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Day: 19 February 2016

Interview: James

Written by Hannah Brierley on . Posted in Music.

17th February 2016

I’m sitting in the Malmaison Hotel reception area, waiting for the band to come over. Jim Glennie and Saul Davies approach and I stand up to shake their hands. Immediately I have the urge to burst out the lyrics ‘oh sit down, sit down next to me’ …but I then think about how many times people must have done that before, and swiftly decide against it.

Being described as Manchester’s ‘best kept secret’, the two members reminisce about their university days and how they met. Saul tells me that he studied Law originally but left because it was ‘fucking bollocks’. He then went on to study Archaeology and Ancient History, on the basis that you do nothing about nothing.

The band very much fell together, they explain. You can understand why some hippie dippie people believe in shit like fate. Jim clarifies that in his younger years he was best friends with ex-bandmate Paul Gilbertson; however, they had an argument and fell out for a year. When they rekindled their friendship, while Jim had commitments to play football and games, Paul had reinvented himself and delved into the world of music, and made it his mission to educate Jim. He recalls a time in particular, when he was dragged into his friend’s house and was made to listen to ‘Psycho Killer’ by Talking Heads and repeating to him ‘YOU WILL NOW APPRECIATE MUSIC.’

Pre-James, Jim and Paul met lead singer Tim Booth in the Manchester Student Union underground bar, or as we know it today, Club Academy. Jim laughs that they used to go there a lot and were too broke to buy drinks, so would steal unattended drinks; this one night, it just so happened to be Tim himself…even if he did catch them in the act, and was…surprisingly chilled out about it.

Saul (who plays the violin and guitar) was spotted playing on a night out at Band on the Wall, where band member Larry was in the crowd, and invited him along to their rehearsals, and that’s how the band fell together.

The Academy and the Manchester Student Union hold great significance for them as a band, so when it was being decided that they were to do another UK tour, they were adamant that they wanted to play at the place where the band had been born, especially since they have never previously played the Academy despite playing other large venues such as The Ritz and The Apollo. They also explain how weird it was to be as huge as they were in Manchester despite being relatively small to the rest of the country. So to be back in their home town felt somewhat magical, and the tickets became a bit like ‘gold dust’.

Saul then talks about his memories of watching other bands play when he was younger, and thinking to himself, “One day my band is going to be on that stage!” and finally, having formed in 1982, they are getting to play in the place where it all started.

The pair get excited and explain that for the first time in a long time they’ve actually rehearsed together, and in the past this has always felt tedious and like being back at school. Also, bringing ten brand new songs to the setlist, that they’ve never performed before, in hopes of blowing the audiences’ heads off.

I was lucky enough to watch James perform last summer at Kendal Calling. Saul admitted that he loves playing at small boutique-y type festivals, as opposed to the much larger ones, because they feel more intimate. The pair go on and fantasize about one day starting up their own festival and how great that would be. Jim says they’d ask the likes of Biffy Clyro and The Courteeners to come play for them. Saul also says how he’d love to be able to encourage other small northern bands as well as some of the bands he used to love to listen to when he was younger, to come perform, too.

In conclusion, I guess the moral you could take away from this story is to steal people’s drinks in clubs…you never know, you could become Manchester’s next best-kept secret. (But take that advice at your own risk.)

Government criminalises boycotts of Israel

Written by Paul Scott on . Posted in News.

The UK government recently announced that boycotts in Britain of Israel will be outlawed as part of a move that prevents all publicly-funded institutions from spurning goods or services offered by firms with links to the arms trade, tobacco products or Jewish-only settlements in occupied areas.

According to a government spokesperson, such boycotts “undermine good community relations, poison and polarise debate, weaken integration and fuel anti-Semitism.”

The imposition of these measures will affect city councils, NHS trusts, public bodies and potentially students’ unions across the country currently involved in boycotts or the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement in solidarity with Palestine.

The BDS movement is a means of protest against the perceived oppression of Palestinians and the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories by the Israeli state, through campaigning for boycotts of Israeli goods, cutting trade ties with Israel as well as implementing sanctions against it. The movement has garnered significant support across Britain, with many public institutions joining the cause.

Last year the National Union of Students – which represents over 7 million people – voted in favour of boycotting Israel under the motion of ‘Justice for Palestine’ and in 2011, The University of Manchester Students’ Union was the first in the country to ratify a total boycott of Israel in protest against the military presence in Gaza and the West Bank.

Outlining a list of demands, Manchester SU rallied behind the Palestinian cause and devoted itself to the BDS movement. However, that commitment could now be in jeopardy as the government step in to ban “divisive” boycotts in publically-funded bodies.

Critics of the new plans see it less as a protectionary measure for community cohesion and public harmony, and more an attack on democracy, freedom and right to protest.

A spokesperson for the University of Manchester Action Palestine Society said: “We were very saddened to hear of the news that the government will now be outlawing a legitimate form of peaceful protest, which we as British citizens have a right to. It seems illogical to us how they can ban a boycott, which in its very essence is inaction.

“This decision shows the government is using the power the public entrusted in them against the will of the people. If BDS was not something the public wanted, the government wouldn’t need to counter it. We believe it’s an attack on democracy and an attack on freedom of speech.”

Conservative MP Matt Hancock has stated that the policy is in place to “help prevent damaging and counter-productive local foreign policies undermining our national security.”

But a spokesperson for the University of Manchester Students’ Union questioned the logic of the decision, saying: “Students’ Unions are charities regulated by the Charities Commission, and so I find it very baffling how the government could push this law onto charities and in the case of unions, charities that don’t even receive any government funding.

“The ability for organisations and members of the general public to decide where they spend their money is the cornerstone of a democratic society and [this move] would be deeply contradictory of a government which also says it believes in a free market. It is through free markets that consumer choice becomes important and it is a proven fact that boycotts and divestments are a way for ordinary people to take a stand as organisations and governments.”

Echoing Manchester SU’s comments, the university’s Action Palestine society has promoted the role and significance of boycotting, stating:  “BDS was a major player in dismantling South African apartheid and it is proving to cause damage to an oppressive regime once again. We as a society will continue to boycott Israeli goods legally by continuing to encourage consumers to take matters into their own hands and not buy Israeli goods.

As far as institutions such as the SU are concerned, we will be playing it by ear and deciding how to move forward with the BDS campaign legally in the near future.”

The future for boycotts within students’ unions remains unclear at this point but they could soon be under threat from a measure the government says will tackle anti-Semitism and improve “good community relations”, but critics are branding an “attack on democracy.”