Jackie Kay! The Pastels! Broken Records! Jock Scot! Rachel Maclean! All together!

Neu! Reekie! bring their extraordinary mash-up of poetry, spoken word, music and animation to Platform in Easterhouse as part of a very special Neu! Reekie! for The East End Social.

A fast-paced feast of spoken word, animation and music fusions that has taken Scotland by storm, Neu! Reekie! has become one of the UK’s biggest mixed arts nights having birthed a DIY record label and publishing house; with the live events spiralling out into live art; absurdist raffles; light shows and noise bingo.

‘The Summer Sizzler’ features works (new, old, transformed and transfixed) by:

THE PASTELS | BROKEN RECORDS | JOCK SCOT | JACKIE KAY | RACHEL MacLEAN
MICHAEL PEDERSEN & KEVIN WILLIAMSON

(plus a stream of visuals and surprise thrills, including a free malt whisky or two…)

THE PASTELS
Hailing from Glasgow, their early records for labels like Whaam!, Creation, Rough Trade, and Glass Records had a raw and immediate sound, melodic and amateur, which seemed at odds with the time. Part of the NME’s C86 compilation, their debut album was the much acclaimed ‘Up for a Bit With The Pastels’ and the follow-up came in the form of ‘Sittin’ Pretty’.

Since signing to Domino Records they’ve released the albums ‘Mobile Safari’ (1995) and ‘Illumination (1998); their most recent  ‘Slow Summit’ is a masterpiece (that’s us/Neu! Reekie! saying that and we’re not alone!) and a current SAY award longlist-ee. Their soundtrack to David Mackenzie’s The Last Great Wilderness (Geographic, 2003 – featuring Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker) too was a great success.

The Pastels are currently: Stephen McRobbie; Katrina Mitchell; Gerard Love; Tom Crossley; Alison Mitchell; and John Hogarty.

“Their music has been a breath of fresh air – and a fistful of dollars – to a whole generation of musicians, and it doesn’t stop with Teenage Fanclub. Sonic Youth rate them, and JAMC and Kurt Cobain revered them.” (Les Inrockuptibles)

BROKEN RECORDS
Formed in 2007 in Edinburgh, with varied musical backgrounds they exist as an eclectic six piece (with extended family). Shortly after the release of their debut EP they were supporting Idlewild, Sons & Daughters and Editors – more recently the likes of The National (in the US and the UK).  They’ve received plaudits from such varied publications as NME, The Guardian, Drowned in Sound, The Sun, Q Magazine and The Times and had generous radio play from BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6 and beyond.

The band signed to the prestigious 4AD label and their debut album was released in 2009 to wide praise. They’ve performed all over the world including: Glastonbury, T in the Park, Haldern Pop Festival, Latitude, SXSW, Edinburgh Hogmanay, WNYC/New York, The World Café/Philadelphia; and had their music featured in television’s “Skins” and “Lost”.

“Convincing evidence they could be the UK’s answer to Arcade Fire – purveyors of an epic, swirling, joyfully mysterious music.” (The Guardian)

JOCK SCOT
Self-professed ‘poet & tragedian’, Jock was born in Leith in 1952 & began his career in the music industry as a renown supplier of “good vibes” to entertainers as diverse as Ian Dury & The Blockheads, The Clash, Blondie, Talking Heads, Taj Mahal, Dr. Feelgood, Viv Stanshall & Wreckless Eric. He’s performed extensively with Aidan Moffat / Arab Strap, John Cooper Clarke and Davy Henderson / Nectarine No 9 – with John Peel Sessions in tow.

Jock’s inaugural book ‘Where Is My Heroine?‘ quickly sold out its entire print run. Next came the making of his first recordings for Alan Horne’s briefly reignited Postcard label; this was 1997′s soon-to-be-legendary ‘My Personal Culloden’ LP.

In other news, The Jock Scot Experience featured on MTV in the 1990’s with The Mod Poembouncing into the limelight; whilst Jock also appears as a Talking Head in the 2012 Clash documentary. Reissues of all his works are ongoing and popular. That said, Jock is a rare sighting in Scotland these days, even rarer in Glasgow, this may just mark his glorious re-arrival – we’ll drink to that.

JACKIE KAY
Born and brought up in Scotland, Jackie is a poet, short story writer and novelist with an international reputation. She has written extensively for stage and television and is Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University.

“THE ADOPTION PAPERS” (Bloodaxe) won the Forward Prize, a Saltire prize and a Scottish Arts Council Prize. “FIERE”, her most recent collection of poems was shortlisted for the COSTA award. Her novel “TRUMPET” won the Guardian Fiction Award and was shortlisted for the IMPAC award. “RED DUST ROAD” (Picador), won the Scottish Book of the Year Award, was shortlisted for the JR ACKERLEY prize and the LONDON BOOK AWARD.

She was awarded an MBE in 2006, and made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2002. Her book of stories “WISH I WAS HERE” won the Decibel British Book Award.

RACHEL MACLEAN (Film Showcase)
Rachel is an artist based in Glasgow. Since graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 2009 Rachel has exhibited across the UK and internationally – including, in 2013, a solo presentation “I HEART SCOTLAND” at The Edinburgh Printmakers. In 2011 Rachel went on a 6-month residency supported by Creative Scotland to the Banff Centre, Alberta, Canada and recently presented her film “Over The Rainbow”, a 40-minute video piece at Collective Gallery, Edinburgh and The Zabludowicz Collection, London.

In 2013 she was the recipient of the Margaret Tait Award and was nominated for the Film London Jarman Award. She has upcoming solo shows in 2014 at CCA, Glasgow and Comar Gallery, Mull.

MICHAEL PEDERSEN & KEVIN WILLIAMSON
Neu! Reekie! chiefs Pedersen and Williamson will season in a poem each to greet the Glasgow audience.  Michael is a poet, playwright, songwriter, obsessive collaborator and animateur while Kevin is a poet, publisher, Burns aficionado and founder of legendary publishing house Rebel Inc..

“Michael’s poems are so physical you can almost touch the images in them. Fabulously sensual and alive. I adore poetry like this.” (Stephen Fry)

Kevin Williamson is a poet, publisher, Burns aficionado and founder of legendary publishing house Rebel Inc. and co-founder of Bella Caledonia.

“…stirring, lyrical, explicit, frequently hilarious….” (3:AM Magazine)

“Scotland’s favourite avant-garde noisemakers”  (The Skinny)

“A world of progressive cultural verve” (The List)

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Many thanks to the fine people at Dewar’s for their support in hosting this event.