ISSUE 33 FEB-MARCH 2010 nottingham culture Hot Chip Cassetteboy Mark Steel Rebecca Dakin Cagefighting special Matt Aston The Swiines Red Rack’em Local graffiti artists Nottingham events listings Star City The Future Under Communism 13 Feburary - 18 April High Pavement / Weekday Cross Open: Tue - Fri 10am - 7pm Nottingham Sat and Bank Holidays 10am - 6pm NG1 2GB Sun 11am - 5pm Lace Market Tram Stop Galleries closed Mondays, except Bank Holidays. Shop and Café open. We are open Good Friday, Easter Weekend and Easter Monday. Cover: Valentina Tereshkova, Tereshkova, Valentina Cover: v Kosmose. Sovety a scene from RIA Novosti Photo by FREE www.nottinghamcontemporary.org LeftLion Magazine Issue 33 contents February - March 2010 editorial Welcome to our first issue of 2010. I’ve noticed a few comments floating about recently about how now we’re in a new decade we are supposed to be ‘living in the future’. Obviously that statement is a paradox in itself, but I think the crux of the beef is that you still can’t buy Back To The Future hoverboards and James Bond jetpacks in Argos. There’s a simple solution to cure this disillusionment: watch 2010 (the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey) as I did this week. It’s highly disappointing and after it’s finished you’ll be glad to get back to your humdrum life again. Anyway, as usual we’ve got a tangfastic packet of Nottingham Culture for you within these pages. On the literature front we have interviews with escort-turned- 13 16 14 author Rebecca Dakin, who charmed us all with her reading at our Circus Extravaganza last year. We have May Contain Notts Aston Thriller Music Reviews words with comedian, author and all-round boffin Mark 04 The news diary that treads the dog 12 How Matt Aston, one of the best new 21 Glades, Here’s To Tragedy, In Steel about why we still get called ‘scabs’ twenty-five dirt of reality into the white Axminster theatre directors in the country, turned Isolation, Lisa de’Ville, Mas Y Mas, years after the miners’ strike. Local theatre director Matt of local media a Saturday job into a creative career Becky Syson, Theorist, Wigflex and Aston pops up to tell us about working with Billy Ivory The Engines of Armageddon and Stephen Lowe. And Internet terrorists Cassetteboy Steely Don are in the house to inform us why they enjoy playing with LeftEyeOn 13 05 Comedian, novelist, political activist the noises Alan Sugar and Nick Griffin make. The winners of our abstract photo and all-round nice-guy Mark Steel 22 Kick Out The Hams competition explains to us why some people still Plucky young boggers The Swiines, For those of you with an interest in local sport, see our think we’re ‘scabs’ and why they want to give centrespread on mixed martial artists. At first this comes Nottingham a slap across as very brutal and disturbing viewing (and frankly Hot Rocks most of what you see on TV is), but the competitors I met 07 Mercury Music Prize nominees Hot Artist Profiles 14 surprised me with their wit, openness and general friendly Chip play Rock City this February and, We talk spray cans and throw-ups Event Listings nature. I’ll retain an interest in those fighters from now hence, grace this mag with an with Kid30, Kaption One, Tali and 23 Where to go and what to do in on - though I won’t be stepping into a cage with them interview Onga B Hoodtown over the next 59 days anytime soon. 15 Sampley Red 08 A Canadian In New Basford Red Rack’em is, erm, red hot right 28 Noshingham We’ve had a lot of feedback about our music coverage Everyone’s favourite ex-pat is feeling now. He spills the beans on Big Chill, Our new-ish food section is back recently too - mostly positive - but the negative titbits surprisingly positive about our city. For Radio 1 and his former career as News with a main course of JamCafe, are usually the most interesting. For the record we are a change Bunny Ripple and Le Bistrot Pierre not just a music magazine; we’re trying to cover a wide range of cultural things going on in Notts, including our bleeding brilliant local music scene! So while the likes of Compact Diss Fight Club Rocky Horrorscopes 09 16 We hang out with three of the best 30 Red Rack’em and The Swiines are interviewed in here (as Audio cut and paste specialists Plus The Arthole, Notts Trumps and well as Hot Chip) you’ll have to go to our website to read Cassetteboy pop in for a chat mixed martial artists in Nottingham, LeftLion Abroad and realise they’re not the psychos the other 500-plus interviews, reviews and features we’ve we thought they might be done on local musicians over the years. While you’re there You Go, Girlfriend have a listen to their tunes on our podcasts (leftlion.co.uk/ 10 Escort-turned-writer Rebecca Write Lion podcasts) and come see some of them at one of our live Dakin talks us through her old job, 20 events (more info about our next one on page 23). And and her dislike for Stratford’s The cream of our creative writing forum crop, with book reviews if you want us to listen to your band, visit leftlion.co.uk/ Pizza Hut sendusmusic and follow the simple instructions. So no more moaning about us not giving your band a triple page spread every issue, okay? If we did that, we’d have credits to bump other cool stuff and members of the local arts, Editor in Chief Photography Editor Daddio theatre or literary scene might start picketing outside our Jared Wilson ([email protected]) Dominic Henry ([email protected]) Lee Whitehead houses too! Hang on a minute - that could be quite fun... Stephen Wright Editor Theatre Editor Peter Zabulis [email protected] Al Needham ([email protected]) Adrian Bhagat ([email protected]) Podcast crew Technical Director Contributors Paul Abbott Sound of The Lion Alan Gilby ([email protected]) Rob Cutforth Timmy Bates LeftLion’s podcast of plenty Bod Fonda Rosa Brough Sound of the Lion is the LeftLion Sub-editors Drew Healey Will Forrest podcast devoted exclusively to Charlotte Kingsbury ([email protected]) Shariff Ibrahim Kristi Genovese new music from Nottingham. It Nathan Miller ([email protected]) Sarah Morrison Jon Hall began hosted by Hello Thor’s Tom Beane Noodler Dan Hardy Whalley, but then he got all famous Art Director Jamir Rhodes Christopher Hough and moved on to BBC 6 Music. So our Music Editor Paul David Blenkey ([email protected]) Aly Stoneman Robin Lewis Klotschkow and Doledrum promoter Kristi Genovese took Andrew Trendell Stuart Rogers up the mantle of feeding your tabs with a fresh selection Marketing and Sales Manager Lauren Walker Sam Vtekk of local vocals each month. Show #3 (online now) features Ben Hacking ([email protected]) Anthony Whitton Oli Ward one track from each of the albums reviewed on page 21. Jim Wheatley Listen up at leftlion.co.uk/podcasts Art Editor Cover image Frances Ashton ([email protected]) Jeffrey Bowman (mrbowlegs.co.uk) Sparring partner Luke Skillington Film Editor Illustrators Ashley Dilks Alison Emm ([email protected]) Adam Poole (goatskin-mountain.co.uk) LeftLion.co.uk received twelve million page Doodle bug Rob White (thearthole.co.uk) views during the last year. This magazine has Ash is one of the founding members Literature Editor an estimated readership of 40,000 people and of the epic Drop in the Ocean music James Walker ([email protected]) Photographers is distributed to over 300 venues across the festivals and is now involved with David Baird city of Nottingham. If your venue isn’t one of its successor, Hockley Hustle, which Music Editor Matt Dalton them, please contact Ben on 07984 275453 or goes from strength to strength. He’s Paul Klotschkow ([email protected]) Debbie Davies email [email protected]. widely revered amongst the ‘Lion Christopher Frost crew for being one of the finest purveyors of the Sunday Rebecca Gove-Humphries This magazine is printed on paper sourced Roast. His talents don’t end there though; he regularly from sustainable forests. Our printers are ISO contributes illustrations and designs for the mag at a Want to advertise in our pages? Email [email protected] 14001 certified by the British Accreditation minute’s notice and has also been known to juggle fire Bureau for their environmental management and throw a frisbee really, really far. or phone Ben on 07984 275453 or visit leftlion.co.uk/advertise system. leftlion.co.uk/issue33 3 MAY CONTAIN Nottingham in Top 10 Cities... with Nottingham’s ‘Mr. Sex’, Al Needham DK Eyewitness Travel Guides made Hoodtown one of the Top 10 cities to visit in 2010, along with Istanbul, Reykjavik, Vancouver and Nara. NOTTS NJM December 2009 - January 2010 Good news. This year could be quite a big year for this city - what with Naddinghayam: the Movie, the 5 December British Arts Show and all of our local sports teams The EDL demo in town gets moved looking like they’re on the up. next to the Castle, presumably because Kowalski they couldn’t concentrate on defending England next to a German market, Does this mean they’ll be some sort of exchange with a massive reindeer head singing system set up? So we can do swapsies and go and Christmas songs at them.