LeftLion Magazine Issue 27 contents February - March 2009 editorial

WELCOME to the first LeftLion Magazine of 2009. As our regulars will know, there has been plenty of new stuff on our website over the past few weeks to keep you happy, but this is the first brand new mag we’ve put out this year. Woo!

‘Credit crunch’ has become something of a household phrase across Britain over the last year or so. Everyone from Gordon Brown to Ian Brown (both of whom I share a birthday with incidentally) have been talking publicly about it. Normally we wouldn’t be so bothered about covering national issues in this magazine, but this one affects us locally too. Plenty of independent businesses we know and love are feeling the squeeze and we look at some of those in this magazine. Admittedly there’s only so much money to go around, but at times like this we’d implore you to support the places you love and screw the copycat chains - even though they might be a bit cheaper! In the world of 11 12 15 commerce your money is your vote.

May Contain Notts Hoods: The Gangs of Nottingham Geoff Diego Litherland Also for this magazine I met up with Carl Fellstrom, who 04 Nottingham’s Mr Sex brings you the 12 An interview with author Carl 20 He has a geekish obsession with has written Hoods, a controversial book uncovering some latest rundown of news in Notts and Fellstrom about his latest work paint and is inspired by music. You of the secrets of Nottingham crime. As a fellow journalist I probably a bit of Mansfield-bashing Hoods, which uncovers information can see his exhibition in Notts soon. have massive respect for him for uncovering a fascinating, too. about gang crime in Nottingham. but also sinister and nasty web of murder, drugs, crime and corruption. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it… Nottingham Events Listings LeftEyeOn Highs and Lowe 21 Your non-stop guide to the next two Mista Jam is an old friend of LeftLion (indeed he and Joe 05 Some snaps from the last two 14 Stephen Lowe (the guy who wrote months, including interviews with Buhdha wrote a feature for us a few years ago) and he months of Nottingham Culture. that play about Brian Clough) is Papa La Bas and Red Shoe Diaries. appears to be going from strength to strength right now. back and this time he’s talking about Not only is he hosting an ace radio show on the BBC, but soft porn and stuff. he’s also appearing in a (admittedly quite patchy) sitcom The Credit Crunch Special Write Lion on BBC3. So we caught up with him for a natter. 06 You’re as bored as us of that term 26 Creative writing from the LeftLion

by now, but you’ll probably be Jam Hot Forum. Likewise we got in touch with Stephen Lowe, who we last interested to know more about how 15 Radio One’s Mista Jam, aka Pete spoke to when he was writing a play about our beloved the UK recession is hitting Notts Dalton, is in the house to talk about Cloughie. This time his mind was more focused on blue businesses. Nottingham hiphop and more. Reviews 28 This month includes new music from movies and the Kray twins. Cappo and Alberto Veto and books A Canadian In New Basford Super Sharp Shooter from Simon Armitage and Staple We’d never heard of Stephen Wright until recently, but his 10 Rob rocks out at a local karaoke 16 You might not have seen these Publishing. photos seem eerily familiar. That’s because he roams the night. photos before, but some of them will streets of Nottingham looking for interesting moments to seem strangely familiar. capture. Much of his work will probably be recognisable to 30 The End Page you too and that’s why we devoted the centrespread to him. 11 Book Sayle Psychic madness with Roger Mean, That bloke from The Young Ones and 18 Artist Profiles LeftLion Abroad, The Arthole from You’ll also find all the usual regular features you know and Alexei Sayle’s Stuff is a fully grown This time around we look at some Rob White and Notts Trumps. love inside these pages. Don’t forget to check our website author these days you know? members of local art collectives. for more than we can cram into here and remember to check out our podcasts on leftlion.co.uk/audio if you’re up for listening to us as well.

Finally we have a fair few events coming up over the next few months, including a couple of gigs at Brownes and our first exhibition of art from this magazine - more details credits inside. Come and check them out!

Editor “If you want to know what God thinks of money, [email protected] Jared Wilson ([email protected]) Contributors just look at the people he gave it to.” Michael Abbott Dorothy Parker Art Director Rob Cutforth David Blenkey ([email protected]) Alison Emm MEET THE TEAM Beccy Godridge If you would like to reach our readers by Deputy Editors Lizzie Goodman advertising your company in these pages Paul Klotschkow Music Editor Nathan Miller ([email protected]) Rebecca Gove-Humphries please contact Ben on 07984 275453 or email Charlotte Kingsbury ([email protected]) Duncan Heath [email protected] After inventing Tetris in the early 80s, Camillo Hortez Paul went on the run from the KGB who Technical Director Aaron Juneau were determined to steal his idea and Alan Gilby ([email protected]) Roger Mean LeftLion has an estimated readership of 40,000 in Al Needham turn it in to a money spinning hand held the city of Nottingham. LeftLion.co.uk received game. They succeeded. Since being Marketing and Sales Manager Dan Skurok over 4 million page views in the last 12 months. Ben Hacking ([email protected]) Aly Stoneman in Nottingham he has written time travelling Nicholas Lyndhurst vehicle Art Editor Illustrators LeftLion is distributed to over 300 venues across ‘Goodnight Sweetheart’ for the BBC Frances Ashton ([email protected]) Rob White Nottingham. If your venue isn’t one of them, and tried and failed to bring back Pogs. please contact Ben on 07984 275453 or email Literature Editor Photographers [email protected] James Walker ([email protected]) David Baird Dom Henry Photo Editor Rebekah Downes Dom’s been wielding cameras for the ‘Lion Music Editors Al Greer This magazine is printed on paper sourced from Natasha Chowdhury ([email protected]) Lorna Griffiths sustainable forests. Our printers are ISO 14001 since 2003. As well as sorting our photos, Paul Klotschkow ([email protected]) Bobby G certified by the British Accreditation Bureau for Dom also writes for us, being well into Dom Henry their environmental management system. his theatre and music, especially jazz. A Photography Editor My Linh Le marketing man by trade, Dom also works as Dominic Henry ([email protected]) Stephen Wright a freelance music and events photographer. Sound Bloke Theatre Editor Mike Cheque He makes a mean Gin and Tonic. Adrian Bhagat ([email protected])

www.leftlion.co.uk/issue27 3 MAY CONTAIN Teenager Liam Munn is stabbed to December 2008 death outside Halo nightclub with Nottingham’s -January 2009 ‘Mr. Sex’, Al Needham People just don’t seem to care about their actions. NOTTS That’s not just a boy’s life taken away - that’s someone’s son, brother, boyfriend. A handful of lives ruined for one stupid argument about December 1 something that’s probably not even important. Forest announce that their new manager will be Billy Davies, Miss Caulton causing uproar amongst certain supporters. A former Derby boss as the new gaffer? When has that ever worked, eh? Well done everyone physically involved, you complete and utter morons. The human race December 3 doesn’t need you. A story about a junior school in Sneinton cancelling its Christmas play myhouse_yourhouse because the kids couldn’t learn their lines on time is mysteriously reported by the Evening Post as Christmas being cancelled for Would I be right in assuming that Halo used to be Eid, by Nu (which is spelled like that because it makes them Mode, which used to be McClusky’s, which used sound more sinister and New-World-Orderish) Labour in Political- to be Madisons? That building is the Doctor Who of Correctness-Gone-Mad Broken Britanistan. Naturally, this results shit clubs, constantly regenerating into something a bit different, but just as shit. in the BNP complaining to the school (!) and an avalanche of whining Lord of the Nish from the sort of locals who regularly perform oral sex upon panes of glass on the 89 to Rise Park. ‘well i think its bad i dont no what You totally missed out Essance. That was pure the world is coming to . the english children go with out . and to all awesomeness. the children that belive in santa will think hes cancelled. well i tell theonelikethe you something if my kids went to that school they would not go on that day i would keep they off. and i would tell them about our jesus Walked past the site of this just now on me lunch was born. i am so sicken about this . it just gose to show what can break. Loads of flowers there tied round a lamppost. off BRITTON WE LIVE IN TODAY? if i get the chance i will live this Quite a few mourners too. Really sad news. place and move to spain or some were.this place we call britton as Jared gone down hill’ said a moron from Aspley. January 9 Shit like this makes me never want to come back December 4 Cast, the bar/restaurant (named after a rubbish indie band) that to England. Despite living in a developing country ‘This is a disgrace, and looks like a form of racism. The school seems was once properly known as the Playhouse Bar, closes down. It close to civil unrest/ revolution, I still feel safer to favour muslims rather than others. We should not be celebrating a used to be the perfect place to have your snap on a hot summer’s in Bangkok. I’ve not seen a single fight in eight day in Nottingham. Let’s hope it re-opens in time for the next one, months and I go out twice a week at least. religion that beleives in sacrifices, it smacks of black magic, after all Baron von Carlton they did sacrifices. Things like this do not help racial harmony, it will currently estimated by NASA as July 27, 2018. just cause more racism.’ Said another resident of Planet Mouthy- It’s a messed up culture of not fully understanding Breathe about Santagate, as he refused to aid the dying carcass of January 11 what knives do to people, and macho bravado that racial harmony and caused more racism. According to another of those shit-stirring surveys, Nottingham - or is sorely misplaced. As a kid we were lucky the should I say, Nonceingham - has the second highest concentration most we had was a scrap in the playground. December 5 of sex offenders in the country, with one in every 748 of us kidchameleon And again. ‘Jesus was English not packi or indian. If you dont like bumming livestock in the Market Square on Saturday afternoons our religion go back to where you come from’ Seriously, I could fill and God knows what else. Knives have always been around; the groups I this entire page with shit-thick racist wank from people who, if there hung out with often carried knives and that was actually was a God, would be humanely slaughtered and made into January 12 back in the early eighties. If you go back in history, potted meat for Nanas in care homes. All because some bleeding kids Oh Jesus Christ no, both of the Scruffys in Notts have shut down I think you’ll definitely find there’s a youth culture couldn’t learn the words to Frosty The Fucking Snowman in time. an’all, and we’ll never have that recipe for the Dime Bar cheesecake of carrying some sort of weapon. again. When people who live in the Lace Market and The Park Sara December 6 start cooking their own teas, then you know this country is in deep financial shit. Halo is not opening tonight as a mark of respect. Some stuck-up bell-end from The Spectator has a walk down Laird of Kincavel Goosegate on a bollock-freezingly cold night, doesn’t pull, so writes another depressingly piss-poor article about Nottingham. January 14 Hopefully they shall keep that mark of respect How wrong is it? He actually praises Clumber Street. Remember the Tales of Robin Hood, the tourist attraction that should have been going forever. following, kids: If there was one shooting in Nottingham for every called Come And See Some Knackered-Up Robots That Stink Of Piss, Ben_Cipher time a London newspaper or magazine who didn’t know what the Stupid Fat-Arsed Americans, finally shuts down, sparking a debate fuck it was going on about brought up our reputation for gun crime, about how we don’t do enough for tourists. And thank God we I didn’t know it was someone from the Dollars shop. there’d be almost as many shootings here as there are in London. don’t, say I. Seriously, if Nottingham was twenty miles away from They are nice guys in there. It’s very sad, so pointless. London, we’d all be forced by the Council to wear green tights and Geoim December 7 skip about like twats outside Ye Olde Pounde Shoppe for the benefit Carl Froch becomes WBC champion of the world. Come on, of Bubba Buttfuck and his foul ilk. Fuck that. Calzaghe, stop being a pissy-knickered YITNEH. Coffee Intake January 15 December 11 Like a phoenix arising from the ashes, but in a Deicide t-shirt, I’m currently drinking a lot of coffee, on a regular Bestwood retains its crown of setting fire to more cars than Junktion 7 returns as Seven. Don’t go looking for that door handle basis. As a large proportion of a cup of coffee is shaped like a guitar when it opens, though - somebody teefed it. water and you’re recommended to drink at least anywhere else in Notts. Seriously, are they waiting for Eddie Kidd two litres a day, will I get caffeine poisoning before to come out of retirement or summat? reaching that hydration target? January 16 MrGeesBigCircus December 12 John Mortimer, creator of Rumpole and a true defender of Said bell-end from The Spectator goes on Radio Nottingham and Nottingham Culture, dies. Not only was he alleged to have been Caffeine is a mild diuretic so, unfortunately, coffee apologises for being a shit excuse for a journo, like the bitch he is. part of the defence team for the Lady Chatterley trial in 1960, but he drinking to achieve hydration could well be a catch also defended the Sex Pistols and the local Virgin Megastore in 1977 22 situation. December 19 for having the word ‘Bollocks’ plastered in the shop window. ShiftlessShuffle An unknown genius sticks up fake signs from the Council across town that allow you to piss up the walls after half past seven. January 18 I read a report that indicated a link between To quote the immortal Chris Needham; ‘I didn’t do it myself, but A 19-year-old lad is killed outside Halo. Utterly, utterly pointless. reduced risk of diabetes and higher coffee, but whoever did it…I’d be proud to know them, I think’. also that higher intake leads to ‘hallucinogenic January 21 processes’, which is not something you want in the January 3 A maintenance engineer from Pork Farms goes on trial for office. So who knows? Forest only go and batter the richest club in the world 3-0 in the emptying his nuts around the factory after they wouldn’t let Stillman FA Cup, don’t they? him have a nudey calendar up at work, and then being removed Keep going! I want to know how much you need from the premises, shouting that he ‘wanted locking up before he before the hallucinations kick in. January 4 murdered someone’. Damn, that man’s - shit, what’s that word for Metal Monkey The Conservative Party announce that the place with the biggest rise someone who acts really batchy? in the teenage pregnancy rate in the UK is - drum roll - Rushcliffe. I stopped drinking it in September. The first two days How disgusting. They’re only doing it so they can get on the waiting January 23 are weird, but after that you just feel fine. My main list for a four-bedroomed semi-detached with a gazebo, you know. The Ninety Minutes Hate. Smashed-up train carriage. Sheep heads reason for quitting was that I wanted to be calmer thrown through pub windows (thank God we weren’t playing Wolves). and less easily distracted, which has worked. January 6 The police and Forest so terrified by the replay that the former refuse Cheque Nigel Clough becomes manager of Derby. How pleased I am that to move the game to Wednesday for TV and the latter refuse to allow a he’s been given a chance to manager a bigger club. And how even massive Derby banner. Oh, and the game? It was fucking horrible. If you’re not seeing and hearing things that aren’t more pleased I am that it’s not Forest. really there, you aren’t really a ‘coffee drinker’, more January 29 of an ingenue dabbling in the murky brown waters. January 7 A councillor from Eastwood gets into trouble for having a calendar NJM Punchinello’s, the oldest restaurant in Nottingham, closes down of women’s tits on his office wall, as a stand against Political - possibly because of poor trade and the recession, or possibly Correctness. I too would like to join him in his cause against PC nanny- because the health inspectors saw the owner leave a baby on top state namby-pambyism by pointing out that he’s a sad old get. of the microwave so he could repeatedly hit a crocodile in the face with some sausages. My money’s on the latter.

4 www.leftlion.co.uk/issue27 LeftEyeEyeOnOn What’s beenbeen goin’goin on raandraand NottsNotts recentleh,recentleh, through through the the lenses lenses of of our our camera camera folk... folk...

Left to right from the top

FromSecret performancestop left to bottom were taking right place in the caves underneath Nottingham on January 13, part of ‘undercover’ a night of Secretperformance-y performances art from Hatch were - hatchnottingham.co.uktaking place in the caves underneath(Rebekah Downes) Nottingham on January 13, part of Undercover,Best tache in town? a night problems of performances eating soup? Probably. from Hatch. Send us in hatchnottingham.co.ukyour impressive facial hair photos and we’ll see who’s best. (Rebek(Stephenah Wright) Downes) BestYou get ‘tache some rightin town? piss artists Problems in Nottingham... eating soup? One of the Probably.‘Public Urination Send Permitted’ us in your signs impressive which appeared facial round hair Nottingham before Christmas and made the national press. photos(questionmarc.co.uk) and we’ll see who’s best. (Stephen Wright) Territory wars? Agressive behaviour? Fighting? it’s all going on Youin the get bushes some at Attenboroughright piss artists Nature inreserve. Nottingham... One(Lorna of Griffiths the ‘Public / Flickr: Urination Angelicus73) Permitted’ signs which appeared ‘round Nottingham before Christmas and madePhiladelphia the national Hip Hop band press. The Roots played Rock City on December 1, featuring MC Black Thought heading up their Jazz (questionmarc.co.uk)influenced alternative sound. T(Aler ritoryGreer) wars? Aggressive behaviour? Fighting? It’s all going on in the bushes at Attenborough Nature reserve. (Lorna Griffiths / Flickr: Angelicus73) Philadelphia hiphop band The Roots played Rock City on December 1, with MC Black Thought heading up their jazz-influenced alternative sound. (Al Greer)

www.leftlion.co.uk/issue27 5 Capital None Eek! The Recession is here, the trough of credit has finally run dry, and Nottingham hasn’t got a Pottingham to Pissingham. But are things really that grim? Time for yet another in-depth feature on the Credit Crunch, but this time featuring people you know, not talking rammell. Read two pages, get one free!

The May Contain Notts Guide words: Al Needham To The Credit Crunch You Don’t Know You’re Born, Part 1. A brief history on how we all ended up as potless as Derby County’s trophy cabinet.

Step One Step Seven The Dirty Thirties: Margaret Thatcher is a hateful, boot-faced cow who thinks it Nottingham thinks it would be well jolleh to knock up loads of would be a great idea for the country to stop mekking things, executive flats in the Lace Market, and then realises that the ee, it wor grim sell off all the nationalised industries we already owned, and handful of executives that actually do live in Notts would rather start sitting in offices trading imaginary bits of paper with stay in The Park, thanks. So they go to nobheads who want to each other instead. The horrible, rotten, ignorant bitch. pretend to be in Sex and the City who can’t really afford them words: Michael Abbott (with help from and students instead. Gramma Rose and Grandad Bill) Step Two The West says, ‘Hey, massive Communist countries, we’ll Step Eight ALTHOUGH THE GREAT DEPRESSION of the twenties and teach you how to do Capitalism, so you can have a McDonalds thirties didn’t hit Nottingham half as badly as it did the in Red Square and we can bang on about how we won the It slowly dawns upon people that while countries like China are making things and selling things, us batchy boggers are only North, it was still a massive blow. The lace empire had shrunk Cold War’. Massive Communist countries say, ‘Yeah, go on then considerably from its Victorian heyday, but other industries, - we can get our lot to do the shit jobs your lot can’t be arsed buying things from them and selling ‘em to each other, because what used to be your nearest factory is now a rapidly emptying Raleigh in particular, managed to stick it out and come out the with any more.’ The West says, ‘Oh, just one thing - you’ve got to other side stronger than before. promise not to be shitbags any more.’ ‘Er, no mate,’ say Massive nest of ponce-boxes. Nice one, Maggie, please die soon.

Communist countries, ‘we’re going to carry on thinking we’re It was still relentlessly grim, though. There was an almost rock, and in ten years time you’ll be hanging off our arseholes Step Nine Chaplinesque quality to the locals; clothes riddled with holes, like goldfish shit.’ ‘Ah, sod it,’ says the West. ‘Just keep sending It also slowly dawns upon people that bankers are being paid shoes with soles that flapped and kids’ shoes being encrusted them DVDs and cheap clothes over and we’ll say no more about a shitload of money for very little, and even more money when with big metal segs that shot out sparks when they broke into it.’ they make a dog’s arse of things by way of a golden handshake. a run. Even though huge swathes of the population were out Imagine if you were at work, and your boss gave you £50 every of work, there was a huge stigma about being unemployed at Step Three time you shit yourself and smeared it all over your face at your first - the general opinion was that it was something to do with Loads of greedy twats in America have an insatiable need to desk. That’s just what it’s like to be a banker. laziness rather than an uncontrollable financial collapse. find houses big enough to get their fat arses and oversized Although there was a dole of sorts, it was a pittance compared Stetsons into, and ponce money off lenders with stupid names Step Ten like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that they could never afford to to the post-Welfare State unemployment benefit and after pay back even if they lived three lives. It rapidly dawns upon the banks that vast amounts of the money you were on it for a while, it was reduced and supplemented they loaned out to people has been spunked on overpriced with food vouchers, as the government was terrified that a Step Four houses, £700 gold chains that are worn by bin-men in town rapidly-depressed chunk of the population would piss it away in order to impress ‘the Fanneh’, assorted worthless rammell, on booze. People who worked at the Labour Exchange were America thinks it would be a bit of a laugh to vote for George W. duddoos, etc. And a lot of them can’t afford to pay it back. generally despised; people were convinced that they would Bush, in an experiment to see what would happen if the country Ooer. hold back jobs for their mates and were taking back-handers was run by a perpetually masturbating orangutan who has left and right. been licking lead paint off a stick all day. Step Eleven However, things weren’t as bad in the surrounding countryside, Step Five The banks shit theirsen. as agriculture was still a dominant (and especially during those Meanwhile, in the UK, Tony Blair is well into his mission to times, absolutely crucial) force in the UK. During the summer, impose middle-class values on people who can’t afford them, Step Twelve farmers would draw on hired help from the city and the value with the assistance of eminently punchable smug twats on the Governments shit theirsen. of livestock rocketed; one slaughtered pig would basically pay telly who present non-stop House Porn on Channel fucking Four, the rent for the entire year. a ludicrous rise in house prices, and lots of lovely, lovely credit. Step Thirteen Summing it all up, Nottingham just about managed to dodge Step Six We all shit oursen. a bullet, thanks to its long-awaited expansion. Not only were thousands of council houses built in new estates that sprang Some mad bastards crash a couple of planes into the World up on the North side from the late twenties onwards, but the Trade Center. President Bell-end vows to give the perpetrators Step Twelve Council House was opened in 1929 (even though it needed to a right panning and spends over $600,000,000,000 in order to You get laid off from your job, and rock and whine softly to put a few shops on the ground floor to cover costs). By the make Osama bin Laden move cave a couple of times, the world yourself in a house you can no longer afford, whilst some cock end of the thirties, the good news was that there was work even more scarier, and buses to be evacuated because some on the news tells you that we all have to spend our way out of available for every able man. The bad news was that said twat left an empty box of chicken on the top deck. Whoo! Mission recession. work mainly involved being in a massive war… accomplished!

6 www.leftlion.co.uk/issue27 ‘When one venue goes down, an entire section of local bands lose their base’ Julio Taylor was the booker for Junktion 7, which closed on New Year’s Eve, and will be performing the same role at the all-new Seven.

MUSIC VENUES have been feeling the pinch for some time now, for various reasons; people go out less and when they do they drink less. Music venues stand or fall on their bar take; if you’re putting on a low-key gig, you’re not going to make much on the door. If you’ve booked a higher-profile band, they’ll want at least 80% of the ticket sales. A busy bar is crucial to any venue’s success - that’s why we’re all keen on club nights, because you don’t have to pay for a band or an engineer and people will come out to get pissed.

The summer of 2007 was the turning point. The students came back, but not in the numbers that they used to, and not with the spending power they used to have. You didn’t get the feeling that you were in Studentville any more. There was also a change in the laws about three years ago which allowed any licensed bar to put on live music - so any old pub with a PA could put bands on, which led to a total flooding of the market and the number of good local bands available to play went down. More music venues doesn’t make for a better music scene, because there’s only so many people who’ll go to live gigs. You can only slice the salami so many times, and the scene gets diluted. We always championed local bands, we have no regrets about that, and we know that we Bands there, we picked up and developed our audience thanks to again as Seven. The attitude, staff and ethos will be the same - the were an extremely important part of the Notts music scene, but our association with the place, and we loved it. The owners made ownership and brand name has changed. This time we’re going local shows always suffer in a downturn. us feel welcome and the audience were very receptive. Six years to spend a lot more time in the community and on the internet, later, I could see new bands walking in and feeling really proud and make sure the punters take full ownership of the venue. We’re It’s going to be a difficult period for local music venues, which to be there. very open to new ideas at the moment, the policy is putting on is a great shame because they all work so well together. Each what works and what’s good. of them has found its own little niche, they know that niche This isn’t a criticism to any other venue in Notts, but all local back to front, and it’s incredible that there are so many in such a music venues are cliquey by their very nature - including my Seven opens on Friday 13 February, with an official launch small area. Problem is that when one venue goes down, an entire old venue - and a lot of the bands who played there would have featuring Zodiac Mindwarp on Saturday 14 February section of local bands lose their base. As a musician myself in found it extremely difficult to get a slot elsewhere had the place www.sevenlive.co.uk Illuminatus, I loved the venue. Our first gig was at a Battle of the just disappeared. It would have been a massive loss to the local scene. Luckily, the venue has been bought out and we’re starting

‘We’re at the end of an era, and it’s one that we’ll never see again’ Chris Stamp has been manager of Muse for over three years.

BUSINESS HAS BEEN VERY GOOD, ACTUALLY. The bar and been a huge shot in the arm for Hockley; people are more inclined restaurant trade here had a very good Christmas. We’ve had to come to an area if there’s more than one similar type of bar some surprisingly busy weeknights here since then, weekends there, rather like they do on Mansfield Road. have been great…it’s not been the doom and gloom we expected. Having said that, it’s obvious that people are cutting down on The pubs who are going to suffer will be the ones with an older their nights out, and they’re budgeting when they do. People clientele, without decent smoking facilities, who are dictated in Nottingham are never going to stop going out - they’ll just to by breweries and can’t choose who to buy their beer from. be more selective of what, where, and how much they’ll drink. Certain pubs are taking desperate measures at the moment They’re definitely turning towards other night-time activities; without thinking it through, which is very risky; it devalues your Broadway’s box office have just had their most profitable brand. Some are also starting to pander to students, which is a weekend ever. false economy; you’re competing with so many other people with years of experience and having to lay out for bands and DJs. We This recession has been a long time coming, and it’s the bar trade offer students free rental of the upstairs bar for private parties who suffered first. The government has been constantly jacking and we have after-work deals, but nothing that compromises up the duty on alcohol for bars, while allowing the supermarkets what we’ve spent years building up. to use alcohol as a loss leader, and we can’t compete. People are stocking up on cheap booze, drinking at home, and coming out Like almost every other bar in town, we’re with PubWatch, who later. That and the smoking ban meant that we took a hit earlier have put a £1.50 cap on the lowest price of a drink. But a certain than other retail outlets. chain - the supermarket equivalent of the bar world, if you will - are doing pound-a-pint deals, which is a very bad idea; it’s narked the We’re all aware that there’s going to be some fallout in the pub police, it’s narked the other bars and it’s not at all responsible. trade over the year. But that’s inevitable in Nottingham, as there are so many licensed premises anyway. It’ll be survival of the Whatever happens to the economy, it’s obvious that we’re at the fittest, but also a necessary period of consolidation. If you look end of an era for the Notts pub trade, and it’s one that we’ll never after your customer base, continue what you do well and keep see again. The flash, gold credit-card, poncebox-renting thing your costs down, you’ll be able to come out the other side as a was a house of cards just waiting to be blown over and thank better business. God it’s gone. It wasn’t a particularly Nottingham thing in the first place - just an empty, fake lifestyle, and good riddance to it. I think we’re very well placed to cope over the next few years. Being opposite Broadway helps, and the return of Brownes has www.musebar.co.uk

‘It’s an inevitability that some shops will go to the wall’ Robin Donaldson and Mo Ghofrani are the Menswear Menswear Manager and Menswear Co-ordinator of Projects Design, which has been running for three years.

WE SAW THIS COMING last summer, when there was a huge day, no need to re-fold any jumpers’. When that happens here, drop. Menswear is keeping us healthy at the moment - women you worry. shop continually, but men shop in random bursts, and we’re in a peak time for men. They went mental the week before People’s shopping habits have definitely changed. Some of them Christmas. have become savvier and more selective. The really galling thing is the fact that the most successful outlet at the moment is Primark - There’s been a dip, but not as much as we expected. We went on the most unethical company on the face of the earth! Why do your sale very early and tried not to panic. Being a totally independent morals have to fly out of the window just because you’re earning shop helps; we’re just a phone call away from the owner, meaning a bit less, for a £15 top that you’re going to love for a week and we can react on the fly to events. Your Top Shops have a chain of then never wear again? command, more stock, and can only under or overreact long after the event. That’s our one advantage. When will the recession end? When people stop using the R- word. It’ll be at least two years before we get back to normal. There are still independents opening up, but they’re a dying breed Hopefully, there’ll be a renaissance in local independent shops and in Notts. The Council are really inflexible with the indies; they’ve a rejection of chain stores. We turn out so many fashion designers only just started to be decent with us because they’re struggling and entrepreneurs here, but unless this town does something to too. Other cities encourage the growth of small businesses, but accommodate them, we’ll keep losing them to other cities and the minute you can’t pay your rent here, you’re out. We pride It’s an inevitability that some shops will go to the wall. When other countries. ourself on being a shopping Mecca - and it’s undeniable that there you hear about major retailers going down, it’s terrifying. It’s are some amazing one-off shops here - but it’s not as good here a personal thing - there’s someone we know with a house and Projects Design, 32 Pelham Street, NG1 2EG compared to, say, Leeds. Everything’s scattered from Canning commitments who is going to suffer if we close. If you work at www.projectsclothing.com Circus to Mansfield Road, and the centre is dominated by chains. French Connection and there’s no trade, you think; ‘Great - easy

www.leftlion.co.uk/issue27 7 You don’t know you’re born, Part 2. This particular recession - which was so all-consuming that it Green had a copycat riot in the wake of Brixton, the flats were didn’t even need a special name - affected everything. Apart from pulled down and work was created for the sake of it. a very convenient Falklands War that kept the most unpopular government in history in power, the news reports relentlessly More importantly, the Thatcher regime’s ace in the hole for their The Hatey Eighties: kicked off for years with the latest unemployment figures. Unless second election - facilitating the opportunity for private tenants to you were ‘lucky’ enough to get on a YTS (Youth Training Scheme buy their own properties - kicked off the first housing boom of the - twenty five whole pounds a week!), there was practically modern era. Nice if you got in at the right time; not so nice if you at least the football no stigma about being young and on the dole; it was almost weren’t even born then and you’re currently working your tits off mandatory. There was still free university education if you fancied to get on the ladder. was good it and there was dossing about and having an extended childhood if you didn’t. However, the defining moment of Nottingham in the eighties was the miner’s strike, when the Notts branch of the NUM refused to words: Michael Abbott Although the eighties is seen as the age of the Yuppie, they weren’t strike without a ballot and a huge chunk of them broke away and (with help from his mam) exactly in abundance in Notts. The only people in the area who continued to work, leading to the county becoming the focal point cashed in at the time were private landlords who took advantage of a virtual civil war. Defiant heroes against authority in the mould of houses that were being repossessed all over the shop. However, of Robin Hood, Arthur Seaton and Brian Clough, or sell-outs who UNLESS YOU LIVED in the south-east, the entire country got it wasn’t all doom and gloom; Nottingham took quite the step up turned the entire north against us and got used and spat out by kicked in the knackers in the early eighties. Nottingham took its in the early eighties, especially in the field of entertainment; Rock the foul Thatch? Let’s not go into that. And this is the decade we fair share of groin-ache; virtually every big industry in the city was City and the Royal Concert Hall both opened and the Central have theme pubs and club nights devoted to? laying off left and right, and the concept of leaving school on a Friday East Midlands studios were built in Lenton. As with the present and starting in the factory the next Monday disappeared forever. government, regeneration was seen as the way out; after Hyson

‘We’re not fazed by it at all’ Rosa Brough is a second-year Broadcast Journalist student at Trent who works part-time at the Golden Fleece, and presents Stupod, LeftLion’s student podcast.

Everyone assumes that students are going to be unaffected by us work in bars and restaurants and the money from that is the the recession, and I’d agree - to a certain extent. The majority of difference between scraping along and being able to properly people I know at Uni aren’t fazed by it at all - we’re not worried enjoy yourself. about our mortgages or jobs, we have our loans, they cover our tuition, rent and food, and we always find going-out money I get the feeling that universities aren’t really stressed about the when we need to. recession. There’s always going to be a large amount of people who want to do a degree, because it’s a way of getting out of the Having said that, I am getting worried about the state of the job real world and sponging off people for three more years. And if market. We do this to land the career we always wanted to do it wasn’t for the two universities in Notts, the city would be in - and you definitely need a degree for that these days, as well bigger trouble. Building projects are slowing down all over the as the placements and the networking - but most of us take any country, but we’ve just had a new newsroom built on campus first job available to keep us going, and those jobs are looking and buildings are being converted all over the city for students. thin on the ground. The universities are keeping a lot of firms afloat now, and I don’t think town would be half as buzzing as it is without us. Most I’m not scared about the debt side of things at all. I see this as pubs would be shut in the week. an investment in my future life and I’ll worry about the cost later. The interest rates are always going to be low, regardless of the Stupod is available every month from financial climate. I think the biggest worry for students right www.leftlion.co.uk/audio now is the slowdown in the night-time economy, because a lot of POUND TOWN Discount shops: a guilty pleasure then, pretty damn essential now. Here’s the top five in the city centre…

EVERYTHING 99p POUNDLAND Broadmarsh Centre, opposite Wimpy Lister Gate, right next to Broadmarsh Centre. Are you Once upon a time, this was the £2 Shop, and some of us detecting a pattern here? look back at those times as if they were an era of unfettered This place is obviously reaching for the high-end Poundocity decadence. Nowadays, this place does exactly what it says on of Everything £1, but it doesn’t quite manage it. Absolutely no the tin (of Goblin hamburgers - perfect for your next LARPing reason to spurn it, though - it specialises in student food (Vesta camping weekend). If you want to know what shopping in East packet curries, noodles, etc), bathroom and cleaning products, Germany circa 1978 was like, this is where you go - brand names and - at the time of writing - slut pants, stocking, whips, and that time forgot (Playtex? Wright’s Coal Tar Soap? Toffifee?), bondage sets. Ooh la la! shabby knock-offs of licenced toys, and utter randomness (leopardskin mop handles, anyone?). Cock your nose up at this If you’re lucky, you’ll find: Edible knickers. Sex up your snap tin place at your peril, though - the food bargains are skill, with for a quid! proper brands for next to nuppence. One for the ponces: Loads of girly bath-mank. Candles, fizzy If you’re lucky, you’ll find: Church candles going for £8 balls, whiffy gels, etc. elsewhere for 99p. Er, no mate: A dozen plastic red roses for a quid. Instant One for the ponces: Enough slabs of Green & Black’s - the Something useful we bought for a pound. dumpage. Bournville that thinks it’s summat - to retile your bathroom with for a tenner. Er, no mate: Anthony’s 70s Disco Workout DVD, presented by the minciest Big Brother contestant ever, which is saying a lot. Er, no mate: Loads of vaguely erotic ceramic ornaments that WILKOS used to terrify you (whilst making your groin go all tingly) when All over Notts. Including Broadmarsh Centre you were nine. If you don’t know what Wilkos is or does, put this paper down POUND SAVER now, scum. Broadmarsh Centre, opposite Wilkos EVERYTHING £1 Not a pound shop as such, but a veritable Aladdin’s Cave - if Broadmarsh Centre, next to Argos Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves had just pulled off a massively IN MEMORIUM This place is the future of pound shops (except they’ll be called successful sting on the Prize Bingo at Skegness, that is. This Fords (The shop in Viccy Centre that had its own overpass €1.23 shops then). Loads of brands you know and trust (Lemsips place is a veritable discount gangsta’s paradise: you can pick for £2.50 cheaper than in Boots!) jostle for attention with the mad up no end of Playboy tat, a passport cover marked ‘PLAYER’, attached to it so you could go there with your Mam without shit we’ve come to know and love. No chatty carpets or bingo a Scarface clock that looks like if was ripped off a 12 year-old’s being seen by your mates and getting shamed down). curtains here, it’s all shiny wooden floors, proper lighting and - as MySpace page for £7, and - best of all - an imitation AK-47 for a concession to the average Broado punter - aisles wide enough the kiddies for a fiver and an Airsoft sawn-off shotgun for Dad The Reject Shop. to accommodate the widest Bulwell Mam-arse. The food selection retailing at a mere £12. Awr, bless, etc. is exemplary, and they sell two pregnancy testing kits for a quid. The Scoop basement in the big Co-Op. Which, for my money, is worth the steam off anyone’s piss. If you’re lucky, you’ll find: something of use. Car boot sales (before eBay). If you’re lucky, you’ll find: Vicks Vapo-Rub, a dust mask and One for the ponces: Er, nothing to see here, really. foot-long glow-sticks. All your old-school raving requirements at Shops with bins full of cornflakes and pistachios. 1992 prices! Er, no mate: Official Chelsea FC chocolate, with twelve very poor likenesses of Frank Lampard. One for the ponces: Those Feng Shui statuettes you paid 79 quid more for a few years ago, you sucky bell-end. READ MORE AT LEFTLION.CO.UK/COMMUNITY 8 www.leftlion.co.uk/issue27

Rob Cutforth is surprised to discover that, beneath the surface, Nottingham is a bona fide Metal Muthaland…

1990 WAS A BIG YEAR FOR ME. I was fifteen, There certainly wasn’t enough for a column; in my first year of high school, my voice I guessed I would have to find another (and my balls) had finally dropped and I was Nottingham institution to diss instead (by the introduced properly to hard rock. To say I was way, neither Jo and Twiggy’s break-up nor the a bit of a late bloomer would be like saying closing of the Tales of Robin Hood are my fault, Dawn French kinda likes cheese. I think most I swear). It was getting late, I was tired and I people go through an awkward stage in their was half in the bag so I figured we’d call it a lives, but for me it went a bit further than most. night. John wasn’t having any of it - he said Before my fifteenth birthday, my life was all he was saving the best for last; Heavy Metal about three things: videogames, Dungeons and Karaoke at the Ye Olde Salutation Inn. Dragons and Duran Duran. That’s right, ladies. There are few things I hate more than karaoke. All that changed when my best friend lent me It’s not so much the bad songs, the cheesy DJ his copy of Metallica’s ...And Justice for All or even the terrible singing that gets me down. that spring. I had never heard or seen anything What I hate most about karaoke is karaoke like it before; the black guitars, the fuck-you people. People who take it seriously. People who attitude, the ridiculous hair and the even more (thanks to Pop Idol and X Factor) are convinced ridiculous guitar solos. I loved it. In the years that the only reason they’re not famous is that followed, I grew my hair long, traded the because they haven’t been discovered yet. neon shirts and turn-ups for denim cutoffs and People who are too deaf and stupid to realise a leather jacket (I’m not sure which was worse), that when they try to hit the high notes, it’s and replaced my collection of Duran Duran and like a cat is being castrated and set alight. I Pet Shop Boys tapes with Pantera, Guns N’ personally think that the producers of X-Factor Roses, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Nirvana and, of should be publicly stoned to death for allowing course, Metallica. I had well and truly sold my that Alexandra chick to release a karaoke soul to the God of Rock forever. version of quite possibly the most beautiful song ever written. It literally makes my ears bleed. Eighteen years later, when my buddy John suggested we do a hard rock pub crawl of When we first arrived at the Sal, it was like I’d Nottingham for my next column, I shrugged it stepped into my bedroom in 1990 again. It was off. Nottingham didn’t really strike me as a rock dirty, there were tatty Maiden shirts hanging town; it’s full of cheesy clubs. Besides, what about and old Metal posters on the wall. One could John possibly know about it? He certainly thing that was never in my bedroom back then, doesn’t look like a rocker. He’s bald (not by however, were the two (surprisingly attractive) choice), he’s got a beard and a proper job in girls singing Mr Brownstone. There was only Marketing. He doesn’t wear leather or spandex, ever one girl that ventured into my room he showers regularly and I bet he’s never back then, and her name was a three letter even seen an apple bong. When he showed palindrome. This was much better. up, he wasn’t wearing the usual shirt and tie I normally see him in; in fact, to my surprise, he Most people that went on stage looked the was wearing a Metallica top. However, it was part. A skull tattoo here, a leather wristband a preppy little Metallica jumper that looked there - I even saw a pink boa. Even John, air- like it had been designed by Tommy Hilfiger, guitaring and singing Seek and Destroy in his bought for him by his girlfriend. I didn’t really Metallicardie, looked very Rock and Roll. But it expect much proper rocking out that evening, wasn’t until Motley Crue Guy went on stage that but he was persistent and fun to drink with, so I realised just how serious people in this town I agreed. take the rock. He had massive, jet-black hair, bandanna, ripped Dr Feelgood t-shirt, leather The tour started with the usual suspects. I had jacket, guy-liner and white jeans ripped at the never drunk at the Pit and Pendulum, the Angel crotch exposing tiger-print tights. He went on or Foremans before and to be honest, they all stage, screamed his face off and in an instant, All. I punched Blackened in and when it came produced (mostly) predictable results. Being him, my gaze wandered over the other things I was pulled straight back to my metal youth. I on, I almost jumped out of my chair. My head surprised at finding goths in the Pit would be like Foremans has to offer. Like the Wall of the Dead had found Nottingham’s heart, and it was black. was bobbing and I was about to throw the first being surprised at finding a story blaming Princess or the do-it-yourself graffiti wall in the bog. goat I’d thrown in fifteen years when, suddenly, Di’s death on immigrants in the Daily Mail. It’s a weird little yellow place, but that’s what It’s easy to mistake Nottingham for a clubber’s the bartender skipped it - laughing about it to is good about it. If there is one thing it isn’t town with its disco ball-laden nightclubs, his mates. OK, I understand Metallica is about I suppose the same could be said about finding short of, it’s character; which is something that Friday nights of chavvy dudes in shirts and as mainstream as you can get when it comes to a skinhead in a punk bar like Foremans, but it is missing from most of the soulless hipster- shoes openly snogging drunken, sparkly metal, but what are you taking the piss out of still shocked me when I saw one. I’ve seen This wannabe chain bars across the street. Plus, the hussies and Saturday morning puke piles, but if me for? It’s your bloody jukebox, fella. is England and have had someone try to explain music was very good. you yank up Nottingham’s mini-skirt, you’ll find to me the concept that you can be a skinhead that it hides ripped fishnets and a big spiky We left the Angel and I had resigned myself to in this country without being a racist, but I In the Angel, I found the scruffy old-school codpiece. Thank God for that. the fact that although we’d had a decent time, still don’t get it. The skins I’ve seen back home rocker types I was looking for, and I was I still didn’t really feel like Nottingham was a are more the curb-stomping American History starting to feel like it was 1990 again. John and particularly hard rock town. Even Rock City X types, and they scare the ever-loving piss I headed for the jukebox and to my surprise, the Read more from Rob at were doing an eighties dance night. out of me. Trying not to make eye contact with first album I saw staring straight back at me www.canuckistani.com was the one that started it all, ...And Justice for BOOK SAYLE words: Aly Stoneman photo: John Falzon

‘It’s a bit weird standing under a triple image of yourself! I look like some Greek peasant who’s been arrested - Naxos, the sheep interferer!’ quips Alexei Sayle, referring to the three publicity mug-shots for his latest book tour gurning mischievously on Broadway’s cinema screen behind him. His eyebrow-raising career change from bolshy stand-up comedian to serious writer of literary fiction continues with his fourth novel, Mister Roberts. Set in a remote Spanish village, the plot combines robot suits, aliens and ex-pats and is both an original coming-of-age story and an unusual take on the corrupting influence of power.

Has fame helped your writing success? It helps you to get more attention in the first instance… you get more critical attention of the ‘My God, it can write!’ variety. But I feel like if I was someone else, my books would have been short- listed for one of them prizes they give out by now, so it’s a mixed blessing. Maybe that’s just deluded self-pity!

Stephen Fry writes in much the same way as he performs, but you’ve made a big switch from your stand-up comic persona… Stand-up is very black and white: ‘don’t you hate this, hate that.’ I wanted to be more complex about the world. When I was a comic, I was one of the best comics in the world. Nottingham, incidentally, always sold out first on the comedy tour. I want to emulate that as an author. You can’t achieve that by writing a mimsy spin-off. The game is much harder than that, takes a lot more thought. I’m incredibly competitive. I want to be up there with Philip Roth or Raymond Carver.

What makes you happiest? As soon as you reflect on it, it goes, but when you write In Need. I was never nice! That’s why people think I used bad something you think is really good, it’s an incomparable I’m incredibly competitive. language - which I didn’t - because my attitudes were clearly experience. (Laughs) You can go for a long time without writing, subversive. but there’s something still happening somewhere. Not writing is I “want to be up there with Philip part of writing, it’s part of the same process. So politics is still important to you? Roth or Raymond Carver. It fascinates me. The psychology of the people involved - the When did you start writing? psychology of the mass. You could see capitalism as not just I’d written three movies, TV scripts, hundreds of columns, so ” an economic system but as a psychological system, because I’d already written a lot, but I’d never been able to write prose capitalism only works if we all believe in it. If people stopped fiction. I’d never had what they call an authorial voice. Barcelona When did you realise you were funny? believing in the system you’d have a serious crisis, so there’s a Plates was initially a movie idea, then I thought, ‘No, I’ll try it as It wasn’t so much being funny, but knowing how it worked. psychology. Bloody economists and their pseudo-science; they a short story’, and suddenly the voice was there. That was the From an early age I could watch a comic dying on the telly but try to say economics is a force of nature like mathematics, but first short story I ever wrote. think, ‘no, you’re funny’ and I could see someone else who was getting big laughs, and say, ‘no, you’re no good’. It’s not about it’s not, it’s a human construct and therefore the only thing that really governs it is psychology. Phew! Deep me! (Laughs) Would you say that Mister Roberts is less bleak than your being funny but instinctively knowing what comedy is, on a previous novels? professional level. Ultimately, my books aren’t comedies, they are Do you think you might have a future in politics? Earlier drafts were very bleak, much nastier - I started wondering social satires. Not in party politics, no, but I’d like to be a theoretician. I was I doing this ‘cos it’s my trick or did it suit the story? I don’t have these grandiose ideas about the way politics works. want to be bleak; I actually feel the need in my writing to be more Does humour run in the family? Occasionally you go on some TV show and you articulate them. optimistic. My last desperate attempt to be popular! (Laughs) My dad was a jolly sort of character but my mother’s got an I think about being a bit more active, putting out a different kind Uncle Alexei - after all those years of shouting at people! extraordinarily unsophisticated sense of humour. She doesn’t think I’m funny at all. Funnily enough, I’ve been commissioned to of voice. But there are a lot of dangers, going on Question Time or Newsnight, you can just reduce yourself to a kind of gimmicky Do you see yourself as a provincial writer, coming from write an autobiography next about growing up in a mad hole of person. Liverpool? believers and what that’s like. (Laughs) Not provincial, probably, but I try not to be metropolitan Barack Obama’s inauguration seems to offer hope… either. I read two books recently short listed for the Orange prize Your infamous communist upbringing… I don’t really know how much freedom he’ll have. I’m certainly - and they both mentioned Swains Lane in Highgate, in London. Communism means a system that fails. Somebody once asked glad the other one went, he was a nightmare. But Obama is an It’s a road in an area where writers live! I thought, find another me who my favorite fictional character was, and I said the cat in intellectual, he seems thoughtful and charismatic. Whether these fucking road, you know? Like both these women couldn’t think of Animal Farm, because the cat never really believes it. The cat’s are advantages in a politician, I don’t know. I feel sorry for him another road except for Swains Lane, which is obviously where never for a minute fooled and I just think that’s how I’d like to that he is sailing into such troubled waters. they go (puts on posh voice) for their patisserie every day and think of myself really, because it made me ashamed of what me you just think, they can’t even be arsed moving out of north-west and my family had supported. Plans for the future? wherever it is! I wouldn’t like to just write about metropolitan Take each day as it comes. concerns because the country is much bigger than that. Is class still important to you? Certainly my stand up was all about class. People often recollect And then he took out his mobile - and phoned his mother. Is that why you set Mister Roberts in Spain? me using foul language and I never did on television. It wasn’t I had thought of setting it on a housing estate in Britain, but the the language but the attitude which was unsettling them. It remoteness was an essential part of the story and I’m not a great was threatening because class is really an unmentionable topic. one for research. I have a house in Spain as well…. I clearly don’t subscribe to the accepted modes of behaviour for show business. I never did all that charity shit like Children You can find out more at www.alexeisayle.me

www.leftlion.co.uk/issue27 11 The Gangs of Nottingham words and photos: Jared Wilson

Hoods uncovers a story which has fascinated many people over the last decade: organised crime in Nottingham. It starts out in the fifties at the beginning of the modern-day drugs trade and then moves on to the tabloid fodder of the well-renowned Gunn brothers and ‘Assassination City’, with our chief of police telling the rest of the county, ‘We can’t cope.’ We met up with the author Carl Fellstrom in a safe place and asked him a few questions…

Are you originally from Nottingham? it’s worth trying to raise their profile again. Take Tommy Lau for victims of this story, not Colin or David Gunn for any character I’m not. I moved here in 1995. I’d worked at various papers in instance, he’s a lovely chap, but he can’t walk again because he assassination. Northamptonshire, Bedford and Yorkshire before. Around 2003 I got mistaken for someone else and shot. He still doesn’t know was doing a lot of crime stories for national newspapers. I was why it happened and it’s hard for him to live with that. Having read the book, I don’t think it really sensationalises frustrated because I could always write a lot more than they anything - it’s more focused on the evidence of the police files. would print. They were very London-centric and a story from the Do you think Colin or David Gunn will have read it? Although perhaps the cover and the title could be considered provinces really had to be extraordinary to get in there. The book I received a letter from David and he has read it. He was upset, slightly hyperbolic… came from that material. didn’t like the fact that I wrote about Jamie Gunn and he was In terms of the cover image, I had no say in that and was as surprised fairly abusive. But I think he was mostly upset that I didn’t go to as anyone that they chose the image of Colin Gunn. The original cover Have you received any threats after writing this? him while I was writing it. There was a plan at one stage to do was going to be the one of men in balaclavas that can be found on my There have been a few. There’s nothing I would say I’m really that, but I felt that the closer I got to them, the more they might internet sites. But the title is one I chose. I felt it summed up what I worried about, but I’m aware that there are a small minority of expect me to give them some kind of a cloak of morality. For the needed to say as a lot of it centres around the Robin Hood myth and people who I have to watch out for. In fact there’s even been same reason I didn’t try to interview Colin Gunn. Nottingham, with people trying to moralise about their own villainy. a Facebook site set up dedicated to getting people not to buy They seem to want to play up the Robin Hood myth, but these But the story itself is sensational enough already. Only the other the book. I think the one thing some people in the book don’t guys have done brutal things and there isn’t much room to day I heard that David Gunn is at Lowdham Grange prison with like is their criminal reputations being tarnished. The fact that give them some kind of makeover. I don’t think they should Robert Briggs-Price, Jamie Neill and Donny Quinn (three other they have been named as informants, for example. But generally be allowed to rehabilitate themselves so quickly after what well-known Nottingham criminals). Why on earth would you put the reaction that I’ve had is quite positive. I know that it must they have done. I’m all for rehabilitation in the long term, but all those people in prison together? It’s ridiculous. The authorities be hard for some of the families of the victims, bringing all the I think out of respect for the families of the people who have make it so easy for them to carry on doing what they’ve always memories back. But there are so many unsolved cases too and been murdered they should wait a while. They’re the real done and so hard for them to rehabilitate.

Brief history of Gunn Crime for brutally beating a guy senseless outside A brief overview of the criminal careers of Bestwood Cartel leaders the Astoria (now Ocean) near the back of the Broadmarsh Centre. However, the CCTV and ‘Godfathers’ of Nottingham gang crime, Colin and David Gunn surveillance tapes mysteriously go missing. 1960s Early 1990s The victim pursues GBH charges, but without Colin and David (born in ‘67 and ‘65) are In their mid-twenties at the start of the decade evidence Colin only gets a few hundred hours’ children growing up on the Bestwood estate. and steadily clocking up minor convictions community service and, cheekily, gets an for burglary, theft, handling stolen goods and imposter to complete it for him. 1970s violence. The duo quickly become feared by other pupils 27 November 1998 at Henry Whipple Junior School and known as 1997 David Gunn is imprisoned for grievous bodily bruisers in the playground. The Bestwood Cartel are now running a large- harm and threatening to kill Keith Copeland scale operation which spans money lending, after a fight in a pub. He is sent to prison for 1980s burglaries, extortion, robbery, drugs, car four years and nine months. Both are pupils at the now defunct Padstow ringing and fraud. Colin is known to enforce Comprehensive School. As teenagers they his leadership with extreme violence. There are 2001 appear in a local church magazine article, stories of him nailing people’s hands to tables Colin Gunn is a reliable informant to Nottingham police. His reputation as a provider of good which praises their crime-busting heroics after and taking to knuckles with a hammer or baseball 30 August 2003 information is such that he is trailed by a police they apprehend a street robber and hand a bat. At the same time their PR in Bestwood is Marvyn Bradshaw is shot dead outside the officer with a National Crime Squad background woman her purse back. But behind the scenes exceptional and to this day residents still talk Sporting Chance pub in Bulwell. It is believed and begged to sign up on the official register. they are using friends and friends of friends to about a firework show they organised one year the intended target of the attack was his best But his links with police are self-serving as it build up a crime network that will later become or the £100 they left in an old lady’s birthday card. friend Jamie Gunn (nephew of Colin and David), helps to bring down rivals and extend his patch. known as the Bestwood Cartel. who was in the back seat. Jamie is inconsolable. October 1998 He is also using lots of cocaine and steroids and Colin Gunn and a few friends are arrested the two drugs together are like a timebomb.

12 www.leftlion.co.uk/issue27 You must have sifted through loads of information to write this. Researching this book must have been depressing as hell. Were Is there anything the Gunn brothers did that you have an Are there any particularly juicy bits that didn’t make the final cut? there any lighter moments, or times when you had to laugh? admiration for, sneaking or otherwise? I had to take out a lot of names and there was the odd thing that I guess there were, but I can’t remember them. I got so caught In some ways they embody the sense of community spirit in didn’t make it in for legal reasons. There was one story about a up in it that it was occupying my every thought. I was seeing Britain that has perhaps been lost since the Thatcher days. former Nottinghamshire police officer who was implicated in a people who had been at the sharp end of it. There’s a lot of However perverted that became there were good things about massive customs drug bust and yet walked free. I think there pressure on you trying to keep those people secret and safe from it, with people looking out for each other and particularly The Gangs of Nottingham was a bigger story to that, but I couldn’t print the details. others finding out they’re talking to you. All these things take a those who needed help like the elderly. They cared about their great toll over a length of time. It’s taken a long time for me to community and I think they genuinely wanted to do well by Another one must have been the figure you call The Taxman. get out of that headspace. them, but the brutality of what they did to get where they He’s only touched upon briefly in the book, but seems to be were is quite shocking. the biggest criminal of the lot… How well do you think this book will sell outside of Nottingham? He was like Colin Gunn was maybe fifteen or twenty years ago. I’m not sure geographically, but it’s doing okay. The first print How valid do you think comparisons to the Krays are? He could be very brutal, but is now one of the most successful run of 7000 sold out before Christmas. The second print run I think they’re entirely valid, though I didn’t touch on it much businessmen in Nottinghamshire, if not in the whole country. He was another 4000 and they’ve all gone. So we’re now looking in the book. There’s no doubt the metaphor works. Everything has a lot of power and a huge amount of influence and recruits at our third print run and we’re looking at doing a paperback in I know about the Kray twins as a phenomenon is similar. On former police officers to work for him so he has a great information February. I think that’s great as paying £17 for a book is a luxury the one hand they were compassionate towards their own, on intelligence network. For legal reasons I had to take things out and I’d like it to be available at a cheaper price. the other side they are business-like and brutal to anyone who that would have identified him a bit more easily. Though I think a posed a threat to them. As brothers there is a bit there as well lot of people in Nottingham already have a good idea who he is. Back in March 2005, when you did that ‘We Can’t Cope’ in the sense that one was perhaps slightly unhinged and more interview for The Telegraph with Nottinghamshire Police Chief violent, with the other one being the slightly stronger character Another interesting character involved in the book early on is Steve Green, did you realise the stir it might cause? in terms of getting things organised. Dave Francis. Tell us about him… His comments in the interview totally took us by surprise. I think He was a very enigmatic character from the Meadows gang in what happened was that we were so well-briefed that we got Has there been any interest in the book from film or TV the eighties and early nineties. They were responsible for lots him in a corner. He then thought in a wrong way that we were companies yet? of armed robberies and later got into the drugs trade too. Dave going to blow him out of the water. So he gave us a really candid Just before the book came out there was some, but there hasn’t began to run his own drugs cartel and yet was still a leader for interview to take the heat off the situation. We didn’t realise it been much since. Certainly I’ve talked about it with people and the black community in a lot of ways. But what he did, which would be on the front page of The Telegraph, but it caught the I’d be interested in being involved with something based on a was a stroke of criminal genius, was to get a job as manager of editor’s eye at the time. It was also election time and crime was similar way to how Shane Meadows gets people from the local the local drugs charity. That gave him access to a database of a hot potato. What was disappointing was that the next day community involved. But so many things would have to be right, Green accused us of blackmailing him into the interview. Which the story itself and the people involved that it’s a massive job. was extraordinary… Then years later he came to rely on the But it is something I’ve thought about, yeah… In some ways the Gunns embody interview to dig himself out of a hole, using it to save his job by saying he’d pointed out the problems they were facing at the “the sense of community spirit in time. Life has its ups and downs and I wouldn’t have wanted to be in his situation at all. But he wasn’t the right man for the The one thing some people in Britain that has perhaps been lost job and at that point he had screwed up! Abandoning the drugs the book don’t like is their since the Thatcher days. However squad was his decision and had a massive effect as they were “ supplying primary intelligence to those investigating gun crime. criminal reputations being perverted that became there were good It was a massive blow to their investigations. The two went hand in hand and it was naïve to think otherwise. Other things tarnished. The fact that they things about it. They cared about their like taking bobbies off the beat and sending them round in cars also had a bad effect, sending out signals that the police were have been named as informants, community and genuinely wanted to too scared to be on the streets. There were things that he did that had a huge influence on the ability of Nottingham police to for example. Hoods uncovers a story which has fascinated many people over the last decade: organised do well by them, but the brutality of deal with their workload at the time. what they did to get where they were ” Was Colin Gunn a criminal genius, or did the police really crime in Nottingham. It starts out in the fifties at the beginning of the modern-day drugs is quite shocking. fuck up? Colin Gunn’s own biography is bound to come out soon. If he He might not have been a genius in an intentional way, but he asked you to write it with him, would you do it? trade and then moves on to the tabloid fodder of the well-renowned Gunn brothers and ” was very good at what he did and there were definitely elements Hmmm. I’d definitely think about it, but I’m not sure they would ask people using crack and heroin, enabling him to set up a mini- of professionalism in that. But certainly I believe that the police me. I think there is a lot of bubbling talk from the Gunn side about ‘Assassination City’, with our chief of police telling the rest of the county, ‘We can’t cope.’ empire, whilst garnering a lot of influence through politicians had a larger part to play in him becoming so successful. Their publishing something for themselves. David is coming out soon and like Alan Simpson MP and Sir Geoffery Errington, the chairman collective mistakes really helped him on his way. I think he’d like to restore his reputation and go back to Bestwood We met up with the author Carl Fellstrom in a safe place and asked him a few questions… of the drugs charity. with his head held high. So there is definitely an interest in their Francis became a political hot potato and a difficult fish to catch. Why do you think he stayed living in Bestwood and Rise Park, story, but whether I’d be involved in it or not is another matter. The police even left him alone for a while as it became so hard when he earned so much money he could move anywhere? for them to get to him. He was always playing the race card, but Couldn’t he have just moved abroad? What are you going to write next? in the end he got too arrogant. He’d built up a pyramid of people Colin’s wife Victoria tried to get him to move to Spain on I’m working on a book in tandem with another writer, which is working for him and they just took it out layer upon layer until he numerous occasions and they certainly talked about that. But the story of an undercover police officer. Believe it or not he went became so isolated that he had to come out of the woodwork and Bestwood was in his blood. He hated coming into town after a undercover to infiltrate the miners during the strike. A lot of do bits himself and was caught as a huge load of heroin made while, after taking a couple of beatings and losing control of the people wouldn’t realise that the authorities in Nottingham would its way to Nottingham. He went to prison for some time, but is things happening outside of his estate. He was a big fish in a use their own police officers to resolve what was a civil law out again now. He spends a lot of time in Jamaica these days small pond and when he came into the city it was different as situation, but that’s Thatcher for you. supposedly doing charity work, but I believe he does come back people no longer looked at him like he was the King. A lot of it to Nottingham quite often as he has a lot of family here. was about power. He could certainly have afforded to give up his What would you say to people who are afraid to go out at life of crime, but he probably liked and was used to the feeling of night in Nottingham? There are so many stories about Nottingham gangsters flying reigning over the people of Bestwood. Don’t be scared. The only way things can change and you can about. Was it hard to separate the truth from the bullshit? reclaim it from the gangsters is by getting out there and making Absolutely. I’m not sure I got as far as I wanted to with it either. Did your opinion of the Gunns change after you finished it your own city. Try to impose your own character on the place There will be mistakes in there, but I hope I’ve got as much right as the book? and cheer it up. I could have. I tried to source everything three times over to be sure. I think that it helped to understand them as human beings. It’s But Nottingham is a gossipy city and everyone is only really one easy to think of people as cartoon-style gangsters, but it wasn’t degree removed from everyone else. Lots of things have become just criminals who looked up to them. I talked to many people Hoods, published by Milo books, is reviewed on page 28 myths that aren’t true and some are. I’m sure that some of the who are law-abiding citizens of Nottingham that only had good and available to buy online and in bookshops now. stories I was told have a whiff of colouration in them, but others I’m things to say about them. I feel like I’ve learned a lot about absolutely certain were correct. For example I’m sure people were Nottingham as a city too. Not least that the connections between www.milobooks.co.uk involved in the murders I’ve mentioned them in connection with. people are so close. It’s like one big family.

30 12 July 2004 the Bestwood Cartel goes missing from a car it is said that he was recruited and placed into September Michael O’Brien is jailed for life for the and finds its way to Colin. the force as a ‘clean skin’. Alongside him fellow 2003 murder of Marvyn Bradshaw. As the judge former policeman Philip Parr is jailed for twelve Marian read out the sentence, O’Brien threw water 17 March 2005 months for conspiracy to commit misconduct in Bates is shot and spat insults at Mr Bradshaw’s family Colin Gunn and several other men are arrested by a public office. dead in her and taunted Colin Gunn, who was sat in the Nottinghamshire police on suspicion of murder. jewellery gallery during the trial, shouting ‘There’s one 4 November 2006 store in coming your way.’ 30 Jun 2006 Several people are jailed for their part in the front of her Colin Gunn, Michael ‘Tricky’ McNee and Bestwood riots earlier in the year. husband and 2 August 2004 John Russell are all jailed for life (35 years) for daughter. Jamie Gunn dies of pneumonia, after eleven conspiracy to murder Mr and Mrs Stirland. January 2007 James Brodie months of depression and drug use following O’Brien’s friend, Gary Salmon, is jailed for life and Peter the death of Bradshaw. His funeral is attended 1 July 2006 for his part in the Marvyn Bradshaw murder. Williams by thousands of mourners, including most of Gunn’s supporters riot in Bestwood, with had burst Bestwood. Colin is inconsolable over the death around thirty people setting fire to cars and August 2007 in wearing of his nephew. causing £10,000 worth of damage. Colin Gunn is convicted of encouraging police motorcycle corruption in the case of Charles Fletcher. He helmets and attempted to rob the place, but it 8 August 2004 13 October 2006 is given another nine years which will run didn’t go as planned. Williams is later jailed for Joan and John Stirland are shot dead in their David Gunn goes to prison on Amphetamine concurrently with his life sentence. 22 years and Brodie has not been seen since. bungalow on the Lincolnshire coast. Joan Stirland possession and supply charges, after a trial at According to accounts from informers, he was was the mother of Michael O’Brien and many Derby Crown Court. April 2009 shot and his head and hands were chopped off. believe it is a revenge attack by the Gunns. David Gunn is due for release from prison. Rumour has it his body was fed to pigs on a farm 26 October 2006 in north Nottinghamshire. January 2005 Former trainee police detective Charles Fletcher Police intelligence on the secret operations of is jailed for seven years for corruption. In court

www.leftlion.co.uk/issue27 13 words: Adrian Bhagat photo: Dom Henry

Stephen Lowe is a Sneinton-born playwright, actor, director and screenwriter, perhaps best known for Old Big ‘Ead in The Spirit of the Man, his very successful play about Brian Clough. We spoke to him about a new work, Glamour, which focuses on a sexually frustrated young filmmaker and an encounter with the Kray brothers.

What is the story behind Glamour? innocent as well as pretentious it was. Looking at yourself at publish Lawrence. His wife was also extraordinary and beautiful. The story is largely autobiographical. I’d say that the weirder the eighteen is a bit of a shock anyway - I’d forgotten the acne. They expected Lawrence to be wild like them but found him play gets the more likely it is to be true. It was 1966 and I was I wondered whether this was the first work of a sixties Shane morose and angry, trying to face the possibility of death and a working class lad in grammar school. I was making a film of Meadows? I showed it to Giles Croft (Artistic Director at the what that meant to his writing, whilst also worried about his my own which was supposed to be a Lawrentian breakthrough Playhouse) and he said (affects a posh voice) ‘You probably wife’s relationship with the Italian gardener. So you actually movie about sexual relationships. I borrowed a wind-up camera made the right career move!’. discover what was going on in his mind as he was writing Lady from my uncle and I bought the cheapest 8mm film you could get Chatterley’s Lover. Again it’s a comedy but it’s also a real clash which I developed myself in the bath. It was called Blue Movie of cultures and ideas. Sometimes as you get into comedies you because the middle section was all about whether their sexual realise there’s a lot more going on than you think. relationship would work out or not. The first part was black-and- They thought I was some sort of white, grainy, like Nottingham in the sixties. The second part “master pornographer and I had to Is there anything else in the pipeline? was blue and the third part I wanted to make in Technicolor. I I wrote a second Brian Clough play for Derby Playhouse called was working at a fleapit cinema called Moulin Rouge. The owner explain that the young man in the The Devil’s League. It’s yet another comedy with Robert let me programme all these foreign films as long as they had Maxwell, the Seven Dwarves, Ursula Andress, the Virgin Mary. little bits of sex in them to keep the dirty raincoat brigade happy. film was me at a much younger age It gets a bit crazy. We were within a week of opening before the They were very cheap to get because no-one had ever heard theatre went bankrupt - which wasn’t my fault! There probably of people like Ingmar Bergman or Fellini. The owner was an wearing white underpants stained won’t be a theatre in Derby for a long time so someone else will Eastender who said he could introduce me to film producers and have to do it. it turned out they were also friends with the Kray Brothers who in tea to look flesh-coloured! In the were trying to take over the protection racket in Nottingham. Are you a football fan? They’d taken over Leicester a few days before, which was part end, I didn’t get arrested. I am a Forest fan and I used to go to most of the away games with of their move out of London at that time. So, the Krays arrived in Alan Dossor who directed Old Big ‘Ead. I went to the unveiling of town, kitted out with guns. I didn’t come face-to-face with them ” Brian Clough’s statue. Marcus Alton has done really well getting but I was around them partly because I was moving between What is the play about? that together. I think a statue of Brian is better than some general the two or three places that they were involved in. There’s All my plays are about times the world changed. In 1966 who conquered India. It’s celebrating a working class hero. nothing I have found in their autobiographies about Nottingham Nottingham was ‘black-and-white’ but there was a feeling except one line that claims that they came here and they didn’t that something was shifting, that there were waves of colour Is there anything else you want to tell our readers? like it. arriving. This lad finds himself in different kinds of reality, Nottingham’s an incredibly cultural city. It has one of the great wandering through worlds of adult sexuality and passions and nineteenth century poets in Byron, some of the great writers How did you come to write a play about it? betrayals in all innocence, trying to work out how to finish off of the twentieth century in Lawrence and Alan Sillitoe, painter About ten years ago the film I’d made turned up in a cardboard this movie. It’s a comedy of absolute chaos about the confusion Dame Laura Knight and all the filmmakers now. Let’s celebrate box and my wife Tanya [Myers] who’s in the play took it to a and difficulties of love. The play combines film and scenes the richness of the town. Let’s put a statue of Torvill and Dean on shop to be transferred to video. When I went to collect it, the backstage in the cinema. They’ve remade my Blue Movie with the other side of the square. We’ve stopped being the gun capital staff kept me talking saying there was a problem with my credit the two really brilliant young actors. The films have massive and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like living in Nottingham. card until the police arrived. They thought I was some sort of significance to the characters. It’s an odd subject for a comedy master pornographer and I had to explain that the young man in but it’s really about dreaming in difficult circumstances, about the film was myself at a much younger age and I wasn’t really how to keep hope going when everything’s closed down. Glamour plays at the Nottingham Playhouse naked - I was wearing white underpants stained in tea to look from 6-21 February. flesh coloured! In the end, I didn’t get arrested. I kept telling You have another play opening straight after this one... Empty Bed Blues is at the Lakeside Arts Centre the story and people said it would make a great play about Yes, Empty Bed Blues is about DH Lawrence in the last year from 6-21 March. innocence. of his life. He was trying to get some money out of Lady Chatterley’s Lover but it had been banned in England and www.stephenlowe.co.uk What was it like watching the film again? stolen in America. He was dying but went to Paris to see a www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk I had to shut my eyes! It is a devastatingly awful piece, but it young socialite couple, Harry and Caresse Crosby. Harry was www.lakesidearts.org.uk was extraordinary to return to that film and see how curiously a mad poet, into every kind of available drug, who wanted to

14 www.leftlion.co.uk/issue27 words: Paul Klotschkow

From humble beginnings buying his first record in Arnold, to a decade at The Television Workshop, promoting one of UK hiphop’s premier events and now being all over the BBC. It’s a cliché, but MistaJam must be one of the hardest working men in showbusiness. If you name it he’s probably done it. Starred in a TV soap? Check. DJed on Radio One? Check. Had a TV sitcom on the BBC? Check. Been interviewed by LeftLion? Check.

What’s your relationship with Nottingham? It’s my hometown and the place where I laid the foundations for my career, as well as the place I retreated to when my acting career went belly up! Capital One Sales RIP!

What do you get up to when you are back in the city? I come back to Nottingham to either see my friends and family or do a DJ gig which are both great reasons to come home. It’s been a long time since I had a night out in Notts and everything seems to have changed, even in the eighteen months since I moved away.

Any memorable nights out in Nottingham? My most memorable nights were the events I was involved with over the years. Whether it be UK Takeover, KRS One at Rock City or DJ Premier at Stealth; they all have a special place in my heart. That and the evening I managed to get thrown out of World Service restaurant.

Nottingham has had some bad rep in the national press over the past few years, what’s your view on this? I think there isn’t enough happening there to work on the root causes of the problems. Youth centres, youth projects and alternative education projects are being starved of cash and are not being allowed to do the jobs that they have already proven that they can do. The huge Market Square refurbishment a couple of years ago looks lovely, but a quarter of the money that was spent on that could have funded many projects that would have made a real difference to people’s lives.

How did the Television Workshop prepare you for your many future careers? I’ve played in clubs around the world but nowhere quite matches the The thing that Ian Smith, the workshop leader, really instilled in us was the importance of keeping your feet on the ground “atmosphere of The Bomb as it was. From the temperature that could and that’s something that I carry round with me today. In the go from freezing to boiling in thirty seconds, depending on how many entertainment industry, you’re always encountering over-inflated egos and people who went to stage school when they were people were in there, to the smell of the broken toilets and sewage from young seem to have the biggest! You can always tell an ex- workshopper because no matter what kind of success they have, downstairs… I wish I had enough money to bring the place back. they’re always the most grounded people. ” 1XTRA © BBC RADIO Did you attend the workshop with anyone famous? in there, to the smell of the broken toilets and sewage from Do you have any music tips for 2009? A good few people, because I was in the workshop from the age downstairs, right down to the amazing sound system. I wish I My big music tips for 2009 are Kid Cudi and Master Shortie, of seven until I was pretty much kicked out when I got too old. My had enough money to bring the place back! who I think are coming with some really interesting and genre- paths crossed with Samantha Morton, James Hooton, the infamous defying stuff. I also think this is the year for dubstep to dent the Shauna and Andrew Shim, and Toby Kebbell is a good friend, or at How did you get to be a BBC Radio host? national charts. From Nottingham, Ronika should hopefully do least he was when I last spoke to him a couple of years ago! I guess it was a mixture of hard work, perseverance, talent and a well. I’m hearing what she’s cooking up in the studio with my huge amount of luck. very good friend Joe Buhdha will surprise a lot of people. Also, if You played Minty the chef in the second series of Crossroads. Do Scorzayzee is reading this, the hiphop game needs you to come you have any juicy gossip you can share about the cast members? Which of the BBC DJs has the best moves on the dancefloor? correct in 2009! It was eight years ago now, so I can’t remember any of the Annie Mac can handle herself. I’ve seen her dancing at a few juiciest gossip! There were a good few nights out in Nottingham Radio 1 and 1Xtra Christmas parties. What was the first record you bought? and usually most of the cast would end up in Bar Schnapps way I Can’t Wait by Nu Shooz in 1986 - when I was three! I remember past closing time making complete tits of themselves. However How did the UK Takeover events start? my mum taking me to WHSmith in Arnold to buy it. I’ve always I’ve never been a big drinker so I was the one in the corner My good friend Joe Buhdha and I travelled to hiphop nights been into music. laughing at them all. There were a couple of inter-cast pregnancy across the UK and saw that the crowd was so divided. You’d scares, but that’s all I’m saying. go to one place and it would be nothing but white kids, go to What was the last record you bought? another, nothing but black kids. But the music would be the Luther Vandross’ Better Love. Everyone needs a little Luther You’ve done a bit of acting recently too… same. We wanted to do something that would bring the old in their life. I was in the BBC Three and now BBC Switch sitcom Trexx and school ‘everyone’s welcome’ spirit back and also bring the Flipside that was filmed early last year, but I’ve pretty much given biggest names in the UK together under one roof. If you could have a superpower, what would it be? up acting for the foreseeable future. I really want to focus on my I’d love to be able to speak every language. I’d be able to travel broadcasting career but that doesn’t mean I’d never act again, as I Can we expect another UK Takeover? the world and speak to people in their native tongue and even still want to do a film. I’ve pretty much done every other discipline: We’re all really busy with other things now, so I don’t know. Until speak to animals such as my puppy and tell him to stop pissing TV drama, sitcom, soap, radio drama, serious theatre, a West End they’ve done it, people have no idea how much hard work and on the floor. That would be great. musical... But I’m also probably the only member of my generation time it takes to put together an event like that. of the workshop that hasn’t been in a Shane Meadows film! Anything else to say to LeftLion readers? You always seem to be working, how do you like to relax? If you’re an artist or a band, send me music! I hardly get anything What was it like DJing at The Bomb back in the day? I like to do really boring things in my house like cleaning, reading from my Nottingham people and I know first hand how much talent It was a really good experience. I’ve played in clubs around the or watching crap on the internet or going to B&Q or Homebase. is there so reach out to me! Contact details are on my website. world but nowhere quite matches the atmosphere of The Bomb I’m crap at DIY though. I once put up a shelf that proceeded to as it was. From the temperature that could go from freezing to fall and hit my fiancée on the head. I just like looking. www.mistajam.com boiling in thirty seconds, depending on how many people were

READ MORE INTERVIEWS AT LEFTLION.CO.UK/MUSIC www.leftlion.co.uk/issue27 15 Street Surreal (main image) This guy was sat in Starbucks on his own, with what looked like the weight of the world on his shoulders. He had a distant look in his eyes and on his face, and seemed oblivious to the hustle and bustle of the Market Square before him. You had to be on the outside looking in to see the real world.

Hoody I like this shot for its social meaning. Hoodies are often thought of as the trademark of a social underclass, and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is seen as a dealer’s dog. Both seem to be trophies among the ne’er-do- wells of society. This hoodied Staffy seems the epitome of all those things.

One For The Road Since the rebirth of the Old Market Square, there has been a zero tolerance approach to street drinking. I almost admired this woman’s blatant swagging of a bottle of sherry. And love the fact that she’s sat next to a rather respectable lady. Talk about ‘different strokes’. It also brings a smile to my face that she couldn’t have been that drunk, because she caught me taking her picture! She closed one eye and daggered me, but never stopped drinking.

Peek-A-Boo I was strolling through Hockley when I spotted this out of the corner of my eye. I went down on one knee to grab the shot, and the guy clocked me, smiled and put his thumb up! I also think it holds some true ‘street’ value for the fact that it’s a one-off; these repair men were working on the cellar of the now closed Dim T premises. I’ve walked past since, and the air vent has gone. A moment caught. The photo won me a prize from the Urban Britain Photography competition, which I was chuffed with.

words: Dom Henry Super Sharp Shooter photos: Stephen Wright Welcome to Nottingham. At any one time in our densely packed city there are more amazing sights in just a couple of hundred square yards than any human mind could comprehend. All those little sights and details, moments and dramas, each brimming with different meaning and emotion as you look on and take it all in.

MEET STEPHEN WRIGHT, a man who has turned capturing moments You must have quite a collection then. Where do you draw your inspiration? of Nottingham folk going about their daily lives into an art form. Out all Over 40,000 photos and counting! Covering over thirty years of life in Nottingham. A deep love for photography, Nottingham and the work of great street photographers such as Bruce Gilden, Matt Stewart and Garry Winogrand. The thought of capturing something hours and in all weathers Stephen is on the streets documenting life as it What’s the attraction? special is what drives me to get out there and keep at it, despite mucky weather and the long happens. We caught up with him to learn about his work and motivation. I love doing it. I want to record it all, record Nottingham and the people as they are. Years from hours. now if just one of my photos is seen and people look back on how it was then I’ll be happy. Why Nottingham? Of course you do get a kind of a buzz out of it I guess. An addiction of sorts! It’s a great feeling How do you find your shots? I’m a local lad, Nottingham born and bred. Came into the world in the old Children’s Hospital when you know you’ve taken a good shot, it can make your day. I tend to spot subjects of interest at a distance - a piece of detail, a little something, and lived in Nottingham ever since. I love Nottingham and Nottingham people. something which inspires - then get ready as I approach. It’s all about having an eye for a Do you have a favourite patch? scene you like and acting on it, and quickly, as it’ll be gone in an instant. How long have you been doing street photography? I don’t have a particular route, I’ll walk round town randomly for hours at a time. I just get Since the early eighties really. I’ve always been taking pictures but things really kicked off out there and see what happens. There are some spots which are good, like good points in a You must have to get very close to people? with the advent of digital cameras. No more expensive film! You can take loads of photos out stream for a fisherman. The Clumber Street traffic lights by the Viccy Centre crossing is a good It’s very ‘in yer face’! Get right in there with an 18mm lens. Of course I do use a zoom as well on the streets. one - I can stay there for hours catching people as they flow past. from time to time but most of the stuff I take is with a wide lens right up close.

16 www.leftlion.co.uk/issue27 Curated on the theme of the artists’ ‘group’ or ‘collective’ - an historical tradition based on the bringing together of artists sharing similar aesthetic, conceptual and ideological concerns. Four artists from four different Nottingham-based artists’ groups discuss the relevance of individualism, Artist Profiles collectivism and solidarity to their practices. words: Aaron Juneau

Ash Gallant Amelia Beavis-Harrison Backlit Exit Here What does the notion of ‘group’ mean to you? What does the notion of ‘group’ A collective of individuals who are held together by a mean to you? common aim or obsession, which overrides individual Sharing an ambition, and bringing concerns. together individual strengths to achieve an end goal. What advantages do you get from being part of a group or collective? What advantages do you get It gives you the support you need to carry on when it’s from being part of a group or tough and legitimises your actions in the eyes of others. collective? You build up a reputation which precedes that of all I find being able to bounce ideas individual members’ when creating new work. around, and talk through problems is one of the most valuable things Which other groups have acted as models or inspirations working with another person can offer you. It also allows individuals to share different for your own? perspectives and interpretations on an idea or problem, which can only strengthen your City Racing for just doing their thing and making something awareness of the original concept. of it, and of course Stand Assembly and Moot for being like art big brothers to us. Which other groups have acted as models or inspirations for your own? Exit Here are influenced by a variety of groups, projects and artists, but is often observations What is it about Nottingham that caused you to come, to stay and will cause you to remain? of the worlds happenings that inspire Exit Here. Events such as the launch of the LHC at The strength and interdisciplinary nature of my university course made me come, the opportunity to CERN in Geneva last year, or the re-discovery of an archaic folk law in rural Derbyshire have set up the studio and gallery in such a supportive environment made me stay; it’s rare for so many inspired areas of our project work. from one year to stay behind and carry on practicing but it is becoming a yearly thing here. I have itchy feet so I’m not sure if I will stay forever but I didn’t mean to stay after uni and I’m still here so What is it about Nottingham that caused you to come, to stay and will cause you to Notts has a certain hold. remain? Unlike many of the Nottingham groups Exit Here did not study in the city, but came to Has not moving to London been detrimental, beneficial or of no consequence to your progress Nottingham out of curiosity to experience a city with more contemporary art groups and within the context of a group and in your career as an artist? venues than the one we left. Exit Here are not exclusively Nottingham based, as our practice I feel at this stage it has had no effect on my career - rather the opposite, the living costs in Nottingham does not root itself locally, despite being situated in the city. have allowed me to carry on creating work and set up the gallery and studios with my peers while we all work low paying but freedom allowing jobs, moving to London would prohibit me from doing any What do you hope to achieve in 2009? of these things. We also feel running a studio in Notts you are one of six or seven rather than one of The development of Exit Here projects has often shadowed that of our own practices, this hundreds in London, so it’s easier to make connections in a smaller town and therefore gain attention year I want to reopen the dialogue with my own artistic practice more directly, without locally and nationally. this being of detriment to the collaboration. Meanwhile Exit Here are moving studios to the North of the city, where we aim to establish a more dynamic working environment, whilst www.backlit.org.uk developing other projects.

www.exithere.co.uk Tom Godfrey Hugh Dichmont Moot Gallery Tether What does the notion of ‘group’ mean to you? What does the notion of ‘group’ A successful group is one that creates mean to you? an environment for its members A support structure that helps where the strength of the output members benefit from working with exceeds any one individual’s input. like-minded individuals. What advantages do you get What advantages do you get from from being part of a group or being part of a group or collective? collective? The ability to achieve ambitious I think advocacy for your ideas is goals which as a lone artist would be important and also working with almost impossible to pursue without people who possess skills that you a huge budget and paid staff. don’t have, which makes it possible to accomplish more things than if you were on your own.

Which other groups have acted as models or inspirations for your own? Which other groups have acted as models or inspirations for your own? We always referred to Stand Assembly when we were in our formative stages. Indeed, at the There’s City Racing which was a London-based artist-led gallery between 1988 and 1998; also beginning we sought all kinds of advice from them and still do, to an extent. the Hoxton Distillery which opened just after, and individuals like Matthew Higgs who balance making art with directing gallery spaces, curating independent shows, writing and publishing. What is it about Nottingham that caused you to come, to stay and will cause you to remain? What is it about Nottingham that caused you to come, to stay and will cause you to remain? I have lived in Nottingham since I was two. I stayed to study a BA in Fine Art, partly because I graduated from Trent about four years ago and it was initially the lack of reasons to stay that I messed up my interview with Chelsea College of Art and Design, and was already accepted prompted myself and a few others to create a stronger and more supportive environment. With at NTU. But I wouldn’t swap my university experience for anything. The tutors were really groups such as Tether, Exit Here and Backlit opening recently, Nottingham now has an art scene supportive and the freedom the course offered was ideal for me. I am still here because the that is run and directed by artists and independent curators and with the opening of Nottingham friends I made on the course showed a desire to stay and we were already working well with Contemporary this year it will receive the ambitious critical grounding that it needs. each other on projects. Has not moving to London been detrimental, beneficial or of no consequence to your progress Has not moving to London been detrimental, beneficial or of no consequence to your progress within the context of a group and in your career as an artist? within the context of a group and in your career as an artist? I don’t think it’s important to live in London to be an artist because you can make art or put on I can say for sure that being away from London has benefited both me as an individual and Tether shows anywhere; financially it’s a lot cheaper to live outside of London too. However I do think its as a group, partly due to the support we have received from other local artists, in particular good to visit frequently and follow what’s happening there as it’s important sometimes to question Terry Shave of NTU. Nottingham is not big, and as a consequence everyone in the scene knows your artistic relevance within wider contexts, be it as an individual artist, a group, or as a city-wide each other and goes to each other’s events. In London there isn’t such an accessible and holistic art community. support structure, where undergraduates, recent graduates, experienced and successful artists can all mingle on an equal footing. Many artist friends of mine who have visited our events have What do you hope to achieve in 2009? said how jealous they are of our situation. In London you are just another drop in the ocean, but Both Stand Assembly and Moot have a new building on Thoresby Street next to Biocity which, elsewhere there is a real chance to make your name and gain valuable experience. for Moot, is vastly different from its previous space so it’s going to be exciting programming that. Personally I am busy making new work and curating a couple of projects including a commissioning What do you hope to achieve in 2009? programme in the foyer of our new building. I want to give more time to developing my own practice, which has taken a bit of a back seat in the past year. Tether have a number of projects taking place in 2009, so I guess I hope these are www.mootgallery.org all as well received as we’d like them to be. www.tether.org.uk

If you are a Nottingham-based artist and would like to be profiled in this section, please email [email protected] MORE ART REVIEWS AND INTERVIEWS AT LEFTLION.CO.UK/ART

18 www.leftlion.co.uk/issue27

LEFTLION featured listing LISTINGS FEBRUARY-MARCH 2009.

The February and March weather might make you feel like just staying indoors, but as the old saying goes all work and no play makes jack a dull boy. Avoid cabin fever by getting yoursen out into town and watching a band or some comedy, or some theatre or an exhibition. Trust us… it’s good for your soul!

PG 21 ∙ GIGS Traditionally this is a slow time for touring words: Frances Ashton bands - they usually wait until April or May for their pre-festival tours. However Notts can still boast performances from Metallica, Kaiser Chiefs, The Killers, Il Divo, Glasvegas, Friendly GEOFF DIEGO LITHERLAND, Fires, Shy FX, Soulfly, Neville Staple, Andy C, Hot Chip, The Apples, The Robinson Band and FLYING SPAGHETTI GOD the Punksoc Festival 2009. If you fancy something a bit more up and com- What I am trying to do is to create from a single image a multiplicity of ideologies, ing then why not check out some of LeftLion’s “ viewpoints, beliefs, aesthetics and philosophies. It’s not about there being a right local favourites like The Smears, Alright The or wrong. It’s about embracing the preposterousness of everything. Captain, Mint Ive, JC Decaux, Roy De Wired, ” King Kahlua and Wholesome Fish - all playing Can you tell me about your work, what drives you artistically for my recent body of work is that economy of musicianship and living somewhere near you. and what your influences are? and the whole ‘less is more thing’ but without being cold and Also worth a mention is the Detonate Week- First there’s a geeky fascination with paint. I have always loved mechanical with it. paint, particularly oil paint. I love the idea of the unexpected, the ender at Pontins in Prestatyn, North Wales. unknown and being in a state of limbo where you are trying to The way that your work has developed over the last year, Okay, so it might be several hundred miles control the material and something quite unexpected happens. reflecting the issues of nationality with your painting my flag away, but it’s the tenth birthday of arguably I suppose the only thing I could relate this experience to would is better than yours and the use of the bright colours that come Nottingham’s most successful club night with be the old notion of alchemy where someone spends a lot of time from those flags, seems to be pulling on a much wider resource Goldie, Roni Size, Peanut Butter Wolf, DJ Yoda just messing about without any clear scientific purpose other than of cultural influences. and loads more ready for the party. For more to explore the material. It’s something that my work has been When I moved to my new studios at Egerton, I was carrying on developing over the past four or five years. the work I had been doing before but again it was very calculated, info see the back cover. Happy birthday guys! I was quite removed from the process. I was just there as a tool Multiverses, my new body of work, has aspects of that but also and not putting my own personality and experience into the work. has a lightness, a bit more humour and rather than references to I can’t really explain how it’s happened, but I’m bringing in a lot modernist painting, you could call them ‘pop’ references. There’s a of the experiences I’ve had from the places I have lived, the place PG 22-23 lot of imagery and symbols of contemporary society in there and a I was born, the people I’ve met and the ideas that I hold. These return to trying to conjure up a sense of narrative in my work. are coming into my work and creating clashes. You could be quite LEFTLION LIVE obvious with it and say that the dull background colours are my In terms of painters and artists who influence me, I could talk northern European heritage and the bright colours are this kitsch As always, we’ve tapped up some of our fa- about people like Tapies and Rothko as modernist painters - Mexican side of me coming through. vourite local talent in HoodTown and will be which is where I still see my background. And then contemporary putting it on at our monthly night at Brownes. It painters such as Jonathon Lasko and Fabio Marcaccio who What does it mean to you to be a Nottingham artist? How has it costs nothing to get in and we know know how play with that dialogue and history of the medium and how the shaped you and your practice? medium has been constructed in terms of its materiality - you’ve I had always wanted not to go to London. I spent a couple of years to throw a proper party! In February we have got the canvas, you’ve got the paint and how those concerns are in Barcelona and got on quietly with work. I had a studio there Ulysses Storm (new project from the frontman twisted around and abstracted. but was not involved with the wider community or arts scene. I of Hellset Orchestra) and Red Shoe Diaries (see think that one of the most vital developments for me was working their interview on p22). In March we have trip- And you’ve got the narrative element. I am reading all the time as a technician in the Bonington Gallery. I met a lot of artists, hoppers Papa La Bas (p23) and Will Jeffery. so I’m always interested in how literature or stories can begin curators, writers, lecturers and students from Nottingham Trent to intertwine with the paintings. This whole series of work is University. So I was very well positioned as an observer and now probably loosely based on my favourite author’s life’s work – Jorge through being involved in the Nottingham art scene. I have been Luis Borges. He wrote lots and lots of short stories which are supported by a lot of people and I am now in the position to help completely and utterly bonkers. If anyone hasn’t read Borges other people. It’s been great and I’ve been here now for five years. PG 25 ∙ THEATRE then I can thoroughly recommend him. Each story is between five and ten pages long and presents a perfectly illogical yet succinct Can you tell us a bit about what to expect from Multiverses? & COMEDY universe where something completely out of the ordinary happens. There are going to be between eight and ten large paintings, all If you fancy something a bit funny then the And if you read them as a whole it creates this incredible picture of one metre squared, all around the room. The Wallner space at comedy schedule in Notts is packed as ever the world in all its bizarreness, sadness, and happiness. What I am Lakeside is not huge but it’s a nice white cube. It’s basically all trying to do with this body of work is to create from a single image the work I’ve done over the last year - one of which was exhibited with the likes of Al Murray, Russell Brand, Ross a multiplicity of ideologies, view points, beliefs, aesthetics and as part of the John Moores Painting Prize, others of which I have Noble, Roger Monkhouse, Simon Day (The Fast philosophies. It’s not about there being a right or wrong. It’s about exhibited at last year’s Castle Open. Show), Rhod Gilbert, John Shuttleworth, Josie embracing the preposterousness of everything. Long, Andy Parsons, Ivan Brackenbury and Ah yes, congratulations for being the winner of the 2008 more in the city over the next two months. You and your work are quite heavily influenced by music. The Nottingham Open Exhibition. What can we expect from your show you curated last year at Southwell Artspace was called forthcoming exhibition there? The original Notts comedy night Just The Tonic Gold Soundz after a piece of modern music. Can you talk a bit That will be an opportunity to try something different; to try to is still going strong at The Approach, but there about this musical influence? combine the sound work I have been doing with some of the video has also been a rise in local comedy clubs as One of the things that I like about Jonathon Lasko is the essay animation work which I produced last year at the Goldfactory Spiky Mike takes his Funhouse night around lo- he wrote where he decided to strip down the elements of his space at Egerton Studios. I’d like to try out something a bit more paintings to three or four main layers or parts. He describes it as a all-encompassing. An utter complete bombardment of the senses cal pubs like The Robin Hood (Sherwood), The band: so you’d have the drums, a rhythmic section which could be when you actually walk into the space. Grove (Lenton) and The Maze (Mansfield Road). the grid that he starts off with, then you have the bass line which could be the stripes and then the lead guitar which is often the It all comes down I suppose to the layers, the sound and images main abstract shapes in the painting. This has been something which are used to compose a song or painting or video. You talk to For even more listings, check our I’ve always been interested in trying to explore and I think that most artists and they would say that the layering is key to creating regularly updated online section the new paintings I am doing are as close to achieving that as I whether it’s translucency or a sense of depth. But also you can use have been. layers to juxtapose different ideas to create the disconcerting and at leftlion.co.uk/listings. jarring images that I am trying to make at the moment. I have always listened to modern minimalist music, which I And if your event is still not in there, sometime find a bit too scientific and cold. One of my favourite bands is Television, who are a late seventies/early eighties punk Multiverses is at Lakeside Arts Centre spread the word by aiming your band. Their simplicity and lyricism is impeccable and their riffs from February 26 to April 12 browser at leftlion.co.uk/add. are quite repetitive. So the thing that has inspired me musically www.geofflitherland.info

20 www.leftlion.co.uk/issue27 nottingham event listings... for more: leftlion.co.uk/listings

Sunday 01/02 Sunday 08/02

Performance Sebastien Grainger Southbank Bar The Bodega Social Club Eton Trifles Free, 8pm £6.50, 8pm Plus The Mountains. The Jam Café is open for business The Acme Jazz Band Recently opened in the Hockley area of the city, Jam Deux Mongrel Cafe injects a dose of retro into Nottingham’s cafe scene. Free, 7pm - 9pm Brownes Sited on the former premises of Brother 2 Brother, the £tbc, 7pm - 1am boutique clothes shop that sounded like a homoerotic

Thursday 05/02 early 90s hip-hop duo, it’s now a haven of high ceilings, Monday 09/02 orange leather sofas and massive prints. Holly Jazz Lowe The Golden Fleece The Days In the daytime, Jam Café is all about the C&C; proper Free, 8pm The Bodega Social Club coffee and a vast range of homemade cakes, including Plus Luxury Stranger £5, 7pm a deliciously gooey carrot cake. Come night-time (currently open Weds/Thurs and every other Friday Kid Blue Soulfly night), a fully licensed bar offering bottled beers, spirits Dogma Rock City and wines is unleashed, alongside a new evening food Free, 9pm £14, 7.30pm specials menu. Plus Pete Jordan. Sharleen Spiteri The Matt and Joe Talent Show Royal Centre It’s right cultural here; - art, music and film happenings abound on a regular basis. Wednesday is open mic night, Deux £27.50, 7.30pm allowing local musicians, artists and poets the chance to do their thing, while DJ sets blasting out broken beat, funk, Free, 9pm soul and breakbeat dominate Thursdays – along with the Oxjam regional support team who are currently meeting up With Anyhigh and Alex Townsend. to thrash out the upcoming festival in March. Live jazz, blues and acoustic takes control on Fridays, and if you’re simply feeling the visuals, you can sit back and enjoy cult movies on the flatscreen most days. Tuesday 10/02

Friday 06/02 In a year that has already seen too many foodie shutdowns, it’s nice to see something of quality stepping up. And no, Unsigned Titan 09 they don’t do trifles. Soz. Chris Hull and The Instant Band The Golden Fleece Deux Free, 8pm Jam Cafe,12 Heathcote street, Hockley, Nottingham, NG1 3AA. £3, 8.30pm 0115 9483566, www.jamcafe.info Acoustic Tuesdays James McMurtry The Malt Cross

The Maze Free, 9pm - 11am Friday 13/02 Sunday 15/02 Thursday 19/02

£13 adv, 7.30pm Things Just Got Darker The Joy Formidable Unsigned Titan 09 Los The Rescue Rooms The Bodega Social Club The Golden Fleece Futurestar Boudoir The Maze £3, 8pm £6, 8pm Free, 8pm Gatecrasher Loves Nottingham £tbc, 8pm Featuring: The Smears, JcDecaux, £5, 10pm - late Plus The Cusp and Talking Shapes. We Rock Like Girls Don’t. Roy De Wired Utah Jazz With Touch, Retox and Southbank Bar Dogma Back To The Future. James Zabiela Free, 8pm Free, 9pm Wednesday 11/02 Stealth Plus Transit Mafia. MNSTR £8, 10pm Notts in a Nutshell Stealth Battle of The Bands Heat 1 Plus Matt Tolfrey. The Maze Portico Quartet £8 / £10, 10pm - 4am The Maze £3, 8.30pm The Malt Cross DJ Yoda, Shy FX , Surkin, Transit £tbc, 8pm Party Time Soul Cracker, The Reverb and £6 adv / £8 door, 7.30pm Mafia, Pablo , D’Lex, MeMeMe, The Loggerheads Wolftickets. Plus Red and The Natalie Duncan Newmano, Moses Thoughtless NME Awards Tour Free, 8pm - 1.30am Band. Hussies, Chow, MC Freestyle and Rock City The Rodgers and Hammerstein Ruthless £15, 7pm Eclipse Concert Kris Ward With Glasvegas, Friendly Fires, Igloo Royal Centre Southbank Bar Working Nights White Lies and Florence and the £5 / £6, 9pm - late £16.50 / £18.50, 7.30pm Free, 8pm The Loggerheads Machine. Heist and MC Juiceman, Starby Free, 8pm – 1:30am and Lukie, Terraform, Waterfall, Ready, Steady, 60’s DJs Matt, Alex, Neetin & friends. Thursday 12/02 Somethin Tec, MC’s Tecka, Sleepy Monday 16/02 The Maze Plus Nigel Beck and more tbc C, Sneaka, Phatlad and Blax. £3, 8.30pm

Unsigned Titan 09 Ra Ra Riot Liars Club: Future Islands The Golden Fleece The Bodega Social Club The Chameleon Cafe Bar Free, 8pm Saturday 14/02 £6.50, 8pm Friday 20/02 £5, 8pm - 12am SIBA Champions Beer Festival Valentines Day Massacre Alright The Captain LeftLion The Running Horse The Maze Brownes Canalhouse bar Saturday 07/02 £4, 7pm - 3am £4, 8pm Free, 8pm - 1am Free, 8.30pm - close With Brutality Will Prevail, Hang Plus Beyond This Point Are Ulysses Storm and Red Show The Coast Runs until: 15/02 The Bastard and More Than Life. Monsters, And So I Watch You Diaries (see interview on page 22). The Bodega Social Club Nimming Ned, Steve Whittles Band From Afar and La Faro. £7, 7pm and Kellys Heroes. Saturday Night Knees Up! Muzika!

The Malt Cross The Maze Hidden Sessions Trevor Loveys £3, 8pm Tuesday 17/02 £5, 9pm - 2am Moog Dogma With Reverend Ribble and The Free, 9pm Free, 9pm Ginger Nuts. Spectrum (band) Superstar Boudoir Stefen Housebuilder, Ben Summers The Bodega Social Club Gatecrasher Loves Nottingham and guests. Sunset Duo Sticky Morales £8, 8pm £6 / £8 , 10pm - late Southbank Bar Southbank Bar Featuring Sonic Boom. Chris Lake, Pete Jordan and Jimmy Saturday Night Knees Up! Free, 8pm Free, 8pm Kennedy. The Malt Cross Unsigned Titan 09 Free, 8pm - 1am The Matt and Joe Talent Show Psycle The Golden Fleece Wigflex With DJ Fluff. Deux BluePrint Free, 8pm Stealth Free, 9pm £tbc, 10pm - late £6 adv, 10pm - 6am Pure Filth - Last one ever With Blackfuzz. Mimi Soya With Nathan Fake Live, Geiom, BluePrint Ghoul Garden! The Running Horse Spam Chop, Russian Linesman, £6, 9pm - 5am Faslane Peace Camp Fundraiser The Maze £4, 7pm - 3am Metaphi, Taylor, Hizatron, Harmonic Jerome Hill, Spandex (live), Esther The Maze £3 / £3.50, 9pm Plus Go Vega and The Sketch 313 aka Marc Pritchard, Lazer Ofei and Resident Filth. £3, 8pm Sword, Dj Dials, Lone, Windows

Hed Kandi Acoustic Tuesdays 78, Keaver and Brause. Punksoc Festival 2009 Friday 13/02 Gatecrasher Loves Nottingham The Malt Cross The Maze £8 / £10 / £12, 10pm - 4am Free, 9pm - 11am £5 / £7, 4pm - 10pm Light Night Saturday 21/02

Market Square Alkaline Trio Children of Bodom Basement Boogaloo Free, 6pm - late Rock City Rock City Das Pop The Maze £16, 6.30pm £16.50, 7pm The Bodega Social Club £5, 11pm - 3am Poppycock Plus Cannibal Corpse. £8, 7pm

Moog Secret Machines Paul Hill Free, 8pm - late The Rescue Rooms Saturday Night Knees Up! Gatecrasher Loves Nottingham Wednesday 18/02 £10, 7pm The Malt Cross £8 / £10, 10pm - 4am Rigbee Deep Plus Filthy Dukes. £3, 8pm The Blow Monkeys Alley Cafe With Más Y Más. Chew Lips The Bodega Social Club Free, 8.30pm - 1am Go Go v Mufti Valantine’s Stealth £12, 7pm Minister Hill, Nowhere Common Special Martin Stephenson £5, 10.15pm and Jah Bunndy. The Loggerheads Deux Battle of The Bands Heat 2 Free, 8pm - 1.30am £6 adv / £7.50, 8.30pm The Log Jam and Curry Night The Maze Superstar Boudoir The Loggerheads £tbc, 8pm Gatecrasher Loves Nottingham Wildside: Zodiac Mindwarp Arboretum Records Launch Free, 8pm - 1.30am £5 adv, 10pm - 3am Seven The Maze With The Bonsai Projects, Mark Sabastian Ingrosso, Axwell, £tbc, All day. £tbc, 9pm Block, Adam S Kirkup and more. Angello and Prydz. 25 acts play all day.

leftlion.co.uk/issue27 21 event listings... for more: leftlion.co.uk/listings

Saturday 21/02 Thursday 26/02

Paul Wilkins Chris Murray Subism Live Gatecrasher Loves Nottingham The Maze £8 / £10 / £12, 10pm - 4am £5 / £6, 8pm Plus Jimmy the Squirrel, Green For It’s like Take Hart, with beats Roadblock Go, Squab and Toon Union. The Loggerheads If you think the words ‘underground urban Free, 8pm - 1.30am Beneath The Crimson Skyline art’ are a catch-all term for Banksy-wank or Seven chatty youths tagging up ‘NG6 IS GHEETO’ £tbc, 8pm on a subway, think again: there’s some Sunday 22/02 plus Blind Ignorance, A World serious talent knocking about, and a sizable Defined and Go Team Go. chunk of it has been gathering under the Notts in a Nutshell The Maze Subism banner – and they’re coming to Muse £3, 8pm Friday 27/02 this March for a very special event. Dark Horse, Hackenbush and Scars on the Country. General Fiasco Having been in operation since last May, The Bodega Social Club Subism showcases artists from a ludicrously Testament £5, 7pm wide range of backgrounds covering a venue The Rescue Rooms in blank canvas and then filling the place £15, 7.30pm Poppycock in raw, unadulterated art. The collective Moog of artists in attendance include American Kaiser Chiefs Free, 8pm - late illustrator Julie West, Parisian stencil artists Nottingham Arena C215, Two-Pence, Mr Penfold and Phill Blake, £25.45, 7.30pm Owen Harvey and Friends to name a few. Deux £3, 8.30pm Wednesday 25/02 Obviously, because it’s Saturday night and it’s set in one of the most kicky-arseyest bars in Notts (if you’ve not been Junk Yard to Muse’s Cult and P Brothers nights, you’re not really doing Nottingham properly), they’re not doing this in silence, Data.Select.Party The Market Bar oh no. Their own set of DJs – including Atjazz from Mantis Recordings – will be spattering sonic washes of hip-hop, The Bodega Social Club £5, 10pm - 4am broken beats, electronica, funk and disco, with the assistance of his chums Clyde, Christo and Vuyani. £6, 7pm With OK Corral, Junk Yard Rezzors, Plus The Colour. Luke Black, Mark Cohen and Paul Best of all, however, is the fact that they’ll be laying on a selection of boards, sketchbooks and pens for anyone who Sekhri feels the urge to get creative, so make sure you roll up in your Dad’s old shirt turned back-to-front, or you’ll just have Battle of The Bands Heat 3 to do it in your pants. The Maze Neville Staple Subism Live. Saturday 7th March @ Muse . 9pm - 1am. Entry £3. £tbc, 8pm The Maze www.subism.co.uk £11 / £13, 9pm Iglu and Hartly Plus Indiana Fozz and Jimmy The The Rescue Rooms Squirrel. £9, 7pm Saturday 28/02 Saturday 28/02 Wednesday 04/03 Detonate Moonlighters Big Band Stealth Noodle The Apples Peter Bruntnell Trio Lakeside Arts Centre £10 / £12, 10pm - 5am Moog The Maze The Maze Free, 5.30pm Andy C (2hrs), Break (2hrs), Free, 8pm £7 adv, 9pm £10 adv, 7.30pm Transit Mafia (2hrs). MCs Chris Finke, m0dularmatt, Jerofou, Plus Fat Digester. Plus Hi and Lo. Metallica Dynamite, Freestyle and Ruthless, Sugamouth, Dougie Jones, Shaving Nottingham Arena Skream and Casual P. Rolands Car, Puikegast, Tappeto The Lancashire Hotpots Emiliana Torrini £40, 7pm Grande, Matthew T Hinton and The Rescue Rooms The Rescue Rooms Yipil Ally Reilly. £10, 7pm £10, 7.30pm Thursday 26/02 The Loggerheads Free, 8pm - 1.30am Saturday Night Knees Up! Filthy Dukes Il Divo NY Alcoholic Anxiety Attack The Malt Cross Stealth Nottingham Arena The Loft illuminatus £3, 8pm £5, 10.15pm £30 - £60, 7.30pm Free, 8pm Seven With The Shakes and resident DJ. Free , 8pm Flux Plus The Amber Herd and more. Thursday 05/03 Plus Pillowtalk and Special Guests. Jason Heart Band The Loggerheads Southbank Bar Free, 8pm - 1.30am Jamie Fanatic Unsigned Titan 09 Dogma Free, 8pm Saturday 28/02 The Pleasures The Golden Fleece Free, 9pm Free, 8pm Plus Pete Jordan. The Robinson Band Seven Genotype Deux Bunkers Hill Inn C3C Beat Torrent Richie Muir £3, 8.30pm £5, 9pm - 2am Sunday 01/03 Dogma Southbank Bar Free, 9pm Free, 8pm Rigor Mortis Ronnnie Londons Groove Lounge BluePrint The Fab 4 Grosvenor Southbank Bar Tee Dymond The Matt and Joe Talent Show £10, 9pm - 6am 8pm - 1am, 8-1am With Hellseeker, Little Terror Man, Free, 8pm Southbank Bar Deux Free, 8pm Free, 9pm Hatewire, Narkotik, D-Story, Crazy- 2nr, Pinhead, Smash, Noizy az John Tams Fuck, Angry Badgers, Junkie Kut, The Maze The Matt and Joe Talent Show Kinsheeva and Hardman Sinden. £10 adv, 8pm Deux Plus Barry Coope. Free, 9pm Red Shoe Diaries, Ulysses Storm and the Stiff Kittens play LeftLion at Brownes on Friday 20 February. Entrance is free. Imelda May John Boden Band generally depicting its heroines as which is a lovely collection of songs, The Rescue Rooms The Maze Red Soe Diaries active, independent women who and we’re releasing it ourselves. So £10, 7.30pm £14 adv, 7.30pm satisfy idiosyncratic desires often the best way to get your hands on one without recourse to the constraints of is to come see us play. The Devils Haircut Monday 02/03 Seven monogomy. Tell us about one of your songs and £tbc, 8pm Two Door Cinema Club Introduce the band to us… what inspired you to write it… The Bodega Social Club We’ve been making music in different We have a new song which is a £5, 8pm Friday 06/03 forms since 2002, but we (Tom and fictional imagining of that stage when Ash) have known each other since we a couple feel they should move-in Ruth and Friends Tuesday 03/03 Deux Red Shoe Diaries have been making were infants. We met Mike at college. together. It’s quite a pessimistic, £3, 8.30pm quite an impact since they started Officially Nottingham’s hardest romanceless song, in which two lots The Gaslight Anthem working drummer and probably the of unhappiness just become one big playing together last year. As well as Rock City Smerins Anti-Social Club performing at plenty of venues around most talented musician Nottingham lump of ugly, bitter reality. £10, 7.30pm has ever produced. I used to work The Maze town, they’ve also had a MySpace UK With Frank Turner and Polar Bear £tbc, 9pm with Nathan; when he left his last What’s your ideal night out in single of the week and one of their Club. band we snapped him up straight Nottingham? tunes was named in MySpace’s Top The Shapeshifters 20 for 2008. They’ve also had a bit away! Leanne was the final piece of The best nights out we’ve had in a The Bronx Gatecrasher Loves Nottingham of label interest, but we’re sure they the puzzle, she has a beautiful voice. long time are Jumpers For Goalposts The Rescue Rooms £8 / £10 adv, 10pm - late £12, 7pm won’t let it go to their heads. We put at the Alley Cafe, or indeed anything Plus Fucked Up and Rolo Tomassi. some questions to frontmen Tom and What kind of people do you think featuring Hello Thor and the Yeah I’ll Detonate 10th B’Day will be into your music? Play It Later DJ’s, those guys always Weekender Ash before their gig for LeftLion at The Producers Brownes... Our songs are generally pretty poppy, throw the best parties. Pontins, Prestatyn Sands so we’re not going to endear ourselves Playhouse £125, 8pm Friday to 2am Sunday £12.50 / £16.50, 7.15pm You’re named after a late night soft- to the purists. But anyone who likes Anything else to tell LeftLion Runs until: 08/03 Runs until: 7/3 An absolutely massive line up, porn telly show, right? a chorus, the odd angular guitar solo readers? check out the back page for a run I prefer the term ‘erotic drama series’, and thinks lyrics are important we Go and see Fists. Tell them we sent The Killers hope would enjoy our songs. you. down of who’s playing. If you like, but yes. I’ve always really liked bands Nottingham Arena Dnb, hiphop or dubstep then go who reference pop-culture. Its also just £31.81, 7.30pm What have you been up to recently? www.myspace.com/ to this. a pleasant sounding phrase. Besides, Not long ago we recorded an EP redshoediariesmusic it’s erotica at its most ‘post-feminist’; 22 leftlion.co.uk/issue27 nottingham event listings... for more: leftlion.co.uk/listings

Saturday 07/03 Friday 13/03 Friday 20/03

Mint Ive Superstar Boudoir Sould The Bodega Social Club Gatecrasher Loves Nottingham Deux £5, 7pm £8 / £10 adv, 10pm - late £3, 8.30pm Nottingham’s favourite musicians talk about their favourite venues With Dean Ramirez. Green For Go Firefly Pete Jordan plays at Brownes The Running Horse Pop Bubble, Rock! Launch Night Marcus Garvey Ballroom £tbc, 8pm - 2am Seven £10 / £15 / MOTD, 10pm - 6am ‘Brownes has something for Plus The Rebel Soul Collective. £tbc, 8pm Hot Chip, Loose Cannons, Kanio, everybody, a venue for eighteen Thrash Jelly and Beat Repeaters. to eighty year olds, be it for the Saturday Night Knees Up! The Malt Cross Saturday 14/03 Shivver superb menu during the day, or the £3, 8pm The Maze welcoming friendly party atmosphere With Djangology. Cult DnB £tbc, 8pm at night. Truthfully though, it’s really Muse about great music; our resident The Wickets £4 / £6, 10pm - 3am Spectrum is 8 DJs (including Chow, Santero and The Maze Brookes Brothers. Gatecrasher Loves Nottingham Freeman) and special live events £tbc, 7.30pm £8 / £10 adv, 10pm - late including Leftlion Presents offer a fun Saturday Night Knees Up! Plump DJs, Laidback Luke, Pete entertainment offering that appeals The Malt Cross Basement Boogaloo Jordan and Hexadecimal. to the more discerning music lover, The Maze £3, 8pm With Wholesome Fish. whilst being delivered in such a way £5, 10pm Depraved that it’s all about the party’. Igloo Protest the Hero Richie Muir £5 / £7, 10pm - late Rock City Southbank Bar Brownes, 15-19 Goose Gate, Hockley £9, 7pm Free, 8pm www.brownesnottingham.com, www.spectrum48k.com Plus The Chariot and The Human Saturday 21/03 Abstract. Ghoul Garden! The Maze Saturday Night Knees Up! Thursday 26/03 Saturday 28/03 Wonky Pop Tour £3 / £3.50, 10pm The Malt Cross The Rescue Rooms £3, 8pm The Matt and Joe Talent Show Ronnie Londons Groove Lounge £7, 7pm Mr Hudson Reverend Ribble and The Ginger Deux Grosvenor With Dan Black and Boy Crisis. Stealth Nuts Free, 9pm £3 b4 11am, 8pm - 1am £8.50, 7pm Oxjam gig. My Toys Like Me Human Rights Day The Electric Catfish Stealth Go Go v Mufti Costumes Deux Peepshow / Union X / Deux £5, 10.15pm The Loggerheads £tbc, 8pm Drugdealer Cheerleader Free, 9pm Free, 8pm - 1.30am Seven Oxjam gig. Log Jam With King Kahlua and friends. Smokescreen £tbc, 8pm The Loggerheads The Maze Rubber Room Free, 8pm - 1.30am £5, 10pm The Maze Sunday 15/03 Friday 27/03 £3, 10pm Wednesday13 Sunday 08/03 Nottingham Folkus Rock City Poppycock The Maze Fromage Funk £13, 6.30pm Moog The Loggerheads Fight Like Apes £4, 7.30pm Free, 8pm - late Free, 8pm - 1.30am The Bodega Social Club Roadblock £6, 8pm Wednesday 18/03 The Loggerheads Junk Yard Rigbee Deep Free, 8pm - 1.30am The Market Bar The Hubb Performance Battle of The Bands Heat 5 DJ Daddio and friends. £5, 10pm - 4am Free, 8.30pm - 2am Southbank Bar The Maze With Popof, Luke Black,Paul Sekhri Minister Hill, Nowhere Common Free, 8pm £tbc, 7.30pm and Mark Cohen. and Jah Bunndy. Monday 23/03

Nearly Dan Peter Doherty Diana Jones The Hellfire Club The Rescue Rooms Stiff Little Fingers The Maze Rock City Rock City Seven £10, 7.30pm £19, 7.30pm £10 adv, 8pm £tbc, 8pm £15, 7.30pm Plus support. Bands and Burlesque.

Thursday 12/03 Thursday 19/03 Animal Collective Detonate The Rescue Rooms Stealth Monday 30/03 Autohype Automatic Zen £13, 7.30pm £10 / £12, 10pm - 5am The Golden Fleece The Golden Fleece High Contrast, Logistics, Klute, The Rifles Free, 8pm Free, 8pm Thursday 26/03 Transit Mafia, Youngsta, MCs The Rescue Rooms Plus Tax The Fat. Stamina, Freestyle and Ruthless. £12.50, 7pm

Norman Jay Quantic Plus New Education We Are The Union Dogma Yipil The Maze Dogma Free, 9pm Free, 9pm The Loggerheads Lionel Richie £5 / £6, 8pm Free, 8pm - 1.30am Nottingham Arena Plus Grown At Home, Girlfixer and Birobox Workshops £35 - £75, 8pm VFA. The Malt Cross £4 on door, 8pm Papa La Bas, Will Jeffrey and The Stiff Kittens play LeftLion at Brownes on Friday 20 March, entrance is free. Jennifer Batten With Origamibiro and The Joy of The Rescue Rooms Box. What was the worst? £13, 7.30pm Papa La Bas I guess supporting the Brand New Steve McGill Heavies a few months ago. I’m Red Priest: Pirates of The Baroque Southbank Bar Papa La Bas started as a project sure the gig was fine, but I ended Lakeside Arts Centre Free, 8pm between producer and beatmaker up in hospital four hours before £12 / £15, 7.30pm Dwyz and singer songwriter Suzi soundcheck.

The Matt and Joe Talent Show Ruthless. However, their live act Snow Patrol Deux What was the last CD you Nottingham Arena now encompasses session members Free, 9pm bought? £29.36, 7.30pm from bands like Old Basford and Non Morcheeba’s Who Can You Trust. Thespian, as well as a few other folk. Hidden Talents Those guys completely passed The Maze Their style is a mish mash of trip- Friday 13/03 me by at the time as I was too £5, 8pm hop, but with strings and beautiful vocals laid over it. We think it’ll What kind of people do you think obsessed by hiphop to notice. Pure Reason Revolution Womens only Cabaret. go down rather well as part of our will be into your music? The Bodega Social Club Jeffree Star residency at Brownes in March… Cats and dogs wanting something a Pick a superpower... £6, 7pm The ability to summon 1000 bees. The Rescue Rooms little more cerebral. Poppycock £13, 7pm Introduce the band to us… What’s your ideal night out in Moog Papa La Bas are a two piece studio What have you been up to recently? Nottingham? Free, 8pm - late The Amber Herd act with me, Dwyz, on production Well, we have our debut LP Anechoic Seven and beat duties and Suzi Ruthless on dropping in March so we’ve Avant garde cinema, followed by Rigbee Deep £4, 8pm - 12am songwriting and singing duties. We concentrated on the build up to that. sushi and a long walk home. Alley Cafe were signed quite quickly and put Free, 8:30pm - 1am Friday 20/03 together a seven-piece live band to Describe your style... What’s coming up next? Plus Minister Hill, Nowhere recreate the studio sound with Andy Voodoo Disco. A music video I reckon, but we’re still Common and Jah Bunndy. The Boy Least Likely To Ming on guitar, Chis on bass, Lee on trying to think up a decent concept. The Bodega Social Club drums, Beth on occasional violin and What’s the best gig you’ve ever John Marriott and Cookie £6.50, 7pm Duke01 on poetry and rap. done? Anything else to tell LeftLion Deux Definitely at the Broadway for readers? £3, 8.30pm LeftLion Where did you get the name from? Hockley Hustle for me, just felt an Nottingham has love for its local

Brownes Suzi mentioned him in a mad diatribe scene, we’re very appreciative of St Paddy’s Day Celebration honour to play there, it was such a Free, 8pm - 1am she often delves into, it was a true nice atmosphere. We’re loving the people’s time and energy. Big up The Maze Papa La Bas and Will Jeffery. Notts! £tbc, 8pm light-bulb moment. I interpret him as Fleece and Maze too. www.myspace.com/papalabasuk Kelly’s Heroes and Whackin a voodoo god of Mischief, like Loki, Shillelaghs. but way cooler. leftlion.co.uk/issue27 23 event listings... for more: leftlion.co.uk/listings

WEEKLIES Wednesdays

Mondays Open Mic Night Jam Cafe Open Mic Night Free, 7pm Golden Fleece Free, 8pm LeftLion Pub Quiz Golden Fleece Neon Rocks £2 per team, 8pm Stealth Like booze? Like quizzes? Sorted. £3, 9pm - late Thursdays Fridays Saturdays NTU student night. Pub Quiz Deux Chic Atomic / Sabotage Saturday Night Knees Up! Motherfunker £various, 8pm Gatecrasher The Cookie Club Malt Cross The Cookie Club £4 / £5, 10.30pm - 3am £2 b4 11pm, £4 after (NUS £3, 8pm - late £1 before 11pm, 10.30pm - 3am Joe Strange Band Four floors of music. discount), 10.30pm - 3am Resident bands and special guests Approach every week. Bosh! Free, 8pm BedBug Strictly Approach Plus guests. Eleven Igloo Play Free, 7pm Free, 8pm - 3am Various, 10pm - 4am Gatecrasher Free comedy from Just The Tonic. Firefly and Product and bring a £7 / £9, 10pm - 4am Thursdays selection of quality DJs every The Pop Confessional Monday Mayhem Thursday. Bodega Social Club Freeman Maze Showcase £1 / £3 / £5, 11pm - 3am Brownes £1 / £2, 8pm Loggerheads Chic Classic POP tunes from all eras, Free, 9pm - 1.30am Free, 8pm Gatecrasher Loves Nottingham and lots of fun and games. Propaganda £4adv / £5, 10.30pm - 3am Distortion Gatecrasher Loves Nottingham Live Thursdays Love Shack Rock City £3.50 / £4, 10pm - 3am Golden Fleece Open Decks and Open Caves Rock City various, 10pm - 3am Indie and alternative club night Free, 8.30pm Loggerheads £4 - £5, 9.30pm - 2am with huge events in five cities Free, 5pm - 12am Trollied across the UK. Club NME Bring some records or bring an Joe Strange Band Halo Stealth instrument and come and set the Southbank Bar £5 / £6 / more, 10pm - 4am £2 / £4, 10pm - 2am Tuesdays scene for the start of the weekend. Free, 8pm

Word Of Mouth Sundays MNSTR! Your Disco Roy De’Wired Muse Bodega Social Club Approach Brownes £various, 9pm Sunday Jam Sessions Free, 9pm - 1.30am Free, 8pm - late Free, 7pm - 2am Regulars and friends get a chance Plus support and DJs. Loggerheads Detonate, Spectrum and ClubFoot Jam Cafe Free, 8pm residents. to become the DJ. Free, 8pm F*** Me It’s Friday DJs on rotation playing funk, soul Chow Halo Reggae Roast Acoustic Tuesdays and broken beats. Golden Fleece Malt Cross Brownes Free with Flyer, 10pm - 4am Free, 9pm - 1.30am Free entry, all day. Free, 8pm Modern World A selection of local acts. Santero The Cookie Club Brownes To get your events listed here get £1 / £3, 10.30pm - 2am Fridays them on our website, fill out the Live Jazz Free, 9pm - 1.30am form at www.leftlion.co.uk/add. Hand and Heart Tuned Superstar Boudoir Free, 8pm - late Fridays Rock City Gatecrasher Golden Fleece We try to ensure all events are £1 - £5, 10pm - 3am £10 / £12, 10pm - 4am correct at time of print, but please Free, 8pm All the latest alternative music A slice of action from the world’s Reggae, DnB, funk, hip hop and disco. check with the venue or promoter alongside a healthy dose of pop. leading dance music brands. to avoid disappointment.

24 leftlion.co.uk/issue27 nottingham event listings... for more: leftlion.co.uk/listings

COMEDY Sunday 01/03 Our Style Is Legendary: Sunday 01/02 Just The Tonic Approach Comedy Night £8 / £10, 7pm the art of LeftLion Robin Hood Reg Hunter and Darrell Martin. In your hands you are holding issue 27 of LeftLion Free, 7.30pm Marcus Ryan, Ben Davids, Steve magazine, over the last four and a half years we have Dunne, Pete Teckman, Robin Tuesday 03/03 been lucky enough to work with some of Nottingham’s Cousins, Ben Briggs and Matt Turner. Funhouse Comedy most talented photographers, designers, illustrators Just The Tonic Grove and visual artists. We decided it was time to put Approach £4 / £5, 8pm together a collection of some of our favorite pieces £5 / £7.50, 7pm John Gordillo, Wes Zaharuk, Ruth With Roger Monkhouse, Lewes Cockburn, Gordon Smith and that we’ve published, give contributors the chance to Schaffer, Danny McLoughlin and compere Spiky Mike. show new work and give other artists an opportunity Darrell Martin. to submit their ideas to the exhibition.

Sunday 15/03 Tuesday 03/02 Just The Tonic A call for artists was sent out on the theme of meeting Funhouse Comedy Approach people in Nottingham and the interactions and Grove £5 / £7.50, 7pm experiences people have within the city. £4 / £5, 8pm Ivan Brackenbury, Andy White and Stu Goldsmith, Andrew Bird, Crack Darrell Martin. Town, Simon Gunnell, Alex Bennett The very first live music events we put on took place and Compere Spiky Mike. at the Malt Cross and it seemed fitting to return there Tuesday 17/03 for our first ever art exhibition. We’ll be having a big Thursday 05/02 Should I stay or should I go? opening night party on the 5th March, the exhibition Maze Simon Day £4 / £5 itself continues at the Malt Cross until the 14th of Lakeside Arts Centre March. At that point we’ll be taking a selection of work £12 / £15, 8pm from there to another of our favorite venues, The Golden Friday 20/03 Fleece, where it will stay for further month. Saturday 07/02 Comedy Underground Loggerheads John Shuttleworth Free, 8pm - 1.30am LeftLion’s aim has always been to make culture Lakeside Arts Centre and art of all forms more accessible to the people of Nottingham and those visiting us from £12 / £15, 8pm elsewhere, we hope this show will do just that. Sunday 22/03 www.leftlion.co.uk Sunday 08/02 Just The Tonic Opening night: 5 March, The Malt Cross, 7pm - 11pm Approach Just The Tonic £5 / £7.50, 7pm Approach Jo Caulfield, Dan Nightingale and £5 / £7.50, 7pm Charlie Baker. Sunday 01/02 THEATRE Thursday 26/02

Josie Long on Tour. Wednesday 04/02 Gemma Pardo and Roma Tearne Twelfth Floor Tuesday 24/03 Nottingham Castle Playhouse Sunday 15/02 Normal Admission, All day The Graduate £8 - £16, 8pm Rhod Gilbert Runs until: 15/02 Royal Centre Andy Parsons Lakeside Arts Centre £8 - £19, 7.30pm Playhouse £12 / £15, 8pm Runs until: 07/02 Wednesday 04/03 £12 / £14, 7.30pm Saturday 07/02 Vagina Monologues Albert / Bride or Groom / After Just The Tonic Sunday 29/03 Particles Royal Centre Magritte Approach Surface Gallery £12 - £23, 8pm Lace Market Theatre £8 / £10, 7pm Just The Tonic Free, All day Runs until: 07/02 £6 / £7, 7.30pm Chris Addison, Carl Hutchinson and Approach Runs until: 21/02 Runs until: 07/03 £5 / £7.50, 7pm Chris Ramsey. Friday 06/02 Jack Whitehall, Dan Atkinson, Daniel Rigby and Darrell Martin. Thursday 26/02 Friday 06/03 Tuesday 17/02 Glamour Debra Swann - Trouble in Playhouse Empty Bed Blues Should I stay or should I go? Tuesday 31/03 Paradise £8 - £24.50, various Lakeside Arts Centre Maze The Wasp Room Runs until: 21/02 £9 / £12, 8pm £4 / £5, 8pm Funhouse Comedy Free, All day Runs until: 21/03 Grove Runs until: 15/03 Monday 09/02 Just The Tonic £4 / £5, 8pm Gareth Richards, Kevin Dewsbury, Wednesday 11/03 Approach Friday 27/02 Lady Windermere’s Fan £5 / £7, 7pm Norman Cho, Pete Goddard, Steve Dunne and compere Spiky Mike. Lace Market Theatre The Price Shazia Mirza Geoff Diego Litherland £6 - £9, 7.30pm Playhouse Lakeside Arts Centre Runs until: 14/02 £8 - £24.50, 7.45pm Friday 20/02 EXHIBITIONS Free, All day Runs until: 28/03 Runs until: 12/04 Calendar Girls Comedy Underground Sunday 01/02 Royal Centre £13 - £27.50, 7.30pm Monday 16/03 Loggerheads Saturday 28/02 Free, 8pm - 1.30am Windows on War Soviet Posters Runs until: 14/02 1943-1945 A Pack of Lies The American Scene Royal Centre Russell Brand Lakeside Arts Centre Free, All day Lakeside Arts Centre Thursday 12/02 £13 - £26, 7.30pm Nottingham Arena Free, All day Runs until: 21/03 £24.50, 8pm Runs until: 22/03 Runs until: 19/04 60th Anniversary Gala Playhouse Lucinda Chua Thursday 26/03 Saturday 21/02 Lakeside Arts Centre £60, various Thursday 05/03 Free, All day The Afridan Company Presents Russel Kane and Simon Brodkin Runs until: 22/02 LeftLion Exhibition Friday 13/02 Richard III Lakeside Arts Centre Malt Cross Lakeside Arts Centre £12 / £15, 8pm Mark Langley: Drawn to Pencil Free, All day. Pit of Curiosities £9 / £12, 8pm Yard Gallery (The) Runs until: 14/03 (then is moved Pit and Pendulum Runs until: 28/03 Free, 11am - 4pm to the Golden Fleece) £1, 8pm - late Sunday 22/02 Runs until: 08/03 Art from the last five years of Leftlion magazine alongside newly Friday 27/03 Just The Tonic Short Fall Tuesday 17/02 Approach commisioned work specifically Hand and Heart for this exhibition on the theme Hot Flush £15, 7pm Free, 12pm - 6pm Turandot, Aida and Carmen Royal Centre Ross Noble of ‘meeting people’. See feature Runs until: 13/02 above for further information. Royal Centre £23, 7.30pm Curated by Jeffery Baker featuring £16 - £33, 7.30pm work by James Bowen,Corinne Runs until: 21/02 Monday 23/02 Felgate, Rebecca Gove-Humphries, Saturday 07/03 Tuesday 31/03

Mark Selby, Edward Wakefield and Al Murray Tuesday 24/02 The Hounding of David Oluwale Royal Centre David Miller. Subism Muse Playhouse £25, 8pm King Lear £8 - £24.50, 7.45pm Coasting Runs until: 08/03 Sandfield Theatre Runs until: 04/04 Nottingham Castle Contemporary artists from around £7 / £9, 7.15pm, 2pm Friday 27/02 Normal Admission, All day the world, selling limited-edition Runs until: 28/02 West End Story Runs until: 15/02 artwork, from street art and graffiti Mark Watson to digital art and illustration. Royal Centre Playhouse £13 - £39.50, 7.30pm Runs until: 11/04 £15, 8pm leftlion.co.uk/issue27 25 Write Lion It’s a new year and with that comes new inspiration. This issue we have contributions about pet dogs, the next door neighbour’s sex life, missed parents, people’s quirks and a stream-of- consciousness piece that we think could work equally well alongside a jazz or hiphop beat. If you want others to read your work (and you want it to be considered for publication in here) then log on to the Write Lion forum at leftlion.co.uk/forum.

Take me right back to the rock Elemental Protection Woke up this morning, time to eat so I sat at go there, you’ll come straight back, but at A rock.. Warm, happy All these things to me, the foot of my feet, to turn out a treat, who did what cost?, I found a book, so took a look, Is what you were to me Who let me be free. Were you, I meet but my mind in deceit, I was all over thumbed its ravaged round pages, it shed Solid and strong They live in my memory In my times of misery. The Earth Strong and true. the place, chaos etched in my face, looked paper, but that didn’t matter too much, in fact Is what you were to me like the sound of a pet shop, well I peeked at it added to the mystery of the story, bound The sun Nurturing, grounded Sara my plate, what a confused state, I’d buttered for glory, that’s a book I might read, wonder Is what you were to me Judgment never clouded. my tea, scrambled my bacon and sugared the what seeds it will plant for me to feed on, damn eggs, well they say variety is the spice you can’t unsee what you’ve seen, you can’t of life, but I wasn’t so sure of that, better to ungo where you’ve been, you drift from pillar You can tell he’s having sex swap hats with a stranger or do things that to post, get posted somewhere, drop back You can tell he’s There is the night sky. inject that fight/flight danger, so where is we, out of the air, to a new land that sucks you having sex a brief intercession My bed trembles to this where was we, Bing Crosby?, no that be later, in like quick sand, most of the sand is slow when the radio comes on. as the dj enters earthquake musical or before, I don’t know, different bag different sand, bland sand, tanned sand, I want to find Either he the bedroom he’s fucking in tune door, you know the score, one all to the team a grain and uncover its journey, show me its or the speakers then the violins to Manilow in red, first out of bed wins toothpaste for a lineage, I’ve got oceans of time and a patient mumble something over a kick in again “Coh poh- year and gets to keep the teeth in their head, ear, take me right back to the rock. restaurant violin I think if I fucked Coh poh cabah nah” yeah that’s what I said, you heard me, clear about how they can to this music as Swansea bay, never been?, never seen?, Owl hear I’d be sick on her Just as my neighbour’s the love though some women might heat, starts to People when their hearts like that warm my room beat maybe this explains there’s a crash, People are a funny bunch. But people can change, side by side the songs’ a groan and Well, some are funny Till they’re dead. but what airtime and long he shouts: Some are cunts. this really means overdue, shelf-life. “DAMN, RADIO’S FALLEN, Some I despise People play at life to win is his naked chest on IT’S BROKE!” Others, I love Fools lose all the same her lovely I hear a gasp and In the dark Some are beneath me For when a wanker loses life breasts. the radio gets louder I grin Others, above. They’d already lost the game keeping any voyeuristic wider than the moon People are selfish, bats listening Born and bred. Jack Twatt deep in Jaack

WEDNESDAY 12 HEATHCOTE STREET, HOCKLEY, NOTTINGHAM, NG1 3AA CHECK OUR NEW WEBSITE WWW.JAMCAFE.INFO BOOK PARTIES TEL. 0115 9483566 (JAM CAFE IS JUST DOWN FROM ICE NINE IN HOCKLEY)

OPEN MIC NIGHT - ANYTHING GOES EVERY WEDNESDAY AT JAM CAFE THURSDAY

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OPEN DECKS, SO BRING YOUR OWN TUNES EVERY THURSDAY AT JAM CAFE

Time, once again, to clear through that pile of CDs, books, mags, and all the other stuff we get sent. If you have anything you want us to give the once-over, please send it to [email protected]

MUSIC Alberto Veto Cappo and Styly Cee Those Dancing Days Afraid of Thieves EP (Cabaret Beatings) The H-Bomb EP (Son Records) In Our Space Hero Suits (Wichita Recordings)

Having formed in the summer The new EP from a now established American soul music has in the last of 2007, Alberto Veto are mere collaboration in Notts hiphop puts few years enjoyed a resurgence babies on the Nottingham music the production of Styly Cee (aka the through mainstream acts such as scene but are already on their third infamous rapping miner Pitman) Duffy and Amy Winehouse, so a EP release. A trio of musicians back in the limelight taking him whole new generation of kids are bringing a mature indie rock to the from behind the decks as Cappo’s discovering the sounds of that era. people of the Midlands and more DJ and placing him back in front The pop debut from this Stockholm recently, further afield in London of the mixing desk. Cappo’s all-girl group leans very much in Town and Manchester. Afraid of return to the label that first gave the direction of the likes of Dusty Thieves is a mellow yet bright EP, him his break features big drums Springfield. However, rather than with an almost Spanish feel to its throughout giving an assertive produce a cookie-cutter copy, they guitars. Avalanche draws you in energy to all three tracks. Tell Them add their own spin to the proceedings. Whilst they point back as it canters to a climax for the chorus while Through Her Teeth nicely combines a rolling break with a cheeky guitar sample, to the age of Motown, the regimental race of the drums and and Tongue’s drum beats will have you tapping your feet along. whilst Time Will Tell uses a subtle Hendrix vocal to full effect. speedy jangle of the guitar work seems to hark more to the indie If this EP and their live performances are anything to go by, The smasher of the EP has to be Unwritten Rule with robotic pop of the nineties, making for an interesting and upbeat mix. their forthcoming album will be well worth a listen. Alison Emm vocals and haunting chords resulting in the most atmospheric Tracks like Falling In Fall and Run Run gallop along yet never number of them all. As Cappo exhorts us to ‘remember what you seem to outstay their invariably three-minute welcome. This Buy this if you like: Elbow and fast-tempo acoustic rock. are aiming for’ we are reminded of his consistently conscious differs from the track Hitten, which plays more towards new www.albertoveto.co.uk and dominating flow. An impressive outing. Read interviews wave sensibilities and radio-friendly eighties-like airplay. In all, Available Now with this dynamic duo at leftlion.co.uk/music. Camillo Hortez this makes for great feelgood listening. Plus, Duet Under Waters features handclaps. Life always seems better with handclaps. Buy this if you like: P Brothers, Pitman, Braintax and UK hiphop. Duncan Heath Hungover Stuntmen www.sonrecords.com Available Now Buy this if you like: The idea of Duffy meeting The Smiths Blame The BBC (One Bounce) www.myspace.com/thosedancingdays Available Now These Geordie rockers have been on the scene since 2003 Wired Desire and during their path to stardom Euros Childs have supported bands such as Barely Legal EP The Kooks and The Futureheads. Cheer Gone (Wichita Recordings) With endorsements from the Five new rockers from Glasgow are likes of Ocean Colour Scene’s behind this provocatively named Euros’ voice has amazing depth Steve Craddock and Duran EP, and Wired Desire provide a to it on this album; this is folk Duran’s Andy Taylor, Hungover new, fresh higher level of energy music with real soul. Hauntingly Stuntmen certainly have a lot to to the recently slightly stagnant hypnotic, Farm-Hand Murder is live up to. Fortunately, listening rock scene. With the hard edge of particularly chilling following the to their debut album shows that any concerns over their quality AC/DC and the charisma of Guns previous track about unrequited and potential are unfounded. Blame The BBC is an emphatic N’ Roses, Wired Desire are sure to love, Always Thinking of Her. first attempt, with well-crafted beats and catchy guitar hooks. cause some commotion amongst However, with the next track There is a lot to enjoy in this forty minute offering. Andy Taylor’s their fellow rockers. The sound of Saving Up To Get Married the influence is clear with the album enjoying a polished finish which accomplished retro rock serves to romantic in me forgot about the is particularly noticeable on Love Is Suicide, a track destined to make Wired Desire seem much dark side and possibly fell a little be an indie disco hit. Other stand outs are Inside Out, a song older and wiser than their time. The second track The Hard bit in love with Euros and his lilting Welsh accent. This is a with great toe-tapping appeal and a fantastic intro/outro, and Stuff, showcases Daly’s gruff, emotive voice perfectly, alongside philosopher at work; themes of passing time, mortality and of She Knows which has a slight Kooks twang to it. The band are classic guitar solos which are essential for any decent rock group. course love, of all kinds, run deep and there’s all the pretty poetic certainly not scared to try something different from the more The third track Damn Hard is a power ballad, and suggests that melancholy you would expect from such stuff. But the cheer is usual indie stuff. Overall, there is a lot to like about this modish the group would be an interesting act to watch live. The dark, not gone; Euros is telling us what we hopefully already knew indie outfit, they clearly live up to the hype and if they continue mysterious music is the kind that would be perfect for an eighties and with the point hammered home with Sing Song Song that on in this vein they will be destined for great things. horror film, maybe something along the lines of The Lost Boys. I music is food for the soul. He believes it and you know what? Dan Skurok reckon Wired Desire are sure to take the rock/metal music scene He’s quite convincing. Beccy Godridge by storm over the next few years. Lizzie Goodman Buy this if you like: The Tunics, The Hot Air Balloons Buy this if you like: Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, Rufus Wainwright www.hungoverstuntmen.co.uk Buy this if you like: 1980s hair metal. or Super Furry Animals. Available Now www.myspace.com/wireddesireband www.myspace.com/euroschilds Available Now Available Now

BOOKS Hoods (Milo Books) Carl Fellstrom STAPLE 69/70 Cracking the Short Story Market The Publishing Issue A book that covers the spate of gun (Writers’ Bureau) crime and gangs in Nottingham with Iain Patterson the face of Bestwood Cartel frontman The latest issue of Sneinton-based Colin Gunn on the cover? Not more Staple Magazine is guest-edited This 300 page book is the perfect sensationalism to taint the reputation of by Rebecca Swift (The Literary guide for the determined writer our beloved city I hear you cry… Well, Consultancy) and looks at the who wants to see their work while passing glances at this book in writing industry. Its content ranges in print rather than in a folder shops may perhaps add to the fear factor from Ross Bradshaw reflecting entitled ‘stories’ on their laptop. surrounding Nottingham (which hasn’t on the tribulations of running the Offering a comprehensive insight actually registered a death through legendary Mushroom Bookshop in into the craft of writing, the book gun crime in over two years) if you pick Hockley during the eighties and also explains how the various it up and give it a go it’s bloody good nineties (including Nazi attacks!) to markets work, how to impress read! Packed full of information from photographs by 2008 Nottingham judges and the dos and don’ts police files and looking at the routes of gang crime from the fifties Creative Business Awards nominee of character. In this recently onwards, it’s fascinating and very well researched. Answering Julian Hughes. Terry Darlington updated edition the author many questions that locals like you and I might have about how takes a narrow boat through the waterways of North Carolina, includes information on ezines people like Marian Bates and the Stirlands ended up dead and Jenny Downham explores teenage relationships and Tim and new contacts as well as an on the cover of local and national press, it also makes you realise Clare offers a revealing look at his own (and other writers’) extended chapter on writing for how things managed to get so out of control during the nineties incompetence. At the centre of this 300 page edition are tributes radio. If you don’t get published and early 2000s under Police Chief Steve Green. You can tell this to Caribbean writer Archie Markham by Margaret Drabble and after reading this then there was never any lead in your pencil book has been a gruelling project for Fellstrom, a news journalist others, including a moving sequence of poems, Afterward, by in the beginning. See the LeftLion creative writing forum at who has been covering the East Midlands for several years. In a Mimi Khalvati. All in all, a solid exposure of the business of leftlion.co.uk/forum for more creative writing tips. James Walker getting books into print. Subscription are £15 for 3 issues. perverse sort of way it’s also clearly a labour of love for him. Well worth a read if you want to know more about the stories behind Aly Stoneman Buy this if you like: The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook, the news. Jared Wilson Creating Short Fiction by Damon Knight

Buy this if you like: The Meanest Flower by Mimi Khalvati, www.writersbureau.com Before I Die by Jenny Downham. Buy this if you like: The Krays, crime novels, knowing more staplemagazine.wordpress.com about why you live in ‘Assassination City’. www.milobooks.co.uk

28 www.leftlion.co.uk/issue27 proudNottingham City Council to present Nottingham

Friday 13 February Light Night Full Programme Nottingham City Centre From 6pm ‘til late Thursday 12 February Light Night Tasters From 6pm ‘til late Call 08444 775 678 for event listings and offers or visit www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/lightnight Pisces (February 20 - March 20) Statistically speaking this is the most depressing time of the year, so it’s worth planning your coping strategies in advance. When life seems grim and all hope seems but a distant memory, why not try weeping uncontrollably in the shower? After all, it worked for your parents.

Aries (March 21 - April 20) Somewhere someone is thinking of you. Someone is making you into a vision so beautiful that it can only live in the mind. Someone is thinking of the way your breath escapes your lips when you are touched. This person is using celestial colours to paint your image. Mainly brown.

Taurus (April 21 - May 21) You can recycle most types of paper and card fairly easily these days through your local waste collectors. But remember it’s still better to try to re-use these materials than recycle them. Old telephone directories can make ideal personal address books. Simply cross out the names and addresses of the people you don’t know. LEFTLION ABROAD Gemini (May 22 - June 22) Kurt Cobain’s home, Seattle, USA I ain’t got no fire, to light my cigarette. I’m just an ‘ol dog, looking for my midnight pet. She lays out 171 Lake Washington Boulevard in Seattle, USA. A big house that made big news on 8 April 1994 a matchstick and offers me the light. I take a drag and blow smoke right in her eyes. Your leash is a when its owner Kurt Cobain, lead singer of nineties gr unge phenomenon Nirvana, put his lips around short one, roll over and play dead. You’re my pretty doggie, I pat you on your head. a shotgun and pulled the trigger. His body was discovered by an electrician who had ar rived to install a security system. Apart from a minor amount of blood coming out of Cobain’s ear, the electrician Cancer (June 23 - July 23) reported seeing no visible signs of trauma and initially believed that Cobain was asleep until he saw Getting too old to go on an 18-30 holiday? Do not despair - there is an alternative! Simply get pissed, the shotgun pointing at his chin. A suicide note was found that said, ‘I haven’t felt the excitement of lie in a pit in your garden and shag everyone who looks at you over the fence. For added evening listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing... for too many years now ’. entertainment set off a car alarm and gyrate your body around it until the police arrive. If you can get a photo of a LeftLion sticker or copy of the mag somewhere dead exotic, send it to [email protected]. Leo (July 24 - August 23) Calling extra terrestrial fanatics: been hit by the credit crunch too? Do not fear! You can create the effects of being abducted by aliens cheaply and easily by taking painkillers and drinking two bottles of whisky. You’ll either go mysteriously missing ever after or you’ll wake up in a strange place the next day, having had your memory eerily erased.

Virgo (August 24 - September 23) My wife invited her vegetarian sister and her husband round to dinner. When we’ve been round theirs they always go on about how tofu, Quorn and other meat substitutes taste ‘exactly like the real thing’. So I figured they’d never know if I just cooked them up a nice bit of steak. They went mental about it! Possibly due to the lack of protein in their diet?

Libra (September 24 - October 23) Feeling the squeeze of the current financial crisis as banks tighten up on your loan repayments? Don’t let it affect your quality of life! You can get a two for one offer on all items at Tesco and Asda this month, simply by putting one into your shopping trolley and the other into your coat pocket.

Scorpio (October 24 - November 22) There are worse things in the world than what is going to happen to you tomorrow and it will become increasingly important for you to get some perspective. Someday you’ll be able to look back on it all and laugh. Until then, however it’s going to take months of reconstructive surgery to get you looking ‘normal’ again.

Sagittarius (November 23 - December 22) A new year can bring a turn of tide, and a salty old sea dog like you can expect plenty of changes over the next fortnight. A long-term, but usually covert, relationship with a married woman will come to an end when she finally plucks up the courage to ask you for a divorce.

Capricorn (December 23 - January 19) People say it’s a dog eat dog world out there, but I was still surprised at what happened when I took Binky the Bandog Mastiff out to the park last Sunday. The owner of the West Highland Terrier Nottingham twin cities run by mentalists was rather upset. I eventually gave him most of the dog back, but he was crying uncontrollably by that point.

Aquarius (January 20 - February 19) Calling all bearded men! You too can obtain the appearance of an upper class North Pole explorer TEHRAN HARARE by simply applying Tippex to your beard, painting your nose blue and, if you’re up for it, cutting off a couple of toes. It never fails to impress the girls! Then lavish them with Kendal mint cake and go on about how it’s all you’ve eaten for five months.

The next Issue of LeftLion

Magazine will be out at the Country: Iran Country: Zimbabwe Leader: Robert Mugabe Leader: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad end of Mar ch, in plenty of Mad as: Fuck Mad as: A biscuit tin full of frogs Thinks Britain is: “A country of Thinks Britain is: “A bullying, ill-tempered thieving colonialists” and expansionist power” When visiting Notts, enjoys: Getting Paul Smith time for all April fools. When visiting Notts, enjoys: Waving to run up more shirts with his face on them inflatable nuclear weapon in Trent End

30 www.leftlion.co.uk/issue27

10th Birthday Weekender Friday 6th March - Sunday 8th March 2009 Pontins, Prestatyn Sands, North Wales Expect 3 days of non stop music across 3 arenas, with the biggest artists in their respective genres touching down to contribute to what will be the biggest birthday celebration on the planet! WILEY [LIVE] ⁄ RONI SIZE ⁄ DJ YODA ⁄ ANDY C SCRATCH PERVERTS ⁄ HIGH CONTRAST ⁄ DJ MARKY SKREAM ⁄ FRICTION ⁄ LONDON ELEKTRICITY ⁄ BEARDYMAN BENGA ⁄ GOLDIE ⁄ FOREIGN BEGGARS [LIVE] ⁄ FABIO DIGITAL MYSTIKZ ⁄ DJ ZINC [HISTORY OF DETONATE SET] PEANUT BUTTER WOLF [AV SET] ⁄ NOISIA ⁄ PLASTICIAN SHY FX ⁄ C2C BEAT TORRENT [AV SET] ⁄ JAMES PANTS [LIVE] THE APPLES [LIVE] ⁄ ED RUSH ⁄ LOGISTICS ⁄ TAYO TROJAN SOUNDSYSTEM ⁄ APPLEBLIM ⁄ D BRIDGE ⁄ BREAK ICICLE ⁄ ZINC [HOUSE SET] ⁄ DAM-FUNK ⁄ COMMIX JIMMY SCREECH [LIVE] ⁄ HIGHNESS SOUNDSYSTEM BREAKAGE ⁄ KLUTE ⁄ 2562 ⁄ DJ DIE ⁄ CYANTIFIC DJ DEREK ⁄ ALIX PEREZ ⁄ MAYER HAWTHORNE [LIVE P.A] RANDOM MOVEMENT ⁄ TOMB CREW ⁄ LONE TRANSIT MAFIA ⁄ PETE JORDAN ⁄ SPAM CHOP ⁄ METAPHI MCs DYNAMITE ⁄ GQ ⁄ EKSMAN ⁄ STAMINA ⁄ LOWQUI I.D ⁄ SP ⁄ WREC ⁄ RAGE ⁄ FREESTYLE ⁄ RUTHLESS

Arenas hosted by..

Book tickets now! Ticket price: £125 (+ £1.87 booking fee if paying via credit card) This includes self catered chalet accommodation on the weekender site for 3 nights. It includes access to all of the weekender music arenas, and all the holiday parks facilities. How to book tickets: 1. Decide who you want to share a chalet with – Chalets sleep groups of 4, 5, 6, or 7. You can upgrade your chalet to fit extra people in as long as the larger chalets are still available. If there are less of you than 4, please e-mail [email protected] 2. Call the bookings hotline on Call 0844 576 5949 and quote the code DET1, or go to www.pontins.com/detonate. Please note: groups of 4 or 5 need 1 bed apartments, 6 or 7 need 2 bed apartments as 2 of the bed spaces are on the sofa beds. 3. Make payment: You will be charged for the whole apartment (4 person = £500, 5 person = £625 and so on). You can make the payment across several cards. 4. You will then receive a booking and registration form in the post. The balance paid voucher is sent out 7-10 days before the event. Coaches: Detonate coaches can take you from Nottingham to the weekender and back for £20. Tickets on sale now at: Selectadisc, Golden Fleece, Brownes, Ticket reps. For more info see www.detonate1.co.uk or e-mail [email protected] Facebook: search groups for... Detonate Weekender, Detonate, Hospital Records WWWeb: www.detonate1.co.uk www.hospitalrecords.com