Bad Taste Magazine: Issue 2

1BAD TASTE No2 SUMMER 2007

BAD TASTEUNIVERSITY OF YORK CAMPUS MAGAZINEISSUE 2 SUMMER ‘07

AD

BADTASTE

Editorial Directors: Duncan Piper, Missy Christey, Ilaf Scheikh Elard

Graphics Designer: Timothy Ngwena

Photography: Matthew Grum

Head of Marketing & Distribution: Oliver Blair

Features Coordinator: Nicky Woolf

Good Taste Editor.Judith Connolly

Fashion & Style Editors: Kate Bevan, Sarah GrahamPerforming Arts Editor:

Charlie BruceMusic Editor:Roxana Darling

Contributors: Paul Hague, Kim Middleton, Georgie Pettiffer, Andy Young, Rebecca Jones, Marius Karabac-zek, Iain Smith, Daniel Sjöström, Nicola Fair-head, Helen Citron, Mathew Hanley, George Taylor, Jess Selfe, Ben Rackstraw, Helen Nianias, Ruth Evans, Hannah Welch, Rennie Hoare, Jonny Dack, Diane Propsting, Mark Fountain, Kristy

Harper, Camille Augarde

With special thanks to: Sarah Coggles, Evil Eye, Office, Give the Dog a Bone and Blue Ballroom.

Babydoll Boutique.

The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of YUSU or of the editorial team. Every care is taken to ensure all information published is correct at the time of print. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is strictly prohibited. Bad Taste cannot be held responsible for information provided by advertisers.

CONTENTS:

EDITORS’ NOTE:Welcome to the second edition of Bad Taste: your campus magazine. From new artwork, a fresh approach to politics and some exclusive interviews to a continuation of the very popular fashion shoots, we have tried to focus on bringing you a greater breadth and depth of content. Our outstanding graphics designer and photographer, alongside hard-working heads of departments/section editors bring you a lively and novel insight into campus life. Take advantage. If you’d like to get involved with the magazine in any way, please email [email protected].

4-5 6-7

89-11

1350-51

1214-1516-17

18-1920-21

2223

24-29

41-48

3031

32-3334-35

3738-39

Editorial Directors

Cover by Matthew Grum and Iain Smith.

Apologies to Tom Weil ( magician ) for failing to provide contact details in the Spring ‘07 edition: www.tomweil.co.uk , [email protected].

Sarah Coggles, 91-93 Low PetergateBabydoll Boutique, Leeds Corn Exchange every SaturdayBlue Ballroom, 36 GillygateOffice, 3 Coney StreetGive the Dog a Bone, 17 Fossgate


LIFESTYLEGood Taste by Judith ConnollyHalf Way Hall by George TaylorA look at the university experience New Generation Society by Duncan PiperJump York by Nicky WoolfA look at the art of Parkour on campusA letter from Seville by Jess SelfeYork’s Litle Gem by Nicky Woolf

ARTSLangwith Arts Festival by Duncan Piper Graphical Book Reviews by Ilaf Scheikh Elard, Marius KarabaczekConfessions of a Student Playwright by Nicola FairheadAn interview with DramaSoc’s Jethro ComptonSections - Artwork by Mathew HanleyTrainspotting by Duncan PiperShort Story by Paul HagueYork Student Cinema by Helen Citron

FASHIONLazy Daze Summer fashion on campusEvil Eye

MUSICLooking Ahead by Daniel SjöströmInterview with Slow Club by Roxana DarlingWhat is Indie? by Roxana DarlingPop Music Age by Ben RackstrawMr Hudson and the Library by Helen NianiasMaking Sound by Ruth Evans

AD

BADTASTE

Editorial Directors: Duncan Piper, Missy Christey, Ilaf Scheikh Elard

Graphics Designer: Timothy Ngwena

Photography: Matthew Grum

Head of Marketing & Distribution: Oliver Blair

Features Coordinator: Nicky Woolf

Good Taste Editor.Judith Connolly

Fashion & Style Editors: Kate Bevan, Sarah GrahamPerforming Arts Editor:

Charlie BruceMusic Editor:Roxana Darling

Contributors: Paul Hague, Kim Middleton, Georgie Pettiffer, Andy Young, Rebecca Jones, Marius Karabac-zek, Iain Smith, Daniel Sjöström, Nicola Fair-head, Helen Citron, Mathew Hanley, George Taylor, Jess Selfe, Ben Rackstraw, Helen Nianias, Ruth Evans, Hannah Welch, Rennie Hoare, Jonny Dack, Diane Propsting, Mark Fountain, Kristy

Harper, Camille Augarde

With special thanks to: Sarah Coggles, Evil Eye, Office, Give the Dog a Bone and Blue Ballroom.

Babydoll Boutique.

The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of YUSU or of the editorial team. Every care is taken to ensure all information published is correct at the time of print. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is strictly prohibited. Bad Taste cannot be held responsible for information provided by advertisers.

CONTENTS:

EDITORS’ NOTE:Welcome to the second edition of Bad Taste: your campus magazine. From new artwork, a fresh approach to politics and some exclusive interviews to a continuation of the very popular fashion shoots, we have tried to focus on bringing you a greater breadth and depth of content. Our outstanding graphics designer and photographer, alongside hard-working heads of departments/section editors bring you a lively and novel insight into campus life. Take advantage. If you’d like to get involved with the magazine in any way, please email [email protected].

4-5 6-7

89-11

1350-51

1214-1516-17

18-1920-21

2223

24-29

41-48

3031

32-3334-35

3738-39

Editorial Directors

Cover by Matthew Grum and Iain Smith.

Apologies to Tom Weil ( magician ) for failing to provide contact details in the Spring ‘07 edition: www.tomweil.co.uk , [email protected].

Sarah Coggles, 91-93 Low PetergateBabydoll Boutique, Leeds Corn Exchange every SaturdayBlue Ballroom, 36 GillygateOffice, 3 Coney StreetGive the Dog a Bone, 17 Fossgate


LIFESTYLEGood Taste by Judith ConnollyHalf Way Hall by George TaylorA look at the university experience New Generation Society by Duncan PiperJump York by Nicky WoolfA look at the art of Parkour on campusA letter from Seville by Jess SelfeYork’s Litle Gem by Nicky Woolf

ARTSLangwith Arts Festival by Duncan Piper Graphical Book Reviews by Ilaf Scheikh Elard, Marius KarabaczekConfessions of a Student Playwright by Nicola FairheadAn interview with DramaSoc’s Jethro ComptonSections - Artwork by Mathew HanleyTrainspotting by Duncan PiperShort Story by Paul HagueYork Student Cinema by Helen Citron

FASHIONLazy Daze Summer fashion on campusEvil Eye

MUSICLooking Ahead by Daniel SjöströmInterview with Slow Club by Roxana DarlingWhat is Indie? by Roxana DarlingPop Music Age by Ben RackstrawMr Hudson and the Library by Helen NianiasMaking Sound by Ruth Evans

good taste


Army and Navy Surplus store– this shop might be quite domineering from the outside, but inside it is a treasure trove of bargains for all you crazy kids, ranging from parkas, army jackets and pumps, all at afford-able prices.

Zest

Fishpaste is the ultimate styler. It works like a wax/gel but will dry matt, and enables the hair to maintain a malleable

hold all day long. Its strength will give your hair life, and add texture to define chunky choppy layers. Suitable for all types of hair. Celebrity punters include: John Terry, Robbie Williams and Jimi Mistry. Available at Boots. RRP £4.99 for 50ml.

Bad Hair Day!!

Feeling

Peckish

Topman. Summertime’s big easy…in addition to their large range of

fashion tees – stripes, graphics and embroidered – Topman can keep you cool in neutral coloured shorts and summer accessories from shades to straw trilbies to be worn at a jaunty angle. For a sophisticated and urban casual look to beach cool at affordable prices, head to Topman.

Miss Selfridge. Simmer in style this summer. For highstreet versions

of all this seasons major trends, let Miss Selfridge dress you. As the temperature rises so do hemlines – watch out for minis and denim hotpants. Look out for soft and floral feminine styles to help you bloom this summer, and keep an eye out for shades of all shapes and sizes!

This old fashioned sweet-shop on the internet is

crammed with about 600 of your favourite traditional, retro sweets. You can relive all of your childhood memories with flying saucers and midget gems delivered to your door. �ere are sweets and chocolates from Willy Wonka (scrumptious fudgemallow delights), curly wurlys, sherbet pips and candy necklaces - you will be spoilt for choice! Sugar, gluten and gelatine free sweets available. aquarterof.co.uk

Sweet Tooth

New in the centre of York, Zest specialises in both branded and non-branded perfumes and cosmetics at very keen

prices. For a small independent in the high street there aren’t many avenues for differentiation, but they try to be as competitive as possible on price and have a helpful, flexible attitude. If you’re after a rare or discontinued line, they will try their best to track it down. So if you’ve run out of Brut or Vera Wang, head for 9 Market St.

“DID YOU SAY THIS COMPANY IS OFFERING STUDENTS DISCOUNTS IF THEY MENTION BAD TASTE??”

Dress your feet in style with Faith’s

vast selection of pumps, staple flip-flops, bejewel-led sandals or understated trainers to keep your feet cool. If you have a fetish for shoes and want to hit the towering heights of fashion this summer, opt for ver-tiginous wedges.

A quirky shop offering quality yet affordable gifts. Selling anything from candles and canvases, to Tintin t-shirts and rubber ducks. Ideal for

unique individual gifts, or to treat yourself. 17 Fossgate.

Give the Dog a Bone

A timeless symbol of fashion, beauty and femininity for girls of

all ages, Barbie has been in the style spotlight for more than

four decades. Now teamed with MAC, earlier this year they re-

leased their limited edition colour collection of products. �ese are

used by professional make-up artists for lips, cheeks, eyes, skin and

nails, specially created for all you living dolls. Will you be a Malibu

Barbie or a Rocking Chick? Visit www.maccosmetics.co.uk for your

nearest stockist.

Virtually everything is homemade, from the

bread and pies to the cole-slaw and chutneys. �e best

bits of the menu include the deli board (you create your own platter from cheeses, meats, antipasti and various other nibbles and dips), the huge burgers, and daily specials. 30% off all food and drink for students every day of the week. £7 for a bottle of house wine for students anytime this term. Open till 2am every day of the week. Don’t forget the upstairs area which is available to hire for free. Dusk, 8 New Street, York, YO1 8RA.

By:Ju

dith Connolly

, Stacey

Go & Jessi

ca Lyons.

Design :

Tim Ngwen

a

Photography :

Matthew

Grum

PR Shots

good taste


Army and Navy Surplus store– this shop might be quite domineering from the outside, but inside it is a treasure trove of bargains for all you crazy kids, ranging from parkas, army jackets and pumps, all at afford-able prices.

Zest

Fishpaste is the ultimate styler. It works like a wax/gel but will dry matt, and enables the hair to maintain a malleable

hold all day long. Its strength will give your hair life, and add texture to define chunky choppy layers. Suitable for all types of hair. Celebrity punters include: John Terry, Robbie Williams and Jimi Mistry. Available at Boots. RRP £4.99 for 50ml.

Bad Hair Day!!

Feeling

Peckish

Topman. Summertime’s big easy…in addition to their large range of

fashion tees – stripes, graphics and embroidered – Topman can keep you cool in neutral coloured shorts and summer accessories from shades to straw trilbies to be worn at a jaunty angle. For a sophisticated and urban casual look to beach cool at affordable prices, head to Topman.

Miss Selfridge. Simmer in style this summer. For highstreet versions

of all this seasons major trends, let Miss Selfridge dress you. As the temperature rises so do hemlines – watch out for minis and denim hotpants. Look out for soft and floral feminine styles to help you bloom this summer, and keep an eye out for shades of all shapes and sizes!

This old fashioned sweet-shop on the internet is

crammed with about 600 of your favourite traditional, retro sweets. You can relive all of your childhood memories with flying saucers and midget gems delivered to your door. �ere are sweets and chocolates from Willy Wonka (scrumptious fudgemallow delights), curly wurlys, sherbet pips and candy necklaces - you will be spoilt for choice! Sugar, gluten and gelatine free sweets available. aquarterof.co.uk

Sweet Tooth

New in the centre of York, Zest specialises in both branded and non-branded perfumes and cosmetics at very keen

prices. For a small independent in the high street there aren’t many avenues for differentiation, but they try to be as competitive as possible on price and have a helpful, flexible attitude. If you’re after a rare or discontinued line, they will try their best to track it down. So if you’ve run out of Brut or Vera Wang, head for 9 Market St.

“DID YOU SAY THIS COMPANY IS OFFERING STUDENTS DISCOUNTS IF THEY MENTION BAD TASTE??”

Dress your feet in style with Faith’s

vast selection of pumps, staple flip-flops, bejewel-led sandals or understated trainers to keep your feet cool. If you have a fetish for shoes and want to hit the towering heights of fashion this summer, opt for ver-tiginous wedges.

A quirky shop offering quality yet affordable gifts. Selling anything from candles and canvases, to Tintin t-shirts and rubber ducks. Ideal for

unique individual gifts, or to treat yourself. 17 Fossgate.

Give the Dog a Bone

A timeless symbol of fashion, beauty and femininity for girls of

all ages, Barbie has been in the style spotlight for more than

four decades. Now teamed with MAC, earlier this year they re-

leased their limited edition colour collection of products. �ese are

used by professional make-up artists for lips, cheeks, eyes, skin and

nails, specially created for all you living dolls. Will you be a Malibu

Barbie or a Rocking Chick? Visit www.maccosmetics.co.uk for your

nearest stockist.

Virtually everything is homemade, from the

bread and pies to the cole-slaw and chutneys. �e best

bits of the menu include the deli board (you create your own platter from cheeses, meats, antipasti and various other nibbles and dips), the huge burgers, and daily specials. 30% off all food and drink for students every day of the week. £7 for a bottle of house wine for students anytime this term. Open till 2am every day of the week. Don’t forget the upstairs area which is available to hire for free. Dusk, 8 New Street, York, YO1 8RA.

By:Ju

dith Connolly

, Stacey

Go & Jessi

ca Lyons.

Design :

Tim Ngwen

a

Photography :

Matthew

Grum

PR Shots

7BAD TASTE No2 SUMMER 2007BAD TASTE No2 SUMMER 2007

6

Halfway Hall

Do you remember that month at the end of the summer before your first year, when all your school friends had already left for Uni? My memories are of being sacked (it wasn’t my fault – honest), so I had weeks and weeks to kill with no job or friends. The answer to this loneli-ness was obvious – I didn’t fancy meeting real compu-ter freaks over the internet, so I just made my own…

In case you’ve never heard of the game ‘The Sims’ – ba-sically, it’s real life. Just more fun. But how, or more ap-propriately, why? Have you ever played ‘The Sims’ in real time? Of course not, it’s too dull! So we play on double, or even triple, speed until we are hooked. You can cre-ate any character in any setting you like. Well, I spent my first year in Goodricke’s Cell Block – so maybe I didn’t choose my setting in real life, but my character wasn’t similarly constrained. Strangers I’ve met at University don’t know that I wasn’t popular at school; they don’t know I didn’t get 4 A’s; they don’t know I didn’t captain the swimming team; didn’t play the lead; or ever win cross country. I could create the person I had always wanted to be – York was providing a beautifully blank canvas.

They say the first year at University is the best year of your life. All I can remember though was this overwhelm-ing sense of speed. Just quite how fast everything hap-pened. I’m not the person I was at College - since when did I start needing to shave? I can recall many instances of stumbling around a confusing staircase in Ziggy’s, only to pause and be overwhelmed by the idea that a whole week has passed since I was last scrabbling at these same walls

for stability. But maybe this is why University is so ad-dictive. For the first time ever, we are whoever we want to be, and we’re doing the things we love to do. After all, isn’t first year just like playing ‘The Sims’, at triple speed?

¹. If you do know of the whereabouts of this mythical bar, please get in contact.

². “Pose with the wind man.” For those forever stuck highlighting in their rooms, the purple wind man can be found outside Evil Eye most busy tourist afternoons. He’s normally easy to spot. You see these things happen at this time of year. Why is

it sometimes more depressing to be halfway through something, than at the end? I remember someone pointing out we were halfway through our first year, what a hor-rible thing to say! Next are gloomy questions like, ‘how did you spend your first term?’ Well, between me and you – I played a lot of ‘The Sims’, but we’ll come back to that.

For many of us, last term brought a big shift in our Uni experience - but it’s easily missed. Cambridge actu-ally celebrate the occasion, they call it ‘Halfway Hall’. Till now, it seemed like we would all just be at Univer-sity forever. The loans would keep coming, and the over-draft forever deepening. But time is running out. Stray thoughts are entertained more than you’d wish; ‘how many more Ziggy’s do we have left?’, ‘how come I’ve only just heard about this topless bar?’¹ For second years, week five of last term meant the middle week, of the mid-dle term, of the middle year. It’s all downhill from there.

Reading Kirsty Watson’s ‘I ♥ NY’ article in the last issue was frightening for two very different reasons. Firstly, ‘how on earth have I been here this long, and never had the time to do number 58?’². I see that bloody wind man at least three times a week; how have I nev-er had a camera with me? I often wonder what Mr Pur-ple Wind Man thinks about; ‘…if only I hadn’t wasted my second year, I could have been so successful…’

But the more striking thought, for me at least, was think-ing, ‘how could you have gotten this far without some of these experiences?’ I can remember arguments over the seemingly smallest things: full-scale domestics sparked by spilt, or more often ‘borrowed’, milk. How can you for-get that week where you gave up the booze, just to see if you could, only to have failed by Toffs on Tuesday? You have long grown to love the queue, but sober you’re noticing so much you hadn’t before…the smell…the sweat…the proliferation of mingers (let’s face facts)…the slightly too pervy bouncers…why is that barman so small?

Words by George Taylor


6

Halfway Hall

Do you remember that month at the end of the summer before your first year, when all your school friends had already left for Uni? My memories are of being sacked (it wasn’t my fault – honest), so I had weeks and weeks to kill with no job or friends. The answer to this loneli-ness was obvious – I didn’t fancy meeting real compu-ter freaks over the internet, so I just made my own…

In case you’ve never heard of the game ‘The Sims’ – ba-sically, it’s real life. Just more fun. But how, or more ap-propriately, why? Have you ever played ‘The Sims’ in real time? Of course not, it’s too dull! So we play on double, or even triple, speed until we are hooked. You can cre-ate any character in any setting you like. Well, I spent my first year in Goodricke’s Cell Block – so maybe I didn’t choose my setting in real life, but my character wasn’t similarly constrained. Strangers I’ve met at University don’t know that I wasn’t popular at school; they don’t know I didn’t get 4 A’s; they don’t know I didn’t captain the swimming team; didn’t play the lead; or ever win cross country. I could create the person I had always wanted to be – York was providing a beautifully blank canvas.

They say the first year at University is the best year of your life. All I can remember though was this overwhelm-ing sense of speed. Just quite how fast everything hap-pened. I’m not the person I was at College - since when did I start needing to shave? I can recall many instances of stumbling around a confusing staircase in Ziggy’s, only to pause and be overwhelmed by the idea that a whole week has passed since I was last scrabbling at these same walls

for stability. But maybe this is why University is so ad-dictive. For the first time ever, we are whoever we want to be, and we’re doing the things we love to do. After all, isn’t first year just like playing ‘The Sims’, at triple speed?

¹. If you do know of the whereabouts of this mythical bar, please get in contact.

². “Pose with the wind man.” For those forever stuck highlighting in their rooms, the purple wind man can be found outside Evil Eye most busy tourist afternoons. He’s normally easy to spot. You see these things happen at this time of year. Why is

it sometimes more depressing to be halfway through something, than at the end? I remember someone pointing out we were halfway through our first year, what a hor-rible thing to say! Next are gloomy questions like, ‘how did you spend your first term?’ Well, between me and you – I played a lot of ‘The Sims’, but we’ll come back to that.

For many of us, last term brought a big shift in our Uni experience - but it’s easily missed. Cambridge actu-ally celebrate the occasion, they call it ‘Halfway Hall’. Till now, it seemed like we would all just be at Univer-sity forever. The loans would keep coming, and the over-draft forever deepening. But time is running out. Stray thoughts are entertained more than you’d wish; ‘how many more Ziggy’s do we have left?’, ‘how come I’ve only just heard about this topless bar?’¹ For second years, week five of last term meant the middle week, of the mid-dle term, of the middle year. It’s all downhill from there.

Reading Kirsty Watson’s ‘I ♥ NY’ article in the last issue was frightening for two very different reasons. Firstly, ‘how on earth have I been here this long, and never had the time to do number 58?’². I see that bloody wind man at least three times a week; how have I nev-er had a camera with me? I often wonder what Mr Pur-ple Wind Man thinks about; ‘…if only I hadn’t wasted my second year, I could have been so successful…’

But the more striking thought, for me at least, was think-ing, ‘how could you have gotten this far without some of these experiences?’ I can remember arguments over the seemingly smallest things: full-scale domestics sparked by spilt, or more often ‘borrowed’, milk. How can you for-get that week where you gave up the booze, just to see if you could, only to have failed by Toffs on Tuesday? You have long grown to love the queue, but sober you’re noticing so much you hadn’t before…the smell…the sweat…the proliferation of mingers (let’s face facts)…the slightly too pervy bouncers…why is that barman so small?

Words by George Taylor

BAD TASTE No2 SUMMER 20078 9

BAD TASTE No2 SUMMER 2007

The New Generation

In the shoot that accompanies this feature, we hoped to present

James Townsend as someone who isn’t always suited and serious, but accessible and really rather normal. Yet, the whole feeding geese by the lake looks more like a leadership campaign photo than we had expected – it just had to go in.

I’m a little unsure as to why we are featuring Mr Townsend in this issue – he seems to be one of the most well known individuals on campus already and most have heard of the NGS. They have done an awful amount to get their name out there, seemingly relentless in the plastering of our walls with their paraphernalia and in the past couple of terms we’ve seen the likes of the Dean of York, Iain Duncan Smith and Baroness Thornton, to name a few.

For clarification, I asked Townsend to relay to me the aims of the society: ‘to come up with fresh thinking, to get people involved in politics by talking […] and then there is a third one which I can’t remember – I should be able to – I’ll email it to you sometime.’ So, clarity is perhaps not their strongest trait but I actually

feel that this works in their favour – ‘the philosophy doesn’t always come out that clearly because it’s still evolving in my mind’, but it is this idea of fresh thinking that is the bedrock of the society. ‘What do we want society to be like when we’re finished here?’ is what they ask as ‘answering that question is not what conventional politics is designed to do.’ In a very loose sense, they are trying to ‘provide politics with a much broader look’ and they are adamant that ‘young people want to do politics, basically’.

But since its launch in January, Townsend & Co (as I think it should perhaps be renamed) has quietened down a little. The big names ‘serve as a shock tactic purpose – they get our name out and they bring people to us’ but also allow the NGS to ‘learn lessons from a previous generation’s experience’. Now, they can reach their goal – ‘sitting in pubs and having chats about…stuff’ (although it’s a ‘bit more sophisticated than that’).

From here, the NGS is developing a website which will link avid debaters from the two branches (York and Durham) and says that the next

stage is to get ‘the political parties to come in and say “hey, you’ve got some ideas going on here. We’re developing some policies for young people at the next election” and we can take not a pressure group role but an advisory role’, getting them thinking about the direction we want politics to take. On top of this, the usual number of high-profile speakers will continue to keep the NGS company and we will see the continuation of student-led debates, informal weekly meetings and the introduction of an online journal.

James contends allegations that this ‘is a way of me building up a political army of potential voters who I can then attach to a particular party if I ever go into politics’ and is in fact quite modest in his self-promotion: ‘although’ he says, ‘this sounds a bit pretentious really […]we’re tapping into something. We’re not creating it; we’re just letting it show.’ And so it becomes clear that it is not just James who is doing the pondering but in fact a really rather large group of avid thinkers that make the society what it is, of which he hopes more will be part. Thus next year, in wanting to ‘disappear and go off to do national stuff [like opening new branches]…well actually I’m going to go off and do my degree’, Townsend hopes to allow others to ‘get their hands dirty and make the society their own.’

For more info or to get involved, contact

[email protected]

Words by Duncan Piper



The New Generation

In the shoot that accompanies this feature, we hoped to present

James Townsend as someone who isn’t always suited and serious, but accessible and really rather normal. Yet, the whole feeding geese by the lake looks more like a leadership campaign photo than we had expected – it just had to go in.

I’m a little unsure as to why we are featuring Mr Townsend in this issue – he seems to be one of the most well known individuals on campus already and most have heard of the NGS. They have done an awful amount to get their name out there, seemingly relentless in the plastering of our walls with their paraphernalia and in the past couple of terms we’ve seen the likes of the Dean of York, Iain Duncan Smith and Baroness Thornton, to name a few.

For clarification, I asked Townsend to relay to me the aims of the society: ‘to come up with fresh thinking, to get people involved in politics by talking […] and then there is a third one which I can’t remember – I should be able to – I’ll email it to you sometime.’ So, clarity is perhaps not their strongest trait but I actually

feel that this works in their favour – ‘the philosophy doesn’t always come out that clearly because it’s still evolving in my mind’, but it is this idea of fresh thinking that is the bedrock of the society. ‘What do we want society to be like when we’re finished here?’ is what they ask as ‘answering that question is not what conventional politics is designed to do.’ In a very loose sense, they are trying to ‘provide politics with a much broader look’ and they are adamant that ‘young people want to do politics, basically’.

But since its launch in January, Townsend & Co (as I think it should perhaps be renamed) has quietened down a little. The big names ‘serve as a shock tactic purpose – they get our name out and they bring people to us’ but also allow the NGS to ‘learn lessons from a previous generation’s experience’. Now, they can reach their goal – ‘sitting in pubs and having chats about…stuff’ (although it’s a ‘bit more sophisticated than that’).

From here, the NGS is developing a website which will link avid debaters from the two branches (York and Durham) and says that the next

stage is to get ‘the political parties to come in and say “hey, you’ve got some ideas going on here. We’re developing some policies for young people at the next election” and we can take not a pressure group role but an advisory role’, getting them thinking about the direction we want politics to take. On top of this, the usual number of high-profile speakers will continue to keep the NGS company and we will see the continuation of student-led debates, informal weekly meetings and the introduction of an online journal.

James contends allegations that this ‘is a way of me building up a political army of potential voters who I can then attach to a particular party if I ever go into politics’ and is in fact quite modest in his self-promotion: ‘although’ he says, ‘this sounds a bit pretentious really […]we’re tapping into something. We’re not creating it; we’re just letting it show.’ And so it becomes clear that it is not just James who is doing the pondering but in fact a really rather large group of avid thinkers that make the society what it is, of which he hopes more will be part. Thus next year, in wanting to ‘disappear and go off to do national stuff [like opening new branches]…well actually I’m going to go off and do my degree’, Townsend hopes to allow others to ‘get their hands dirty and make the society their own.’

For more info or to get involved, contact

[email protected]


‘Parkour started with a guy called Raymond Belle. He grew up with the French army, and it was when he spent some time in Vietnam they realised that being able to move swiftly and carefully through urban environments was very important to their survival and effectiveness. So when he came home, he taught this to his son, who looked

at it more through a child’s eyes and adapted the techniques for fun.’

For more information, visit www.northernparkour.com

“I think the best trick isn’t really a trick... it’s when you do something and there’s a real sense of speed and consistency- when it feels like all one move.”

“Fluid is a good term, but it’s more than just that; when it’s good it’s like it’s a consistent piece of you, your whole, and it’s... getting somewhere, you know?”


Nicky Woolf speaks to Will, a third year from James College, about Parkour, training on campus and how to get from A to B as efficiently as possible.

“There are definitely times you look at stuff, and think ‘I want to be up there.’ And of course, you start thinking about how you would get up there, what would you do to be there and how would that work, and that does make you look at things in a new way. You’re working out how stable they are, what the grip would be like, stuff like that. All the kind of stuff that, when you start to interact with things physically, you need to know.”

“Parkour... It’s all about getting somewhere efficiently. Whereas the aesthet-ics and flair part has kind of started to come more under the term ‘freerun-ning’.”


‘Parkour started with a guy called Raymond Belle. He grew up with the French army, and it was when he spent some time in Vietnam they realised that being able to move swiftly and carefully through urban environments was very important to their survival and effectiveness. So when he came home, he taught this to his son, who looked

at it more through a child’s eyes and adapted the techniques for fun.’

For more information, visit www.northernparkour.com

“I think the best trick isn’t really a trick... it’s when you do something and there’s a real sense of speed and consistency- when it feels like all one move.”

“Fluid is a good term, but it’s more than just that; when it’s good it’s like it’s a consistent piece of you, your whole, and it’s... getting somewhere, you know?”


Nicky Woolf speaks to Will, a third year from James College, about Parkour, training on campus and how to get from A to B as efficiently as possible.

“There are definitely times you look at stuff, and think ‘I want to be up there.’ And of course, you start thinking about how you would get up there, what would you do to be there and how would that work, and that does make you look at things in a new way. You’re working out how stable they are, what the grip would be like, stuff like that. All the kind of stuff that, when you start to interact with things physically, you need to know.”

“Parkour... It’s all about getting somewhere efficiently. Whereas the aesthet-ics and flair part has kind of started to come more under the term ‘freerun-ning’.”


SevillaEspana14th May 2007

Hola from Spain!I have somehow found myself in Seville, the capital of the Andalusian region of Spain.

It is an incredible sensation when I wake each morning and find myself gazing out of

my window onto – not a grey, duck-guano encrusted ‘60s wasteland, but a bright array

of colourful houses and an unfalteringly blue sky. I am here to study a variety of litera-

tures - English, Spanish and North American – (as well as History, Philosophy and Fine

Art) for two terms. This is thanks to Erasmus - a 15th century Dutch monk and teacher

who lived, at various times, all around Europe; and clearly set the precedent for a phi-

losophy - that travel broadens the mind and inspires the soul. As a result, international

student mobility has become one of today’s key educational opportunities and is some-

thing with which I consider myself incredibly lucky to be involved.

When I arrived I was somewhat idealistic – I felt myself to be a lonely traveller, set-

ting out on some kind of Homeric quest. I had the task of finding somewhere to live, not

knowing anyone beforehand – all rather intimidating. My Spanish speaking skills left

a lot to be desired, Andalusian being one of the more difficult dialects for a novice, but

somehow I revelled in being so self-sufficient.Lectures here, unlike at York, occur every day from 8:00 in the morning until 9:00 at

night (!!!), but the professors here have quite relaxed attitudes compared with those back

home. This is lucky, because most Erasmus students have a fairly relaxed attitude to work

as well… Out here, the hasty is substituted for the relaxed. Manyana, literally meaning “tomor-

row”, and accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders, is an all-purpose response to an

unwanted academic task or duty. Lunch in Seville isn’t until at least 3PM, after which it

is obligatory to have a siesta. Then by the time you have woken up it is dinner time, and

then time to hit the town! This is when Seville really comes alive. I first experienced Fla-

menco on the first night I arrived, and was immediately captured by its passion. This,

along with its compelling rhythms, makes it one of the most mesmerising of dances I’ve

ever seen. I think we could all do with a dose of the Spanish spirit!

I live in the centre of the city with one other York student, as well as two Italians, and

a French girl. If the deprivation of York Minster, the campus ducks or Micklegate becomes

too much, then we Yorkies can reminisce together. One of my lasting memories from liv-

ing in such a culturally diverse house was the arrival of my Italian flatmate’s family.

In stereotypical Italian style, her family literally meant her whole family. They all took

over our tiny flat for a week – but I have never experienced such generosity, warmth and

openness of spirit. Neither have I ever seen so much amazing food!

Being in Spain has been about learning to live in a culture so amazingly different

from our own and I leave the words of a great poet, Byron, to describe its exotic charac-

ter:

“In Seville was he born, a pleasant cityFamous for oranges and women - heWho has not seen it will be much to pitySo says the proverb - and I quite agreeOf all the Spanish towns, none is more pretty…”From my short stay in this lovely place, I really cannot disagree. Thank you Erasmus!

Much love

Jess Selfe

Langwith Arts Festival

In the first term of this year, I ar-gued with a friend about our uni-

versity. I claimed that you not only come to get used to the eyesore ar-chitecture but you actually come to enjoy it. I was merely trying to convince myself that York doesn’t look all that bad. I think I may have been lying. And so, in a bid to en-liven our dreary surroundings and to create an outlet for York’s stifled artistic verve, Dr John Issitt, Prov-ost of Langwith College, came up with a plan. He heads the Lang-with Art’s Festival which he hopes will ‘compensate a bit’ for the lack of a ‘thriving arts culture’ at York.

So what is this all about? In his resonating voice and boisterous ea-gerness, Issit tells me that the vol-unteers ‘don’t really know what it is yet, none of us do. But in a sense, that’s the excitement of it.’ Hm-mmm…I guess that novelties are always difficult to predict, but what we do know is that the day is to in-volve a number of different societies to create a good few hours of lively entertainment, based around the theme of ‘movement’, and will be ‘as dynamic as it goes’. We will see things along the lines of dance, jazz, barbershop, break-dancing, panto, magic, juggling, opera, drama and an many other energetic delights, including a talk by Karin Greenhead (an expert on ‘movement in music’).

Issit values the extra-curricular as much as the degree and insists that students who ‘pay three thousand quid to come to university […] want a whole experience’ which will ‘de-velop your other skills’. He tells me that ‘there is a thirst for it and there is a great room for it’ and his concern is that ‘people’s ability to develop them-selves as people – in their interests, in their social potential […] and in their cultural engagement […] tends to be blocked or at least minimised because we are all rushing towards

the next degree […] or whatever it is.’ He wants students to enjoy the now.

In his last job, at the Open Uni-versity, Issitt saw the success of other cultural events: ‘we got min-ers from wherever mixing with housewives from Dulwich and, you know, producing stuff which was just hilarious – a lifetime memory was created in those things.’ In-creased interaction between differ-ent groups is something he wants to see recreated at York – due to the success at the OU, people ‘grew, developed, found new confidence, tested themselves in new ways’ with no ‘bloody feedback sheet or a goal or an objective assessed and stated and all that [insert profanity here]’.

Whilst tackling the way in which ‘human expression and cultural ex-pression is played down’ at univer-sity, the Langwith Arts Project also hopes to increase the ‘link between our college and the local commu-nity’ as members of sixth form col-

leges in the local area are encour-aged to attend and submit pieces of art for the accompanying exhibition in the Norman Rea Gallery (also on the theme of ‘Movement’). Al-though Issitt is hugely enthusiastic about the project, he is also modest in his expectations: ‘we’re not going to take over the world but it will be a contribution’. He is also refresh-ingly optimistic: ‘in a sense, why don’t we say to ourselves ‘it’s a suc-cess now?’ Yeah, it is a success now. Whatever we do is a success, you know, if two people come – so what – it’s a success.’ Although it is reas-suring to know that it cannot really fail, I’m sure those involved would welcome your support. In return, you get to see a most novel project take shape and may acquire yourself some free strawberries and cream.

The Langwith Arts Festival will be held at Langwith College on Saturday 26th May from 11am.




SevillaEspana14th May 2007

Hola from Spain!I have somehow found myself in Seville, the capital of the Andalusian region of Spain.

It is an incredible sensation when I wake each morning and find myself gazing out of

my window onto – not a grey, duck-guano encrusted ‘60s wasteland, but a bright array

of colourful houses and an unfalteringly blue sky. I am here to study a variety of litera-

tures - English, Spanish and North American – (as well as History, Philosophy and Fine

Art) for two terms. This is thanks to Erasmus - a 15th century Dutch monk and teacher

who lived, at various times, all around Europe; and clearly set the precedent for a phi-

losophy - that travel broadens the mind and inspires the soul. As a result, international

student mobility has become one of today’s key educational opportunities and is some-

thing with which I consider myself incredibly lucky to be involved.

When I arrived I was somewhat idealistic – I felt myself to be a lonely traveller, set-

ting out on some kind of Homeric quest. I had the task of finding somewhere to live, not

knowing anyone beforehand – all rather intimidating. My Spanish speaking skills left

a lot to be desired, Andalusian being one of the more difficult dialects for a novice, but

somehow I revelled in being so self-sufficient.Lectures here, unlike at York, occur every day from 8:00 in the morning until 9:00 at

night (!!!), but the professors here have quite relaxed attitudes compared with those back

home. This is lucky, because most Erasmus students have a fairly relaxed attitude to work

as well… Out here, the hasty is substituted for the relaxed. Manyana, literally meaning “tomor-

row”, and accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders, is an all-purpose response to an

unwanted academic task or duty. Lunch in Seville isn’t until at least 3PM, after which it

is obligatory to have a siesta. Then by the time you have woken up it is dinner time, and

then time to hit the town! This is when Seville really comes alive. I first experienced Fla-

menco on the first night I arrived, and was immediately captured by its passion. This,

along with its compelling rhythms, makes it one of the most mesmerising of dances I’ve

ever seen. I think we could all do with a dose of the Spanish spirit!

I live in the centre of the city with one other York student, as well as two Italians, and

a French girl. If the deprivation of York Minster, the campus ducks or Micklegate becomes

too much, then we Yorkies can reminisce together. One of my lasting memories from liv-

ing in such a culturally diverse house was the arrival of my Italian flatmate’s family.

In stereotypical Italian style, her family literally meant her whole family. They all took

over our tiny flat for a week – but I have never experienced such generosity, warmth and

openness of spirit. Neither have I ever seen so much amazing food!

Being in Spain has been about learning to live in a culture so amazingly different

from our own and I leave the words of a great poet, Byron, to describe its exotic charac-

ter:

“In Seville was he born, a pleasant cityFamous for oranges and women - heWho has not seen it will be much to pitySo says the proverb - and I quite agreeOf all the Spanish towns, none is more pretty…”From my short stay in this lovely place, I really cannot disagree. Thank you Erasmus!

Much love

Jess Selfe

Langwith Arts Festival

In the first term of this year, I ar-gued with a friend about our uni-

versity. I claimed that you not only come to get used to the eyesore ar-chitecture but you actually come to enjoy it. I was merely trying to convince myself that York doesn’t look all that bad. I think I may have been lying. And so, in a bid to en-liven our dreary surroundings and to create an outlet for York’s stifled artistic verve, Dr John Issitt, Prov-ost of Langwith College, came up with a plan. He heads the Lang-with Art’s Festival which he hopes will ‘compensate a bit’ for the lack of a ‘thriving arts culture’ at York.

So what is this all about? In his resonating voice and boisterous ea-gerness, Issit tells me that the vol-unteers ‘don’t really know what it is yet, none of us do. But in a sense, that’s the excitement of it.’ Hm-mmm…I guess that novelties are always difficult to predict, but what we do know is that the day is to in-volve a number of different societies to create a good few hours of lively entertainment, based around the theme of ‘movement’, and will be ‘as dynamic as it goes’. We will see things along the lines of dance, jazz, barbershop, break-dancing, panto, magic, juggling, opera, drama and an many other energetic delights, including a talk by Karin Greenhead (an expert on ‘movement in music’).

Issit values the extra-curricular as much as the degree and insists that students who ‘pay three thousand quid to come to university […] want a whole experience’ which will ‘de-velop your other skills’. He tells me that ‘there is a thirst for it and there is a great room for it’ and his concern is that ‘people’s ability to develop them-selves as people – in their interests, in their social potential […] and in their cultural engagement […] tends to be blocked or at least minimised because we are all rushing towards

the next degree […] or whatever it is.’ He wants students to enjoy the now.

In his last job, at the Open Uni-versity, Issitt saw the success of other cultural events: ‘we got min-ers from wherever mixing with housewives from Dulwich and, you know, producing stuff which was just hilarious – a lifetime memory was created in those things.’ In-creased interaction between differ-ent groups is something he wants to see recreated at York – due to the success at the OU, people ‘grew, developed, found new confidence, tested themselves in new ways’ with no ‘bloody feedback sheet or a goal or an objective assessed and stated and all that [insert profanity here]’.

Whilst tackling the way in which ‘human expression and cultural ex-pression is played down’ at univer-sity, the Langwith Arts Project also hopes to increase the ‘link between our college and the local commu-nity’ as members of sixth form col-

leges in the local area are encour-aged to attend and submit pieces of art for the accompanying exhibition in the Norman Rea Gallery (also on the theme of ‘Movement’). Al-though Issitt is hugely enthusiastic about the project, he is also modest in his expectations: ‘we’re not going to take over the world but it will be a contribution’. He is also refresh-ingly optimistic: ‘in a sense, why don’t we say to ourselves ‘it’s a suc-cess now?’ Yeah, it is a success now. Whatever we do is a success, you know, if two people come – so what – it’s a success.’ Although it is reas-suring to know that it cannot really fail, I’m sure those involved would welcome your support. In return, you get to see a most novel project take shape and may acquire yourself some free strawberries and cream.

The Langwith Arts Festival will be held at Langwith College on Saturday 26th May from 11am.





Graphical Book reviewGraphical Book review

Jean-Paul Sartre - Nausea

‘Many of today’s best-known manufac-turers no longer produce products and

advertise them, but rather buy products and ‘rebrand’ them, these companies are forever on the prowl for creating new ways to build and strengthen their brand images. Manufacturing products may require drills, furnaces, ham-mers and the like, but creating a brand calls for completely different set of tools and ma-terials. It requires an endless parade of brand extensions, continuously renewed imagery for marketing and, most of all, fresh new spac-es to disseminate the brand’s idea of itself.’

‘As a private person, I have a passion for landscape, and I have never seen

one improved by a billboard. Where every prospect pleases, man is at his vilest when he erects a billboard. When I retire from Madi-son Avenue, I am going to start a secret soci-ety of masked vigilantes who will travel around the world on silent motor bicycles, chop-ping down posters at the dark of the moon. How many juries will convict us when we are caught in these acts of beneficent citizenship?’

David Ogilvy, founder of the Ogilvy & Math-er advertising agency, in Confessions of an Ad-vertising Man, 1963 (quoted in Klein’s No Logo).


Costcutter unbranded

São Paulo unbranded

Naomi Klein - No Logo

“Now I understand; I remember more vividly what I have recently felt on the beach when I held these pebbles in my hand. This was a kind of sweetish feeling of sickness.”

GRAPHICAL BOOK REVIEW - A visual interpretation of great books by digital artists.GRAPHICAL BOOK REVIEW - A visual interpretation of great books by digital artists


Graphical Book reviewGraphical Book review

Jean-Paul Sartre - Nausea

‘Many of today’s best-known manufac-turers no longer produce products and

advertise them, but rather buy products and ‘rebrand’ them, these companies are forever on the prowl for creating new ways to build and strengthen their brand images. Manufacturing products may require drills, furnaces, ham-mers and the like, but creating a brand calls for completely different set of tools and ma-terials. It requires an endless parade of brand extensions, continuously renewed imagery for marketing and, most of all, fresh new spac-es to disseminate the brand’s idea of itself.’

‘As a private person, I have a passion for landscape, and I have never seen

one improved by a billboard. Where every prospect pleases, man is at his vilest when he erects a billboard. When I retire from Madi-son Avenue, I am going to start a secret soci-ety of masked vigilantes who will travel around the world on silent motor bicycles, chop-ping down posters at the dark of the moon. How many juries will convict us when we are caught in these acts of beneficent citizenship?’

David Ogilvy, founder of the Ogilvy & Math-er advertising agency, in Confessions of an Ad-vertising Man, 1963 (quoted in Klein’s No Logo).


Costcutter unbranded

São Paulo unbranded

Naomi Klein - No Logo

“Now I understand; I remember more vividly what I have recently felt on the beach when I held these pebbles in my hand. This was a kind of sweetish feeling of sickness.”

GRAPHICAL BOOK REVIEW - A visual interpretation of great books by digital artists.GRAPHICAL BOOK REVIEW - A visual interpretation of great books by digital artists



Confessions of a student playwriteConfessions of a student playwrite

Confessions of a Student Playwright

thinking “that could be a scene, that could be a scene”’ until the notebook was ‘full of little ideas’ that ‘the plot has thickened and developed from’. Since teaming up with producer Al-ice Boagey, Compton says the play has transformed dramatically and his dad even suggested one of the central themes of the play (which we won‘t spoil by revealing here).

Through his play with exaggerat-ed caricature, he is rebelling against naturalism – ‘I didn’t want people to see my characters and think “oh, I know someone like that.”’ Subletting ‘is not your typical student piece’ - it isn’t setting out to be edgy or con-troversial, brimming with excess ‘smoking, swearing and vulgar sex references’. Instead, Compton’s first priority as a playwright is to entertain.

Compton is quick to add that he has the utmost respect for plays that are out to make a definite point. Back in Cornwall he took part in Colour-blind – an absurdist piece portraying racism in the UK. ‘Af-terwards the audience was silent for 30 to 40 seconds […] it’s amazing that we made them think’. By step-ping away from this style of theatre, Compton is not dismissing it but is instead trying to fill a niche that has been overlooked. ‘There is a lack of theatre just to entertain, es-pecially in the Barn’ says Compton.

The flexibility of the student-writ-ten script won’t be too greatly im-paired even on opening night with Compton’s laid-back directing style. As a director, he wants his cast to ‘be comfortable’, like his audience. Be-ing an actor himself, he has known the anxiety of worrying ‘about that line and how close it’s getting’ in a scene – but ‘at the end of the day, it’s your character’. The actors enjoy nearly the same freedom with the script as Compton has enjoyed in writing it.

This informality even makes an appearance in Compton’s innova-tive plans for his scene changes. In-stead of the usual rushed transition, Compton sees this as yet another opportunity to ‘entertain’ his audi-ence. His scene changes will include

‘crazy lighting and disco music’ for the audience ‘to enjoy’. This con-tinuous visual entertainment paral-lels the stroke of comedic genius of last term’s production of West Side Story, when the crew physically dragged the actors playing Riff and Bernardo offstage after their death scene. It’s the same idea of embrac-ing the medium and mocking its arti-fice – an unexpected self-awareness and dedication to entertainment.

Compton expressed a definite consciousness and gratitude for the opportunity Drama Soc has given him to produce his play. To outsid-ers, Drama Soc can definitely seem intimidating but ‘too many people get put off and never go back’ says Compton. When he first arrived at York, Compton admits ‘I didn’t

get a single role […] it definitely knocked me back a bit’. But he re-mained a persistent presence in the Drama Barn through ‘teching’ and found ‘everyone really friendly’. ‘There are so many opportunities that people overlook’ in terms of getting involved in Drama Soc, but once you are involved and you make those connections, more doors will open for you. Still singing Drama Soc’s praises, Compton added that ‘people forget how hard they work to make opportunities’ for students.

Subletting will be showing next week (Week 5) at 7.30pm on Friday 25th, Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th May. Tickets are on sale Wednesday-Friday of that week between 12noon and 2pm at Vanbrugh Stalls.

If ever there was a man to debunk the myth of the neckerchiefed,

overly flamboyant, ‘I can’t work with these people!’ type director, then we have found him in Jethro Comp-ton: a first-time writer and director, whose debut original play, Sublet-ting, is showing this week in the Drama Barn. Despite being some-what casual in his role, Compton is a man who knows what he wants to see onstage, and this project has been the perfect opportunity to real-ise a two year old vision. I met up with Compton to discuss his views on bonding exercises, his devotion to the Drama Barn, and in particu-lar the story behind his creation of Subletting, which promises to be a very exciting production indeed.

Compton is a man of many com-mitments and consequently very little time – ‘I’m practically mar-ried to the Drama Barn!’ He has an

arm-long list of achievements (mak-ing himself known onstage as well as off) but he carries with him none of the airs and graces of the overly accomplished. He has a refreshing outlook on the York drama scene, advocating it as a great way to meet people and not the intimidating, elit-ist society that many consider it.

Subletting is a one-act black com-edy set in a small apartment and ex-plores the eccentricity of an unlikely couple’s search for a new lodger. With characters that would feel right at home in the ‘League of Gentle-men’, Subletting has been described by the Royal Court Theatre of Lon-don as ‘sharp, idiosyncratic, funny, dark and satirical.’ Having tested the water at the Royal Court and received a good response, Comp-ton continued to work on Subletting which has been effectively a work in progress for the past two years.

Compton doesn’t hesitate in stat-ing that despite starting Subletting as a solo project, outside influences have partly defined the shape that the piece takes on today. He named his main inspirations as Stevie Berkoff and Nick Dark but added that Sub-letting has not been inspired by one work or playwright in particu-lar, but rather an amalgamation of outstanding moments of theatre he has seen over a number of years.

The play itself has transformed almost as much as Compton’s dra-matic style. The writing process for Subletting began in a curious way. ‘It’s a weird story,’ says Compton ‘I was staying over at a friend’s house and the next morning he told me I had said ‘sub-letting’ in my sleep.’ Compton ran with this midnight mumbling, carrying around a note-book and writing down any ideas that occurred to him. ‘I was constantly

Words by Nicola Fairhead



Confessions of a student playwriteConfessions of a student playwrite

Confessions of a Student Playwright

thinking “that could be a scene, that could be a scene”’ until the notebook was ‘full of little ideas’ that ‘the plot has thickened and developed from’. Since teaming up with producer Al-ice Boagey, Compton says the play has transformed dramatically and his dad even suggested one of the central themes of the play (which we won‘t spoil by revealing here).

Through his play with exaggerat-ed caricature, he is rebelling against naturalism – ‘I didn’t want people to see my characters and think “oh, I know someone like that.”’ Subletting ‘is not your typical student piece’ - it isn’t setting out to be edgy or con-troversial, brimming with excess ‘smoking, swearing and vulgar sex references’. Instead, Compton’s first priority as a playwright is to entertain.

Compton is quick to add that he has the utmost respect for plays that are out to make a definite point. Back in Cornwall he took part in Colour-blind – an absurdist piece portraying racism in the UK. ‘Af-terwards the audience was silent for 30 to 40 seconds […] it’s amazing that we made them think’. By step-ping away from this style of theatre, Compton is not dismissing it but is instead trying to fill a niche that has been overlooked. ‘There is a lack of theatre just to entertain, es-pecially in the Barn’ says Compton.

The flexibility of the student-writ-ten script won’t be too greatly im-paired even on opening night with Compton’s laid-back directing style. As a director, he wants his cast to ‘be comfortable’, like his audience. Be-ing an actor himself, he has known the anxiety of worrying ‘about that line and how close it’s getting’ in a scene – but ‘at the end of the day, it’s your character’. The actors enjoy nearly the same freedom with the script as Compton has enjoyed in writing it.

This informality even makes an appearance in Compton’s innova-tive plans for his scene changes. In-stead of the usual rushed transition, Compton sees this as yet another opportunity to ‘entertain’ his audi-ence. His scene changes will include

‘crazy lighting and disco music’ for the audience ‘to enjoy’. This con-tinuous visual entertainment paral-lels the stroke of comedic genius of last term’s production of West Side Story, when the crew physically dragged the actors playing Riff and Bernardo offstage after their death scene. It’s the same idea of embrac-ing the medium and mocking its arti-fice – an unexpected self-awareness and dedication to entertainment.

Compton expressed a definite consciousness and gratitude for the opportunity Drama Soc has given him to produce his play. To outsid-ers, Drama Soc can definitely seem intimidating but ‘too many people get put off and never go back’ says Compton. When he first arrived at York, Compton admits ‘I didn’t

get a single role […] it definitely knocked me back a bit’. But he re-mained a persistent presence in the Drama Barn through ‘teching’ and found ‘everyone really friendly’. ‘There are so many opportunities that people overlook’ in terms of getting involved in Drama Soc, but once you are involved and you make those connections, more doors will open for you. Still singing Drama Soc’s praises, Compton added that ‘people forget how hard they work to make opportunities’ for students.

Subletting will be showing next week (Week 5) at 7.30pm on Friday 25th, Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th May. Tickets are on sale Wednesday-Friday of that week between 12noon and 2pm at Vanbrugh Stalls.

If ever there was a man to debunk the myth of the neckerchiefed,

overly flamboyant, ‘I can’t work with these people!’ type director, then we have found him in Jethro Comp-ton: a first-time writer and director, whose debut original play, Sublet-ting, is showing this week in the Drama Barn. Despite being some-what casual in his role, Compton is a man who knows what he wants to see onstage, and this project has been the perfect opportunity to real-ise a two year old vision. I met up with Compton to discuss his views on bonding exercises, his devotion to the Drama Barn, and in particu-lar the story behind his creation of Subletting, which promises to be a very exciting production indeed.

Compton is a man of many com-mitments and consequently very little time – ‘I’m practically mar-ried to the Drama Barn!’ He has an

arm-long list of achievements (mak-ing himself known onstage as well as off) but he carries with him none of the airs and graces of the overly accomplished. He has a refreshing outlook on the York drama scene, advocating it as a great way to meet people and not the intimidating, elit-ist society that many consider it.

Subletting is a one-act black com-edy set in a small apartment and ex-plores the eccentricity of an unlikely couple’s search for a new lodger. With characters that would feel right at home in the ‘League of Gentle-men’, Subletting has been described by the Royal Court Theatre of Lon-don as ‘sharp, idiosyncratic, funny, dark and satirical.’ Having tested the water at the Royal Court and received a good response, Comp-ton continued to work on Subletting which has been effectively a work in progress for the past two years.

Compton doesn’t hesitate in stat-ing that despite starting Subletting as a solo project, outside influences have partly defined the shape that the piece takes on today. He named his main inspirations as Stevie Berkoff and Nick Dark but added that Sub-letting has not been inspired by one work or playwright in particu-lar, but rather an amalgamation of outstanding moments of theatre he has seen over a number of years.

The play itself has transformed almost as much as Compton’s dra-matic style. The writing process for Subletting began in a curious way. ‘It’s a weird story,’ says Compton ‘I was staying over at a friend’s house and the next morning he told me I had said ‘sub-letting’ in my sleep.’ Compton ran with this midnight mumbling, carrying around a note-book and writing down any ideas that occurred to him. ‘I was constantly

Words by Nicola Fairhead

“Sections” - Break-ups, broken up.By Mathew Hanley



“Sections” - Break-ups, broken up.By Mathew Hanley



into a film. ‘No’, was his response. In a book that is born out of ‘a series of episodes and incidents’, it was ‘difficult to find the narrative – I think we were worried about that at one point.’ As a result though, they ‘cobbled together what we could’, and quite a successful cobbling it was too.

However, when you pace towards the Drama Barn on the weekend of Week 7 (and/or towards the Edinburgh Fringe between 1st and 23rd August), Maeder advises you to ‘forget as much about the film as you can’. I agree, that’s a lot to ask, but even Boyle is aware that the stage play ‘is very different – very dark, not as funny as the film – very savage’ and instead of, as Forsyth (playing Renton) suggests, ‘thinking this is going to be a rehash of the film’, ‘some will come really enthusiastic’ and it is the latter who will have a more entertaining evening. Alex Wright tells me that he wants to ‘take it slightly further away from just the drugs […] and make it a lot more personal and a lot more packing a punch to the rest of the audience.’ You will be given the opportunity ‘to see […] a version of what you know as the film in a completely different way’, Maeder explained, but, as Forsyth goes on, there is a great focus on character: ‘in the play [Renton] is absolutely vile […] this uneducated druggy – there’s nothing glamorous about him whereas you could almost idealise the character Ewan McGregor plays […] it’s a cool crap life. It’s running to Iggy Pop and sinking into carpets where my guy is shitting himself.’ They are ‘completely stuck in the cyclical and shit-tip life they’ve got.’

I wondered if our York legends were attracted to similar things as Boyle: Clancy told me, ‘it has got that complete punch, and I don’t think we’re shying away from that at all’, whilst Wright was quite clear that it’s the most ‘stripped down, bear, no shit piece of theatre ever and it doesn’t try to do anything pretentious at all – awesome, awesome characters’ (with a ‘very, very strong cast.’) He’s hugely excited by the ‘electricity between the characters, the brutality, the violence and the hilarity […] some bits are really beautiful’. Incorporating music and film as well, York is really going to really ‘pimp it up.’

Beginning in the theatre, Danny Boyle has a great appreciation of the stage: ‘why I’m any good as a director comes directly from the theatre […] the one thing that theatre gives you more than any other thing is it teaches you how to use actors. You work so intensely, just like you do on a film, but then when you come to perform in front of the public, the actors push you away. They always say “with respect…when I’m playing it in front of a live audience…”’ In an amusing echoing, Forsyth said, ‘not to sound like a cawny analogy, but the directors are the parents nesting the sort of egg […] when the play gets onto the set is like when you leave your parents for university – you have everything you’ve been taught but at the same time, it’s a live animal.’

We are promised a raw and grating production. As Wright says, ‘we’re going to do as much as we can to make it shit hot.’ Be there.

.Danny Boyle - Photograph by Duncan Piper

When someone says ‘Trainspotting’, you think ‘one of the ‘90s greatest cult films.’ Most do, and the reason most do is because we easily remember crazy stuff: people

going down toilets, faeces being strewn across dining rooms and creepy babies crawling along ceilings. You are probably less likely to think of the novel by Irvine Welsh or the play by John Hodge, but Alex Wright and Simon Maeder (Co-Directors) alongside Lauren Clancy (Producer) of the DramaSoc production at York hope to change that. I spoke to Danny Boyle and the York directing/producing team to get an overview of the whole thing.

The director that bought you Trainspotting, 28 Days Later and now Sunshine is, as expected, no easy man to tie down. He has none of pomp and circumstance you’d expect to see in such a well-known and successful individual and although looking somewhat dapper in his suit and polished shoes, his loosened tie and bold Lancashire accent immediately contend with any presumption you may have had. Whilst touring the globe to promote his latest film, I had to ask Boyle to cast his mind back to one of his earliest successes.

But from Welsh’s novel (what Boyle terms ‘a modern, present day Ulysses’), he explored something very different to what DramaSoc are attempting to do…

I initially asked him about the apparent shift from the ‘gritty nature’ of his early films to his seemingly less realistic later ventures but he quickly explained that the acting in Trainspotting is ‘not stylised’ but ‘extremely high acting […] it’s actually quite presentational.’ In a film that ‘gets more of its energy from an ecstasy club culture, in a way’, parts are actually quite ‘surreal’ (remember the whole going down the toilet thing). ‘The reason we wanted to make it was that there is something about a group of friends who are chained to each other […] you have mates who you hate but he’s a mate, what can you do?’ This simple, holistic concept is one which seems to have given the film the success it deserves – although full of junkies, they are dregs we can all relate to. But then, the question arose as to whether any novel can be made



Trainspotting


into a film. ‘No’, was his response. In a book that is born out of ‘a series of episodes and incidents’, it was ‘difficult to find the narrative – I think we were worried about that at one point.’ As a result though, they ‘cobbled together what we could’, and quite a successful cobbling it was too.

However, when you pace towards the Drama Barn on the weekend of Week 7 (and/or towards the Edinburgh Fringe between 1st and 23rd August), Maeder advises you to ‘forget as much about the film as you can’. I agree, that’s a lot to ask, but even Boyle is aware that the stage play ‘is very different – very dark, not as funny as the film – very savage’ and instead of, as Forsyth (playing Renton) suggests, ‘thinking this is going to be a rehash of the film’, ‘some will come really enthusiastic’ and it is the latter who will have a more entertaining evening. Alex Wright tells me that he wants to ‘take it slightly further away from just the drugs […] and make it a lot more personal and a lot more packing a punch to the rest of the audience.’ You will be given the opportunity ‘to see […] a version of what you know as the film in a completely different way’, Maeder explained, but, as Forsyth goes on, there is a great focus on character: ‘in the play [Renton] is absolutely vile […] this uneducated druggy – there’s nothing glamorous about him whereas you could almost idealise the character Ewan McGregor plays […] it’s a cool crap life. It’s running to Iggy Pop and sinking into carpets where my guy is shitting himself.’ They are ‘completely stuck in the cyclical and shit-tip life they’ve got.’

I wondered if our York legends were attracted to similar things as Boyle: Clancy told me, ‘it has got that complete punch, and I don’t think we’re shying away from that at all’, whilst Wright was quite clear that it’s the most ‘stripped down, bear, no shit piece of theatre ever and it doesn’t try to do anything pretentious at all – awesome, awesome characters’ (with a ‘very, very strong cast.’) He’s hugely excited by the ‘electricity between the characters, the brutality, the violence and the hilarity […] some bits are really beautiful’. Incorporating music and film as well, York is really going to really ‘pimp it up.’

Beginning in the theatre, Danny Boyle has a great appreciation of the stage: ‘why I’m any good as a director comes directly from the theatre […] the one thing that theatre gives you more than any other thing is it teaches you how to use actors. You work so intensely, just like you do on a film, but then when you come to perform in front of the public, the actors push you away. They always say “with respect…when I’m playing it in front of a live audience…”’ In an amusing echoing, Forsyth said, ‘not to sound like a cawny analogy, but the directors are the parents nesting the sort of egg […] when the play gets onto the set is like when you leave your parents for university – you have everything you’ve been taught but at the same time, it’s a live animal.’

We are promised a raw and grating production. As Wright says, ‘we’re going to do as much as we can to make it shit hot.’ Be there.

.Danny Boyle - Photograph by Duncan Piper

When someone says ‘Trainspotting’, you think ‘one of the ‘90s greatest cult films.’ Most do, and the reason most do is because we easily remember crazy stuff: people

going down toilets, faeces being strewn across dining rooms and creepy babies crawling along ceilings. You are probably less likely to think of the novel by Irvine Welsh or the play by John Hodge, but Alex Wright and Simon Maeder (Co-Directors) alongside Lauren Clancy (Producer) of the DramaSoc production at York hope to change that. I spoke to Danny Boyle and the York directing/producing team to get an overview of the whole thing.

The director that bought you Trainspotting, 28 Days Later and now Sunshine is, as expected, no easy man to tie down. He has none of pomp and circumstance you’d expect to see in such a well-known and successful individual and although looking somewhat dapper in his suit and polished shoes, his loosened tie and bold Lancashire accent immediately contend with any presumption you may have had. Whilst touring the globe to promote his latest film, I had to ask Boyle to cast his mind back to one of his earliest successes.

But from Welsh’s novel (what Boyle terms ‘a modern, present day Ulysses’), he explored something very different to what DramaSoc are attempting to do…

I initially asked him about the apparent shift from the ‘gritty nature’ of his early films to his seemingly less realistic later ventures but he quickly explained that the acting in Trainspotting is ‘not stylised’ but ‘extremely high acting […] it’s actually quite presentational.’ In a film that ‘gets more of its energy from an ecstasy club culture, in a way’, parts are actually quite ‘surreal’ (remember the whole going down the toilet thing). ‘The reason we wanted to make it was that there is something about a group of friends who are chained to each other […] you have mates who you hate but he’s a mate, what can you do?’ This simple, holistic concept is one which seems to have given the film the success it deserves – although full of junkies, they are dregs we can all relate to. But then, the question arose as to whether any novel can be made



Trainspotting




Words by Helen Citron

To an ignorant observer the situa-tion is a perplexing one: its 7.30

on a Friday evening and students are queuing up to buy tickets for a night in the physics exhibition centre’s lecture theatre. The explanation lies with one of York University’s oldest and most well established student societies: the York Student Cinema.

‘The YSC emerged from the UFS (University Film Society) which went bankrupt in the early 1990s’ explains Jenny Stevens, the soci-ety’s Secretary. The newly formed society aimed to make unusual films available to a wider audience, as op-posed to just the expert enthusiast. ‘We think it’s important that stu-dents have the chance to see clas-sic and art-house films on the big screen’, I’m told. Indeed, the at-traction of the YSC’s program is its diversity. This academic year for-eign language films, animations, docufilms and revivals of classics have all made an appearance on the

schedule. ‘We hope that the student audience wants to be challenged and that’s why we do include some fairly experimental choices’ says Stevens.

However, whilst blockbusters may not be the YSC’s priority, the society recognises that they do make a profit on ticket sales for these screenings, whilst making a loss on the less well known films. For a soci-ety that is entirely self financed and, apart from a recent grant from the Alumni fund to replace equipment, relies heavily on ticket sales, con-cessions like this have to be made.

The film on offer Friday Week 7 of Term 2 was Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny and I was invited behind the scenes for an insight into the work-ings of the projection room. John Neeson, Treasurer, told me that ‘the gear we have here is of a very high standard and could compete with any commercial cinema’. Certainly, com-pared with the simplicity of DVDs,

the scale of the equipment is daunt-ing. An enthusiast informed me that ‘a two hour film is 3 km long’, mak-ing last minute checks to some huge reels of film. As 7.30 approached, the atmosphere in the projection room became anxious. I waited with baited breath to see the outcome of all this technical preparation.

This term’s ‘must sees’:

The Good Shepherd (Thursday 17th May)Paradise Now

(Monday 21st May)The Illusionist (Thursday 24th May)The Science of Sleep (Monday 4th June)The Lives of Others (Monday 18th June)

A Night at the Movies



Words by Helen Citron

To an ignorant observer the situa-tion is a perplexing one: its 7.30

on a Friday evening and students are queuing up to buy tickets for a night in the physics exhibition centre’s lecture theatre. The explanation lies with one of York University’s oldest and most well established student societies: the York Student Cinema.

‘The YSC emerged from the UFS (University Film Society) which went bankrupt in the early 1990s’ explains Jenny Stevens, the soci-ety’s Secretary. The newly formed society aimed to make unusual films available to a wider audience, as op-posed to just the expert enthusiast. ‘We think it’s important that stu-dents have the chance to see clas-sic and art-house films on the big screen’, I’m told. Indeed, the at-traction of the YSC’s program is its diversity. This academic year for-eign language films, animations, docufilms and revivals of classics have all made an appearance on the

schedule. ‘We hope that the student audience wants to be challenged and that’s why we do include some fairly experimental choices’ says Stevens.

However, whilst blockbusters may not be the YSC’s priority, the society recognises that they do make a profit on ticket sales for these screenings, whilst making a loss on the less well known films. For a soci-ety that is entirely self financed and, apart from a recent grant from the Alumni fund to replace equipment, relies heavily on ticket sales, con-cessions like this have to be made.

The film on offer Friday Week 7 of Term 2 was Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny and I was invited behind the scenes for an insight into the work-ings of the projection room. John Neeson, Treasurer, told me that ‘the gear we have here is of a very high standard and could compete with any commercial cinema’. Certainly, com-pared with the simplicity of DVDs,

the scale of the equipment is daunt-ing. An enthusiast informed me that ‘a two hour film is 3 km long’, mak-ing last minute checks to some huge reels of film. As 7.30 approached, the atmosphere in the projection room became anxious. I waited with baited breath to see the outcome of all this technical preparation.

This term’s ‘must sees’:

The Good Shepherd (Thursday 17th May)Paradise Now

(Monday 21st May)The Illusionist (Thursday 24th May)The Science of Sleep (Monday 4th June)The Lives of Others (Monday 18th June)

A Night at the Movies



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Slow Club



‘Slow Club’ consist of the most lovely people you’ll ever meet. The band is quite unique in that it only

consists of two people: Rebecca (vocals and percussion) and Charles (vocals and guitar) and they don’t conform to the genres most popular at the moment. They are as in-teresting to watch as they are to hear; with a large array of home-made (seemingly ready to fall apart) instruments making the most amazing and interesting sound. They are not big – most people hear of them by stumbling across one of there small gigs in tiny places or from their sup-port of bands like the ‘Tiny Dancers’ but once you hear of them you won’t be able to get the fantastical lyrics off your mind: “I’ve got a needle and thread/ To stitch up your head/ But no one owns the sea/ ‘Cept you and me”.

Describe Slow Club?R: Um... a new age anti folk for people who love ballad songsC: Come and see us, that’s the best way to describe us.

How did you meet?R: Charles went out with a girl who was my best friend at schoolC: We were both in separate bands. Becky was in the Bedlin Project...R: Do not look that up!C: I was in ‘The Conversation’ and we both played a gig together way back, like a couple of years ago. I was doing a bit of recording and I asked Becky to sing. It just worked and we both fitted together.R: And here we are now!

Whats been your biggest achievement so far?C: I’ve got my 25 metres (in swimming!)R: We’ve played with a proper league of people... Tiny Dancers are wow... And King Creosote who are amaz-ing! I think the best thing was when we played with King Creosote; he played the accordion in one of our songs and we got up and sang in one of his... it was really cool and an honour!C: We didn’t even know him really, we’d just played with him a couple of nights. On the first night i played the ma-racas and Rebecca played the chair, and on the second he taught me the guitar (for his song) before sound check.R: I sang and harmonised.

Where do you get the ideas for your lyrics?R: Charles does the quirky stuff and I tone it down to something you could sing to your girlfriend.C: Its not really from a specific place, it’s just a combina-tion of loads of different places...just being around people who are just interesting...writing about their characteris-tics and the way that they move and stuff. I can’t say for

one song as each song is a different time. I suppose also lyrics are from over-hearing conversations, earwigging on a bus or something and translating it into a song.

How do you choose what instruments you’ll use?R: The chair and stuff? We were practising in Charles’ garage which had loads of crap in it; that’s where we got the chair originally. The bottles were sort of from my family - they drank a lot of Schloer! I don’t consciously think “gotta be weird, gotta be weird”, it just makes a lot of interesting sounds which sound good. Visually its also different – I’m always looking for something different and interesting to. We’re calling out to anyone who’s got junk.C: Junk shops! They’re really, really good.

What bands do you like at the moment?C: King Creosote, The Shins and Tiny Dancers.R: Jeremy Warmsley. I love Regina Spektor and I like Kid Harpoon. I love Martha Wainwright and obligatory old stuff as well.

Why should people like/dislike you?R: You could dislike us because we’re not a full band or whatever; we don’t make a great deal of sense. But peo-ple love us for both those things!C: Its a love hate relationship... some people may love one song and hate another.R: We’re not rock stars either...C:There’s no drugs on the rider... just grapes and para-cetamol!

Check these guys out at www.myspace.com/slowclub

Slow Club

Looking Ahead: The Summer Music Scene

Interview by Roxana Darling

I am not sure where Norse mythology comes into to the

picture. To me, Hammer of Thor is something straight out of the Off World Colonies. Where Riton’s album was relatively boring, his remixes of Mystery Jets and Annie are absolutely brilliant and his Square Eyes collaboration with Erol Alkan is just -- weird. This is (hopefully) what the new year will bring in the way of dance music. Replicants beware! Hammer of Thor and Kris Menace have been saviours so far where many of the old forces have failed to inspire. Justice’s new single Dance is pretty poppy, but nothing like some of the dance monster hits we’ve been spoilt with the last couple of years, especially of course Justice vs. Simian’s We are your friends, Mylo’s Drop the pressure, or Alter Ego’s Rocker. Sebastian’s ’fucked-up-beats’ are uninspired, Annie’s heir apparent Frost may yet turn out something good, but so far the Free Your Heart, Sleepwalker and One Hundred Years EP’s have been far too bland to stand out. Together with Alan Braxe and some of the

Norwegians -- Lindstrøm, Todd Terje, Trentemøller etc -- who seem to just spring out of every club crevice in the world after Erlend and Røyksopp paved the way we instead look to Kris Menace! We’re talking serious space-techno with beats a la Stuart Pearce incarnation Thin White Duke, only in luxury wrapping. A smooth ride all the way.

However, as always there is one band I am looking forward to most this year. Ever since 2001 with that masterpiece of masterpieces Since I left You, The Avalanches’ upcoming album (apparently completely remade from scratch as they weren’t satisified with an early version) is what I await with baited breath. But in the meantime, sign up www.theavalanches.com and download some of their goodies.

Also, keep an eye out for Zeigeist. Either 12”, Mp3’s or – dare we hope – a first album? They seem a natural heir to fellow Gothenburgers The Knife. Their song Tar Heart is a clear indicator of that. Lately, however, songs like Chasing Your

Shadow have shown us that Zeigeist aren’t content just with imitating The Knife (although there is a lot of that going on) and nodding to the 80’s – Zeigeist are in fact an 80’s band. And a good one too. www.myspace.com/thezeigeist

Words by Daniel Sjöström

Slow Club



‘Slow Club’ consist of the most lovely people you’ll ever meet. The band is quite unique in that it only

consists of two people: Rebecca (vocals and percussion) and Charles (vocals and guitar) and they don’t conform to the genres most popular at the moment. They are as in-teresting to watch as they are to hear; with a large array of home-made (seemingly ready to fall apart) instruments making the most amazing and interesting sound. They are not big – most people hear of them by stumbling across one of there small gigs in tiny places or from their sup-port of bands like the ‘Tiny Dancers’ but once you hear of them you won’t be able to get the fantastical lyrics off your mind: “I’ve got a needle and thread/ To stitch up your head/ But no one owns the sea/ ‘Cept you and me”.

Describe Slow Club?R: Um... a new age anti folk for people who love ballad songsC: Come and see us, that’s the best way to describe us.

How did you meet?R: Charles went out with a girl who was my best friend at schoolC: We were both in separate bands. Becky was in the Bedlin Project...R: Do not look that up!C: I was in ‘The Conversation’ and we both played a gig together way back, like a couple of years ago. I was doing a bit of recording and I asked Becky to sing. It just worked and we both fitted together.R: And here we are now!

Whats been your biggest achievement so far?C: I’ve got my 25 metres (in swimming!)R: We’ve played with a proper league of people... Tiny Dancers are wow... And King Creosote who are amaz-ing! I think the best thing was when we played with King Creosote; he played the accordion in one of our songs and we got up and sang in one of his... it was really cool and an honour!C: We didn’t even know him really, we’d just played with him a couple of nights. On the first night i played the ma-racas and Rebecca played the chair, and on the second he taught me the guitar (for his song) before sound check.R: I sang and harmonised.

Where do you get the ideas for your lyrics?R: Charles does the quirky stuff and I tone it down to something you could sing to your girlfriend.C: Its not really from a specific place, it’s just a combina-tion of loads of different places...just being around people who are just interesting...writing about their characteris-tics and the way that they move and stuff. I can’t say for

one song as each song is a different time. I suppose also lyrics are from over-hearing conversations, earwigging on a bus or something and translating it into a song.

How do you choose what instruments you’ll use?R: The chair and stuff? We were practising in Charles’ garage which had loads of crap in it; that’s where we got the chair originally. The bottles were sort of from my family - they drank a lot of Schloer! I don’t consciously think “gotta be weird, gotta be weird”, it just makes a lot of interesting sounds which sound good. Visually its also different – I’m always looking for something different and interesting to. We’re calling out to anyone who’s got junk.C: Junk shops! They’re really, really good.

What bands do you like at the moment?C: King Creosote, The Shins and Tiny Dancers.R: Jeremy Warmsley. I love Regina Spektor and I like Kid Harpoon. I love Martha Wainwright and obligatory old stuff as well.

Why should people like/dislike you?R: You could dislike us because we’re not a full band or whatever; we don’t make a great deal of sense. But peo-ple love us for both those things!C: Its a love hate relationship... some people may love one song and hate another.R: We’re not rock stars either...C:There’s no drugs on the rider... just grapes and para-cetamol!

Check these guys out at www.myspace.com/slowclub

Slow Club

Looking Ahead: The Summer Music Scene

Interview by Roxana Darling

I am not sure where Norse mythology comes into to the

picture. To me, Hammer of Thor is something straight out of the Off World Colonies. Where Riton’s album was relatively boring, his remixes of Mystery Jets and Annie are absolutely brilliant and his Square Eyes collaboration with Erol Alkan is just -- weird. This is (hopefully) what the new year will bring in the way of dance music. Replicants beware! Hammer of Thor and Kris Menace have been saviours so far where many of the old forces have failed to inspire. Justice’s new single Dance is pretty poppy, but nothing like some of the dance monster hits we’ve been spoilt with the last couple of years, especially of course Justice vs. Simian’s We are your friends, Mylo’s Drop the pressure, or Alter Ego’s Rocker. Sebastian’s ’fucked-up-beats’ are uninspired, Annie’s heir apparent Frost may yet turn out something good, but so far the Free Your Heart, Sleepwalker and One Hundred Years EP’s have been far too bland to stand out. Together with Alan Braxe and some of the

Norwegians -- Lindstrøm, Todd Terje, Trentemøller etc -- who seem to just spring out of every club crevice in the world after Erlend and Røyksopp paved the way we instead look to Kris Menace! We’re talking serious space-techno with beats a la Stuart Pearce incarnation Thin White Duke, only in luxury wrapping. A smooth ride all the way.

However, as always there is one band I am looking forward to most this year. Ever since 2001 with that masterpiece of masterpieces Since I left You, The Avalanches’ upcoming album (apparently completely remade from scratch as they weren’t satisified with an early version) is what I await with baited breath. But in the meantime, sign up www.theavalanches.com and download some of their goodies.

Also, keep an eye out for Zeigeist. Either 12”, Mp3’s or – dare we hope – a first album? They seem a natural heir to fellow Gothenburgers The Knife. Their song Tar Heart is a clear indicator of that. Lately, however, songs like Chasing Your

Shadow have shown us that Zeigeist aren’t content just with imitating The Knife (although there is a lot of that going on) and nodding to the 80’s – Zeigeist are in fact an 80’s band. And a good one too. www.myspace.com/thezeigeist

Words by Daniel Sjöström

Indie FeatureIndie Feature

So what exactly is Indie music? Indie music, and how it is per-

ceived, has changed dramatically from era to era. Originally when the genre was introduced into the mu-sic world, a band would have to be signed to an independent label to be classed as an Indie band, whatever their genre of music; making music for yourself and friends rather than profit and popularity. Bands like Oasis, who were signed to Creation Records (a label Alan Mc Gee start-ed in the 1980s on a small scale) in the early 90s, helped the independ-ent label become more rooted in the record industry, and thus we end up with a completely different defini-tion of what Indie is. Some people claim that Indie is now nothing more than a branding tool: a highly money driven movement, more concerned with marketing a particular image instead of promoting a truly inde-pendent nature and passion for its art. This is more prevalent in ‘mod-ern’ Indie bands, like The Killers (“Indie Rock and Roll?” I don’t think so...) who seem to conform to a cer-tain sound (i.e. Poptastic Indie - you hear it on the radio every hour with choruses that are easy to sing whilst drunk) rather than being independ-ent. However, this isn’t to say con-forming is a bad thing as sometimes it’s good to bop around and sing drunkenly in Toffs to Kaiser Chiefs.

Underneath all the commercial-ism and money making of modern Indie, there are still real gems of bands who do make music that you haven’t heard before and who don’t bore you to death after the second time you hear one of their songs. Some bands, such as Sonic Youth, who are signed to major record com-panies, have managed to keep their identity and original genuine love for the wwmusic. Other less known bands, such as Bromheads Jacket, are signing to smaller labels (in their case, Marquis Cha Cha) only to re-

lease a single or an album so they are not bound by the constraints and requirements of a big record label.

So, where do you draw the line between Indie music and other gen-res such as Dance and Hip Hop? Sub-genres are forever being cre-ated by record companies and mu-sic magazines such as the NME, and these always seem to fit in with the fashion of the time. A more re-cent one is ‘Nu-Rave’ which covers bands such as Klaxons, CSS, and New Young Pony Club and has bought about a love of all things 80s – luminous items of clothing, bold icons, glow sticks and, for those so inclined, rave drugs that will keep you dancing all night. It is impossi-ble to cover all the sub-genres of In-

die music in this one article, but one thing is for sure – some will never go out of fashion like some more re-cent sub-genres. Britpop, for exam-ple, will never be forgotten as bands like Blur and Supergrass have im-printed themselves into the minds of 90s kids. Whatever the case and whatever fashion dictates, new Indie bands will always crop up out off the woodwork and will always keep people interested in the genre.



Where to go in York for IndieWords by Roxana Darling

What is Indie?Words by Roxana Darling

York is not really known for its music venues and Indie club nights. Think of a place to go out in the

evening and most students will think of Toffs or Gallery’s Indie rooms (which doesn’t really satisfy the Indie soul of most, as they mostly have the same playlists every week). However, look a bit closer and you’ll see that you don’t have to travel far to have an enjoyable night.

FIBBERS – The list of quality artists at Fibbers con-tinues to grow: last year’s performances, from the likes of Jamie T, Maximo Park, Imogen Heap, Graham Coxon, CSS and Little Man Tate, are really are some-thing to shout about. Throw in the ‘Up The Racket’ club night every Friday and you have the venue for live Indie music in York. Remember, every successful band has to pass through this kind of venue at least once; and most return to them often during their careers.

CERTIFICATE 18 – Cert 18, noted for its Rock, Hip-Hop and Goth nights, takes its music a little darker than Fibbers. However, Indie-tastic delights are to be had here as the occasionally less hardcore band and regular open-mike night calm things down a little. It’s a bit more personalthan the bigger venues too.

THE JUNCTION – Often overlooked forbeing a little out-of-the way,The Junction is worth the walk (or taxi-fare if you are an Alcuinite) for its regular Breaks and House nights.The venue’s offerings of live music last term included the up-and-coming British Emo of The Maple State, the funked-up swing of York regulars, Nu York State, open mike nights and York College band showcases. This is the perfect placeto pick up on local Indie talent.

BASEMENT BAR – A brilliant venue, underneath the City Screen cinema, the Basement Bar showcases a diverse selection of performers, recently including the breathtaking Willy Mason, bluesy Hijak Oscar and any number of Bob Dylan-covering folksy troubadours. Their clubnight, ‘Cert 15’, presents some great local talent and even the University’s own ‘Burn The Jukebox’ occasion-ally provides an evening’s entertainment.

JUDGES LODGINGS – Home to Indiesoc’s regular ‘Queens Amongst Idiots’ night and ‘Burn The Jukebox’ (events that are always worth a look-in if your fringe is at the correct angle), Judges has some pricey pints but atmospheric surroundings with exposed brickwork and alcoves to sit in. Ah, cellar architecture. Aside from that, the Indie tastes good, and there are breaks and funky house flavours available.

Indie FeatureIndie Feature

So what exactly is Indie music? Indie music, and how it is per-

ceived, has changed dramatically from era to era. Originally when the genre was introduced into the mu-sic world, a band would have to be signed to an independent label to be classed as an Indie band, whatever their genre of music; making music for yourself and friends rather than profit and popularity. Bands like Oasis, who were signed to Creation Records (a label Alan Mc Gee start-ed in the 1980s on a small scale) in the early 90s, helped the independ-ent label become more rooted in the record industry, and thus we end up with a completely different defini-tion of what Indie is. Some people claim that Indie is now nothing more than a branding tool: a highly money driven movement, more concerned with marketing a particular image instead of promoting a truly inde-pendent nature and passion for its art. This is more prevalent in ‘mod-ern’ Indie bands, like The Killers (“Indie Rock and Roll?” I don’t think so...) who seem to conform to a cer-tain sound (i.e. Poptastic Indie - you hear it on the radio every hour with choruses that are easy to sing whilst drunk) rather than being independ-ent. However, this isn’t to say con-forming is a bad thing as sometimes it’s good to bop around and sing drunkenly in Toffs to Kaiser Chiefs.

Underneath all the commercial-ism and money making of modern Indie, there are still real gems of bands who do make music that you haven’t heard before and who don’t bore you to death after the second time you hear one of their songs. Some bands, such as Sonic Youth, who are signed to major record com-panies, have managed to keep their identity and original genuine love for the wwmusic. Other less known bands, such as Bromheads Jacket, are signing to smaller labels (in their case, Marquis Cha Cha) only to re-

lease a single or an album so they are not bound by the constraints and requirements of a big record label.

So, where do you draw the line between Indie music and other gen-res such as Dance and Hip Hop? Sub-genres are forever being cre-ated by record companies and mu-sic magazines such as the NME, and these always seem to fit in with the fashion of the time. A more re-cent one is ‘Nu-Rave’ which covers bands such as Klaxons, CSS, and New Young Pony Club and has bought about a love of all things 80s – luminous items of clothing, bold icons, glow sticks and, for those so inclined, rave drugs that will keep you dancing all night. It is impossi-ble to cover all the sub-genres of In-

die music in this one article, but one thing is for sure – some will never go out of fashion like some more re-cent sub-genres. Britpop, for exam-ple, will never be forgotten as bands like Blur and Supergrass have im-printed themselves into the minds of 90s kids. Whatever the case and whatever fashion dictates, new Indie bands will always crop up out off the woodwork and will always keep people interested in the genre.



Where to go in York for IndieWords by Roxana Darling

What is Indie?Words by Roxana Darling

York is not really known for its music venues and Indie club nights. Think of a place to go out in the

evening and most students will think of Toffs or Gallery’s Indie rooms (which doesn’t really satisfy the Indie soul of most, as they mostly have the same playlists every week). However, look a bit closer and you’ll see that you don’t have to travel far to have an enjoyable night.

FIBBERS – The list of quality artists at Fibbers con-tinues to grow: last year’s performances, from the likes of Jamie T, Maximo Park, Imogen Heap, Graham Coxon, CSS and Little Man Tate, are really are some-thing to shout about. Throw in the ‘Up The Racket’ club night every Friday and you have the venue for live Indie music in York. Remember, every successful band has to pass through this kind of venue at least once; and most return to them often during their careers.

CERTIFICATE 18 – Cert 18, noted for its Rock, Hip-Hop and Goth nights, takes its music a little darker than Fibbers. However, Indie-tastic delights are to be had here as the occasionally less hardcore band and regular open-mike night calm things down a little. It’s a bit more personalthan the bigger venues too.

THE JUNCTION – Often overlooked forbeing a little out-of-the way,The Junction is worth the walk (or taxi-fare if you are an Alcuinite) for its regular Breaks and House nights.The venue’s offerings of live music last term included the up-and-coming British Emo of The Maple State, the funked-up swing of York regulars, Nu York State, open mike nights and York College band showcases. This is the perfect placeto pick up on local Indie talent.

BASEMENT BAR – A brilliant venue, underneath the City Screen cinema, the Basement Bar showcases a diverse selection of performers, recently including the breathtaking Willy Mason, bluesy Hijak Oscar and any number of Bob Dylan-covering folksy troubadours. Their clubnight, ‘Cert 15’, presents some great local talent and even the University’s own ‘Burn The Jukebox’ occasion-ally provides an evening’s entertainment.

JUDGES LODGINGS – Home to Indiesoc’s regular ‘Queens Amongst Idiots’ night and ‘Burn The Jukebox’ (events that are always worth a look-in if your fringe is at the correct angle), Judges has some pricey pints but atmospheric surroundings with exposed brickwork and alcoves to sit in. Ah, cellar architecture. Aside from that, the Indie tastes good, and there are breaks and funky house flavours available.

pearing to release singles only in her native Sweden until her re-launch this year; or the unstoppable Justin Timberlake who is unrecognisable from his post-Mickey-Mouse Club pop conscription years in N*Sync.

Perhaps, then, it is the ‘product’ that must be new – this is why teams of song writers like Xenomania or solo writers like Cathy ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ Dennis and Linda ‘Get The Party Started’ Perry need a large roster of performers to keep their productions popular. This false kind of newness may seem to be the essence of pop music. They are shiny-teethed, lip-syncing aes-thetically altered teenagers with toned, amphetamine-filled bodies underneath carefully styled clothing and hair, dancing to the tune of an overlord pop guru – and this is the kind of thing that many, including our own Matt Houghton in the last issue of Bad Taste, dislike about the industry. There is, however, a grow-ing acceptance of the idea of the pop production line, outside of the de-mographic of teenage girls and gay men. Just one look at the ratings for Pop Idol and its ilk will show you that people are fascinated with the behind the scenes workings as well as the sparkly paper and pretty bow that the music comes wrapped in.

So if the actual age of the per-former isn’t a problem, and the po-sition of the older father/mother-fig-ure pop svengali is more fascinating than repellent, where does the omni-present newness of this pop business come from? Well, as a million ear-nest bands have said, ‘it’s all about the music’. If the sound is fresh then the pop-buying public - although this is the public that propelled all five of the Pop Idol and X Factor winners to number one (with apolo-gies to Will Young, who is every inch a pop deity) - will lap it up.

This is how Mr Timberlake and Take That managed their phoenix-like rebirths. JT did it by first team-ing up with Pharrell Williams and then Timbaland, both of whom make music that sounds like it’s

from some far distant future where medical advances mean that every-one can dance. Take That did it by latching on to the current trend for acoustic guitars and male harmony, care of Snow Patrol et al. And if the superficial newness of the pop industry lies in musical innovation, even if it is along the moany acoustic route, and if it can throw up some-body who is great through experi-ence rather than through newness alone, then it can’t be a bad thing.

Pop music isn’t for old people. Pop is loud and fast, and makes

people over 40 say things like “is that a girl singing?” or “is that from a Su-pertramp song? I prefer the original.”

Not only are the oldies wrong to say these things, they are also wrong to be listening to the music in the first place. Pop is about be-ing young, pretty and shiny, hence the proliferation of ‘New Bands!’ and ‘Unsigned Sensation!’ articles in newspapers and on the internet – the official home of new musicTM. (NB: Most unsigned bands are un-signed because they are rubbish, but, in a twist of logic, this doesn’t mean that all signed bands avoid the affliction of rubbishness). All this feverish unsigned action means lots of quickly signed new acts, and a situation where only five of the twenty top selling singles of the last two years were performed by acts with members over 30 years of age.

Even this mainstay of ‘the lat-est thing’, however, suffers the oc-casional flurry of activity by peo-ple pushing the wrong side of 29. Mostly these are the unsuccessful attempts of aging stars vainly pursu-ing their dead careers: Gina ‘beaten-for-the-eurovision-by-Katie-Price-and-Javine’ G, anyone? How about 5ive, or now, more accurately, 4our?

But occasionally someone who has ‘been around for a bit’ manag-es to produce something good. The Take That comeback may have been partly fuelled by nostalgia, but if ‘Pa-tience’ wasn’t such a bloody good sing-at-the-top-of-your-voice mod-ern pop ballad it wouldn’t have gone anywhere. (Although Boyzone, 911 and the aforementioned 4our should take note that as the 90s boyband revival thing has already been done once, and anyone attempting to do a

‘Take That’ will be branded a copy-cat and thus be denied any success.)

A slightly more left-field example of old people continuing their efforts to produce pop music comes from Yoko Ono, who, despite being in her seventies, has released an album that sounds like Simian Mobile Disco produced by Nelly-Furtado-improv-ing-superman Timbaland. ‘Yes I’m A Witch’ contains the sort of music that pretty people with elaborate hair dance to in clubs; places you won’t hear about until they get shut down. Although Ono’s prettiness is hard to gauge from her album cover - her face is 80% sunglasses - the age of some of her numerous collaborators, a bloke from Public Enemy, The Flaming Lips and Jason Pierce out of Spiritualized, should mean that that this is a million miles away from the new dance pop that cool people talk about very loudly. So why isn’t it?

This could be something to do with the hidden age of behind the scenes pop music people. The writing and production team Xenomania are the reason that the twin-peaks of British pop, Girls Aloud and Sugababes, are putting out some of the best music of all time, yet include writ-ers born in the 50s! Like your Dad! And not to forget Richard X, who, according to his Myspace page, has reached a century, yet has managed to mastermind all the good bits from recent Rachel Stevens releases and the incredible Luke Haines record.

Added to this are all the people who seem new, but have actually been at it for ages - Sophie Ellis Bextor for instance, who started off in band The Audience ten years ago, when she was just 18, before graduat-ing with Spiller; or the amazing Ro-byn, whose first single was released in 1995 when she was 16, beginning a brief dance career before disap-



Pop Music AgeWords by Ben Rackstraw

pearing to release singles only in her native Sweden until her re-launch this year; or the unstoppable Justin Timberlake who is unrecognisable from his post-Mickey-Mouse Club pop conscription years in N*Sync.

Perhaps, then, it is the ‘product’ that must be new – this is why teams of song writers like Xenomania or solo writers like Cathy ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ Dennis and Linda ‘Get The Party Started’ Perry need a large roster of performers to keep their productions popular. This false kind of newness may seem to be the essence of pop music. They are shiny-teethed, lip-syncing aes-thetically altered teenagers with toned, amphetamine-filled bodies underneath carefully styled clothing and hair, dancing to the tune of an overlord pop guru – and this is the kind of thing that many, including our own Matt Houghton in the last issue of Bad Taste, dislike about the industry. There is, however, a grow-ing acceptance of the idea of the pop production line, outside of the de-mographic of teenage girls and gay men. Just one look at the ratings for Pop Idol and its ilk will show you that people are fascinated with the behind the scenes workings as well as the sparkly paper and pretty bow that the music comes wrapped in.

So if the actual age of the per-former isn’t a problem, and the po-sition of the older father/mother-fig-ure pop svengali is more fascinating than repellent, where does the omni-present newness of this pop business come from? Well, as a million ear-nest bands have said, ‘it’s all about the music’. If the sound is fresh then the pop-buying public - although this is the public that propelled all five of the Pop Idol and X Factor winners to number one (with apolo-gies to Will Young, who is every inch a pop deity) - will lap it up.

This is how Mr Timberlake and Take That managed their phoenix-like rebirths. JT did it by first team-ing up with Pharrell Williams and then Timbaland, both of whom make music that sounds like it’s

from some far distant future where medical advances mean that every-one can dance. Take That did it by latching on to the current trend for acoustic guitars and male harmony, care of Snow Patrol et al. And if the superficial newness of the pop industry lies in musical innovation, even if it is along the moany acoustic route, and if it can throw up some-body who is great through experi-ence rather than through newness alone, then it can’t be a bad thing.

Pop music isn’t for old people. Pop is loud and fast, and makes

people over 40 say things like “is that a girl singing?” or “is that from a Su-pertramp song? I prefer the original.”

Not only are the oldies wrong to say these things, they are also wrong to be listening to the music in the first place. Pop is about be-ing young, pretty and shiny, hence the proliferation of ‘New Bands!’ and ‘Unsigned Sensation!’ articles in newspapers and on the internet – the official home of new musicTM. (NB: Most unsigned bands are un-signed because they are rubbish, but, in a twist of logic, this doesn’t mean that all signed bands avoid the affliction of rubbishness). All this feverish unsigned action means lots of quickly signed new acts, and a situation where only five of the twenty top selling singles of the last two years were performed by acts with members over 30 years of age.

Even this mainstay of ‘the lat-est thing’, however, suffers the oc-casional flurry of activity by peo-ple pushing the wrong side of 29. Mostly these are the unsuccessful attempts of aging stars vainly pursu-ing their dead careers: Gina ‘beaten-for-the-eurovision-by-Katie-Price-and-Javine’ G, anyone? How about 5ive, or now, more accurately, 4our?

But occasionally someone who has ‘been around for a bit’ manag-es to produce something good. The Take That comeback may have been partly fuelled by nostalgia, but if ‘Pa-tience’ wasn’t such a bloody good sing-at-the-top-of-your-voice mod-ern pop ballad it wouldn’t have gone anywhere. (Although Boyzone, 911 and the aforementioned 4our should take note that as the 90s boyband revival thing has already been done once, and anyone attempting to do a

‘Take That’ will be branded a copy-cat and thus be denied any success.)

A slightly more left-field example of old people continuing their efforts to produce pop music comes from Yoko Ono, who, despite being in her seventies, has released an album that sounds like Simian Mobile Disco produced by Nelly-Furtado-improv-ing-superman Timbaland. ‘Yes I’m A Witch’ contains the sort of music that pretty people with elaborate hair dance to in clubs; places you won’t hear about until they get shut down. Although Ono’s prettiness is hard to gauge from her album cover - her face is 80% sunglasses - the age of some of her numerous collaborators, a bloke from Public Enemy, The Flaming Lips and Jason Pierce out of Spiritualized, should mean that that this is a million miles away from the new dance pop that cool people talk about very loudly. So why isn’t it?

This could be something to do with the hidden age of behind the scenes pop music people. The writing and production team Xenomania are the reason that the twin-peaks of British pop, Girls Aloud and Sugababes, are putting out some of the best music of all time, yet include writ-ers born in the 50s! Like your Dad! And not to forget Richard X, who, according to his Myspace page, has reached a century, yet has managed to mastermind all the good bits from recent Rachel Stevens releases and the incredible Luke Haines record.

Added to this are all the people who seem new, but have actually been at it for ages - Sophie Ellis Bextor for instance, who started off in band The Audience ten years ago, when she was just 18, before graduat-ing with Spiller; or the amazing Ro-byn, whose first single was released in 1995 when she was 16, beginning a brief dance career before disap-



Pop Music AgeWords by Ben Rackstraw

‘I don’t read the NME’: How Anti-Cool is here to stay.

Ah, the library; the final bas-tion of the truly geeky.

The smell of moulding first-edi-tions. The sound of enraged sighing as you realise every set text on your course is taken for the next five years. The gen-eral funk of depression that shrouds that enormous pile of secondary reading on your desk.

I don’t know if Barbour jack-et-clad, messy, loud, lairy Grime music mixed up with Sinatra-esque crooning with steel-drum undertones strike you as entirely incongruous with the general ‘li-brary’ feeling, but Mr Hudson & the Library have a different slant on this atmosphere. After playing the ‘Get It Loud In Li-braries’ shows, trilby-loving Mr Ben Hudson came to realise that libraries are ‘not all this kind of intimidating, silent, old-white-man-with-a-beard place. The gigs made libraries seem cool.’

Indeed, when packed out with the crowd, including what Mr Hudson termed as ‘the MySpace

generation’, dossers off the street, the intrigued general public and even (said with mock horror) ‘old people, heaven forbid’, a public library must seem a pretty excit-ing place to be – quite a far cry from our library, then. Describ-ing the band as ‘cross legged…captivated by books’ between rehearsals and sound-checks, Mr Hudson expresses some-thing totally un-rock’n’roll, and something a hell of a lot more interesting than any amount of ri-diculous rock posturing - the an-tithesis to the bloke on the left .

Citing influences as diverse as Dr. Dre, Chet Baker and The Lemonheads, this is a band with a pretty impressive back-catalogue of references; none of this flash-in-the-pan ‘let’s make up a genre’ (I’m looking at you, Nu-Rave) music-making for Mr Hudson and cohorts, then. Indeed, having supported Vin-cent Vincent and the Villains, collaborated with Indie-remix-whore Grime artist Lethal Bizzle and claiming to be ‘huge fans’ of Jamie T, they strangely, almost lecherously seduce the audience with a steel-drum infused rendi-tion of Sinatra classic, ‘My Funny Valentine’. Embodying the swag-ger of reggae and rockabilly, who says the library lacks sex appeal?

Bassist Maps Huxley and the brilliantly named drummer Wilk-ie Wilkinson, both only slightly pissed after the show, describe the gigs in the libraries as ‘blue’, then saying ‘Scarborough!’ with the loaded emphasis you could only give to a three way involv-ing two nuns, a Rabbi and a hell of a lot of cocaine. When asked if this sexuality infused their music,

Maps described himself as ‘a very sexual person.’ I slightly regretted probing further; with the encour-agement of Wilkie, he professed to being ‘basically like Prince or Barry White. I’m like them having sex together, THAT’S how sexual I am!’ One can only imagine…

However, if Mr Hudson & the Library were based on this swag-ger alone, the simple truth is that they wouldn’t be any good. Their Anti-Cool, random book-loving ways elevate them far and beyond some of the trite alleged Indie music and places them alongside classic music makers. By looking ‘forwards or backwards and not at the present,’ Mr Hudson & the Library avoid being fashionable or immediate, thereby avoiding becoming too dated too quickly.

In twenty years time, I firmly believe that people will look back and laugh at Razorlight in the same way I endlessly mock my par-ents for their Kool and the Gang collection. Anti-Cool means that the band cannot be pinned down by the scruffs of their Barbours into the tight-jeaned ‘Indie’ cat-ergory of this day and age. They are therefore free from any ‘cool’ stereotype and have the freedom to experiment to their hearts con-tent, even if the ‘experimentation’ is with the image of Prince and Barry White rogering each other senseless on a library desk.

Mr Hudson and the LibraryWords by Helen Nianias



‘I don’t read the NME’: How Anti-Cool is here to stay.

Ah, the library; the final bas-tion of the truly geeky.

The smell of moulding first-edi-tions. The sound of enraged sighing as you realise every set text on your course is taken for the next five years. The gen-eral funk of depression that shrouds that enormous pile of secondary reading on your desk.

I don’t know if Barbour jack-et-clad, messy, loud, lairy Grime music mixed up with Sinatra-esque crooning with steel-drum undertones strike you as entirely incongruous with the general ‘li-brary’ feeling, but Mr Hudson & the Library have a different slant on this atmosphere. After playing the ‘Get It Loud In Li-braries’ shows, trilby-loving Mr Ben Hudson came to realise that libraries are ‘not all this kind of intimidating, silent, old-white-man-with-a-beard place. The gigs made libraries seem cool.’

Indeed, when packed out with the crowd, including what Mr Hudson termed as ‘the MySpace

generation’, dossers off the street, the intrigued general public and even (said with mock horror) ‘old people, heaven forbid’, a public library must seem a pretty excit-ing place to be – quite a far cry from our library, then. Describ-ing the band as ‘cross legged…captivated by books’ between rehearsals and sound-checks, Mr Hudson expresses some-thing totally un-rock’n’roll, and something a hell of a lot more interesting than any amount of ri-diculous rock posturing - the an-tithesis to the bloke on the left .

Citing influences as diverse as Dr. Dre, Chet Baker and The Lemonheads, this is a band with a pretty impressive back-catalogue of references; none of this flash-in-the-pan ‘let’s make up a genre’ (I’m looking at you, Nu-Rave) music-making for Mr Hudson and cohorts, then. Indeed, having supported Vin-cent Vincent and the Villains, collaborated with Indie-remix-whore Grime artist Lethal Bizzle and claiming to be ‘huge fans’ of Jamie T, they strangely, almost lecherously seduce the audience with a steel-drum infused rendi-tion of Sinatra classic, ‘My Funny Valentine’. Embodying the swag-ger of reggae and rockabilly, who says the library lacks sex appeal?

Bassist Maps Huxley and the brilliantly named drummer Wilk-ie Wilkinson, both only slightly pissed after the show, describe the gigs in the libraries as ‘blue’, then saying ‘Scarborough!’ with the loaded emphasis you could only give to a three way involv-ing two nuns, a Rabbi and a hell of a lot of cocaine. When asked if this sexuality infused their music,

Maps described himself as ‘a very sexual person.’ I slightly regretted probing further; with the encour-agement of Wilkie, he professed to being ‘basically like Prince or Barry White. I’m like them having sex together, THAT’S how sexual I am!’ One can only imagine…

However, if Mr Hudson & the Library were based on this swag-ger alone, the simple truth is that they wouldn’t be any good. Their Anti-Cool, random book-loving ways elevate them far and beyond some of the trite alleged Indie music and places them alongside classic music makers. By looking ‘forwards or backwards and not at the present,’ Mr Hudson & the Library avoid being fashionable or immediate, thereby avoiding becoming too dated too quickly.

In twenty years time, I firmly believe that people will look back and laugh at Razorlight in the same way I endlessly mock my par-ents for their Kool and the Gang collection. Anti-Cool means that the band cannot be pinned down by the scruffs of their Barbours into the tight-jeaned ‘Indie’ cat-ergory of this day and age. They are therefore free from any ‘cool’ stereotype and have the freedom to experiment to their hearts con-tent, even if the ‘experimentation’ is with the image of Prince and Barry White rogering each other senseless on a library desk.

Mr Hudson and the LibraryWords by Helen Nianias



With enough support and interest from students and staff at the University we could raise over £4000. This money would allow Gladycare to expand and take more children in. They would also like to be able to set up a shop and buy farmland to help make the home self-sus-taining.

Could you describe the stages of development- how did you put the CD together, get bands involved etc? How much interest was there?

We advertised around campus for people to submit tracks and listened to everything we were given. There was a lot of brilliant music submitted. Once they were all in we had to select the tracks that would feature. We had to consider the quality of recording and the balance of different musical styles to get as much variety as possible.

What does the future hold for Making Sound?Most of the Making Sound team graduate this year but

if anyone wants to take it on and do a third one then go for it. It doesn’t belong to anyone – it’s just an idea, but one that I would really like to see carried on.

How can people find out more and get involved? You can read about the bands and artists, and have

a listen to a sample of each track on our website- www.makingsound.co.uk. If you want to get involved, send

an email to [email protected] and look out for social events this term.

Where can we buy it?The CD is available from Track Records on Goodram-

gate and through the website. We set up stalls regularly at campus events and in Vanbrugh stalls so keep an eye out. The CD is also available at Your:Shop

Some thoughts from the bands…We asked Jon from Adacto (and Clip the Apex) and

Aaron from Make It Better Later about their involvement with Making Sound…

Why did you want to get involved?Jon: I was involved in the first Making Sound CD in

2005, and thought the team did a great job promoting campus music back then. Knowing that all profits go to charity simply tipped the balance – it’s a great opportu-nity to get heard whilst helping others.

Aaron: It’s for a great cause and it’s such a great idea! Anything which unites the bands and artists on campus is a good thing. Music and live music in York has always struggled but things like Making Sound are really helping to raise the profile of local talent.

Why should we buy it?J: Firstly, at £5, it’s a bargain to hear that much new

music – to get twenty-one different artists of such high quality speaks volumes about our musical base here. And secondly, because all profits go to the Slum Rise cam-paign which is a worthwhile cause.

A: It’s great! Lots of fantastic music, and also the art-work is amazing this year! A mere five pounds for lots of musical goodness – how can you not buy it? Plus you’re not only supporting a great cause but also all the hard-working acts of York University. For more information, go to www.makingsound.co.uk

It doesn’t take much to draw a link between music and fundraising. Last year we saw ‘Live 8’ and ‘Oxjam’

raise millions of pounds to finance crucial charity work and to promote live music in the process. Considering the huge success of campus charity events like Woodstock and Fusion, it seems that this movement has grown at a university level too. The latest campus project to fund-raise through music is a very simple, yet potentially very successful, idea: Making Sound.

I spoke to the organiser, Chris Pike (second from right) , to find out more…

So…what is Making Sound?It’s a compilation CD showcasing some of the best

music by students at the University of York. The project’s aim is create a high quality album that can be enjoyed by as many people as possible, whilst at the same time rais-ing money for a valuable cause.

What sort of music is on the CD? And who is in-volved?

There is a complete range of styles across the twenty-one tracks; Electronica, Hip-Hop, Drum’n’Bass, Dance, Trip-Hop, Dub, rock, Ska-punk and singer/songwriter stuff. We wanted to represent the diversity of student music at York.

There are a lot of musicians producing amazing music in their bedrooms and most of them never get a chance to have it heard. We decided that a CD would allow this side of the music scene at York to come out into the open. There are, of course, several live bands on the CD as well, many of which featured in Battle of the Bands 2007. We hope that Making Sound complements events such as Battle of the Bands and Woodstock, providing a complete picture of our music scene.

All of the tracks on the CD contain York students, mostly undergraduates but several post-grads feature as well. When selecting tracks for the CD out of those sub-mitted, one of the main criteria was the number of York students involved.

Who benefits?The bands/artists will gain a lot of exposure by being

included on Making Sound – since there is no regular music venue on campus, it can be difficult for bands to reach a wide audience. This gives people the chance to listen to what’s going on campus, and find new music they never knew existed at York. We’re also sending promo-

tional copies to the media and the record industry to get feedback and publicity for the bands and the project.

Who are the profits going to?All profits from the sale of Making Sound are being

donated to the Slum Rise campaign in Nairobi. This cam-paign is raising funding for valuable projects in Koroko-cha, one of the cities poorest areas.

The main focus of Slum Rise is Gladycare Children’s Home, which was set up in 2000 by a Kenyan couple, Zablon and Gladys. They share their home with 35 children who they care for full-time. These children are AIDs orphans, abandoned street kids or have been forced to leave violent and unstable homes. Gladycare has very limited space and facilities and is in desperate need of financial aid. We are trying to provide immediate support and draw attention to their situation, so that international charities will get involved.

How much money are you aiming to raise?The initial target is £1000, which would provide Gla-

dycare with the money for essential provisions such as bedding, educational materials and medical supplies. The CD production costs have already been covered by sales and we are on our way to this target.


38

Words by Ruth Evans

Making Sound

With enough support and interest from students and staff at the University we could raise over £4000. This money would allow Gladycare to expand and take more children in. They would also like to be able to set up a shop and buy farmland to help make the home self-sus-taining.

Could you describe the stages of development- how did you put the CD together, get bands involved etc? How much interest was there?

We advertised around campus for people to submit tracks and listened to everything we were given. There was a lot of brilliant music submitted. Once they were all in we had to select the tracks that would feature. We had to consider the quality of recording and the balance of different musical styles to get as much variety as possible.

What does the future hold for Making Sound?Most of the Making Sound team graduate this year but

if anyone wants to take it on and do a third one then go for it. It doesn’t belong to anyone – it’s just an idea, but one that I would really like to see carried on.

How can people find out more and get involved? You can read about the bands and artists, and have

a listen to a sample of each track on our website- www.makingsound.co.uk. If you want to get involved, send

an email to [email protected] and look out for social events this term.

Where can we buy it?The CD is available from Track Records on Goodram-

gate and through the website. We set up stalls regularly at campus events and in Vanbrugh stalls so keep an eye out. The CD is also available at Your:Shop

Some thoughts from the bands…We asked Jon from Adacto (and Clip the Apex) and

Aaron from Make It Better Later about their involvement with Making Sound…

Why did you want to get involved?Jon: I was involved in the first Making Sound CD in

2005, and thought the team did a great job promoting campus music back then. Knowing that all profits go to charity simply tipped the balance – it’s a great opportu-nity to get heard whilst helping others.

Aaron: It’s for a great cause and it’s such a great idea! Anything which unites the bands and artists on campus is a good thing. Music and live music in York has always struggled but things like Making Sound are really helping to raise the profile of local talent.

Why should we buy it?J: Firstly, at £5, it’s a bargain to hear that much new

music – to get twenty-one different artists of such high quality speaks volumes about our musical base here. And secondly, because all profits go to the Slum Rise cam-paign which is a worthwhile cause.

A: It’s great! Lots of fantastic music, and also the art-work is amazing this year! A mere five pounds for lots of musical goodness – how can you not buy it? Plus you’re not only supporting a great cause but also all the hard-working acts of York University. For more information, go to www.makingsound.co.uk

It doesn’t take much to draw a link between music and fundraising. Last year we saw ‘Live 8’ and ‘Oxjam’

raise millions of pounds to finance crucial charity work and to promote live music in the process. Considering the huge success of campus charity events like Woodstock and Fusion, it seems that this movement has grown at a university level too. The latest campus project to fund-raise through music is a very simple, yet potentially very successful, idea: Making Sound.

I spoke to the organiser, Chris Pike (second from right) , to find out more…

So…what is Making Sound?It’s a compilation CD showcasing some of the best

music by students at the University of York. The project’s aim is create a high quality album that can be enjoyed by as many people as possible, whilst at the same time rais-ing money for a valuable cause.

What sort of music is on the CD? And who is in-volved?

There is a complete range of styles across the twenty-one tracks; Electronica, Hip-Hop, Drum’n’Bass, Dance, Trip-Hop, Dub, rock, Ska-punk and singer/songwriter stuff. We wanted to represent the diversity of student music at York.

There are a lot of musicians producing amazing music in their bedrooms and most of them never get a chance to have it heard. We decided that a CD would allow this side of the music scene at York to come out into the open. There are, of course, several live bands on the CD as well, many of which featured in Battle of the Bands 2007. We hope that Making Sound complements events such as Battle of the Bands and Woodstock, providing a complete picture of our music scene.

All of the tracks on the CD contain York students, mostly undergraduates but several post-grads feature as well. When selecting tracks for the CD out of those sub-mitted, one of the main criteria was the number of York students involved.

Who benefits?The bands/artists will gain a lot of exposure by being

included on Making Sound – since there is no regular music venue on campus, it can be difficult for bands to reach a wide audience. This gives people the chance to listen to what’s going on campus, and find new music they never knew existed at York. We’re also sending promo-

tional copies to the media and the record industry to get feedback and publicity for the bands and the project.

Who are the profits going to?All profits from the sale of Making Sound are being

donated to the Slum Rise campaign in Nairobi. This cam-paign is raising funding for valuable projects in Koroko-cha, one of the cities poorest areas.

The main focus of Slum Rise is Gladycare Children’s Home, which was set up in 2000 by a Kenyan couple, Zablon and Gladys. They share their home with 35 children who they care for full-time. These children are AIDs orphans, abandoned street kids or have been forced to leave violent and unstable homes. Gladycare has very limited space and facilities and is in desperate need of financial aid. We are trying to provide immediate support and draw attention to their situation, so that international charities will get involved.

How much money are you aiming to raise?The initial target is £1000, which would provide Gla-

dycare with the money for essential provisions such as bedding, educational materials and medical supplies. The CD production costs have already been covered by sales and we are on our way to this target.


38

Words by Ruth Evans

Making Sound

Evil Eye ShootAD


Evil

Eye

Cam

ille wears: Dress, D

ay from Sarah C

oggles. Bag, Babydoll Boutique. Lights & jewellery – Stylist’s own.

Photography by Matthew Grum


for the best campus deals, visit

Evil Eye ShootAD


Evil

Eye

Cam

ille wears: Dress, D

ay from Sarah C

oggles. Bag, Babydoll Boutique. Lights & jewellery – Stylist’s own.

Photography by Matthew Grum


for the best campus deals, visit


42

Mark wears: Leather jacket, Diesel, zebra-print skinny jeans, April 77. Both from Sarah Coggles. Plimsolls – model’s own.Kristy wears: Dress, McQ from Sarah Coggles. Jewellery – stylist’s own. Mark wears: Jeans, April 77, hoodie, Modern Amusement. Both from Sarah Coggles.


42

Mark wears: Leather jacket, Diesel, zebra-print skinny jeans, April 77. Both from Sarah Coggles. Plimsolls – model’s own.Kristy wears: Dress, McQ from Sarah Coggles. Jewellery – stylist’s own. Mark wears: Jeans, April 77, hoodie, Modern Amusement. Both from Sarah Coggles.



Mark w

ears: Polo Knit, M

cQ, skinny jeans, C

heap Mondays. B

oth from Sarah C

oggles. Shoes – model’s ow

n.

Cam

ille wears: D

ress, Fornarina. Shoes, Irregular Choice. B

oth from Sarah C

oggles.



Mark w

ears: Polo Knit, M

cQ, skinny jeans, C

heap Mondays. B

oth from Sarah C


n.

Cam

ille wears: D

ress, Fornarina. Shoes, Irregular Choice. B

oth from Sarah C

oggles.

Evil Eye ShootEvil Eye Shoot

Cam

ille wears: Shirt, V

ivienne Westwood, skirt, M

cQ. B

oth from Sarah C


n. Mark w

ears: Jeans, April 77, hoodie, M

odern Am

usement. B

oth from Sarah C

oggles. Plim

solls – model’s ow

n.

Kristy w

ears: Shirt and skirt, Vivienne W

estwood from Sarah C

oggles. Neck scarf, Babydoll Boutique. Suspenders and shoes – stylist’s ow

n.


Kristy w

ears: Dress, M

cQ from

Sarah Coggles

Photograph by Iain Smith


Evil Eye ShootEvil Eye ShootC

amille w

ears: Shirt, Vivienne W

estwood, skirt, McQ

. Both from

Sarah Coggles. Shoes – m

odel’s own. M

ark wears: Jeans, A

pril 77, hoodie, Modern A

musem

ent. Both from

Sarah Coggles. P

limsolls – m

odel’s own.

Kristy w

ears: Shirt and skirt, Vivienne W

estwood from Sarah C

oggles. Neck scarf, Babydoll Boutique. Suspenders and shoes – stylist’s ow

n.


Kristy w

ears: Dress, M

cQ from

Sarah Coggles

Photograph by Iain Smith



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Dinner Suit*Shirt and bow tie hire (normally £49)only £30

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*Discounts only available on presentation of a valid NUS or student id card until 31/01/08



EXCLUSIVESTUDENT OFFERSDinner Suit*Two piece hire (normally £35)only £26

Dinner Suit*Shirt and bow tie hire (normally £49)only £30

Suit to purchase*Moss Bros mix and match dinner suit, shirt and black bow tie (normally £180) only £139

Moss5 Stonegate, York, YO1 8AN01904 639 081

MossUnit 43 Designer Outlet Village, Nayburn, York, Y019 4TA01904 677 861

*Discounts only available on presentation of a valid NUS or student id card until 31/01/08


York’s Little GemYork’s Little Gem



Words by Nicky Woolf

The Banana Warehouse

Where would you go to find a fireplace? An organ? An Ital-

ian three-wheeled car? A pedal-pow-ered copy of a Sinclair C5 electric tricycle or a Georgian dining table? A sofa or a wall-mounted deer’s head? The Banana Warehouse was established more than three decades ago and stocks all these things and far more besides. Residing for the last nine years in a riverside ware-house on Piccadilly, a stones’ throw from Clifford’s Tower, it is enchant-ing in all the ways that an antiques and bric-a-brac shop ought to be.

Haunting classical music, from a radio taped to one of a cornucopia of chandeliers that hang from the warehouse ceiling, echoes down row upon eclectic row of furniture and as-sorted junk. Sofas, desks and dining chairs are piled on top of each other in great mountains of leather, wood and beige cloth. Unearthing treas-ures here is the name of the game.

Obtained mostly from house and hotel clearances, the merchandise at the Banana Warehouse are both for sale and rent; as props to theatres such as the Drama Barn and the The-atre Royal. Junk from here is, at the moment, enjoying the limelight on the London stage in a production of ‘Steptoe & Son’. Me, I found a box of matchbox cars like ones I used to play with as a child, and couldn’t resist them. What will you find?

York’sLittleGem

York’s Little GemYork’s Little Gem



Words by Nicky Woolf

The Banana Warehouse

Where would you go to find a fireplace? An organ? An Ital-

ian three-wheeled car? A pedal-pow-ered copy of a Sinclair C5 electric tricycle or a Georgian dining table? A sofa or a wall-mounted deer’s head? The Banana Warehouse was established more than three decades ago and stocks all these things and far more besides. Residing for the last nine years in a riverside ware-house on Piccadilly, a stones’ throw from Clifford’s Tower, it is enchant-ing in all the ways that an antiques and bric-a-brac shop ought to be.

Haunting classical music, from a radio taped to one of a cornucopia of chandeliers that hang from the warehouse ceiling, echoes down row upon eclectic row of furniture and as-sorted junk. Sofas, desks and dining chairs are piled on top of each other in great mountains of leather, wood and beige cloth. Unearthing treas-ures here is the name of the game.

Obtained mostly from house and hotel clearances, the merchandise at the Banana Warehouse are both for sale and rent; as props to theatres such as the Drama Barn and the The-atre Royal. Junk from here is, at the moment, enjoying the limelight on the London stage in a production of ‘Steptoe & Son’. Me, I found a box of matchbox cars like ones I used to play with as a child, and couldn’t resist them. What will you find?

York’sLittleGem

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Bad Taste Magazine: Issue 2