Almost Alternative

Creatures of Catharsis  Grace Oni Smith milking it for the audience  Creatures of Catharsis promises a night of queer delight and they didn't lie. This was the most wonderful mix of queer performers I have ever seen on one bill. The cabaret was varied and fabulous, a mix like I have never seen together yet every act got a great reception from the audience. This night had everything I feel is missing from most queer events I have been to, it was a celebration of everything queer, yet a protest against the lack of acceptance elsewhere, it offered support for all different types of queer people and it felt like a big supportive family which is pretty amazing going as I had never met most people before and am a bag of anxiety that struggles with strangers.  The night started with the gorgeous and utterly hilarious hostess, Grace who milked the audience for every bit of laughter and possibly other things. You couldn't ask for more in a hostess, charisma by the b...

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...

This Was Going To Be A Blog About One Thing But Turned Into Something Else A Fantastic Gig And Women On Stage I will start by saying the Analogue Trash stage at Sonderfest definitely didn't disappoint. The line up was well put together, the bands were incredible and the atmosphere was electric. The crowd loved every second and it looked like the bands did too. Room 1985 are new to the Trash Family and I am eagerly awaiting there album release. They are a little different from most of the bands I see through trash, not quite as heavily electro and a little more psychedelic rock, they were definitely a nice start to the evening, buckets of stage presence, beautiful music and a fantastic singer.  Then they were joined on stage by the first spectacular woman of the evening. A singer with heaps of emotion, attitude, passion and of course vocal talent. She absolutely stole the stage.  Next up were St Lucifer. Four amazing guys with an interes...

A4 Studios And Gallery A4 Studios are a wonderful non profit organisation founded by artist's. They are aiming to provide low cost accessible studios for people of all abilities, while raising awareness of disabilities and equality in the arts. I fully support their mission and when I was asked to come down and help out with some fundraising I was more than happy to oblige. They have a funding page please donate if you can.  I spent the day helping to man the awesome A Hat And A beard stall. The lovely man who hand makes the items is so obviously talented, I really enjoyed chatting about his work and seeing people's faces as they looked at the stall. He also produces commission pieces and rents larger pieces out.  My partner in crime running the stall, Dani Scum (not Mr Hat and Beard) The performances were amazing. I really enjoyed the sea shanties played on an accordion by Marina Black. A perfect fun start to the afternoon.  Marina Black Marina...

Home That one place where you feel safe and welcome That one place where you feel accepted A place where you find family A place to make friends The place where you can discover who you are The place where you can learn and grow A place you will always return to A place to be you Manchester has proven today in the face of atrocity to truly be the place I am proud to call home. My heart goes out to everyone who was there and the families who are suffering. The couple of hours I spent trying to contact friends were hard enough so I can only imagine what any of them are feeling.  But even in the middle of such chaos all I can see are people pulling together and helping each other. Manchester is indeed full of bees and our hive will stand strong. The beautiful people of Manchester have given me back my faith in humanity.  Thank you to the emergency services, the staff at the arena, the taxi drivers taking people home, the people giving food and drinks, people offe...

An Exquisite Evening of Ethereal Entertainment  Hosted By Analogue Trash At the Castle Hotel Manchester The evening began with Beinaheleidenschaftsgegenstand an electronic, ambient, industrial trio. I have seen them previously but before they added the third member. They were just as good as I remembered and soon I was sat on the floor relaxing and getting lost in the music. They manage to be soothing, all encompassing and slightly creepy all at once.    Beinaheleidenschaftsgegenstand  The lead singers voice portrays the heartbreak and pain mentioned in the lyrics perfectly, then at other times manages to sound completely robotic. You can clearly see all the members get lost in the music as the performance goes on. The build up to the ending was intense, they gained an extra singer and a metal barrel being used as a drum. The sounds filled the room as the powerful lyrics were spoken, each crash of the barrel ringing out, the music heightening and the ...

A Curious Cabaret Of Sonic Discordance At Maguire's Pizza Bar On Friday the 19th I travelled over to Liverpool for a rather interesting gig, The Battle For Tomorrow, described on the poster as noise doom spoken word clown drone punk poetry brickcore industrial grrrr.  The Battle For Tomorrow is an album of poetry by Adam Probert accompanied by the experimental noise of John E Smoke, but that's skipping ahead a little bit.  Adam Probert The gig was hosted by The Percy Vermin Experiment a master of words, with a marvellous flair for performance.  Percy Vermin The first act was poet, Ellie W Muddy reading three sensational poems. Her reading was impassioned and rousing. One of the poems was accompanied by an atmospheric noise piece making it even more engaging.  Ellie W Muddy Then there was a huge change in pace with Pandemonium, the noisiest clown I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. He provided a fanfare of commotion, an ex...

International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia Yesterday was IDAHOBIT, previously IDAHO with Transphobia being added in 2009 and biphobia added in 2015. I have been to several IDAHOBIT events but none touched me so much as yesterday's, the theme for it at was family.  A little background, I am Pan/bisexual and gender neutral if I have to label. I am super lucky though. I regularly get crap from people nowadays mainly for my gender but when I was younger it was for liking girls. Crap at school, college, jobs, in the street, anywhere there were people I didn't know well. I have had lesbians hate me because I don't just date women and straight guys who think I'm tainted because I have dated men who have been with other men. My experience of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia has been sometimes violent but luckily not often, possibly more luckily I punch well and it's definitely impacted my life.  I am still lucky though, I was born into a w...