I used to do a monthly quiz for The Skinny, the imaginatively titled Quiz Time With Uncle Finbarr. I think it's about time I started posting them on the blog. Anyone who fancies their chances, either email me at finbarr.bermingham@gmail.com, or leave answers below.
The first one I'm posting is the one from this month's issue, which I did along with Dr Paul, the Quizmaster from DP Quiz. I will post most of it, I only came up with the music, film and art questions though. So cheers to Paul for the rest.
1. Which Beckett play brought together Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart and Simon Callow at the King's Theatre in April?
2. Complete the title of Scottish Opera's autumn production, The Italian Girl in _______?
3. Which of Scotland's brutally opressed minorities were the subject of a Helen Cuinn play at the CCA in November?
4. What was the title of Tim Key's Edinburgh Comedy Award winning Fringe show which sounded like a whore at a ballet?
5. Which 3 letter word was the name of New Writing nights at the Tron and the Traverse?
6. Which Aston Villa fan told The Skinny in April that he might consider being Poet Laureate, but only if we get rid of The Queen?
7. Which Scottish town is so posh that it host's the country's only regular dedicated poetry festival, every March?
8. On which party island did Stephen Gateley's party come to a premature end?
9. In June, which Charlie's Angel might have got more coverage for her demise if she hadn't popped off on the same day as Jacko?
10. Patrick Swayze lost his battle with cancer this year but in which year did he star in epic surf movie 'Point Break' and was named 'Sexiest Man Alive' by People magazine?
11. Which dead Beatle got a star on the Hollywood walk of Fame this year?
12. Which comedian was the former 'better half' of Kevin McGee who killed himself in Edinburgh in October?
13. Perhaps the most important band member since Bez, of which Skinny cover stars is Maxim Reality a member?
14. They’ve probably got the worst name in rock music, but Monsters of Folk’s debut album wowed us this year. Who are the four band members?
15. Cybraphon is the latest whacky BAFTA winning creation by which unpredictable, but awfully nice Auld Reekie arts collective?
16. Known more for its baked delights than rock and roll, from which European country do alt-rockers Mew originate?
17. Which sandpaper throated sexpot turned up alongside Jack White in the Dead Weather this year?
18. “Rome wasn’t built in a day, but I wasn’t on the job,” is a particularly good quote from the irrepressible Brian Clough. Which film was made about Ol’ Big ‘Ed’s life this year?
19. Van Diemen’s Land was a showcase film at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival. But what devilish name is the real life area known as today?
20. Eurovision launched the illustrious careers of Dana International, TATU and, er, Jemini, but the Junior Song Contest was the subject matter of which hit movie this year?
21. Russell Crowe played streetwise hack Cal McCaffery in which political drama, released this year?
22. Owen Wilson overcame personal trauma to feature in perhaps his most creatively challenging, leftfield role to date in which pet thriller of 2009?
23. Which celebrated indie icon exhibited a set of drawings, Wildlife, which were chronologically ordered to track his progressive recovery from cerebral haemorrhaging?
24. Which member of the Monty Python troupe presented a BBC 4 documentary on the Scottish Colourists? A far cry from The Life of Brian...
25. Ben Ottewell is the gravelly throated singer from which Southport indie band?
As if your liver won’t come under enough strain, having spent Christmas Week pickled in mulled wine and Bier D’Or, the organisers of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations have decided to extend the festivities. New Year will now be rung in for just the five nights, from 29th December to 2nd January. The entertainment is designed to offer something for everyone, so naturally, some of it will be a bit pish. But those willing to lay down their turkey drumsticks and jingle bells may find themselves rewarded with some decent live music. You just have to know where to find it.
Kicking off on the 29th Off Kilter will be combing live music and dance in the premiere of “an exhilarating new dance anthem for Scotland” mixed by DJ Dolphin Boy at the Festival Theatre. It all sounds pretty dodgy to me. They promise snippets of Franz Ferdinand, The Rezillos, Calvin Harris and Hugh McDiarmid. I promise nothing. Tread carefully children.
Calvin Harris plays a DJ set in the HMV Picturehouse on Wednesday 30th, but Mars and Jupiter align to produce negating circumstances, namely, tickets being extortionately priced, and Calvin Harris being a bit shit. So if I were you, I'd save myself for New Year's Eve. I suggest getting yourself down to the Vic Galloway-hosted Waverley Stage, which is the clear highlight. The organisers have obviously been paying attention to the aural demands of the natives, pulling in Frightened Rabbit, We Were Promised Jetpacks and Stanley Odd (some of the best acts on the Scottish music scene). Unfortunately they proceed to undo their good work by including rabble-rousing Coventry grease-monkeys The Enemy at the top of the bill. Why, oh why?
Madness and The Noisettes play sets at the Concert in the Gardens, on West Princes Street, and for those prepared to don their dancing shoes, The West End DJ Stage will feature performances from Mylo and sets from Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody and Tom Simpson, and Belle and Sebastian’s Richard Colburn.
I'm guessing that most of you will all be pretty hammered anyway and will have a debauch-filled night, regardless of who you see. Which is the name of the game, really.
Happy New Year, folks.
*A heavily edited version of this appeared in The Skinny's Edinburgh Hogmanay Guide.
This is a wee interview I did for The Skinny a few weeks back. "Wee" being the operative word. I was on the phone to Alison Mosshart, of The Kills and The Dead Weather, for ten minutes before being interrupted by a PR woman, telling me to hurry myself up. Anyway, the results are below.
This time last year, Alison Mosshart had every reason to be happy with her lot. Midnight Boom, The Kills' third album, had been sighted near the summit of numerous end-of-year lists. Having toured incessantly since the age of 14, her profile was elevated to that of “rock glamour-puss” (so said, eh, JustinTimberlake.com). She couldn’t have possibly imagined, then, that a year later, she would be standing on the cusp of even greater things. But as front woman of The Dead Weather, a bonafide supergroup boasting members of Queens of the Stone Age, The White Stripes and The Raconteurs, it would appear her star is still on the ascent. Superstardom beckons, and she’s got the column inches to prove it.
On getting together with Jack White:
The Kills toured America with The Raconteurs and towards the end Jack got sick. He needed some help singing some of his songs, so I sung them. Jack asked me to get on the bus from Atlanta to Nashville with him and record in his studio, which he’d just finished building.
He’d had this record label for a long time, through which he wanted to put out 7" recordings of everyone who came to town. So the four of us were the first to experiment in that studio: just testing it out and writing in it. It was a great experience and we just kept writing. It was weird - something was working way too well, and we didn’t stop. When I came back a few months later, after I finished Kills touring, we carried on writing.
On dealing with the UK media:
I think Jamie (Hince – The Kills, boyfriend of Kate Moss) and I escape everything we want to by working so hard. You don’t read the papers when you’re in your house working, and you don’t want to leave to get it. There’s a real element to living in a bubble that I’ve always liked. You’re more liable to hear about something that’s been written from your mom calling you to tell you than you are by reading it. Ninety per cent of media attention in general isn’t positive or creative, so it doesn’t really matter.
On the road:
The difference from what it was like when I was 14 is that you learn how to cope with it. You really learn how to live on the road. It’s like self preservation: you can get stuff done anywhere. There isn’t anywhere that I haven’t been any more. Different things take priority and doing an incredible show every night is what it’s based on. It’s not that it stops being fun; it just starts being something more rewarding. It’s a different, twisted adventure now.
On life with The Dead Weather:
“We’re not a band that parties a lot at all. There has to be something to celebrate and there’s so much to be done everyday. Sleeping is the most wonderful thing on earth. Maybe I’m getting old, but the last two years of my life have been like that. If I want to get something done or have anything else in my life – even painting a room… those things have to come before getting smashed. Working is more rewarding for me. I’m horrified that I might be a severe workaholic, and sometimes I think I maybe need to have a little more fun.”
Ally writes for The Skinny, Drowned in Sound, Clash, Popmatters, Chordstrike and Blogcritics. Before it ceased to exist, he was a writer for the excellent Stylus. So I am delighted and surprised that he's found the time to contribute the fifth selection of albums to mark the passing of the decade.
Portishead - Third (2008)
When I first heard it
I almost never download leaks, but for some reason I wanted to hear this one ASAP. I wasn't particularly a Portishead fan and of course no-one had much hope for this because it was 11 years since the album before. I remember sitting at my desk in my office -- which is unfortunately where I hear most music for the first time now -- and being totally struck, from the first listen, with a sense of terror. Most albums need a couple listens to sink in, I tend to take two or three passive listens before I actively listen out for bits or lines or sections or moods that emerge. But this hit me straight away. As the booming sirens faded at the end of the final song, I banged my head down on my desk. I was utterly stunned.
Why I love it
I think it very subtly -- but very clearly -- conveys a sense of fear and horror that's really overwhelming. I mean, it doesn't take any easy routes, it doesn't use any gimmicks to achieve this, and some of the songs or sections don't seem to follow this theme. But that's how it is in a film: an expert horror film doesn't need to use gimmicks or gore, and it isn't constantly trying to scare you; it needs periods of apparent normality for the scary bits to really hit hard. People always say that OK Computer is about the fear of where technology is taking us, and I think of Third as OK Computer taken to its apocalyptic conclusion.
What it reminds me of
Reading "The Day Of The Triffids" at school. I hope I never forget seeing them at Coachella in 2008, particularly when they unleashed "Machine Gun" and I wanted to duck.
Standout track I could quite easily say "Machine Gun" but I'll go for... "The Rip". And I'll change my mind if you ask me again.
The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters (2007)
When I first heard it
Don't remember. It didn't strike me immediately. But I remember after I'd already submitted a 4-star review to The Skinny feeling compelled to play it again. Usually when I've reviewed an album that's it sown up, so to speak, I put it away and don't go back to it for months. But I played this again and again and again and had to phone Dave (my editor) up to tell him to change it to a 5 before we went to print.
Why I love it
This is harder to pin down. I love the way it flows. It seems to have perfect pacing and balance, rising and falling in volume and size and energy all the way through. I love James Graham's vocals -- when he loses it you know he's really losing it -- and his lyrics just need a few vivid images here and there to let you know what's going on. We can fill in the rest ourselves. And I love the guitar textures. The critic in me knows it's just a well-executed anthemic indie-rock record, and that perhaps I should prioritise other albums, more innovative or ground-breaking albums say. But I think Mirrored is a load of wank ("Atlas" apart). This record is totally invigorating to me every time I play it, and the blogger in me says "best" is really just a fancy word for "favourite".
What it reminds me of
Ha, this is an odd one. I was going in for an operation, so I remember lying on a hospital bed waiting for them to wheel me downstairs, listening to this on headphones, thinking "fucking brilliant!" Wasn't scared about the op at all. Then they gave me two valiums and I listened to Sam Cooke singing "Cupid", I was in heaven!
Standout track
"And She Would Darken The Memory"
Burial - Untrue (2007)
When I first heard it
I remember first hearing it thinking - wtf is this? I didn't get it at all. I didn't know any dubstep and this was totally alien to me. I later found out that this isn't really what most dubstep sounds like.
Why I love it
Because it's so unique - or it is to me, at least. The atmosphere it creates is so stark. I think the snatches of disembodied vocals are what do it - walking home in headphones you're looking around, down alleys and between bushes, thinking "where did that come from?" But, it's also pretty funky. It's a dance record which keeps you on your toes because your senses are heightened by fear.
What it reminds you of:
People always say it's evocative of walking through the East End of London at night but I live in Edinburgh so that's meaningless to me! But walking along King Stables Road, under the bridge on a freezing cold night; right, I get it now.
Standout track
"Archangel" perhaps? But I don't really think any track is a standout, it's a real album in the old-fashioned, rockist sense.
Primal Scream - XTRMNTR (2000)
When I first heard it
Four or five years after it came out. All I knew of Primal Scream was Screamadelica, and I heard this and was stunned.
Why I love it
It's very close to being an archetypal album for my own tastes when it comes to rock. The rhythms are all-important, the propulsion, the energy, the aggression. It's much more like a dance record than a traditional indie-rock record, it's closer to the Chemical Brothers than something like Blur (and there is a Chems mix on it too). It's also sequenced brilliantly. The anarchistic themes are a little silly, some of the lyrics sound like they were written by the wee boy who introduces the whole thing. But I can get past that fault when the energy is just so damn exciting. I want to start making my own music now and I want it to have rhythm like this.
What it reminds me of
I was going through a musical dry spell having listened to a lot and had nothing grab me, for ages, and I was starting to worry that I was growing out of it (a day I hope never arrives). This knocked me dead. It was a huge relief.
Standout track
Could easily go for "Swastika Eyes" or but I LOVE the drumming of "Blood Money", that song pretty much encapsulates why I love this album.
Joanna Newsom - Ys(2006)
When I first heard it
I'd walked into Paisley town centre, to the only decent music shop in town (now closed of course), and plunked a tenner on it without first hearing it because all the contrasting reviews had intrigued me so much. I got home and put it on loud on my big speakers, my Dad came home and looked at me and said "Ally, what is this?", with a troubled look on his face. I was all "I know, huh!", furrowed brow, what a riddy. I'd have been less embarrassed to be caught wanking.
Why I love it
I still have a look like that on my face when I play it, but now it's because I'm stopping myself from welling up.
What it reminds me of
Every so often a record challenges your tastes so much you have to redefine them. It's like: the first time I tasted beer I thought it was minging; and I still don't like red wine. My first reaction to this wasn't just apathy, it was antipathy. But with each subsequent listen my stance softened until I became an awe-struck, whimpering mess. I can understand why some people hate it, and my 15 year old self is frankly disgusted that I have any time for this at all. But I broke through that wall of machismo. It also made me think about: how many listens does an album deserve if you hate it first time? Well, you can think about why you hate it. Some albums are within your normal taste range but seem somehow incompetent, while others are a little outside the kind of thing you usually listen to, and so need a bit of getting used to. Those ones are worth persisting with; case in point.
Standout track
"Emily" I think, but it's close between all five.
Choice Cut Video: The Twilight Sad - And She Would Darken The Memory
(Note, this is my number one album, but was number four on The Skinny's list, for whom I wrote the piece)
On the face of it, their product is hardly revolutionary. Yet, for the past year and a half, The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit has been the album that simply keeps on giving. Potty-mouthed songwriter Scott Hutchison’s dog-on-heat tales of drunken love and lust could, in less capable hands, have manifested themselves as self-indulgent lad rock. But the awesome visceral force that ensured these songs came to fruition helps make them some of the best of the decade.
Hutchison’s couplets are whisky-tipped arrows to the ticker. Struggling to pull himself from the mire of a failed relationship, he veers from self-pity (Modern Leper) to denial (I Feel Better), from bitterness (Keep Your Self Warm) to lugubrious, wide-eyed misery (Poke, Floating Down The Forth). Somehow, though, the album emerges with a sense of triumph. The pessimism is overridden by an animalistic salubriousness and an unmistakably Scottish sense of gallows humour, all propelled forward by the ferocious tub-thumping of Scott’s brother, Grant.
Trying to pick an album highlight has been an exercise in futility. Over the course of 18 months, any one of ten tracks has suggested itself as a contender. The song-writing here is accumulative: borrowing from a range of styles to create a near perfect whole; a flawless indie-pop record. The dustbowl-tinged slide guitar on Good Arms Vs Bad; the unforeseen, exhilarating solo on Fast Blood; the swirling, chimerical instrumentation of Floating down the Forth; the plinking piano intro to The Twist and the overwhelmingly lovely, reverb-touched balladry of Poke are all marks of massive progression from the promising debut set, Sing The Greys.
Now, as they prepare to unleash album number three, the weight of anticipation has been increased immeasurably. But Frightened Rabbit can rest assured that The Midnight Organ Fight deserves its place amongst Scotland’s finest.
I spoke to the man once described as "the biggest threat to our youth since Hitler" to learn that despite mounting evidence, John Lydon has no intention of mellowing out just yet.
“The Skinny? Oh God Almighty! You’re nicking London phrases.”
So begins forty-five minutes of impassioned, exhausting and wholly entrancing conversation with John Lydon. The artist formerly known as Rotten is keen to remind me that he’s never been afraid to “ruffle a few feathers” and accordingly, the exchange is peppered with quotable soundbytes, snippets of advice and well-aimed swipes at everyone from The Smashing Pumpkins to Radiohead (“I feel like I’m banging my head off a fucking brick wall.”), and from the Beckhams to vegans (“I’m sensible enough to realise that I’ve got two different kinds of teeth in my head, and they’re there for a reason.”).
But the man once described as “the biggest threat to our youth since Hitler” has seemed more likely to turn up on Loose Women than to destabilise the regime in latter days. He’s got a Hollywood smile to match his Hollywood home. His infamous stint on I’m A Celebrity… in 2005 was followed by a series of advertisements for Country Butter. But rather than view himself as a fading threat, Lydon considers these projects to be equally as challenging as his work with the Sex Pistols, and every bit as subversive.
“Oh God! I loved their bravery!” he beams about the adverts’ creators. “Butter: how politically incorrect for the lettuce-eaters. But you know, I like a bit of butter on me bread. I was more than pleased. I can see the good rather than the stupid pomposity of negating everything because it doesn’t seem at first to fit in to a lifestyle.”
Lydon’s articulate manner is contrary to his oft-projected image. He speaks with rapid consideration. His demeanour is more jovial than threatening. And he refuses to shrink away from any of the questions posed. His memories of reality television are less than fond, and his assessment of it is contemplative, but scathing.
Along with his wife Nora, he had been booked to fly on the fateful Pan Am Flight 103 that exploded over Lockerbie in 1988. By virtue of poor timekeeping, they missed it, but the moment has haunted Lydon ever since. An agreement was struck with the producers of the show which would ensure Lydon was informed once Nora’s plane had landed in Australia to greet him on location – an arrangement they reneged on.
“They did some very nasty things to me that I’ll never forget, and I resent them bitterly. That ate at me, because I have to know when Nora arrives anywhere on a plane. Then that bomber (al-Megrahi) being released, really raised an issue in my head. I thought, ‘Where do I stand on this?’ Someone’s dying, and yes, you are sympathetic. But that bugger could’ve killed me and Nora.”
Death and his own mortality are issues that have been playing heavily on Lydon’s mind lately. Last year, his brother was diagnosed with cancer and his father died suddenly after suffering a heart attack. The events have, naturally, had a profound effect.
“Luckily,” he says solemnly, “my brother’s cancer is in remission. But my father died. There’s nothing I can do to change that, but I can’t accept it. It’s almost like a childish reaction. I just do not see why we must cease to exist. I’m not on a great search for heaven or ‘hark the herald angels’: that’s a coward’s way out of understanding what life’s about. Life is here to live to the absolute fullest, until you get the bucket. And self pity and misery, you really should have no time for.
“I’ve seen so many people die futile, pointless, stupid rock deaths inside my own industry. And nobody seems to be telling them that it’s not an alternative. It’s not groovy and far out. It’s an act of grotesque foolishness. And ultimately you pay the bitterest prices for your self-indulgence. Death.”
Last year’s tragedies have inspired Lydon to take Public Image Ltd on their first tour in 17 years. He describes PiL as “a mental release, as opposed to The Sex Pistols, which is more of a physical release”, and the desire for such an outpouring not only inspired this tour, but also the band’s formation.
“The song Death Disco kept playing in my mind after the funeral,” explains Lydon. “It’s a song I wrote for my mother when she was dying in the late 1970s. The whole thing, it had to be resolved in my head and when I started playing the record again, I really got it. I thought: ‘That’s it... that’s why I wrote that song!’ It’s somehow a cry in the wilderness, but a release from pain. It’s one of the many ways I can describe what PiL is. It’s a release from pain… an escape almost from drug hallucinogenic monotone.”
Lydon’s pain of the past year has been accentuated by accusations of racial assault made against him by Bloc Party singer Kele Okereke. The pair were involved in an altercation in Spain last July, during which Okereke sustained severe facial bruising. Lydon, however, has been taken aback by the allegation, claiming he is fed up with the “disruption and petulant jealousy of other bands”.
“I’ve been going through a lot of pain with my family and I’m reading all this nonsense that I’m a racist. Of all the people in the world! It really, really hurts; particularly for my grandchildren… they’re Jamaican. How do you think they feel about that? I’ve deliberately kept my public image, all my life, limited. And yet this dirty arsed, Hollywood gossip is still trying to stick its claws in me. And I don’t think that’s a paranoid point of view, I think this business of behaving filthy is now pervasive in society.”
Lydon’s anger over the incident is plain, particularly in light of his previously affable nature. But as the conversation draws to a conclusion, his fury subsides, replaced by a gracious farewell and a throaty cackle. He is asked, if there is anything he wouldn’t advertise to raise money for the next PiL reunion. The response isn't long in coming.
“Tampax... how on earth would I get away with that?”
Yi-fi frontman's first solo album is an avant-garde trip
Compared to 2008, when all-pervading Falkirk outfit Y’All Is Fantasy Island unleashed a trio of albums upon the unsuspecting Scottish indie fraternity, 2009 has been relatively quiet. It’s the perfect time, then, for the band’s nucleus Adam Stafford to release a solo album. Awnings is an experimental lo-fi collection, written and recorded in a three hour session. The record is built around intense, taut drumbeats and splashes of warped vocal. There are few lyrics and (bar the short spoken word track, Huntington House for the Deaf) when they do appear, they’re so low in the mix that they’re rendered indecipherable. What results is an exercise in atmospherics. From the Amazonian rumblings of opener Penshaw Movement to the breakneck title track, it's an intoxicating listen. A clear departure for Stafford, the album goes some way to highlighting his versatility as a composer. And whilst Awnings won't be for everyone, it’s worth finding out which camp you belong to.
