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Day: 3 November 2014

Live: Nils Frahm

Written by Alyssa Vongapai on . Posted in Music.

27th October

Royal National College of Music

8/10

Nils Frahm is a fascinating hybrid of modern classical pianist and electronic musician, trained by Brodski, who was the last protégé of Tchaikovsky. The prodigy released his best album yet, Spaces, last January with the Avant-garde record label Erased Tapes. Spaces demonstrate that the Berliner has matured as a performer, and that his improvisations have become darker, powerful and obscure. This album undoubtedly helped him build his prestige in the underground electronic world and have been on high demand since. He rightfully opened for the legendary dimensions festival this year.

The sweet sounding notes from one of his three pianos is often followed by waves of bass that surround the hall, encircling the caved room until it hits your chest. It leaves you breathless and each song always triggers an intense memory, whether it is a gloomy or a blissful one. Everyone in their seats was intimately mesmerized by the way he makes love his pianos, synths and other gadgets. Every time his fingers caressed the keys, he moved like an angel with no wings trying to fly. But he stays there, because the reverberation of his piano is his lifeline. He sways vigorously to his experimental melody and his body would then flicker the light behind him, heightening the beautiful frenzy. Nils is a witty humble genius that wears one shoe, describing one of his songs as one note on repeat, thrown in with some more random notes to prevent it sounding boring. He intrigues everyone by using 2 toilet brushes to drum parts of the piano.

The audience is left wanting more constructed noise, anticipating the ripples of ominous bass whilst they zone out to his intricate solos. This was definitely a captivating unique experience; it is not often that both artist and audience get utterly lost in the music together.

Competition: Win Sankeys Tickets

Written by music on . Posted in Music.

Music Is Love return to Sankeys this Saturday, 8th, with a stellar line up featuring legendary Chicago selector Derrick Carter alongside Djebali, Wbeeza, Mr Ks and Music Is Love residents.

Tickets are on sale now here, priced at £12.

We also have 5 pairs of tickets to give away to the event, to be in with a chance of winning simply email your name to [email protected] by Friday 7th, 9am.

Feature: Musical Body Image – What’s the Problem?

Written by Elizabeth Rushton on . Posted in Music.

Most of you reading this will have grown up surrounded by images of unattainable female ‘perfection’: razor-sharp cheekbones, waistlines photoshopped to within an inch of their lives, and legs stretching for miles. No child or teenager of the noughties can have been unaware of the trend of Size Zero in the fashion world, or warnings against being lured into a dark world of creepy Myspace blogs promoting anorexia. But in 2014, the Year of the Ass, there’s a new gang in town. With artists including Meghan Trainor and Nicki Minaj releasing songs focused on their curvaceous bodies, female body image has become more prominent within music than ever before—but should we be worried?

We’ve probably all seen the videos for, or at least heard, Trainor’s ‘All About That Bass’ and Minaj’s ‘Anaconda’. Perhaps for young adults they are just light entertainment, but we’re not the key demographic here—it’s pre-teens, of whom, it’s safe to assume, most are girls, who idolise these artists, listen to their songs on commercial radio, and copy their style from tween magazines and fashion blogs. Most importantly, members of this audience are at a confusing crossroads in their lives; they are working out who they are, and are highly impressionable. In light of this, some scrutiny of the music aimed at this group might provide cause for concern.

References to size in these songs worryingly suggest some sort of booty hierarchy, meaning that having curves gives a girl superiority over a girl who doesn’t, commonly referred to as a “skinny bitch” by both Minaj and Trainor. Maybe our idea of what the ideal female body looks like is changing, as it has many times before, but surely it’s dangerous to give anyone the idea that the only way to feel good about yourself if you’re at all unconventional is to create a false self-confidence by putting down your more ‘conventional’ peers. How ironic that ‘All About That Bass’, with its pure intentions of promoting self-acceptance, could actually perpetuate bullying and division between young girls over something as trivial as their appearance.

This highlights another questionable issue; surely we’re trying to banish the idea that a girl’s looks are all there is to her? This hasn’t been helped by songs like John Legend’s ‘All of Me’, a song of love for a woman despite her flaws—all the flaws mentioned, however, are tied up with notions of beauty, and in fact the song contains virtually no mention of personality or character. ‘All About That Bass’ also contains the dubious idea that being a larger size is fine as “boys like a little more booty to hold at night.” The false self-confidence strikes again; of course you can be confident in your appearance, but only if someone else gives you the OK to do so.

A more contentious point is how men come into this. Let’s enter the battlefield of opinions on Nicki Minaj’s ‘Anaconda’ video, featuring tropical fruits spinning comically on a turntable, Nicki giving an excruciating home cookery demonstration, and of course, lots of butts. Some argue that the explicit sexuality of ‘Anaconda’ is only there to sell it to a male audience, not only reducing the female body to a product, like in a horrific 1960s advert, but also planting harmful expectations of women in the minds of young boys and girls alike. Others claim that any critic of Minaj and her backing dancers’ suggestive outfits and dancing is simply slut-shaming; why shouldn’t these women flaunt their bodies? They’re beautiful and liberated, and have every right to portray their bodies however they want. In the case of ‘Anaconda’, Minaj’s frequent boasts of the sexual pleasure men derive from her body, with no appreciation or value for her as a person, make this hard to swallow.

The difficulty of all this is that the ideal message, that “every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top,” as long as you are living healthily both physically and mentally, is not easy to get across in a three-minute pop song. Perhaps the best solution is to make like one of Manchester’s greatest bands and simply accept that some girls are bigger than others. That’s all there is to it, isn’t it?

Live: The Barr Brothers

Written by Paul Norris on . Posted in Music.

23rd October

The Castle Hotel

9/10

Canadian Folk outfit The Barr Brothers provided a truly memorable set at a heaving and warm Castle Hotel in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, following the release of their second album Sleeping Operator earlier this month. The new album shows the band developing a more polished and powerful sound with skilled songwriting to match. This is evident with opener ‘Love Ain’t Enough’ which immediately takes hold of the crowd with its driving bassline and warm guitar-work.

Their music seems the ideal solution to a cold autumnal night with its organic and soulful folk vibes. ‘How the Heroine Dies’ typifies this with beautiful vocal harmonies and harp-playing provided by Sarah Page. In fact, every member of the band proves themselves as a skilled instrumentalist. Brad Barr’s pure and heartfelt vocals are complimented by his varied and accomplished guitar playing with a controlled rhythm section provided by drummer Andrew Barr and bassist/keyboardist Andres Vial.  ‘Come in the Water’ is a dynamic anthem and ‘Even the Darkness Has Arms’ is catchy folk foot-tapper, especially with the band being joined on stage by slide-guitarist Joe Grass who’s solos offer a creative instrumental break.

The mood is lifted with the organic blues-rock number ‘Half Crazy’ demonstrating the band’s willingness to experiment with sounds and genres. Their set carries on giving with the sing-along ‘Beggar in the Morning’ and the final song, perhaps appropriately named ‘England’ rounding a truly delightful gig. The Barr Brothers return to Manchester in January to play the Deaf Institute, a chance to see a delightfully soulful, foot stomping folk band.

Live: Young Marble Giants

Written by Will Ellis on . Posted in Music.

19th October

Dancehouse

8/10

Touring off the back of an album that’s 34 years old this year, Young Marble Giants seem to have gained a touch of irony in their name. Sitting centre stage on the front row in The Dancehouse it felt more like going round to a friend’s parents house for an afternoon cuppa than a gig.

The fumbling round over instruments, the interesting but digressive stories leave you tempted to thank them for having you over and reassure them you’re looking after their offspring whilst they’re at uni. It almost seems odd to say that such an atmosphere could be the perfect setting for a live gig. However, the minimalistic instrumentation from brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham provide a quiet and unassuming stance that fit the ambience so well. This, combined with the haunting but yet strangely comforting vocals of Alison Statton, provide the band sound that is undeniably their own. Not exactly what you’d imagine from a band whose only album, Colossal Youth, was described by the late Kurt Cobain as one of the five most influential albums he ever heard. But can a band that favour a drum machine over a drummer ever be described as conventional? Not that this mattered to anyone sat in The Dancehouse—most just felt lucky to be have a chance of seeing the cult heroes.

Having only done a handful of gigs since their split in 1980, such a performance is a real rarity. It was due to this that a strong sense of disappointment came from the crowd as they announce their final song. As it came to a close the band said their goodbyes and left with a simple ending fitting of a band who have never been ones to make a lot of noise.

TV Binge: American Horror Story

Written by James Moules on . Posted in Film.

We’ve all heard enough times how morbidly sick with cliché the horror genre is when it comes to the big screen. How many times have we seen a group of promiscuous teenagers being hacked to death by a shady psycho? How many times have we seen filmmakers try—and usually fail—to turn innocent everyday banalities into nightmares? How many times have we seen great ideas wasted on lazy filmmaking?

In our supposed ‘Golden Age of Television’, you can always count on the small screen to provide solutions to the problems on the silver screen. That’s where the wickedly brilliant and brilliantly wicked anthology show that is American Horror Story comes in—but it’s not so much a show that’s defied cliché, no, it’s even better than that. It’s one that makes intelligent use of cliché; if a show were to purposely avoid cliché, it would become predictable through our constant expectation of the unexpected. In American Horror Story, we truly never know where the plot is going to take us next.

Season One of American Horror Story, retrospectively subtitled Murder House, throws us straight in to the show’s twisted world. With a story featuring infidelity, ghosts, devil-children, teenage suicide and psychiatry—often in the same scene—you won’t be able to stop watching. Even at the most skin-deep level imaginable, it gives us a look at how warped human nature can be.

The next season is subtitled Asylum. Set back in the 60s, we’re dragged screaming into a mental asylum run by the Catholic Church. With gorgeous period detail, Asylum’s plot provides us with a chilling but thoroughly engrossing story featuring demonic possession, Nazi war criminals in hiding, alien abductions, twisted science experiments and the strangely soothing presence of the Angel of Death.

Coven is next on the agenda, which puts us into the world of a school for witches that isn’t called Hogwarts. While I’d argue that this season is a slight step down in quality from Asylum, it still has everything that makes American Horror Story great going for it. With a plot about modern day witch-hunts in the mix, you just can’t say no.

American Horror Story’s fourth season, Freak Show, featuring a killer clown and Jessica Lange’s rendition of Life on Mars, is currently being broadcast here in the UK on Fox HD. Those of you yet to watch the show can catch up with the first three seasons on Netflix.

Review: Fury

Written by Tom Bruce on . Posted in Film.

Nobody does gritty action like David Ayer, the former US Navy submariner, writer of Training Day and director of the internationally acclaimed cop drama End of Watch. He is a serious man. Given his military background was based largely underwater it may have been more apt had he taken on the soon to be released Black Sea, a new film about submarine exploration starring Jude Law. Tanks, however, are much, much badder in the ass department, so Ayer opted to pen and shoot Fury instead.

Fury, the painted-on namesake of the titular Sherman, is the rambling metallic home of a WWII tank squadron based in Germany during the climatic conflicts of 1945. Led by Sgt. Don ‘Wardaddy’ Collier (Brad Pitt, brooding but still enjoying Nazi killin’), Fury’s tight-knit family have seen enough action to last a thousand lifetimes—starting out in Africa and ending up in the heart of the Reichland, they now find themselves out-manned, outgunned, and out of fucks to give. Their survival until this point has been a miracle, their brotherly bond now near unbreakable. As close as they may be—and being five alpha males living inside a cramped vehicle, they are very close indeed—there seems little hope for the future; tempers fray and punches fly as they roll ever closer to the barrage imposed by the technologically and numerically superior SS legions, Germany’s last line of defence.

Fury avoids over-sentimental American bravura (you wouldn’t see children hanging from telephone poles in The Monuments Men) and political analysis as would a tank crew steer clear of land mine; instead, it hones in on the unchangeable realities of war, and it spares nothing. As Brad Pitt’s physically and mentally scarred veteran informs conflicted newbie Norman Ellison (Logan Lerman), it is ‘his fucking job’ to kill every German soldier, just as it is their job to kill him; the war can’t end well, but the only way it will end is if “enough people die.” It may be cynical, but for men on the frontlines that was all they knew—they had to either accept their role or be destroyed by it.

David Ayer teamed up with End of Watch DOP Roman Vasyanov once again to film Fury, bringing a shocking intensity to the darkness of the battlefield. Their emulation of Stanley Kubrick’s First World War epic Paths of Glory is uncanny; the tank may have replaced the trench and close ups of Kirk Douglas have been swapped for those of Brad Pitt, but the theme of shattered innocence remains identical. Even more impressive, though, is the blinding power of machine gun fire and the ferocity of ricocheting tank shells. War is scary, and Fury shows you why. Steven Price’s (Gravity) mournful score carries the soaring pride of a Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers suite, but manages to remain much more grounded in the blood and guts of the tank’s mechanical workings.

After Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf is a surprising standout amongst the fierce male cast. His temperamental gunner possesses an astoundingly believable thousand-year stare, and if all the ballyhoo surrounding his ‘unusual’ method acting preparations (he allegedly pulled out a tooth and refused to wash on set) proves true, then it was worth it. Perhaps all the positive feedback LaBeouf is receiving for Fury will convince the not-famous actor to step into the limelight once more. Should you see Fury, get yourself to the front rows of the biggest screen you can find and welcome the boom-tacular immersion of tank warfare with open arms.

4/5

Access To Medicines Week

Written by Evie Hull on . Posted in Societies.

Every year 10 million people die simply because they cannot access medicines that already exist.

A third of the world’s population does not have access to the most basic essential medicines and in the poorest regions of Africa and Asia this figure rises to one-half.

What can we do about this?

Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) is a coalition of students and faculties across North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia, united with the common goal of improving access to medicines in the developing world.

Our mission is to promote access to medicines and medical innovations in low and middle-income countries by changing norms and practices around academic patenting and licensing, supported by our own independent research. We aim to ensure that university medical research meets the needs of people worldwide, and that students are empowered to respond to the access and innovation crisis.

The 1st – 7th November 2014 marks Access to Medicines (A2M) Week, the week in which Universities Allied for Essential Medicines will be asking the public whether or not access to essential medicines is a luxury or a human right.

This upcoming A2M Week is our first campaign to run on university cities and campuses simultaneously throughout Europe. Our goal is to make university students and members of the public ask themselves, “how can I make an impact on the Access to Medicines crisis?” and assess the way their universities manage their policies in research and development.

UAEM Manchester welcomes you to find out more, and take part in our A2M Week events! We will be hosting a free screening of Fire in the Blood, a film about medicine, monopoly and malice, at 6pm on Thursday 6th November, Samuel Alexander A113. Here you can find out more about Access to Medicines issues and how you can campaign to make a difference.

For further information about the events happening during A2M week visit www.a2m-week.org, or e-mail [email protected].

Twitter: @uaem

Facebook: www.facebook.com/UAEMpage

 Article provided by Georgia Liddle from Student Stop Aids Campaign.

Ask Kitty

Written by Kitty Treverton Jones on . Posted in Lifestyle.

My boyfriend’s parents are really religious and recently his mum has asked me to check out a church service where I live. She keeps mentioning that I’m “lost” and I think she’s trying to convert me. I don’t want to offend the family but I am not religious in the slightest! What do I do?

That’s an awkward situation. I’d recommend going to one service to keep the peace, then talk to her and tell her it’s not really your thing. Hopefully she’ll back off a bit. You never know, you may end up loving it and this time next year you’ll be on the path to becoming a fully-fledged nun. In which case, the whole boyfriend concept will be irrelevant—problem solved.

I’m in my first year of uni but my boyfriend is about to go travelling on his gap year for six months. We want to stay together but I’m so worried he’ll meet someone else while he’s away. How can we stay strong from so far apart?

I know it’s very tempting to crack out the virtual binoculars and live on his Facebook, see whose photos he’s liking on Instagram and keep an eye on his Twitter followers, but to stop yourself going insane you will need to set yourself some limits. Send lots of saucy Snapchats, don’t be opposed to the occasional bit of Skype sex, but most importantly appreciate the fact that you have a boyfriend without having to go home and see him every weekend. Enjoy your first year of uni and let him enjoy his travels, otherwise you’ll just resent each other. The fact you’ve chosen to stay together in spite of being apart is a good sign. Stay strong!

Got a problem? Unsure who to turn to? Just ask Kitty: [email protected]

Apple’s Smart Watch: strategic innovation, or one bite too many?

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Fashion & Beauty.

With technology advancing within every medium, it is unsurprising that fashion is one of the industries that has embraced it with open arms. From the viewing of live catwalk streams—to models taking ‘selfies’ on the runway, it is now incredibly uncommon for fashion brands to not use technology to the utmost degree. They are examples of two industries that are inextricably connected and without technological reliance, the fashion industry may just be that little bit mundane. Social media applications, internet shopping and Instagram-ing the latest #OOTD is never far from the touch of our fingers, and there is a constant recognition that this is becoming increasingly apparent as part of our daily lives. This realisation usually originates from a technological game-changer that pleasantly invades our lives—Apple.

Since Apple stormed into the market, they have superiorly embraced innovation, whilst still remaining practical for a wide spectrum of generations. Their products appeal to us all in some shape or form, and one of their newest devices particularly hones in the fashion-conscious crowd. And their decision to target the luxury fashion and tech-savvy sector with their latest masterpiece, the ‘Apple Watch’, has created a certain level of fashion-related hype.

With fashion consumers specifically being trend- and tech-orientated, many would consider this is a smart move from an even smarter brand. This is perhaps the furthest their product diversification strategy has reached as a completely new market is being targeted. The wearable accessory acts as much more than a statement time-teller and the instant brand-recognition due to it being an Apple product, is desirable to most. It contains Apple’s recognisable features; elegance, functionality, status and ease of usability and is visually appealing as the sleek product arrives in an array of different colours to suit all the crevices of the fussiest modern-day consumer market.

However, the hard work that comes with such a product does not come without a hefty price tag, and cynicism will evidently still be present. Many would ask: who exactly would buy such an item? Apple have recognised this, and targeted their marketing campaign at the ‘fashionable’ buyer. The understanding they have of their consumer desires is one of their main core competencies as a business. Realising that personal identity is now more commonly than not displayed through our choice of unique style, Apple have already gone that extra mile in recognising that a ‘Smart Watch’ needs to appeal to more than the average smart watch consumer browsing through the array of opinionated, price-comparison websites.

It is therefore almost redundant as a time-telling device and instead, the fashion world has embraced the latest accessory, recognising it as a status symbol, sprinkled with an essence of elegance. Its first recognition from the industry appeared in Vogue China, where model Liu Wen dons the watch on the cover of the publication, whilst speaking highly of the product. A successful strategic marketing decision as many would say, due to the Chinese technological market being the most advanced in the global industry.

Being Apple is enough for most consumers, but this doesn’t mean they don’t have to impress their idealistic market. Previous brands have invented similar products, but the hysteria has not been as intense as they perhaps anticipated. Thorough research suggests that the capabilities of the Apple Watch have the predicted features and more. With competition already out there, it’s a question of will they succeed in their new adventure. They have certainly showed their capability in the past, but with the fashion market being highly volatile—have they taken too much of a risk?

Foundation of the future

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Fashion & Beauty.

The beauty industry has recently been swarmed by claims of ‘super’ foundations that can magically transform your skin. It would seem that foundation can do anything nowadays; from camouflaging all manner of sins to making you look ten years younger—is there anything this product can’t achieve?

Earlier this year Yves Saint Laurent launched their Fusion Ink Foundation to a waiting list of around 12000 people, with much of the hype surrounding the claim that it uses NASA-inspired technology. As stated in Vogue, YSL have used the same lipophilic actives that were first used in space to capture stellar dust particles. The Fusion Foundation uses the same technology to keep skin matte for longer, as the honeycomb structure of the particles allows for higher absorption of sebum. To put it simply: your skin stays matte without the dry patches often associated with mattifying foundations. Although the scientific claims of this product seem a little far-fetched, it has received outstanding reviews across beauty blogs and Makeupalley.com, who agree that the texture and coverage meet the impeccable standards expected of a high-end beauty brand—although perhaps not quite the ‘out of this world’ effect one would expect from an association with astronauts.

On a more accessible level (both budget-wise and scientifically), the launch of Boots’ No. 7 Foundation Match Made Service saw the introduction of a handheld device to accurately read the colour tones of your skin and closely match them to a No. 7 foundation. By picking up whether you have pink or yellow-toned pigmentation, and the deepness of the shade of these pigments, the device is said to be far more reliable than the eye of the sales assistant or customer. This futuristic device is great for shortening the amount of time spent in Boots pondering over whether you are more ivory than bronze, providing a far less subjective opinion (and meaning you’re not still clinging to the summer tan shade that is definitely too orange for winter).
So, the future of the foundation is bright (but not orange), with precisely matched shades for every skin tone, and a constitution compatible with every complexion. Although we may stick to Boots for our personal research and purchasing, the adoption of scientific research into foundation has proved successful and necessary in order to create a foundation fit for every skin type.

Welcome to the future

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Fashion & Beauty.

Fashion houses of 2014 step aside… Could it be that some of our hottest trends are now being set by the likes of Apple and Google? With the digital revolution as prominent as ever we are seeing the fashion world go technology mad; with the Apple Watch debuting the cover of Vogue China and the Google Goggles stealing the show at New York fashion week, we ask the question: are we really dawning upon a new age of futuristic fashion? And how far are we from the predictions of fashion we have seen over the past century?

Over the years many films have tried to depict their vision of what ‘futuristic fashion’ would be. Blockbusters such as The Matrix and Blade Runner projected future visions of shady metallics, edgy vinyl, and grungy dark makeup, while in Back to The Future we saw auto-drying jackets, auto-lacing shoes and colour-shifting hats, and now it seems that some of these fantasy predictions are becoming more and more of a reality.

 Take Louis Vuitton’s Matrix-esque AW14/15 menswear collection for example; we saw slicked back hair, futuristic shades, dark black leather and trench coats. While popping holographic prints and dishevelled metallics have never been bigger on the high street. We have even seen some impressive advancements in garment technology over the past few years such as ‘wearable solar’ which now means it could be only a matter of time before we can plug our iPhones into our dresses. It certainly seems to be the case that the future has never been so now.

 Coco Chanel once said: “Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” and in this digital era it seems Coco’s philosophy has prevailed once more; fashion is the new and ever-changing inventions, discoveries and technologies. So bring on the new technologies, and lets hope that auto-drying jacket is just around the corner, because we sure could do with one of those here in Manchester!

Interview: Andy Zaltzman

Written by Liam Kelly on . Posted in Features.

Andy Zaltzman is the British-based half of the global hit topical podcast The Bugle, and is on tour with the most interactive comedy show you could imagine. His new show, Satirist for Hire, gives audiences the chance to have the issues they care about satirised by one of Britain’s leading comedians.

Zaltzman invites his audiences to email in a general grumble or specific bleat in advance. He will then “butter their political hot potato to order, and then serve it back to them at a show of their choosing.” So far the tour has included a 12-day run at the Edinburgh Fringe, and six nights at the Soho Theatre in London.

I start by asking how the tour is going: “Good, so far. I did a week in London last week at Soho, and I was in Glasgow and Newcastle before that. I’ve got Exeter tomorrow, which is where the full tour element comes in.”

He continues saying that he’d “wanted to do something that was more interactive than what I’d done in stand-up before. I’d been fairly tied to written material, and I wanted to slightly force myself out of that. I also thought it would be interesting to do, and hopefully to watch. Involving an audience in the subject matter and getting them involved in the gig means that it is a much more conversational show than I’ve done before.”

Inevitably, involving the audience so much could have caused trouble. “I think I’ve been able to cover everything that’s been emailed in, even if it is from a fairly obtuse angle. But there’s some issues that are quite technical; a guy emailed in about BitCoin, and I didn’t know much about it, so I read up about it—and ended up reading quite a lot about it—and I ended up understanding it slightly less than I had at the beginning.”

I ask him about the most ridiculous request that he has been given on tour: “A guy asked me on behalf of his brother to satirise all 719 Pokemons during the run in Edinburgh. That was one of the most idiotic I’ve ever had. Last week a guy wrote in complaining about the lyrics in a Carly Rae Jepsen song, and in the same show I had some stuff about the ISIS situation in Iraq.”

Surely there is no odder juxtaposition than Carly Rae Jepsen and ISIS? (Then again, if Bashar al-Assad enjoys LMFAO, as reported on Bugle #196, perhaps ISIS members could like Carly Rae Jepsen).

With such controversial subject matter, I approach the heckling problem: “The heckling tends not to be aggressive, but occasionally I get some quite reasoned economic information shouted at me. In one of the shows in Scotland I did I made a comment about being worried that a Scottish ‘Yes’ vote would lead to permanent Tory government and it ended up with someone in the audience shouting ‘No, that wouldn’t happen, they’ve done a study!’, and someone else ‘Yes it would, they’ve done a study!’ ” [Laughs] “The audience was heckling itself on that occasion, [so it was] not the standard heckle.”

Laughter punctuated my conversation with Andy, and anybody who has seen his live material or heard the Bugle knows that laughter, perhaps not surprisingly, is an integral part of his act. Laughter proves that he is a comedian who absolutely loves his job, revelling in making others laugh.

However, he recently got into hot water when the Daily Mail reported his suggestion that there could be a referendum held on whether the Queen should be beheaded. This comment, he says, was taken out of context by the Mail journalist who reported the story.

“It was a rather curious thing, as I wouldn’t describe myself as a naturally controversial comedian or one who seeks to offend. I did a little quip on the radio during a topical panel show on BBC 5 Live, where we were suggesting ideas for other referendums that could be held [after September’s Scottish independence referendum]. I suggested that we needed a referendum that unifies, rather than divides people, so I suggested the one figure that almost everyone likes and respects is the Queen.

“So I suggested this referendum on whether or not we should behead the Queen, because everyone would be on the same side—even the most hardcore republicans don’t have that strong a feeling against her personally.

“Obviously they only reported the ‘comedian suggests referendum to behead the Queen’ bit, and failed to realise that the joke was both pro-monarchy and pro-democracy; but they made an inference from my use of the word ‘beheading’ that it was a reference to the ongoing situation in Iraq, which obviously wasn’t intended. I was thinking of Charles I.”

Zaltzman laughs when I suggest that we had been beheading monarchs long before ISIS started beheading journalists and aid workers. (“Henry VIII set a strong example.”)

“Anyway, I thought it was best to just not respond to it. I had a few mild… I wouldn’t say death threats, but invitations to become dead, from people on Twitter.”

We then move on to discussing Zaltzman’s magnum opus: The Bugle. The topical podcast, co-hosted by fellow Brit John Oliver, has just commenced “season two” after a summer hiatus that allowed John to film his spectacularly successful HBO show Last Week Tonight. I asked Zaltzman to evaluate the general health of the podcast, as well as the genre of political satire more generally.

“I think it might be slightly more infrequent, but I think we’ll carry it on, I know John wants to keep doing it. If it isn’t as regular I think we’ll still continue with it.”

When asked whether he envisaged the Bugle getting as big as it has, Zaltzman said, “when we started, neither of us had really had anything to do with podcasts, but it gave us an opportunity to do a topical show that we had full control over. Yeah, I don’t think we really knew how it would go; when we started John had a bit of a following from The Daily Show.”

“Obviously [political satire] is very healthy in the States, as there is a very well-established tradition of having political commentary on television every day. Over here there’s never been the same commitment to televised political comedy; shows are either very light [politically] or panel shows, and it’s hard to satirise the issues in 20 seconds. There’s a lot on the circuit, more than when I started, and you would think that it would at least translate to radio. It needs commitment from commissioners to make and support a show that aims for proper political satire.”

A panel show such as Mock the Week would, presumably, be the perfect televisual outlet for a proper satirical comedian like Zaltzman. Bewilderingly, he has never made an appearance on the programme.

“I sit by the phone every day waiting for the call [from Mock the Week]. I’m sure there is a reason for it, but I don’t know what that reason is. They obviously just think I’m shit. No, I don’t know.” [Laughs]

Zaltzman has earned a reputation for being somewhat liberal in his definition of the word “fact”. To him, “facts” tend to be elaborately constructed half-truths, untruths, and God-I-wish-they-were-truths, and these have become a staple of his act. This ability to invent ridiculous stories is something that goes back to his time at university, when he was sports editor of The Oxford Student.

“I loved it, largely because I filled the sports pages with a similar style of bullshit to what I fill the Bugle with. I made up events that hadn’t happened and did really stupid stuff, like saying that Marlon Brando showed up to watch the women’s rugby team in action. It was great fun to do, and I really enjoyed laying out newspapers, it was quite satisfying in a strange way.”

He did not get in trouble for making up the sports news at Oxford, as he was friends with some of the team members and they would “rather be in the paper surrounded by bullshit, than not be in the paper at all.

“But it did mean that, when I left university and had to get a job, I was left with a portfolio full of complete nonsense, and it’s quite hard getting gainful employment with that.” [Laughs]

His current employment is certainly gainful, however, and with this success comes wisdom: “In terms of stand-up, the best thing to do and the only real way to learn it is just to do it, to do gigs, and learn not to be too upset by failure. It’s very different now from when I was starting out, as the internet means that you are able to put whatever you want up without having to wait for things to get commissioned.

“It’s quite hard to explain to my children what I do for a job, given that a lot of it is sitting in my shed making up nonsense.” That is, in essence, the daily life of a student—though Andy, deservedly, gets paid to do it.

Andy Zaltzman will be at The Lowry in Salford on Sunday the 9th of November. More details and tickets for the shows are available at http://satiristforhire.com