The Skinny April 2026

The Marriage of Figaro

Todd Terje - Inspector Norse

Ben Howard - Old Pine

Bananarama - Cruel Summer

Pigeon – Miami

The Avalanches – Since I Left You

Nuyorican Soul – I Am the Black Gold of the Sun

Dario G – Sunchyme

Lovestation - Teardrops (Flava 7" Mix)

Jhelisa – Friendly Pressure (Into The Sunshine Mix)

Harry Styles – Aperture

Saint Etienne – Spring

William DeVaughn – Be Thankful for What You Got

Spiller Spiller feat. Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)

Rogér Fakhr – Had to Come Back Wet

Beverly Glenn-Copeland – In The Image

Pachyman – Take Me to Dance

Listen to this playlist on Spotify — search for 'The Skinny Office Playlist' or scan the below code

Issue 243, April 2026 © Radge Media C.I.C.

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Meet the team

Championing creativity in Scotland

We asked: You're programming the legends slot on the Pyramid Stage for Glastonbury's return next year. Who're you booking and why?

Senior Editorial

Rosamund West

Editor-in-Chief

"Daphne & Celeste with support from Slipknot. A triumphant inversion of their Reading 2000 performance, this time D&C fans are the ones pelting bottles of piss at the stage."

Commissioning Editors

Myrtle Boot Clubs Editor

"Every Elvis impersonator in unison."

Peter Simpson Deputy Editor, Food & Drink Editor

"The 'old man fashioning a kayak out of a log' from the festival in Wayne's World 2. That, friends, is Sunday afternoon programming.'"

Eilidh Akilade Intersections Editor "Me and my girls in the car, accompanied by the New Moon soundtrack."

Anahit Behrooz

Events Editor, Books Editor

"That Romanian band that sang on a plane."

Rachel Ashenden Art Editor "Rosalía. How could it be anyone else?"

Jamie Dunn

Film Editor, Online Journalist

"The Barbie movie sucked, but it had two redeeming qualities. 1) Ken. And 2) It reminded us how goddamn catchy Aqua were. Book them, cowards, preferably with a guest appearance from Ken."

Polly Glynn

Comedy Editor

"I'd get Spinal Tap in but make them lower down a tiny Pyramid onto the stage, get them to do their actual set from 2009, and then invite Dolly Parton on to do her special 'Mud' song from her Legends spot in 2014."

Tallah Brash Music Editor

"For a true hit of 90s/00s nostalgia, let's see how Britney is getting on this time next year... Oh baby, baby!"

Mika Morava Theatre Editor "Ms. Lauryn Hill, so we can all have an eight-hour lie-in."

Business

Laurie Presswood General Manager

"90-minute fist fight between ice hockey teams the Dundee Rockets and the North Ayrshire Wild. Paul Simon comes out for a guest suplex."

Sales

Sandy Park Commercial Director

"Rick Astley and Daft Punk. Together."

Production

Dalila D'Amico Art Director, Production Manager "Nickelback, Sting + Pitbull: a carefully curated journey."

Joanna Hare

Business Development Executive

"Jamiroquai – just imagine Space Cowboy in the 4pm, hazy Sunday afternoon sunshine."

Phoebe Willison Designer

"Hmm I've left this late and Eilidh and Rachel have already given my answers, so I'm just gonna say a single cigarette on a plinth x"

Ema Smekalova

Media Sales Executive

"Mika (of Grace Kelly fame, not our Theatre Editor – sorry Mika!) or Stromae. Can you tell I was born in the year 2000? Idk if I'm qualified for this programming job guys."

Ellie Robertson Editorial Assistant "What legends are even left? Mr Blobby?"

Emilie Roberts

Media Sales Executive

"All the gloomy Scottish bands of the 80s, who are joined by the football team (because Scotland is obviously winning the World Cup), thus ushering in an era of Scottish supremacy."

Editorial

Words: Rosamund West

It’s the morning of print day and I’m trying to palm off writing the editorial onto Tallah with no notice, under the tenuous logic that it’s the Music Festivals Special and she will presumably want to write even more about the subject than she already has in the many featured pages of this very magazine. Shockingly, she has declined. Well, actually, she just wrote ‘Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahah’ in a chat window as if this suggestion was so ridiculous it didn’t even merit a response.

So here I am, once again telling you about what’s in the magazine and wishing I had remembered that writing the editorial before print day makes my life 100% better. This month, it’s our annual Music Festivals Special! Not just summer festivals, not just festivals in a field, not just Scottish festivals – we’ve researched festivals in all their forms to bring you a comprehensive guide to what’s happening in the coming months. We meet Scottish duo Cowboy Hunters for some top tips on booze management in a festival situation and learn how Kesha is more punk than the Sex Pistols.

You don’t need to leave the city for a magical experience – we talk to the folk behind electronic music festival DAYS about programming on Granton’s waterfront and why a night ending at 10.30pm is actually really convenient. We meet The BIT Collective, a group that grew out of #MeToo embedded in the traditional music community, to talk safeguarding in a festival context, talk to Radhika about her cinematic debut, Cine-Pop, and look forward to this year’s Queen’s Park Weekender. Tallah and Myrtle have pulled together a vast round-up of their picks of festival programmes with a

comprehensive calendar / guide / enormous list of things that will be really good this year around the world.

Outwith the special, Intersections celebrates the tenth birthday of Glasgow’s much-loved Queer Theory with some words with its creator and a reflection on the highs and lows of maintaining queer spaces. We’re excited about the return of RSA New Contemporaries – having had a sneak peek of the exhibition before it opened, I can confirm that it is truly a very good year for emergent talent making ambitious work. Our central spread poster is a work by one of the artists, painter Sam Black.

Film meets James McAvoy and his cast to learn about the process behind his directorial debut California Schemin’, and hear about some of the directors he’s learned from. Mark Jenkin discusses Rose of Nevada, and we talk to François Ozon about adapting Albert Camus’s The Stranger.

In Theatre, a new touring production celebrates the Lee Jeans factory sit-in of 1981. Playwright Frances Poet, director Jemima Levick and Margaret ‘Maggie’ Wallace, an original striker, discuss the enduring resonance and relevance of the Greenock workers’ uprising. Books meets author and journalist Shahed Ezaydi to hear about making academic arguments accessible in her timely debut book The Othered Woman: How White Feminism Harms Muslim Women

We conclude with a return to the special, as Martyn MacDonald of Skye duo Valtos takes on our Q&A ahead of their busy summer of festival bookings. Turn to the inside back page for some thoughts on the Highland Clearances, macaroni cheese and the charmed life of the quokka.

Cover Artist

Jasmin Chavez is a Filipino artist and graphic designer based in Singapore. Often fascinated by various mediums of art and having grown a deep adoration for typography, her (permanent) fixation for whimsical silhouettes in lettering has led her to discover her love for ornamental illustrations. Her work is most noted for its intricate use of textures and breathing new veins into Art Nouveau flourishes. She continues to seek new canvases for her art to inhabit, such as textiles, painted tattoo flash sheets, 3D sculptures and Minecraft builds.

IG: @kool.type

Love Bites: Thanking My Haters

This month’s columnist cherishes the ironic encouragement of a hater

Words:

April Shepherd

When I was a kid, I was not well-liked. I was pudgy, awkward, emotionally dysregulated, wore hand-me-downs or handsewn clothes, and was cripplingly anxious. I was made fun of and had a steady crew of haters readily telling me I was ugly, fat and weird. Around 16 years old, I grew into my beauty – it felt fun and powerful. I turned from weirdo to ‘town slut’ in the small island village I grew up in. As with most of the hate I’ve received, it stung in the beginning.

But the continuous hum of hate has made working in journalism, and then the sex industry, easier. Both demand skin as thick as an arctic mammal; impenetrable from outside evils. In fact, I hypothesise that deep down I love my haters, and that I need them in a way; to pull me up by my hair when I can no longer stand.

See, without my childhood bullies I’d have stayed in my tiny hometown town, married and had children. Without my ex-boyfriend telling me I was a terrible writer, perhaps I would not have pushed so hard to become a successful editor by age 25. Maybe if a past boss hadn’t degraded me daily for my gender, I’d have stayed in Australia longer, not gone freelance, and never have moved to the UK.

I have love for those who propelled me forward, even if their intention was the opposite. I am a river flowing, and every hater is a rock I ebbed and flowed over, disrupting and realigning my journey, and ultimately taking me where I needed to go – perhaps, where I was always going to flow. The majority of my favourite women are also hated and, historically, unpopular women are simply those who spoke up, fought and refused to back down. So I take my hate on my chin; I swallow it greedily and savour it – ready for my next phase.

Heads Up

Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival

Various venues, Hawick, 30 Apr-3 May

This year’s Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival is themed around ‘Enjoy the Strange’, an appropriate directive for a festival that specialises in weird, wonderful and experimental moving image work. The programme kicks off with a screening of Josephine Ahnelt 16mm feature about motherhood and continues with exhibitions, short films, and even a ceilidh.

Joshua Idehen

St Luke’s, Glasgow, 26 Apr, 7pm

The Winter of our discontent is over thank God. Get stuck into Spring with the promise of even more gigs, exhibitions, experimental festivals and more.

Compiled by Anahit Behrooz

The perfect marriage between music and spoken word, Joshua Idehen’s output does not so much defy categorisation as joyfully embrace all of it. Beginning as poems conceived alongside a particular rhythm or beat, his tracks are politically astute and delightfully witty: his latest album, the tenderly titled I know you’re hurting, everyone is hurting, everyone is trying, you have got to try, is Idehen at his best.

Academy Late

RSA: Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 17 Apr, 8:30pm

This year marks the Royal Scottish Academy’s bicentennial birthday. Here’s to 200 more! They’re making this year’s Academy Late – their annual New Contemporaries party where they keep the gallery open late and fill it with performances and music –a special one: hosted by local icon Mystika Glamoor, there’s a free welcome drink on arrival and even a glamorous dress code.

Sands International Film Festival

Various venues, St Andrews, 17-19 Apr

18-19 Apr

Counterflows 2026

Various venues, Glasgow, 9-12 Apr

Our music festivals calendar focuses on the year ahead but there’s some great festivals happening closer to the horizon. Counterflows, Scotland’s longest running festival of experimental music, returns this month with an incredible lineup of local international artists playing all things from ambient to computer music. Festival passes are sold out already but there’s tickets for individual events still to be snapped up.

Étain

The Caves, Edinburgh, 16 Apr, 7pm Edinburgh-based pop girlie Étain’s debut album has been in the works and hotly anticipated for several years. The Ireland-born singer-songwriter first began composing music at nine years old, and her album The Well features songs written from her teenagehood through to the present day, exploring intimacy, vulnerability and coming-of-age.

Leah McDonald: C’MERE

Generator Projects, Dundee, until 3 May

The first solo exhibition by site-responsive artist Leah McDonald, C’Mere features newly commissioned site-specific work across Motherwell and Dundee that span sculpture and installation. Together, the pieces examine the politics of public space and the commons through their intersections with issues of class and identity.

The OVO Hydro, Glasgow, 22-23 Apr, 6:30pm

Buzzcut Festival

Various venues, Glasgow, 15-18 Apr

What’s that? The crowds are screaming for…more weird art? How lucky, then, that there’s another festival in town, as Buzzcut returns with its cutting edge programme of experimental performance. Highlights from this year’s programme include Margot Conde Arenas’s intimate solo performance about the sea as a site of diaspora, Sean Wai Keung’s durational cooking performance Hand Pulled, and a whacking exhibition by Dorine Mugisha.

Extraction

Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh, 11 Apr-26 Jul

Five artists – Carol Rhodes, john gerrard, Marguerite Humeau, Siobhan McLaughlin and John Latham –put their work in conversation with Jupiter Artland’s landscape, exploring how energy systems shape culture and land. Drawing on the park’s proximity to gas and North Sea oil economies and renewable sources, the exhibition interrogates the ways that energy systems leave residues of memory and identity.

Dictations, The Heart of the Sea Tramway, Glasgow, 30 Apr-1 May, 7pm Award-winning artist and choreographer Mele Broomes has launched a new company called moniqux ensemble dedicated to artists from the African and Caribbean diaspora creating large-scale collaborative works in Scotland. Their new work Dictations, The Heart of the Sea is premiering at Tramway; inspired by Grace Nichols’ poem To My Coral Bones, it explores ideas of collective memory and community.

claire rousay

The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, 26 Apr, 7pm

More music as poetry, although of a very different bent: Canadian-American experimental artist and NTS legend claire rousay uses field recordings and compositions to create haunting musique concrète pieces. Their latest album A Little Death, out last year, is based on recordings that rousay made at night, tuning into the gentle and ephemeral textures that make up our experience of the world.

Cowgate Block Party

Various venues, Edinburgh, 18 Apr, 3pm

Following the success of their inaugural block party in January, Cowgate Block Party – hosted at three of the street’s finest venues Sneaky Pete’s, The Mash House and The Bongo Club – are back for a spring edition. There’s a whole new lineup of local and touring artists, from Post Coal Prom Queen and Luxjury to Gossip Queens and Silverwingkiller.

Rhythms of Spring: Introspekt, HUNTRESS, Salam Kitty, Chicha Exit, Glasgow, 10 Apr, 10pm

Spring is here!!! By the way!!!! Did we mention it yet?? That the eternal winter is over??? To celebrate with the appropriate levels of gratitude and enthusiasm, head to Exit this month where LA DJ Introspekt plays with dubstep, garage and bass in the search of rhythms of renewal and sensuality, with support from HUNTRESS, Chicha and Salam Kitty.

Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, 11 Apr, 7pm Wide Days

Various venues, Edinburgh, 30 Apr-1 May

What's On

All details correct at the time of writing

Music

With an entire three-page spread about music festivals on page 28, we’ll spare you any repetition here. But we will, however, remind you of a day happening this month that feels like a festival but isn’t – Record Store Day returns to shops country-wide on Saturday 18 April. Alongside all the usual hyped exclusive releases is a day with community at its heart. In Glasgow, Monorail have big plans featuring Kathryn Joseph, Bis, Girchard and Supersun with DJ sets from Life Without Buildings, World of Twist and Karen Dunbar, with similar party vibes to be expected at Some Great Reward

In Edinburgh, Underground Solu’shn have music from Sanna and Daniel McGeever plus DJ sets galore, including Eclair FiFi, Lord of the Isles, DJ 3000 and Hobbes, while Stockbridge shop VoxBox celebrate their 15th birthday with the usual all-dayer at the nearby St Vincent’s Chapel. In Leith, Good Vibes host an afternoon of live music at The False Widow with Acolyte, Tony Morris, Isa Gordon and Buffet Lunch, with an after party at the Leith FAB Cricket Club featuring all-vinyl DJs and live music from the inimitable comfort. RSD aside, a glut of Scottish artists hit the road this month. Rianne Downey plays Glasgow (King Tut’s, 1 Apr), Dundee (Music Hall, 4 Apr), Edinburgh (La Belle Angele, 17 Apr) and Aberdeen (Lemon Tree, 18 Apr), Pippa Blundell celebrates songs with james in Edinburgh (Leith Depot, 22 Apr), Helensburgh (La Jupe, 23 Apr), Inverness (Tooth & Claw, 25 Apr) and Findhorn (Phoenix Cafe, 28 Apr), Pictish Trail beckons in Life Slime with shows in Stirling (Tolbooth, 23 Apr), Irvine (Harbour Arts Centre, 24 Apr), Aberdeen (Tunnels, 25 Apr) and Edinburgh (La Belle Angele, 28 Apr), and Broken Chanter plays Dundee (Beat Generator Live!, 24 Apr), Aberdeen (Tunnels, Aberdeen, 30 Apr) and Inverness (Tooth & Claw, 1 May).

In Glasgow, Red King celebrates his The Dark Before EP at Room 2 (4 Apr) backed up by Billy Got Waves, EYVE and Jurnalist. At The Glad Cafe, wor_kspace launches his latest album (7 Apr), Clay Rings celebrate their new EP at 1990 (10 Apr) and Maz and the Phantasms celebrate new single, Pigeon Shat In My Room, at Stereo (11 Apr). On the same night, Sam Grassie celebrates his latest at The Hug & Pint, while doom-metallers Gout launch Actual Bastard at The Flying Duck (17 Apr). Big Girl’s Blouse launch their latest single Clean / My House at McChuills on the 16th (they also play Edinburgh’s Sneaky Pete’s, 22 Apr), and Lizzie Reid brings Undoing to Cottiers (26 Apr).

Also this month you’ll find a Knockegorroch Fundraiser (Stereo, 3 Apr) and an MVT Fundraiser (St Luke’s, 9 Apr). Brògeal continue their ascent with two shows at The Art School (2 & 3 Apr), Gallus play McChuills (8 Apr), Doss play a massive headline show at The Art School (18 Apr) and Mercy Girl play The Garage (24 Apr). In Edinburgh, Hull rapper Chiedu Oraka heads up a massive local lineup featuring Billy Got Waves, Jurnalist, Benni Murks and Conscious Route at Sneaky Pete’s (3 Apr), Count Florida play Bannermans (12 Apr), Étain launches The Well at The Caves (16 Apr) and Man of Moon play Cabaret Voltaire (17 Apr).

Elsewhere, seek out shows in Glasgow from Peaches (SWG3, 18 Apr), Penelope Trappes (Cottiers, 23 Apr), Just Mustard (The Art School, 23 Apr), Dry Cleaning (SWG3, 24 Apr), Joshua Idehen (St Luke’s, 26 Apr) and claire rousay (The Glad Cafe, 26 Apr). In Edinburgh The Burning Hell (18 Apr) and Nubiyan Twist (26 Apr) play La Belle Angele and Kneecap play an Assai outstore at The Liquid Room (29 Apr). You can also catch them the night before in Dundee at The LiveHouse, where Jessie Ware also plays on the 4th. [Tallah Brash]

Film

There’s an earthy new film festival on the block! Fiends in the Furrows (23-26 Apr) is a celebration of folk horror from cinema collectives Leith Kino and Cinetopia. Events kick off on 23 April at Leith Dockers Club with Ken Russell’s silly, sexy, batshit crazy The Lair of the White Worm. Other folk classics on the docket include The Wicker Man (25 Apr) and Watership Down (26 Apr), and also on 26 April, there’s a double-bill of Enys Men and Rose of Nevada from the modern master of folk horror, Mark Jenkin (for more Mark Jenkin, check out Cameo’s Q&A screening of Rose of Nevada on 21 Apr). Additional Fiends in the Furrows screenings are planned at Leith Depot, but the rest take place outdoors at Dock Place. We hope the organisers have made an appropriate sacrificial offering to ward off April showers. There’s more folk-inflected cinema on offer at Folk Film Gathering (1-10 May, Cameo and The Scottish Storytelling Centre), which, as usual, offers a programme of new and archive folk cinema from across the world, with unique one-off live musical performances attached to most screenings. Experimental cinema fans, meanwhile, should make their way to Hawick in the Borders for the Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival (30 Apr-3 May). Expect a wealth of world-class artists’ film and moving image (a highlight looks to be the UK premiere of An Incomplete Calendar, the new feature by Sanaz Sohrab), but what makes this festival unmissable is its ability to engage politically with the world outside the festival bubble while also creating a genuine sense of community within it. Read more on page 64.

Another film festival taking place outside the Central Belt is SANDS in St Andrews (17-19 Apr). The festival’s founder, Joe Russo, the MCU’s go-to director, continues to flex his thick contact book, with guests this year including Scottish composer Craig Armstrong and filmmaker Charlie Kaufman, as well as pioneering feminist scholar and filmmaker Laura Mulvey (who I’m guessing Russo had no hand in booking). Speaking of Craig Armstrong, he’s also at the GFT on 9 April to introduce Moulin Rouge! as part of the cinema’s season dedicated to Armstrong’s regular collaborator Baz Luhrmann – Strictly Ballroom (25+29 Apr) and Romeo + Juliet (11+14 Apr) also screen alongside the Aussie director’s new doc on an icon: EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (16-22 Apr)

Less iconic were Timothée Chalamet’s derogatory remarks about ballet and opera. He’s putting things right, though, by appearing at the Festival Theatre on 1 April as the lead in a new adaptation of Dune from Scottish Opera, which will act as a fundraiser for the cash-strapped Edinburgh International Festival. The music comes courtesy of EsDeeKid.

Last month Filmhouse began its We’ve Got a Cinema and We’re Not Afraid to Use It season, which features films that fall out of the usual exhibition context, say a re-release, retrospective or thematic season. In other words, it’s basically an excuse for the cinema’s programme team to screen films they adore apropos of nothing. This month, they go for One from the Heart (9 Apr) and Planet of the Apes (23 Apr). A similar philosophy is at play in Cameo’s ongoing RepHouse strand. This month, the Edinburgh cinema’s eclectic mix of rep titles includes East of Eden (5-7 Apr), After Hours (13-16 Apr), What’s Up Doc? (17-18 Apr), Written on the Wind (19-21 Apr) and Drunken Master (24 Apr). [Jamie Dunn]

Clubs

The Easter weekend kicks off with two legends of UK drum and bass: Roni Size and LTJ Bukem bring jazz-infused jungle to Edinburgh’s Liquid Room on Friday 3 April. At Glasgow’s 1990, Warehaus hosts Beau Didier for a night of pulsing techno (3 Apr). Partiers are spoilt for choice on Saturday 4 April, with Sventek’s Moving Castle returning to Mains Castle, Dundee, for their annual bash – all proceeds donated to Variety Scotland. At Edinburgh’s The Biscuit Factory, HAAi is set to bring down the house with her techno, bass and breaks selections (4 Apr). There’s cause for disco-drenched celebration at Drygate in Glasgow, as Melting Pot invites Horse Meat Disco up north for their 25th birthday (4 Apr). Djrum returns to La Cheetah Club to take partiers on a journey through genre, come with no expectations and leave with no disappointment (4 Apr).

Morrison Street brings Shanti Celeste to Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh on Thursday 9 April, with Sub Club regulars Babyccino and Carmen Baía joining the house-heavy party. Friday 10 April sees a triple threat of bass-led nights: mantle and Import club together to host dubstep royalty Joker at Sneaky Pete’s; one-time resident Objekt returns to take the helm at La Cheetah Club; and LA-based producer/DJ, Introspekt, brings her explorations in rhythmic bass music to EXIT, Glasgow. Still in EXIT on Saturday 11 April, this time with

a takeover from record label ARA – Kangding Ray and Sorcery bring techno spanning emotive, industrial and experimental sounds.

Perel joins discotia on Friday 17 April for synthy-techno, house and disco at Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh. A stone’s throw away, Like This celebrates four years with a party at the People’s Leisure Club on Saturday 18 April – it’s an all-vinyl Detroit special from DJ 3000, preceded by an afternoon at Underground Solution for Record Store Day 2026. Over in Glasgow, Pixelate brings nightcore and nostalgia to Slay – neon, cosplay and kandi strongly encouraged (18 Apr). Edinburgh experimental queer night, Potpourri, host a back-to-back from G Jones and EPROM on 23 Apr, as well as fitting Sneaky Pete’s with a custom lighting rig and a signature incense scent (no Lynx necessary). After their previous sold-out party, INFOLINE are back for more phonesfree clubbing, inviting DATSKO, Shake Daddy and Franck to People’s Leisure Club, Edinburgh, for some analogue amusements (24 Apr). [Myrtle Boot]

Art

Despite the recent devastating blows to Glasgow’s visual art scene, artists and arts organisers are persevering. At Horsepower, a new DIY exhibition space in the East End, Unidentified Fabulating Object is open 10-26 April. This solo show by India Boxall unites sculpture, drawing, textile and moving image, and explores the interconnectedness of nature and artificiality through the metaphor of the moth.

Meanwhile, Riso Club – an international postal project dedicated to risographs led by designer Gabriella Marcella – presents 400 designs from across the world in an exhibition at the Glue Factory Galleries (10-19 Apr). Alongside the vibrant display, RISO CLUB 100 will run a series of artist-led workshops to teach visitors about the risograph process.

At Glasgow School of Art’s Reid Gallery, Black Waters: Inference to The Veil draws on Black feminist methodologies and Black scholarship. The collaborative exhibition shows work by Zoë Zo, Zoë Tumika & Zoë Guthrie and Żżo Charlery, two Glasgow-based artists, who situate Glasgow within postcolonial discourse and examine counter-strategies for resistance and refusal. On view until 25 April.

Over to the capital, where Susan Aldworth undermines anti-immigration narratives in Belongings at Edinburgh Printmakers (2 Apr-28 Jun). Through her sculptural installation, Aldworth situates her grandmother’s migration over 100 years ago in the context of people seeking refuge from war and violence in the contemporary moment. Alongside, there will be a display of artworks created by migrant groups in Edinburgh.

Extraction – a group show that examines how energy systems influence culture – opens at Jupiter Artland on 11 April. Featuring works by Irish sculptor John Gerrard, the late Carol Rhodes and French artist Marguerite Humeau, amongst others, Extraction taps into Jupiter Artland’s landscape, where traces of the shale gas industry, North Sea oil economy and contemporary renewables can be found. Runs until 26 July.

In Dundee, site-responsive artist Leah McDonald presents C’MERE at the artist-led exhibition space, Generator Projects. C’MERE probes the subjects of class and identity, and questions who has the right to engage with visual art. It’s open until 3 May. [Rachel Ashenden]

Theatre

April’s theatre offerings lean toward contemporary voices and human-scale stories, with productions travelling across Scotland’s venues. Kicking the month off at Glasgow’s Òran Mór, A Play, A Pie and A Pint presents Outskirts (until 4 Apr), a musical balancing humour and heart as a young granny finds herself in a Glasgow gay bar.

In Edinburgh, the Royal Lyceum Theatre hosts One Day: The Musical (until 19 Apr), a world premiere adaptation of the bestselling novel, bringing the familiar story – and Netflix series – to the stage. Later in the month, Karine Polwart’s Windblown (28-30 Apr) offers something quieter, blending folk music and storytelling in tribute to a fallen oak tree in Edinburgh’s Botanic Gardens in a show that is part gig, part reflection on place and memory.

Across both Glasgow and Edinburgh, What I’m Here For tours between the Tron Theatre (1-4 Apr), Dundee Rep (9-11 Apr) and the Traverse Theatre (15-18 Apr), exploring the strange, tragi-comic realities of hospital life and the ripple effects of human decisions. The Traverse also presents GUSH (10-25 Apr), a sharp, searching piece on identity, desire and the tension between compromise and self-knowledge.

Elsewhere in Glasgow, Island Town lands at the Tron Theatre (8-9 Apr), a darkly comic coming-of-age story set in a neglected community, while the Citizens Theatre stages I, Daniel Blake (7-11 Apr), adapting Ken Loach’s film into a theatrical portrait of poverty and bureaucracy in the UK.

The month closes with movement-led work at Tramway, where Dictations – The Heart of the Sea (30 Apr-1 May) sees Mele Broomes – who some might remember from through warm temperatures at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe – using dance and memory to explore how family and community are carried across time.

April’s programme thus keeps its feet on the ground, favouring intimate stories and foregrounding contemporary voices across stages. [Mika Morava]

Comedy

We really like Jain Edwards. The Manchester-based, Welsh comic is a total hoot on socials and her show She-Devil (Monkey Barrel, 7 Apr) brings her cult status to the fore (in both senses) .

Hannah Cruickshank and Jeff Khan are back again with April’s That’s Clown (Gael & Grain, 12 Apr). Glasgow’s home for all things clowny, this month they’ve bagged Daniel Maseda to do his Fringe 2025 show “Be Good!” With Paulette, alongside a lineup of other fun folk.

It’s also a good time to be an Improverts alumnus (the Uni of Edinburgh’s long-running improv troupe). At one end of the spectrum is a WIP from Jonathan Oldfield (Monkey Barrel, 11 Apr) as he works up his debut Fringe hour. Better known as a director (Frankie Monroe, Lucy Pearman and more) and actor (Andor, Kanpur: 1857), his move behind the mic has piqued our interest. At the other, one of our favourite shows from the Fringe last year

– David Elms Describes A Room (Monkey Barrel, 18 Apr). We said it was ‘a real triumph of the human imagination’ in August.

Finally this month, there’s a new gig in town which transforms Glasgow’s best small music venue into an ace space for comedy. King Tut’s Ha Ha Hut (19 Apr) looks to be an exciting new fixture on the Scottish comedy scene. It kicks off strong being MC’d by Kate Hammer and headlined by Susie McCabe. And looking forward to May, we’ve got two top recs for you. Toughtalking Cockney Taskmaster fave Fatiha El-Ghorri is on her first ever tour, stopping in Glasgow and Edinburgh (Glasgow Stand, 27 May / Edinburgh Stand, 28 May). Pierre Novellie also has a cracking show in You Sit There, I’ll Stand Here (Glasgow Stand, 16 May / Monkey Barrel, 31 May). For fans of slick, skilful stand-up and people who have a freezer full of meat (that’ll make sense, we promise). [Polly Glynn]

Books

Love is, once again, in the air as First Date – Edinburgh’s book festival dedicated to all things romance – returns to the city. Co-curated by Lighthouse Bookshop and Book Lovers Bookshop and running 24 April-8 May, this year’s programme includes Beth O’Leary launching her new book The Name Game, Nadine Aisha Jassat hosting a romance book club and book swap, panels and workshops on romantasy, sports romance, and queer love, and even a late night book market. Also at Lighthouse, Niall Moorjani hosts a storytelling open mic Tales at the Lighthouse (19 Apr), and there’s an evening dedicated to protest poetry with Ruth Aylett, Zain Rishi and Woman Life Freedom Edinburgh (14 Apr).

Over by the sea at Portobello Bookshop, Polly Barton launches her debut novel What Am I, A Deer on 14 April, Lisa Tuttle and Brigid Lowe discuss all things horror on 16 April, and Evelyn Clarke – AKA V.E. Schwab and Cat Clarke – launch their book The Ending Writes Itself at Portobello Town Hall on 19 April.

It’s a little quieter over in Glasgow: there’s a Men’s Reading Circle (in a nice way) on 7 April and a book group reading Ágota Kristóf’s The Proof on 29 April, both at Mount Florida Books. At Glasgow Women’s Library, writer and activist Sarah Schulman celebrates her latest book The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity (11 Apr), and at Glasgow Zine Library, there’s a Poetry Open Mic on 8 April and Trans Writes, a creative writing group for trans and non-binary people on 14 April. [Anahit Behrooz]

Features

22 Our Music Festivals Special opens with Scottish punk duo Cowboy Hunters, talking about their new EP, EPeepee, and the upcoming festival season.

25 We get to know Granton’s waterfront electronic music festival, DAYS

26 The BIT Collective discuss how they’re making a space for safeguarding and accountability in traditional music.

28 Your definitive 2026 Festivals calendar – Scottish, UK, international, etc.

34 Glasgow songwriter Radhika on her cinematic debut record, Cine-Pop

37 Melting Pot on curating this year’s Queen’s Park Spring Weekender with Keith McIvor in mind.

39 We take a tour of the stellar crop of art graduates showing in this year’s RSA New Contemporaries.

44 James McAvoy on his directorial debut, California Schemin’, and the directors he’s learned from over the years.

46 Mark Jenkin on his timetravelling fishing boat drama Rose of Nevada.

49 The ever prolific François Ozon on adapting Albert Camus in The Stranger

53 Frances Poet , Jemima Levick and Margaret ‘Maggie’ Wallace discuss the making of new stage production Stand and Deliver: The Lee Jeans Sit-In

54 Shahed Ezaydi on The Othered Woman, white feminism and Islamophobia.

On the website...

Glory, glory to Glasgow Short Film Festival’s award-winners, find out who in the film section; write-ups from Glasgow gigs by Gorillaz, Geese and bands beginning with letters other than G; listen out for the genuine actual James McAvoy on The Cineskinny podcast this month; keep your eyes glued to our Insta for news of a party we may or may not be throwing this month ��

Shot of the month

CMAT @ Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, 2 Mar by Kate

Johnston

One of the building blocks of life (7)

Dry spell (7)

Sound – bay (5)

Film fan (9)

11. "___ ___ and a lie", popular icebreaker game (3,6)

12. Under (5)

13. Minding – neighed (anag) (7) 15. Abridge (7)

17. Scuffles (7)

19. Someone from Helsinki (7)

20. Least good (5)

22. Ocular cavity (3,6)

24. Going back over (e.g. steps) (9)

25. Following (2,3) 26. Banishes – quells (7)

27. Whispy appendage (7)

Go on a big night out (5,3,4,3)

Bystanders (9) 3. Consumer (5) 4. Label displaying your moniker (4,3) 5. Comes up with (7) 6. Disproportionate (9) 7. Snarl (5) 8. Give up (5,2,3,5)

Uncomfortable (3,2,4) 16. Swindler (9)

18. Genus – i.e. specs (anag) (7) 19. Cargo (7) 21. Prices – evaluates (5)

Him with the starry belt (5)

Compiled by George Sully

Email crossword@theskinny.co.uk

to page 7 for the solutions

GOT A QUESTION?

Anahit is away, so we decided our Film editor, Jamie, should have a crack at the advice column

I’m addicted to writing Letterboxd reviews! When I’m watching a film, I feel like I’m spending 50% of my time listening out for witty quips rather than even watching the film. Why do I care? I only have about eight followers. Please help!

Before I give my two cents, I feel I should mention that my sitting in for Anahit while she’s away is essentially an office joke. I’m the kind of person who bristles at the suggestion of therapy. My idea of self-help is to swallow down my anxieties into the pit of my stomach and ignore them until the inevitable mental breakdown. If it’s not clear, I’m completely unqualified to be giving out life advice, so I was relieved, to say the least, when I discovered this month’s question was about your silly little Letterboxd reviews.

Let’s start with the addiction part. As far as allconsuming preoccupations go, this is a pretty benign one. It sounds like there is no real issue, save the fact that the pressure you’ve put on yourself to be the Oscar Wilde of Letterboxd means you’re no longer enraptured while watching films. This gets to the fundamental issue with Letterboxd reviews: they’re all arch wit and no analysis. No one is going to read your 5000-word treatise on Andrei Rublev, but if you call 70s animation The Aristocats “an a-meow-zing movie,” watch those hearts roll in.

Conjuring up a pithy epigram for the latest release is not cinephilia, though. Have you considered dropping the comedy routine and simply using Letterboxd as God initially intended? Namely, as a handy tracking tool to remind you that, yes, you have rewatched The Devil Wears Prada nine times in the last 18 months; yes, you did watch Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom back in April 2020, that was not a COVID-induced fever dream; and yes, you did give Everything Everywhere All At Once five stars when it came out, what were you thinking?

It’s a radical idea, but try to engage with the films you watch earnestly. Rather than draft gags in your head, get lost in the filmmaking. Call it the Charli xcx approach, to name one prolific Letterboxd user who seems to genuinely love cinema, not just having opinions about cinema. And who’s to say these more thoughtful takes can’t also be funny? Canadian critic Adam Nayman’s single sentence review of The Holdovers – “like being beaten to death by a Cat Stevens album” – is both hilariously accurate and as astute as anything he’s written in Sight & Sound

Basically, what I’m saying is, next time you’re down at your local kino, try to give yourself over to the movie and forgo the zingers. Those eight followers of yours will survive.

A chance encounter with Shona Kinloch’s pigeon sculptures on Leith Walk prompts one writer to reflect on belonging and life after a breakup.

Words: Levi Richards

Waiting outside the bus, you kill time showing the driver your phone background, which has at one time been photos of three different girlfriends, back when that was still something, and which is now a statue of a fat pigeon that lives on the end of your street. You have what you think of as a standard amount of opinions about statues, which is to say not too many. At school, you and your friend invented an app called ‘Who’s That Lad?’, which would tell you stuff about every man bronzed up on a horse somewhere, and what he actually did to get put there. One murder or several; just another big stick holding something up. Much better just to have the horses, you thought, or the seagulls and a big old traffic cone, cut out the middleman.

And here they are! Round as bowling balls, little loaves brunching with all the cafe punters. You’d never steal one but you kind of get it. Picture one sat in your lap and it’s hard not to imagine it warm.

After the breakup, you write a lot of poems addressed to the city, which is a bit embarrassing, but who can blame you: with those narrow lanes and choked-up buses, she’s just your kindred spirit poster girl for being overwhelmed, even by things you already knew were going to happen.

The fat pigeons don’t belong to anyone really – not even the stolen ones, which you think of naïvely on someone’s coffee table, watching daytime telly forever. It’s just like saying, oh, this is my stop, or, that’s my upstairs neighbour, or, that’s the ‘Trans Joy Prevails!’ graffiti outside my house that I guarded for months from defacement with a toothbrush. Now you’ve moved and someone else does it.

You don’t tell the driver any of this. He shows you a picture from Kilmarnock: more statues, same artist. Fat dogs with rolypoly tails. Fucking class.

Do you have a problem Anahit could help with?

Get in touch by email on pettyshit@theskinny.co.uk, send us your quandaries with an almost-unhelpful level of anonymity via NGL, or look out for Ask Anahit callouts on our Instagram stories

Poster by Sam Black (p40-41)

Sam Black is a British-Filipino painter and graduate of Edinburgh College of Art whose work is currently on display in RSA New Contemporaries. Her paintings explore the unstable terrain between language and image, the places where meaning fractures, mistranslates, or dissolves altogether. Drawing from her mixed-race identity she attempts to connect to other people through mythology and devotional iconography.

Friendship Circle is part of a body of work inspired by dreaming and unconscious connections, carrying themes of translation and repurposing imagery. Her layered oil paintings are punctuated by text and typography that destabilise the visual language of the paintings, using strange and evocative phrases that can be interpreted as commands, spells or poems etc. Often combining animal and human imagery, her works explore feelings of identity, desire and conflict within an information-saturated world.

Festival Fun

The clocks have changed, the days are longer and music festival season is just getting started. To kick of this year’s festival guide, we catch up with Scottish poppunks Cowboy Hunters who are set for a packed summer. We chat about their new EP and get some much-needed tips from them to help get you through your next camping festival – their best advice? Start a band because you get free food.

We also catch up with Radhika, on the cusp of releasing her debut album and playing her first ever festivals this year, and speak to The BIT Collective about how they’re working towards helping festivals with better safeguarding practices for women and gender diverse people in trad and folk.

Clubs gets ready for two massive dance festivals at either end of the M8 this May, chatting

to the organisers of both Melting Pot and Optimo’s Queen’s Park Spring Weekender and RARE and Sneaky Pete’s DAYS party at The Pitt. We’ve also pulled together some packed festival calendars for you looking at everything from small all-dayers to massive camping festivals both near and far and everything in-between. So if you need a bit of inspiration for this year’s festival season, we’ve got more than a few ideas.

Turn Up, Full Send

We catch up with Cowboy Hunters about their new EP, unrecorded songs they’re keen to whip out for festival season and how their sound is more rooted in pop than punk

Words: Billie Estrine

There’s nothing that a rowdy gen-z punk band likes more than a good bit. Scottish duo Cowboy Hunters encapsulate this in their ragging stage banter and humour of all kinds, not leaving a single gig without punters having a good boogie and a giggle. Think prop comedy: as last year’s Kelburn Garden Party set found Desmond Johnston throwing grapes from their drum kit at hungry festival attendees in the midst of them dancing to Megan Pollock’s fiery basslines. “ Did you see me throw the grape into the guy’s mouth?” Johnston perks up and asks me on an early morning Zoom call. I’d seen that epic

moment in their set, been standing right next to the guy who caught it and completely forgot that it happened. Neither of them had. How could they when Pollock classifies it as an “all-time Cowboy Hunters moment.”

I’m catching up with Cowboy Hunters in what seems to be a two-week break from the band’s go-go-go touring lifestyle. In the run-up to releasing their new EP, EPeepee, the band played dates with Bob Vylan and joined Sleaford Mods for a trio of shows across Ireland and Northern Ireland. Somewhere along those run of shows an older punk approached after their set and offered some

unsolicited advice. “ We had someone in Ireland very concerned that we were gonna die,” Johnston recounts. “He was just like, ‘Be careful, I want to see what you’re doing in 12 years time. Do not die.’”

Johnston and Pollock’s unrivaled love of Tennent’s, as characterised in EPeepee’s opening number Have a Pint, must have caught this fella’s attention. The tune opens with a synth backing track, Johnston follows a few beats later with a heavy kick drum and Pollock begins to fiercely, yet somehow drily sing, ‘Look outside, what a sight / Everything’s fucked, mate, everybody sucks but that’s alright / Have a pint, have five / Make a little dance, mate, shake a little ass and have a fight.’ This track acutely summarises Cowboy Hunters and their generation’s mood: this shit is on fire, we might as well have a dance and party as it all goes up in flames.

Heavily influenced by Kesha, who rocked the 2010s with a wave of recession pop anthems, Cowboy Hunters have taken this inspiration and written their own recession punk bangers about being cunty in the midst of another cost of living crisis. Pollock fashions the band as “if Kesha played drums.” While Johnston takes a beat to come up with a punk band that is the antithesis to themselves. Simply put: “We’re more into Kesha than the Sex Pistols. It’s a different branch of punk.”

Pollock and Johnston see no other way to get through another politician crashing the economy or starting endless imperial wars besides playing music, dancing and partying in sweaty gig venues. “Literally every day there’s some sort of fucking new thing that’s happening and it’s like what can we do if not get fucked up. What is it, Dubai that’s getting bombed now?” Johnston, speaking directly about the war started with Iran by the United States and Israel just two days before our chat can’t do much, if anything, to stop world leaders from carpet bombing civilians across the Middle East. Since they’re well aware of this, unlike the Sex Pistols were, Cowboy Hunters are much “ more into pop than changing the world, [‘cause the] world’s fucked.”

Last year we were lucky enough to book this rambunctious duo’s first proper camping festival on The Skinny’s Pyramid Stage at Kelburn Garden Party. “There’s a song on the EP [Cuntry Girl] that we tried to play at Kelburn, but we fucked it up like three times in a row and then we just fucked that

off and played the next song. We’ve never played it live since.” Almost in unison with Johnston, Pollock jumps in: “It’s cursed.” Johnston continues: “ We tried to play it. I just couldn’t remember how it starts and we just fucked it off and [went] right on with the set; carried on chucking grapes at folks.” Finally able to listen to Cuntry Girl in its entirety on EPeepee, the track has a way of encapsulating the duo’s witty and hilarious "less doom-andgloom" ethos.

Pollock launches into Cuntry Girl, fretting a booming bassline that repeats until a synth breakdown later in the song’s sharp 90-second runtime. A mere second after the tune opens, Johnston absolutely smashes their kit and together the duo create an intense and unmistakably furious punk sound. One that could only be created by use of sparse instrumentation. Johnston, in their striking Shetland accent, sings, ‘Serve cunt not countries / Don’t don’t don’t get sad, get mad, get cunty / Turn up and turn up / Fill your lungs, scream serve cunt not countries’.

Cuntry Girl, along with the other tracks on EPeepee were produced and recorded by local artist Ed Meltzer at Pocket Sounds Studio in Granton. “He knows how we sound, knows the vibe and gets it,” Pollock states, praising the process of working with Meltzer, and Johnston agrees: “He’s very up for fucking about and we’re very up for any ideas that he has as well. So it works on that level.”

Getting excited for Cowboy Hunters’ absolutely stacked festival season, Pollock is keen to change up the setlist as summer comes around.  ”We’re doing five that aren’t recorded, which are the funnest ones right now.” Sitting on loads of unreleased material and ready to unleash their raw energy on stages across the UK and Europe, Cowboy Hunters are kicking off festival season at the tail end of the month playing Bristol’s Easton Punk Festival (30 Apr), followed by appearances at The Great Escape (13-16 May) and Supersonic's Block Party Festival in Paris (14-16 May). In peak summer cowboys will be hunted at 2000trees in Cheltenham (8-11 Jul) and by the end of the season, most of the UK should be cowboy free when the band plays End of the Road (Larmer Tree Gardens, 3-6 Sep) and Attitude Festival (Exchange, Bristol, 3 Oct) – with more slots still to be announced.

Getting ready for festival season with Cowboy Hunters

Before we end our chat, ahead of their stacked festival season, and in the true spirit of April’s festival extravaganza issue, I asked Cowboy Hunters to share a few tips and tricks to get yourself and your pals through these big partyfilled summer weekends like a champ.

What’s your go-to move after you’ve woken up in the tent?

Pollock: Water [in a groggy and hungover voice]. ‘Oh no. Uh, do I have my phone? Did I take my shoes off?’ Then chai latte.

Johnston: Oh, chai latte, yes.

Pollock: Yeah, for the throat.

That will recover anything. You guys played Kelburn for The Skinny last year, what advice would you give to anyone going to Kelburn, or any other camping festival this summer?

Pollock: Make sure you’ve got some crisps and some roll for the whole weekend. Leave at least one crate of beer in the car so you don’t drink them all on the first night.

Johnston: Bring more alcohol than you think you need. It’ll get drank at some point.

Pollock: But do leave it in the car or it’ll all be [gone after] night one.

Johnston: If someone offers you mushrooms saying they’re not very strong, they’re lying.

You’ll get through, you’ll be fighting so just hunker down in the forest for a little while. Get over the hump.

Johnston: Go to the dub tent. Everything’s safe in the dub tent, if you’re going to Kelburn.

What other food are you bringing to stay fed throughout the festival?

Johnston: Play Kelburn ‘cause then they give you free food. Start a band, that’s the advice for the best festival experience.

Are you guys out there shaking ass all night until the sun comes up every night of the festival? Or are you playing the long game, taking it easy and then going crazy maybe the second day?

Johnston: Full send every night.

“Literally every day there’s some sort of fucking new thing happening and it’s like what can we do if not get fucked up”

Desmond Johnston, Cowboy Hunters

Pollock: Full send, don’t waste a second. Double down.

Tennent’s from the campsite cooler, a few in the boot or Tennent’s from the bar?

Pollock: Tennent’s sort of warm, just chucked in the tent. Already too much stuff to carry, so just drink your  Tennent’s warm and deal with it.

What’s a standard cowboy hunting weapon that you’d carry at the festival? Just in case those little shits try something?

Pollock: I’m a flail guy [yes, ball and chain weapon]. Um, sometimes I get some questions at security, but normally it’s fine.

Johnston: I usually go nunchucks, ‘cause you can sort of hide them on your person.

Pollock: Quite portable.

Where did you learn to use nunchucks?

Johnston: Just watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. EPeepee is out now

Cowboy Hunters play Easton Punk Festival, Bristol, 30 Apr; The Road to The Great Escape, King Tut’s, Glasgow, 9 May; The Great Escape, Brighton, 13 May; Supersonic’s Block Party Festival, Paris, 16 May; 2000 Trees Festival, Cheltenham, 9 Jul; End of the Road, Larmer Tree Gardens, 3 Sep; Attitude Festival, Bristol, 3 Oct

cowboyhunters.co.uk

Anna Massie Auskerry

Blazin’ Fiddles

The Chair

Claire Hastings

Damn Tall Buildings

Dirk Powell, Cedric Watson and Amelia Powell

Duncan Chisholm

Elephant Sessions

Ellie Beaton

Fergal Scahill and Ryan Molloy

Gary Innes and Ewen Henderson

Gráinne Hunt

John Smith

Katie Spencer

Kenneth Pattengale

Meallan

Old Blind Dogs

Polenta

Rebecca Hill and Charlie Stewart

Rory Matheson and his Scottish Dance Band

Saltfishforty

Session A9

Stoatfinger

Wendy MacIsaac, Mairi Rankin and Mac Morin

plus many more to be announced…

Halcyon Days

As DAYS Festival returns to its Firth-side home at Granton’s The Pitt this May, we speak to festival co-director Owen Davies about changing clubbing habits, WhatsApp groups and the future for DAYS to come

In May 2024, DAYS held their inaugural festival at The Pitt in Granton. The team – a collaboration between long-standing Scottish party RARE and Edinburgh nightclub Sneaky Pete’s – were met with a blank canvas on arrival. With gaping holes in the floors and bare warehouse walls, the then-unopened venue was in need of a hasty transformation to become Edinburgh’s newest festival spot. After lights, speakers and a giant disco ball were hoisted, hundreds of partiers arrived willing to take a punt on the new venture. Two years on, DAYS has cemented its place on the Scottish festival calendar, creating a space for a post-uni-but-still-partying crowd. Co-festival director Owen Davies tells us why DAYS makes sense for a maturing dancefloor.

Davies first met RARE co-director Rory Masson in 2018 whilst studying in Aberdeen. Masson was running RARE, while Davies was getting his own start putting on parties. The pair began working alongside one another, fostering RARE into a beloved Thursday club night at The Tunnels in Aberdeen, lasting from 2015 until the end of 2024. With stark changes in drinking habits combined with mounting costs for clubbers and promoters alike, RARE saw the shifts in the UK’s clubbing landscape firsthand: “When we were doing RARE in Aberdeen it was packed every single week, but it’s not what it used to be…. numbers [were] dwindling,” Davies explains.

“You just have to be able to adapt.” Adapt the pair have done, shifting their focus to one-off parties in Aberdeen and Glasgow, while holding down a regular Tuesday night spot at Sneaky Pete’s.

So, with their unparalleled insight into the challenges of getting people out of the house and onto the dancefloor, why was now the time to create a festival? “There’s definitely a gap in the market,” says Davies, “people don’t want to stop partying when they hit their late 20s, there’s just less catered to them so people end up going out less.” The specific needs for this demographic remain a major consideration: “People have kids, some people have a run club or whatever,” Davies says. “DAYS finishes at 10.30pm, [so] if you don’t want to feel shit on a Sunday, you can be in bed by half 11. It fits in with what our audience likes.” The audience is a reflection of themselves – so much so that Masson’s wife is hinted to have gone into labour the morning of our call.

With the complexities of juggling work, family and fun in mind, DAYS set up a WhatsApp to understand what their punters actually want. Putting questions to their attendees – from what DJs they want to see, to whether tickets are a fair price – the team can make informed decisions. “This one seems to be the year that it’s clicked,” Davies says, “we’ve got a really good community behind us. [On] WhatsApp, there’s about 400 people now and they’re super committed.” The

Words: Myrtle Boot

ticket numbers prove this. At the time we speak, DAYS is set to sell out a month in advance.

“Having all this data really helps you back up your decisions. We found out that a lot of people get a taxi, so this year, we’d quite like more people to use their bikes.” This methodical, even sensible, approach to party planning keeps the team on their toes, the bookings current and the festival evolving.

With a lineup of names revealed for May, Davies explains how they craft their ideal festival.

“We book people that we want to see… if we have no emotional investment, it’s pretty hard to market.” Many of the names joining the lineup have graced the booth at previous RARE parties, from sellout artists like DJ Seinfeld, to local talent from across the central belt. “We try to keep it a friendly, community vibe, working with Sneaky Pete’s is obviously a massive part of [that].

Everybody on the lineup has either played at the club or is a regular… it’s people that come to the nights that we put on [that] support what we do.”

“DAYS finishes at 10.30pm, [so] if you don’t want to feel shit on a Sunday, you can be in bed by half 11”

Owen Davies, RARE

Then comes the challenge of programming a cohesive day. “Inside [is] pretty heavy, we’ve got Helena Hauff and Daniel Avery playing back to back this year, then outside is [a] housey, proggy kind of vibe. It suits the two spaces because the warehouse is dark and outside it’s sunset, it’s beautiful.” Even when the heavens opened last May, revellers stayed glued to the dancefloor as Ross from Friends closed the Yard stage.  Asked for his highlight from DAYS so far, Davies speaks with nostalgia about the very first festival – the disco ball reflecting over the crowd below, George FitzGerald playing his goosebumpinducing track Burns to an electrified dancefloor. Nostalgia seems to be central to DAYS. As much as it’s a festival for the community who sustain Edinburgh’s nightlife industry, it’s equally for the partygoers who know RARE from their messy student days. It’s a day to ditch the run club, book the babysitter and dance to the backdrop of a setting sun to a tune that takes you all the way back.

DAYS Festival takes place at The Pitt, Edinburgh, 30 May daysandnights.co.uk

A Way Forward

We catch up with The BIT Collective at their monthly meet-up to find out how they’re encouraging Scottish festivals to up their safeguarding policies and get them to highlight some female-led artists to look out for this festival season

We meet The BIT Collective at their community meet-up in Glasgow – an informal space for musicians, musicworkers, even journalists to come together, connect, and chat about progress in the Scottish trad and folk scene. This time the topics range from debut album ambitions to Cosmopolitan cover shoots, to advice on teaching small children. They come together like this, over some drinks in Mono, once a month.

"Everything we're doing at the moment is building towards something much bigger"

Jen Anderson, The BIT Collective

BIT started off the back of the #MeToo movement, originally functioning as a space for people to talk confidentially about their experiences. Since then, it’s grown into an important organisation in the traditional arts industry, undertaking reports into the experiences of women and gender diverse people in folk music, and getting conversations started around inclusivity and diversity in the sector. Like any good folk song, the tale of where the name came from has a hundred different variations (chair Jen Anderson thinks it comes from a ‘bit’ in terms of data storage, “but it’s now become just, you make up your own acronym”).

As we’re sat round the table in Mono, members of the team tell us about their new initiative aimed at Scottish trad and trad-adjacent festivals, BIT Collective On Tour. It’s an interactive project that involves dialogue between BIT and partner festivals around how they can promote the Collective’s work in a bespoke way that matches the needs and tone of each individual event. Ultimately the goal is to empower festivals around Scotland to protect the safety of their artists, staff, volunteers and attendees, no matter the approach.

“Some festivals want us to go along, and they want to programme something,” Anderson explains: “It might be that it’s simply speaking to festivals about putting flyers within their artist packs to just get people thinking about their behaviour, and thinking about what support is available should they need it. Everything we’re doing at the moment is building towards something much bigger. It’s a lot of fact finding, it’s a lot of figuring out what engagement looks like and what different stakeholders need.”

At the moment they’re reaching out to festivals to find out who has safeguarding policies

in place, what those look like and how they’re embedded in the practices of an organisation. All of this, they hope, will feed into being able to create a resource hub on their website where anyone – musician, promoter, manager, fan – can look for template documents and examples of best practice across all genres and areas. The dream is that long term this will become a resource for people working across other genres and other parts of the industry.

Through this process, they’re keen to use the great work already being done by some within the sector to help others to improve their own practices: Piping Live and the National Piping Centre, HebCelt and Edinburgh TradFest are names that come up again and again.

And it’s this idea of trying to create positive change that is key to BIT’s future – Anderson, like

BIT Collective Picks

With festivals on the horizon, The BIT Collective pick some of their favourite female-led acts to look out for this festival season

Sian

The beloved trio of Gaelic singers create harmonies that are beautiful, simple and catchy. Catch them at Stonehaven Folk Festival, 10 Jul; HebCelt, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, 18 Jul and Ceòl Cholasa, Isle of Colonsay, 17 Sep.

Kinnaris Q

Kinnaris Q bring beautiful texturing to their unique brand of contemporary folk, played across fiddle, guitar, mandolin and five-string fiddle. Expect tunes to drive and elevate you. They play The Reeling, Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh, 20 Jun and Ceòl Cholasa, Isle of Colonsay, 19 & 20 Sep.

ASTRO BLOC

ASTRO BLOC take longer-form trad composition and mix in influences from around the world. Think jazz-influenced piano and celestial electronic interventions. They play Edinburgh TradFest, 1 May and Speyfest, Moray, 24 & 26 Jul.

Words: Laurie Presswood

so many people, is deeply affected every time a new report is published, or discourse aired that sheds light on sexual violence and harassment in the scene. She wants BIT to propose a way forward, so that people have something to focus on besides just being crushed by despair. “I don’t like listening to it,” Anderson says. “For obvious reasons, it’s very important that I do, but what I want to push… is what can be done. And this is what BIT Collective have been trying to do for quite a few years now – focus on what can be done.”

Find out more about The BIT Collective on their website thebitcollective.co.uk or on Instagram @thebitcollective

The next BIT Collective Community Meet-up takes place Thursday 9 April, Mono, Glasgow, 6pm

Ellie Beaton

Winner of the 2025 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year award, Beaton champions Doric and Aberdeenshire-style singing in her work. She plays Orkney Folk Festival, 21 May; Arran Folk Festival, Arran, 5-7 Jun; Speyfest, Moray, 26 Jul.

Siobhan Miller

The only four-time winner of Best Singer at the BBC Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, Miller specialises in stirring folk songs, new and classic alike. She plays Lochwinnoch Arts Festival, Renfrewshire, 25 Apr; Loch Goil Live, Lochgoilhead Village Hall, 1 May.

Festival Fever

With music festival season so close you can almost taste it, we’ve done some of the hard work for you with this handy guide to what’s happening across Scotland, the rest of the UK and Europe

As the clocks jump forward and we get ever closer to the summer, we’ve pulled together a non-exhaustive list of music festivals to stick in your calendar for the year ahead. From city all-dayers and small town gatherings to four-day camping festivals both in Scotland and beyond, you’ll be asking the question, “Glastonbury who?”

Scottish Camping Festivals

The obvious place to begin is with Scottish camping festivals on the mainland. Scotland’s longest running greenfield festival Knockengorroch (21-24 May) in Galloway gets things off to a flying start. It’s family friendly, inclusive and environmentally conscientious with a lineup that includes BCUC, Dallahan and Samedia Shebeen. Holding similar values, Eden Festival (11-14 Jun) in Moffat follows with Jurassic Five’s Chali 2na, Vieux Farka Touré, Raz & Afla and Malin Lewis all on the bill. The following month, Kelburn Garden Party (2-6 Jul) returns to the idyllic grounds of Kelburn Castle near Largs. We’ve been programming their Pyramid Stage since 2018 and this year we’re bringing the likes of SOAPBOX, Indoor Foxes and Majesty Palm to the festival alongside their wider lineup that includes Joshua Idehen, Snapped Ankles, EmmaJean Thackray, Leon Vynehall, with loads of specially curated stages by artists and DJs like Bemz and Buckfast Barbie.

At the Cardross Estate in Stirlingshire, Back Doune the Rabbit Hole (17-19 Jul) is back for round two of their recently (re)launched festival with Ash, Utah Saints and Rianne Downey just a fraction of what to expect, while rounding out Scottish camping season, up at the Belladrum Estate in Kiltarlity near Inverness you’ll find the Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival (30 Jul-1 Aug) with Callum Beattie, Mika, Rizzle Kicks, Brooke Combe and Getdown Services among their massive lineup.

Island Festivals

Island-hopping is also a lovely way to spend the summer months, so here are a few to consider visiting, spaced out just enough that you could in theory do them all if you felt so inclined and could afford it. Kicking off with the Mull Music Festival (23-26 Apr) on, you guessed it, the Isle of Mull, the Tobermory-based festival is a free, non-ticketed, multi-venue just-turn-up-and-join-the-party kind of affair, so a great way to get to know the town. While just about as far north as you can go, the Shetland Folk Festival (30 Apr-3 May) then returns for its 44th outing, with concerts organised throughout the isles from Ollaberry to Lerwick. Back in the Inner Hebrides, Skye Live (7-9 May) returns to Portree with its usual mix of live acts and DJs that beautifully brings together the worlds of electronica and trad, with An Dannsa Dub, Mànran, LUSA and Spencer Nmbrs all on this year’s lineup. Meanwhile, back up north, artists from the USA, Canada, Finland, Ireland, England and throughout Scotland join homegrown Orcadian talent for the 43rd outing of the Orkney Folk Festival (21-24 May).

On the most westerly island in the Inner Hebrides, the Tiree Music Festival (10-12 Jul) offers a cross-genre party running alongside a packed fringe programme that includes seaside saunas, beach yoga, surf lessons and more. Finally, head to the Outer Hebrides for the annual HebCelt (15-18 Jul) festival in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. With the main arena based in the stunning grounds of Lews Castle, you’ll also find a packed programme in the town’s year-round arts centre An Lanntair, family concerts at the Town Hall and a Wednesday night party at the Breasclete Community Hall, not far from the world famous Callanish Standing Stones. This year’s lineup already includes Fara, The Mary Wallopers, Sian, Dlù, Laura Wilkie, FÜLÜ and more.

Words: Tallah Brash

Glasgow City Festivals

Things get under way in Glasgow with the second instalment of House Guest (4 Apr). This year taking over The Art School, Nice N Sleazy and new venue 1990, HotWax, Humour, Blood Wizard and Bikini Body are part of the 29-strong lineup. The following weekend, Scotland’s longest running festival of experimental and marginal music, Counterflows (9-12 Apr), returns with Los Thuthanaka, Rhodri Davies & Áine O’Dwyer and Rufus Isabel Elliot.

On the first May bank holiday weekend, two very different festivals come to the city. Tectonics (2 & 3 May), the BBC’s immersive festival of new and experimental music takes over City Halls and Old Fruitmarket, while Melting Pot and Optimo bring the Queen’s Park Spring Weekender to the Southside Queen’s Park Recreation Ground (2 & 3 May). The Glasgow Jazz Festival (10-14 Jun) returns the following month; with its lineup still TBA, we’re expecting a strong programme for their 40th year, and TRNSMT (19-21 Jun) squeezes itself into June for the first time. Focus your attention away from the topline and check out Wolf Alice, CMAT, The Last Dinner Party and Jacob Alon instead.

WOMAD Glasgow (3 & 4 Jul) then rolls into Kelvingrove Park for the first time, with the lineup still TBA at time of writing. The following month, indie-pop happening Glas-Goes Pop (14 & 15 Aug) takes over the GUU Debates Chamber with The Bats, The Clientele and Radhika all on the bill. At the end of the month, Forever Is a Long Time (28 & 29 Aug) celebrates 15 years of Night School Records with Free Love, Cucina Povera, Guttersnipe and more playing; rapper Bemz’s M4 FESTIVAL (29 Aug) returns for another instalment at SWG3, and on the same day in Queen’s Park, Mogwai’s Big City welcomes Super Furry Animals, Spiritualized and Brìghde Chaimbeul for round three. Also in the summer months, look out for massive gig series like The Hug & Pint’s Endless Summer, King Tut’s Summer Nights, Summer Nights at the Bandstand and Glasgow Summer Sessions.

In the autumn, festivities continue with PITCH (2-4 Sep), Scotland’s international conference of hip-hop and underground culture. Later in the month, Freakender (18-20 Sep) celebrates its 10th anniversary with a massive weekend currently in the works. Glasgow’s biennial festival of audiovisual arts Sonica (24 Sep-4 Oct) returns for an 11-day run and alt-indie/rock all-dayer Tenement Trail (10 Oct) is back in Glasgow’s east end, before things come to a head with core. (13-15 Nov). This year’s celebration of noise will take place across The Art School, Nice N Sleazy and the Gartnethill Multicultural Centre with Incendiary, Pig Destroyer, Bratakus, Petrol Girls, Cwfen and Maud the Moth amongst the lineup.

Edinburgh City Festivals

In Edinburgh, the Cowgate Block Party (18 Apr) returns for its second outing of the year. Taking

place at Sneaky Pete’s, The Bongo Club and The Mash House, expect live sets from Y, Gossip Queens, Saint Sappho and more. At the end of the month, Scotland’s music convention Wide Days (30 Apr-1 May) returns with a packed programme of panels and live showcases; this year’s lineup includes Talent Development artists Lacuna, Lo Raps, Roller Disco Death Party and San Jose. May also sees the return of Edinburgh Tradfest (1-11 May), celebrating all facets of folk and trad with Kim Carnie, Josie Duncan and Rura.

In June, Hidden Door (3-7 Jun) returns to The Paper Factory for another year, with Valtos and Jenny Hval early announcements for the pop-up arts festival, while trad festival The Reeling (20 Jun) arrives in the capital for the first time. Find Breabach, Kinnaris Q, Elephant Sessions and more at the Royal Highland Showgrounds. The following month sees the return of the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival (17-26 Jul) whose SPARK strand this year celebrates jazz from the Netherlands.

As the August festivals threaten to take over the capital, music is still on the agenda. With a strong classical focus from the Edinburgh International Festival (7-30 Aug), you’ll find some contemporary artists like corto.alto, Brìghde Chaimbeul and Floating Points deep in the programme. Jupiter Rising x EAF (22 Aug) returns to Jupiter Artland and Edinburgh Summer Sessions bring massive names like Lorde, The Cure, Deftones and Biffy to the Royal Highland Showgrounds. In the autumn, Edinburgh Psych Fest (6 Sep) brings a stunning multi-venue lineup to the city, with Stereolab, Ty Segall, Adult DVD, Gwenno and *fingers crossed* Angine de Poitrine set to play, the

Edinburgh Indie Pop Collective All-Dayer (3 Oct) takes over The Mash House and the Soundhouse Winter Festival (26-30 Nov) returns.

Dundee City Festivals

When it comes to the City of Discovery, we sadly don’t have a whole lot of information right now. But what we do know is that the Dundee Dance Event (3 May) returns; taking over a whopping 33 venues, over 200 DJs and artists are set to bring the city to life. Hannah Laing’s massive Doof in the Park (4 Jul) is back for round two at Camperdown Park, with Laing set to be joined by Paul van Dyk, Eddie Halliwell, Lilly Palmer and more. At the end of the month, Discovery Festival (24 & 26 Jul) takes over Slessor Gardens with The Libertines, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Róisín McCarney among this year’s lineup, and towards the end of the year, Dundee Jazz Festival (11-15 Nov) brings five days of world-class jazz to the city.

Outwith the Major Cities

The Scottish Alternative Music Awards bring their Paisley Takeover (24 Apr) back for its eighth edition, with Kai Reesu, Alice Faye, Conscious Route, Dara Dubh, GAÏA, Martha May and the Mondays and more set to play across three locations, while brand new multi-venue mini-fest Kodakfest (25 Apr) arrives at Bakers and Titch in Kilmarnock with San Jose leading the charge. In Portobello, the multi-venue, community-led Porty Festival (2 & 3 May) returns with lots of fringe events alongside live music from Mànran, Indoor Foxes, Alice Faye, Puppy Teeth and more. At the end of the month, Haddstock (29-31 May)

welcomes Alice Faye, Man of Moon and Sarah/ Shaun to Haddington in East Lothian. In the capital of the Highlands, Inverness is set to host The Gathering (30 May) at Northern Meeting Park, with Skerryvore, Beluga Lagoon, Talisk, Kim Carnie and more set to play, and in Fife, the East Neuk Festival (1-5 Jun) returns with a packed programme that includes Fergus McCreadie and The Ayoub Sisters.

On 4 July, self-proclaimed as Scotland’s first music and fitness festival, Paisley Alive arrives in Barshaw Park; work out with Mr Motivator during the day and dance the night away with Emeli Sandé, Sister Sledge, Kai Reesu and local talent Linzi Clark. Back up north, Speyfest (24-26 Jul) brings a glut of traditional Celtic music to Fochabers, while back in East Lothian, Fringe by the Sea (31 Jul-9 Aug) returns to North Berwick. The super cool Interesting Things festival (15 Aug) is back at Stirling Tolbooth this year too; with the lineup TBC at the time of writing, even later in the year check out their sister venue Albert Halls’ Winterlight Festival, set to return between Christmas and New Year. Please forgive us for saying the C word in April. We’re also hoping for autumnal returns from Dunfermline’s Outwith Festival and Trax in Dumfries.

UK City Festivals

Starting in London, Piano People (24 May) comes to Barking Park for one of the most significant Amapiano events ever staged in the UK, while on the same day in Brockwell Park you’ll find Little Simz, Joy Crookes, Obongjayar, corto.alto and Brooke Combe playing Cross the Tracks. From 12

to 14 June, LIDO returns to Victoria Park’s Lido Field with headliners CMAT, Maribou State and Bombay Bicycle Club, and at the peak of summer, brand new festival HUSH (29 Jul-2 Aug) arrives in East Ham Central Park. An all-seated music festival, with community, comfort and presence at the heart of its ethos, their inaugural lineup includes Cate Le Bon, This Is the Kit, SOHN, Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah doing a special piano and voice performance. Back in Victoria Park, round out your summer with two weekends from All Points East (21-23 Aug & 28-30 Aug) with names like Jorja Smith, Lorde and Tyler, the Creator topping the bill, while the Outbreak Fest (23 Aug) takeover sees Deftones, IDLES, Amyl and the Sniffers, Interpol and more set to play.

On the first May bank holiday weekend, Sound City is back with a particularly strong Scottish backbone as a SAMA showcase brings Acolyte, Mercy Girl and Martha May and the Mondays to Liverpool, with more Scots like Cowboy Hunters and James Emmanuel also on the bill alongside outspoken queen Kate Nash. A few days later, Wrexham welcomes back Focus Wales (7-9 May) for its 16th edition, with a packed conference programme alongside an international showcase of over 250 artists. This year Fat Dog, Idlewild and Shame topline the festival that also includes Deerhoof, Gwenno, Becky Sikasa, Bill Ryder-Jones and GANS. For the other May bank holiday weekend, head to North Shields for A Stone’s Throw (23 May), with Luvcat, Working Men’s Club, Chalk, Panic Shack and more playing the all-dayer.

UK Camping Festivals

If you’d rather spend that bank holiday weekend camping, then get yourself to Derbyshire for Bearded Theory (Catton Park, 20-24 May). There’s a cool but vintage feel to the big names playing this one (Pixies, Garbage and Skunk Anansie), but CMAT, Fat Dog, Kae Tempest, Getdown Services, Idlewild, The Twilight Sad, Swim School, Lambrini Girls, Lynks and jasmine.4.t are also set to play this

massive weekend. In East Sussex, Europe’s largest outdoor jazz festival, Love Supreme (Glynde Place, 3-5 Jul) returns with Loyle Carner, Ezra Collective, Gabrielle, De La Soul and Anderson .Paak’s funk/ R’n’B outfit Free Nationals all set to play, while later in the month head to Oxfordshire for Truck Festival (Hill Farm, 23-26 Jul) where you’ll find Maccabees, CMAT, English Teacher, Getdown Services, Adult DVD, Brooke Combe, Divorce and Westside Cowboy alongside a run of names that read like a list of insults: Dirty Blonde, Slag, Twat Union, we’re looking at you. There’s also a stacked comedy lineup featuring some of our faves like Sam Nicoresti, Dan Tiernan and John Kearns. If you’re after something more alternative, Bristol’s Arctangent (19-22 Aug) never misses. This year the award-winning festival welcomes Chelsea Wolfe, Primus, Napalm Death, Maruja, Chat Pile, Scaler and Witch Fever amongst others across the weekend. If you’d like Gilles Peterson to curate your weekend for you, head to Wimborne St Giles in Dorset for We Out Here (20-23 Aug), where Peterson has pulled together an impeccable programme: Stereolab, Digable Planets, Joy Crookes, Sampa the Great, corto.alto, John Glacier, Femi Koleoso, Josey Rebelle, Guedra Guedra, the list goes on.

A few days later in Northamptonshire, Shambala (Kelmarsh Hall and Gardens, 27-30 Aug) returns. The festival has been entirely vegetarian and vegan for the past decade, but is considering introducing wild British venison to its menus this year alongside a stunning lineup of live music that includes Bob Vylan, GOAT, Orchestra Baobab, Los Bitchos, Nubiyan Twist, Joshua Idehen, Malin Lewis, An Dannsa Dub and Home Counties. Finally, round out your summer with a trip to Salisbury for End of the Road (Larmer Tree Gardens, 3-6 Sep). A truly indie happening, the lineup is all killer no filler with Pulp, CMAT, Mac DeMarco, Earl Sweatshirt, Angine de Poitrine, Factory Floor, Ela Minus, Brighde Chaimbeul, Pigeon and Cowboy Hunters a tiny fraction of what to expect.

If you fancy a trip abroad for your summer festival fix, here are seven picks from across Europe

Rock For People

Park 360, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic, 10-14 Jun

Lineup: Halsey, Babymetal, Papa Roach, Limp Bizkit, Wolf Alice, Genesis Owusu, Ecca Vandal, Water From Your Eyes

We Love Green

Plaine de la Belle Etoile, Paris, France, 5-7 Jun

Lineup: Gorillaz, The xx, Addison Rae, Oklou, Little Simz, Hayley Williams, Soulwax, Sébastian Tellier

B-Sides Festival

Sonnenberg Kriens, Luzern, Switzerland 18-20 Jun

Lineup: Nation of Language, PVA, M(h)aol, RIP Magic, comfort, Baby Berserk, MAQUINA.

North Sea Jazz Festival

Ahoy Centre, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 10-12 Jul

Lineup: Burna Boy, SHABAKA, Thundercat, Joy Crookes, John Legend, Questlove, Cassandra Wilson, DJ Pee .Wee

Bilbao BBK Live

Park Kobetamendi, Bilbao, Spain, 9-11 Jul

Lineup: Calvin Harris, Robbie Williams, David Byrne, Lily Allen, IDLES, CMAT, Interpol, Belle and Sebastian, Soulwax

Viljandi Folk Music Festival

Viljandi, Estonia, 23-26 Jul

Lineup: Amy Laurenson, The Zawose Queens, Gangar, Duo Ruut, Trifoor

All Together Now

Curraghmore Estate, Co. Waterford, Ireland, 30 Jul-2 Aug

Lineup: Pulp, Kneecap, Underworld, The Mary Wallopers, Self Esteem, Mogwai, Kae Tempest, The Avalanches, Gilla Band, Brògeal, The Dare (DJ)

NORTHERN STREAMS FESTIVAL 17-19 April, TMSA Edinburgh & Lothians Branch www.northernstreams.org

KEITH FESTIVAL 12-14 June, TMSA Keith Branch www.keithfestival.com

OBAN INTERNATIONAL SHANTY FESTIVAL 19-21 June, TMSA Glasgow Branch www.obanshanty.org.uk

KIRRIEMUIR FESTIVAL 4-6 September, TMSA Angus Branch www.kirriefest.com

Visit our website & social media for details of these and other traditional/folk music-related events and activity, updated throughout the year.

GLASGOW SHANTY DAY September tbc, TMSA Glasgow Branch www.glasgowshanty.org.uk

Dance picks for 2026!

No Glastonbury, no problem. Alongside our featured dance festivals, DAYS and Queen’s Park Spring Weekender, here are some others worth camping in a one-man for

Terminal V

Royal Highland Centre & Showground, Edinburgh, Scotland, 18-19 Apr

This year’s Terminal V will be a melancholy one (or as melancholy as a techno festival can be) as the event touches down in Edinburgh for the final time. Set to move elsewhere in Scotland, the festival’s ninth edition will be a fitting goodbye, with Patrick Topping, Sara Landry and sim0ne joining the four-to-the-floor send-off. terminalv.co.uk

Pavilion

Low Green, Ayr, Scotland, 2-3 May

Ewan McVicar brings the party to his hometown of Ayr for the bank holiday weekend, with DJs from Scotland and beyond joining him – including Carl Cox, La La and Leftfield. With weatherproofing over the main Electric Brae tent, there’s no chance of west coast weather dampening the festivities. pavilionfestival.com

Outwards

Progress Centre, Manchester, England, 2 May

Brand new festival Outwards has made a mark with its inaugural lineup. To get the party started, Detroit house pioneer, Moodyman, era-defining electronica duo Orbital, and jungle titan LTJ Bukem, will be getting behind the decks. Staged in Manchester’s Progress Centre, the venue brings a block party vibe with covered outdoor stages nestled between red brick industrial wharfs. instagram.com/outwardsfestival

Love Saves the Day

Ashton Court, Bristol, England, 23-24 May  Bristol’s biggest festival is expectedly Bristolian in nature; stages plastered with kaleidoscopic colour, a lineup stacked with the best of drum and bass and a reputation for being a big, unhinged, love-in. We’ll raise a cider to that. lovesavestheday.org

Open Ear

Sherkin Island, Cork, Ireland, 28-31 May  If you’re lucky enough to have nabbed a ticket for Open Ear then we begrudgingly congratulate you, if not, then good luck finding one. For the last ten

years Open Ear has brought together the best of Irish electronic music to Sherkin Island. With a population of just over 100, the island will see revellers return to dance on the white sandy beaches and inside the island’s derelict farmsteads for the last weekend of May. openear.ie

Gottwood

Carreglwyd Estate, Anglesey, Wales, 11-14 Jun  No Houghton ticket? Then Gottwood has got you. The Carreglwyd Estate opens up its walled garden, sprawling woodlands and Saltburn-esque grounds for four days in June. Gottwood consistently crafts a varied lineup of leftfield talent, with the likes of Octo Octa, Priori and Crazy P providing the soundtrack for the picturesque festival. gottwood.co.uk

SOUNDIT

Words: Myrtle Boot

Parc Nou, Barcelona, Spain, 17-18 Jul  Despite only being in its second year, SOUNDIT festival’s lineup is tightly curated, with back-to-backs from Martyn and Om Unit, Kode9 and Tim Reaper, and Vlada and Nosedrip. Described as a ‘festival within the festival’, the LABERINT stage is taken over by heavyweight Munich label, Ilian Tape, and revered Colombian label, TraTraTrax, for the two days respectively. Not one to be missed. soundit.es

Outlook Origins

The Garden Resort, Tisno, Croatia, 23-27 Jul  Where better to savour the many flavours of UK soundsystem music than the bubblegum-blue coastlines of the Adriatic. Outlook has been bringing dubstep, grime and jungle royalty to Croatia for the last 18 years and this year’s lineup is no exception, with Mala, Goldie and Youngsta joining the ranks. outlookorigins.com

Junction 2

Boston Manor Park, London, England, 25-26 Jul & 2 Aug London festivals are increasingly dogged by bad reputations – iffy sound quality, dustbowl conditions and major disruptions for the city’s public parks. Junction 2 has sidestepped these issues by holding their party under the M4. This year’s collaboration with fabric (25 Jul) sees techno legends Nina Kraviz, Jeff Mills and Nicolas Lutz take to the underpass. junction2.london

Dekmantel

Amsterdamse Bos, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 29 Jul-2 Aug

Over 160 acts and 15,000 attendees arrive in Amsterdam for five jam-packed days at the peak of summer. The festival’s most recent addition, Dekmantel at Dawn, sees artists including Channel One, DJ Sprinkles and Sampha ease into the programming with experimental morning sets. dekmantelfestival.com

Sub Club Southside Weekender

Queen’s Park Arena, Glasgow, Scotland, 1-2 Aug

Sub Club is set to raise the metaphorical roof with their return to Queen’s Park Arena for the bank holiday weekend. If last year’s lineup is anything to go by, then expect titans of Detroit house to grace the bandstand. subclub.co.uk

Houghton

Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England, 6-9 Aug

Sets played under the boughs of the Houghton forest become things of festival legend. Getting a ticket is hard, getting to the hallowed Terminus stage is harder. Alongside 24-hour programming, the site boasts a record fair, sculpture garden and an armadillo-shaped stage for acoustically-crisp talks by your favourite DJs. All the essentials, of course. houghtonfestival.co.uk

Daydream Nation

In the run-up to releasing her debut album Cine-Pop, just in time for festival season, Radhika unveils the opening credits

“Let’s bring back daydreaming!” Radhika becomes noticeably animated as she warms to her theme of creativity and how to nurture it. “We need to explore our minds more. People my age are almost afraid to sit with themselves. I’ve noticed this with my friends, they’re on their phones the whole time, and I think daydreaming is a big part of this album. I think something that was really important to me was being bored. Letting your mind wander. It’s the most creative thing you can do, just to sit still with your thoughts. When I’m in silence, or when I’m on a walk, out in nature, that’s when the ideas come.”

It’s an intriguing provocation from an artist who, at just 21 years old, has some very mature ideas about the path she wants her music to travel, and a clear vision for her sound. Our chat turns

into a hugely enjoyable discussion over an hourand-a-half, taking in Alice Coltrane, Twin Peaks, race, childhood, Scottish identity, and much more. What shines through is that Radhika isn’t just someone who happens to be making music – she is a genuine obsessive, a lifelong fan of the art of song, and a natural when it comes to sharing the joy she gets from music with her audience.

Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way. Cynics may raise a quizzical eyebrow at the influence of Radhika’s dad and bandmate, Sushil K Dade, a pop veteran himself with The Soup Dragons. Radhika is clear about the pros and cons. “I didn’t even really know my dad was in The Soup Dragons until I was a lot older. He was very low key about it! But I feel so blessed to have been brought up around music. It’s something not all kids have access to. When I was young, iPods were coming in, but I had my dad’s record collection. Even when I was being born, in the birthing room my mum and dad had Indian chants playing! An Indian prayer – reassuring and meditative. So, it is literally ingrained in my soul. Music is everything to me.”

And the music is where Radhika truly shines. From her first forays into songwriting at the grand old age of ten, she is now on the cusp of launching her debut album, Cine-Pop. It’s an album that will confound anyone expecting a hesitant, diamond in the rough, debut. This album emerges fully formed and glorious in its ambition, taking as much influence from David Lynch as Byrne or Bowie, and with a cinematic thread that even extends to the sides being labelled as ‘spool one’ and ‘spool two’.

Festival season approaches, and over the next six months, Radhika will play Wales Goes Pop and Glasgow Mela before a triumphant homecoming show at this year’s Glas-Goes Pop in August, ahead of an appearance at West Sussex festival

Words: Andrew Williams

“We need to explore our minds more. People my age are almost afraid to sit with themselves”

Radhika

The Wake later that month. These shows allow Radhika to develop her live style, honed at The Hangar – her monthly residency at Paisley Arts Centre, which has already seen visits from a range of guests including The Cords, and Debbie Googe from My Bloody Valentine. How might her dreamy, woozy pop soundscapes transfer to the live stage, particularly to festivals with audiences who may not have paid to see her?

“We always want to do things on our own terms. With The Hangar, we tried to create a night to enjoy alternative music in an interesting way. And very much in our own way. We really enjoy giving space to people who maybe otherwise wouldn’t be playing somewhere like Paisley. And when people see us at a festival, we want them to have a universal connection for half an hour – to be there and be present with us.

“I mean, Glas-Goes Pop is the dream for me. That’s my Glastonbury! I get emotional just thinking about it, I can’t believe they asked me. And to play at their fifth year anniversary will be so special. So, I just hope the album resonates with people. It’s been a very difficult secret to keep, so I’m glad it’s been announced now.”

Radhika has the enthusiasm, and if Cine-Pop is anything to go by, she also has the tunes. So where could this take her? Will we see her on the main stage of a major festival in the years ahead? “I don’t really think in that way. When I daydream, I just think of playing shows. I mean I would love to play Barrowlands – it’s big, but still intimate. I would love to support Elizabeth Fraser, that would be incredible. That would be the dream. And Scottish heroes – Teenage Fanclub, Roddy Frame… I mean, this is me dreaming!”

They may be dreams for now, but as the lights dim, the opening credits begin to roll, and the film unfolds, it seems certain that Radhika will play more than just a cameo role.

Cine-Pop is set for release on 22 May via Glass Modern Radhika plays Wales Goes Pop, Cardiff, 3-5 Apr; Glasgow Mela, Glasgow, TBA; Glas-Goes-Pop, GUU Debates Chamber, Glasgow, 14 & 15 Aug; The Wake, Loxwood Meadow, West Sussex, 29 Aug

instagram.com/radh__1ka__

A Southside Tribute

The Queen’s Park Spring Weekender, a collaboration between Melting Pot and Optimo, returns for its biggest year yet – with a notable absence

As everyone with any interest in Scottish electronic music knows, last year Optimo co-founder, Keith McIvor (aka JD Twitch), passed away after being diagnosed with an untreatable brain tumour. The outpouring of grief and love was colossal – ‘NO DFA WITHOUT OPTIMO,’ went the inimitable New York label’s T-shirt, released to raise funds for McIvor’s treatment.

For the co-organisers of the Queen’s Park Weekender, Optimo and Melting Pot, putting on one of the biggest events in Glasgow’s musical calendar in the aftermath of McIvor’s passing was an emotional challenge. “He was very much in our minds for every booking,” says Mark Mackechnie, Director of Melting Pot. “At the end of a discussion, it almost always ended with, ‘Keith was into them, so that’s good.’ So, he still had a massive influence on the programme – maybe more so than in any other year, despite his absence.”

Inspired by underground disco via New York clubs of the 70s and 80s, like The Loft and Paradise Garage, Melting Pot began in 2001. Its vision was especially steered by one specific Manhattan club night called Body & Soul. “It was so unique,” Mackechnie says, “we wanted to try and do something like this in Glasgow.” A quartercentury later, Melting Pot has done just that – opening up a consistent space for DJs to play what they feel fits the moment, or crowd, from techno to soul, post-punk to house.

In hindsight, it isn’t a surprise Melting Pot teamed up with Optimo: similar reference points, the same taste for eclecticism, and a shared impulse for razor-sharp, innovative and openminded curation. Mackechnie knew of McIvor from his seminal Edinburgh night Pure and Jonnie Wilkes from Glasgow Art School, but it was inconspicuous Sunday nights at Sub Club where it all came together. “It wasn’t busy at all, but it was really good. You’d go there and leave knowing a few things about music and the music scene that you never knew a few hours earlier.”

Initial collaborations included parties held on a paddle steamer and nights held in the early days of SWG3. “We would generally collaborate on events that were pretty unique and unusual. That was where our collective minds aligned, whether it was the venue or the lineups we came up with.”

With the Weekender, the same ethos is still at work, just on a magnified scale. Mackechnie mentions three important elements for the acts that play the no-holds-barred festival: “we want to showcase acts we love, put on acts that we respect creatively and ones that really bring the party.” Take one glance at the roster and you can see that in play. The lineup features ridiculously varied approaches to dance music, as it exists in all its jumbled genres in the 2020s – Hercules & Love Affair’s queer nu-disco, the bright house of Daphni, Mr Scruff’s electro swing, and even the worldwide debut of a collaboration between Norwegian space-disco titan Todd Terje and Running Back label-head Gerd Janson.

In memory of McIvor, this year also sees the debut of the JD Twitch stage. Optimo being Optimo, their curation includes everything from the futuristic euphoria of HAAi, the thundering industrial-techno of Factory Floor, Edinburgh ‘post-gutter-skunk-funk’-ers Bikini Body, and renowned selector Ribeka (who, with fellow Glaswegian Sofay, runs one of NTS’ most distinct shows).

Mackechnie describes this curation, and the Weekender overall, as a reflection of “the creative vibe of the area,” i.e. Glasgow Southside. What exactly is that? “The Southside of Glasgow feels like where the West End was maybe 30 years ago,” he says. “There are so many groups, shops, venues all in a small area. So many different communities and cultures, activism, art – it’s all here and it feels very grassroots.”

Not quite Godshot and hour-long queues for brunch, then. As always with Melting Pot and Optimo, authenticity is at the fore – the sense of a good time, no bullshit. The affectation and pretension you can easily find in contemporary clubbing (Top 40 hits circa 2011 sped up to a chipmunk-high pitch, post-ironically; tracks clipped through with the pace of a TikTok doomscroll) isn’t what’s on offer here; it’s set to be a refreshing antidote, something earnest and done with love.

“Melting Pot and Optimo have been very much about developing communities over the years,” Mackechnie emphasises – they run events for “people who trust us to stay true to what we’ve

Words: Ian Macartney

“We want to showcase acts we love, put on acts that we respect creatively and ones that really bring the party”

Mark Mackechnie, Melting Pot

always been about.” At the heart of this approach was – and still is – Keith McIvor. If the Weekender is anything to go by, his anarchic, playful and forwardfacing legacy for what dance music could be lives on.

“He was a champion of new music,” Mackechnie surmises. “Someone whose music taste knew no boundaries, a humanitarian, a philanthropist, someone who was politically and culturally astute. His time on the Earth was short-lived, but he shone so brightly for every minute of it.”

The Queen’s Park Spring Weekender from Melting Pot and Optimo takes place at Glasgow Queen’s Park Recreation Ground, Glasgow, 2 & 3 May

Follow Melting Pot and Optimo on IG @meltingpotglasgow and @optimoespacio

Stories of Space

As Glasgow’s much loved Queer Theory celebrates its tenth anniversary, we speak to creator Dean Cargill and reflect on the highs and lows of maintaining queer spaces – from Kafe Kweer to Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive

Scotland’s longest-running queer cabaret night, Queer Theory, is not for the faint of heart. “I didn’t want to produce something mainstream,” says Dean Cargill, the 33-year-old musician, DJ and creator of Queer Theory, ahead of its 10th birthday party at Drygate Glasgow on 25 April. “When I started the show I was very inspired by John Waters and the idea that queerness is meant to be transgressive... It’s supposed to be a bit filthy and to make you question the limits of straight society.”

The capacity for Queer Theory’s performers to genuinely shock audiences is part of the show’s attraction and its success. Whether it’s experimental legal theatre which culminates in the audience washing written indictments from the judge’s naked body (as per artist-scholar Kfir Lapid) or the sultry exploration of a woman playing a theremin with unexpected body parts (as per performer, artist and musician Chardonnay Emerald), there are few shows in Scotland which showcase such radical and diverse artists.

Nowadays, Queer Theory is often packed to the rafters. Yet such success did not come quickly. “For the first year a lot of the nights weren’t busy,” says Cargill. “It was mostly me, a few friends from the music scene and the Contemporary Performance Practice course at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. We never expected to be sold out or to make any money. But I stayed consistent and honed the perspective of Queer Theory being a show which not just welcomed but encouraged experimental performance... I always wanted it to be a place where acts which didn’t fit in a box or combined different artforms could be appreciated.”

As the genderfuck drag queen and host of Queer Theory’s 10th birthday, Mystika Glamoor, can attest, keeping any queer night or venue going for ten years in Scotland is a challenge. As well as hosting various shows across Edinburgh – from the long-running Glamoor at The Street to the new club night Konversion at People’s Leisure Club – Glamoor was also the co-founder of Kafe Kweer, a cafe and events space which closed its doors in 2025. “During lockdown I was scrolling through Facebook and saw a post about this shop looking for someone to take over the lease,” says Glamoor. “I shared it almost as a joke, saying ‘wouldn’t it be cool if we finally had a sober queer space and cafe’... My friend Zac commented saying we should do it and, well, we did!”

Kafe Kweer opened in September 2020 with Glamoor and their business partner navigating the opening of a new business amidst the deep uncertainty of the pandemic. For five years, the business succeeded both as a meeting point for LGBT+ people and as an independent local cafe.

But by September last year, financial challenges contributed to the decision to close its doors. “I think running any physical business is tough and it’s only getting tougher,” says Glamoor.

Words: Ross Hunter

“I realise now that a real community is one with a history and with stories”

Sigrid Nielsen, Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive

“From inflation to energy bills, it’s hard. We looked at it all and decided we wanted to close on our own terms.” In closure, Kafe Kweer was added to a long list of Scotland’s shuttered LGBT+ venues. Amongst them is Lavender Menace, Scotland’s first gay and lesbian bookshop.

Sigrid Nielsen co-founded the bookshop alongside Bob Orr in 1982 and is now a director at Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive, which operates a free archive of LGBT+ books and preserves a slice of Scotland’s queer history. Lavender Menace and its later incarnation as West & Wilde closed its doors in 1997. Yet Nielsen says the archive – which opened in 2022 – provides continuity for a community that has historically struggled to safeguard spaces of refuge.

“When we first opened the bookshop, we didn’t know if we could last,” she says. “But we thought it was important to do it just because of the exhilaration of getting out there and saying who we were... In those days we weren’t optimistic about our survival.”

Nielsen cites the 1984 raid of Gay’s The Word bookshop in London, where HM Customs and Excise seized more than 140 titles from the shelves and charged staff with conspiracy to import ‘indecent or obscene’ material. After a two-year

legal battle, the charges were eventually dropped. “If queer venues could survive open hostility from powerful organisations, then we can survive now,” says Nielsen.

The archive was initially backed by grant funding but now also welcomes donations through its Become a Menace scheme to maintain its catalogue of 3500+ books. According to Nielsen, the value of longevity for queer nights and venues in Scotland – particularly those which give voice to boundary-pushing performers and thinkers – is about much more than just future ticket sales or carving a safe space to hang out. It’s about the history of LGBT+ people. “I realise now that a real community is one with a history and with stories,” says Nielsen. “Every civilisation that has ever existed has had mythologies about how it came to be. That’s what’s stored in these books and this archive.”

As Lavender Menace preserves queer history, Queer Theory ushers in an even queerer future. In the times that we live, that’s something worth celebrating.

Queer Theory’s 10th Birthday Party (featuring performances from David Hoyle and Black Peppa, and a DJ set from Karen Dunbar), 25 Apr, Drygate, Glasgow, 25 Apr

New Contemporaries

In the 200th anniversary of the Royal Scottish Academy, Scotland’s most-promising art school graduates explore a range of sociopolitical issues, from disability representation to technological dominance

FWords: Rachel Ashenden

or the past 17 years, RSA New Contemporaries has offered an insight into how Scotland’s emerging artists have spent their art school years. In 2026, the Royal Scottish Academy celebrates its 200th anniversary. 200 years of nurturing Scotland’s artistic talent is celebrated through an in-depth exhibition programme held at The Mound, complemented by exhibitions from 70 partners across the country. Against this context, RSA New Contemporaries takes on a new resonance, as 64 graduates – chosen from the 2025 degree shows – display painting, sculpture, moving image, photography, printmaking and performance (to name a few).

If you made it to the 2025 Glasgow School of Art Show, you might recall a giant sock monkey hanging outside the Stow Building. Nearing 50ft, this sculpture – and its creator, Emilia EvansMurton – won a Guinness World Record for being the largest sock monkey. Evans-Murton inflates childhood nostalgia through her sculptural practice and encourages onlookers to engage with her work with a child-like inquisitiveness. In her presentation at RSA, she turns to the ephemerality of sandcastles to probe the impossibility of preserving memories. Through her material and technical choices, the artist undermines the hierarchies between fine art and crafts, which is why she wanted to bring sand-sculpting into an institution like the RSA.

Another Glasgow School of Art Graduate, Iris May, similarly negotiates non-traditional materials and processes to challenge what constitutes a sculpture for public display. Combining abstract painting and assemblage, her flat-pack, humanoid sculptures offer multiple configurations and, in the words of the artist, companionship. May’s practice began during the COVID-19 pandemic; the effects of this crisis continue to linger in arts education. She acknowledges that the confrontation of loneliness drives her practice forward as she continues to expand her series of collapsible sculptures.

This feeling of disconnection infiltrates the paintings of Edinburgh School of Art (ECA) graduate, Rosie Hodgson Smith. At first glance, her abstract paintings are whimsical strokes of effervescent colour. On second glance, they begin to glitch. Suggestively, the paintings are coded with ‘internet archaeology,’ and underneath the whimsy, it’s like staring into a circuit board as we come face-to-face with the technology that has us hooked and hungry. Through her practice,

‘Themes include nostalgia, overwhelm from technological dominance and the search for social acceptance’

Hodgson Smith interrogates the art of off-screen looking and considers how being online detrimentally impacts our attention spans and critical thinking.

From painting to performance, Fev Buchanan examines the ‘differently-abled body in resistance.’

The ECA graduate’s presentation at RSA New Contemporaries brings together documentation of her performances, rooted in her experiences navigating an ableist world as someone with a chronic illness. She regards her performances as ‘acts of survival’ or ‘rituals of vulnerability and refusal’ and invites onlookers to witness rather than pity. Following graduation, Buchanan held her first solo exhibition, called The Performing Body, at Gleneagles Townhouse at St Andrew Square.

Finn Millar’s work further brings an activist dimension to RSA New Contemporaries. A graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD), Millar identifies as a political artist, drawn to art as a tool to educate viewers

about social issues. Alongside his graphic design and film work at art school, he organised student protests, supported staff strikes and participated in Palestinian resistance protests – he views these acts as integral to his practice. His Passive Times newspaper series has a dystopian edge: he repackages well-known tragedies, from school shootings to plane crashes, and reduces them to trivialities through language and design. In this way, Millar highlights and ridicules a crisis of desensitisation to violence and destruction.

Likewise with Drew Rumgay, social justice is inseparable from his art. Rumgay studied Architecture to postgraduate level at DJCAD in his hometown of Dundee. There, he created CareKit: The Right to Heal, a speculative, modular building system designed to respond to humanitarian crises. The barbaric restrictions to healthcare in the Gaza Strip and surging global conflicts motivated CareKit: The Right to Heal. Seeking to challenge institutionalised hospital models,

Rumgay is instead informed by Peter Kropotkin’s philosophy of ‘mutual aid’ to improve resource efficiency and foster equitable access to care in low-resource environments.

This year’s RSA New Contemporaries showcases how emerging artists and architects are responding to political turmoil and the accompanying sense of desensitisation. Themes that also emerge include nostalgia, overwhelm from technological dominance and the search for social acceptance. During the course of the exhibition, one outstanding emerging artist will be awarded The Skinny Prize, which includes an interview feature in a future issue of the magazine, charting the development of their practice and career.

RSA New Contemporaries 2026, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, until 22 Apr, Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 12-5pm, £8/£5 concession (Free for RSA Friends)

royalscottishacademy.org

All Inclusive

Travel writer and content creator Carrie-Ann Lightley is one of the UK’s leading voices in accessible travel. She details a recent trip to Dundee as a wheelchair user, and tells us about her visit to the city’s V&A museum

Words: Jamie Dunn

Being able to travel, to escape your daily routine for a few hours, days or weeks and explore somewhere new, is one of the greatest gifts we have as human beings. But it’s not always as simple as packing your toothbrush and heading for the door. Every trip takes planning, and if you have a disability, the logistics of getting to your destination become significantly more complicated.

One person who’s been striving to make travel less daunting for disabled people is Carrie-Ann Lightley. She’s a wheelchair user who loves to expand her horizons through travel, and for well over a decade, she’s been sharing her travel experiences on her blog and across social media with the aim of inspiring other disabled people to get out and do similar.

“Influencing somebody to travel and discover the possibilities that are out there, it’s one of the best feelings,” Lightley tells me over video call from her home in Kendal in the Lake District. “To help disabled people imagine themselves in a place where they might have thought previously wasn’t inclusive for them, that’s really remained a driving force of what I do.”

Lightley recently shared her experience of inclusive tourism as one of the speakers at Scotland’s Tay Country Tourism Conference (Tay Country includes Perthshire, Fife, Angus and Dundee), which took place in Dundee, Scotland’s sunniest city on the banks of the river Tay, on 3 March. This inaugural event was a huge success. “It was great to see such a strong turnout and genuine interest in the conversation around inclusive tourism,” says Lightley. “It means a lot to hear that my session made people think about how they present their businesses and facilities. If it helps build a bit more confidence around accessibility, then that is exactly the outcome I hoped for.”

With that talk fresh in her mind, it was an opportune time to ask her about that trip and find out how accessible she found it. She starts by explaining that her transport, which involved two train journeys – one from Oxenholme to Haymarket in Edinburgh, and then one from Haymarket to Dundee – was actually a bit boring. For her, that was a good thing. “I always say that for a disabled traveller, the best kind of journeys are mundane ones where everything just flows as it should do.”

This didn’t stop her from having a bit of trepidation. “I have travelled solo by train a lot, and it’s always something I’ve really enjoyed because it gives me that sense of independence and

achievement, but I hadn’t done it for a while.” The views she experienced certainly helped calm her nerves, though. “Oh, goodness, crossing over the Forth Rail Bridge! Out of nowhere, there was this great big blue sky reflecting on the water. It really made me pause and just take it all in.”

To make sure she could get on and off the train, bring a decent-sized bag with her, and to help navigate between platforms at train changes, Lightley used the Passenger Assistance app, which meant there was an assistant waiting for her at each junction of the journey. All of Lightley’s assistance turned up on time, and the booking process was relatively straightforward. Despite taking two different journeys with different operators, her assistants could all be booked in one go.

She stayed in Dundee overnight at the Apex City Quay Hotel & Spa, and again, things went smoothly. “The room itself had lots of circulation and turning space, a really comfy and huge bed, and just lots of little nice touches.” The Apex’s trump card, though, was the bathroom. “I really love that I had a choice of either a wet room shower or a bathtub that has been designed to be shallower and easier to get out of. Now, for a lot of disabled travellers, a wheel-in shower is the gold standard; that’s what they need. For me, personally, the bathtub was great for my muscles; I have Cerebral Palsy, and it helped with pain from travelling.”

She wishes that more travel spaces realised that disabilities are individual; it’s not one size fits all. “We all have very different needs. Even two people having the same condition would have very different requirements, ultimately. So the fact that the Apex offered a choice, I thought, was really powerful.”

While in Dundee, the ‘City of Discovery’ and the UK’s first UNESCO City of Design, Lightley also squeezed in a trip to the V&A Dundee. As one might expect from a public building built in the last decade, the Kengo Kuma-designed masterpiece has a wide range of accessibility features. What did surprise her, though, was that the space’s feeling of inclusivity was not just from a disability perspective. “Often with galleries, they can feel a little bit stuffy,” she explains. “Sometimes they can feel a little bit like they’re aiming at a particular clientele, but what I loved about V&A Dundee is that throughout my visit, there was a sense of fun. There were families all over the place, and there were little stations for children to draw. I also noticed several other disabled visitors. It really gave me the vibe that the art here is for everyone to enjoy.”

Her only regret is that she was too early for V&A Dundee’s Design and Disability exhibition, which begins on 4 June. “I timed my trip slightly wrong, I guess, but I’m already wondering if I can arrange a return visit.” That a major design and disability exhibition is going to be on at all speaks to the museum’s forward-thinking attitude, she reckons. “I think that the fact that they’re showing that exhibition and that it’s completely free entry for everyone, gives a commitment to inclusivity and to telling disabled people’s stories too.”

Find out more about accessible holidays in Scotland at visitscotland.com

Find out more about Lightley and read her writing at carrieannlightley.com

Scheme Team

Ahead of releasing his directorial debut, James McAvoy discusses the directors he’s learned from over the years. The talented young actors from California Schemin’, meanwhile, reveal what they learned from their director

Here’s a fun debate to try out next time you’re down the pub and there’s a lull in conversation: who’s Scotland’s greatest living movie star? There are a few actors in the running, for sure. 90s kids will throw their weight behind Ewan McGregor (“He’s Renton! He’s Obi-Wan!”). The arthouse set will be in Tilda Swinton’s corner, while those who spend too much time watching straight-to-streaming action flicks will be backing Gerard Butler. And if we’re talking pure box-office numbers, there’s an argument that Karen Gillan, with receipts from the MCU and the Jumanji franchise, takes the cake.

All decent contenders, but the proper heads will know it’s James McAvoy’s crown. Certainly, none of the above can match him for versatility. In his 30-year career, he’s navigated highbrow period dramas (Atonement), kids’ fantasies (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe) and nihilistic comedies (Filth). He’s confidently stepped into established franchises (X-Men) and helped create new ones with aplomb (Split). He can play a boyish charmer (Starter for Ten), a buff action hero (Wanted) or a terrifying brute (Speak No Evil). He’s added another string to his bow: he’s now a director, with his first movie, California Schemin’, landing in cinemas this month.

The film is based on a true story, and it’s a doozy; in some corners of Scotland, it’s practically a modern-day myth. It tells how, in the early

2000s, two wannabe rappers from Dundee, Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain aka Silibil N’ Brains, were mocked at a record company’s open audition in London because of their Scottish accents (one smug A&R guy dubbed them “the rapping Proclaimers”). Rather than go back to their call centre jobs in Dundee, they came up with a novel solution. They auditioned again with the same songs, only this time they performed them with decidedly dodgy American accents and spun a preposterous backstory claiming to be a hip-hop duo from LA who were tight with Detroit legends D12. Incredibly, their harebrained plan worked: they signed a record deal with Sony, performed on national television and even partied with Madonna. Their ruse lasted three years, although McAvoy’s rollicking comedy-drama compresses the action down to several intense months.

California Schemin’ brought the house down when it closed Glasgow Film Festival last month. Before that screening, I made my way to a flash hotel in Glasgow to meet McAvoy and the three talented young stars of his film: Séamus McLean Ross, who plays Bain/Brains; Samuel Bottomley, who plays Boyd/Silibil; and Lucy Halliday, who plays Mary, Boyd’s girlfriend, the only person who knew the duo’s secret.

McAvoy explains that he was drawn to the script, based on Bain’s high-octane memoir, California Schemin’: How Two Lads from Scotland

Words: Jamie Dunn

“When I read this, I saw two wee guys that I very much recognised from my life growing up in Drumchapel”

James McAvoy

Conned the Music Industry, for two reasons: it was an entertaining rollercoaster ride with real emotional stakes, and it’s about the kind of people we don’t often make entertaining movies about here in Scotland. “When you come from a council estate, you don’t usually get comedic or escapist films made about you,” says McAvoy, “and I don’t really understand why that is. When I read this, I saw two wee guys that I very much recognised from my life growing up in Drumchapel.”

McAvoy has worked with an eclectic murderer’s row of directors over his career, from Wim Wenders (Submergence) to M. Night Shyamalan (Split, Glass), and he describes himself as a bit of a sponge on set. “I’ve absorbed a lot by osmosis,” he reckons. “I took a lot of advice from Jon S Baird, who directed me in Filth and is now directing me in Meantime, and James Watkins, who directed me in Speak No Evil. I also tried to take a lot of the boundless enthusiasm I saw in Danny Boyle from when I worked with him [on 2013 psychological thriller Trance], so I’m definitely consciously riffing off a couple of attributes from directors I appreciated.”  He singles out two directors for special praise, though. The first is Joe Wright. “I definitely took a couple of things from Joe,” he explains, “particularly in his practice with the crew.” On the set of Atonement, McAvoy recalls how Wright would welcome everyone on set into the creative process. “Before each scene, Joe would give the crew full access to what the scene was meant to be about, the effect he wanted it to have on the audience, the ups and downs of it, the twists in the scene, the atmosphere that he was trying to create. He’d then describe what shots we were going to do. I don’t think I’ve worked with any director who’s done that, other than him.” McAvoy’s second chief influence is theatre director Jamie Lloyd, who’s directed him in four productions. “Maybe it’s because I’ve worked with Jamie so many times over the last 20 years, but it

started to become clear as he evolved as a director that he’s more interested in the performer, that they feel they can give of themselves freely, than he is of the character. And yet the stories in his plays were still getting told so clearly.”

As is often the case with actors turned directors, McAvoy’s biggest thrill behind the camera seems to be working with his fellow thespians. Turning to them now, he’s practically gushing. “I was very into that with you four,” he says, referring to Lloyd’s technique. “I wanted you guys to feel that you could give of yourselves. The characters’ stories will be told, but the thing I’m looking for from you is direct, pure, authentic access to that performance. And man, you four gave that in bucketloads.”

How was it being directed by James McAvoy, aka Scotland’s greatest movie star? Pretty effortless, according to Halliday. “Everything James says is so easy to understand because he articulates performance notes very clearly,” she tells me, “and I do think that comes from a place of him being an actor. So in that sense, it was very easy to take notes from him.” And boy, were those notes useful. “I do remember there were times he would give me and the boys notes,” she recalls, “and it was almost as if he was giving us a little insight on how he would do the scene. And we’re like, ‘This is great. We’re basically just doing a listen and repeat with James McAvoy.’ If a scene went really well, we’d be like, ‘No wonder it went well, because we just did what James would do.’ So there are points in this film where we’re basically all just James McAvoy with a mask on.”

“What I took away from working with James was that he’s actually just a very normal guy,” says Bottomley. “I mean, he’s an absolute Hollywood superstar, but also very, very down to earth.” He thinks part of the reason McAvoy felt so relatable was that he was in a new role as director. “He was clearly under a lot of pressure, and it was actually nice to see that, because so were we. To understand that he was feeling the heat just as much as we were, it felt like we were all in the same boat.”

“There are points in this film where we’re basically all just James McAvoy with a mask on”

Lucy Halliday

McLean Ross, meanwhile, reckons having McAvoy on set improved his performance, especially in the scenes he shared with his director, who has a supporting role as the gruff CEO of the record label they sign to. “It’s like when you’re playing with a really good footballer, you up your game when you play with someone who’s better than you,” McLean Ross suggests. “James has got a laser focus. He knows this industry so well, and this acting game so well, so you have to adapt quickly and pick up the pace.”

“But at the same time, he understood lots of what we were going through,” adds Bottomley. “He

could really read you well, what you were thinking or what you were doubting. And he’d tell you how to channel those feelings.”

Were any of the young cast ever intimidated by their superstar director?

“There was definitely an element of wanting to impress him,” says Halliday. “Because aside from him being the director of this job, I was aware of who he is. Don’t get me wrong, there were times I’d forget he’s the same dude I grew up watching in films like…”

“Arthur Christmas?” offers McAvoy.

“I was thinking Narnia,” laughs Halliday. “And sometimes I’d remember, ‘Oh, I’ve been watching him in films since I was a child. He’s been acting longer than I’ve been alive,’ so there is that level of respect.”

“Don’t rub it in, love,” protests McAvoy, who’s still pretty fresh-faced for a 46-year-old Glaswegian. “I do want to work with you again, but I don’t know after that comment.

“Seriously, though, you all gave such strong performances. I was so lucky that you really gave yourself over to me.” The performances are so good, in fact, he reckons they might have spoiled him for other casts. “I do worry that if I direct again, and I don’t work with actors who are new to the business, I end up working with a bunch of forty-year-olds, they’ll be like, ‘you can get ta fuck, there’s no chance I’m doing that.’ But you guys really went for it and went with me on it. I’m so grateful to you for that.”

California Schemin’ is released 10 Apr by StudioCanal

Out of Time

Mark Jenkin returns with his stunning new film, Rose of Nevada While visiting Glasgow Film Festival, the Cornish auteur discusses the beauty of the human face and his passion for capturing modern life with his ancient Bolex camera

No British filmmaker working today has a style that’s as instantly recognisable as Mark Jenkin’s. The Cornish writer-director has three features under his belt now, and each appears to have been unearthed from an earlier, simpler time in film history. He shoots on 16mm using a hand-cranked Bolex camera. He then develops the celluloid by hand, creating distinct scratches on the prints that enhance the feeling they’ve been dug up from the distant past. His approach to the soundtrack is similarly old-school: dialogue and sound are overdubbed later rather than recorded with the image.

Despite Jenkin’s antiquated filmmaking language, his first two films, the gentrification drama Bait and the woozy folk horror Enys Men, were hugely popular with arthouse audiences. His latest, Rose of Nevada, which had two sold-out shows at Glasgow Film Festival last month, should prove similarly popular, not least because it’s the first Jenkin film with a high-concept plot. If I were to jot it down on the back of a cig packet, it would go something along the lines of ‘in the present day, two hot fishermen join the crew of a mysterious vessel that vanished three decades ago, only to find themselves trapped in a time-loop back to the early 90s.’

When I meet Jenkin after one of those sold-out GFF screenings, he tells me he’d been thinking about this plot for years, but hadn’t got very far. “All I had was the opening scene, which was of a boat being found in the harbour early one morning that had been lost at sea 30 years before, with all hands going down on it.” He turned to the actor Mary Woodvine, his partner and long-time collaborator, for some inspiration. “I pitched the scene to Mary, and she pitched back what might happen next. And then I pitched back what might happen after that. In one night, we managed to carve out what the story would be – not what it was about, not what the message of it was, or any themes running through it, just the nuts and bolts of a time travel story.”

Another reason why Rose of Nevada might have bigger commercial prospects than Jenkin’s previous work is that for the first time, he’s working with Hollywood actors. Those hot fishermen I mentioned are George MacKay and Callum Turner. Jenkin’s filmmaking relies heavily on close-ups – of hands, objects, and particularly faces – which he then painstakingly edits together, telling his story through these visual puzzle pieces. It must help, then, to have great face cards to focus on.

Jenkin certainly has an appreciation for the human face. “People

Words: Jamie Dunn

sometimes talk about classic Hollywood, those matinee idols, as if we’re not beautiful anymore, but we’re as beautiful as we always were,” he says. “It’s the films that are not as beautiful – that’s the problem. Somebody like Greta Garbo, they’d shoot the hell out of her face in the Studio system, because that’s what sold the movie. And they did it very carefully; they lit those stars properly. I think we’ve lost that to a certain extent, because now we shoot these muddy mid shots that are lit for post-production a long way down the line. But I like to shoot big close-ups, and I like to light them with direct light.”

Rose of Nevada contains many of the tropes audiences find deeply satisfying in a time travel flick – low-level butterfly effects, potential grandfather paradoxes – but it’s far from a simple genre exercise. Despite its sci-fi premise, it has as much to say about the social-economic issues in Jenkin’s native Cornwall as the earlier, more politically righteous Bait. “I think with all my films, I want to create an authentic context,” he explains. “So in Cornwall, we’ve got food banks, and the public toilets are closed, and the banks are gone, but it’s very difficult to highlight that without being didactic with it, saying, ‘Look, this is a food bank.’ Or have a character say, ‘Isn’t it a disgrace that there’s a food bank.’” Throw in time-travel, though, and these politcal points start to announce themselves organically. “If you jump back simply one generation, 30 years, to the mid-90s, which certainly, for somebody my age, doesn’t seem that

long ago, and you see that that food bank was previously a pristine post office in the heart of a community, then the audience, on an unconscious level, recognises in the background there’s a different story going on. They think, look at what we lost, which we never talk about until it’s kind of too late.”

This sense of degradation of our high streets isn’t limited to Cornwall, of course, as Jenkin observed this morning as he was killing time in Glasgow city centre before his screening. “I like to look through a camera and look around and see the state of the world, you know?” he says. “I just walked down to the Clyde a minute ago, and it’s all there. I was taking images where you’ve got the old industrial past, which is preserved and celebrated. Then stuff from the 70s and 80s is demolished and ground down into nothing. And then there are shiny glass blocks being built. I haven’t got a comment on that, because it’s complicated, and that’s economics, but I’ve taken some photos that, when I get them developed, hopefully capture the past, present and future all in one photograph, you know?”

That’s what we call time travel. And if those images ever inspire Jenkin to make a film outside Cornwall for the first time, we look forward to seeing the results.

Rose of Nevada is released 24 Apr by BFI, and Jenkin is doing a two-week Q&A tour before the release, which includes stops at Cameo in Edinburgh on 21 Apr

VARIOUS DATES BONGO’S BINGO

SATURDAY 4 APRIL MINI RAVERS EDINBURGH

SATURDAY 4 APRIL SUMMER IN NASHVILLE: COUNTRY ROADSHOW

SATURDAY 11 APRIL BILLY GILLIES

SATURDAY 25 APRIL SCOTLAND CALLING 2026

SATURDAY 2 MAY SLVL B2B USH: PRTY

WEDNESDAY 6 MAY THE CHARLATANS

FRIDAY 8 MAY THE ROYSTON CLUB

SATURDAY 9 MAY BELFAST BRUNCH CO

SUNDAY 10 MAY GIRLYPOP LIVE FEATURING THE WORLD’S FINEST TRIBUTES

SUNDAY 14 JUNE THE ULTIMATE K-POP LIVE SHOW EDINBURGH

SATURDAY 27 JUNE DROPKICK MURPHYS

FRIDAY 3 JULY ANTARCTIC MONKEYS

MONDAY 6 JULY THE MACCABEES

TUESDAY 28 JULY LENNY PEARCE

SATURDAY 15 AUGUST DEFINITELY OASIS: 96 REVISITED

CELEBRATING 30 YEARS SINCE KNEBWORTH, LOCH LOMON & MAINE ROAD

WEDNESDAY 26 AUGUST KINGFISHR

SATURDAY 12 SEPTEMBER BELFAST BRUNCH CO

SUNDAY 20 SEPTEMBER DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE

THURSDAY 1 OCTOBER DON BROCO

SATURDAY 3 OCTOBER THE UNDERTONES 50TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW

SATURDAY 10 OCTOBER BELFAST BRUNCH

FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER

BLACK STONE CHERRY THE CELEBRATE TOUR

Shades of Grey

François Ozon’s latest is a gorgeous-looking adaptation of Albert Camus’ The Stranger. The French director explains why he wanted to give this literary classic an update that’s both faithful and speaks to today

Somehow, there has never been a Frenchlanguage film version of Albert Camus’ 1942 novella L’Etranger – until now. This is surprising, given its considerable status in French literature and its enduring legacy as a gateway drug into existentialism for generation after generation of moody teenagers, both in France and all over the world. It stands to reason that directing the definitive adaptation might sit high on the bucket list of many an aspirant auteur. Even more surprising, then, is that for the director who finally pulled it off – the hyper-industrious Parisian troublemaker François Ozon – it really wasn’t that big a deal.

“When I was 15 or 16, it wasn’t the kind of book I felt had anything for me,” he says. “It was just something that we were assigned in class. As a gay teenager, I was more drawn to books like [Aidan Chambers’ 1982 novel] Dance on My Grave, which had more to say to me about my life at that time.”

Ozon did adapt Dance on My Grave in 2020 as the sun-drenched queer rom-com-cum-murdermystery Summer of ‘85, which featured a starmaking turn from its charismatic co-lead Benjamin Voisin. The Stranger, which is out in UK cinemas on 10 April, actually started life as an original project conceived to reunite Ozon and Voisin.

“I had written a script for Benjamin about a young man adrift in the modern world, cut off from others by the oppressions of modern society. We couldn’t get the financing for the project, which is when I remembered L’Etranger and picked it up for the first time in maybe 25 years.”

Camus’ masterpiece concerning a Frenchman living in colonial Algeria whose detached worldview leads him into difficulties, both personal and criminal, had more than a few resonances with Ozon’s drafted screenplay. But to a young French actor like Voisin, still early in his career, tackling an iconic character like the titular ‘stranger’ Meursault was no small ask. “When it became clear to me that this project should become an adaptation, I had to ask Benjamin if he felt comfortable taking on such a legendary role in French culture,” Ozon explains. “It’s an interesting challenge for an actor, to play this character who doesn’t play society’s game and exists outside of its expectations.

“With Meursault, you’re basically asking an actor not to act. Actors are used to seduction, trying to charm you, but with Meursault, it’s the exact opposite. For someone as expressive as Benjamin, I knew it would be quite difficult, but he was ready for the challenge.”

As Ozon delved deeper into pre-production, mining archival material and his own family history to grapple with France’s colonial legacy, he found more than a few echoes to our fraught, fragmented contemporary moment in the highly historically-situated story of Meursault. “What struck me most when I read the book again was the invisibility of the Algerian Arabs,” says Ozon. “What we did in Algeria is like dust swept under the carpet for France. We did a lot of terrible things to the native population that we need to make sure we remember.

“What we did in Algeria is like dust swept under the carpet for France”

François Ozon

“My grandparents lived in Algeria around the time of the book, and it was always something they struggled to speak about. There’s a contradiction to that colonial existence, because you were living in this beautiful paradise if you were French, but it came at the price of the terrible abuse of the Arab population.

“So, it became important to me to tell this story in a way that shows the two communities

Words: Rhys Handley

living in parallel – the French colonists and the Algerian natives – and the tensions that will generate. It felt important that, while staying true to Camus’ story, I find space to give voice to the Arab population, which is represented [in the book], yet repressed.”

This reverence both to the source novel and to its historical context comes through in the finished film in several ways, from the careful production design to recreate the streets of mid-century Algiers on location in Morocco, to the austere, observational black-and-white cinematography, and the decision to explicitly give names to the key Arab characters in the novel who Camus leaves unnamed. “In the end, everyone who has read the book will have their ideas about how it should be filmed,” says Ozon, “so my priority became to make a version of The Stranger that can speak to today.”

And yet, such a significant milestone in the French literary-cinematic canon is but a drop in the ocean for a filmmaker as relentless as Ozon. As soon as promotion concludes for The Stranger, he will begin production on his 26th film in 28 years. “I like to work,” he concludes simply. “If I didn’t have to do promotion, I would shoot two films a year. I never need to look for inspiration because there are stories all around us.”

Released 10 Apr by Curzon

30 April - 3 May / Hawick

The UK’s festival of experimental film

Staging Solidarity

Playwright Frances Poet, director Jemima Levick and Margaret ‘Maggie’ Wallace, an original striker, discuss Stand and Deliver: The Lee Jeans Sit-In – the story of a Greenock uprising fit for the stage

Recently, Margaret ‘Maggie’ Wallace, a former machinist at the Lee Jeans plant in Greenock, was asked by a woman in the Greenock Co-op if she was “one of them” – meaning, one of the women the upcoming production Stand and Deliver: The Lee Jeans Sit-In is about. Wallace said she was, to which the woman replied: “I’m so proud of you.”

Forty-five years on from the events of 1981, a fleeting moment of connection and recognition like this exhibits three things. The tumultuous long-term effects of the Lee Jeans sit-in on the western central Lowlands; the strength of a community that Wallace adamantly stresses is “worth fighting for”; and the undeniable importance of a story like hers – and all the women involved – for people today.

Resonance is the word. It keeps coming up in The Skinny’s interviews with playwright Frances Poet, director Jemima Levick, and Wallace – then a 20-something year-old worker, one of a 240-strong, largely female workforce, who advised throughout the process of the National Theatre of Scotland and Tron Theatre Company’s brand-new co-production. True enough, Stand and Deliver’s concern with a historical event where an affluent multinational – the American VF Corporation – threatened the livelihoods of thousands and shook the foundations of a local community both epitomises Thatcherite hardship and will strike a chord with today’s audiences. It is a ‘resonant’ story, as Poet laments, since the conditions which allowed these events to occur still exist in the world – and UK society – today; perhaps even more so. But crucially, this protest, unlike so many that define our view of industrial relations under Thatcher, was successful.

‘Crucially, this protest, unlike so many that define our view of industrial relations under Thatcher, was successful’

The skinny is this. Greenock was plagued by a disproportionately high unemployment rate, even for the early 1980s, and the factory’s threat of closure – for the falsified reason of ‘unproductivity’ – triggered a seven-month long ‘sit-in’ led by shop steward Helen Monaghan to prevent the local unemployment rate for women rising above 50 percent. The rest is history, and one which, in Wallace’s own words, “should never be forgotten.”  It was after their collaboration on the play Fibres – a drama about the preventable dangers of

asbestos in the Glasgow shipyards – that conversations between Poet and Levick, then artistic director of Stellar Quines Theatre Company, and now the Tron’s artistic director, began. Poet recalls feeling the resonance of the story back then in contemporary disputes, like Amazon workers rightfully unionising or frontline workers bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, Levick tells us, Stand and Deliver really offers “the women’s story version” of the workers’ rights narrative they successfully explored in Fibres, one which has not been told in a long-form or narrative dramatic way. This is partially the aim of Stand and Deliver: to document what happened over the seven months, from the carnage of the occupation’s first days to moments of flaky union support. Not to mention, of course, the human minutiae – like the fish and chips the women, namely Wallace, had to sneak out to collect.

Poet, straight off the back of her Blackburnshortlisted Small Acts of Love, which reopened the Citizens Theatre last September, is no stranger to research. This, Wallace can also attest to. The process by which Stand and Deliver came into existence began in 2020 – Poet came across an article about the strike by journalist Paul English, who would subsequently arrange meetings with some of the leading voices from the protest. These led to several developments at the National Theatre of Scotland starting in early 2022, which were instrumental in making Stand and Deliver “as authentic as possible,” says Poet. It was also crucial for “people to feel celebrated,” most of all, the women involved in the successful protest who will be able to finally see their story represented.

Words: Aidan Monks

However, on speaking with Levick – who was preparing to enter the rehearsal process – it seems we can expect a rich combination of documentarian fidelity to the facts and a “brilliant banging night” full to the brim with a feel-good entertainment factor too. It is, after all, a story of industrial protest which proved generous in the extremely ungenerous 1980s. Alongside its historical detail and positive messaging about the right to protest, the inclusion of live music from the 1980s promises to bring an electricity to the themes of Stand and Deliver both nostalgic and progressive. The way music of the period – romantic yet politicised – plays, one can expect from this production and its ensemble of actor-musicians a sizzling, dynamic rendition of both the time period and events of the sit-in. This unique style rejects certain expectations and tropes of typical social dramas about industrial disputes.

When we asked Poet, Levick and Wallace what they most wanted audiences to take away from Stand and Deliver, there were myriad wishes – including Wallace’s own emphasis that this version of the Lee Jeans story is the best yet, so should be seen on that merit. But the one which topped their lists was shared: The show will be a great night out with a memorable cast of characters and story, with undeniably huge heart and resonance for today’s audiences.

Stand and Deliver: The Lee Jeans Sit-In is touring nationally 24 Apr-10 Jun

Touring to Glasgow, Aberdeen, Kirkcaldy, Edinburgh, St Andrews, Peebles, Mull, Inverness, Cumbernauld and Greenock

Critical Thinking

We chat with author and journalist Shahed Ezaydi on her debut book The Othered Woman and her years of research into the harms of white feminism

It is no secret that academia is inaccessible. Finding rigorous, in-depth research often means paying extortionate fees for online PDFs, only to be greeted by impenetrable sentences that grow more opaque with each rereading. Shahed Ezaydi’s The Othered Woman: How White Feminism Harms Muslim Women offers a welcome antidote.

“I wanted to write and research something that is for pretty much anybody to pick up and read new or existing arguments,” Ezaydi explains to me over Zoom. Skillfully disentangling liberal white feminism’s history of exploiting Muslim women to advance its own agendas and world orders, Ezaydi presents her arguments with clarity, foregoing the old jargon. “You don’t have to be university educated to pick this up, you don’t have to have access to journals or academia.”

Ezaydi’s work could not have arrived at a more urgent moment. At the time of our conversation, it has been just under two weeks since Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu launched an illegal war on Iran, justified in part by the familiar claim of liberating people from an authoritarian regime. But this line of reasoning is hardly new in US foreign policy. Ezaydi deftly dismantles these prevailing hypocritical arguments that white feminists have historically used to support wars in Afghanistan and Iraq: interventions justified as efforts to liberate women from oppressive regimes, though the reality has rarely borne this out.

“I think white feminism is having to look internally at what has been used to justify these things in the past,” Ezaydi says. “When I first started writing this book, it was still a controversial and loaded term. People were defensive because it contained the word ‘white’. But now, especially, people are starting to think more critically about it. I have hope that people are beginning to link these things.”

Throughout The Othered Woman, Ezaydi holds up white feminist arguments, only to deftly

“Anger is a really useful emotion, especially when it comes to activism. [...] But there is also so much power in positive emotion, and hope is such a powerful tool for organising, for campaigning, for activism”

Shahed Ezaydi

show how hollow they are. One of her chapters tackles the stereotype that Muslim men are inherently violent, making Muslim women victims who must be rescued by their white counterparts. Yet, as Ezaydi points out, the sexual violence of white men is rarely understood within a broader framework of social conditions; instead, it is always portrayed as inexplicable, spontaneous acts of cruelty. Ezaydi is unwilling to accept this double standard.

“I think Muslim men couch their violence through Islamic language or cultural traditions,” she explains, “and so white feminists are able to say, ‘Oh, that’s different to the misogyny in our communities, and it’s so much more extreme.’ Whereas actually, I would argue it is the same violence, just in a different form.”

It would be impossible to write about the tensions between Muslim women’s experiences and white feminism without addressing the hijab, whose cultural symbolism in the West – an emblem of cultural degradation that is fundamentally at odds with Western public life – threads throughout Ezaydi’s book. “That does start to trickle down into public consciousness,” she argues. “People do, whether they like it or not, begin to absorb these stereotypes, especially those who don’t know any Muslims in their own lives, and whose only exposure is through the negative stereotypes depicted through TV, newspapers, film, or fiction.”

Ezaydi carefully traces how this persistent stereotyping has profoundly shaped the lives of Muslim women living in the West, particularly in Britain and France. Muslim women who wear the hijab are rarely given the space or opportunity to articulate their own reasons for doing so. Instead, meaning, symbolism and explanation are mapped onto their bodies by unsympathetic, often right-wing voices.

Words: Laila Ghaffar

CEO of the Muslim women-led media platform Amaliah. By ending with their insights and reflections, Ezaydi invites the reader to move beyond stagnating anger toward a more productive sense of optimism.

“Anger is a really useful emotion, especially when it comes to activism. It can spur people to take action. But there is also so much power in positive emotion, and hope is such a powerful tool for organising, for campaigning, for activism,” Ezaydi explains. “It’s up to us to carry that hope, because the far right don’t have that. They rely on negative emotions. We should have anger, but it should be expressed differently, because I do believe the world can change. Maybe that’s to do with my faith and my spirituality.”

Despite the sobering statistics of our current reality, it is evident that Ezaydi’s driving motivation is not despair but understanding. She invites us to confront where we are in order to move forward with clarity and purpose. “I’m hopeful that in 50 years’ time, many more doors will have opened for many more women,” she reflects, pausing for a moment, “not just for white feminists.”

“If they actually met a hijabi woman, they’d see that every single one is different,” Ezaydi says. “She’s complex. She has her own thoughts and opinions. She can be conservative, she can be liberal, she can hold all sorts of views. But we’re always seen as a homogeneous blob.”

Yet despite the persistence of white feminism, Ezaydi has not lost hope. In fact, the book closes with interviews with Muslim feminist trailblazers including the poet, playwright and educator Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, and Nafisa Bakkar,

Album of the Month Kneecap — FENIAN

If you’ve glanced at the news in the last year you may have heard of an Irish rap trio by the name of Kneecap. Since they exploded into our musical consciousness their subsequent rise has been nothing short of stellar. It’s a rise built on an infectious sound – part punk, part hip-hop, part drum and bass, and a lot of attitude. But it isn’t just charts they have been dominating – they’re no stranger to the headlines. Their vocal support of Irish Republicanism and Palestinian solidarity causes frequent encounters with the long, scaly arm of the law. Just last month, Kneecap rapper Mo Chara walked free after a CPS case against him was thrown out of court.

Their new album, FENIAN (named for a derogatory slur against Irish Catholics that they’re reclaiming for “everyone speaking truth to power”), is a tetchy statement of intent that will continue their beef with the British establishment. The sound is raw and grinds with edgier and harder beats, perhaps signalling a new direction for the group’s versatile beatmaker, DJ Próvaí.

Smugglers & Scholars tees up the album perfectly for that darker sound with its thundering synth backing. It’s followed by Carnival, which directly addresses the recent court case. Backed

by chants of ‘Free, Free Mo Chara’, it’s incredibly catchy and goes down as a real highlight. Next up is a feature from Palestinian rapper Fawzi on the appropriately named Palestine, a marker of their uncompromising politics.

Title track FENIAN is another highlight. It’s the most punk track here, showing the tongue-in-cheek humour and angry sound that many will associate with the trio. An Ra is the most explicit attack on everything Kneecap perceives as wrong with their neighbours across the Irish sea. The little of it that is expressed in English will likely be inflammatory to more patriotically-minded listeners.

Finally, closer Irish Goodbye introduces listeners to a slower sound not often found in Kneecap’s music. Móglaí Bap’s deeper cadence is allowed to shine here, and is complemented by a spoken word piece from Kae Tempest. It’s a beautiful end to a well put-together album, thanks in part to working alongside super-producer Dan Carey. But then again, Kneecap have always been about music; that they have become pariahs of the British establishment classes is above all because they are talented, dextrous musicians willing to speak out for oppressed people all over the world. Long live Kneecap. [Calum Skuodas]

Miss Grit

Under My Umbrella Mute, 24 Apr rrrrr

Listen to: Tourist Mind, Mind Disaster, Waste Me

Under My Umbrella is nine tracks charged by an angular pulse, sustained by Margaret Sohn’s singular vision – orchestral lush textures give way to techno, or crunched noise, all behind the crooning soar of their voice. It’s pop without easy resolutions; these are dense compositions that often veer into leftfield territory, like the plucked exuberant outro for Won’t Count On You.

As evident in the titles for openers Tourist Mind and Mind Disaster, these songs come in pairs. Sometimes this leads to an intensity that gets samey – Overflow is literally what it’s called, extending the previous anthemic track You Will Change past its welcome. But variation can be found on the rest of the record: Won’t Count On You is a dial-tone ballad, Stranger is the most trip-hop cut on the album, and closer Waste Me takes a brighter approach to the album’s whole aural palette. If you love acts like Psychic Twin, Olga Bell or Lali Puna, this is for you. It’s a decisive success from one of NYC’s most distinct exports – though its head may sometimes come before the beat, it is no doubt an impressive achievement.

[Ian Macartney]

Lucy Liyou’s work has always been almost painfully exposed. MR COBRA takes the form of what is essentially a radio play, though admittedly one fractured and shredded until it’s a long way from anything you’d get on Radio 4. But Liyou’s self-excavation is still present. In her own words, the record is “a revisionist retelling of a time back in high school when I fell in love with a predator.” She’s at her probing, terrifying best here.

Despite the confines of narrative, Liyou’s pieces still exist in constant motion, a stream of unexpected shifts and upendings. But occupying headspaces and characters beyond herself allows her to spread her sonic palette wider, the record flitting through genres and tones with abandon. It feels less like the dream logic drift of her previous albums, and more a kind of cartoonified whirlwind, a sensation that could cheapen things, but rather, particularly in the album’s latter stages gives a disarming intensity that is totally overwhelming. It’s a sensation that sneaks up on you, a kind of mania at once funny, alarming and harrowing, and it all adds up to something unlike anything else you’ll hear this year. [Joe Creely]

Trail Life Slime Fire / Lost Map, 10 Apr rrrrr

Listen to: Hold It, Infinity Ooze, Torch Song

From the off, Life Slime combines heartfelt pathos with a sense of the absurd, to engaging effect. Accompanied by vocoder vocals that give the faint impression of Cher after a bottle of Buckfast, opener Hold It speaks to the fragility of life, the sense that we can never quite capture the present for more than a second, that everything must inevitably crumble. The title track continues in this vein, a personal, introspective piece with a rousing chorus and looping, phased beats. All accompanied by a video that is currently being assessed for a Guinness World Record for “most amount of slime poured over an individual during a music video performance”. So far, so throwaway. The trick that Johnny Lynch, aka Pictish Trail, has pulled on us all, however, is that beneath the froth and the dayglo is a set of songs that truly shine, sticking to your ears like Silly String, getting tangled in your brain and your heartstrings. Aeons ago we emerged from the primordial ooze and life began. Life Slime captures not just the heartache of everything that has happened since, but also the hope that there may yet be light at the end of the tunnel. [Andrew Williams]

WU LYF

A Wave That Will Never Break LYF Recordings, 10 Apr rrrrr

Listen to: Love Your Fate, Wave

Fifteen years since their debut, WU LYF’s second album lifts the aura of pretence and mystery, leaving an epic sound that is revelatory in its clarity and sincerity. Love Your Fate is almost immediately recognisable through clattering drum-fills, ethereal guitar lines and Ellery Roberts’ lacerating vocals, but a call to accept your circumstances has rarely sounded so joyous and life-affirming. The opening few songs trade on blunt aphorisms to forge a connection, before the ten-plus-minute Tib St. Tabernacle forges a coherent narrative atop driving piano chords, drawing an unexpected Nick Cave comparison before collapsing into 70s rock excess.

Wave concerns the album’s titular phrase and sees the sandpaper removed from Roberts’ throat as a light backing eventually blossoms into an alternately angelic/demonic choir. Where WU LYF once teetered on the cliff-edge, barking every utterance like they knew it might be their last, they’re now sure-footed and comfortable, speaking with a conviction that can only come with experience. The precipice still looms – charging their music with a feverish vitality – but, through radical acceptance instead of confrontation, they’re trying to meet the world around them on its own terms. WU LYF version 2.0 might be the real deal. [Lewis Wade]

Arlo Parks

Ambiguous Desire

Transgressive, 3 Apr rrrrr

Listen to: Get Go, South Seconds, Nightswimming

Arlo Parks has long made a home in vulnerability and poetic lyricism, and on Ambiguous Desire, she doubles down on that instinct with confidence. The album is full of psychedelic textures, punchy basslines, and dreamy vocals that blur together into something hypnotic but anthemic. While the coherence of the record sometimes lends itself to monotony, the darker sonic undercurrent, coupled with a newly found more intricate and explorative sonority, has a sensation of quiet and dreamlike absorption.

Across the whole record, Parks’ vocals are soothing and ambivalent. Get Go, one of the album’s singles, is definitely the record’s most euphoric moment. Punchy but shimmery, its broadness conjures the feeling of dancing and spinning freely, arms out. South Seconds, a slow, intimate ballad, strips back to reveal a more emotive and honest expression, somehow evoking ocean waves and a fading sunset. Nightswimming bridges these different sounds beautifully. With an expansive chorus that steadily builds on the refrain ‘Just a moment in time’, the phrase almost becomes devotional, chanted like a dreamy mantra.

[Rhea Hagiwara]

Broken Chanter

This Could be Us, You, or Anybody Else

Chemikal Underground, 10 Apr rrrrr

Listen to: The Future Is Bright and I Don’t Want It, Shake It To Bits, Atrocity/Adverts/Idiocy

On his fourth album as Broken Chanter, Glaswegian singer-songwriter David MacGregor takes the title and thematic inspiration from Arpita Singh’s striking turquoise-blue etching of the same name, exploring and comparing an idealised world view (depicted by Singh) against the looming shadow of our increasingly dystopian reality. On album opener

This Future Is Bright and I Don’t Want It, grumbling bass, punchy drums, and drilling, intertwining guitars (from regular collaborators Charlotte Printer, Martin Johnstone, and Bartholemew Owl) create a mid-tempo post-punk backdrop for MacGregor’s emotive Scottish brogue – a must-listen for fans of Frightened Rabbit.

Across the rest of the record, the collective injects more bubbly, playful and danceable moments into tracks like Shake It To Bits, To The Victims They Call Citizens, and Atrocity/Adverts/Idiocy, while experimenting with odd electronic fills, break beats and lamentful synths on Pizzale Loreto, A Year Without a Summer, and Ghosts of the Gaps. Touching on hypermasculinity, societal moral shifts, and the unstoppable march of progress, This Could be Us, You, or Anybody Else is a moody, thoughtful piece of work that’s sure to delight those who love to boogie on down to sad music. [Christopher Sneddon]

Félicia Atkinson & Christina Vantzou

Reflections Vol.3: Water Poems

RVNG Intl., 10 Apr rrrrr

Listen to: Film Still / The Sea, Shines for Eternity, Scorpio Purple Skies

The lapping water that burnishes the edges of this collaboration between multidisciplinary artists Félicia Atkinson and Christina Vantzou holds the multitudes of humanity’s draw to the sea. These Water Poems sit in a lineage with the trireme of Ancient Greece, sickly Victorians at the coast for healing, writers beckoned to Tangier, and point-and-shoot film photos in a box in your family home, sunbleached and filled with bright swimsuits. Atkinson and Vantzou channel their own oceanside dwellings into ambient sounds tinged with nostalgia, joy and hidden depths. It manifests in compositions that subvert the usual calm of water-based field recordings. The repeated piano chords and chanted mantras of You are Porous evoke the majesty and terribleness of endless water. Elsewhere on Film Still / The Sea, the ASMR quality of the duo’s voices slowly turns from soothing to sinister, while electroacoustic textures create backdrops that constantly morph in shape just as foaming sea drifts around a rockpool. Closer Scorpio Purple Skies, a near ten-minute drone glistening with the lap steel of John Also Bennett, gestures to something more elemental and cosmic, the mythic and the earthly folding in on themselves.

[Tony Inglis]

Bröntes

Last Night From Glasgow, 21 Apr rrrrr

Listen to: Jigsaw, San Francisco, Wake Up and It’s Gone

Glasgow-based indie-pop four-piece Bröntes’ self-titled debut infuses nostalgia through lush harmonies and confident electric guitars. Opener Cognitive Dissonance hides darker emotions of jealousy under sunny pop-rock. Tracks like Bad Manners or Wake Up and It’s Gone infuse honesty with soft, sugary vocals reflecting tentative but sincere emotions. Immediately frantic, syncopated rhythms mirror unease before a new stability: ‘Tripping up over our laces / Trying to put names to faces’. Confident guitars on Wouldn’t Be Me mirror honesty about a friend’s claustrophobic relationship.

High-energy numbers like I Think I Love You and Asking For a Friend remain comfortably warm, often blending into each other. More infrequent stripped-back tracks have an ethereal, contemplative vulnerability. Floaty guitars in San Francisco hold a dreamlike longing rooted in place and memory: ‘Change the course and follow through, to leave us behind’. With isolated instruments and direct lyrics, this natural familiarity feels like intruding on a Tiny Desk set. Jigsaw closes the record with matter-of-fact acceptance and a lingering wistful reflection on an unravelling relationship. The harmonic balance between the four is at its heart: never overpowering, they are in constant dialogue, carving a quiet intimacy. [Juliette Pepin]

Music Now

Fill your April with a flood of records from the likes of Pippa Blundell, Valtos, Lizzie Reid and Pleasure Trail, plus new projects from veteran Scottish songwriters

Words: Ellie Robertson

Waving goodbye to winter might be the most anticipated time of the year, but March was made all the better by a tide of tracks that didn’t make it into last month’s column; check out releases from India Blue (Only Attempt In the Dark), Sonotto (IDK WHATS REAL TNIGHT), The XCERTS (In Your Eyes), pedalo (Hate Me), DOSS (SUPERSECRETAGENT), PINLIGHT (Salt), Pearling (Baby the Clouds Will Miss You) and corto.alto (WHODIS), to name a few.

A worthy record to walk us into the warmer months is songs with james (27 Apr), the new EP by folk singer-songwriter Pippa Blundell. The name is as straightforward as its recording style – all six tracks were laid down one afternoon by Blundell and partner James Mackay. The momentary nature of folk performance is well captured by this grounded approach, and what results is something personal, with two guitars in dialogue, for songs that shine with perspective and imagination. Opener Braemar is a ghostly love story of the artists’ hike over the Cairngorms, where they picture succumbing to the fierce elements together. The fast-strummed Diamond Dolls imagines the life of a dancer at the eponymous Glasgow club: ‘Some days you love it / Some days you hate it / And most days the money is decent / You’re built like a diamond / You push it and grind / And life is a pain for the feminine.’

There are occasional, droning tones that take the EP’s atmosphere from the humanising to the otherworldly – the setlist rounds off with a rendition of ca’ the yowes, a traditional Scottish ballad often associated with Robert Burns, but longthought to be penned by a woman called Isabel Pagan. The unadulterated adoration the shepherdess of the story has for her farm boy is reimagined as a witchy, sinister enthralment. It’s an impressive, pared-down EP, as temperamental as spring weather and a perfect soundtrack as the natural world comes back to life around us.

If the 27th is too long to wait for your folk fill, catch Where Two Hawks Fly (10 Apr) by Sam Grassie. Since his days in Glasgow duo Avocet, Grassie has perfected his intricate, fingerpicking style, and has stirred in his smoky vocals to achieve 12 tracks of reminiscence and rugged pastoralism. Listen to the fiery fretwork and the drawling chant on The Burning of Auchendoun, or the buzzing slides of Thurso River Blues, for the more oblique references to the London-based artist’s homeland – but the album as a whole is alive with his well-practised and dramatic folk style.

Don’t sleep on The Last Light by Isle of Skye duo Valtos (17 Apr), a set of folk-dance tracks that blend atmospheric samples, trad instrumentation and irresistible beat drops. Each of these 14 fusions features a collaboration with artists from all corners of the Scottish

scene, from Lucia & The Best Boys to Julie Fowlis. Martin MacDonald of Valtos answers our Q&A over on page 78.

There’s a torrent of projects by known Scottish acts this month – Ultimate Buzz (24 Apr) is the debut album of The Leaving, comprising Martin Doherty and Jonny Scott of CHVRCHES, well worth a listen for its dreamy synth anthems and hard-hitting, cinematic builds. And then on the 27th, The Ghost Dance is the debut album of Haiver, a new project by Frightened Rabbit’s Billy Kennedy. Soulful and sincere rock arrangements chart Kennedy’s journey through grief and towards healing. And turn back a page for full write-ups on Pictish Trail’s latest playful album Life Slime (10 Apr), the eponymous album by indie/alt-rock up-and-comers Bröntes (21 Apr), and Broken Chanter’s This Could be Us, You, Or Anybody Else (10 Apr).

As for EPs, Undoing (21 Apr) arrives from SAY Awardnominated Lizzie Reid, which was heralded by lead single Sweet Relief featuring Hamish Hawk. Expect mind-bending guitar solos, distortive effects, and Reid’s sometimes-scowling, sometimes-sugary vocal delivery. Repeat It (10 Apr) is an electro-pop EP by Glasgow-based Pleasure Trail, built of chirpy 8-bit beats, glitchy drum machines and their introspective, exploratory writing on queer identity and intimacy. Grunge artist Wytchwound’s debut EP of the same name comes out on 30 April, inspired by her research into the Fife Witch Trials and the terrible, unspoken violence they inflicted on Scottish women. On 17 April, fans of doom-metal should seek out Actual Bastard by Gout

On these brighter mornings we’ll be waking up to a bounty of singles. Kohla gives us Starlight (2 Apr), while the 3rd brings singles from Possibly Jamie (2000000Time), Her Picture (The Ram), Justine Beverley (Second Look) and Awful Eyes (Snakes and Ladders). On the 9th, expect Struck from Nick Dow, while Sea Spray arrives from Both Hands on the 14th. On 17 April, psych/surf-punks Maz and the Phantasms drop Pigeon Shat in My Room, Saint Sappho Between the Lines and Big Girls’ Blouse Clean / My House. Finally, Gurry Wurry’s Have You and Doom Scroller’s First Second both land on the 24th – keeping us well-watered until the April showers come to an end.

Scan the QR code to follow and like our Music Now: New Scottish Music playlist on Spotify, updated on Fridays

Film of the Month — Rose of Nevada

Director: Mark Jenkin

Starring: George MacKay, Callum Turner, Francis Magee, Edward Rowe, Rosalind Saleazar, Mary Woodvine, Adrian Rawlins, Mae Voogd, Yana Emily Penrose, Aria Balliah-Quinn, Emily DaglishLaine, Tori Cannell, Isaac Woodvine, Samuel Bassett, Callum Mitchell

RRRR R

Released 24 April by BFI

Certificate 15

theskinny.co.uk/film

Time and tide lap unnervingly at the shore in Mark Jenkin’s wonderful and ghostly new film, Rose of Nevada. When a long-lost fishing boat reappears in the docks of the Cornish fishing village it set out from decades earlier, two young men, George MacKay and Callum Turner, volunteer to crew it, only to find themselves drawn into an inexplicable time shift. This is a hauntological odyssey – in which the eponymous craft’s absence becomes a catalyst for the decline of the village – and a temporal horror in which two young men wrestle with whether to fight or give in to the inexorable currents.

Nick (MacKay) is aware of the anguish that pervades the village at the start of the film. Thirty years ago, the Rose of Nevada put to sea and never returned, its two local deckhands lost with it – one leaving eerily grieving parents and the other a wife and child with an undeniable void. Though gone, their shadow is long. When Nick and drifter Liam (Turner) agree to man the oddly returned boat on a new run, piloted by the sea-salt-and-pepper Murgey (Francis Magee), they think the worst they face is days of back-breaking graft. However, when they return to shore via an ominous fog, they find themselves years in the past and mistaken for the lost men of yore.

There is a mystery that sits at the film’s centre, but it’s a slippery one that feels more akin to weird fiction than the calculus of time-travel. We see the relationship of cause and effect as a hole in the roof in the present is shown to be the

product of a midnight adventure in the past. A cap changes hands in the present only to do so again in the past, and complete a recurring cycle. A portentous warning long since carved into a beam inside the boat must be re-carved by the person who read it. These feel less like clues in a puzzle than they might. There comes to be an inevitability, an undertow that seems too powerful and dispassionate to be resisted or reasoned with.

That sense is amplified by the boat, a fishing vessel which, when at sea, is a cramped setting that is defined by the roar of industry. Nick and Liam are just cogs in a grinding mechanism as fish pour into the hold, winches get jammed, crates must be packed and unloaded, and the sea wind whips up the salt air. They feel at the mercy of the machine both literally and metaphysically, and their individual responses to that – one accepting the past, the other yearning for their family in the future – create an ongoing tension.

All of this is delivered in a style that remains bracingly singular and experimental despite Jenkin’s increased budget and the presence of hot, buzzy actors in the cast. The post-dubbed audio, creating a slightly unreal quality, blends with the heady celluloid visuals whose intensity of colour creates an almost painterly effect. Jenkin’s almost-anachronistic aesthetic only serves to heighten the potency of these young men adrift in time, being pulled slowly towards an unknown fate. [Ben Nicholson]

Scotland on Screen: Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival

Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival returns for its 16th edition. As usual, expect a programme of thought-provoking moving image screenings and exhibitions, but the festival’s directors explain why the festival is much more than just a “bunch of films”

Words: Naomi Gessesse

Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, Hawick, 30 Apr-3 May

Full programme at alchemyfilmandarts.org.uk

Each year, Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, the experimental film and artists’ moving image celebration from Alchemy Film & Arts in Hawick in the Borders, takes place over the early May bank holiday weekend, coinciding with International Workers’ Day. It’s proven the perfect time to host this event centred on community and solidarity, and it should feel particularly apposite this year. Proceedings kick off on 30 April to the sounds of a person’s breath as they enter labour in Josephine Ahnelt’s Waves Turn, an intimate observational documentary following a group of mothers across their first year postpartum. The curtain will come down on the festival four days later with an expanded cinema performance ruminating on contemporary mining activities in Brazil (Tetsuya Maruyama’s Stone and Mountain screens with live support from former Alchemy artist in residence Luke Fowler).

Michael Pattison, Alchemy Film & Arts’ co-director, explains his team’s holistic, deeply thoughtful curation. “The former is a tactile, intimately handheld Super 16mm portrait of five new parents,” he says, “and the latter encompasses multiple 35mm slide projectors, projected through a custombuilt roving aperture device: both are formal encapsulations of labour, and bookend the 16th edition of a festival that now unfolds as a tradition across Labour Weekend.”

You’ll find other work concerned with collective struggle peppered across this year’s Alchemy programme, and this chimes with the festival’s ethos as a whole. Alchemy has become as known for its supportive relationships with filmmakers, workers and audiences as it has for its considered programming. There is a warmth and camaraderie to the festival, grounded in a care for participants. Continuing their dedication to inclusion, this year Alchemy are trialling a festival crèche alongside their other recurring access initiatives like comprehensive venue information, descriptive subtitles for all films and BSL interpretation at all Q&As.

“It’s important to us that the festival sustains its reputation not just for screening good films, but also for looking after its staff, audiences, volunteers and visiting artists in the way that it does,” says Pattison. “Anyone can put on a bunch of films, but to do it in a way that people feel genuinely valued for their work and participation requires a great deal of care and labour that the festival circuit more broadly works against.”

“It’s not that festivals bring people together, or function as some kind of barrier to the outside world,” adds Alchemy co-director Rachael Disbury.

“Those may be true, but they’re also romantic

“[We want Alchemy to be] a place where people feel good without the films themselves having to be ‘feel-good’” Rachael Disbury

and facile notions. There’s so much to be angered and overwhelmed by right now, when more and more people are isolated and marginalised. In this context, we want our event to be one of lasting connections, a place where people feel good without the films themselves having to be ‘feel-good’. Feeling good about the existence of certain films, the prevalence of certain voices, the solidarity that both of these things embody.”

A film that certainly fits Disbury’s ambition for the festival is An Incomplete Calendar by Iranian artist-filmmaker Sanaz Sohrabi. The documentary, which could hardly be more timely, explores the relationship between an album of multi-national song covers and the “world-building potential of oil”. Sohrabi uses archival materials, interviews, historical and contemporary footage and looks at the implications of the 1980 vinyl release by a Venezuelan choir commemorating the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the international cartel founded to manipulate global oil prices and maximise profits.

Elsewhere, the festival’s Focus programme highlights two extraordinary artists. The first is Nada El-Omari, a Montrealbased filmmaker of Egyptian and Palestinian origin, whose work engages with identity, memory and excavation through found texts and process filmmaking. The second is US filmmaker Malic Amalya, whose body of analogue film reflects an anticapitalist queercore politics and aesthetic.

Running parallel to Alchemy’s screenings is its free-toattend exhibition strand, a highlight of which looks to be two recent works by Lebanese filmmaker Ghassan Salhab: Contretemps (2024), which chronicles protest footage from Beirut between 2019 to 2023, and No Title (2025), which looks at Beirut today, in the aftermath of Israeli aerial warfare. As Israeli attacks on Lebanon continue to intensify, these perspectives are ever more pertinent.

Other notable works in the festival programme include Out of Office by Kialy Tihngang, an 80s-flavoured satire of corporate exploitation and misogynoir; Jade Wong’s How to Cook a Wasp, an experimental documentary that maps out collective knowledge and identity among a community of diasporic Asian food workers; Stomach, Thighs, and Ass by experimental documentary filmmaker Matthew Lancit, a portrait of the artist as a diabetic; and Milk Report by Conway and Young, a comedic performance piece on the social economics of breastfeeding.

Miroirs No. 3

Director: Christian Petzold

Starring: Paula Beer, Barbara Auer, Enno Trebs, Matthias Brandt rrrrr

Christian Petzold and Paula Beer reunite for their fourth feature together, and this strange, quiet character study is a perfect fit for what they do best: gentle mockery of the human heart, in all its oddities and contradictions.

Miroirs No. 3 takes its title from the Ravel suite for solo piano, specifically its third section depicting a boat tossed on the waves, and opens with Laura (Beer), a pianist who’s studying in Berlin, and her boyfriend getting into a car crash; he dies, and she escapes with minor injuries. Following the accident, Laura decides to stay with Betty (Barbara Auer), a stranger who came to her aid. Betty tries her best to make Laura welcome and comfortable, leaving new clothes by her bed and tuning a piano that

The Blue Trail

Director: Gabriel Mascaro

Starring: Denise Weinberg, Rodrigo Santoro, Miriam Socorrás rrrrr

The White Rabbit takes the form of a magic snail in Gabriel Mascaro’s latest, a vibrant, picaresque journey in Wonderland for its 77-year-old protagonist. Set in a near-future Brazil where senior citizens are shipped off to distant colonies to maximise production, The Blue Trail follows factory worker Tereza (Denise Weinberg), who opposes the government-mandated segregation. Armed with nothing but a roll of banknotes and sheer determination, she flees to fulfil her dream to fly in a plane for the first time. To find a pilot, Tereza embarks on an expedition through the Amazon tributaries, where she encounters peculiar characters and creatures while soaking in the defiant beauty of her exploited land and rediscovering the sensorial possibilities of a body

previously belonged to ‘Yelena’ so that Laura can practice. But when Betty invites her father and son – both mechanics – over for dinner, Laura begins to realise the family is adept at keeping secrets.

How far these (self) deceptions go forms the film’s central conflict, but overall, it is an understated, humane journey. Tensions and revelations constantly threaten to overwhelm, but Miroirs No. 3 zigzags through expected plot developments to subvert and surprise without contrivance. Petzold’s camera lingers long on Beer’s and Auer’s faces, letting subtle emotions shift and register. Ultimately, Miroirs No. 3 may feel more minor than Afire or Transit, but with one of the year’s best soundtracks, it is worth seeking out.

[Carmen Paddock]

Released 17 Apr by New Wave; certificate 15

she refuses to let be commodified.

The Blue Trail, co-written by Mascaro with Tibério Azul, is an urgent, hypnotic voyage into the flesh and brains of a character whose fate is all but sealed. Not just trudging along a husk that’s inevitably decaying, Tereza inhabits her figure with electric energy, flipping the stale narrative that equates old age with a mortal stillness.

Unconvincingly sketched in the first act, the film’s dystopian elements are far less intriguing than the relationships Tereza forges with a trio of free agents she encounters, played by Rodrigo Santoro, Adanilo, and Miriam Socorrás. Particularly vibrant is Socorrás’s no-nonsense yet bubbly ‘nun lady’ Roberta, who bounces off Tereza with surprising chemistry, their alchemy driving a life-affirming celebration of being mistresses of their own destiny. [Stefania Sarrubba]

Released 17 Apr by MetFilm Distribution; certificate 12A

Father Mother Sister Brother

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Starring: Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Vicky Krieps, Cate Blanchett, Indya Moore, Luka Sabbat, Sarah Greene rrrrr

“It never really seemed like they had that much shit, but they really squirrelled a lot of stuff away.” It’s an innocuous line that arrives in an innocuous moment, siblings Skye (Indya Moore) and Billy (Luka Sabbat) staring at a storage locker filled with stuff left behind by their departed parents. But in a sly, understated way that’s typical of the movie, this line also explains what Father Mother Sister Brother is really about – the ways in which parents and children remain a perpetual mystery to one another.

Jim Jarmusch’s triptych comedy follows three separate families. Jeff (Adam Driver) and Emily (Mayim Bialik) visit their long-suffering father (Tom Waits) while Timothea (Cate

The Wizard of the Kremlin Director: Olivier Assayas Starring: Paul Dano, Jude Law, Alicia Vikander, Jeffrey Wright, Will Keen rrrrr

The increasingly porous line between entertainment and politics is the central theme of The Wizard of the Kremlin. Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano) is the theatre director and reality TV producer earmarked as the man to help position Vladimir Putin as the successor to the ailing Boris Yeltsin. “It’s the same job, I’m merely suggesting that you graduate to the next level,” he’s told when he protests that he’s unqualified for a role in politics. “Stop making up stories, start inventing reality.”

This is fertile territory for Olivier Assayas, or at least it should be. Sadly, The Wizard of the Kremlin is a laborious affair, immediately hampered by its framing device, which involves Baranov telling his story to a journalist (Jeffrey Wright). Why Baranov needs to explain

Blanchett) and Lilith (Vicky Krieps) are summoned to high tea with their formidable mother (Charlotte Rampling). Skye and Billy seem genuinely at ease together, but both the other groups are as awkward as strangers meeting for the first time. More awkward, in fact, because they know it shouldn’t be this difficult. And all three meetings are characterised by absence – missing people, awkward silences and things left unsaid.

There’s a great deal of deception going on. Jarmusch plays this as a grand joke in Jeff and Emily’s segment, making brilliant use of Waits’s unique presence to deliver its final punchline. Lilith spends most of her story making up fanciful tales about her life that are smilingly accepted by everyone and believed by no one in a way that’s both funny and sad – which neatly describes Jarmusch’s bittersweet movie.

[Jamie Dunn]

Released 10 Apr by MUBI; certificate 12A

Russian political machinations to a man well-versed in it is never clear, but whatever dynamism Assayas attempts to whip up through his filmmaking is immediately flattened by Dano’s dispassionate narration.

Assayas has allowed his actors to proceed without Russian accents, but the refined British delivery adopted by the woefully miscast Dano is as distractingly inauthentic as any attempt at a Russian inflexion would have been. Jude Law successfully exudes a steely menace as Putin, but we don’t get enough of him, while Alicia Vikander and especially Jeffrey Wright are given nothing to work with. Assayas generates brief flashes of energy and intrigue as he romps through modern Russian history, but there’s little insight to be found in a misjudged project that feels like a waste of everyone’s talents.

[Philip Concannon]

Released 17 Apr by Signature Entertainment; certificate 15

MAPLE LEAF BAKERY, GLASGOW

Croissants, changing seasons and queue discourse – we take a pair of trips to the new home of the excellent Maple Leaf Bakery in Govan

16 Water Row, Glasgow G51

2LQ; Thu-Sat 8am-4pm, Sun 9am-4pm

@mapleleaf.bakery

It is our honour to inform you that spring has sprung. We’re opening the curtains, we’re leaving the house, we’re only bringing the one coat with us. We’re happy to be back outside, which is handy, because it is also our solemn duty to tell you that, once again, we’re queueing.

It is Saturday morning on the sunny side of the footbridge from the Riverside Museum to Govan, and we’re lined up to try for pastries from the newly-opened Maple Leaf Bakery. Their croissants are award-winning; their following is considerable; their wait time immediately puts off a group of runners describing themselves as “not that committed.”

Now we’ve all done a bit of queue discourse in our time, but we’ll address it at the top. The Queue Is Part Of It. When it comes to this kind of place – your shiny new bakery,

your viral baked potato, your no-reservations small plates ‘local neighbourhood spot’ – the queue is part of the experience. Whether you find that exciting, enervating, invigorating or infuriating is up to you, but at this stage, if you’re going for a croissant you saw on Instagram, you’re waiting around. You know the drill. The Queue Is Part Of It.

But on a spring day with the river behind us and the sun’s rays blasting off the white stone walkways directly into our sleepy sleepy eyes, it’s not a terrible part. The Queue draws attention (shout out to the lads who couldn’t quite work out a reaction to twenty middle-class people waiting for cakes, so just mumbled some swear words and carried on with their day), and The Queue makes people say and do strange things. If you’ve just bought some of the best stuff for yourself, ‘smug woman on Amsterdamstyle bicycle’, don’t gleefully tell the rest of us that “there’s nothing left.”

When we get in, there’s not nothing left, but word has clearly made its way around. Away from the counter, the interior is nice, cosy and functional – pine and pine-like woods and big windows to try for a permanent golden hour effect, a light faux-industrial trendiness and some pops of deep red, and plenty of room to move around and/or corral your many customers.

As for what remains, a white chocolate and pistachio cookie (£3.20) is supremely buttery with just the right mix of crisp and chew, while the salted caramel brownie (£3.60) is extremely gooey and almost damp, but with a real snap to the base and an impressive intensity to the flavour.

‘The Queue makes people say and do strange things’

A carrot and pecan cake (£3.60) is as refreshing as a slice of cake can be; lightly spiced, with a bounce to the bite and a super smooth cream cheese on the top. The Queue continues as we leave; a man and his dog lean over his upstairs balcony to watch it in action.

Folks, can’t believe we’re saying it, but it looks like spring might be sticking around. On our return to the still-sunny side of the Govan Footbridge, the frenzy of a few weeks ago has mellowed to a solid buzz. Maybe it’s the passing of time, maybe it’s the fact that it’s 10 o’clock on a Friday morning, but this time, The Queue Is Not Part Of It. Instead, there’s an auspicious trail of big flakes of pastry on the walkway outside, and a small squad of nursery kids being led across the bridge. Anyway, you’ve waited long enough – the pastries. They are excellent. The Ham, Cheese and Mustard Pain Suisse (£4.25) is an expertly constructed piece of crunchy, flaky, fatty goodness. The butteriness balances nicely with the zing from the wholegrain mustard, and the crispy rings of pastry give the whole thing a nice ornamental quality.

The Almond Croissant (£4.50) is a great example of the form, sweet and crusty and lightly decadent. Meanwhile, the Rhubarb and Ginger Danish (£4) has the flaky snap you’re looking for, with toppings that don’t overpower the pastry and what we’re going to call the right amount of custard (there’s some in every bite, but none of it’s on our shoes).

All in all, Maple Leaf is fantastic. Great pastries, excellent baking, moderate-to-extreme levels of fervour, and an impressive consistency in everything they’re putting out. With the Riverside Museum gleaming in the background, the sun beating down and croissant crumbs all over our coat, we can see Maple Leaf joining the spring and summer rotation for plenty of you.

Dream Baby Dream

David ‘PizzaBoy’ Breen’s first solo exhibition reflects on nostalgia, evoking the fuzzy residue of film, music and early 2000s pop culture

It’s a hazy Friday night, and the door rings behind you as you enter a Blockbuster, browsing the shelves for your weekend’s viewings. Each DVD is pulled from a rack, scanning the covers for visual clues – a cowboy hat, a dusty road. Films you haven’t seen before, but you recognise – you might be able to hear a soundtrack just from seeing the image of a neon sign, or a figure in black and white.

This is the feeling David Breen is describing to me, as we sit in Finnieston discussing Reverie in Red. Opening at The Alchemy Experiment on 9 April, the exhibition explores the idea of collective nostalgia through Breen’s oil paintings, installations and a self-published book.

“It should feel sort of familiar,” he explains. “There’s a comfort – or, not always a comfort, but like you’ve seen it before.

“I feel like I’m really baring my soul with this show, but in a nice way, a good way”

David Breen

“I’m not taking things from a specific movie or song,” Breen tells me. “I’ve taken influence and reference from music, movies – lots of 90s, early 2000s pop culture that’s influenced my work, but almost without realising it, because it’s just so ingrained.”

“It’s just that it evokes a feeling when you see it. It feels comforting to me, that I’ve experienced this before. We don’t really know where it’s from, so that’s where the reverie, the dream-like, comes in.”

This sense of shared recognition lies at the heart of the show, an idea that Breen has been developing across his creative practice. Up until now, he has created work mainly under the moniker of PizzaBoy, and has become a well-known figure in Glasgow’s mural painting and design scene. The use of his full name for this exhibition signals an evolution, showcasing a more personal body of work.

“Doing PizzaBoy stuff, I would have leaned into something that’s cool at the time,” he shares, noting that “to do what I want to do at this level, the personality has to come through.

“I was always into printmaking, doing posters and wheat pasting,” Breen reflects. His work riffs on recognisable icons of design, commandeering the Domino’s Pizza box as a logo, and often working with clean typography, collaged in a pop-art style alongside recognisable symbols – a pair of dice, or a vintage bottle cap.

As well as design references throughout his work, Reverie in Red will also see the launch of an artist’s book, showcasing the paintings alongside the set installations, photographed evocatively to create atmospheric dioramas. The book has been designed and published by Breen, building on his record of using graphic design as a medium to explore his practice. Since 2019, he has self-published ten issues of PizzaBoy magazine, covering the wide-ranging reaches of street culture, starting in street art and expanding into music labels, skateboarding brands, fixed-gear bikes and even men’s mental health.

Words: Phoebe Willison

The magazines also led to creative collaboration with friends, working together on photography, layouts and copy. “We never really made any [money] from it – it was just for fun,” he explains, “but that also really taught me how to work on design, and learn how to put together something that’s self-directed.”

That crossover between disciplines feeds into a broader question evoked by Breen’s practice, regarding the intersection of art and design. How do design references like logos, labels and posters fit into the fine art category? Does art need to be purely personal? Breen certainly bucks that trend, as much of his commercial work has a recognisable signature. Perhaps there is just a latent snobbery, even in a graphic designer like myself, that in order to be an artist you need to be untouched by the poison of selling your creative skills (kidding don’t cancel me, I love designing The Skinny !!).

Behind – or alongside – his work in oil painting, a medium often reserved for fine art, Breen works as a commercial artist, painting murals for brands as a form of advertising. “I’ve always kept that quite separate,” he says.

We discuss whether that makes anyone less of an artist, to work within design instead of working in a coffee shop and ‘suffering for their art’. Breen has tried both, but with commercial mural painting, he notes: “I could work hard for like, a week and a half on a job. It could pay really well, and I could have the rest of the month painting.”

Are there rules about being an artist – not always in output, but in back-story? “In street-art, there are unwritten rules,” counters Breen, while graphic design often feels like it has the full rule book, printed in permanent ink.

Whatever the rules, they don’t stop Breen from creating the work that feels right to him. “I’ve not been to art school, I’ve not gotten training,” he explains. “I’m just trying things, and there’s a lot of things that haven’t worked out, or don’t look right, or I need to spend hours practicing this to get it to where I want it to be. But there’s something cool about that, because then it’s very much just your own work.

“I feel like I’m really baring my soul with this show, but in a nice way, a good way.”

Regardless of how you choose to categorise Breen, the work in this exhibition evokes a hazy nostalgia. It might recall childhood, parenthood, or even a moment you’ve never quite lived. It’s worth a trip to Byres Road this month to feel it for yourself.

Reverie In Red, The Alchemy Experiment, Glasgow, 9 Apr-22 Apr

The Alchemy Experiment, 157 Byres Rd, Glasgow G12 8TS, alchemyexperiment.com

pizzaboystudios.com

Still Glasgow @ GoMA, Glasgow

A new photography exhibition does much to capture the post-industrial city’s evolving identity, but its nostalgic slant is overbearing

Glasgow is a city which enjoys its own history – and many of us Glaswegians won’t dispute that. We’re well-accustomed to black-and-white photographs of tenements, shipyards and street games. Still Glasgow – a new photography exhibition at GoMA – isn’t too much of a stray from the familiar. Celebrating the city’s 850th birthday, and GoMA’s 30th anniversary, the exhibition promises an exploration beyond nostalgia, speaking to Glasgow’s future, as much as its past and present.

A healthy handful of photographic legends claim the walls: David Eustace, Oscar Marzaroli, Jane Evelyn Atwood, Linda McCartney. However, Still Glasgow’s own greatness lies in the works which are that bit closer to home.

‘It’s impossible to separate Still Glasgow from the wider context of the city’s dwindling art scene’

To welcome us, Iseult Timmermans’ 10 Red Road Court sits on the first facing wall. Interiors and exteriors, variety and uniformity: the 30 floors of the now-demolished Red Road Court flats are documented in a collage of over 300 photos. To the right, an image offers a view from the council flats; below, another image shows two young girls, in their living room, with sparkling Happy Birthday decorations behind them. Made in collaboration with the residents ahead of demolition, the work’s vastness speaks to the many lives lived in just one building.

Likewise, the twelve works of Glendale Women’s Cafe see women from Pollokshields both in front of and behind the camera. Working with photographer Robin Mitchell, the images share parallels with the works of Eric Watt, who also features heavily throughout the exhibition. Shoes off, legs crossed on a bench; fruit in the street and fruit in stalls; shopfronts and shop shelves: intimate and singular, the images reject pretension in favour of a truly autonomous lens.

In the centre room, Matthew Arthur Williams’ portrait of Charlie Prodger, the 2018 Turner Prize winner, brings a contemporary lens to a largely past-tense room. Although a striking image – both a stance and a camera held softly –  its isolation on a slim wall positions it as something of an afterthought within the wider exhibition.

Taking centre frame in the final room, however, is Roderick Buchanan’s film Gobstopper, depicting a series of children – full cheeked and eyebrows raised – attempting the much-loved Glaswegian childhood game of holding your breath while driving through the Clyde Tunnel. With Gobstopper, a vitality arrives. Glasgow is living, breathing, gasping and it is a delight. On the opposite

Words: Eilidh Akilade

wall, photographic panels from video artists Elsa Stansfield and Madelon Hooykaas’ installation What’s It to You? similarly capture a movement. Questions sit alongside photographs depicting people busying themselves in the Barras and on Sauchiehall Street, the clatter and chatter of the city almost audible. With the original video work now lost, the panels offer a thoughtful engagement with form and its vulnerabilities over time.  Undoubtedly, the present tense seeps between the frames of Still Glasgow. Most notably, in Alasdair Gray’s collage-like portrait of an admin worker at the People’s Palace, titled Frances Gordon, Glasgow Teenager. It’s difficult to greet the

work without considering the social history museum’s indefinite closure. And, with an inexplicably long run time of November 2025 to June 2027, it’s impossible to separate Still Glasgow from the wider context of the city’s dwindling art scene.

A little nostalgia is no problem – and its warmth is oftentimes welcome. Such is particularly true amid these trying times, with both the city’s present and future appearing uncertain. Still Glasgow holds onto what it knows; sometimes, a little too hard. In its loving clasp, Glasgow carries on.

Still Glasgow, GoMA, Glasgow, until 13 Jun 2027 glasgowlife.org.uk/event/1/still-glasgow

October

By Nur Turkmani rrrrr

“God, make our rage count for something,” reads the last line of Nur Turkmani’s poem Glass for Breakfast, in her debut poetry collection October. It is the simultaneous hope and desperation of this line that seep throughout Turkmani’s collection and call you to hear a voice that grieves and aches, but above all, yells for revolution.

Turkmani writes with intense nostalgia and imagination. Born of a burning longing for Lebanon, the book’s heartland, the poems travel through six Octobers to portray Turkmani’s intimate meditations on the uncertainty of life’s ‘beginnings and endings, the people, places, and words,’ setting out not only to preserve through memory, but to call us to share this labour of love, reminding us that freedom is not possible alone. Though her main connection is to Lebanon, the poems move across a variety of places, transforming into odes because of the love that infuses them. Poems like To All the Flatmates of Hamra vividly attest to this. Turkmani’s is the kind of writing that is so generous in giving all things life, animating objects and memories with emotion, and finding purpose in what feels stagnant or buried, but is truly resurrectable. As Turkmani utters in To Insist on Joy, ‘nothing dies.’ A special Hajar Press characteristic, there is also a suggested playlist curated by Turkmani, perfect for connecting with each poem. [Maria Farsoon]

Into the Wreck

By Susannah Dickey rrrrr

With Susannah Dickey’s new novel Into The Wreck, perspective is key. Five individuals with familial connections are coming to terms with the death of a man who means something different to each. Teenager Gemma is obsessed with sex and social status and a drunken night out, while seen by others as an understandable reaction to her father’s passing, means so much more to her. Older sister Anna is in a relationship where the power balance is not in her favour, and thoughts of how her bereavement could shift that balance occur to her unbidden. Matriarch Yvonne reflects on a relationship which was never as others believed it to be, and latterly only existed for the sake of the children. Aunt Amy has a secret which she knows could destroy everything, while Matthew, the only son, feels overlooked and underappreciated. With the funeral approaching they have to balance their own feelings with those of others, something which is exacting for them all. The ‘wreck’ of the title is the backdrop against which this drama unfolds.

Into The Wreck is a discourse on the nature of grief and how internal reactions often differ greatly to what the rest of the world sees. Susannah Dickey’s use of language, right down to individual choice of words, is carefully and artfully considered, but it is the actions and differing natures which mark each character apart, staying just the right side of stereotype.

[Alistair Braidwood]

By Babak Ganjei rrrrr

Bob Green is on the bus, without a phone, on the way to a date. So begins Babak Ganjei’s novella of contemporary daily malaise, which unfolds through a series of scattergun, occasionally interlocking thoughts as Bob rides to the end of the line, his father’s blazer pressing up against a stranger’s shoulder.

Those who know Ganjei’s work as a text-based artist will recognise his deadpan turn of phrase, and the fact that his book reads like several thousand of them put together could be a multiplier in either direction. If you like it, you will love this. But if the inward-looking, self-conscious voice that has come to be associated with the artist-author isn’t for you, neither will this book be. Cover to cover, it is unmistakably, idiosyncratically Ganjei.

For the most part, it is really funny. In Bob Green’s melancholy monologue, there is no opportunity for a gag wasted, and Ganjei demonstrates his ability – though well known by now – to create profundity out of the most mundane moments: a McDonald’s delivery; a stranger playing MF DOOM; a game of overthe-shoulder Wordle.

But while its strongest passages are where humour and tragedy align, by always favouring the punchline, Ganjei does occasionally cut off chapters of high emotional potential at the root, such that even the most avid fan risks feeling alienated by Ganjei’s deflection-through-humour at such an unrelenting pace.

[Louis Cammell]

My Lover, The Rabbi

By Wayne Koestenbaum rrrrr

It’s taken 40 years for Wayne Koestenbaum to receive a major UK publication. The poet, artist and writer has always maintained a cult status in America, penning strange and eccentric works from the peripheries of the US publishing scene. Impossible to pin down and unwilling to remain in any one medium or genre, Koestenbaum has never translated in the way that other niche gay novelists, like Dennis Cooper or Gary Indiana, have.

So thank goodness a UK publisher has finally caved; Granta have released Koestenbaum’s newest novel, My Lover, The Rabbi, a slutty and bizarre doorstopper that, like much of the author’s work, defies classification. Here, our narrator is sleeping with a rabbi and, for large chunks of the novel, that’s all they do; within 20 pages, we learn about every graphic inch of the rabbi’s body. As our narrator ingratiates himself more and more into the rabbi’s personal life, the results prove as upsetting as they are campy. Broken up into odd little page-long chapters, it is a frequently discomforting and outrageous novel, and Koestenbaum’s distended prose – verbose, poetic and theatrical – simultaneously delights and perplexes.

Here, Koestenbaum has taken the erotic novel and shorn it of eroticism, reducing to its sweaty and smelly base components. The author is so flamboyantly set on turning you off that he circles back round to achieving the opposite effect. For this reason, My Lover, The Rabbi can be an alienating and difficult read – this is, naturally, not a wise choice for book club  – but bear with it and its gleeful excesses prove highly rewarding. [Patrick Sproull]

We chat to Linzi Wright, the brains behind the new night at the iconic King Tut’s in Glasgow, where comedy’s back on the menu after a 14-year absence

Words: Polly Glynn

Tell me about King Tut’s Ha Ha Hut... My husband’s been a comedian for about 12 years now, so I’ve been to see a lot of comedy, been around a lot of people in comedy, and when I first started at DF Concerts (who run the venue), I thought King Tut’s would be perfect for a nice, intimate comedy night. So I took it to our team and they loved it. They loved the name, the idea, and we eventually got the go ahead for it.

Thing is, with King Tut’s, it’s so busy for gigs, it’s all about finding the right time and date to put it in. So it’s been in the works since the end of last year. We originally wanted to launch it in March but thought there might be a bit too much happening with the Glasgow Comedy Festival, so we thought ‘let’s do it in April’ instead.

How did it come about?

It was a combination of my connections in comedy and King Tut’s being a great space. It’s such a cool and iconic venue that people just love to come to King Tut’s. Like, if we’re sitting outside in the sun at lunchtime, we’ll get people asking if they can come in and have a look around and that’s really cool. I just thought ‘there’ll be people that aren’t in bands that would love to perform here’ and I thought ‘Why not comedy?’ There’s a lot of comedians in Scotland who absolutely adore music and would love to play that stage, so I thought ‘Let’s do it, let’s get them in.’

King Tut’s used to do comedy, from 1999-2012. Phil Kay had a residency and the likes of Lee Mack, Ross Noble and Lynn Ferguson played here too, so it does have a comedy heritage and I thought now was the right time to bring that back.

What are your hopes for the first one?

Other than wanting it ram-packed, I think it’ll be good for people who don’t come to King Tut’s often because they’re not huge music fans or they don’t have the time, taking a wee punt on going to a comedy night and getting to experience the venue in a different way. The world’s tough just now, isn’t it? So this is a night for people to come, relax and have fun.

Who would be on your dream lineup?

Probably gonna have to say my husband here – could make or break my marriage if I don’t. So, Rosco McClelland, and honestly, Susie McCabe. I LOVE her and I’m so, so thrilled that she’s agreed to come and be our first headliner. She has me in tears every time I see her. Also, John Mulaney. If I can get him into King Tut’s, I will do it. I’m not sure if he’ll come all the way from New York to our little venue, but you never know.

Who on the comedy scene should we look out for?

Kim Blythe. I know she’s been around a bit on social media – she does so well on TikTok and Instagram, but she’s a great stand-up. I’m really excited for her career and reckon she’s gonna do so well. There’s also Daniel Petrie. He’s a bit more established now, but I really enjoy watching him too.

Who are the funniest musicians?

We Are Scientists are just the funniest bunch of guys. On stage they’re so excellent and so talented musically – I think they’re incredibly underrated as well. But the stuff they do on social media and their general chat while they’re on stage is so, so funny. I also have to mention Blink-182 as well. They’re silly and funny and my favourite band of all time.

What’s next?

It’s my plan to try and make Ha Ha Hut a monthly (or maybe every two months) thing either midweek or on a Sunday night. I think it’d be great to have people who are wanting to do something straight after work or folk that don’t want to be out til 11pm. But our main mission is simply to have people experience comedy in such a world class, iconic venue.

Gareth Mutch and headliner Susie McCabe @kingtutsofficial

Glasgow Music

Mon 30 Mar

STOP THE SUNS FROM SETTING

THE HUG AND PINT Alt metal from Glasgow.

Wed 1 Apr

RIANNE DOWNEY

KING TUT'S Folk pop from Scotland.

GOODBYE BLUE

MONDAY (OH THE HUMANITY + LOW LEVEL MONK + BAD YEAR)

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Punk from Glasgow.

QUENTIN COWIE + MARIO VENDITTI

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Eclectic lineup.

PANOPTICON (SUNKEN)

STEREO Black metal from Kentucky.

HARP & CARP

THE GLAD CAFE Harp from Scotland.

Thu 2 Apr

ABBIE GORDON KING TUT'S Singer-songwriter from Irvine.

NØ MAN THE HUG AND PINT Hardcore from DC.

DANIEL AVERY

QMU

Electronica from the UK.

MAX SARRE SWG3 Pop from the UK.

KLANGKARUSSELL

SWG3 Electronica from Austria.

THE TINO BAND

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Indie from Glasgow.

KIM OEHME (ERIN

O’CALLAGHAN)

THE GLAD CAFE

Singer-songwriter from Scotland.

Fri 3 Apr

BLACKTOP MOJO

THE GARAGE Rock from Texas.

VIDA

KING TUT'S Psych rock from Scotland.

CHARLIE & THE BHOYS

BARROWLANDS Irish folk from Scotland.

Listings

Looking for something to do? Well you’re in the right place! Find listings below for the month ahead across Music, Clubs, Theatre, Comedy and Art in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee. To find out how to submit listings, head to theskinny.co.uk/listings

TYLER RAMSEY (ROSS LEIGHTON)

ST LUKE'S Singer-songwriter from the US.

FUZZY LIGHTS (PEA SEA + LIL' CALIGULA + CHARLES BUTLER) THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS Psych folk from Cambridge. THE SHOWHAWK DUO ROOM 2 Guitar.

CALUM STEWART SWG3 Trad from Scotland. SWAGFEST 2 (DECEMBERKID + CITZEN HEAD + EARNESTONLINE + INSERTCAPTION.)

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Hip-hop and punk from Glasgow.

Sat 4 Apr

STRIKE ANYWHERE CATHOUSE Punk rock from the US. FALSE REALITY THE GARAGE Hardcore from London.

STONE KING TUT'S Alt rock from Liverpool. GLASVEGAS BARROWLANDS Indie rock from Scotland.

LILI REFRAIN THE HUG AND PINT Electronica from Rome.

MALCOLM LE MAISTRE + THE WOOLVERSTONES THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS Folk. HOUSEGUEST FESTIVAL

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Indie from Glasgow. THE KAIROS STEREO Indie rock from Liverpool.

Sun 5 Apr

KILL THE LIGHTS THE GARAGE Metal.

LO FIDELITY ALLSTARS KING TUT'S Electronica from the UK. REGROUNDING STEREO Eclectic lineup.

Mon 6 Apr

JAMIE WOON ORAN MOR Indie from the UK. BROOKE COMBE KING TUT'S Soul from Scotland.

SEAROWS

QMU Indie from Portland. CLARA LA SAN SWG3 Producer from the UK. CRESCENT SWG3 Shoegaze from Glasgow.

Tue 7 Apr

THE FLINTS KING TUT'S Psych pop from Manchester.

WORLD PEACE THE HUG AND PINT Industrial from San Francisco.

MANTIS ENSEMBLE THE RUM SHACK Jazz from Edinburgh. SUMAC ROOM 2 Post-metal.

TYLER HILTON & KATE VOEGELE OF ONE TREE HILL SWG3 Indie.

LEIGH-ANNE SWG3 Pop from the UK. WOR_KSPACE (NATIONAL PARK + GERARD LOVE) THE GLAD CAFE Electro-pop.

Wed 8 Apr ME AND MY FRIENDS MONO Afrobeat, folk and jazz. BLACK FOXXES THE GARAGE Indie rock from Exeter. JAMES (DOVES) THE OVO HYDRO Rock from Manchester. BASHT. KING TUT'S Rock from Ireland. BEN DE LA COUR THE HUG AND PINT Americana from New York. CRISIS ACOUSTIC NIGHT SWG3 Eclectic lineup. COSMIC PSYCHOS NICE 'N' SLEAZY Punk from Australia.

SUZIE UNGERLEIDER THE GLAD CAFE Singer-songwriter from Canada.

Thu 9 Apr

KYLE FALCONER KING TUT'S Rock from Glasgow.

FIVE THE HIEROPHANT (HEMELBESTORMER)

THE HUG AND PINT Doom metal from London.

JANE WEAVER ST LUKE'S Folk rock from Liverpool. STEPHANIE LAMPREA + RICHARD CRAIG THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS Experimental. OLIVE JONES SWG3 Blues folk from London.

Fri 10 Apr

QUEST MASTER (MOUNTAINFOG)

THE FLYING DUCK Metal from Australia.

BIG IRON THE GARAGE Rock from Scotland.

RICK ASTLEY THE OVO HYDRO Pop from the UK.

KYLE FALCONER KING TUT'S Rock from Glasgow.

BELUGA LAGOON

BARROWLANDS Folk from Scotland.

DANI LARKIN THE HUG AND PINT Folk from Ireland.

RULES

SWG3

Electronica from the UK.

ROSELLAS

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Indie rock from Manchester.

Sat 11 Apr

THE KAVES THE GARAGE Indie from Glasgow. WINTERSLEEP

KING TUT'S Indie rock from Canada.

BELUGA LAGOON BARROWLANDS Folk from Scotland. SAM GRASSIE THE HUG AND PINT Folk from Glasgow. COPPER VAULT (NAMELESS + THE HEADSHRINKERS + EITHER/OR)

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Alt rock from Glasgow. UNSANE

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Noise rock from New York. MAZ & THE PHANTASMS STEREO Psych punk from Glasgow. SUEP THE GLAD CAFE Indie from London.

Sun 12 Apr

LATHE OF HEAVEN (NURSE) THE FLYING DUCK Post-punk from New York. MARLON WILLIAMS ORAN MOR Indie from New Zealand. BALANCING ACT

KING TUT'S Indie from the UK. CAT BURNS (NXDIA)

O2 ACADEMY Indie pop from the UK. SLOWHOLE (MOLOCH) THE HUG AND PINT Heavy metal. HENRY MOODIE (AINÉ DEANE)

SWG3 Pop. HANNAH BAHNG SWG3 Alt pop from Australia. STAGEMINUS

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Alt rock from Leeds. NOTHING

STEREO Shoegaze from Philadelphia. THE LOVELY BASEMENT (DEWEY LESTER & THE 6:03) THE GLAD CAFE Indie from Bristol. FARIS ISHAQ THE GLAD CAFE Palestinian Nay master and composer.

Mon 13 Apr

PACIFIC AVENUE KING TUT'S Alt rock from Australia. TOE SWG3 Math rock from Tokyo. PRIMITIVE MAN STEREO Doom metal from Denver.

Tue 14 Apr

UMUT ADAN THE HUG AND PINT Psych from Istanbul. HAYES CARLL + CORB

LUND ST LUKE'S Indie.

LITTLE ACRES THE RUM SHACK Neo-folk.

PINK CLOUD SEASON (MCJ2)

SWG3 Rock from Scotland.

DEATHCRASH STEREO Slowcore from London.

BILL ORCUTT (AILBHE NIC OIREACHTAIGH) THE GLAD CAFE Experimental from the US. Wed 15 Apr

THE PRODIGY (CARL COX) THE OVO HYDRO Electro-punk.

PICTURE PARLOUR

KING TUT'S Indie rock from Manchester.

SAMMY VIRJI BARROWLANDS Dance.

CARPOOL TUNNEL THE HUG AND PINT Indie rock from San Francisco.

PETER BRUNTNELL THE RUM SHACK Singer-songwriter from the UK. PRESIDENT SWG3 Metal.

CALUM BLANE NICE 'N' SLEAZY Acoustic from the Isle of Lewis.

BHAJAN BHOY (RADHIKA + NORMAL SERVICE) THE GLAD CAFE Psych from the Netherlands.

Thu 16 Apr

MAGGIE LINDEMANN THE GARAGE Singer-songwriter from the US. HAPPY MONDAYS BARROWLANDS Alt dance from the UK. FAZE THE HUG AND PINT Hardcore from Montreal. PAPERSAILOR SWG3 Industrial rock. SUGAR HORSE (THE RHUBARB + TELEOST) NICE 'N' SLEAZY Post-metal from Bristol.

Fri 17 Apr

ROBERT JON & THE WRECK THE GARAGE Rock from the US. IST IST ORAN MOR Post-punk from Manchester.

LUPERCALIA (WE FUNKY FEW)

KING TUT'S Trad.

SKYE NEWMAN O2 ACADEMY Pop from London. HAPPY MONDAYS BARROWLANDS Alt dance from the UK. QUIET YEARS (PATRICK GOSLING + ISAAC FARRIER) THE HUG AND PINT Folk rock from Scotland.

JAMES KIRK + WARREN MCINTYRE (AUTOCAMPER)

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS Indie from Scotland. ÁSGEIR ROOM 2 Pop from Iceland. SOLOW CHOIR SWG3 Indie from Leeds. RAISA K (RAIVO SLOAN) THE GLAD CAFE Experimental pop from London.

Sat 18 Apr

THE BROS. LANDRETH ORAN MOR Alt folk from Canada. THE LILACS KING TUT'S Indie pop from Wigan. HAPPY MONDAYS BARROWLANDS Alt dance from the UK. PEACHES SWG3 Electronica from Canada. ROLLA (PANHEAD SHARPS)

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Indie rock from Manchester.

A B16 MOTIVE

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Rap from Glasgow.

Sun 19 Apr

T’PAU ORAN MOR Pop from the UK.

GRAHAM ROBERTSON SWG3 Singer-songwriter from Paisley.

GO DOWN FIGHTING (KAKIHARA, LUXERA, BRAEFARER)

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Hardcore from Glasgow. LEO MIDDEA STEREO Singer-songwriter from Brazil. THE CITY SINNERS THE GLAD CAFE Americana.

Mon 20 Apr

YUNGBLUD (THE WARNING) THE OVO HYDRO Rock from the UK.

Tue 21 Apr

BROKENCYDE CATHOUSE Emo.

TYKETTO THE GARAGE Hard rock from New York. SEKOU KING TUT'S R'n'B from the UK. SHEARLING THE HUG AND PINT Rock from LA.

SEAHAVEN

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Post-hardcore from California. JAZZ AT THE GLAD: TC KYLIE THE GLAD CAFE Jazz fusion.

Wed 22 Apr

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE MONO Rock from Japan. POZZY + NORI THE GARAGE Alternative.

OLIVIA DEAN THE OVO HYDRO R'n'B from the UK. INJI KING TUT'S Pop from Turkey.

JESSE SYKES & THE SWEET HEREAFTER THE HUG AND PINT Folk pop from Seattle. COLM AND LAURA KEEGAN

ST LUKE'S Folk from Ireland.

DEYU THE RUM SHACK Jazz from Bristol.

AYANNA WITTERJOHNSON + FERGUS MCCREADIE WITH BBC SSO SWG3 Jazz folk.

PUNCHBAG

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Pop-punk from London.

MYSHKIN'S RUBY WARBLERS

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Folk jazz from New Orleans .

Thu 23 Apr

OLIVIA DEAN THE OVO HYDRO R'n'B from the UK.

Cabaret Voltaire

TUESDAYS

MIDNIGHT BASS, 23:00

Big basslines and small prices form the ethos behind this weekly Tuesday night, with drum’n’bass, jungle, bassline, grime and garage aplenty.

FRIDAYS

FLY CLUB, 23:00

Edinburgh and Glasgowstraddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent.

SATURDAYS

PLEASURE, 23:00

Regular Saturday night at Cab Vol, with residents and occasional special guests.

Sneaky Pete’s

MONDAYS

RIDE N BOUNCE, 23:00

R‘n’B, pop, rap and hip-hop bangers every Monday.

TUESDAYS

RARE, 23:00

House, UKG and occasional techno from special guest DJs and rising locals.

FRIDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)

HOT MESS, 23:00

A night for queer people and their friends.

SATURDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH)

SOUL JAM, 23:00

Monthly no-holds-barred, down-and-dirty disco.

SUNDAYS

POSTAL, 23:00

Bass, breaks, grime and more from a selection of Cowgate all stars.

The Bongo Club

FRIDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH)

ELECTRIKAL, 23.00

Sound system and crew, part of a music and art collective specialising in BASS music.

FRIDAYS (MONTHLY, WEEK CHANGES)

SOUND SYSTEM LEGA-

CIES,23:00

Exploring the legacy of dub, reggae and roots music and sound system culture in the contemporary club landscape.

FRIDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH)

DISCO MAKOSSA, 23:00

Disco Makossa takes the dancefloor on a funk-filled trip through the sounds of African disco, boogie and house – strictly for the dancers.

FRIDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH)

OVERGROUND, 23:00

A safe space to appreciate all things rave, jungle, breakbeat and techno.

SATURDAYS (FIRST OR SECOND OF THE MONTH)

MESSENGER, 23:00

Roots reggae rocking since 1987 – foundation tune, fresh dubs, vibes alive, rockers, steppers, rub-a-dub.

SATURDAYS (MONTHLY)

CHROMATIC, 23:00

Championing all things UKG, grime, dubstep, bass and more, with disco, funk and soul from Mumbo Jumbo upstairs.

SATURDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH)

PULSE, 23:00

Techno night started in 2009 hosting regular special guests from the international scene.

SATURDAYS (MONTHLY)

HOBBES MUSIC X CLUB NACHT, 23:00

A collaboration between longrunning club night and Edinburgh record label ft. house, techno, electro, UKG and bass.

Regular Glasgow club nights

The Rum Shack

SATURDAYS (LAST OF EVERY OTHER MONTH)

VOCAL OR VERSION, 21:00

Vintage Jamaican music on original vinyl by resident DJs and guests. Sub Club

TYLER BALLGAME KING TUT'S Indie.

TUCKER WETMORE

O2 ACADEMY Country from the US. KOWLOON WALLED CITY THE HUG AND PINT Metal from San Francisco. BROOKE COMBE ST LUKE'S Soul from Scotland. THE SCRATCH

SWG3

Trad and metal from Ireland.

AMBER MARK

SWG3

R'n'B from the US. THE RUMPLED

NICE 'N' SLEAZY

Celtic punk from Trento.

STEPH STRINGS

STEREO Singer-songwriter from Australia.

Fri 24 Apr

MERCY GIRL THE GARAGE Dark wave from Glasgow.

The Liquid Room

SATURDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)

REWIND, 22:30

Monthly party night celebrating the best in soul, disco, rock and pop with music from the 70s, 80s, 90s and current bangers.

The Hive

MONDAYS POPTASTIC, 22:00 Pop, requests and throwbacks to get your week off to an energetic start.

TUESDAYS

TRASH TUESDAY, 22:00

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherry picked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more.

WEDNESDAYS

COOKIE WEDNESDAY, 22:00

90s and 00s cheesy pop and modern chart anthems.

THURSDAYS HI-SOCIETY THURSDAY, 22:00 Student anthems and bangerz.

FRIDAYS

FLIP FRIDAY, 22:00

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and noveltystuffed. Perrrfect.

SATURDAYS BUBBLEGUM, 22:00 Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure.

SUNDAYS

SECRET SUNDAY, 22:00

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/handle on a Sunday.

Subway Cowgate

MONDAYS

TRACKS, 21:00

Blow the cobwebs off the week with a weekly Monday night party with some of Scotland’s biggest and best drag queens.

TUESDAYS

TAMAGOTCHI, 22:00

Throwback Tuesdays with non-stop 80s, 90s, 00s tunes.

WEDNESDAYS

TWISTA, 22:00

Banger after banger all night long.

THURSDAYS

FLIRTY, 22:00

Pop, cheese and chart.

FRIDAYS

FIT FRIDAYS, 22:00

Chart-topping tunes perfect for an irresistible sing and dance-along.

SATURDAYS

SLICE SATURDAY, 22:00

The drinks are easy and the pop is heavy.

SUNDAYS

SUNDAY SERVICE, 22:00

Atone for the week before and the week ahead with non-stop dancing.

The Mash House

MONDAYS

MASH MONDAYS, 23:00

Edinburgh’s new Monday night.

SATURDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)

SAMEDIA SHEBEEN, 23:00

Joyous global club sounds: think Afrobeat, Latin and Arabic dancehall on repeat.

SATURDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH)

PULSE, 23:00

The best techno DJs sit alongside The Mash House resident Darrell Pulse.

Wed 29 Apr

THE DEAD COLLECTIVE

THE GARAGE Rock.

COOPER ALAN

SWG3

Country from the US.

BLOODWORM SWG3 Post-punk from the UK.

Thu 30 Apr

HYPHEN THE GARAGE Rap punk from the UK. THE BARR BROTHERS ORAN MOR Folk from Montreal.

MT JONES

KING TUT'S Jazz from Liverpool. NEEDLEGREEN (THE LINES)

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Indie rock from Glasgow. WILLI CARLISLE STEREO Folk from Kansas.

MILKWEED THE GLAD CAFE

Experimental folk.

Fri 1 May

CALVA LOUISE

THE GARAGE Rock from London.

SAMBROSO ALLSTARS ORAN MOR Trad from Cuba.

TSATSAMIS

KING TUT'S Dance pop from the UK.

FOLA SWG3 Singer-songwriter from Nigeria.

TOMMY WA SWG3 Folk from Nigeria.

Sat 2 May

WORLD NEWS

THE FLYING DUCK Post-punk from the UK. SUMMER SALT MONO Pop from Austin.

JUTES

THE GARAGE Pop punk from Canada. CAT CLYDE

KING TUT'S Indie from Canada. THE BIG PUSH O2 ACADEMY Pop from Brighton.

PROSTITUTE

BOOK OF CHURCHES THE HUG AND PINT Indie.

THE HUG AND PINT Post-punk from Michigan.

NORDIC GIANTS THE MASH HOUSE Post-rock from the UK.

Fri 3 Apr ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN USHER HALL Rock from Liverpool. CHIEDU ORAKA SNEAKY PETE'S Rap. KULKU (VEXATIONS + PAKO VEGA)

THE WEE RED BAR Krautrock.

Sat 4 Apr

THE CINELLI BROTHERS (LOUIS CROSLAND)

THE VOODOO ROOMS Blues funk from London. THE AZURESCENS SNEAKY PETE'S Indie rock.

DR FEELGOOD (NINE BELOW ZERO) LA BELLE ANGELE Rock from London.

Sun 5 Apr

THE GREIG TAYLOR BAND (JED POTTS)

THE VOODOO ROOMS Blues from the UK.

Mon 6 Apr

DELBHOY KENNEDY SNEAKY PETE'S Indie rock.

Wed 8 Apr

THE CAPTAIN'S BEARD (ANCHORSMASHED)

BANNERMANS Folk rock from Brighton. THE PALE WHITE SNEAKY PETE'S Rock.

Thu 9 Apr

PAPA SHANGO BANNERMANS Indie rock. THE NOW SNEAKY PETE'S Rock.

Fri 10 Apr

HIGHSCHOOL SNEAKY PETE'S Post-punk. MIDLAND RAILWAY THE MASH HOUSE Indie from Manchester.

Sat 11 Apr

FELIX RABIN BANNERMANS Blues rock. BILLY GILLIES

ÉTÁIN THE CAVES Singer-songwriter. CARPOOL TUNNEL SNEAKY PETE'S Indie rock.

Fri 17 Apr

THE MAINLAND ADVENTURE OF CALUM BLANE (LOST IN LILACS + KIRSTIE MACLEAN) THE VOODOO ROOMS Pop. JAMMERS THE CAVES Pop from India.

WINTER MCQUINN SNEAKY PETE'S Soft rock. APES OF THE STATE (SISTERWIFE SEX STRIKE + PICTURESKEW) THE WEE RED BAR Punk folk.

BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY THE QUEEN'S HALL Pop from the US.

RIANNE DOWNEY LA BELLE ANGELE Folk from Glasgow.

Sat 18 Apr

BLUE ROSE CODE THE QUEEN'S HALL Folk from Edinburgh. THE BURNING HELL (CARSIE BLANTON) LA BELLE ANGELE Indie from Canada.

Sun 19 Apr

BRAVE RIVAL

BANNERMANS Rock from the UK. EDDI READER THE QUEEN'S HALL Folk from Scotland. THE ROOP LA BELLE ANGELE Pop from Lithuania.

Mon 20 Apr

LEO MIDDEA THE VOODOO ROOMS Pop from Brazil.

Tue 21 Apr

DAVE MCCABE (JAMES JAY LEWIS) THE VOODOO ROOMS Rock from Liverpool. ANDY MCKEE THE CAVES Indie from the US. MAGDA DROZD SNEAKY PETE'S Neo-classical.

Wed 22 Apr

EMPTY SPACES THE MASH HOUSE Rock from Belfast.

Sat 25 Apr

VAN MILDERT BIG BAND X EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA THE BONGO CLUB Jazz.

GNAWA TRANCE FUSION THE VOODOO ROOMS Jazz funk from Edinburgh. GYPSY PISTOLEROS (MAMBO KURT) BANNERMANS Rock from Worcester. LUDOVICO EINAUDI USHER HALL Classical. LLOYD BANKS THE LIQUID ROOM Rap from the US. 1-800 GIRLS (LIVE) SNEAKY PETE'S Electronica. THE SKIDS THE QUEEN'S HALL Rock from Scotland. Sun 26 Apr

BARTEK DABROWSKI THE VOODOO ROOMS Indie from the UK. SISTER GHOST THE WEE RED BAR Post-punk. NUBIYAN TWIST LA BELLE ANGELE Jazz from London. MAGIC WIZ THE MASH HOUSE Psychedelic from the UK.

Tue 28 Apr

LUCY SPRAGGAN THE CAVES Pop from the UK. PICTISH TRAIL LA BELLE ANGELE Indie from Isle of Eigg. Wed 29 Apr

PARKER MILLSAP THE VOODOO ROOMS Folk rock from Oklahoma. KNEECAP THE LIQUID ROOM Punk rap from Belfast. Thu 30 Apr

WIDE DAYS

SHOWCASE

FRIDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH) RETURN TO MONO SLAM’s monthly Subbie residency sees them joined by some of the biggest names in international techno.

SATURDAYS SUBCULTURE, 23:00 Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic, oft’ joined by a carousel of super fresh guests.

JADE HELLIWELL KING TUT'S Pop from the UK. SKILLET

O2 ACADEMY Rock from Tennessee. SKIDS

BARROWLANDS Rock from Dunfermline. BROOKE COMBE ST LUKE'S Soul from Scotland. DRY CLEANING SWG3

Post-punk from the UK. HOUSE OF ALL STEREO Post-punk from Manchester.

EARTHBALL (L + SEMAY WU & SETH BENNETT) THE GLAD CAFE

Psych from Vancouver Island.

Sat 25 Apr

SWELL MAPS (NORMAL SERVICE) MONO Indie.

SOPHIA STEL

KING TUT'S Alt pop from Vancouver. MULTUNES O2 ACADEMY Dance.

VALTOS (FALASGAIR)

BARROWLANDS

Electro trad from the Isle of Skye.

LOVE (FT. JOHNNY ECHOLS)

ST LUKE'S Indie.

PLEASURE TRAIL THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS

Electro pop from Glasgow. O'FLYNN SWG3 Producer. DUDEK P56

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Polish rap. VINCENT LIMA

STEREO Indie folk from New Jersey.

Sun 26 Apr

ELLUR (NADIA KADEK) KING TUT'S Indie.

JOSHUA IDEHEN (KATE IRELAND)

ST LUKE'S Experimental from the UK. FEMI KUTI AND THE POSITIVE FORCE BAND QMU Afrobeat from Nigeria. EMMMA SWG3 Indie from the US. CLAIRE ROUSAY THE GLAD CAFE

Experimental from the US.

Mon 27 Apr

CREEPER CATHOUSE Rock.

LOUIS TOMLINSON THE OVO HYDRO Pop from the UK. JOSH BERMAN TRIO WITH JASON ROEBKE & CHRIS CORSANO

THE GLAD CAFE

Jazz from Chicago.

Tue 28 Apr

NE-YO + AKON THE OVO HYDRO Pop and club.

COOPER ALAN

SWG3 Country from the US. ÓLÖF ARNALDS

SWG3 Folk from Iceland. JERRY LEGER DUO THE GLAD CAFE Americana.

Sun 3 May

LADY MAISERY MONO Folk from the UK.

TOM ROWLEY

KING TUT'S Indie from the UK.

CARNALITY SWG3 Metal from Italy.

Edinburgh

Music

Mon 30 Mar

BASEMENT JAXX USHER HALL Electronica from the UK.

NATIONAL PLAYBOYS

SNEAKY PETE'S Post-punk. AYNUR DOĞAN THE QUEEN'S HALL Kurdish folk.

Tue 31 Mar

THE AWAKENING (BLACK LAKES)

BANNERMANS Dark wave from South Africa.

MCGARRY SNEAKY PETE'S Indie.

Wed 1 Apr

THUNDERCAT

USHER HALL Funk from the US. PROBLEM PATTERNS SNEAKY PETE'S Punk.

EDINBURGH CORN EXCHANGE Trance from Belfast. BIBI CLUB SNEAKY PETE'S Avant-pop.

SKINNY IMPS THE WEE RED BAR Punk. KAT BROOKS LA BELLE ANGELE Pop from Edinburgh.

Sun 12 Apr

HANNAH GRACE THE VOODOO ROOMS Folk jazz from Wales. ABNORM SNEAKY PETE'S Rock.

FLORENCE BLACK LA BELLE ANGELE Rock from Wales.

Mon 13 Apr

NIEVE ELLA SNEAKY PETE'S Indie pop.

Wed 15 Apr

MILLIE MANDERS AND THE SHUT UP (DEATH TRIALS) BANNERMANS Rock from London. SEB LOWE LA BELLE ANGELE Indie from Birmingham. MOUTH CULTURE

THE MASH HOUSE Rock from Leicester.

Thu 16 Apr

KEIINO THE VOODOO ROOMS Dance pop from Norway.

CALLUM KENWORTHY THE VOODOO ROOMS Alt folk from the UK. JETHRO TULL USHER HALL Rock from Blackpool. BIG GIRL'S BLOUSE SNEAKY PETE'S Alt punk.

Thu 23 Apr

TEZ SNEAKY PETE'S Indie.

Fri 24 Apr

MICHAEL MCGOVERN THE VOODOO ROOMS Folk roots from Glasgow. BRUTALITY OVER BRITAIN (ENGORGEMENT + VISIONS OF DISFIGUREMENT + CHAINSAW CASTRATION) BANNERMANS Heavy metal. THE CASES SNEAKY PETE'S Indie rock. THE ORCHESTRA (FOR NOW) CABARET VOLTAIRE Indie prog. KULK (IAN) THE WEE RED BAR Sludge.

NEARLY DAN LA BELLE ANGELE Rock from the UK.

DELTA SLEEP THE MASH HOUSE Rock from Brighton.

LA BELLE ANGELE, BONGO CLUB, AND SNEAKY PETE'S Eclectic lineup. HACKNEY COLLIERY BAND THE VOODOO ROOMS Brass from London. KRIS DREVER BAND THE QUEEN'S HALL Folk from Scotland.

Fri 1 May WIDE DAYS SHOWCASE LA BELLE ANGELE, BONGO CLUB, AND SNEAKY PETE'S Eclectic lineup. UNRISING SUN & FRIENDS THE VOODOO ROOMS Pop rock.

EMILY FRANCIS TRIO THE VOODOO ROOMS Jazz.

SNJO PRESENTS TWO GILS AND A BILL: GIL GOLDSTEIN CELEBRATES THE MUSIC OF GIL EVANS & BILL EVANS THE QUEEN'S HALL Jazz from Scotland.

Sat 2 May

SARI SCHORR THE VOODOO ROOMS Blues rock from New York. BONAFIDE BANNERMANS Hard rock from Sweden. ELKIE BROOKS USHER HALL Rock from the UK.

Sun 3 May

BECKY SIKASA THE CAVES Soul from Scotland. COWBOY JUNKIES THE QUEEN'S HALL Pop from Canada.

Dundee Music

Mon

Wed

DERMOT

Thu

Fri

Sat

Thu

Fri

Tue

Glasgow Clubs

Thu

FLY:

CLUB THE BERKELEY SUITE Techno. H I J A C K R I S I N G LA CHEETAH CLUB House and bass.

NØXX PRESENTS: IKKHI B2B AZDAT ROOM 2 Techno. KI/KI SWG3 Techno.

NOSEDRIP X SUSANNAH STARK & BAND X SOMEWHERE PRESS EXIT Psych. RED LIGHT DISCO LAUNCH PARTY THE BUFF CLUB House and disco.

RUSH: STEPHEN BROWN THE ART SCHOOL Techno and house.

KNOCKENGORROCH FUNDRAISER STEREO Dub, funk and soul.

Sat 4 Apr

KULKU AFTERPARTY: LIZZIE URQUHART B2B MR TC + 12TH ISLE + EMMA DIAMOND + LUCA VENDITOZZI THE FLYING DUCK Experimental.

NO MUSIC NO LIFE:

KIBO + 500 THE FLYING DUCK Bass and grime. OPTIMO (ESPACIO) EASTER SPECIAL WITH PIGEON STEVE OPENING THE BERKELEY SUITE Acid and dancehall.

EASTER EVENIN': FEAR-E + COACCUSED

LA CHEETAH CLUB Techno and electro. LA CHEETAH CLUB PRESENTS: DJRUM + JOE UNKNOWN + WARDY

LA CHEETAH CLUB House.

BOUNCE: EARGASM GOD ROOM 2

Trance.

EXIT CLUB: EVE SCHWARZ TRSSX EXIT Techno.

SERAPHIM SOUND:

BREAKAGE & ANIKONIK

STEREO

D'n'B, breaks and jungle.

Sun 5 Apr

TWISTER FACTORY 2 THE FLYING DUCK Techno.

JAIVA: CULOE DE SONG + BUTHOTHEWARRIOR SUB CLUB Afrobeats.

BREATHE: THE GHOST SUB CLUB House and electro. THE HAMMER HITS: REMMAH

THE BERKELEY SUITE House and disco.

ABRUPT PRESENTS ANDREW CAIRNS ROOM 2 Trance and techno.

SCOTTISH HOUSE & DISCO FESTIVAL 2026 SWG3 House and disco.

Wed 8 Apr

FAMILIA FUNDRAISER CLUB NIGHT (NORTH STAR, T3.MP3, JORDANPORDAN, PALO DE AGUA)

STEREO

Latin bass, breakcore and baile funk.

Thu 9 Apr

FLY: LOCKLEAD SUB CLUB House.

HAWD THAT 004: SLOAN OF LEZURE + WORK COACH + FERGUS MCNALLY LA CHEETAH CLUB Techno.

Fri 10 Apr

CÉLESTE: BELLA CLAXTON + LAURA COLANDREA THE BERKELEY SUITE Techno. SCANDAL.GLA 3RD ANNIVERSARY W SAFETY TRANCE (RAHUL. MP3,LEAHGTE,YUZO)

STEREO Baile funk, trance and hip-hop.

Sat 11 Apr

HOTEL SERUM THE FLYING DUCK Bass and grime. A LOVE FROM OUTER SPACE WITH SEAN JOHNSTON THE BERKELEY SUITE Acid and club.

FLOW GLASGOW: FRANKY RIZARDO SWG3 House.

EXIT X ARA: KANGDING RAY AND SORCERY EXIT Techno. PHANTASMAGASM IV STEREO Psychedelic and club.

Thu 16 Apr

RARE CLUB: RYAN RESSO B2B STEF DAVIDSE SUB CLUB House and minimal. VICE VERSA INVITES: ALYCIA BEZGO THE BERKELEY SUITE Trance and techno. UNDERCURRENT B2B MONTY LA CHEETAH CLUB Italo disco. GLASGOW ALARMPHONE FUNDRAISER: SOLIDARITY AT SEA (JUDE NORTON-SMITH, ROOFCATS, SOPHIA ARCHONTIS, BAKE, PLANTAINCHIPPS)

STEREO Afrobeat and house.

Fri 17 Apr

MAS SERVE! THE FLYING DUCK Dancehall. 23 DEGREES: SOUL MASS TRANSIT SYSTEM THE BERKELEY SUITE Garage and tech house. PRTY: NVNS ROOM 2 Techno. PARADISE: ACT II EXIT Techno. I'M PROBABLY PERFECT: THE SECOND COMING STEREO Trance and electro.

Sat 18 Apr FIXED ABODE X THE FLYING DUCK THE FLYING DUCK Experimental. MOUNT KIMBIE SUB CLUB Techno. SHOOT YOUR SHOT: PATY VAPOR THE BERKELEY SUITE EBM.

VINYL FANTASY 2.0: THE THRILLSEEKERS & SIMON FOY SWG3 House.

STILL EXISTS: MOTHER EARTH + POISONOUS RELATIONSHIP + BYS VYKEN SWG3 Techno. EXIT CLUB: MARCO SHUTTLE EXIT Techno. LSB: PRAY TO GOOD THE ART SCHOOL Drum 'n' bass.

Sun 19 Apr

JULIAN FIJMA SCOTLAND TOUR THE BERKELEY SUITE House.

Thu 23 Apr

FLY: KEPLER SUB CLUB House.

GSG PRESENTS: JULIAN MULLER THE BERKELEY SUITE Techno and garage.

Fri 24 Apr

ANIMAL FARM: RØDHÅD + QUAIL + REECE PRITCHARD SUB CLUB Techno.

CANDLE: MELINA SERSER THE BERKELEY SUITE Electronica. FASTER HORSES B2B KYLE STARKEY SWG3 Techno.

Sat 25 Apr

SOFIA KOURTESIS: FREE TIME SUB CLUB House.

313 CONNECTION PRESENTS DJ 3000 [MOTECH RECORDS, DETROIT] + KAIROGEN + UNDERCURRENT LA CHEETAH CLUB Techno and house.

RAPTURE PRESENTS: FIN CARROLL + TLO ROOM 2 Techno.

PARTICK SAILING CLUB: PALESTINE FUNDRAISER SWG3 House and disco.

Sun 26 Apr

1-800 GIRLS (LIVE)

THE BERKELEY SUITE Breakbeat and electronica. PRESSURE: FREDDY K & SLAM SWG3 Techno.

Thu 30 Apr

FLY: LOCKY SUB CLUB House.

Fri 1 May

SMART//CASUAL: J WAX + ET AL LA CHEETAH CLUB Techno and garage.

KHAOTIC X ENCORE PRESENTS: ECZODIA + TRKN ROOM 2 Techno.

GULLYGULLY X STEREO: HEAVEE STEREO Footwork and juke.

Sat 2 May

SHOOT YOUR SHOT: ELKKA + LEZZER QUEST THE BERKELEY SUITE House.

EXIT CLUB: BLACK MERLIN + AURA NOX EXIT Techno.

SERVE!: REPTILE B STEREO Ballroom, rap and grime.

Edinburgh Clubs

Wed 1 Apr

BPM - SHUTDOWN

CABARET VOLTAIRE House and hip-hop. ANDROMEDA: GEORGE T + CHRISTIAN SNEAKY PETE'S Electronica. APPLE THE MASH HOUSE House.

Thu 2 Apr

GROOVY DISCO TECH: EDINBURGH LAUNCH CABARET VOLTAIRE Disco.

ELEMENTS: CHAPTER 3 - EARTH

PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB Afro house. IMPORT: NOGE SNEAKY PETE'S Bass.

MODULAR LA BELLE ANGELE House.

Fri 3 Apr

ORDINARY WORLD

805 GOTH: NEW WAVE + SYNTH + NEW ROMANTIC CLUB

PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB New Wave and post-punk. INKOHERENT THE MASH HOUSE Techno.

REGGAETON LA BELLE ANGELE Reggaeton.

Sat 4 Apr

NCTRN001: CLUB NOCTURNE PRESENTS

JASPER JAMES B2B TOM TRAGO

CABARET VOLTAIRE House.

NIGHTS: SWEENEY SELECTS PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB House.

SCOTTISH NATIONAL JAZZ ORCHESTRA

CELEBRATES

HAAI THE BISCUIT FACTORY Techno and breaks.

EHFM'S BACK TO BASICS: ALL VINYL ALL NIGHT SNEAKY PETE'S House. THE BORDELLO THE MASH HOUSE House.

Sun 5 Apr

BIG HOT MESS WITH HORSE MEAT DISCO THE BISCUIT FACTORY Disco.

LUKE UNA: FREE TIME X HAPTIC

SNEAKY PETE'S Disco.

Fri 10 Apr

TEMPORAL: TRE REYNOLDS

THE LIQUID ROOM House.

MANTLE X IMPORT: JOKER

SNEAKY PETE'S Dubstep.

TESTPRESS THE MASH HOUSE Techno.

LIMEWIRED: A 2000’S NOSTALGIA PARTY

LA BELLE ANGELE Pop.

Sat 11 Apr

NCTRN002: CLUB NOCTURNE PRESENTS

EJECA

CABARET VOLTAIRE Techno and house.

THE MIRROR DANCE: PRINCESS P SNEAKY PETE'S House.

ASCENSION THE WEE RED BAR Goth and EBM. UNTITLED THE MASH HOUSE House.

KEEP IT STEEL (HOT METAL TIME MACHINE)

LA BELLE ANGELE Rock.

Wed 15 Apr

BORLEY ROOM

SNEAKY PETE'S House.

Thu 16 Apr

JULIAN FIJMA SCOTLAND TOUR CABARET VOLTAIRE House.

AGORA SNEAKY PETE'S Techno.

Fri 17 Apr

DISCOTIA: PEREL

SNEAKY PETE'S Disco.

GOOD NIGHT CREW THE MASH HOUSE House.

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: 20 YEARS OF HANNAH MONTANA

LA BELLE ANGELE Pop.

Sat 18 Apr

DBT. WITH HAMISH AND TOBY CABARET VOLTAIRE House and tech house.

EPIKA: E2NMN THE BONGO CLUB Techno and electro. LIKE THIS #023 FT - DJ 3000 (MOTECH)

PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB Techno and electro.

SUBLIMINAL BLEEPS THE MASH HOUSE Techno.

DECADE EMO POP PUNK PARTY

LA BELLE ANGELE Pop punk.

Sun 19 Apr

MOUNT KIMBIE (DJ SET): FREE TIME

SNEAKY PETE'S Electronica.

Wed 22 Apr

CLUB SPIT

Thu 23 Apr

POTPOURRI: G JONES & EPROM

SNEAKY PETE'S Dubstep.

Fri 24 Apr

INFOLINE WITH DATSKO B2B FRANCK AND SHAKE DADDY

PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB Trance and techno.

MYD + ANISH KUMAR

SNEAKY PETE'S House.

MUSICALS PARTY LA BELLE ANGELE Musical theatre. CTRL THE MASH HOUSE Techno.

Sat 25 Apr

NCTRN003: CLUB NOCTURNE PRESENTS

CINTHIE CABARET VOLTAIRE Techno and house. RAVE MAKES

GLASGOW PRESENTS

TOKYO ACID CRU

PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB Acid.

CLUB MERCADOOFFICIAL REUNION LA BELLE ANGELE House. PULSE THE MASH HOUSE House.

Sun 26 Apr

SOFIA KOURTESIS: FREE TIME SNEAKY PETE'S Electronica.

Wed 29 Apr

SATSUMA SOUNDS SNEAKY PETE'S House.

Thu 30 Apr

HAPTIC SNEAKY PETE'S UK garage.

Fri 1 May

EZSTREET: SALLY C THE CAVES House and garage.

Sat 2 May

SOUL MOTIVE PRESENTS: HARRI PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB House and disco. VOLENS CHORUS SNEAKY PETE'S Bass.

Dundee Clubs

Sat 11 Apr

PROJECT VII PRISM House.

Fri 17 Apr

JULIAN FIJMA SCOTLAND TOUR CHURCH House.

Sat 18 Apr

SOUNDAFRIQUE THE TERRACE Afro house.

Sun 3 May

CANVAS ALL DAY PARTY CANVAS House and hip-hop.

Glasgow

Comedy

St Luke's

CALLY BEATON: NAMASTE MOTHERF*CKERS TUE 7 APR

The Glee Club

MARIO ADRION

WED 1 APR

Mario Adrion is a stand-up comedian from a small town in Germany with refreshingly vulnerable sets.

JAMIE HUTCHINSON:

CAN MY MATE COME?

HE'S SOUND

MON 20 APR-WED 22 APR

Stand-up comedian and podcast cult hero Jamie Hutchinson returns with Can My Mate Come? He’s Sound. A brand-new hour of unfiltered comedy, mad stories, and chaotic charm.

The King's Theatre

RUSSELL HOWARD:

DON'T TELL THE ALGORITHM

SUN 12 APR

Russell Howard is back with a brand-new stand-up tour in 2026.

ROB BECKETT:

GIRAFFE

FRI 17 APR-SAT 18 APR

Host of Sky’s Rob Beckett’s Smart TV returns with a new stand-up hour.

AISLING BEA: OLDER

THAN JESUS

SUN 19 APR

Star of Taskmaster and This Way Up brings a new stand-up show all about travel, home, immigration, history, sex, babies, music, lovers and enemies.

The Old Hairdresser's

HAROLD MONTH

TUE 7 APR

Celebrating 10 years of Glasgow Harold Night! Feat. Saved By The Beep and With Bits!

HAROLD MONTH

TUE 7 APR

Celebrating 10 years of Glasgow Harold Night!

Featuring tubducky and Smoking Cat!

HAROLD MONTH

TUE 14 APR

Celebrating 10 years of

Glasgow Harold Night!

Feat. Ghost Fish and Family

Lettuce

HAROLD MONTH

TUE 14 APR

Celebrating 10 years of Glasgow Harold Night!

Featuring President Dog!

HAROLD MONTH

TUE 21 APR

Celebrating 10 years of Glasgow Harold Night! Feat.

F.L.U.S.H. and Raintown

HAROLD MONTH

TUE 21 APR

Celebrating 10 years of Glasgow Harold Night!

Featuring Couch!

HAROLD MONTH

TUE 28 APR

Celebrating 10 years of Glasgow Harold Night!

Feat. OG Glasgow and OG

Edinburgh

HAROLD MONTH

TUE 28 APR

Celebrating 10 years of Glasgow Harold Night! Harold Jam!

Theatre Royal

JOHN MULANEY:

MISTER WHATEVER

SAT 25 APR

Everyone's beloved SNL alumnus comes on tour with his new show.

Edinburgh Comedy

Monkey Barrel

Comedy Club

COURTNEY BUCHNER: IS YOUR FRIEND (WIP)

WED 1 APR

A show honouring the friends we made and lost along the way that will make you laugh, cringe and text your best friend immediately.

SARDINES: IN BUTTER (WIP)

THU 2 APR

Sardines (Sketch Off! 2025 Finalists) present ‘In Butter’. An absurd hour of sketch comedy, exorcising the trio's innermost fantasies.

STUART MCPHERSON: CRISPS AND A LIE

DOWN

FRI 3 APR

Join Scottish comedy powerhouse Stuart McPherson for his critically-acclaimed new show about settling down, growing up and how he’s being controlled by his step-dog.

ALEX KEALY: BEST OF (WIP)

SAT 4 APR

Alex Kealy is preparing to record an hour of his best jokes for a special. Come watch and help him work out precisely which those are.

TIFF STEVENSON: POST COITAL

SUN 5 APR

An insightful and hilarious new show from one of the best in the business.

MC HAMMERSMITH AND FRIENDS

TUE 7 APR

Multi-award winning freestyle rap comedian MC Hammersmith presents an evening of improvised comedy raps based entirely on audience suggestions.

JAIN EDWARDS: SHEDEVIL

TUE 7 APR

The sell out show of Fringe 2025, She-Devil is a show about conspiracy theories, autism and men turning on you.

CALLY BEATON: NAMASTE

MOTHERF*CKERS

WED 8 APR

Namaste Motherf*ckers is the new show from Cally Beaton, a quick-witted, unexpected and unapologetic insight into life in midlife.

MC HAMMERSMITH: HIPPITY HOPPITY GET OFF MY PROPERTY

THU 9 APR

MC Hammersmith is the world's leading freestyle rapper to emerge from the ghetto of middle-class West London.

PETER FLANAGAN: FRESH PRINCE OF KILDARE

FRI 10 APR

After a sold-out, critically acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Fringe, Fresh Prince of Kildare is the debut tour show from Irish comedy sensation Peter Flanagan.

JONATHAN OLDFIELD: WORK IN PROGRESS

SAT 11 APR

Jonathan Oldfield is making his first ever comedy hour.

GARETH WAUGH:

WORK IN PROGRESS

SUN 12 APR

Brand-new show from Edinburgh's own Gareth Waugh. A hilarious and intriguing true story in which true-crime podcasts meets stand-up.

ROB ROUSE: FUNNY

BONES

TUE 14 APR

Funny Bones is Rob’s brand-new stand-up show: a relentlessly funny and daft evening of comedy, from a one-man whirlwind who pulls the audience in.

HARRIET

RICHARDSON: CREEP

(WIP)

WED 15 APR

A rare opportunity to see online performance artist's first work-in-progress.

TATTY MACLEOD: WORK IN PROGRESS

FRI 17 APR

In this brand new work in progress, Tatty reviews her mum’s life choices (including moving to France, digging a Trench, repairing her own sceptic tank) and contrasts it against her own.

DAVID ELMS: DESCRIBES A ROOM

SAT 18 APR

Following sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and London’s Soho Theatre, this cult hit show is heading out on its first UK tour.

THE CHERYL & KITTY SHOW 2026

WED 22 APR

Join the fabulous diva’s & Rupaul’s Drag Race UK legends Cheryl and Kitty Scott Claus in their first full length double act tour.

JAMIE HUTCHINSON: CAN MY MATE COME?

HE’S SOUND.

THU 23 APR

Following his recordbreaking Waterslide tour, Jamie Hutchinson is back with a brand-new hour of unfiltered mayhem, questionable logic and emotional chaos.

STEVIE MARTIN: CLOUT FRI 24 APR

Having sold out the entire first leg of her tour, Stevie Martin is back due to overwhelming demand.

TIM KEY: LOGANBERRY

SUN 26 APR -MON 27 APR

Tim Key again pops his suit on and plods about in a brand new show.

COLIN GEDDIS: GREAT TIMES

THU 30 APR

Self-confessed ill informed opinions on of the craziest years in recent history.

The Edinburgh Playhouse

RUSSELL HOWARD: DON'T TELL THE ALGORITHM

SAT 11 APR

Russell Howard is back with a brand-new stand-up tour in 2026.

JOSH WIDDICOMBE: NOT MY CUP OF TEA

SAT 2 MAY

Shorter but funnier than the Eras Tour.

The Gilded Saloon

Regular Glasgow comedy nights

The Stand

Glasgow

FIRST MONDAY OF THE MONTH

MONDAY NIGHT IMPROV, 20:30

Host Billy Kirkwood & guests act entirely on your suggestions.

TUESDAYS

RED RAW, 20:30

Legendary new material night with up to 8 acts.

FRIDAYS THE FRIDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

SATURDAYS THE SATURDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

The Glee Club

FRIDAYS FRIDAY NIGHT COMEDY, 19:00

The perfect way to end the working week, with four superb stand-up comedians.

SATURDAYS SATURDAY NIGHT COMEDY, 19:00

An evening of awardwinning comedy, with four superb stand-up comedians that will keep you laughing until Monday.

Regular Edinburgh comedy nights

The Stand

Edinburgh

MONDAYS

RED RAW, 20:30

Legendary new material night with up to 8 acts.

TUESDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)

STU & GARRY’S IMPROV SHOW, 20:30

The Stand’s very own Stu & Garry’s make comedy cold from suggestions.

THURSDAYS THE THURSDAY SHOW, 20:00

Simply the best comics on the contemporary Scottish circuit.

FRIDAYS THE FRIDAY SHOW, 21:00

The big weekend show with four comedians.

SATURDAYS THE SATURDAY SHOW (THE EARLY SHOW), 17:00

A slightly earlier performance of the big weekend show with four comedians.

SATURDAYS THE SATURDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

The Queen's Hall

DANNY BAKER: AYE AYE! AHOY HOY! FRI 3 APR

The Unstoppable Talking Panjandrum.

SHANE TODD

SAT 4 APR

The iconic Irish comic. YOU'RE DEAD TO ME SUN 12 APR

BBC Radio comedy podcast that takes history seriously.

HENNING WEHN: ACID WEHN FRI 24 APR

An unbiased look at climate change.

Traverse Theatre

JACK DOCHERTY IN THE CHIEF: NO APOLOGIES WED 22 APR-24 APR

Parody sketch comedy of police work.

Dundee

Comedy-

Monkey Barrel

Comedy Club

SECOND AND THIRD

TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH THE EDINBURGH REVUE, 19:00

The University of Edinburgh’s Comedy Society, who put on sketch and stand-up comedy shows every two weeks.

WEDNESDAYS TOP BANANA, 19:00

Catch the stars of tomorrow today in Monkey Barrel’s new act night every Wednesday.

THURSDAYS BEST OF THE FRINGE, 19:00 + 21:00 Four acts every Thursday take to the stage to try out new material.

FRIDAYS MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG FRIDAY SHOW, 19:00/21:00 Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

SATURDAYS MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SATURDAY SHOW, 17:00/19:00/21:00 Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

Glasgow Theatre

Citizen's

Theatre

FLIGHT

SAT 21 MAR -SAT 4 APR

Two orphaned brothers embark on a desperate odyssey to freedom and safety, in a heart-wrenching road story of terror, hope and survival.

I, DANIEL BLAKE TUE 7 APR -SAT 11 APR

Adapted from the Ken Loach film, this is a blazing look at poverty in modernday UK.

SWEAT SAT 2 MAY -SAT 16 MAY

Friendships are forged in a Pennsylvania Rust Belt town in this examination of America's working class.

Oran Mor

A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: OUTSKIRTS MON 30 MAR-SAT 4 APR

SUNDAYS

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SUNDAY SHOW, 19:00/21:00 Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

The Gilded Saloon FRIDAYS (EXCEPT LAST) THE COMEDY SHOW, 20:00

Mixed bill comedy lineup. LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH STORY PLATFORM, 19:30 + 21:00 Comedy sketch show with local comedians.

SECOND THURSDAY OF THE MONTH ROBIN GRAINGER'S SPECIALIST SUBJECT, 20:00

Mixed-bill of stand-up comedy and live podcast. LAST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH GARETH MUTCH, 20:00 Mixed bill comedy lineup.

DIVERSITY: SOUL 2026 THU 23 APR -SAT 25 APR

One of the UK's most famous contemporary dance groups returns in a piece about technology and what it means to be human.

THE CHOIR OF MAN TUE 28 APR -SAT 2 MAY

Life-affirming jukebox musical set in a British pub.

Theatre Royal

INSPECTOR MORSE: HOUSE OF GHOSTS

TUE 31 MAR -SAT 4 APR

The first stage adaptation of the iconic detective delves into his past. THE PRINCE OF EGYPT THE MUSICAL WED 8 APR -SAT 11 APR

An amateur production of the beloved musical about the life of Moses.

SCOTTISH BALLET: STARSTRUCK THU 16 APR -SAT 18 APR

Namaste Motherf*ckers is the new show from Cally Beaton, a quick-witted, unexpected and unapologetic insight into life in midlife.

SNEAKY PETE'S Hard dance.

TOM WHISTON: NIGHT MAIL (WORK IN PROGRESS)

SAT 11 APR

Brand new show from acclaimed clown, Tom Whiston.

TAMSYN KELLY: RAT'S ASS (WIP) FRI 3 APR

Glasgow-based comedian and Edinburgh Comedy Panel Prize (both can be true).

THE LAUGHTERNOON SHOW WITH SOPHIE SAT 11 APR

A mixed bill of stellar standup comedians.

Dundee RepJACK DOCHERTY IN THE CHIEF: NO APOLOGIESTHU 30 APRParody sketch comedy of police work.

A hilarious and heartfelt musical about a young granny and her lifechanging visit to a Glasgow gay bar.

The King's

Theatre

LEGALLY BLONDE

TUE 7 APR -SAT 11 APR

Harvard? Road trip! One of the century's funniest comedies gets the stage musical treatment.

A new staging of an original work created in 1960 for the Paris Opera Ballet by legendary actor and choreographer Gene Kelly.

GO DANCE 2026

TUE 21 APR -FRI 24 APR

A different programme of bite-sized works over four nights by schools, colleges and community groups.

Tramway MONIQUX ENSEMBLE PRESENTS

DICTATIONS - THE HEART OF THE SEA

THU 30 APR -FRI 1 MAY

Directed by choreographer Mele Broomes, this intimate dance piece explores how family and community are carried and remembered.

Tron Theatre

WHAT I'M HERE FOR

WED 1 APR -SAT 4 APR

Exploring the tragi-comic collateral of hospitals and human choices.

ISLAND TOWN

WED 8 APR -THU 9 APR

First produced by Plaines Plough, this blackly comic play looks at coming-of-age in neglected communities.

STAND & DELIVER: THE LEE JEANS SIT-IN

FRI 24 APR -SAT 9 MAY

Dramatising the events of the 1981 Lee Jeans factory strike, developed in conversation with some of the key women involved.

Edinburgh

Theatre

Assembly Roxy

REASONS TO BE

PRETTY

WED 1 APR -SAT 4 APR

Four friends navigate love and desire against a backdrop of insecurity and fragility.

A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT : OFF THE RAILS

WED 29 APR -SUN 3 MAY

A live-looped musical comedy about how far one woman will go to escape her demons.

Festival Theatre THE CONSTANT WIFE

TUE 31 MAR -SAT 4 APR

A sharp and funny adaptation of W Somerset Maugham’s glittering comedy about the perfect wife.

THE HIGH LIFE: THE MUSICAL, STILL LIVING IT!

TUE 7 APR -SAT 11 APR

Based on the beloved BBC Scotland television series, this new musical spectacular reunites all four original cast members.

MATTHEW BOURNE'S THE RED SHOES

TUE 14 APR -SAT 18 APR

Magical adaptation of the legendary Powell and Pressburger film by legendary choreographer.

THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD

TUE 21 APR -SAT 25 APR

For the first time ever, John le Carré's seminal spy novel gets the stage adaptation. THE BALLAD OF JOHNNY AND JUNE

TUE 28 APR -SAT 2 MAY

The love story of Johnny Cash and June Carter is brought to life through their songs.

Royal Lyceum

Theatre

ONE DAY: THE MUSICAL

FRI 27 FEB -SUN 19 APR

The world premiere of a new musical version of the bestselling romance novel.

KARINE POLWART: WINDBLOWN

TUE 28 APR -THU 30 APR

Soaring folk music and intimate storytelling pay tribute to a fallen oak tree in Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens.

Studio Theatre CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

WED 1 APR -SAT 4 APR

Just three actors bring Dostoevsky's msterpiece to life.

THREE60 WORLD’S EVOLUTION

FRI 10 APR

Following the story of humanity from roots to the modern day.

TRIPTYCH

FRI 24 APR -SAT 25 APR

Mixed bill of dance made up of three short works: Two x Three by Russell Maliphant and Unfolding and Epilogue by Lewis Major.

Summerhall

JACKALS

FRI 24 APR -SAT 25 APR

Based on true events between a female patient and Sigmund Freud, this contemporary retelling reimagines one of psychoanalysis' most troubling stories.

The Edinburgh Playhouse

ELLEN KENT: THE FAREWELL TOURCARMEN

THU 2 APR

Bizet's sultry masterpiece returns in this production by the Ukrainian Opera & Ballet Theatre Kyiv.

ELLEN KENT: THE FAREWELL TOURMADAMA BUTTERFLY

FRI 3 APR

A lavish production of Puccini's opera, featuring gorgeous set design.

PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT

TUE 14 APR -SAT 18 APR

A life-affirming jukebox musical about three drag queens traversing the Australian outback.

DIVERSITY: SOUL 2026

SUN 26 APR

One of the UK's most famous contemporary dance groups returns in a piece about technology and what it means to be human.

STRICTLY COME

DANCING: THE PROFESSIONALS

FRI 1 MAY

11 world-class professional dancers from the hit TV series Strictly Come Dancing.

Traverse Theatre

A PLAY, A PIE & A PINT: MISS LOCKWOOD

ISN’T WELL

TUE 31 MAR -SAT 4 APR

An ecclesiastical comedy drama about a Catholic primary school teacher who’s been having disconcerting religious experiences in her classroom.

GAME OF CRONES

SAT 4 APR -SUN 5 APR

A riotous celebration of women in their prime - warriors who will not go gentle into bingo night.

QMU ACTING AND PERFORMANCE SHOWCASE 2026

TUE 7 APR -WED 8 APR

QMU's graduating acting students showcase their remarkable talents.

GUSH

FRI 10 APR -SAT 25 APR

Exploring self-identity, sexuality and the tension between compromise and sacrifice, GUSH considers what it means to discover what we want.

WHAT I'M HERE FOR

WED 15 APR -SAT 18 APR

Exploring the tragi-comic collateral of hospitals and human choices.

TOMORROW

TUE 28 APR -THU 30 APR

Physical, dynamic choreography articulates the things we struggle to say in words.

SHOTGUNNED

WED 29 APR -THU 30 APR

A couple unexpectedly fall out of love in this patchwork recreation of the aftermath of a relationship.

Dundee

Theatre

Dundee Rep

THE HIGH LIFE: THE MUSICAL, STILL LIVING IT!

FRI 27 MAR -SAT 9 MAY

Based on the beloved BBC Scotland television series, this new musical spectacular reunites all four original cast members.

WHAT I'M HERE FOR THU 9 APR -SAT 11 APR

Exploring the tragi-comic collateral of hospitals and human choices.

Glasgow

Art

Common Guild

FIONA BANNER AKA

THE VANITY PRESS:

ISBN 978-1-91398371-0 (EVERY WORD UNMADE)

SAT 21 MAR -SAT 25 APR

Handmade neon alphabet struggling both against medium and language.

Glasgow School of Art

BLACK WATERS: INFERENCE TO THE VEIL

SAT 14 MAR -SAT 25 APR

The culmination of the inaugural Jerwood Curatorial Fellowship at The Glasgow School of Art featuring works from the Jerwood Collection and GSA archives.

GoMA

JOHN AKOMFRAH: MIMESIS: AFRICAN SOLDIER

SAT 26 OCT -MON 20 APR

A film installation from acclaimed artist exploring the significant contribution of over six million African, Caribbean and South Asian people from across former colonies who fought and died in World War I.

STILL GLASGOW

SAT 29 NOV -SUN 13 JUN

An extensive exhibition using photography to look at Glasgow's past and present.

Street Level

Photoworks

SIMON PHIPPS: BRUTAL SCOTLAND

SAT 21 FEB -SAT 16 MAY

An extensive survery of Scotland's post-war modernist architecture, in which buildings become witnesses to social and cultural history.

The Briggait

SAMUEL O’DONNELL: VIEWFINDER

FRI 6 FEB -FRI 10 APR

Exploring the medium of painting as a way of framing and making sense of the world.

The Glue Factory

RISO CLUB 100

SAT 11 APR -SUN 19 APR

RISO CLUB 100 celebrates almost ten years and 100 issues of the not-for-profit postcard project founded by designer Gabriella Marcella of RISOTTO.

The Modern Institute

ELISABETH KLEY: THE INVISIBLE HANDS OF BIRDS

FRI 13 MAR -SAT 16 MAY

Ceramic sculptures and fabric paintings exploring intersections between langauge and architecture.

SUE TOMPKINS: LOVE

AHEAD

FRI 13 MAR -SAT 16 MAY

Paintings formed around typewritten words considering the use of speech and voice in the service of personal expression.

Tramway

LEAP THEN LOOK: PLAY INTERACT

EXPLORE

SAT 27 SEP -MON 11 MAY

An exhibition of interactive artworks created by artists

Lucy Cran and Bill Leslie.

RAE-YEN SONG

WED 15 OCT -MON 24 AUG

Glasgow artist transforms Tramway’s vast gallery space into a sub-aquatic world, which serves simultaneously as a spectacle, a memorial and a refuge.

Edinburgh Art

Collective Gallery

PALOMA PROUDFOOT:

GLASS DELUSION

FRI 6 MAR -SUN 24 MAY

Presenting large scale ceramic friezes, depicting contemporary puppet-like figures often in uncanny medical poses where skin and organs are revealed, examined and stitched together.

Dovecot

Studios

DRAWING ON STYLE: ORIGINAL FASHION

ILLUSTRATION

SAT 10 JAN -SAT 11 APR

Original fashion illustratons from the 1960s and 1970s.

THE BIBA STORY:

1964–1975

FRI 6 FEB -SAT 27 JUN

Journey into 60s and 70s fashion through the world of Biba, a fashion phenomenon who became the world's first lifestyle label.

DAVID REMFRY: IN RESIDENCE

SAT 21 FEB -SAT 13 JUN

Paintings and drawings of neighbours and friends by Royal Academician.

Edinburgh Printmakers

SUSAN ALDWORTH: BELONGINGS

FRI 3 APR -SUN 28 JUN An immersive installation challenging anti-immigration narratives by imagining the contents of a suitcase containing displaced belongings.

SUSAN ALDWORTH: MODERN ALCHEMY

FRI 3 APR -SUN 28 JUN

Print works created in collaboration with scientists at the University of Edinburgh exploring how to use greener methods of chemical synthesis.

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop

DAVID LEMM: INITIATED DESIRING

UNIVERSE

SAT 21 MAR -SUN 7 JUN

Examining the tensions between the life cycles of manmade beach objects and organic matter.

Ingleby Gallery

CALLUM INNES: FOUR

SAT 11 APR -SAT 6 JUN

Exploring the physicality of colour and paint in the architectural space of the gallery.

Jupiter Artland

TAI SHANI: THE SPELL OR THE DREAM

SAT 11 OCT -TUE 1 SEP

A new sculpture by Turner-prize winning artist, in which a luminous giant figures lies and breathes gently in Jupiter Artland's orchard space.

EXTRACTION

SAT 11 APR -SUN 26 JUL

An examination of how energy systems shape culture, land and belief, through work by artists Carol Rhodes, john gerrard, Marguerite Humeau, Siobhan McLaughlin and John Latham, informed by the gallery's own landscape.

Leith Makers

TINE BARKMANN: NATUR EINSAMKEIT

WED 8 APR -SUN 19 APR

Exploring solitude, connection with nature and choice through cyanotype printing.

Open Eye

Gallery

SUSIE LEIPER: AN INFINITE UNKNOWN

FRI 3 APR -SAT 25 APR

An exhibition inspired by the writings of John Ruskin, reflecting his deep passion for mountains and landscape painting, through paintings made on canvases, small pieces of wood and artist books.

FINLAY TREVOR:

SHOWCASE

FRI 3 APR -SAT 25 APR

In these portraits, figures become extensions of the landscape itself, shaped and weathered by place.

Out of the Blue

Drill Hall

CAT GORDON:

SCAREDY CAT

FRI 30 JAN -TUE 31 MAR

A brand new riso comic and exhibition from Out of the Blueprint artist-in-residence Cat Gordon about self-doubt, queer identity / acceptance and learning to love, and live, out loud.

CELLULAR

TUE 14 APR -FRI 24 APR

A group exhibition by Drill Hall artists bridging the gap between private creative process and the public gaze.

RSA: Royal Scottish Academy

RSA NEW CONTEMPORARIES

2026

SAT 28 MAR -WED 22 APR

Now in its 17th year, RSA New Contemporaries brings together some of the most cutting-edge emerging artists in Scotland today.

DAVID EVANS: SUNDAY, 5PM

SAT 21 MAR -SUN 26 APR

Hyperrealist paintings of small everyday moments.

Scottish Portrait

Gallery

ALFRED BUCKHAM: DAREDEVIL

PHOTOGRAPHER

SAT 18 OCT -SUN 19 APR

Take to the skies in this extraordinary exhibition looking at the life and work of the pioneering 20thcentury aerial photographer.

Stills

TWENTY SIX: A STILLS SCHOOL EXHIBITION

SAT 21 MAR -SAT 11 APR

An exhibition of work by 16-25 year olds who have attended the Stills photography school.

ÅSA JOHANNESSON: THE QUEERING OF PHOTOGRAPHY

FRI 1 MAY -SAT 27 JUN

Part of a career-long project exploring how to develop a queer vocabulary in portrait photography.

Studies in

Photography

JANE BRETTLE: AMBIT

FRI 13 MAR -SAT 25 APR

A series of photographic artworks which suggest the continual process of manmade disruption, erosion and regeneration, using still and animated images and text.

Talbot Rice Gallery THE DEAD DON'T GO UNTIL WE DO SAT 7 MAR -SAT 30 MAY

Four exhibitions by artists and collectives Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Amol K Patil, Kang Seung Lee and MADEYOULOOK examining how to memorialise.

Dundee Art

Cooper Gallery

BAHAR NOORIZADEH: THE DEBTOR’S PORTAL FRI 13 FEB -SAT 11 APR

Science fiction, performance and experimental film meld to open new imaginaries for collective and post-capitalist futures.

DCA: Dundee

Contemporary Arts

WE CONTAIN MULTITUDES

SAT 7 FEB -SUN 26 APR

A group show across textiles, photography, sculpture and drawing, drawing on ideas of envelopment, enclosure and support.

Generator

Projects

LEAH MCDONALD: C’MERE SUN 29 MAR -SUN 3 MAY

Newly commissioned sitespecific work sits alongside existing pieces examining the politics of public space and the commons.

V&A Dundee

CATWALK: THE ART OF THE FASHION SHOW

FRI 3 APR -SUN 17 JAN

Charting the evolution of catwalk art and culture, from 19th-century salons to contemporary immersive runways.

The Skinny On... Valtos

Ahead of releasing their new album The Last Light, and a busy festival season, Martyn MacDonald of Skye duo Valtos takes on this month’s Q&A

What’s your favourite place to visit?

Home. Skye is our favourite place on earth. Although we won’t be telling you any secret spots, those are just for us.

What’s your favourite food?

Simple, but I absolutely love my parents’ macaroni cheese. Home comforts that I don’t get often enough anymore.

What’s your favourite colour?

Purple seems to be quite a strong theme across the Valtos brand. So we must be drawn to that as a pair.

Who was your hero growing up?

I was a huge Foo Fighters fan so naturally it was Dave Grohl. Perhaps not so in favour now, but as a teen I used to watch hours of Foos documentaries, music videos, BTS footage etc, and hoped one day I’d get the stage call up (when they inevitably played Portree Community centre).

Whose work inspires you now?

We’re both inspired by very similar artists which we think can really be heard across the album, from our trad mates like the Elephant Sessions, Project Smok and Talisk, to dance artists like Bicep, Mylo, Swedish House Mafia and Fred Again, to more ‘bandy’ influences like The 1975 or Noah Kahan. We both consume vast quantities of music across the spectrum and it really helps shape who we are.

What three people would you invite to your dinner party, and what are you cooking?

Billy Connolly, Andy Murray and Nicola Sturgeon. What a cross-section of the Scottish influence on the arts, sport and politics. You could learn a lot about being successful at that table. I make a good sweet honey chicken dish – ticks off the carbs and protein for Andy!

What’s your all-time favourite album?

I love the first Coldplay album, Parachutes. I know Coldplay get a lot of hate these days but I truly believe their early work to be great. I constantly go back to this album. Maybe it’s because it’s the first one I remember being played in the car to me by my father but I have a real attachment to it.

What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen?

I recently watched The Rip on Netflix expecting a Damon and Affleck film to be good. I was severely disappointed.

What book would you take to a desert island?

I’ve been trying to finish a big book on the Scottish Clearances for years now so probably that given there’ll be lots of downtime.

Who’s the worst?

Sutherland and Patrick Sellar. The Highlands would be a different place had those bastards not had their way.

When did you last cry?

Last year a very close friend made the eulogy at their mother’s funeral, it was heartbreaking.

What are you most scared of?

We both quite often wake in sweats having had nightmares about gigs gone wrong/or no one turning up.

When did you last vomit?

Does the occasional too large a Friday night count?

Tell us a secret?

We were asked to submit our single The Night for consideration as this year’s Eurovision entry!

Which celebrity could you take in a fight?

Elon Musk needs brought down a peg or two eh.

If you could be reincarnated as an animal, which animal would it be and why?

A quokka in Australia. They seem to live the perfect, smiley life.

Why should people check out your new album, The Last Light?

We truly believe it to be the sound of a modern Scotland. We’ve taken new voices, old voices, Gaelic, Scots and English and created something we think is truly unique. We believe it to be the perfect cross-section of Scottish society today, combined with our take on modern dance, trad and folk.

What’s your top tip for surviving the weekend at a camping festival?

Ha, we’re maybe not the best to ask as we never camp. However, put on sun cream, have a few small beers and go and listen to some new music you’ve never heard before.

If you could programme the ‘legend slot’ at Glastonbury when it returns next year, who are you booking?

What a tough question. They have to tick so many boxes: legacy act, huge generational songs, perhaps not touring. Perhaps, keeping it Scottish themed, Annie Lennox/Eurythmics. What an

and

The Last Light is set for release on 17 Apr via Island Life

Valtos play Portree Community Centre, Skye, 4 Apr; Ptarmigan Station, Aviemore, 17 Apr; Knoydart Village Hall, Knoydart, 18 Apr; Oran Mor, Glasgow, 24 Apr and Barrowlands, Glasgow, 25 Apr

Valtos play the following festivals: The Gathering, Inverness, 30 May; Eden Festival, Moffat, 11-14 Jun; South Scotland Outdoor Festival, Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries, 27 Jun; Kelburn Garden Party, Kelburn Castle, nr Largs, 5 Jul; HebCelt Festival, Stornoway, 17 Jul; Folk by the Oak, Hatfield, 19 Jul; Belladrum, Belladrum Estate, nr Inverness, 1 Aug; Between the Trees Festival, Candleston Castle Campsite, Bridgend, 28 Aug; Allen Valleys Folk Festival, Allendale, 25-27 Sep

valtosband.co.uk

Pavillion Festival / Bonfest / Doune The Rabbit Hole / TRNSMT / Coloursfest / Party at the Palace / Doof in the Park / Summer End Festival at Brechin Castle

Helix Park, Falkirk

Faithless, The Kooks, Classical Events, JLS

Bon Jovi – Murrayfield

Luke Combs – Murrayfield

PRTY Riverside ONE

Calvin Harris – Hampden

Metallica – Hampden

Teddy Swims / Pitbull / My Chemical Romance / Alanis Morissette / The Lumineers / The Proclaimers

Florence + The Machine / Deftones / Biffy Clyro / The Prodigy / Heather on the Hills / Lorde

TTF Riverside