Almost Alternative

Analogue Trash Presents The Luddite Collective, Def Neon and Psydoll at Dulcimer Bar Psydoll Photo by Cute As Sin I was so excited on the run up to Friday nights gig, as has been mentioned here before I am definitely a fan of Def Neon and I know seeing them live means dancing, Psydoll were coming in from Japan for a small Uk tour and having seen them once before and absolutely loved it I was looking forward to seeing them again. Now I am biased about The Luddite Collective, I have been helping them get the special advance limited edition run of their new ep done in time for this gig and I think it's quite brilliant, so obviously I was thrilled knowing they were going to play some of the tracks live. The Luddite Collective Photo Cute As Sin  First up was The Luddite Collective an aggressive industrial punk duo combining dirty bass, harsh vocals, snyth and beats that you really can't help dancing to. The lyrics are politically charged and very relevant, the emo...

Perilous Tales BY Luna C I wasn't sure at all what this show was having only read the title, so I was really surprised to find it was actually three plays from three different writers each 30 minutes long. All three plays managed to pack so much into just 30 minutes that I am going to have to review them all separately.  Extant 1918 By Cliff Heaton An astounding tale about the horrors of war, mental health and relationships. This is one of the most touching and emotional things I have ever seen in a theatre. In 30 minutes I somehow felt that I knew the main characters really well. I knew about their lives and their secrets, I felt their joys and sorrows.  The range of emotions displayed in such a short time was incredible, we watched as they discussed the war, we heard tales of things no one should ever have seen and we saw so much love through all of it.  We watched guilt, anger and despair destroy a man. The insight into how it must have...

First Week I have never attended the Fringe Festival before. I have always said that I would love to but some how life seems to get in the way. I decided to change that and months ago I booked tickets for 8 performances. In my first Fringe week I have seen 4 of them and every single one has been so different from the rest.  The Dead, Live Night one we went to The Dead, Live by Daniel Thackeray a Scytheplays performance. The strange tale of Lawrence Dodds a fake medium. Slowly his secret unravels in this dark tale that would fit in with all the classic ghost tales I read when I was younger, that's not to say it was predictable because it was full of surprises all the way through. Strangely comedic, eerie and spine chilling. This performance made people jump but more than that it left that feeling of dread and the emptiness of not knowing what lies beyond in the spirit world. It was a very cleverly done ominous piece of theatre. I would recommend it to anyone w...

Oscar Wilde We arrived in Belper for the Arts festival, super excited for some Oscar Wilde. I love Wilde, he is definitely on my list for when I time travel. I have read everything I can find by him, many times and plenty about him.  But as he said “Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.”  So I thought I had best get on with experiencing some Wilde. We arrived at No.28 Cafe to find there was a time change, a few minor difficulties and the reading wasn't going to be for an hour. We had a chat with a lovely man who was organising the events and he recommended seeing the Mill which I am sure would have been delightful but "The only good thing to do with good advice is to pass it on; it is never of any use to oneself." So we headed into town.   Number 28 Cafe photo by me When we came back the room was laid out with flowers on the tables, simple but inviting. ...

My Fear of Clowns It surprises many people to hear that I am petrified of clowns. For a long time I was so scared I couldn't even be in the same room as a clown doll. I like to push myself with my fears though.  So I took on a crazy project. I agreed to do the make up for and photograph a noise artist called Pandemonium. He felt he needed a total restyle after a break from performing and asked for my assistance. I took a while to think about it and spent a long time looking at past pictures of Pandemonium trying to work out if I could take on this project. It took months for me to come up with design ideas because I was physically sick the first couple of times I tried.  Pandemonium original style Photographer unknown Then when swapping ideas it kind of clicked we came up with an idea. I thought out a couple of make up looks and photo ideas, I did a mood board which involved me looking at lots of pictures of clowns, it was the scariest and one of the most diff...