor
Niloo Sharifi - niloo@bidolito.co.uk
Live Editor
Elliot Ryder - elliot@bidolito.co.uk
Digital and Social Media Officer
Alannah Rose - alannah@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
EDITORIAL
Liverpool’s music community lost one of its great
pillars recently when Tony Butler sadly passed away
following a short illness. For almost two decades
Tony presided over The Zanzibar with gruff authority,
with warmth and a depth of passion that belied his caustic wit.
The thoughts of all of us at Bido Lito! are with Tony’s family
and friends at this time.
Tony was one of those behind-the-scenes operators who
didn’t seek out public praise for what he
did, but, to those who knew him, he was
a true hero. Over the years, he gave a
helping hand to thousands of musicians
who passed through The Zanzi. Though
not all of those musicians who cut their
teeth on gigs at the club – and it was
always a club, not a bar – had direct
interactions with Tony, they benefited
massively by it just being there; a place
where they could be themselves and
perform. But those who did form lasting
relationships with Tony picked up huge
amounts of inspiration from his steely
determination. It’s been heartwarming
to read all the recollections and tributes
to Tony written by scores of these
musicians since his death, reflecting on
the various ways in which he dished out guidance, cajoled and
encouraged them, and dished out the odd affectionate kick up
the arse when needed.
I didn’t have too much direct contact with Tony over the
years – he treated our requests to review shows at the club
with immense scepticism, which, ironically, probably stood us
FEATURES
“The Zanzibar
was Tony Butler’s
domain, his
spiritual home…
its walls and
floor resonated
with prestige”
in good stead. But we were always aware that he had respect
for what we were doing and wanted us to succeed; because, if
Bido Lito! was successful then that only meant good news for
the city’s musicians, which he really did care about. You’d be
damned if you thought you’d get an ad out of him, however.
The Zanzi was Tony’s domain, his spiritual home. There
was pride in its independence, and its walls and floor
resonated with prestige. They still do. In time, we will probably
come to view The Zanzibar alongside The
Cavern and Eric’s in terms of its impact on
Liverpool music culture, in particular for
The Bandwagon years in the early 2000s
that spawned groups like The Bandits,
Tramp Attack, The Basement, The Coral
and The Zutons. It was also a home for
musicians like Howie Payne and Edgar
Jones, who went on to have great success
in the music industry. Tony Butler was this
scene’s godfather.
There was a touching moment on the
day of Tony’s funeral when his last journey
passed outside the club, with the arrival of
his coffin being met by a rousing round of
applause on Seel Street. It felt like a final
goodbye – and also like the baton was
being respectfully passed on. The best way
of respecting Tony Butler’s legacy would be to ensure that The
Zanzibar remains – as a venue, a club and a playground to the
city’s future musicians. I hope we’re all up to the challenge.
Christopher Torpey
Editor-in-Chief
Proofreader
Nathaniel Cramp
Cover Photography
Graham Smillie
Words
Christopher Torpey, Niloo Sharifi, Matt Hogarth,
Cath Bore, Jamie Carragher, Sophie Shields, Conal
Cunningham, Elliot Ryder, Georgia Turnbull, Sam
Turner, Esme Grace Brown, Ian Abraham, Jennie
Macaulay, Paul Fitzgerald, Julia Johnson, Gina Schwarz,
Chay Heney, Glyn Akroyd, Leighton Ramsdale, Ciarán
Hodgers, William Baines, Dean McMillan, Jack Haworth,
Sarah Bristow, Matty Loughlin-Day.
Photography, Illustration and Layout
Mark McKellier, Graham Smillie, Nata Moraru, Keith
Ainsworth, Sean Ryan, Andrew Millar, Rich Gilligan,
Jack Parker, Stu Moulding, Georgia Flynn, Tomas Adam,
Kristian Patten, Roger Sinek, Brian Roberts, Essod
Photography, Glyn Akroyd, Gary Young.
Distributed by Middle Distance
Print, distribution and events support across
Merseyside and the North West.
middledistance.org.uk
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.
10 / SPQR
“I find that you can often find the most beauty in the darkest
things”
12 / SHE DREW THE GUN
“Being hungry to know what other people say about the
world; I like that kind of stuff”
14 / NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL
A MUSIC PHENOMENON!
“Now isn’t the future of music, it’s a vestige of the past
miraculously thriving in the present”
22 / SHIT INDIE DISCO
“It’s about doing your own thing – it’s like being at a big
house party with a load of mates. That’s what we want”
26 / THE GREATEST GIG I
NEVER SAW
“Institutionalised fun-sponge-ism continues to thwart Paul’s
attempts to democratise his coveted performances”
12 / NIKI KAND
“I think everything’s kind of related to love, because we are
all very hungry and desperate to be loved”
30 / VILLAGERS
“If people respect themselves and their culture, then
hopefully they will have the capacity to respect other diverse
cultures and peoples”
32 / WARMDUSCHER
“We work with a ‘whatever happens, happens’ ethos”
REGULARS
8 / NEWS
28 / SPOTLIGHT
31 / PREVIEWS
38 / REVIEWS
52 / ARTISTIC LICENCE
54 / THE FINAL SAY

NEWS
Bido Lito! Membership
Queen Zee
Do you ever get that feeling that you want to be part of
something, a collective of people just like you? Does a
fear of missing out stalk your waking hours? Well, banish
those thoughts as the answer is here – the Bido Lito!
Membership gives you access to all the best bits about
our monthly missives (pink paper, great writing, loads of
recommendations) and a whole load of extras. Not only do
you get the magazine delivered to your door before it’s out
on the streets, you receive a digital bundle of new music and
an online version of the magazine before it’s published; you
also get access to our monthly Bido Lito! Social live shows,
featuring the amazing artists featured in the pink pages;
and you also get to tap into an exclusive monthly members’
playlist selected by the artists featured in the magazine.
Want in? Sign up now at bidolito.co.uk – do so before 30th
November and you’ll also receive our end-of-year Journal
(see below).
I’m Picking Up Good Indikations
We are treated to a festival of the finest arts from the Indian
subcontinent in October as INDIKA comes to town for its eighth
annual outing. Once again the event will bring together some of the
biggest names in Indian music and dance as well as emerging talent
to claim you saw first. This year’s festival takes place across several
venues including the Philharmonic, 24 Kitchen Street, FACT and Leaf
as well as the festival’s de facto home, the Capstone Theatre. Names
on the impressive bill this year include world-renowned Bansuri
flautist PRAVIN GODKHINDI, mandolin virtuoso U. RAJESH and
clarinetist ARUN GHOSH. Find out more at milapfest.com/indika.
Arun Ghosh
Hail Discordia
Mina Bihi
A distinctive new immersive show, which blurs the realms of art gallery and
theatre space, DISCORDIA is a fusion of visual art, choreography and music
composition. The exhibition, which takes place at the Hope Street Theatre
between 3rd and 6th October, explores the theme ‘Making Sense of the Chaos’
through an exploration of various cultural, philosophical and shamanic ideologies.
By inviting the audience to experience the varied meanings and perspectives
of a collection of paintings within an audio-physical tapestry, Discordia curator
Laura Brownhill is asking us to question our ideas about reality and our place in
the universe. Dance and music accompanies the visual stimuli in the 90-minute
performance, but are you prepared to embrace this discordian vision?
Brace For Impacts 18
Beyond the giant spectacles, the festivals, the pride and the projects, how much
impact did the European Capital of Culture award have on Liverpool? This is
the question central to the IMPACTS 18 symposium, taking place at the Cunard
Building over two-days of talks and workshops hosted by the Institute Of
Creative Capital. The event will welcome culture thought-leaders from around
the world to look at research programmes into culture as a catalyst for change
and the opportunities as well as challenges in cities’ cultural strategies. Speakers
appearing over the 18th and 19th October include Institute of Cultural Capital
chair DR BEATRIZ GARCIA, Capital Of Culture Creative Director PHIL REDMOND
and former Deputy Prime Minister MICHAEL HESELTINE. Go to impacts18.org for
more information.
Big Blues Up
Pub rock trailblazers DR FEELGOOD head up the line-up for
this year’s BIG BLUES FESTIVAL at The Atkinson in Southport.
The Canvey Island RnB legends enjoy cult status to this day and
launched the career of the iconic Wilko Johnson. They are joined
by blues artists from around the country including SAM KELLY’S
STATION HOUSE and the return of IAN SIEGAL. Blues fans will be
familiar with Siegal’s status as a constantly touring evangelist of
the genre and multi-award winner. Elsewhere on the bill, REBECCA
DOWNES blends the genre with a unique mix of soul, jazz and
funk. For full details of the festival head to theatkinson.co.uk.
Liverpool Honours Nelson Mandela
South African star musicians BCUC are coming in October to celebrate the unveiling of
Liverpool’s new Nelson Mandela Memorial in Prince’s Park. These stars are known for
their fusion of funk, punk, hip hop and Fela Kuti-esque intonations. The 23rd October
show at District show will be presented by the memorial campaign group Mandela8, who
visited South Africa earlier this year to collaboratively design the installation. The group’s
one-off performance is a fitting way to reflect on Mandela’s importance to Liverpool;
Liverpool’s inhabitants have felt connected to Mandela for decades, campaigning in
support of his anti-apartheid message since the 1960s, championing the Free Nelson
Mandela campaign, and giving Mandela the Freedom of the City in 1994. The Prince’s
Park installation will provide a space for learning, events and reflection, incorporating
Mandela’s inspiring words into the artwork.
BCUC
8

DANSETTE
MERSEY WYLIE opens up her record
bag to shed some light on the music
that inspired the emotional journey
that is her new EP, The Skin I Live In.
Biennial Last Chance
The 10th edition of LIVERPOOL BIENNIAL draws to a
close at the end of October. The sprawling visual arts
festival has taken over venues across the city since July,
with thought provoking, beautiful, weird and wonderful
exhibits. The free festival has worked with communities
in Granby, brought avant-garde video artist Agnès
Varda to the city and received acclaim from art critics
across the world. You’ll need to be especially quick to
catch Ari Benjamin Meyers’ installation at the Playhouse
Theatre. The collaborative film piece featuring members
of She Drew The Gun, Deaf School and Siouxie And The
Banshees comes down on 7th October. The festival ends
officially on 28th October – if you’re still looking for an
answer to the festival’s theme – Beautiful world, where
are you? – you’d better hurry.
Where Are The Girl Bands?
Agnès Varda (3 moving images. 3 rhythms. 3 sounds, 2018)
In Unison
The Unity Theatre’s new season of shows is as
diverse and exciting as ever with a host of thoughtprovoking,
radical and mind-bending productions
coming to the Hope Place boards. WHERE WE
BEGAN is a timely exploration of what would
happen if every citizen were ordered to return
to their place of birth. Told by theatre company
of refugees, Stand And Be Counted, the play is
another moving and honest production tackling a
key societal issue. Acclaimed British playwright Leo
Butler and beloved company Told By Idiots looks
at how acid has the potential to change the world
in the intriguing ALL YOU NEED IS LSD. Read an
interview with Butler on bidolito.co.uk now.
ESKA
Shades Of Blue
Naim/Earthling
Recordings
I saw ESKA perform at
Liverpool SoulFest in 2015 not
knowing anything about her,
and she completely blew me away. At that point I was at a
bit of a musical crossroads and I felt like that performance
gave me permission to really go for something completely
different. It was this incredible blending of folk, soul and
rock, these powerful yet vulnerable vocals, the unexpected
interplay between the vocals and different instruments
that I had never considered before; so many dichotomies
that shouldn’t have made any sense together, but were
absolutely perfect.
Tune-Yards
Gangsta
4AD
Merrill Garbus writes with a
fearlessness and ferocity that
I really admire. She says very
real things, but packages them
in this bouncy, sometimes
aggressive, sometimes playful package so that you don’t
always notice at first. I love the raw energy and easy
dissonance of Gangsta and tried to capture a little of that
in the choruses of Only You. Again, I was playing with
what could be said without words, this time through the
messy and raucous instrumental section.
As a new platform for female and non-binary musical talent in Liverpool,
Where Are The Girl Bands is asking for any and all artists who want
their voices heard to contact them via their Instagram account, @
wherearethegirlbands. They asked us to print their callout, supporting them
in tackling the overrepresentation of men in our music scene: “Our aim is to
elevate those who feel the local scene does not represent them. We want
everyone to get involved in the project, by sending us their art, music and
writings on inclusivity. We do weekly illustrated features and promote gigs,
videos and singles – DM us to be featured.”
Let’s Go Outsiders
Chic Slater Street store Outsiders is celebrating its first birthday
in October with an in-store party that doubles as an AW18
launch. From 6pm on Thursday 11th October you can wander
inside and feast upon some of Outsiders’ new season products,
featuring some of the most suave outerwear you’ll find this side
of Patagonia. There will also be a selection of drinks in-store,
and music from Outsiders DJs (plus guests) until 8pm. After
that, the party moves on to The Merchant with even more guest
DJs. If you’ve not ventured inside Outsiders yet, now is the
perfect chance to see what it has to offer.
A Year In Liverpool Music, 2018
We’re deliriously, ecstatically happy to announce that we will
be publishing the second edition of the Bido Lito! Journal this
November. Collating and celebrating A Year In Liverpool Music, the
Bido Lito! Journal will bring together the many stories of 2018’s
cultural journey in a deluxe, coffee table book format. This year’s
edition will be printed in a very limited run, featuring a curated
selection of the best photography and artwork featured in this
year’s magazine, as well as exclusive commissions and reflections
from artists we have covered throughout 2018. The Journal is
free to Bido Lito! members – sign up for a membership by 30th
November to receive yours for free. Sales will also be taken online
at bidolito.co.uk, and, from November, you’ll be able to purchase a
copy from the city’s independent retail hubs.
Outsiders
Roomful Of Teeth
Partita For 8
Voices Part 2:
Sarabande
New Amsterdam
Roomful Of Teeth explore vocal techniques from all over
the world and commission composers to write music that
incorporates them. They completely defy the boundaries
of what is possible in contemporary classical and I always
strive to do a little of that with my own music. This
stunning partita by Caroline Shaw really made me think
about what is possible to convey with the human voice
without lyrics. That was a massive inspiration for the intro
to Can’t Let Go that opens my EP.
Laura Mvula
Overcome
RCA
This was the first track Laura
Mvula released from The
Dreaming Room and I was
instantly obsessed. I love
the groove, the super cool Nile Rodgers riff, the sneakily
changing time signature and lush harmonies. I love that
she started talking so candidly about her mental health
struggles. I love how the song changes tonality at the
end and goes into this new jubilant section. I definitely
tried to mimic that shift in feeling at the end of Stronger.
After so much darkness, I really wanted to end with this
massive celebration. I wanted it to feel like you were being
surrounded by people who all understood what you were
going through and who were there to celebrate your
triumphs and pick you up when you fall.
merseywylie.com
The Skin I Live In is released in November. Head to bidolito.
co.uk now for a full list of song choices on Mersey Wylie’s
Dansette.
NEWS 9

10
S P Q R

Matt Hogarth talks death,
emotions and juggling a nine-tofive
with Liverpool-based rising
stars, experimental-alt rockers
SPQR.
“You can often find
the most beauty in
the darkest things”
It’s a Saturday night in the middle of Birkenhead’s industrial
heartland. Amid storage units, scrapyards and proper oldschool
pubs, a quiet voice edges from behind a steel door,
offering solace from the eerie quiet with the hottest new
music from the peninsula. We walk between excited in-theknow
crowds and through a veil of cigarette smoke to catch one
of the acts shaking off the shackles of sea-shanty folky psych,
offering much heavier and darker fare. On the stage of Fresh
Goods Studios’ first ever live event stands a ginger, denim-clad
behemoth screaming into the audience as though possessed,
leaving no room for air. The bassist ducks and weaves wideeyed
and open-mouthed, his moustache curving around a fixed,
sinister smile. The anarchy is happily managed by a drummer,
whose rhythm keeps the whole sordid affair in order. The group
onstage is unmistakably SPQR, a band who have been turning
heads for quite some time now – from shouting out of windows
at disturbed passers by to shaking as though possessed, their
time onstage is hard to forget.
With the memory of that night hazy yet lingering, frantic
shadows tussling among a rum-tinged hue, the faint scent of
alcohol as I meet the trio brings everything flooding back. With
that in mind, it is a little surprising to find that their daytime
personas are a calmer, tamer beast than their night time entities.
We’re sat in the beer garden of Peter Kavanagh’s as lead singer
Pete rolls a cigarette. “I find that going mad onstage allows me
to stay normal offstage,” he says. Smiley and placid, it’s a far cry
from the 40 minutes after his last set where he scrambled on
hands and knees trying to retrieve the glasses he threw halfway
across the room in the heat of the moment. The individuals who
sit in front of me are not the intimidating collective who shook
violently before me mere days ago. As Robert Louis Stephenson
once wrote, “man is not truly one, but truly two”. It’s something
that has appeared throughout the whole of rock ‘n’ roll, where
performance becomes a cathartic escape from the frustrations
of everyday life. While Iggy Pop could be found greased up and
rolling in broken glass, James Newell Osterberg Jr was a much
more civilised and modest individual. Music, and the limelight
it brings, seems to have a liberating quality; it’s an unrivalled
chance to show a side to yourself that would otherwise be
shunned, and it seems like SPQR are no different.
Bassist Jack adds, “I like to go for it onstage, as the best
music… makes you feel something.” It’s true that their energy
onstage is highly infectious. “When we first started I felt
super crazy, as the SPQR thing had been a long time coming.
Nowadays I actually want to be good but back then I was like,
‘Fuck everyone, I want to piss everyone off,’” Pete adds as a child
whoops repeatedly across the room. Whether it be a growing
maturity and comfort in his style, or the company that Pete now
keeps on stage, the band seems to be a much stronger, tighter
unit. The furious snarled live persona of old has endured even
as their music has changed and improved. On the other side of
things, their amicable, friendly and approachable nature offstage
has helped them find both gigs and fans. “I think that we have
always taken the time to be as interested in our fanbase as they
are in us. When people come up and say, ‘I really like your band,’
we are just as interested to chat to them as it always gets us
that people are such big fans.” It’s a sentiment which has really
cemented their following, not just in Liverpool but across the
wider North West and as far as Dublin and London.
“I used to write everything myself, from lyrics through to
bass and drums, but now that I have Bex and Jack I feel a lot
more open to having them contribute,” Pete continues. This has
added a punchier dimension in the latest songs, and this more
matured and developed line-up is receiving more attention than
ever. Having signed a deal with the Liverpool-based Modern Sky
UK, the band have recently been in the studio with Margo Broom,
whose work has become some of the most exciting in the guitar
underground in recent years. “It was great for us. Everything that
we’ve released to date has been done by us in our little studio in
Neston,” explains Pete, with a slight air of awe. “I thought that
would hold us in good stead when we went down, but as she’s
very good at what she does and she’s a very honest person she
said, ‘Oh you’ve got this, but you need this, this, this, this and
this’. She asked us if she wanted to make a record or just a bunch
of singles. She’s made us realise that if you want your record then
you have to make it. It was fun as well; it was like recording with
your mate. It helps when the producer isn’t a knobhead.” The
switch from DIY to commercial studio has opened a new chapter
for the band’s future.
Despite strong connections in the city with Society Of Losers
and the Wrong Freak Scene crowd as well as the likes of Eggy
Records, their alter egos’ nine-to-five existence makes it hard
for them to really fall into one particular group. “With us working
normal jobs, after a gig we’re usually knackered and just want
to go home and sleep! We like the idea of going out as partying,
but after an hour we’re usually just knackered.” But getting a
good night’s rest has not stopped them from amassing a crossgenerational
diehard fanbase swarming down to any show with
their name gracing the bill. Without penning themselves in within
any particular clique, they have created a loyal cult following
who turn out for a true variety of gigs. From indie pop through
to heavy punk line-ups, you can find them anywhere. “I think we
make pretty heavy music, but I don’t think your mum would hate
it either and that’s our strength!”
With growing support has come an ever-improving line-up
and sound. Their place in the Liverpool music scene escapes
categorisation, and their sound is just as impenetrable. “I don’t
listen to too much heavy music. I used to listen to a lot of heavy
music and I always wanted SPQR to be a heavy band… but I
listen to a lot more indie to be honest.” SPQR seem to break
down genre boundaries taking on the previous constraints of rock
which have come before them. “The music is more emotionallyled
than musically-led. I think that’s where you get a lot more of
the schizophrenic nature of the songs.” This encapsulates what
makes the music so hard to pin down, what gives them such
cross-sectional appeal. They remind me of the early Manic Street
Preachers records, ignited by the emotional instability, anger and
wit of Richey and put to music by Bradfield. SPQR allows Pete a
release not only onstage but through his words. People tune into
emotion both in stage performance and song as it’s real. It’s the
feeling of shared alienation which brings people together.
One thing we all share is loss, and the obligation to die. “I
find that you can often find the most beauty in the darkest
things... I think about death a lot in lots of ways. I find in the
heavy stuff, that’s where you can pull the most beauty… That’s
kind of what I live to do. When I’m having the most fun is when
I’m exploring a darker thing and getting something lighter out of
that.” Our environment mirrors this mindset; merely feet away sit
the ashes of deceased drinkers, forever in their favourite drinking
hole. In both Pete’s mindset, and the pub’s approach to death, is
almost a lightness. Maybe one way to think of SPQR is a coping
mechanism. For the band, it appears to be much more than just
a profession or brand – it’s a way to remove themselves from the
mundanity of the nine-to-five, and the anger and frustrations
that it brings with it through escapism. “I think one of my main
philosophies in life is the importance of chatting complete and
utter shite. Just spending a few hours in the pub at least twice
a week with friends and just chatting about nothing.” And as I
press the button to end the recording, we get another pint and do
just that.
What separates SPQR from their counterparts is their
uncompromising duality: modest, humble and amicable offstage,
ferocious, unpredictable and inimitable on it. With a streamlined
sound, label backing and more focused than ever, SPQR are a
band who seem to have their fingers on the trigger just waiting to
unleash their most impressive move yet. !
Words: Matt Hogarth
Photography: Graham Smillie / @smillie77
spqrmusic.com
SPQR headline Sound Basement on 6th October.
FEATURE
11

12

Ahead of the release of their newest album, Revolution Of
Mind, Cath Bore meets with Louisa Roach to learn about
her musical past, tracing that revolutionary spark which
her politically infused psych-pop now burns with.
SHE DREW THE GUN’s second album, Revolution Of
Mind, hits the stands in October, off the back of the
slow-burning success of 2016’s Memories Of The
Future. Produced by The Coral’s James Skelly at Parr
Street Studios, it sees singer-songwriter and guitarist Louisa
Roach rage against the injustices of the world around us, and
laying out possible solutions.
The roots of this egalitarian impulse can be found even in her
early musical interests. The first gig Louisa attended was Oasis
at Manchester Maine Road in 1996. She must have been about
14 or 15 years old, she reckons. The Gallaghers, as it turns out,
are an important part of her music-making history; she learnt to
play guitar using an It’s Easy To Play Oasis chord book. What a
journey she’s been on from then to now, musically speaking and
in myriad other ways.
“That book is an important book in my life,” she laughs. “I
think [Oasis] invaded the whole consciousness. Everyone loved
the songs, learned the songs, played the songs, enjoyed singing
them. I think the Oasis thing made guitars cool again.”
What’s more, Oasis coming from a working class
background, gaining a voice and being proud to use it, was a
valuable example for northern creatives of the time. “There was
the north-versus-south thing with Blur… it did become an identity
thing,” Louisa explains to me as we’re sat in The Casa, Liverpool’s
own symbol of resistance and of power in solidarity. “[They were]
northern, working class lads, but everyone got involved.”
The power of Oasis’ songs are hidden, in a way; the choruses
carry a life-affirming vibe rather than any solid meaning. Louisa
agrees. “[Noel Gallagher’s] lyrics don’t especially make sense.
They’re vague enough not to be pinned down to anything, but
they’re also poetic, aren’t they? My favourite is always Noel and
an acoustic guitar. I used to collect all the singles and go straight
home to play the B-sides; the B-sides are what I loved the most.
I’ve still got all the singles at home.”
Before Oasis, she got into The Beatles and John Lennon.
“When I was 12 I heard [Lennon’s] Working Class Hero for the
first time – it was on the end of a film and I rewound the film
loads of times and wrote down all the lyrics. I was like, ‘Wow’.
It was a social analysis in a song. There was no social media or
anything, [so] you got your social analysis from the arts – that
was an important song for me.”
For Louisa, Lennon’s vocal delivery is crucial. “When men
sing, it’s a vulnerable kind of thing to do, isn’t it? I love anything
John Lennon anyway – there’s a vulnerability to men singing
which is a bit different [to] women,” she tells me. Which brings
us neatly onto the subject of the new album. Revolution In Mind
is threaded through with sociopolitical themes, issues around
gender non-conformity being one.
“With [lead single] Resister, I wanted to do a song that
reached out to people that feel pushed out or at the edges of
what’s going on in society. Keep fighting, keep resisting. It’s a
shout out to everyone that’s doing something different.”
The social construct of gender is limiting; as I put it to
Louisa, it’s a credit to the human race that none of us are gender
conforming, not really. We all rebel and break the rules. She
nods. “We’re a massive spectrum, aren’t we?” Yes! Because if
we weren’t, all men would be like Action Men and women would
be like Barbie. Even Barbie is in some sort of paid employment
these days. “Have they given her a job now?” laughs Louisa. “The
patriarchy is bad on men as well as women. It tells boys it’s not
OK to cry and to shut off from their emotions – they’ve got to be
‘masculine’.” This is what made a nakedly sensitive male voice like
Lennon’s so radical for Louisa.
The word count on Revolution Of Mind, I point out, is 2,700.
Proof on its own that you, Louisa Roach, have a hell to a lot to
say to the world. True? “I suppose!” she chuckles. The idea that
knowledge is power, which the album riffs off conceptually, is
something we’re not always aware of, I remark.
“What I’m saying with that is, I don’t think anyone’s going to
hand stuff to you… in school, you’re gonna learn the government
approved version of how we got to where we are, as a society.
If you wanna learn…then you have to go and find it, read and
discover. That does give you power. Just for yourself.”
This learning process, or as she puts it, “making the lens
a bit bigger”, started for her with listening to the likes of
the aforementioned Lennon and Bob Marley. “It gave me a
grounding… [after a while,] I found myself living a more everyday
kind of existence – well, not everyday… I don’t know how to put
it, but I found myself needing another wave of educating myself
when I was a bit older and after I had my son. The last thing I was
doing before I got into music, [which] overlapped with me writing
my own songs, was studying psychology for five years, because
I did a Masters as well. I got into reading again, not necessarily
mainstream psychology, but reading about all the philosophers,
sociology… Being hungry to know what other people say about
the world, and making the power structures that are there more
visible by what they write about; I like that kind of stuff.”
The title track of the album arrives about two thirds of the
way through the record. In the She Drew The Gun tradition
of using spoken word to maximum effect – Poem (recently
chosen by Steve Lamacq as one of his top 25 songs to mark
his quarter century at the BBC) being an obvious reference
point – Generation Of Mind is a stand-out listening experience;
the medium of spoken word gives the messages within it more
muscle.
“When you do spoken word, it makes everyone stop what
they are doing and listen. I’ve done that sometimes at the start
of a gig because everyone shuts up, and their attention is on you,
because they want to hear what you’re saying. I really do think
people want to hear the words.”
The #MeToo movement, stretching over the last 12 months,
is not just women sharing stories. #MeToo is also a massive
instruction for men to shut up and listen. And this is not a polite
request, either. Revolution In Mind encapsulates that feeling,
especially when performed live.
“Kate Tempest, she commands the attention of everyone.
It’s something I admire in women when they do it. I think the
#MeToo movement is amazing. I feel there’s a massive difference
now and you can feel it in the air. It hasn’t reached everywhere,
but the vocabulary that surrounds it is becoming more and more
everyday… feminism has stopped being a dirty word.”
Louisa admires a number of feminist voices throughout
history, including folk singer-songwriter Malvina Reynolds (SDTG
covered her No Hole In My Head), author and poet Marge Piercy,
through to today’s names like Kate Tempest and Nadine Shah. I
mention the Nadine Shah show at Leaf at the beginning of the
year. Although everyone had a splendid time and took in Shah’s
political and social messages, I couldn’t help but think that she
was preaching to the converted, in a way. What does Louisa
hope to achieve with the new She Drew The Gun album? What
will people take away from it?
“Anyone who comes to a She Drew The Gun gig is probably
on the same page. It’s more about collecting everyone together
and going ‘Shall we enjoy some new music that’s about that
shit?’” she smiles. “I try not to be preachy, but it’s the same as if
you go and watch Kate Tempest, you know what you’re going to
get – someone speaking about all this shit, but [the reaction] is,
‘Wow, I love what she’s just said, it’s blown me away’.”
So, collecting people together, is that a driving force here?
“If everyone at the bottom started to gather consciousness,
to realise we can change things… movements are changing
people’s consciousness, gathering people together. Trying to
connect with people is an important part of it.” !
Words: Cath Bore / @cathbore
Photography: Keith Ainsworth / arkimages.co.uk
shedrewthegun.com
Revolution Of Mind is released on 5th October on Skeleton Key
Records. She Drew The Gun support The Coral at Mountford Hall
on 12th October and play a UK headline tour in February and
March 2019.
“Being hungry to know
what other people say
about the world, and making
the power structures that
are there more visible by
what they write about; I
like that kind of stuff”
FEATURE
13

NOW THAT’S
WHAT I CALL
A MUSICAL
PHENOMENON!
“Now isn’t the
future of music,
it’s a vestige of the
past miraculously
thriving in the
present”
Having passed 100 editions in its chronicling of pop music, the Now That’s What I Call Music! series has
outlasted more zeitgeist genres and artists than you’ll ever remember. Jamie Carragher catches up with a
man who was there at the very beginning.
Stephen Navin greets me in a red and yellow fez. He
leads me into his sleek Shepherd’s Bush semi, down to
the kitchen, all creams and granite. On the wall there’s
a framed photo of Sid Vicious, the only hint of Navin’s
longstanding links to the music industry. But never mind the
Sex Pistols, that’s not his claim to fame; I’m here to talk to Navin
about his involvement in the most successful compilation series
of all time: NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL MUSIC!
Now… is the great survivor of pop. Reflecting the trends
and outlasting technological advances, the series has reigned
over the hit parade since 1983, with the 100th edition released
this summer. Originally designed to bolster the profits of Virgin
Records, Now became a cash cow and a golden calf, a cultural
cornerstone recognised and replicated around the world.
Navin, head of licensing during Virgin’s 80s heyday, didn’t
see it coming. “Jesus, hardly, no – it has become a social, cultural
phenomenon. It wasn’t going to be a one-off, but I can’t claim
to have had a helicopter view [of what was going to happen].”
No longer in the game, Navin is unguarded and gregarious
throughout the interview (“I can bullshit with the best of them”).
You get the impression he’s always been that way.
Although Now is the definitive compilation album, it wasn’t
the first. Navin regularly struck deals with the likes of Ronco
and K-Tel, ragtag companies that wanted Virgin’s tracks for
compilation albums such as the imaginatively named Raiders Of
The Pop Charts.
“When we started to get hot, they [Ronco and K-Tel] were
banging down our door. It became a turkey shoot because to get
a Culture Club song or a Human League song, they would be
prepared to take three other tracks as well. I remember licensing
a track by one of our French artists, Julian Clerc, singing in
English. We put his album out and of course it was a stiff. But I
licensed one of his tracks to K-Tel and it just shows they’d take
anything.”
Navin totted up the sums. By creating their own compilation
album, bypassing Ronco and K-Tel, Virgin could make a killing.
He took the idea to head of Virgin Records, Simon Draper, and
together with General Manager Jon Webster, they quickly settled
on the idea of a partnership with major label EMI. One question
remained: what to call it?
Navin laughs, “This was arguably when my creative genius
came into play.” As the three Virgin execs chatted in an office just
off Portobello Road, Navin’s eye was drawn to a poster behind
Draper’s desk, a quirky advert for Danish bacon which depicted
a pig listening to a cockerel crow its morning song. The caption?
‘Now that’s what I call music’. “And I said, ‘Why don’t we call it
that?’” With minimum fuss, a franchise was born.
Rushed out in 1983 for the “ferocious feeding frenzy
of Christmas time”, Now’s rapid conception and rollout is
emblematic of how Virgin Records worked. That ‘sell first,
think later’ attitude that pervades every branch of the Branson
behemoth. “It was very uncorporate. Richard [Branson] lived
on his houseboat; all meetings you’d go round there, and it was
all done in a very relaxed sort of way. None of this modern shit.
Slightly autocratic.” Branson as Sun King holding court aboard
the Duende, docked on the shimmering waters of Little Venice.
But it was Simon Draper who held the reins of the record
company, having led Virgin from the esoteric indie that released
Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells in 1972, to punk house of the Sex
Pistols in the late 70s and major industry player with Phil Collins
on the books at the dawn of the 80s. “People always talk as if it
was Richard, Richard, Richard – Richard doesn’t know anything
about music and he’d be the first to admit it. Simon was the
genius. And what was wonderful about that type of world was
that nobody did costings. You signed a band if you liked it and
sometimes shit hits the fan and sometimes shit hits the wall.
Either way, one of them’s good, one of them’s bad.”
Draper’s particular tastes dictated Virgin’s creative direction,
especially early on. “I mean he’d throw up if you mentioned Chris
De Burgh – I mean literally. I remember talking to him about it,
he said, ‘I don’t even want to talk about it, Chris De Burgh is just
shit.’ On the other hand, I was at university with Chris De Burgh
so I felt rather hurt by it.” However, Now came at a time when
Draper was willing to sideline his niche interests in pursuit of
Virgin’s ascendant market share; The Lady In Red was track nine
on Now 7; Virgin Records was eventually sold for a billion dollars.
Like any good compilation album, Now’s success is the
sum of its parts: catchy tunes, consistent marketing and the
unabashed desire to reflect what’s hot in the charts. Being
popular has proved popular; Now 44, replete with bangers such
as Britney Spears’ ...Baby One More Time, Lou Bega’s Mambo
No. 5 (A Little Bit Of...) and Shania Twain’s That Don’t Impress
Me Much, remains the UK’s highest selling compilation with 2.3
million copies sold. This should impress you much: Now is still
dominating the (admittedly dwindling) charts, occupying four of
Apple Music’s Top Ten biggest selling albums of 2017.
Now’s success is testament to the lasting appeal of
ephemeral pop. Apart from the diehards who buy every issue,
each generation identifies with a flurry of Nows before moving
on to define their own tastes. Now has inadvertently chronicled
modern pop in distinct snapshot form. Each edition is a
kaleidoscopic tapestry of the epic pop battles won and lost (Oasis
vs Blur, Eamon vs Frankie, the S Club Civil Wars) with space for
both the losers and winners alike; each a Blue Peter time capsule
crystallising the merits and the sins of your musical upbringing.
The sins. Who can forget Fast Food Song (Now 55) or
The Ketchup Song (Now 53) where status as a song had to be
categorically stated in the title to remove all doubt? Not me,
unfortunately. Catch the skip button a second too late and the
‘brringg-brringg’ of Crazy Frog (Now 61) would bring-bring on a
state of travel sick anxiety. In reflecting the charts faithfully, Now
lays bare the inherent problems of democracy.
But the alchemy of sequencing imprints strange nostalgia.
Find yourself wandering the frozen aisle of ASDA when Maroon
5’s She Will Be Loved pipes through and you’ll be disappointed
if it’s not followed by Natasha Bedingfield’s These Words, a
song that’s both catchy and an ode to the rich history of English
literature. And it must follow, as the night the day; 50 Cent’s In
Da Club goes into Justin Timberlake’s Cry Me A River, Eric Prydz’
Call On Me into Girls Aloud’s Love Machine.
Now has proven adaptable. It’s outlived the cassette and
MiniDisc, the Walkman and iPod. It’s a brand that can’t be sullied
by selling out: the franchise has been wrung for all its worth,
with spin-offs including Now That’s What I Call...Running, Chill,
Mum, Christmas, Love, Fitness, Britain, Brit Hits, British, Love
2, Feel Good, the 90s, Slow Jams, Drive, Legends, Faith, Funk,
Jazz, Arabia! etc. Navin sighs and utters a near universal, near
existential malaise: “That Now Christmas Album, I must have
had three or four copies... played it to death really.” Securing
a permanent slot on Now That’s What I Call Christmas! is the
modern equivalent of possessing a landed title or precious dowry
– £££ forever.
Perhaps Now’s greatest appeal is physical. The act of picking
up the CD from a shelf, of buying it for yourself or for a loved one,
remains a treasured gesture: in Navin’s words, “the excitement
of going into the record store and coming out with that gem,
knowing that was all you needed.” Just as you would never send
an e-card to someone you actually liked, deep down nobody
wants to receive an iTunes voucher in the form of a birthday link.
But what happens when the high-street CD racks disappear
for good and the CD slots go with them? (Woolworth’s, where art
thou?) And what if Spotify stops accommodating Now as Navin
did for Ronco and K-Tel?
Navin considers the prospects of the Now series and the future
of the music industry more generally. Without the slightest hint of
sentimentality he concludes, “My sense is that, there’s no going
back to the golden age of money-making for the music industry.”
It’s hard to bet against a beloved prize-fighter that’s gone so many
rounds, but the reality is Now isn’t the future of music, it’s a vestige
of the past miraculously thriving in the present. !
Words: Jamie Carragher / @CarragherJamie
nowmusic.com
14

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18

NIKI
KAND’S
QUIET
COMMAND
We spend an afternoon with Niki Kand, a rising star whose choice
releases have already established her as an intriguing presence in the
city. Niloo Sharifi attempts to unpick this featured Merseyrail Sound
Station artist’s charming presence and the persona fuelling a beginning
that can already be described as sharply cohesive.
NIKI KAND has a uniquely verbose presence for
someone who doesn’t say much. She seems ageless.
I don’t know how old she is, and I don’t need to. Softly
spoken and friendly, performative egotism is strangely
absent from this artist’s conduct. Yet, as I see her chat quietly
with our photographer, Nata, I could not call her shy. In front of
the camera, her poise is effortless; her
words are few but carefully chosen,
and she looks you in the eye when she
asks a question. As I come to learn,
the duality contained within this quiet
power of hers forms the foundation
for Niki’s artistic practice, both visually
and sonically. She produces her
crisp, minimal dream-pop heedless
of attention’s fickle current, which so
loves shouting. She goes along her
own stream, saying only what she
needs to say.
Niki and I are both Iranian and,
as we wander through L1 looking for
somewhere to eat, we discover that
we share a language. We switch to Farsi and chat for a while,
talking about our experiences of immigration. But, she tells me
in her characteristically amicable but direct way, that this is not
what she wants the interview to be about. Niki Kand’s music has
nothing to do with politically-generated cultural identity – it is
solipsistic in the way things are when they belong to the world
of pure imagination. Niki’s real life runs parallel to an interior
world that is freed from the constraints of reality or identity. Her
alt.pop dreamworlds come from somewhere more cerebral – a
private world of play which does not contain sticky proclamations
of identity, which are easier than looking inside and finding
something unnamed.
“I think everything’s
kind of related to
love, because we are
all very hungry and
desperate to be loved”
Inspiration does not come from the usual sources for this
artist: she is indifferent to the concerns of the day. It’s the
minutiae and debris of people’s lives and characters which
inspire. “Sometimes an attitude inspires me, sometimes a smell…
Like, if I see a woman who smells great and is really chic, it gives
me passion to make something.” I ask about her latest single,
China Doll, and she tells me how
it was conceived. “My friend had a
little [china doll] for her daughter.”
Intrigued by the unfamiliar phrase, she
researched the term and its figurative
uses. “The definition was an innocent
lady who is typically obedient.” The
other part of her inspiration came
from her friends: “The lyrics were
actually inspired by a relationship –
not my own – where the woman is
worshipped by her boyfriend. I found
it interesting how an innocent woman,
who is obedient, who is good, who is
a doll, can be so influential to the point
she can impact all the decisions that
another person can possibly make… You don’t expect a little tiny
girl to be so powerful, but she’s valuable to somebody.”
This idea of power without force or excessive display
epitomises Niki herself, and is the conceptual thread that
underpins her aesthetic decisions. “I actually like minimalism for
everything. I keep thinking it’s best for me to get rid of most of my
stuff, because it just takes space in my brain and my head, and I
don’t need that. Like with furniture, the less the better. In terms
of design and style I like simple lines – straightforward, clean
designs.” The same applies to her music. “I like to keep it to the
bare minimum, until only what is strictly necessary remains.” The
sounds she uses aren’t potent because they’re big; they undergo
FEATURE
19

“Liverpool is in
my heart already.
It’s beautiful…
it’s definitely
the place”
a process of distillation through which they become compacted.
Small and powerful is not a contradiction in Niki Kand’s world,
where strength can be found in a light touch.
As I point out to her, absent from Niki’s music are any
impulses towards cathartic lyrical vengeance. Her work is not a
vessel for her pain, but an escape from it. “There’s no hidden or
serious message there. It’s all about having a fun, light moments
when you listen to the song.” When she describes her creative
process, it also contains this lightness: “I can endlessly play
around with chords, melodies and beats, and I can’t even realise
the time is passing by… There’s no seriousness. It’s just an escape
from reality, which is most of the time boring and bitter.”
This is not to say that Niki cannot contend with depth. The
subject, she tells me, that she always unwittingly finds her way
back to is love: “I mostly write about [love], even though when I
first start writing I don’t think about love. I think everything’s kind
of related to love, because we are all very hungry and desperate
to be loved. Like, maybe we’re not always conscious of it, but
that’s at least how I see it.” Niki’s sensitivity propels her creativity.
In Iran, she got her degree in visual arts and fine arts. “Music was
my number one passion, so that was always clear, but I was also
very passionate for other types of art – like theatre, or movies – I
can see the beauty in it. I can feel the beauty in a picture and a
photograph – even in the way you’ve dressed up today, I can see
all the details and I can be touched by it.” Suddenly, I feel very
warm; Niki really has a way of making people feel prized with her
sincerity.
Niki explains to me the process that ended in her deciding to
pursue music full-time. She started playing the piano when she
was 14, but it was too late to join the music school she wanted
to. Left with no choice, she went to art school and bought into the
Bohemian dream. “I was really inspired by that type of lifestyle,
where you belong to no nothing and no one… I wanted to become
the next Picasso or something like that.” Then, there was a
period of uncertainty: “For some time, especially around my 20s,
I was a bit unsure which way to go.” But after graduating, she
redoubled focus on what had been there all along, and was not
wrapped in egoistic ideations: music. “That must be really nice, to
just know,” I say, wistfully. “Yeh? You don’t know? Still lost?” she
asks, laughing. “Don’t worry, you’ll find out.” She reassures me.
I am inconsolable; “I don’t know if I will…” But she fixes her eye
on me and speaks firmly: “You will, trust me – you have to. Under
pressure you always find a way.”
“It took me some time to figure out my sound, but now I’m
confident enough that whatever I put out represents me 100 per
cent.” She arrived at a confident grasp of her craft not through
an epiphany, but through trial and error: “It just took about 50
songs. I’ve got loads of songs just on my laptop that I’ve never
released, and that’s because I was trying to figure out what I like
and what’s me.” Her focus on self-actualisation reminds me of
something she said earlier. “I like what you said before, about
how even if nobody listened to music you’d still make it. I think
you need that type of solipsism, so that you’re not always trying
to predict what other people are going to like.” For her, this
solipsism is natural. “It’s really difficult to figure out what people
like and then go for that. My taste is good enough for me to rely
on. If I’m happy, I just want to put it out and hope that people
like it – you can’t control people. It’s really exciting if people find
them interesting but the very first reason why I started writing
wasn’t to show the world – it was just for me.”
This independence of spirit marks every aspect of her
practice. Thus far, she has produced all of her own music, edited
her own videos and curated her own aesthetic. “I think that’s
just my personality – I don’t know, I can’t really trust anyone. I
don’t think anybody else can do it better than I can.” I like this
self-assurance; Niki may be softly spoken, but her confidence
is unshakeable. I ask her whether she would sign her life away
to record labels if the opportunity arose and she is just as
nonchalant in her certitude: “No. Sometimes I think about it
and I wonder why people need record labels, because we have
enough tools to make something interesting. It’s just a matter of
time and passion.” Her DIY philosophy is very in keeping with
the zeitgeist: “You don’t need anything, you don’t even need a
studio. I work in my closet. I know that part of this whole thing
is business, so for that bit I think it’s probably good to work with
others, but for the creative bit I am happy where I am.”
Liverpool is the perfect match for such a freewheeler, and
she has nothing but good things to say about her four years
here. “Liverpool is in my heart already. It’s beautiful, and the
music scene is great. I think is the best thing about it is that it’s
good quality, but small enough for you to find your place – I like
the fact that it’s not massively big.” I ask her whether she would
ever go to London, as the prophecy seems to go for Liverpool’s
talent all too often now. “No, I don’t think so. I don’t know why
I should.” She tells me several of her musician friends moved
to Liverpool specifically for its thriving scene. “It’s definitely the
place.”
The city, in turn, has welcomed her with opportunities. “My
next gig is on 28th September, for Merseyrail Sound Station
at Liverpool Central Station. I’ll be performing with a choir for
the first time, and I don’t know if it’s my last time, because it
doesn’t happen every day.” As one of the artists who qualified
for Merseyrail Sound Station’s artist development programme,
she has been asked to arrange her songs for the purposes of a
special choral performance as part of BBC Music Day’s Liverpool
activity. “It’s just such a great opportunity. I’m really, really
excited for that.” For those unfamiliar with Niki’s work, this will
be a unique opportunity to hear her perform, and escape into
the meticulous fantasies of this craftswoman. !
Words: Niloo Sharifi
Photography: Nata Moraru / facebook.com/NataMoraruPhoto
20

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Thur 15 Nov 8.00pm
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SHIT INDIE DIS
Right now, absolutely everyone is
going mental for Shit Indie Disco,
brought to us by the industrious
twins Nic and Sean Ryan. Sophie
Shields meets with the reigning
kings of Liverpool student nights
to get the story of their success.
People of a certain age will probably have fond memories
of being 18, can of Carling in hand, or blue WKD
depending on your preference, and screaming along
to the opening lyrics of Mr Brightside in your mate’s
kitchen at a house party. Those were the days: mid-noughties
indie anthems were the soundtrack to many people’s teenage
years. The Skins generation, growing up learning important life
lessons from Arctic Monkeys’ Whatever People Say I Am, That’s
What I’m Not, and the politics of youth from Bloc Party’s Silent
Alarm, all under the guise of having a raging party with your
mates. We may now say, ‘Oh, the nostalgia’, or ‘I wish we could
do that again’, and sigh. Enter SHIT INDIE DISCO.
What started as a pre-drinks playlist full of ‘shit indie songs’
in a hotel room in Berlin, has turned into the ultimate night out
for students and indie fans alike. Twin brothers and local lads
Sean and Nic Ryan, under the alias of Shit Indie Disco, have
brought their old favourites like Oasis, The Stones Roses and The
Courteeners to the Liverpool club scene with no judgment, and
a determination to recreate the good old days at Bumper and
Le Bateau. Described by themselves as “a big party with all our
mates but without the clear-up afterwards”, complete with party
hats, glow sticks and some badly drawn posters, Shit Indie Disco
is an indie disco, but it’s definitely not shit.
“We were in Berlin, just on a holiday,” says Sean, the oldest
twin by seven minutes (important to get that in there), as he
describes the moment of Shit Indie Disco’s conception. “We were
meant to be going out but got a few bevvies in, put our shit indie
playlist on and ended up dancing on the table in our apartment
all night. We were like, ‘When we get back we are doing this
with our mates’ – it was too good of a playlist not to. Bloc Party,
The Killers, Oasis, The Stone Roses, all the classics. It was at that
point we got in touch with 24 Kitchen Street about getting a
22

CO
“It’s about doing your
own thing – we’re
never going to be
like Bongo’s Bingo.
Someone described
it online as like being
at a big house party
with a load of mates.
That’s what we want”
night there.” The Baltic Triangle’s disco venue, also home to Sonic
Yootha, was where the party started. “We had been to a few
events [there] and just got in touch with them,” Nic recalls. “I was
like, ‘Hiya mate, any chance of us putting on an indie night?’. They
had a Friday night free, so just said yeh.”
Trying to sell old indie songs to students, with no background
in putting on events, is no mean feat. But armed with a laptop,
a subscription to Spotify and a passion for keeping the music
going, the lack of experience didn’t stop the duo. “We had no idea
what we were doing.” Sean laughs. “They [24 Kitchen Street]
were like ‘Have you ever put a night on before?’ We were like,
‘No’. ‘Do you need a mixer?’ ‘Don’t know!’ ‘Have you got a float?’
‘What’s a float?’ We were winging it, it was literally a learning
curve. We just bought some glow sticks and some party hats and
got stuck in there.”
Getting stuck in there ultimately turned their Spotify playlist
into a packed-out Loft at the Arts Club. Over 300 students and
indie fans dedicate every Thursday night to the indie disco, as
a result missing Friday morning lectures. “We didn’t plan on it
being a student night, it was mainly just for us and our mates to
get together and dance to songs that we used to dance to at the
likes of Mixed Bag or Double Vision,” Nic explains, “but then 24
Kitchen Street asked us to do a student night there. We did that…
then we asked Arts Club if they had any space for us and they
gave us every Thursday night.”
The student scene in Liverpool is currently overflowing with
events and club nights, from gigs and album launches to Bongo’s
Bingo and Liquidation. “Yeh, there is so much going on.” Nic
reflects. “When we first started there would be queues round
the block at Heebie Jeebies and we would be offering free pizza
to get people through the doors. I think it’s about just doing your
own thing – we are never going to be like Bongo’s Bingo but we
just said, £3 in, party hats, glow sticks and just keep it at good
times. People connected with that, keep it small, like a bit of a
secret. Someone described it online as like being at a big house
party with a load of mates. That’s what we want.”
You leave your pretension at the door for Shit Indie Disco,
but when I asked if their Nickelback night went down well they
thankfully replied with, “April Fools! No, that was a joke for April
Fools’ Days. We put that poster out and everyone was like,
‘No, you can’t!’. We do have some exceptions, like with Kings
Of Leon, everyone loves the first two albums but we’ve always
said we won’t play Sex On Fire. We actually gave a money
back guarantee saying if we ever played it everyone will get
reimbursed.” With a setlist made of predominantly indie anthems
from the last two decades, they do sneak in a couple of the old
classics by the likes of The Smiths and The Cure. They also offer
themed nights solely dedicated to celebrating anniversaries or
new albums. “Arctic Monkeys and Oasis are the popular ones,
they always go off. We do whatever people ask for, really. We
had a lot of people asking for The Courteeners so we did a St.
Jude special and it was one of our biggest nights.”
But why “shit” indie disco? “We do like the music, we aren’t
just playing it because we think it’s shit, but there was a time
when it went a bit out of fashion. People called it ‘landfill indie’,
so we just thought we would call it shit indie and turn it into a
disco!”
“Also, when people come and they think it’s shit we can
blame it on that, it lowers people’s expectations,” they humbly
add, laughing. It’s not necessary, however, as hordes of students
continue to descend on Arts Club every week. As seen on Shit
Indie Disco’s Instagram, each week there’s inflatable swans
and Morrissey-style gladioli flying through the air, with people
on shoulders adorned in party hats clutching the famous Shit
Indie Disco signs that people aim to steal at the end of the night.
“We started with the flags and posters, just throwing them out
and people loved them,” Sean says. “We didn’t make them one
week and everyone kept asking for them, so we started making
more out of old cardboard. People keep asking us to put ‘happy
birthday’ on them, or there is this group, Flat 23, they always ask
if we can put ‘afterparty at Flat 23’ and everyone goes mad.”
“They have even started bringing their own, which we
always encourage. We’ve had people bring ones with ‘Thank
Fuck It’s Thursday’ on a massive Wetherspoon’s menu and one
with mine and Sean’s face drawn in the Badly Drawn style, which
was nice.”
The DIY element is what really brings together the whole
‘party in your mates’ front room’ vibe, which is topped off by their
posters, produced by Badly Drawn Models, aka Sean. “It comes
back to doing everything on a budget,” Sean explains. “It was
something I was doing anyway, so we just did it with Shit Indie
Disco too. We did it for an Oasis special, rather than use a photo
we thought we’d put my drawing on there. People kept asking
for copies so we kept doing it and it turned into our brand. People
collect them as well and its great seeing them up in their rooms
on Instagram.”
So, what’s next for Shit Indie Disco? “We want to keep on
doing Thursday night at Arts Club,” Nic explains, “get a good
student following, get a nice crowd to keep it going. We’d
like to do a festival as well, try and get into Leeds Festival.”
Keeping to their simple formula of indie classics, party hats,
cheap beers and a packed-out Loft seems to be working, so it’s
understandable why they want to keep going as they are. Their
genuine excitement and love for what they do is infectious and I
found myself recounting my own youth of listening to the exact
same music at house parties and the famous second floor of ‘The
K’, stumbling out at three in the morning with no voice and only
a little dignity. They have ultimately turned their love for their
own student days into a rave they get to call work every week, a
genius idea I wish I had thought of myself. !
Words: Sophie Shields
Illustration: Sean Ryan
The Bido Lito! Social with Shit Indie Disco takes place at The
Jacaranda Club on Thursday 25th October. Attendees get free
admission to Shit Indie Disco with a Bido Lito! Social gig ticket or
hand stamp.
FEATURE
23

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THE GREATEST
GIG I NEVER SAW
Why is seeing Paul McCartney live in Liverpool such an odyssey? Conal Cunningham investigates how the
evils of ticket touts and capitalism thwarted his attempts to witness the greatest gig he never saw.
Going to see Paul McCartney perform in Liverpool
should be the most natural thing in the world. So why
the fuck is it so hard? The musical legend began his
life and career in our city, and he remains a hero for old
and young across Merseyside. The Beatles loom like a monolith
over Liverpool; we are almost suffocated by a pageantry of
the past at every turn. They are constantly offered to us as the
proof of our value and importance in cultural history. Unless you
subscribe to the theory that he was killed and replaced with a
doppelgänger in 1967, Sir Paul is our greatest living ambassador.
And yet opportunities to see him are as vestigial as the Scouse in
Paul’s accent.
That’s why five of us waited at 9am on a Friday with two
laptops each, perched, poised to attack. But as expected, his
Liverpool show was snapped-up and sold-out before our eyes had
time to blink. So, imagine my delight when my friend somehow
beat the insufferable influx of touts and fans to secure six tickets
for the Glasgow leg of his only three shows in the UK. The tickets
were £90 each, but we didn’t think twice. After receiving an email
confirmation from AXS Tickets (and a payment receipt for £540),
I was ecstatic: getting possibly the only chance I’ll get to see the
(probably) real Paul McCartney play Get Back and Let It Be.
But the dream was not to be. AXS Tickets, with no prior
warning, cancelled the tickets and refunded us in full, stating only
that there had been an “error in pricing at the time of booking”.
After countless emails, the realisation dawned that the company
had oversold the venue. They had panicked, cancelled whatever
they could, and were now desperately trying to push the issue
under the rug. Online, McCartney fans were seething that within
minutes Ticketmaster and AXS had completely sold-out – yet
there were thousands of tickets available to buy on secondary
ticket sites such as Viagogo and StubHub half an hour later, for
prices upwards of £1,000.
It’s a feeling of frustration that I encounter on countless
Friday mornings, always at exactly 9.01 am. I am – again – the
unlucky, yet relentlessly returning customer, simmering in
bewilderment that a mere 60 seconds can pass and a venue
capacity’s worth of tickets can be snapped up, all gone, just like
that. It’s cyclical and wearying, leaving you powerless. We’ve all
been there. Perhaps you have been to a ‘sold out’ show that quite
visibly has empty seats. Perhaps you missed out on a once-ina-lifetime
reunion gig like The Rolling Stones, heard the stories
of Adele tickets going for up to £9,000, or of fans being turned
away from Foo Fighters shows after not knowing about needing
correct ID for tickets.
So, why does this happen? The facts are infuriating: in 2016,
ex-Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard revealed that for big events,
a mere 10 per cent of tickets are left by the time they go on general
release; tickets are held back for the artist, promoters, record label
bosses and all their entourages. They are
also sold through event pre-sales, which
Hubbard admits are often infiltrated with
touts buying as many tickets as possible,
using software that generates different
names, credit cards and email addresses.
Shockingly, Hubbard explained that ticket
companies like Ticketmaster purposely
sell tickets, profiting from inflated prices
without seeming like the ‘bad guys’.
Since Hubbard’s report over two
years ago, the industry has orchestrated
attempts to crack down on touts. The
2018 Digital Economy Act enforces fines
on touts caught using bots that bypass
the number of purchasable tickets.
See Tickets have already employed a
fan-to-fan system and many big-name
bands such as Arctic Monkeys have teamed up with fan-led
company Twickets, which allows fans to sell tickets through their
website for face value only. Most profoundly, Ticketmaster are
shutting down their secondary ticket websites Seatwave and
GetMeIn!, now offering a genuine fan-to-fan, authorised re-sale
site. It is a very promising move. There is light at the end of this
corrupt tunnel, where those without connections or vast amounts
of disposable income are routinely cheated out of incredible
memories.
Yet this encouraging step must be closely followed and
regulated, as the past has shown us that any room for profit will
be unquestionably exploited by touts, and situations like my own
will only continue. Although we see less tickets than usual on
secondary ticketing websites for some conscientious bands who
partner with conscientious sellers, they are still there, and touts
are still seen sheepishly flogging them outside venues. For years,
touts have immensely profited over the corruption of a rigged
system. I picture them, evil and wizened, rejoicing in our despair,
knowing that when the next Paul McCartney gig comes up, fans
“Institutionalised
fun-sponge-ism
continues to thwart
Paul’s attempts
to democratise
his coveted
performances”
will have no choice but to fuel their rigged machine.
Music in its purest form is an art that doesn’t discriminate;
it brings people together from all walks of life with the unique
opportunity to hear music you love. Even in modern Liverpool,
The Beatles soundtrack our coming-of-ages, friendships and
relationships. The unfortunate reality is that, for decades, the
system has been a sham; being a loyal
fan, signing up to pre-sales and having
multiple friends waiting at nine on the
dot, just hasn’t cut it. It’s not hopeless
– change is happening, with the work
of initiatives like FanFairAlliance. But
perhaps we could all be doing more to
help them, with fan-to-fan interaction
and organising. Hopefully, the next
batch of Paul McCartney tickets will be
sold conscientiously, and I’ll finally get to
see him before one of us dies.
To be fair to Paul McCartney, he
shows a lot of love for Liverpool. He
is known for offering free impromptu
gigs at The Philharmonic pub and The
Cavern Club, as well as a live Q&A
at LIPA. The spirit of The Beatles’
famous Let It Be performance, on the roof of Apple Corps
to unsuspecting bystanders, is alive within Paul. But just as
the police were intent on spoiling everyone’s fun that day,
institutionalised fun-sponge-ism continues to thwart Paul’s
attempts to democratise his coveted performances. Spaces at his
free gigs are limited, and often go to those who are in the know
about where to buy them. Paul is also known to insist against
camera phones, refusing to play if he can see one in the audience.
I’m sure this allows everyone to be more present in the moment,
contributing to the intimate and often tear-jerking atmospheres
reported by the lucky few who attend. But it also means the rest
of us can only imagine, wistful at our rainy windows, what it
would be like to see Paul perform in 2018. !
Words: Conal Cunningham
fanfairalliance.org
beatthetouts.com
26

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SPOTLIGHT
EIMEAR KAVANAGH
“I buzz off of bringing
other people’s stories
alive through my art
and wish to
collaborate more with
musicians or writers”
Working across fashion, street art, illustration, album covers and much
more, this Irish-born artist has worked on commissions in India and
Australia and is now preparing for a month-long residency in Iceland.
But first, she has unfinished business in Liverpool.
If you had to describe your artistic style in a sentence, what
would you say?
I work in mixed media and my art is contemporary, intuitive and
forever changing.
Have you always wanted to create art?
Yes, I’ve not stopped since being a child. I had some great
influences, one being our next-door neighbour Val – she gave a
lot of time to me and my sister to create art and play music. Her
house was full of floor cushions, plants and incense and had a
huge rainbow painted in the hallway.
Can you pinpoint a moment or a piece of art that initially
inspired you?
Not really, other than travelling to new places because it makes
me feel alive and to see in an alien-like way. Or being around
nature, because it looks beautiful and clears the mind. Or music:
songs that give me goosebumps, lyrics I can relate to. Or an
overheard conversation. There you go, there’s loads! All things
that just occur on a daily basis. Sometimes it’s the smaller
things.
Do you have a favourite piece of your own art? What does it
say about you?
Yes, I have one untitled painting from 1999. It’s abstract,
simple, beautiful with deep colour and flowing marks. Works
like that cannot be reproduced, they’ll never come out the same
the second time around so I won’t ever sell it. It doesn’t say
anything about me, but it takes me back to a moment in time, a
place and its surroundings.
What do you think is the overriding influence on your
artmaking: other art, emotions, current affairs – or a mixture of
all of these?
Emotions, I guess? My experience of how I perceive things in my
mind. The child and the fantasist in me that wants to explore and
see things differently to how they really appear.
If you could show at any gallery or event in the future, who
would it be?
I’m not fussed about galleries. I buzz off of bringing other
people’s stories alive through my art and wish to collaborate
more with musicians or writers.
Do you have a favourite venue you’ve shown in?
I like venues that are inviting for all and not intimidating to walk into.
If I’m thinking of aesthetic pleasure, minimalist spaces with bare
brick walls show off artworks wonderfully. For all these reasons
I loved seeing my work up in Milo in Leeds and am really looking
forward to seeing it in Naked Lunch next month. Community vibes
that encompass art in all forms and good times.
Why is art important to you?
I use art as a form of meditation, escape, release and a way of
self-expression. Without it I might be a little lost soul.
eimear-art.co.uk
Curious Minds, an exhibition of Eimear Kavanagh’s mixed
artwork, runs at Naked Lunch café between 1st and 31st
October, with a private view launch event on 4th October
featuring live music from Reid Anderson.
28

PISS KITTI
Thrashy and punky and with a
whole lot to say: Dom and Esme
from brand new quartet PISS KITTI
tell us what’s in their manifesto.
“My mum doesn’t
believe that I’m a
vocalist or that people
like Piss Kitti”
If you had to describe your music/style in a sentence, what
would you say?
“A bit too pissy for me” – Esme’s mum
How did you get into music?
Dom: I grew up around punk music and have been in bands since
I was a kid, so it just happened organically.
Esme: I personally have no musical talent. The band started off
last year as three girls who met through our ex-boyfriends; we
split up with the lads and created Piss Kitti. I guess it’s just a
product of that bonding experience. We used to practise in my
tiny flat… but then we met our guitarist Dom one night and that’s
when it all kicked off.
Can you pinpoint a live gig or a piece of music that initially
inspired you?
Dom: Hearing songs like Complete Control and Janie Jones by
The Clash were always poignant influences for me.
Esme: Lyrically, I’m very inspired by Syd Barrett and Daniel
Johnston, that kind of childish storytelling, diary entry vibe. I also
like how neither of them can actually sing, it makes me feel better
about myself. I’m not a poet; I’m not a singer.
Do you have a favourite song or piece of music to perform?
What does it say about you?
Esme: My favourite song of ours to perform is Watch Ur Mouth. I
get to mince around on stage being all angry and snotty.
Dom: Feeling Badly.
What do you think is the overriding influence on your
songwriting: other art, emotions, current affairs – or a mixture
of all of these?
Esme: The thing I enjoy most about the band is that I don’t feel
like we take ourselves that seriously. Most of the lyrics are just
little rhymes that I’ve jotted down in my phone. I’ll show them
to Dom and he’ll jam out a stanky riff that always seems to
understand my words.
Dom: Esme’s voice and her lyrics are what really inspires me
when I’m coming up with the music.
If you could support any artist in the future, who would it be?
Dom: I got introduced to Parquet Courts’ music recently – I don’t
think we’d be out of place supporting them.
Esme: Cupcakke.
Do you have a favourite venue you’ve performed in?
Esme: The best gig in town is Drop The Dumbulls, I knew it was
my favourite venue when I weed on the Queen’s face in the loos.
Very on brand.
Why is music important to you?
Esme: It’s not, really. I’m primarily a visual artist so never imagined
I’d be in a band. My mum doesn’t believe that I’m a vocalist or that
people like Piss Kitti.
Dom: I think hearing the right band at the right time can really
help you figure out who you are.
pisskitti.bandcamp.com
Piss Kitti’s six-track demo cassette is out now via Sasstone Records.
DANIEL
BOOCOCK
The Desolate One
The breakout success of this
Liverpool filmmaker’s debut short
The Desolate One has marked him
out as a poetic storyteller with an
arresting visual aesthetic. You’ll be
hearing more from him.
“When something grabs
my attention or causes
me to stop in my tracks
without me necessarily
realising, those are the kind
of things that can spark
some type of inspiration”
If you had to describe the style of your films in a sentence,
what would you say?
They’re badass. There’s a distinct visual aesthetic and a narrative
flow that can be either loose or cohesive, depending on the
project. Whichever way it goes, the aim is to leave people
wanting more.
Have you always wanted to create films?
I’ve always been drawn to them. I’ve taken something from them,
studied them in my own way. I’ve worked on some, but I wasn’t
a fan of that at all. It felt authentic to go out and create them, so
that’s what I’m doing.
Can you pinpoint a moment or a piece of art that initially
inspired you?
There isn’t anything specific – though when something grabs
my attention or causes me to stop in my tracks without me
necessarily realising, those are the kind of things that can spark
some type of inspiration.
What do you think is the overriding influence on your
filmmaking: other art, emotions, current affairs – or a mixture
of all of these?
All those things, really, in different doses. But the main influence
on my filmmaking is me; my own imagination mixed with how I’m
feeling with regards to different things from various points within
my life.
If you could show at any film festival or win any award in the
future, which would it be?
Every one. At the highest level. First with a high-end short, then
features.
Do you have a favourite venue you’ve shown in? If so, what
makes it special?
I’ve missed most of the international screenings where The
Desolate One has been shown due to commitments and priorities
to do with my next project, The Neolith. But the first time I saw
The Desolate One on a large cinema screen sticks out. It was
local, on the biggest screen in Picturehouse at FACT. It was just
me, the film’s DOP and sound designer checking a few technical
things. I remember they sat down to watch it and I stayed
standing the whole time. Also, when it was screened publicly at
the same place several months later that was cool. I had a big
crowd turn up making lots of noise so it was pretty memorable.
Why is filmmaking important to you?
It feels authentic to me when I’m doing it. Particularly when it’s
my own project out in the open. When you see it come to life
from a thought in your mind, to paper, then a screen then with
people in front of a camera, there is a clarity to that kind of stuff
I don’t have with other things. It feels correct to be going in that
direction.
Can you recommend a movie, director or cinematographer that
Bido Lito! readers might not be familiar with?
Yeh, me, Daniel Boocock. If you’re not familiar now you will be
soon enough. I’m just getting warmed up, ha!
claretandbluefilm.com
SPOTLIGHT 29

PREVIEWS
“The song is
always finished
off by the listener,
and I think that’s
really beautiful”
GIG
VILLAGERS
Arts Club – 25/10
The third LP from Conor O’Brien’s inventive folkpop
outfit sees the lyricist deal with faith and
the sensation of just about coping in his typically
disarming and confessional manner.
There’s a serenity about VILLAGERS. A meditative state of calmness, softly bound in
lapping waves of melody and observant lyricism. This is confined to the exterior; Conor
O’Brien’s creative vessel combusts internally.
Cut through the delicate outer edges, finely constructed, and you come face to
face with a musical project built on the deepest honesty. A project comfortable in its acceptance
that honesty is not always fixed, often short-lived and capable of unravelling in the face of new
discovery. With a desire to self-document at the height of feeling, it’s unsurprising O’Brien often no
longer recognises the confessor or all of the confessions colouring his early musical palette.
Over the course of three studio albums, Villagers has congregated around traditional folk
instrumentation, experimented with electronic influences and mastered the control of atmosphere
through sparse arrangements lined with emotive sentiment. O’Brien’s latest effort, The Art Of
Pretending To Swim, is no less confessional than previous efforts. There’s simply a sense of
weightlessness to its compilation; a happiness in understanding confusion that the album’s title
eludes to.
Ahead of a Liverpool show next month, we pick up on this theme when we begin our phone
conversation. It’s fitting that the mystique of serenity is instantly washed away as Elliot Ryder
catches O’Brien wired and breathless; his thoughts still plugged into tour rehearsals which, he
informs us, concluded seconds before Ireland’s dialling code was punched into the phone.
I just wanted to start by touching on the name of your new record, The Art Of Pretending To
Swim: is this a metaphor for how you currently perceive your position as a songwriter and
musician?
Initially it was the name of a song that I was trying to write, but I never actually wrote it. I was
trying to write it all the way through the making of the album, however parts of it kept breaking off
to form the other songs. In a way, the DNA of that song is scattered throughout the whole album.
It seemed fitting I should name the album after it, even if it wasn’t written. For me, though, it was
a feeling-based title. It exemplifies the way I see life; you’re not swimming but you’re equally not
drowning. You’re just kind of making it up, you know? The album is trying to say that the sensation
is absolutely terrifying, but also rather beautiful. I’ve always found interviews quite difficult because
I don’t over-think what I’m writing about when it comes to writing a song. Words are not always
prescriptive. In a way I see them as little diagrams of my feelings. All of these feelings that are talked
about in hindsight might be true, but I just haven’t figured it out yet. Maybe after a few years of
touring the album I’ll have a better understanding.
Personally, it evokes a sense of self-depreciation, in that you feel your art is a pretence despite
the emotive connection it draws from the listener. Is it rather you’re telling us there’s a sense of
catharsis in coming to understand you can never explicitly fulfil life’s expectations?
I’m constantly on the verge of feeling like I have no idea what I’m doing. There’s a lot of, ‘Fuck, what
even is this, I don’t know what to do’. But, eventually, if I keep hacking away and working at it, my
records document something that was in my soul at that time. And I can always see that looking
back. Knowing this gives me something to hold on to when I feel like I’ve lost track in the creative
process. I have faith in that cycle of creativity. Even if you are just 100 per cent floating, you have to
have faith, you have to have faith in that moment you feel like nothing is coming because that’s all
part of the process. It’s a matter of growing to become OK with that, and it’s the same feeling that
filters into your life.
You’ve said previously that you don’t listen to your early records, choosing to only give them life
through your live shows. Do you think this is due to the confessional strain they carry and, if so,
have you consciously attempted to write songs that aren’t so rigidly signposting your emotions
at the time of writing?
I’m definitely proud of everything I’ve ever produced, but at times I listen back and I don’t feel as
though I recognise the person who wrote some of the tracks. Even down to my voice. I heard a
recording of my voice from eight years ago and it really sounds like someone different. The words
I’m using and the tone of my voice, even the method I’m using to sing is different. Therefore, you
sometimes don’t feel real singing some of those tunes. There are a couple of tunes people shout for
at gigs and I just can’t play them; it wouldn’t be a good performance. Nothing would be happening
in the room. All you’d be getting is somebody acting out a pantomime version of something that
was initially heartfelt and real.
Keeping with playing live, do ever feel that your writing is diluted by having to perform so often,
in the sense that the painter or poet can simply offer their creation for interpretation and step
aside in the moments after?
It’s something that has crept into my mind when writing. However, it’s something to ignore as
much as possible, I think. I tend to take anything I say about my music or my songs quite lightly. It is
pure feeling based. It’s never put together with the ramifications already in mind. In the beginning,
having to talk about my music and justify it really got to me. It made me start overthinking the
process because I was worrying over how I would justify it once put together. For me that’s the
death of creativity. Although it might sound clichéd, the song is always finished off by the listener,
and I think that’s a really beautiful quality of music. It’s true. Quite often the reason I’m writing
music is because I have a feeling inside of me that cannot be adequately expressed through
discussion, so I put it to tones, run it through sequences, rhythms and build something up that is a
little bit more articulate that anything I can normally say. Sadly, I don’t really have the gift of speech
writing, or whatever.
One theme that stands out on the album is your interpretation of faith. Seeing the Stand For
Truth silent protests that took place alongside the Pope’s mass in Dublin, do you think your
questioning of faith is one that is growing more prevalent in Ireland?
Ireland has changed dramatically in the last 20 years and it is still is changing. Personally, I really
enjoy using words like God and faith in my music, because I feel like I’m reclaiming them from the
organised religion I was part of as a child, when I started to build up quite negative connotations.
When I was very young, the Church was still very prevalent in society and in the education system.
It was pretty rotten. For me, the word God can be about anything that animates you: it could be a
person, an object, or even yourself. It really can be anything. All words are compromises anyway, so
I enjoy using the likes of God and faith on my own terms. It’s liberating.
Finally, I just wanted to quickly touch on your Liverpool date. As a port city, similar to Dublin,
we’re always facing outwards towards Ireland. Do you think being an outward-facing person
enables a better, introspective understanding as a musician?
I think there’s no point in trying to love someone unless you can love yourself, and the same can be
said in the opposite direction. I think it’s something you have to keep in mind as an artist otherwise
you’ll find yourself travelling too deep into the small box that is your own world. You have to keep
your eyes open, ears open, and feed back into whatever you’re putting onto the page and singing to
audiences. It’s all a sort of necessary energy. !
Words: Elliot Ryder / @elliot-ryder
Photography: Rich Gilligan
wearevillagers.com
Villagers play Arts Club on 25th October. The Art Of Pretending To Swim is out now via Domino
Recordings.
30

Jona Frank - Inside The Family Caravan
FESTIVAL
Liverpool Irish Festival
Multiple venues – 18/10-28/10
Liverpool’s outward gaze has always kept one eye on Ireland.
The influence of this port city’s neighbour, placed on the opposite
side of the murky stretch that lies between, is salient in our
contemporary cultural make up. Not least in offering an early outlet
for trade, but also rolling its native dialect into the region to contribute to
the now distinctive Scouse accent. In essence, Liverpool projects a homely
reflection of the Emerald Isle in its music, art and literature.
Liverpool Irish Festival has been celebrating these cultural ties since
2003, with each year offering a growing programme of events including
talks, films and live music. This year’s incarnation, focusing on the
themes of travel and migration, will stretch across 10 days in October,
draping Irish culture across the likes of The Everyman, FACT, Liverpool
Philharmonic, St George’s Hall, The Florrie and Victoria Gallery And
Museum, among other venues within the city.
The festival’s schedule includes a number of eye-catching additions,
none more so than Lizzie Nunnery’s latest dramatic creation TO HAVE
TO SHOOT AN IRISHMAN. The play, running for three nights, explores
the unfolding events of the Easter Rising of 1916 by zeroing in on
the life and subsequent death of Francis Sheehy-Skeffington. Sure to
be one of the most popular events of the festival, comedian Deborah
Frances-White is set to record a special live edition of her GUILTY
FEMINIST podcast at the Liverpool Playhouse. Elsewhere KIÍLA, one of
Ireland’s most esteemed musical acts, will take over Arts Club for an
energetic, floor stomping set with support from BILL BOOTH.
A major exhibition of photography will also look at the lives of
women and children in Liverpool’s Irish Traveller communities. IT’S THE
TRAVELLING LIFE features photography by American artist Jona Frank,
and provides a glimpse into this culture from 25 years ago. It runs at the
George Henry Lee’s building between 18th and 28th October, and then
moves to The Brink as part of Liverpool Mental Health Festival’s The Art
Of Falling Apart exhibition, which runs until January 2019.
For the first time in its existence, the festival will join hands with the
Liverpool Literary Festival to shine a light on writers, both established
and emerging, who continue to contribute to Ireland’s long standing
literary tradition and prowess. Acknowledging the importance of
modern Irish history, Output Gallery will offer its walls to an exhibition
responding to the successful repeal of the Eighth Amendment of
Ireland’s constitution – a landmark moment for the autonomy of women
within the Republic.
liverpoolirishfestival.com
Zakia
CLUB
Aerie
Buyers Club –
throughout October
Buyers Club’s upstairs space welcomes a new concept this
month as AERIE takes up residency. A collaborative music
venue from the mellifluous minds behind Anti Social Jazz
Club, Buyers Club and Mono-Tone, Aerie will host regular loft
parties every weekend. The new venue opens on 29th September with
radio presenter and trans-global sonic explorer ZAKIA helming the ones
and twos along with Liverpool’s DANNY FITZGERALD and ASJC’s own
selectors.
A venue “where good things grow” say the organisers, Aerie is set
to be a place for the city’s discerning musos to enjoy sounds from around
the world from jazz to psychedelia, soul to hip hop and everything
in between. As well as sounds to open the mind, the space will be
transformed for an immersive experience like no other. For those who
have a thirst for discovery and a penchant for the unexpected, this brand
new venue will be a vital hangout. With a full list of loft parties still to be
announced, the collaborators behind the project promise both the most
interesting, cutting edge selectors alongside live music plus hosting the
likes of Archive Liverpool, Duo-Tone, Melodic Distraction and Humble
Abode.
Later on in October the brilliant SAZZY will appear for a three-hour
set of dependably diverse selections courtesy of Archive. A regular
at the likes of Dekmantel and Selectors festivals, the Swiss DJ has
become a major player in the Netherlands’ underground scene and will
be welcomed back to Merseyside after her triumphant set alongside
Or:la and Moodymann a couple of years hence. Support on the evening
comes from Archive residents who will be playing the latest deep cuts
discovered on their respective vinyl hunts. Until then, pay a visit to Aerie
Thursday-Saturday from 6pm for an experience unique to Liverpool.
PREVIEWS 31

PREVIEWS
“We work with a
‘whatever happens,
happens’ ethos. And
if you don’t like it,
you get whipped in
the legs by one of the
other band members”
GIG
WARMDUSCHER
Shipping Forecast – 16/10
Shouty, punky and funky, Warmduscher are a
collection of misfits who are not only keeping the
spirit of The Fall alive, they’re also the best band
you’ve not yet heard. For now…
WARMDUSCHER are still an unknown gem within the post-punk resurgence.
They’re even unknown to some fans of the band’s other projects. To start off,
Warmduscher are a supergroup, of sorts, that formed in 2014, supposedly at a
New Year’s Eve house party in London. They comprise of members of Childhood,
Fat White Family and Paranoid London. They don’t hold back on being wild, weird and unlike
any of their respected peers or any other band today. Their stage names (Clams Baker Jr., Jack
Everett, The Saulcano, Mr Salt Fingers Lovecraft and The Witherer aka Little Whiskers) give
you just an inkling of what I mean by wild and weird and, perhaps, what to expect from the
Warmduscher sound.
The band have gained a reputation for their live shows which are mainly improvised. Some
shows have resulted in members being kicked out mid-set or walking off. Stories such as this
certainly had me intrigued to see them on their next UK tour, which hits The Shipping Forecast in
October. They’ve also gained notoriety and interest with their surreal music videos, with Noisey
calling the video for The Sweet Smell Of Florida “the weirdest shit to appear in our inbox”. Quite an
achievement.
Their first album Khaki Tears, released three years ago, cemented their place as an act not to be
messed with. Tracks such as The Salamander offered us unadulterated fuzzy sleaze sounds similar
to The Fall or even guitarist Saul’s main project, Fat White Family. But where next? It was quite a
wait, but I’m sure many weren’t expecting Whale City, with its discernable level of development,
when it dropped this year. It’s an album that seems funkier and smarter in a sense, and it’s even
been compared to the likes of Funkadelic. Even better, Whale City hasn’t lost that fuzzy, simmering
sound from the band’s debut. In fact, Whale City appears to have gained a clear concept, more
transatlantic in nature, making it all the more interesting and exciting.
But I’m curious to know more about this band. There’s a lot of mystery surrounding them, a lot
of unanswered questions for a band mainly described as a ‘supergroup’ or a ‘side project’ by the
press and critics. How does one manage creative control within a band of big personalities? How
does a band like this keep it together? Does it sometimes feel like you’re in the shadow of something
separate? There are also plenty of unanswered questions about their onstage antics, and how they
feel about them. Are they intentional? Do they add to the live experience or take away from the
music? Are the band elusive or do they just let the music do the talking?
Georgia Turnbull speaks to Lightnin’ Jack Everett and Clams Baker Jr. hoping to delve further into
the band’s mind and discover some of these answers. We’ll let you judge if the ensuing conversation
about musically endorsed microwave meals throws up enough of those sought-after answers.
You guys formed at a London house party in 2014, right? How did come about and what made
you decide to keep working together?
Jack: It came together by accident and working together since than moment was never difficult, so
we kept doing it. And that’s all I can think of. There was no trying; it was just easy. That’s basically
99 per cent of the reason Warmduscher are still going. But we didn’t start at that house party, we
formed together in AA meetings. That’s how me and Clams met anyway. We met The Witherer at a
blimp convention.
Various members of the band have separate projects such as Fat White Family and Childhood.
How do you manage creative control within the band?
Jack: It’s anyone game, whoever wants to take control can. Sometimes it’s me; sometimes it’s
someone else. It’s nobody’s and everyone’s at the same time. We work with a ‘whatever happens,
happens’ ethos. And if you don’t like it, you get whipped in the legs by one of the other band
members [laughs].
Your live shows have gained quite a lot of attention from critics and music fans. Some would say
notoriety. Why do you think that is? Are you more focused on live shows than recording?
Clams: I’d say we’re a live band. I think a lot of shows turn out the way they do because of the
nature of the music we play. With Whale City, we have a set built up of practised songs. Before
then, we’d improvise half of the set, which was great but now it’s definitely more structured. Now all
we need is matching suits.
Your new album Whale City sounds more influenced by the other side of Atlantic in comparison
to the debut. What inspired that change and what inspired the album in general?
Clams: It wasn’t anything intentional; it was just how we started playing. We began by playing the
songs for the album live, but we recorded it so quickly that no concept was planned or anything
like that. We didn’t really know what it would sound like until we went into the studio and began
recording it. We made the album, then the ideas and images of Whale City followed. Jack and I
came up with the song names and lyrics, so it became conceptual in the sense that the titles tell a
story but it wasn’t set out to be one, none of us have the energy or brains to intentionally create a
concept album. It was more a desire to record the songs that inspired its making.
Jack: The songs were written before we really had the songs down, kind of because loads of songs
were taken from live shows. The lyrics were conceptual but we didn’t know what the outcome
would sound like, to be honest. Then Dan Carey and Alexis Smith – producers of Whale City –
did a good job of that, they didn’t tell us what to do that much but they created a good working
environment for us. They gave us a constructive pressure. The time constraint was an obvious
pressure, but it didn’t feel stressed out. They were really good in that way, that and making the
album sound amazing.
Finally, are there any future plans for Warmduscher?
Jack: After the UK tour with our friends Silent K, I think we’ll start working on a new album. It’s kind
of the thing to do. Maybe then a line of microwave meals, it’s an untapped market that needs to be
tapped. !
Words: Georgia Turnbull / @GoergiaRTbull
Photography: Jack Parker
warmduscher.bandcamp.com
Warmduscher play Shipping Forecast on 16th October. Whale City is out now via The Leaf Label.
32

FESTIVAL
Liverpool Disco Festival
Camp and Furnace – 13/10
Evelyn Champagne King
In recent years, Liverpool Disco Festival has proven to be one
of the brightest lights in the city’s autumn schedule. Staying
true to form, the festival’s mirror ball will be turning its gaze
back to the Baltic Triangle where it will unload a plethora of
soulful grooves and rhythmic spinners throughout the day.
Camp and Furnace’s multiple event spaces will be packed to
the rafters with selectors shipped in for the festivities, some
of which include DANNY KRIVIT, HORSE MEAT DISCO, KON
and LAKUTI. The festival will also be honoured with live
performances from CRAZY P and one of the unmistakable
voices of disco, EVELYN ‘CHAMPAGNE’ KING.
GIG
Sophie
24 Kitchen Street – 20/10
SOPHIE is as innovative as they come. The Scotland native’s most
recent LP, Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides, only serves to cement her
place as a contemporary star with an abundance of artistic quality.
Utilising a combination of analogue gear and digital effects, she’s
been able to wire together a sound that’s as effervescent as it is
thought provoking. Her layered music will be on display in what
should prove to be one of the most rewarding exhibitions of artistic
creativity this autumn. Her Liverpool debut at Kitchen Street is not
one to be looked past for any lovers of leftfield wonderment.
Sophie
THEATRE
A Taste Of Honey
Epstein Theatre – 09/10-13/10
One of the finest moments in the British kitchen sink canon
comes to the Epstein Theatre this month. Inspiration to artists
from Morrissey to Akira The Don, Shelagh Delaney’s universally
acclaimed A TASTE OF HONEY tells a stormy domestic tale set in
1950s Salford. The story also became a high watermark of British
cinema with the 1961 adaptation directed by Tony Richardson.
Liverpudlian actor Sharon Byatt heads up the cast at the Epstein
when the award-winning Daniel Taylor production comes to
Hanover Street.
GIG
Whitechapel Fundraiser #2
Invisible Wind Factory – 27/10
From post-punk to the freakscene via psych, a diverse musical offer has been assembled
for this show which has the dual aim of raising money for homelessness and housing
charity The Whitechapel Centre. London-based noise rock groove machine PUNCHING
SWANS head up the shindig, bringing a ferocious blast of invective that sets the
template for the kind of show on offer. Rollicking blues meisters THE CUBICAL also
join the fray, alongside a host of Merseyside grot ’n’ roll luminaries: YAMMERER, BISCH
NADAR and event hosts CRIKEY, IT’S THE COMPTONS. As the country’s homelessness
epidemic deepens, this is a timely reminder that we must not let this issue drop off a
socialist agenda.
GIG
Jack White
Echo Arena – 20/10
Jack White
In recent years JACK WHITE has cut something of a revolutionary figure in his flag-wielding defence of honourable rock
music. Throughout this quest to ensure the guitar-toting male figure isn’t washed way into echoing streams of the blues,
he’s pumped out a consistent flow of future-facing music (as well as launching vinyl into space), perhaps most notably
this year’s Boarding House Reach. In support of the album, the Detroit native will be descending on the Echo Arena with
a live show of sonic exploration and audience limitation (or enhancement, depending on how you look at it). The show will
be mobile phone free, aiming to eradicate the familiar fixture of gig goers watching the show through the camera lens, as
opposed to watching with their eyes and really feelin’ it, man. Partying by the rules never seemed so rock ’n’ roll.
GIG
In Good Company: Phosphorescent and BC Camplight
Grand Central Hall – 26/10
The reopening of The Dome, following refurbishments, brings a new dimension to prospective gig
spaces in Liverpool. The theatre-like room, officially known as Grand Central Hall, may appear a
formidable stage to fill, such is the ornateness of its furnishings. However, this appears to be no barrier
to Harvest Sun. Rather, it’s been something of an inspiration, with the promotors jumping at the chance
to stage a number of shows at the venue in the coming months. One of which will be the first edition
of In Good Company, an event we can expect to see return annually. The first of its kind will be sound
tracked by indie virtuoso PHOSPHORESCENT and the equally talented BC CAMPLIGHT, with further
acts set to be announced.
BC Camplight
PREVIEWS 33

PREVIEWS
GIG
Jane Weaver:
Loops In The Secret Society
Leaf – 18/10
JANE WEAVER, fresh off the back of her 2017 release Modern
Kosmology, is set to embark on a sense-alluring audio visual tour this
autumn. The Cheshire native will return to familiar surroundings when
the tour reaches Liverpool where she will take to the stage at Bold
Street’s Leaf. The tour itself appears ambitious and multi-disciplinary
in its approach. Weaver will be bringing together music from her latest
LP and previous release, The Silver Globe, which will be modified and
reworked to complement the accompanying audio-visual display.
Jane Weaver
GIG
Superorganism
Arts Club – 16/10
While SUPERORGANISM’s musical biology may have
only surfaced quite recently, the cosmopolitan collective
have already left quite a big impression. Their evolution
reached its most distinctive marker to date with the
release of their debut record album, shortly followed by a
memorable appearance at Sound City. Once again in the
Mersey Riviera, all eight of this particular organism will
be journeying up from their adopted London homes for a
blissful display of musical community.
Superorganism
GIG
Seabass featuring Meatraffle
Sound Basement – 27/10
The JO MARY crew have pulled another winner out of the bag in their ongoing
series of 2018 shows at Duke Street’s happening venue. For their massive Seabass
all-dayer they’ve snared Trashmouth noiseniks MEATRAFFLE to headline, bringing a
dash of Soviet-skewed jazz-skronk to a show that will make your teeth rattle in their
sockets. BLACK MIDI were being hailed (by Shame) as the “best band in London”
before most of us even knew they even existed. Details on them are still scratchy, but
their appearance here is hardly one you can miss given the reputation that precedes
them. STARLIGHT MAGIC HOUR, ILL, MOLD, SPILT, WILD FRUIT ART COLLECTIVE,
HANNAH AND THE WICK EFFECT… the insane line-up continues in this vein, but
you’ve already made your mind up at this point. See you in the moshpit.
GIG
Noya Rao
Alexander’s Live – 18/10
Alexander’s is quickly establishing itself as the groove garrison
of Deeside with the likes of Skinny Pembele and Oxman already
gracing the stage there this year. Leeds-based electronic soul group
NOYA RAO are next up at the venue. Supporting their debut album,
released on Gondwana Records last year, their dreamy danceable
electronica is sure to go down well in Alexander’s idiosyncratic
enclave. The project of producer Tom Henry, who has laid down
tracks with Yellow Days and Cosima, the quartet’s unique style
draws on jazz, soul and electronica and provide a live show worth
jumping on the Merseyrail for.
The Orb
GIG
The Orb
Invisible Wind Factory – 18/10
Hot on the heels of critically acclaimed new album No Sounds Are Out Of
Bounds, longstanding electronic titans THE ORB return to the live stage in
celebration of 30 illustrious, fun-filled and envelope-expanding years. The
celebratory show will feature a 30th Anniversary Greatest Hits set highlighting
the best of Alex Paterson’s troupe’s global sound, that has stretched from acid
house and ambient electronica to hip hop and minimalism across 15 albums
and numerous EPs and singles.
CLUB
Daniel Avery and Four Tet
ENRG @ Invisible Wind Factory – 05/10
Acquiring the services of DANIEL AVERY and FOUR TET as separate entities is more than
enough to turn the heads of the local electronic music circles. Pairing the two on the same bill,
for two all night long sets? Well, it’s a fair to say ENRG’s return following a summer hiatus has
been well worth the wait. Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet, is a true musical intellectual, with a
career that’s conjured albums which continually shift between experimental orchestration and
more dance-orientated structure. An array of selections lacking a conventional compass, though
always led with a steady hand, is to be expected in the main room. Daniel Avery’s subterranean
soundscapes have catapulted around the tight confines of clubs for the past decade and will be
primed and ready as he steers proceedings in the Substation.
Daniel Avery
34

GIG
The Allergies
Brick Street – 04/10
Bristol’s B-boys THE ALLERGIES and Ugly Duckling’s Andy
Cooper will bring their infectious hip hop and rare groove to
Brick Street in October. The trio of collaborators are on their UK
tour following the release of The Allergies’ third album Steal The
Show, with resident and Bonsai Hi-Fi founder Pooky on the bill,
too. Over the course of two funk-fuelled albums on Jalapeño
Records the dynamic duo of DJ Moneyshot and Rackabeat have
been on a tireless schedule of non-stop partying across Europe,
rocking up at Glastonbury and the legendary Space in Ibiza. The
event also coincides with Brick Street’s Hip Hop Fancy Dress
Party, which isn’t solely reserved for freshers (honest).
FILM
On The Waterfront
Philharmonic Hall – 13/10
ON THE WATERFRONT, with eight academy awards to its
name, is regarded as one of the most complete pieces of
cinema of the 20th Century. With starring roles from Marlon
Brando and Karl Malden, and a directing credit from Elia
Kazan, the film certainly isn’t lacking in credentials to make a
strong case for such a reputation. Rounding off its complete
sound and vision experience is an arresting original score
provided by Leonard Bernstein. In a special screening of the
film at the Liverpool Philharmonic, this very score will be
performed live by the philharmonic orchestra to add a whole
new dynamic this already compelling cinematic experience.
GIG
Our Girl
Sound Basement – 21/10
OUR GIRL have grown quite accustomed to the Merseyside
landscape having opted to record their debut album,
Stranger Today, with Bill Ryder-Jones on production duties.
With that in mind, it’ll be a homecoming show of sorts
when the trio return to the land of their recording muse.
The band’s debut is an honest account of the trio’s shared
ambition once mused over and now realised on record.
Its stirring presence is compounded in raw lyricism and
instrumentation, often masked behind a healthy dose of
visceral pedal board action. So, go on, lend your time and
ears to these Merseyside adoptees.
TALK
Jenny Hval: Paradise Rot
The Bluecoat – 25/10
This Norwegian polyglot is a formidable intellect, developing
through her music and writings an uncompromising view on
politics and sexuality. Her music and prose share the same sharp
characteristic which has now become her signature. Now her
upcoming appearance at The Bluecoat offers a rare chance to pick
the brains of this rare talent. Her appearance marks a momentous
occasion for the author and musician’s career; the publication of her
lyrical debut novel, Paradise Rot, which is appearing in English in
the first time. In conversation, HVAL lets us into the novel’s heady
world of queer desire.
Jenny Hval
Lou Sanders
COMEDY
Comedy Weekend
Storyhouse – 27/10-28/10
While the dust still settles on the Edinburgh Fringe, Storyhouse Chester
have wasted no time in getting in their pick of stand-up talent for their
first Comedy Weekend. Alongside household names ADAM HILLS
and THE HORNE SECTION there are some under the radar treasures
that deserve your attention. Hotly-tipped panel-show-botherer LOU
SANDERS is one such act. Another is BRETT GOLDSTEIN, whose
appearance on sitcoms Uncle and Derek may make him familiar to some.
Get over to Chester’s Hunter Street venue early to see the fantastic
MATTHEW CROSBY and TOM ROSENTHAL for more laughs. More info
at storyhouse.com.
GIG
Hollie Cook
District – 09/10
HOLLIE COOK’s much-lauded solo career brings her to Liverpool as she tours her latest album,
Vessel Of Love. With support from Positive Vibration DJs, Cook combines her vocal prowess and
charming stage presence for an unforgettable performance, the result of a seasoned artist and
professional who has spent her life around musicians and performance. The daughter of Sex
Pistols drummer Paul Cook, she was part of the final line-up for iconic post-punk band The Slits.
Now she brings her self-described ‘tropical pop’ to District. Get yourself along to witness this
classic talent’s unique spin on reggae.
Hollie Cook
GIG
Bido Lito! Social w/ Pale Rider
The Jacaranda – 25/10
Pale Rider
We love PALE RIDER’s wondrous racket, the turbo-charged stomp
that swirls with hints of Hawkwind, early Verve and the psych slew of
The Black Angels. The quartet of Ben Russell, Fran Codman, Sophie
Thompson and Louis Dutton know a thing or two about groove, and
we’re made up that they’re going to be bringing it to our monthly Social,
alongside fellow eardrum-botherers SAMURAI KIP. It’s going to be a
wild old ride in The Jac’s basement – and remember, Bido Lito! members
get free access to all of our Socials. Head to bidolito.co.uk to see what
other perks you can get when you sign up.
PREVIEWS 35

sept & october
sept 29 hollywood eyes + support
oct 4 cool it
oct 5 metrocolor sound presents: daisy starspeed
oct 6 top of the hill presents
oct 12 scruff of the neck presents: urban theory
oct 17 evol presents: the velveteers
oct 20 capeesh presents: kick.out #8
oct 21 sink soul club
oct 24 i love live: husky loops
oct 26 two birds and m.e.a.n present: liberty ship
oct 27 bribes single launch
oct 29 vinyl junkie presents: jean pierre & three from
above
oct 30 evol presents: black waters

BOOK NOW
big blues
festival
–
FRI 12 – SAT 13
OCTOBER ‘18
theatkinson.co.uk
–
01704 533333
Dr Feelgood
Ian Siegal
Sam Kelly’s Station House
Xander and the Peace Pirates
Rebecca Downes
Tom C Walker
George & George
Acoustic Blues Stage
Join us in Southport for a
great weekend celebrating
rock, rhythm & blues!
Festival Tickets: £48
Saturday Ticket: £35
#BluesFest

REVIEWS
“As I watched Maria
onstage scream
and shout about the
revolution, I can’t
help but wonder, the
revolution for whom?”
Riot Days (Stuart Moulding / @oohshootstu)
Riot Days
Pussy Riot presents @ Arts Club – 22/08
A man in front of me collecting his guestlist ticket seems
disappointed the girl on the door doesn’t respond when he says
thanks in Russian. Really, that sums up the common western
attitude to PUSSY RIOT, and perhaps even Russian politics in
general. We view Pussy Riot’s Russian background as quirky and
a commodity; we fetishise and demonise the eastern state as
being on one hand mysterious and on the other viciously cruel.
Western news sights are so biased in their portrayal of Russia
that to find any factual information on what is actually happening
is not only difficult, but more often than not it’s misleading. I say
this because you can’t really appreciate Pussy Riot, and tonight’s
Riot Days performance, without some sort of context in which
Pussy Riot exist. Without the political and activist motivations
behind this performance, it is nothing.
It’s not musical; anyone who had come along for a dance is
bitterly disappointed. Riot Days’ musical backdrop is very much
just that, a backdrop to the spoken word of Pussy Riot founding
member and tonight’s frontwoman Maria Alyokhina. For context,
in 2012 Pussy Riot performed two main feats of activism, most
notably storming Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in
protest of the Church’s right-wing presence on the Russian
political environment. This resulted in the arrest of Alyokhina,
along with Nadya Tolokonnikova and a prison sentence of two
years for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. Later, a
third member was arrested, and in 2014 all three were released
under amnesty. Since then the group’s guerrilla antics have
made appearances at the Sochi Winter Olympics and the FIFA
World Cup final. All this has made them, in the west at least,
unrivalled feminist heroes. We love to champion Pussy Riot
because, to us, nothing could be more punk rock than fighting a
system we perceive to be as evil as Russia. And yet our media
champions Pussy Riot because it confirms their bias that Russia
is the ultimate evil. That very well might be true: Alyokhina’s
documentation of her time in prison and her treatment by
Russian officials and police is little less than horrifying. Straight
out of Orwellian dystopia, there is little more evil than torturing
three young people for questioning the corruption of a state. This
is something empathetically highlighted in tonight’s performance.
As Maria, or as she is addressed tonight, Marsha, comes to
the stage donning her iconic blue balaclava, she is meet by a
roaring room. The energy is strange; in his introduction the host
asks us to act as punk rock as possible and yet the low tempo,
often ambient bleeps and bloops of the synths chill you out
rather than fire you up. As Alyokhina starts her performance,
entirely in Russian with English subtitles, you’re instantly given
an insight into the world of Pussy Riot: how they hatched the
plan, the reaction, the feeling, the emotion. Regardless of your
opinion on Pussy Riot, it is interesting. In an age where most
punk bands went to music school and fund their bohemian
lifestyle via their dad’s bank balance, Pussy Riot are at very least
a change in the pace of modern punk. Yet, this seems at odds
with their behaviour post-release. Nadya opened an art show
– Inside Pussy Riot – at London’s Saatchi Gallery, where paying
punters have a chance to walk around in a colourful balaclava,
hold a sign that says ‘Share the World’s Wealth’ and then meet
at the end for pricey Prosecco and posh nibbles. Is this a sell out?
A contradiction? Or is this milking rich idiots to fund activism?
Both Nadya and Maria appeared on Netflix drama House Of
Cards, as themselves, criticising a Putin-based character. Nothing
spells out punk rock more than a Netflix Originals cameo. But
who wouldn’t? Perhaps we hold our standards too high for our
punk icons; perhaps after spending two years in Russian prison,
of which a large portion was in solitary confinement, there is
nothing wrong at all with cashing in. I would agree, but I feel as if
these high standards are set by Maria and Nadya themselves.
Riot Days is a performance filled with aggressive intent;
fists go flying in the air, slogans such as ‘YOU ARE PUSSY
RIOT’ flash on the screen. It’s being sold to us as authentic, and
yet we’re all left questioning, ‘Is it?’ There must be something
severely wrong if you can do two years hard time for activism
and people still doubt your cred. For me, it has been the outing
of tonight’s frontwoman Maria, and her links to the Russian
far-right Orthodox Christian group God’s Will, the very group
that campaigned publicly for Pussy Riot’s incarceration. Pre-
Riot Days (Stuart Moulding / @oohshootstu)
Pussy Riot, God’s Will was a little known far-right group, their
main intent to be anti-LGBTQ+, to attack pride parades, and to
intimidate LGBTQ+ groups. However, during the trial of Pussy
Riot, God’s Will surged to fame in Russia, as they echoed a
common sentiment publicly, that Pussy Riot deserved a prison
sentence for religious hatred. Some would call Maria and God’s
Will leader Dmitry Enteo’s relationship forbidden, secret and
proof that love can conquer all. More cynically, I believe it to be
that Pussy Riot was always more about Pussy Riot’s notoriety
than enacting real social change. I don’t believe anyone who is
as politically minded as Maria would be able to forgive Dmitry
Enteo’s actions, both physically against the LGBTQ+ people he
has attacked and politically against the far-right fascism that
he stands for. More obscurely, Maria’s attitude to this news
circulating has been suspicious to say the least: The Daily Beast
reported that when interviewing Maria in New York, the interview
was stopped whenever Enteo was mentioned. While Nadya
talked about a friend who was “fucking a fascist” in an interview
last year.
So, as I watch Maria onstage scream and shout about the
revolution, I can’t help but wonder, the revolution for whom? For
women? What about lesbian women? What about trans women?
There is no doubt in my mind that a force against Putin is
essential, but should we so blindly believe what we are being
sold. Which brings me back to my first point, we view Pussy
Riot’s Russian origin as a quirk and a commodity. You can wear
your balaclava, you can buy the book, you can pay £145 to go to
the immersive experience, but in the words of Gil Scott-Heron,
if “the revolution will not be televised”, be dubious at how much
Pussy Riot have made it onto your TV. !
Esme Grace Brown / @catmilf123
38

“It’s dirty, noisy,
tuneful, dark and so
twistedly rhythmic that
when you find out the
author is a librarian it
doesn’t compute”
A Day In The Sun (Georgia Flynn / @georgiaflynncreative)
A Day In The Sun
Emotion Wave @ Birkenhead Priory – 25/08
Maritime or religious? These are the bizarre surroundings
in which a group of ‘itk’ folk have found themselves today.
Birkenhead Priory is the oldest standing building on Merseyside.
It’s awkwardly picturesque with swathes of the rebuilt aspects
dominating the fight against the rusting cranes that sit old and
proud next to it. Built in 1150 it was where the monks helped
people across the river and, no doubt, back again. It is a tidy part
of Birkenhead and the locals are very proud of this remaining
piece of Merseyside architectural history.
But it’s 2018. The Priory is looked after by helpers that strive
to keep the building and its frontage alive. They do a sterling job
and so eyebrows are raised when Wirral New Music Collective
decide to help promoters Emotion Wave put on an ‘all-dayer’ at
the front of the impressively elderly church. Because when you
see the religious iconography of this sandstone brick building, of
course it screams ‘post-punk’ and ‘IDM beats’. OK. It doesn’t, but
A Day In The Sun is a worthy and inspiring attempt at making
Emotion Wave break out of the cosy and cool confines of 81
Renshaw.
THE JUPITER ROOM is a radio broadcast and one-man
electronica obsessive Mike Stanton. He is Wirralian, and his
knowledge of his subject knows no bounds. It does seem a
shame to shove him on stage at 11.15 in the morning, but it’s a
lovely sunny day (thankfully for the marketing department) and
The Jupiter Room seems nervously happy to be here. DJ sets at
ungodly hours are a chore. Not this. The core of what Emotion
Wave stands for is expertly demonstrated with a 55-minute
set that veers between the gorgeously sublime and the angrily
industrial. Skam’s Blackpool sample guru VHS Head gets things
started and the well-thought-out set comprises of the clattering
pop of The KVB, the gentle decaying of Brian Eno (from the
underrated Nerve Net, no less) and stopping off at Meat Beat
Manifesto, Leftfield, Belbury Circle and King Of Woolworths.
Sprinkle on a smattering of newbies (Jacob 2-2, Blackhill
Transmitter and the wonderful Makeup And Vanity Set) and
here’s a radio show writ large on any electronic radio bucket list.
Go search and peer into his damaged box of dark pop delights.
The headliner TVAM is playing to a happy few as the remains
of the sun slips behind us, creating a haunting view of the church
and an eerily demonic backdrop for Wiganer Joe Oxley to begin
the campaign to promote his brilliant debut album Psychic Data.
He’s all bigtime now the single has made the BBC 6Music playlist
and there’s a national tour in the pipeline. So, Emotion Wave are
humbled that he’s kick-starting everything off outside a disused
church in Birkenhead.
To be honest the surroundings suit the noise. His version
of angry post-punk – more of a tantrum morphing into a sharp
slap in the face – should be at odds with the ornate and flyblown
backdrop. But as the set opens with the album’s title track, Oxley
is gazing downward at his vast array of pedals as his television
that stands proudly alongside him, belches out DIY cut and
pasted video scrawls, idents and visually damaged feedback. The
TV draws you in and allows the TVAM experience to stamp on
your ears whilst you allow it to happen.
The debut single Porsche Majeure is still possibly the way all
artists that like post punk should aspire to. It’s dirty, noisy, tuneful,
dark and so twistedly rhythmic that when you find out the author
is a librarian it doesn’t compute. These Are Not Your Memories is
the track that everyone is getting excited about. Steam-hammer
synths and minimal punky guitars cascade over mumbled and
anxious lyrics. Oxley’s tremendous fringe flops sourly over the
mic and he grapples with his guitar as images of 80s pretty boys
getting their hair cut on the screen do make you wonder what the
hell is going on in Wigan’s libraries to create this.
Even when the lights go up, TVAM extends the final psychsynth
wig-out Total Immersion to give the rusting, yellowing
cranes something to dance about. And then it stops, infuriatingly.
It’s going to be album of the year. He is one of the cleverest new
artists this writer has seen in a while and the gig in November
at EBGBS is essential as Joe will have tweaked the set and the
album will have bedded in. Be there. Or at least go and support
Emotion Wave. It’s a serious glimpse into the future of artificial
life. !
Ian Abraham / @scrash
A Day In The Sun (Mook Loxley / mookloxley.tumblr.com)
TVAM (Georgia Flynn / @georgiaflynncreative)
REVIEWS 39

REVIEWS
Protomartyr (Tomas Adam)
Sauna Youth (Tomas Adam)
Protomartyr
+ Sauna Youth
+ Eyesore And The Jinx
EVOL @ O2 Academy 2 – 30/08
Regular visitors to this parish should already know about
EYESORE AND THE JINX. They are possibly the best new band
in the region. Their potential is huge, almost as big of the sound
they create. It’s gnarly, angry, bass-driven slabs of damaged
guitar pop. It evokes a hybrid of the Blues Explosion, Grinderman
and The Voidz. The early arrivals are here just for them, they
know and play like their lives depend on it. It’s incredible. Nurture
them with your presence.
SAUNA YOUTH are three albums in. They were asked by
the headliners to support which is always a good sign. Two
songs in and you can see why. There’s an early 90s vibe to this
London-based four-piece. It’s edgy with a healthy dollop of
anorak fanzine chic. The stage is overly littered with various pot
plants, which doesn’t really give a homely feel to proceedings. It
distracts from what is a very tight and fluid set of rather excellent
dark indie pop tunes. New Fear is brash and swarthy, while
Monotony is anything but with its yelping and repetitive chorus.
Jen Calleja cuts a slightly nervous figure as a lead but her voice is
a great instrument and by the time they reach the high-point of
Transmitters, her fragile confidence is scowling into the mic, her
eyes at one with the crowd. After 13 songs, which is apparently
“loads”, they scuttle off back to their transit van and a four-hour
slog to that London, safe in the knowledge that Liverpool really
took to them, and their plants.
After the greenery has been painstakingly cleared, the
sparseness of the stage is making the room feel like the Echo Arena
and Detroit’s PROTOMARTYR have just the sound to fill it. Having
had their third album released by Domino, the four-piece seem like
they’ve been doing this for decades. Although you could be fooled
by that assumption as lead ‘singer’ Joe Casey lurches onto the
stage, drink in hand and shirt nicely ironed. Maybe the right word
is ‘staggered’ as the opener is pure Mark E. Smith. The diction, the
prose and the delivery screams ‘FALL’. Thankfully, that’s where it
ends as the 15-song set gets better and better and better.
There’s performance here that seems part planned and part
shambles. Casey is every inch the anti-frontman. Slurping from
a can of nasty lager as the band veers between The Jesus Lizard
and Hüsker Dü, he is prowling the front line like a disheveled
comedian who has fallen from grace. Eager to get one more
laugh from the crowd, failing and not caring, all the while with
an air of that bloke at closing time that won’t leave you alone.
Windsor Hum is a highlight, its choppy guitar lines feeding Casey
with the energy to rant and leer, his erratic movements becoming
more intense as the lager kicks in. Why Does It Shake? gets the
plaudits, though, for ending the set on a heavy and driving skullpounding
noise as Casey is virtually screaming.
It’s a surprise success for this writer; it’s entertainment on
the rocks, methodically interwoven with absolute chaos and fair
play to the enthusiastic Thursday night town crowd for helping it
along. The sound of new Detroit is guitar-heavy and a bit pissed.
Or is that pissed off? No matter. It’s a beautiful noise.
Ian Abraham / @scrash
Haley Heynderickx
+ Charlie McKeon
+ Rachael Jean Harris
Harvest Sun @ 81 Renshaw – 24/08
In March of this year, HALEY HEYNDERICKX delivered I
Need To Start A Garden, an album of tender, delicate melodies,
and finely crafted folk moments, high on emotion and steeped in
personality. These are songs of someone trying to understand
others, while trying to understand herself. Her haunting and
haunted vocals, at once pure and understated, seem to leave
the melodies almost hanging in the air, floating across the finger
picked rhythms of her guitar. The appeal of her writing – and
there’s a lot of appeal – is in the warmth, the subtlety and the
restraint. It’s all for the sake of the song.
Our evening of well-crafted song, of rich melody and strong,
intelligent lyrics begins well when RACHAEL JEAN HARRIS
appears onstage. Truly gifted, with a voice capable of carrying
clear and often raw soul and emotion, her melodies seem to find
their natural place, almost unaided. Natural, intuitive and utterly
spellbinding. There are songs of confinement, of the oppressive
nature of isolation and the damage it can do. Sublimely imagined
and perfectly delivered over her skilled guitar work, there’s pain
in these songs, a real edge and, in some places, a welcome
melancholy. Finishing with Hair Of The Moon, a song from this
year which sounds older than its time, somehow more familiar
than it should be, is a fine example classic songwriting. They
should teach this kind of thing. Soul and depth.
CHARLIE MCKEON is a fine fellow. A ridiculously talented
writer and performer, steeped in the rich tradition of English and
Irish folk, of the Appalachians, and of performers such as John
Martyn and Davy Graham. He’s as comfortable with traditional
folk song as he is in writing about apple pie. And write about
Apple Pie he does. Wonderfully. Better than anyone else, I’d
say. McKeon’s guitar playing is a thing to behold, too, his fingers
dancing effortlessly through the changes, up and down the neck.
We’ve seen him play many times now, and we’re starting to really
believe that some tangible product, an actual release of some
shape or other, is well overdue.
Dwarfed by her 12-string, Heynderickx seems genuinely
surprised at the sell-out crowd at 81 Renshaw as she takes
to the stage. Playing solo for over an hour, she outlines her
determination to return to the UK with her band, but even on the
album, the accompaniment is sparse and barely used. There’s
humour here, too. Goofy, kooky takes on life, such as in The
Bug Collector, where she personifies “the praying mantis in the
bathtub” and “the millipede on the carpet”. “The fucker’s out to
gets you,” seems incongruous against such a fragile guitar line,
but it certainly makes us smile.
Drinking Song, a bluesy stagger, is reminiscent of Karen
Dalton’s scratched folk-blues vocal twists. As its name suggests
it’s a woozy, late-night tale. The people and places, and the slow
release memories of a night’s drinking. It feels apt in the tightly
packed quarters of 81 Renshaw, and the crowd hang on every
word. The dynamic leaps of Worth It, another album highlight,
sees her moving swiftly between ethereal country-flavoured, part
whispered melody, to rockier, heavier sections and back again.
The melody dancing around itself, turning, twisting. It’s a song
about the study of self. Introspective, critical, but hopeful.
After a stunning cover of Blues Run The Game, by the
brilliant and tragic Jackson C Frank, she ends the set with a
mesmerising version of Oom Sha La La, which is probably I Need
To Start A Garden’s most perfect pop moment, with a catchy-asyou-like
chorus prompting a singalong from the crowd. It sees her
resolving to throw out the sour milk, stop worrying about the gap
in her teeth, to regroup, start again, stop judging herself and, yes,
to start a garden.
Haley Heynderickx is a writer and performer of real depth,
who keeps a healthily ironic eye on life and the challenges and
opportunities it brings. Everything in the garden should be rosy,
and on this indication, it will be for some time to come.
Paul Fitzgerald / @NothingvilleM
40

Dorcas Seb
Unity Theatre – 07/09
The launch of DORCAS SEB’s album Vice Versa is more than a run-through of songs;
an evening which allows Seb to reveal quite what a talent she clearly is. Her skills in music,
poetry, dance, and acting all come into play to make the launch come together as an
insightful piece of inter-disciplinary theatre.
Vice Versa is almost a concept album, a story of finding a path through the anxieties of
the modern world. Much art has looked at the dystopia that underlines modernity, but it’s
rare to find resolution so optimistic as Seb’s. Beginning with that familiar feeling of conflict
between the demands of the real world and the peace of our dreams, the story ends with
her finding the liberation that comes with self-acceptance. Rather than feeling conventional
or well-worn, the story works because of the conviction of her performance. You sense this
isn’t just a good story, but a true one.
It’s her abilities as a performer that really convince. Already given a glimpse of her
vision through the ever-changing graphics projected onto three walls of the theatre, Seb
also makes full use of the space to use dance as another entry point into her message.
Seeing the colours and shapes gives her story a physical presence; they accompany a set
of songs that take inspiration from myriad genres, from the disco-inspired drive of Feel The
Music to the RnB vibes of Ice Cream. You sense that Seb has let the narrative lead the way,
making decisions based on what the lyrics require to best convey the story. Her gorgeous
voice, sweet and emphatic, brings it together.
If the lyrics occasionally feel obvious, it’s worth bearing in mind that Vice Versa is
actually still a work in progress, emerging out of a commission from Slate: Black.Arts.
World. What distinctly emerges from tonight is that this process has given Seb the space
to explore, to work out how she can best express her vision with confidence and clarity.
This is a culmination of one creative phase, a step into the next one, and certainly proof that
Dorcas Seb is a talent to keep an eye out for.
Julia Johnson / @messylines__
Dorcas Seb (Essod Photography / essod.photography)
Life In Motion: Egon Schiele /
Francesca Woodman
Tate Liverpool – 24/05-23/09
Life In Motion is the latest ambitious exhibition at Tate
Liverpool, showcasing two of the most influential figurative
artists who lived at opposite ends of the 20th Century. Self
portraits, specifically nude, are fundamental to both artists’ body
of work. Each examine the expressivity of human posture and
Self-Portrait in Crouching Position 1913 by Egon Schiele (Roger Sinek)
shape; Egon Schiele with his sharp, decisive lines and Francesca
Woodman’s soft blurs of motion. This major confluence of
the two collections allows us to contrast two very innovative
storytellers, both connected by their ability to capture the
transient nature of the living.
An early exponent of expressionism, the art of Austrianborn
Schiele is characterised by the unflinching, glowering
sexuality of his subjects, an angular contortion of graphite limbs
suggesting motion and unrest. A protégé of seminal symbolist
painter Gustav Klimt, Schiele considered the hands to be one of
the most expressive extensions of the body, perhaps a cunning
cover story for someone who can’t actually draw them very well –
we’ll call them ‘expressive’. In Self Portrait In Crouching Position,
Schiele crawls onto one knee, his hands twisted into claws, his
naked body momentarily coiled, energy and intensity seeping
through jutting bones. During many parts of Schiele’s life, money
was hard to come by. Prostitutes, street children and his own
reflection became the cheapest option for a subject to draw and,
because of this, Schiele’s work becomes a timeline of strong
human allegories capturing love, life and death all in one.
Throughout her fleeting yet productive career, American
photographer Francesca Woodman continuously explored
the spatial and spiritual boundaries of the human body, and
like Schiele it was often her own. The rooms of the exhibition
alternate between Schiele and Woodman, a continual flux
of identities, grotesque and pure. The small square format of
Woodman’s photographs prove the viewer with a continuous
pseudo-presence, allowing you to observe her movements
through a crack in the wall of the many sparse rooms she stages
herself. In her Angel series, Woodman wears only a skirt and
shoes leaving her chest bare. Her body blurs in a spectral motion
as she jumps up, a pair of white sheets strung in the distance
like a pair of arching wings. There’s something both morbid and
humorous about her brand of phantasmagoria, the blurs of longexposure
photography a continuous choreography.
Woodman’s shifting series of illusions are often surreal,
exploring the interplay of flesh and object. She disappears and
appears from interior elements; a fireplace, torn wallpaper, glass
cases. Much of her work is about avoiding the gaze of the viewer.
She glows beneath unhinged doors, crawls into cupboards, coils
face down around a bowl of eels.
Many of Woodman’s images have been construed as erotic,
but her photographs don’t rest under the aegis of beauty; her
conscious articulation of feminism, movement and ability make
them beautiful. Although, in a slightly macabre way, I wonder if we
think they’re beautiful because we know she is heading towards
her own destruction? Similarly, for Schiele, the unapologetic
portrayal of raw human spirituality for which he was once criticised
now holds a powerful relevance in contemporary art. The radicality
of both short-lived artists is perpetual, a testament to their
revelatory and poignant pairing in this show.
Georgina Schwarz / @gsschwarz
REVIEWS 41

REVIEWS
Omni
Harvest Sun @ The Shipping Forecast –
14/08
Three members, six hands but the sound of 12. You may
make the mistake of thinking OMNI are from New York, sonically
they could easily fit in to a high calibre lineage of art rock bands
from the mean streets of Manhattan. With such wonderfully
thoughtful, smart, clear and simple guitar riffs you could make
comparisons to people like Tom Verlaine from Television, but
in the souls of the songs there’s something very different. As I
watch them I come to realise they are something quite out there
on their own.
Omni are from Atlanta, Georgia, and maybe it’s just me, but
I really do think you can hear something of that in the songs;
there’s something of the South in them; an outsider essence.
A striking feature of the gig is how with only three members
the band manage to produce a dense sound (Multi-task was
a good album title choice). Guitarist Frank Broyles appears
to be playing two riffs at a time; drummer Doug Bleichner is
relentlessly thundering forward, hitting each drum with the same
velocity as the last; and vocalist/bass player Philip Frobos is
effortlessly plucking away at the bass strings while delivering a
cool, calm and unique vocal, one that’s instantly recognisable. He
does all this from a position of ease. The bass riffs themselves
perfectly weave their way in between the guitar riffs that seem to
be emitting from more than just one human.
Omni make their way through their albums, Multi-task
and Deluxe, with a sense of ease (but most certainly not
complacency) in what feels like a pretty short space of time. They
even have time for an unplanned encore following enthusiastic
demand. For me, that’s how any good show should feel:
effortless and emphatic.
Chay Heney
Jake Shears (Stuart Moulding / @oohshootstu)
Jake Shears
Arts Club – 21/08
JAKE SHEARS is a star. That’s decided before he even
appears on stage. The signs are there: band in matching dapper
suits? That one’s ticked off. Name, quite literally, up in lights,
as a backdrop? It’s emblazoned up there alright, along with a
picture of a top hat and cane. Packed out Arts Club? Yep, we’re
all delighted to be here. It all conjures up an image of a cabaret
crossed with an old-style glitzy disco making his intentions for
our night clear: quite simply, it’s going to be brilliant.
The party starts with a bang as Jake Shears struts on to the
stage and launches in to Good Friends, his perfect teeth a beacon
as he dazzles us with his moves, wit and voice. He is a talented,
funny man. He’s also incredibly physically fit: anyone who can
high kick his way round a stage, dancing and jumping with such
energy his cummerbund flies off mid-song while remaining note
perfect deserves all the plaudits they get. Great stuff. So much
more than a Len Goodman seven!
Dressed in a top hat and tails, he embodies the showman,
beguiling and charming us with tales of delight, debauchery and
depression, each delivered with a wink and humour. Even when
songs deal with a marriage breakdown and a move to New
Orleans, the upbeat tempo means he comes out on top (Sad Song
Backwards). As the gig goes on, the top hat and trousers are cast
aside, leaving him dancing round in a leotard and fishnet tights.
He stalks the stage, partly comic, partly melodramatic. But
these theatrics don’t detract from the music. The songs from his
newly-released eponymous debut solo album are ones he should
be justifiably proud of. They’re instantly recognisable, drawing
from genres from country to musicals to rock without being
derivative.
Scissor Sisters favourites Laura, Mama and I Don’t Feel Like
Dancin’ are interspersed through the set and every time the
intro for one of them starts things move up a gear, getting even
the stubborn ones in the crowd dancing. Whether you’re on the
stage or in the crowd, everyone’s having a ball.
The encore sees him reappear after a costume change in a
long dress and flower-emblazoned bonnet (of course it does) and
he belts out Creep City and Mississippi Delta (I’m Your Man). He’s
self-deprecating and seems genuinely happy and touched that
his gig warrants such a big turnout, displayed as he comes off
stage at one point earlier to get up close and personal with the
crowd.
Even if this isn’t the type of music you’d actively put on in the
house, there’s no way you can’t have a good time when faced
with such wide-eyed grinning exuberance.
It’s just what’s needed: an entertaining gig with a star who
knows how to hold the attention of a packed-out room, sweaty
from dancing. Jake Shears is the greatest of showmen who
creates a wonderland you don’t want to leave.
Jennie Macaulay / @jenmagmcmac
Omni (Kristian Patten / kristianpphotography.myportfolio.com)
Ethan Johns With
The Black Eyed Dogs
+ Robert Vincent
Heaven’s Gate @ 81 Renshaw – 21/08
Part classic Americana, part trippy, voodoo space cadet
blues wig-out, the new ETHAN JOHNS album, Anamnesis, finds
him back in his true comfort zone. Though highly regarded as
a producer, working with such road-worn and whiskey-soaked
wanderers as Ryan Adams, Howie Payne, Ray LaMontagne
and The Jayhawks, he is first and foremost a songwriter and
storyteller. And he’s more than handy with a bewildering array of
instrumentation.
The evening begins as the room warms to the level of airless
and oppressive, with a fine set of country blues songs from
Liverpool’s own ROBERT VINCENT. Vincent’s instinctive and
soulful vocal tones, layers of slide guitar and keyboards, tightlypacked
harmonies and his innate ability as a songsmith prove
that him winning 2018’s UK American Album Of The Year Award
with the superb I’ll Make The Most My Sins is not only well
deserved, but also somewhat overdue. His gift for a song, like his
self-effacing humour, is natural and easy, like every great writer,
like Ethan Johns, it is simply a part of his being. Again, this is an
artist who is deserving of a much bigger stage.
Johns paints romantic pictures in his songs. Rich in character,
these are tales of history, of the road, of love and loss. Stories
of the everyday, and of everyday folk, tinged and flavoured with
many years on the road.
For this record of organic, earthy blues folk, he’s assembled a
new band around him, The Black Eyed Dogs, and together they
recorded the album in his garden studio in just two weeks. It
doesn’t feel that way, though. Typically for Johns, these songs have
a striking familiarity. To hear the opening song of this set, Runaway
Train, you’d swear Merle Haggard had knocked it up in Folsom
Prison decades ago. He wears those years on the road well. The
band tonight is missing drummer Jeremy Stacey, who according to
Johns is “away earning a living”, so there’s a relaxed, stripped-back,
front porch atmosphere in the music, the mood and here in the
desert-hot back room of 81 Renshaw.
Ruskin’s Farthing is a great piece, an ancient tale of a court
case brought against the 19th Century art critic John Ruskin
following a particularly ungracious and dastardly review. In the
event, only a farthing and no costs were awarded in damages. A
story you’d think more suited to a hero of English folk like Martin
Carthy or Chris Wood, but imagined here and delivered in Ethan
Johns’ rich, part-sung, part-whispered and cracked vocal, it feels,
again, so natural a setting.
Leaving It All Behind, with the delicious plaintive strains of
Georgina Leach’s violin weaving through it, and the melodic bass
work of Nick Pini, is another highlight of a set rich in beautiful
moments. Redemption and forward movement are the themes here,
and the song’s dusty country blues landscape carries it so well.
Armed with a Stratocaster, the set mutates midway to the
darker side of the street, twisting into the heat of Renshaw Street
with the Hawkwind-esque blues psych of The Knot Of Aurelius
Augustine, and the dark, Dylan-tasting 21st Century Paranoid
Blues, with its sadly all-too-familiar themes. It’s all squeezed
Strat motifs and clanging dissonance over the simple pulse of
Pini’s bass.
The climax of this perfectly-pitched set included a simple
and beautiful tale of a lonesome drive across America from Los
Angeles to upstate New York to collect his then girlfriend, now
his wife. His heart open, his love laid out for all to hear, The Great
White North has everything you need from a love song. It’s an
open and honest portrayal of one man’s deepest love. Special.
Really special.
This is a set of old and new tunes, the brightest shining
light and the darkest melancholy shade, all effortlessly delivered
by this accomplished writer and his supremely talented band.
Highlighting an album that is only available in physical form with
no streams, these are songs to climb into, songs to live and for
living. Let’s hope that this fourth Ethan Johns album sees him
getting similar plaudits to the work he does behind studio desks.
Paul Fitzgerald /@NothingvilleM
42

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REVIEWS
“The whole idea of
Skeleton Coast Festival
is to focus on local
and emerging talent
and to bring attention
back to Wirral…
most undoubtedly,
new voices”
The Mysterines (Georgia Flynn / @georgiaflynncreative)
Skeleton Coast Festival
Leasowe Castle – 01/09
Returning for its third successive year, SKELETON COAST
lives up to (and far exceeds) the teasing taglines of being
their biggest and boldest adventure yet. It brings a summer of
contrasting climates to a close in an equally contrasting live
music venue, Leasowe Castle, a 16th Century building that is so
elegantly haunting it furthers the unconventional mystique of the
day.
There is a relaxing aura around the site as fans effortlessly
slip between the castle’s two stages, past the merch stand
crammed with Coral memorabilia, and outside for a quick
breather between sets. You feel like you’re gatecrashing an
exclusive wedding that has somehow convinced THE CORAL to
provide the music. The preliminary bands accentuate the feeling
of exclusivity. Here at Skeleton Coast it always feels like you’re
witnessing something special.
The Chapel Stage is left exactly like it would be on a wedding
day. It’s only lacking the bride and groom. Its church benches
and white walls create a quiet atmosphere of sentimentality
and, when musicians take to the stage, they absorb this. When
seats become full, audiences take to the floor, complementing
to the room’s tranquillity. Skeleton Key artists will mainly take
centre stage here today, as is currently the case with NIAMH
ROWE of The Sundowners who captivates with her rich and
soaring acoustic performance. RITUALS are also impressive, with
frontman Ryan Sandinson’s vocals drawing similarities to Nick
Cave and Lou Reed. His dark delivery lolls around the chapel in
harmony with his band’s catchy bass riffs and haunting keys.
On the Main Stage, CUT GLASS KINGS are providing a
rollicking performance, with the two-piece drawing obvious
similarities to Royal Blood thanks to their heavy rock sound.
The scratchy, Velvet Underground-esque guitar licks for TIM
BURGESS & THE ANYTIME MINUTES fuses well with the
harmonising vocals between Burgess and Average Sex vocalist
Laetitia Bocquet. The guitarless pair provide a catchy melody
among their finger-clicking and dancing, yet attention from the
audience does seem to fade.
Merseyside three-piece THE MYSTERINES manage to get
the crowd’s undivided attention. With no social media presence
or online music to stream, the band seem like they’re living
in a parallel universe, and hype has only snowballed through
traditional word-of-mouth. Unlike the infamous Alex Turner
line “don’t believe the hype”, you certainly should be doing the
opposite for The Mysterines. There is little chat to the crowd,
but this only adds to the enigma, and you can’t deny the trio
of lacking stage presence. The projection of frontwoman Lia
Metcalfe’s voice is so powerful, if you close your eyes you could
believe it was Patti Smith. Their rocking half-hour set is so
rousing and charged you’re left almost breathless and counting
on one hand the few bands that have delivered a similar
experience.
To finish off the night, a patient crowd finally set their eyes
on Wirral godfathers The Coral. Complete with aviators and
hat, James Skelly and band take to the stage to exhibit their
stalwart status. Their contribution to the British music scene
has been huge since their eponymous debut way back in 2002,
but personally, being too young to have been immersed in their
pomp and swift rise to success, it is easy to forget what this band
means to so many people, especially in their hometown.
In this small wedding function room, the sheer love for the
band becomes overwhelmingly clear. Throughout the set people
of all ages, groups of friends and couples dance and swing their
arms around each other amid chorus chants. Shoulders are
mounted for the hits. The genuine indie classics Pass It On, In The
Morning and Dreaming Of You will always go down a treat in any
Coral gig. Goodbye, elongated in their encore, sounds climactic,
spiritual almost. Yet what is more interesting is how well the new
songs fare. Reaching Out For A Friend and Stormbreaker, taken
from eighth album Move Through The Dawn, show the band on
top form. Additionally, new and instantly catchy singles Sweet
Release and Eyes Like Pearls are lapped up and sung back by the
crowd as if they were features of their greatest hits album.
The whole idea of Skeleton Coast Festival is to focus on
local and emerging talent and to bring attention back to Wirral.
Fans leave the castle with beaming smiles; Dreaming Of You is
hummed in their minds, but in the days to come they’ll be cueing
up that new tune from the new album and wondering the name
of the bands that preceded The Coral. And most undisputedly,
new voices will sound the question, ‘Who Are The Mysterines?’ !
Conal Cunningham
The Coral (Georgia Flynn / @georgiaflynncreative)
Tim Burgess (Georgia Flynn / @georgiaflynncreative)
44

David Olusoga
The Bluecoat – 05/09
The dust is yet to settle on 2016. There’re more fitting times
to digress on how, in the space of two elections, liberalism proved
to be something of a worn-out DVD squared up against a futurefacing
populist gramophone, spouting its out eerie triumphs of
spitfires and the necessity of blue passports. For me, the two
can be happily traded in at CEX for an insurmountable loss, but
whatever. What’s important to take, at this point, was how 2016
quickly became regarded as the year of post truth. So much so
the phase wore a sort of ill-gotten crown when it was named as
Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year. Prestigious.
With the double hit of Brexit and Trump the word was
propelled into our everyday diction, despite having been coined
by Ralph Keyes in 2004. We’re not all academics, or historians,
or people who take an interest in public affairs. Most people
don’t give a shit, really. But, it’s easy to see why post-truth
rose to public attention when it did. We’ve always lived in an
age of post-truth and alternative facts – we’ve just been less
aware of this actuality. 2016 wasn’t the touchstone. Liberalism
has explained away its failures as a victim of a morally-lacking
rhetorical practice, post truth. The same practice it has weaved
across our eyes for centuries, as DAVID OLUSOGA, acclaimed
TV historian and academic eloquently explains, with tinges
of frustration meeting the sharpest ends of his finely-crafted
arguments. Post truth so easily became the harrowing red
light in the darkness of liberalism’s failure. History will be more
forgiving of those who were subject to injustice, so they’d have
us believe. Just as the liberal play script would have us reminded
of the British abolition movement ahead of our once dearest
royals and their business venture, the Royal Africa Company.
It’s rarely mentioned that the company, run by the Duke of York,
was a heavyweight of the slave trade. No. Instead we’re handed
a lyric sheet to Amazing Grace and we sing along, happily, as a
shameless nation.
It’s fitting that David Olusoga ignites this train of thought
as he discusses Britain’s camouflaged history; our continuing
adherence to alternative facts regarding Britain’s role in slavery.
“Historical blind spots,” he asserts. What’s clear is that post
truth, stretching from as far as the industrial revolution, has been
disseminated so effectively that Olusoga, delivering his talk on
camouflaging slavery, does so in a building co-founded by a
slaver. Or is it, as any naïve heritage organisation would claim, a
building co-founded by a West Indian Planter and philanthropist?
David Olusoga (Brian Roberts / brianrobertsimages.com)
Olusoga, stood at the dimly-lit lectern, stands as the tip of this
metaphor, which crushingly falls on the heads of the majority
white audience. And so it should. It’s these contradictions that
Britain celebrates so discourteously. Britain’s firm hand in slavery
is all but looked past due to the image rehabilitating efforts of
these so-called philanthropists whose names adorn our streets
and buildings. Olusoga is firm is his argument that they should
be remembered only for their orchestration of mass social death.
Curricular history only serves as an exemplary of our continual,
post truth-scripted narratives.
Britain was the force of the industrial revolution. Britain
was the force of abolitionist movement. Be proud or be
unpatriotic. But what enabled such grandeur and progression?
As Olusoga reiterates throughout his talk, there are gaping holes
in our history. Ones we fail to address, be through shame or
ambivalence. It’s Britain’s failure that places Olusoga here on this
very evening. We’re capitated by arguments of Britain at work,
working hard for the betterment of the world. The towering
chimney stacks scattered across Lancashire didn’t equal the
heights of ambition compounded in our sacred revolution. This
was an era where we spun cotton day and night to solidify our
status. An era where we spun a web of lies, emotive-ridden
post truth, to ensure every primary school student of the future
knows our betterment came from hard work. And it was us, those
setting the moral compass, when the timing suited, who were the
first to fight back against the demands of slavery.
Britain wears its guilt with pride. The grandeur of limestone
statements displaying our excellence have been whitewashed
and falsified, poisoning the streams of truth and fact running
through their very foundations. Liverpool should know better
than most. Industrial wheels where turned by the hands of
enslaved Mississippi cotton pickers, but the two are kept apart
in well-rehearsed narratives. One American and unforgivable,
one proudly British. Olusoga can barely scratch the surface of
Britain’s ignored history in his 45-minute speech. He is a gifted
orator. His delivery is not lacking in detail, nor is it overbearing
and overwhelmingly academic. The clear progression from
historian to TV personality has issued a more digestible, direct,
and approachable style in his speech.
The evening’s Q&A with Bluecoat director Bryan Biggs
carries a more uplifting tone when acknowledging the
contemporary surge for the removal of slavers’ names from
our buildings. This is barely a note of progression, however.
This society has made no progress if it chooses to brandish, so
publicly, its contempt for refugees, as seen with the latest act of
Biennial vandalism.
Olusoga concludes his talk by reiterating that historical facts,
resting in plain sight, have been out manoeuvred by emotive
sentiment and alternate accounts. 2016 was the year people
heard what they wanted to hear, so it goes. This is far from the
case, as Olusoga effortlessly illustrates.
I depart, walking through the Bluecoat’s orderly courtyard
before meeting Hanover Street. Peering through the early
evening revellers and black cabs, I’m hesitating in my step as
I lock focus with a pub harboured on the corner of the street.
‘The Empire’, alive and well; it’s titling haunted by a half memory.
Historical blind spots are only hidden when looked upon with
eyes of selective blindness.
Elliot Ryder / @elliot_ryder
Imarhan
Harvest Sun and Africa Oyé @ District
07/09
Another desert storm is seeding on the fertile Saharan winds
as the crests of sand dunes are whipped off in meandering trails
that will end up who knows where. Following standout Liverpool
shows by Tinariwen and Tamikrest in recent years it’s the turn
of fellow Tuareg troubadours IMARHAN (‘the ones I care about’
in their native Tamasheq) to return to our shores with their
own, searching brand of desert blues. They hail from Algeria,
but rather than allowing the mapmakers’ lines in the sand to
define and confine them, it’s the unifying context of environment
and culture which links them to their Malian mentors and
contemporaries to the south.
It is not, in truth, initially a huge crowd that is drinking
from the deep well of warm-up DJ Jacques Malchance’s record
collection, but a steady stream of people begins to boost the
numbers and there is a noticeable air of expectation in District
as Imarhan play it cool, waiting until numbers grow sufficiently
for their entrance to be warmly greeted. The five-piece roll
straight into the trance-inducing rhythms that define the genre.
The weaving of American blues and Tuareg folk by guitarists
Sadam (Iyad Moussa Ben Abderahmane) and Abdelkader Ourzig
is played out over Haiballah Akhamouk’s traditional percussive
beats, and the funk-infused rhythm section of drummer Hicham
Bouhasse and bassist Tahar Khaldi and draws an immediate
reaction from the crowd, all bobbing heads and shuffling feet
from the off.
Where their eponymous first album bears direct comparison
to the work of earlier desert blues artists, their recent follow-up
Temet (appropriately meaning ‘connections’), draws on the far
wider influences absorbed during several years of global touring,
moving the genre on a step further as rock, funk and disco are
added to an already irresistible mix.
Save for Akhamouk’s sometimes frenzied percussion the
band are pictures of concentrated introspection, Sadam and
Ourzig occasionally glancing sideways to consult each other
with a conspiratorial nod, occasionally looking out into the
dancing crowd and smiling at the feedback as their bluesy licks
and lightning quick picking are woven into a seamless whole.
When Sadam raises his arms and brings his hands together the
crowd follow suit, clapping along to the relentless rhythm; the
repetitions are hypnotic, the fiery, sinuous solos spinning out in
delightful tangents before coalescing once more.
On tracks Azzaman and Imuhagh (both from Temet), metal
riffs that Ritchie Blackmore would be proud of, Talking Heads
pop-funk grooves and tabla-like calabash provide the worldly
embellishments to homespun rhythms. The vocals provide
another more traditional aspect to their music. Sadam and
Ourzig’s voices are as well matched as their guitar playing and
when Akhamouk and Bouhasse join them, the harmonies evoke
centuries of flickering caravan campfires, even if their subject
matter is more concerned with the current affairs of politics and
the heart than with the telling of ancient stories.
Imarhan (Glyn Akroyd)
They close with Tumast, a funky bass and percussion
intro builds to a frantic pace and draws electric applause from
a cheering crowd as they leave the stage. Just Sadam and
percussionist Akhamouk return for a song that takes things down
to the bare bones, a delicately picked rhythm and plaintive vocal
harmony giving us an inkling of how this all began, before they
are joined by the rest of the band who take us back to the future
during the whirling dervish finale of a superbly delivered set.
Glyn Akroyd / @glynakroyd
REVIEWS 45

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ARTISTIC
LICENCE
As part of a continuing series, Leighton Ramsdale curates
a selection of poetry from some of the regular contributors
to his Cotton Mouth poetry night.
Jack Haworth
Said the Real Man Regarding the Actor Who Replaced
Him:
Perhaps one day a man may jaunt before a crowd
And when he saunters forth they may be unsure
Who he claims to be and yet know of his face
And by the end may care for neither nor
If his dance of mine fares not so safe
As when I danced it, when I raced
Wore robes which fit not him
That seem obliged to split
As he ties his timely lace
But tell them, he is fine
And only reads a line
Or two and then
Steps down
And so too
Do
I.
Sarah Bristow
Untitled
Oh I walk these Liverpool streets
I’ve never felt so alone
Friendly gestures and eyes on the phone
Whilst I do my usual 1-9
maybe 6-8
Always fucking late
My bus is always fucking late
Saw our usual John
gave him a quid and said
“Look after yourself lovely”
As much as he can
Whilst only a cardboard to grope
And his undying need to hope
Friends are fraying – uninterested
Drugs are more than a habit here
“We’ll just play it by ear”
Cold mornings turn to cold sweats
Turn to many, many regrets
And usual John died the other day
No one ever talks about it
No one will ever pay
We’ll still chant away to underground bands
And bruise covered hands
And ket-fuelled sleeps
And that 14-year-old collapsed here,
I can still hear his ma weep
But us kids
We’ll still dance when the world is at war
Stomp and march to piss pensioners off even more
Oh and I walk these Liverpool streets
And I’ve never felt more at home
Tired smiles and glances up from a phone
Free food for all!
Fuck Trump! Fuck May!
Meant to meet at 8
My bus is always fucking late
Oh and I walk these Liverpool streets in a daze
Look after yourself lovely – it’s never just a phase.
William Baines
Something More Than Tragedy
Don’t worry; it’s fine
Tell me all about the thinning line
As opinions stretch and polarise and
The Sun prints the 14th lie this week
Don’t worry; it’s fine
What’s yours is yours and what’s mine mine
You make your point like a prophet’s eye
But if you stick to your own and you’ll find no peace
Don’t worry; it’s fine
The truth don’t speak she dances blind
So when you step leave your thoughts behind
So don’t let other words twist the arm of what you see
Don’t worry; it’s fine
As conquered nations crawl on wealth’s paradime
Not enough will have to suffice
Cos far too much never satisfies the need
Don’t worry; it’s fine
Take it all; your gall’s her delight
While she wages wars on all that fights
And the end comes forth slowly by degrees
Don’t worry; it’s fine
As it all falls on its keens and dies
And you beg for home from the blinding light
That burns the sage and stone alike
And the ashes fall like rain from the sky
And there’s not a soul, a word or a thought in mind
And nothing and all dance entwined
And what’s left, all that was meant to be
In spite of you and me
There’s something more than tragedy
Don’t worry, it’s fine
Dean McMillan
Grounds For Divorce
there is no substance
in my
love you’s
there is no
heart
behind my
shame
i love you more when
you’re asleep
but fucking hate the way
you snore
you told me i’ll
be yours forever
i hope you
say this just
to please
me
i just want
to be
alone
And
every
time
I take a shite
I wish that
I was
Elvis.
52

CIARÁN HODGERS
October’s featured writer explains about developing his voice and how the musicality of his spoken language seeps into his work.
When and why did you start writing poetry?
The first poem I distinctly remember writing was an ode to Spike Milligan when he died, when I was about 12. I’d written before that
but nothing too memorable, apparently. I didn’t really know much about Spike Milligan then, but I think that was the catalyst; that I was
moved by the idea of someone’s name preceding them and that if I, who knew nothing about him, was affected by his death, think of
those closest to him and how they might be feeling. The amazing community and friends I’ve met along the way have kept me writing
poetry ever since.
How would you describe your poetic voice, if you had to?
I’ve been told that I’m lyrical and emotional. I remember first being emotionally moved by Sylvia Plath and John Donne: their linguistic
flair and emotional honesty resonate with me still. For me, poems remind me of puzzles; I’m trying to get to the essence of a feeling
and there is a right combination of sounds that, when put into a particular order, will unlock that feeling in me, and hopefully others.
That might sound academic or a bit pseudo-spiritual, but I actually think it’s punk as fuck in an environment where we’re constantly
being emotionally manipulated on a mass scale. To be radically sensitive could be argued as one form of resistance.
Do you feel there is a ‘Liverpool poetry scene’ to speak of?
Of course there’s a scene, and it’s buzzing! There’s a host of regular nights and stalwart individuals supporting them; A Lovely Word,
Dead Goods Poets, Liver Bards, Rhymes And Records (which I secretly pray will come out of retirement) and Writing On The Wall, of
course. Even the bigger organisations are tapping into the spoken word scene, we’re seeing the major venues bringing internationallyrecognised
poetry to the city with their bookings. I champion this communication between the institutional and the individual;
Liverpool has a proud sense of independence and quality and it should be celebrated by everyone.
Your use of sound is kind of like a symphony of everyday noises and images that roll together to make even your more grim, clearsighted
observations feel misty-eyed. What would you say about how your use of language’s rhythms and idiomatic phrases have
developed?
Being an immigrant, where my accent is less common than it would be if I were still at home, gets me a lot of leeway with people.
People (tend to) instantly like an Irish accent; it’s lilting and friendly, but not always very practical. I’ve found occasionally that I have
problems communicating: being asked to repeat myself; having my name mispronounced; jeering comments at my way of saying
things. These all made me aware of the particular musicality to the Irish voice. I sometimes only hear these patterns or rhythms
once I perform aloud and discover there are a lot more connections and harmonies happening under the surface than even I, at first,
understood.
Cosmocartography is Ciarán’s debut publication and is available from Burning Eye Books in October, with a special National Poetry
Day Preview in association with Beers For Queers and Writing On The Wall in District on 4th October at 7pm.
Sibling City
For Liverpool
C’mere till I kiss ya,
and let you slip me a tenner and some fags under the
table,
you auld matriarch,
stitched down the middle
with hope, history and heart,
never undone,
not even with all the little wars and woes waging on
inside you,
and you lacking the money for thread.
You sit patiently and alone in the kitchen,
kettle steam and cigarettes for smoke signals,
signs of life welcoming fresh footprints of new
neighbours,
and remembering how each leaving was a happy, hopeful
grief.
You speak in negative spaces, absences; in dirty bricks,
churches like top-down convertibles, statues pulled from
pedestals
and unfinished apartment blocks.
You are Bold Street Bardot, wearing hair rollers on the 86,
96, and an airport no bigger than a Tesco Extra,
companion cathedrals, applause at funerals,
the Cavern in spite of the Cavern,
sunny students smoking Smithdown spliffs
and the pillar of salt we pinch for the lime;
a thousand ghosts traipsing past Pier Head
where now pianos twinkle,
a girl waiting for her leave plays for tourists waiting to
leave.
Lamb dressed as mutton,
mutton dressed in whatever it was lambs wore back in
the day,
tipping your taxi men, no-bullshit bus drivers, eye contact,
how no one really cares where you’re from
even if it’s Manchester or across the water,
street cred rolling rough, another round, another song,
from where we go to where we’re from,
but neither more important than if we belong.
ARTISTIC LICENCE
53

SAY
THE FINAL
“You can’t depollute
the air. You
can rebuild houses,
but you can’t
rebuild homes”
North Liverpool’s sprawling Rimrose Valley parkland is home not just to flora and
fauna, but now also a fight for its very future. Matty Loughlin-Day explains why he
is invoking his deep-seated spirit of protest – and why you should, too.
“From each according to his ability…”
Do you remember the first time you, with a resigned
shrug, sighed and muttered, “Well, what can you do?”
The first seeds of learned helplessness taking root.
It wasn’t always like that, was it? You were going to
change the world. But the boy kicked out at the world and the
world kicked back a lot fucking harder, didn’t it? What can you
do?
For those in the corridors of power, it’s the oldest trick in
the book; simply put, injustice thrives on apathy and apathy
flourishes in powerlessness. Although the 15-year-old, Morning
Star-reading me would be horrified to learn, that’s exactly what
happened to me as the years ticked by. The rallies, protests and
meetings I was attending weren’t changing anything; the bankers
were still getting away with it, ‘dem forriners’ were still being
blamed for everything, Everton were still crap. Why bother?
Well, luckily, I live in a city that reminds you why to bother.
Disclaimer: I’m in a band. We’re called The Shipbuilders. You
might have heard of us, you might not have, but over the past
few years, we’ve been lucky enough to know the good people
within the creative ranks who get up and stand up. We’ve been
part of nights that have raised money and supplies for homeless
charities, fundraisers for cancer research, even gigs to save the
bees. I don’t say this to paint us as saints (believe me, we’re far
from Heaven), but to demonstrate the power of music. What can
you do? Well, you do what you can, and in this case, we play gigs.
Much has been written about Liverpool’s spirit of protest; from
1911 and gunboats on the Mersey through to chasing fascists
out of Lime Street to the Benny Hill theme song – it’s a (rightly)
well-worn yarn and, thankfully, one that resonates through the
city’s independent art channels.
Which brings me onto the reason I write this piece. Chances
are, many reading this fine publication won’t have heard of
Rimrose Valley Country Park – I hadn’t before I moved north of
Old Swan, but on stumbling upon it, I was taken aback. Here is
a green space, tucked away between Bootle and Crosby, that
stretches for miles, with a canal running through it. It is home to
an array of amphibians, flora, birds and mammals – in the past
few months, deer have been spotted there. Deer, in Litherland!
Jays, the shimmering, secretive members of the crow family,
rarely seen, have recently taken nest there. It’s a green route for
families, runners and cyclists, a space for sports and is a genuine
haven of quiet in the middle of a busy, built up area.
You can guess what’s coming, can’t you?
In late 2014, following the expansion of the Port of Liverpool,
Highways England began considering ways to manage the
increased traffic from an already busy port. Why the expansion
of the port was given the green light before this was sorted
presents the first of many questions,
but let’s not focus too much on that bit
yet. Despite local protest, Highways
England opted that rather than a tunnel,
or expansion of any existing routes, the
best (read: cheapest) option was to build
a dual carriageway through Rimrose
Valley. Naturally, this is distressing in itself
– green spaces are sacred and diminishing
at an alarming rate, you don’t need me to
tell you that. Yet the wider implications
are more worrying – a recent report
examining the quality of air in areas near
busy ports and coastal towns estimates
that levels of air pollution are four times
higher than previously thought. Given that
the Port of Liverpool is already one of the
busiest in the country, the idea of further
contribution to pollution, at the expense
of a precious natural reserve, is simply
heartbreaking.
It gets better.
Throughout this period, Highways England were adamant
that this option was the only one that could ensure no houses
would be demolished and no families would be displaced.
Residents were assured in person. You’re probably ahead of
me here, but sure enough, come Summer 2018 and nearby
residents are advised to ring a hotline to discuss CPOs. CPOs are
compulsory purchase orders. Basically, you’re selling your house,
we’re knocking it down, and there’s naff all you can do. Trebles
all round. Mercifully, local MPs are against the road (although
Metro Mayor Steve Rotherham is notable by his silence) and
the decision to build the road has been taken back to judicial
review on the grounds that other options weren’t given enough
consideration; but the threat of concrete over grass still looms all
too large over the Valley. Rumours abound that staff have already
been hired to start work; Highways England are digging their
heels (and machinery) into the matter.
Of course, the situation is all too familiar on Merseyside,
with developers casting greedy eyes over Sefton Park and
Calderstones Park and property valued more than parkland,
with scant regard for the people who
use them and, you know, breathe in the
oxygen from the trees – yet this one
feels different. This is a dual carriageway
through a Country Park. You simply can’t
replace that. You can’t de-pollute the air.
You can rebuild houses, but you can’t
rebuild homes.
Yet thankfully, as insinuated earlier,
there are more than a bunch of us in
this city ready to fight this. No less than
Mick Head spoke about his disgust at the
plans at his recent gig at the Museum
Of Liverpool. An online petition has
garnered over 10,000 signatures, protests
have been well-attended and plans
are – naturally – afoot for gigs to raise
awareness and support for the Valley and
the cause, which I have been involved in
organising. Plans are not set in stone (or
Tarmac) yet, but genuinely big names from the music scene have
pledged their support and the numbers are growing by the day.
Information on the campaign can be found on Facebook
(Save Rimrose Valley) and updates regarding these gigs will be
posted on there; but before then, I’d urge anyone to jump the
train to Waterloo and take a stroll through the park and see what
we stand to lose.
What can you do? Plug in and make a fugging great big
racket about it, that’s what you can do. !
Words: Matty Loughlin-Day
Photography: Gary Young
saverimrosevalley.org
54

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