A Kick Up The Arts with Nicola Meighan

Nicola Meighan

Arts Society & Culture Leisure

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KELI (The National Theatre of Scotland)
Send us a textIn this episode, we’re celebrating brass bands, activism, teenage angst and community spirit, thanks to the National Theatre of Scotland’s latest production - KELI, which opened last week at Stirling’s Macrobert Centre and Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum.It’s running at Dundee Rep this week, before marching on to Perth Theatre and Glasgow Tramway in June…Marking 40 years since the miners’ strike, it tells the story of a stressed, and funny, and fired-up seventeen-year-old - Keli - dealing with life, and college, and work - and a mum who’s really struggling - in a former mining town…She’s also a brilliant tenor horn player, and a member of the local brass band, who’re still going strong long after the loss of the coal industry that brought them together…The music at the heart of this has long been an obsession for writer and composer Martin Green, who also plays in folk visionaries LAU… and Keli closely follows on from his Radio 4 documentary series, Love, Spit and Valve Oil, and his interviews with trade-unionists, miners, music teachers and brass band players - not to mention a gorgeous album, Split The Air.The show’s musical director is Louis Abbott, of Admiral Fallow among other wonders, the play’s directed by Bryony Shananan, and it stars Liberty Black as Keli, Karen Fishwick as her mum Jane, and Olivia Hemmati as two die-hard, very different friends - Amy and Saskia…And it’s always a thrill to see theatre and screen legends Phil McKee and Billy Mack onstage - the former playing band leader Brian, the latter as the town’s fabled hero - the former miner Willie Knox. We’re also treated to performances by either the Whitburn Band or Kingdom Brass at every show.I loved Keli when I saw it in Edinburgh last week, and I sat down with Martin, Liberty and Olivia at the National Theatre of Scotland’s headquarters, Rockvilla, to reflect on Keli’s journey so far - ahead of the rest of the Scottish dates…akickupthearts.org
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40:56
David Keenan on Volcanic Tongue
Send us a textJust very quickly, a reminder that I’d love you to join me for A Kick Up The Arts - live - at at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, I’ll be at The Stand, with Barbara Dickson on August 20th, Grant Stott on August 21st, and Del Amitri’s Justin Currie on August 23rd - and I’ll be announcing more special guests soon…Before that though, the brilliant Val McDermid will join me at The Portobello Bookshop on July 9th, we’ll be celebrating the paperback publication of Queen Macbeth, and chatting about Val’s choice of a Scottish album, film and book - and it’d be fab to see you there. There are ticket links to all of those shows online here - but, for now, we’re back with the legends at Porty Books for a chat with another incendiary writer - and if you joined us for this event, thanks so much for coming along…We’re singing the praises of David Keenan’s latest mind-melding trip of a book - and they all are, incidentally - from his esoteric musical odyssey England’s Hidden Reverse, to the award-winning 1970s Belfast fever-dream For The Good Times - not to mention the iconic This Is Memorial Device - which a novel, theatre show, and online community devoted to post-punk, small towns, fanzines, mad dreams, and the infinite possibilities of - well, everything…David’s latest thrill, Volcanic Tongue - a time-travelling evangelist’s guide to Late 20th Century Underground Music - collects his music writing for The Wire among other publications, including deep-dives into the worlds, and lives, and music, and alchemy, of Sun Ra, Sonic Youth, Faust, John Martyn and Throbbing Gristle. It takes its title from the mythical Glasgow shop that David ran with his wife - the pedal steel phenomenon and musical visionary Heather Leigh - and it was also the title of a weekly newsletter - but we’ll come to that… Volcanic Tongue (out now, via the fab White Rabbit Books) is a psychoactive love letter to underground music, literature, science fiction, and to life’s wild moments and miracles… its sonic booms and zodiac workshops, its 70s porn stars and new, old weird folk, its tangerine dreams and acid house reveries… the magic of our day-to-day…But enough from me - let’s hear from David, and our lovely audience on a rainy and dark old night in deepest Portobello… Thanks so much again to Euan and everyone at their totally iconic shop - and thanks to you, if you came along - or asked a question…(There's lots more episodes, live events and a newsletter that I'd love you to sign up for via akickupthearts.org)
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49:33
Restless Natives: The Musical
Send us a textBefore we jump on board with this episode, I’m delighted to tell you that the writer and legend Val McDermid will be joining me for A Kick Up The Arts live from Edinburgh’s Portobello Bookshop to celebrate her latest book, Queen Macbeth, on July the 9th. She’ll also chat about a favourite Scottish album, film and book - and we’d love you to come along. I’ll put ticket links everywhere…There are also tickets on-sale now for A Kick Up The Arts live from the Edinburgh Fringe, I’ll be joined at the Stand for a series of lunchtime chats with fab guests including Barbara Dickson on August 20th, Grant Stott on August 21st, and Del Amitri’s Justin Currie on August 23rd - and it’d be fab to see you…And, if you’re very quick, I’m at Paisley Book Festival this weekend, with fab songwriters and novelists James Yorkson and Malachy Tallack - they’ll chat about their latest books, and music, and they might even play us some songs - Paisley Town Hall, 4-5pm on Saturday April 26th, it’d be ace to see you there in person - the more the merrier - but we’ll also record it for a forthcoming episode of A Kick Up The Arts…Meanwhile - onto this episode, and it’s about a new musical theatre production that’s based on one of my all-time favourite films…Restless Natives hijacked my heart as a kid when it was released in the mid-1980s, and its politics, its love, its humour, its Big Country soundtrack, and it’s gorgeous protagonists - the Clown, and the Wolfman - and Margot - have been loved by so many of us ever since…Now the tale of the Highland Highwaymen - who hold up tour buses and charm everyone in sight - is coming to the stage, and touring Scotland. It’s kicking off at Perth Theatre as we speak, before travelling to Stirling, Aberdeen, Inverness, Edinburgh and Glasgow in May and June…The new show is thanks to the film’s original creative team - director Michael Hoffman, producer Andy Paterson, and writer Ninian Dunnett, and it plays out to the tune of Big Country, alongside new songs from composer Tim Sutton, with lyrics from Ninian.And it’s also thanks to a new Clown aka Ronnie, and Wolfman aka Will, and Margot… They were played in the film by Joe Mullaney, Vincent Friell and Teri Lally respectively, and this time around we’re seeing them brought to joyous life by Kyle Gardiner, Finlay McKillop and Kirsty MacLaren…Sarah Galbraith reprises Ned Beatty’s role as Bender, and you can hear Sarah with Kirsty workshopping some of the new songs - as a sneak preview - throughout this episode. These are just rough recordings, but you’ll get the idea - and they sound wonderful already…I grabbed a chat with Kirsty, Kyle and Finlay during rehearsals at Perth Theatre last week, but before that, I sat down with producer Andy Paterson, whose other film credits include Girl With A Pearl Earring, and Hilary and Jackie) - along with the brilliant actor, writer and panto legend Alan McHugh…He loved the film the first time around, and now he’s starring as Chief Inspector Baird in the musical (Robert Urquhart played him in the film), tasked with ensnaring the Clown and the Wolfman. Alan had been in rehearsals too, and I was well impressed with his warm-up dance moves…
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38:22
Live from the Glad Cafe with Michael Pedersen
Send us a textBefore we get wired into this episode, I’m delighted to tell you that the podcast is coming to the Edinburgh Fringe this Summer! I’ll be at The Stand, which is a five minute walk from Waverley Station, with very special guests every lunchtime, from August the 18th to the 24th…So far, I can tell you that I’ll be joined by Barbara Dickson on August 20th, Grant Stott on August 21st, and Del Amitri’s Justin Currie on August 23rd - and I would love you to join us… I’ll be announcing other guests soon, but get your tickets for these shows in the meantime - they’re on-sale now, I’ll stick a link everywhere I can - within reason... Their chat’ll be a bit like the one you’re about to hear, as they take us to a virtual party round at theirs, with a choice of Scottish album, film and book - along with a wider conversation about their life, and work…Right now though - back to an earlier live event for A Kick Up The Arts: All Back To Mine - promoted by the excellent Sufrecs, and recorded at the Glad Cafe in Glasgow… If you were here for this - thanks so much for being such a fab audience… and you’ll already know that Siobhan Wilson and Raveloe played some stunning renditions of songs from my guest, Michael Pedersen’s chosen Scottish album…Spoiler alert, it was a classic from Garbage - so you’ll hear snippets of those through our chat, but follow Siobhan online to hear the full versions...Michael’s a brilliant writer, and person, who’s a poet, an author, and a cultural rabble-rouser…He’s also the Edinburgh makar, and the writer in residence at Edinburgh University, and he took to the stage beside me rocking the greatest top I have ever seen. Picture this - a painted shirt with pink and green love-hearts, orange and yellow smiling cats - and of course there was glitter. It was neon, in fact. I have never seen anything like it…Michael’s published three poetry collections, including Oyster and the Cat Prince, his prose debut, Boy Friends, was published to huge acclaim in 2022, and his forthcoming debut novel, Muckle Flugga, is a revelation. It’s stunning and tender, it’s a beacon of hope, it’s brimming with love, and it’s powered by starlight. I asked myself, and the audience, what more I could ask for… And then I answered my own question… * * *Tickets!A Kick Up The Arts with Barbara Dickson at Edinburgh Fringe (20/8) here!A Kick Up The Arts with Grant Stott at Edinburgh Fringe (21/8) here!A Kick Up The Arts with Del Amitri's Justin Currie (23/8) here!Get in touch with me any time - I'd love to hear from you - [email protected]
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55:31
Ricky Ross & Lorraine McIntosh: Deacon Blue's The Great Western Road
Send us a textJust before we get wired into this episode, a quick reminder I’ll be in conversation with the brilliant writer David Keenan - whose hallucinogenic books include Xstabeth and This Is Memorial Device - about his new collection of music writing, Volcanic Tongue, live from Edinburgh's Portobello Bookshop, on March 27th - there’ll be loads of tunes too - and we’d love you to join us… But onto this episode, and it's with a band I've loved madly since I was at primary school...It's 40 years since the early days of Deacon Blue, and over 35 since since their debut, Raintown, defined the landscape of 80s Glasgow, and its follow-up, When The World Knows Your Name, made the band a household name - and knocked Madonna off the top of the charts... They toured all the theatres, sold out arenas, broke our hearts - or certainly mine - when they broke up in 1994, and then they made up for it - and with each other - back in 1999...Their leading lights have changed since then... Bassist Ewen Vernal left for other musical adventures, and we lost beloved guitarist Graeme Kelling in 2004... But Ricky Ross, Dougie Vipond, Lorraine McIntosh and James Prime are still as fired up as ever - now further stoked by Lewis Gordon, and co-writer and producer Gregor Philp...They're back with a new album, The Great Western Road, which is a gift of a title for Deacon Blue and their driving take on their America: that big old street runs right through Glasgow - and across the band's history - like a stick of rock... And they were always big on going away, and coming home with souvenirs... When they announced the new LP, and released its lead single, Late 88 - their biggest chart success in decades - I'll tell you right now, I slid straight into Ricky's DMs, and told him how much I loved in an unsolicited ten-paragraph diatribe…That’s lower than the word count for the liner notes I wrote for the band's You Can Have It All and All The Old 45s releases a couple of years ago, but it was still quite a lot...Anyway, despite all that, he and Lorraine invited me round to their house for a coffee, and for a chat for A Kick Up The Arts... We'll be discussing this more, incidentally - along with the rest of the band - at Glasgow's Oran Mor on March 26th for two acoustic sets and album launch gigs, and if you're quick, you can maybe grab the final tickets for the matinee show...But meanwhile, back at theirs, for this podcast chat, Lorraine was concerned about her first pot of coffee, so she made it twice, then we sat around their kitchen table, in the room next door to their home studio, where most Deacon Blue songs come to life these days... We chatted about their recent Beyonce cover on Radio 2, and which band member paid for kebabs with Raintown demos in the 1980s - and how they re-joined forces with that debut album's engineer, Matt Butler, when they laid down this new LP at Rockfield Studios in Wales. We talked about The Great Western Road...
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50:47