PINUP NIGHTS
FRIDAY 4TH APRIL
THE WINCHESTER CLUB, BELL ST, 9PM - 3AM, £5/£3
PLAYING LIVE: PHANTOM BAND, THERE WILL BE FIREWORKS, ROSS CLARK, THEPLIMPTONS
THE PINUPS DJS & HEAVYLIGHT DARKBRIGHT DJS
LEGENDARY PINUPS FANZINE & BADGE FOR 1ST 100 TO ARRIVE
also..
THE SMYTHS
FRIDAY 11TH APRIL
THE BEAT CLUB, 375 SAUCHIEHALL STREET, 9PM - 3AM, £8
DJ IAIN O’CONNOR

After 6 months of trying to kid on I could host a club night as odd as Pinup Nights in a mainstream club in Sauchiehall Street, Pinups returns to its natural habitat - the out-of-the-way social club. Strictly speaking, new venue The Winchester Club ( www.winchesterclubglasgow.com ) is actually licensed to hold more people than the Beat Club, but crucially it looks a bit more intimate. (Must be something to do with fire exits. Or Dr Who.)

Raising a crowd at The Beat Club was an utter lottery and I’m parting with the place and its friendly owner Dave Ross on good terms. The Smyths gig (see below) has been arranged for months and will still take place there. But generally the club just wasn’t the right venue. At the opening night there was a Pinups Record Attendance, in February there was a bigger attendance again, but inbetween it was a rollercoaster. I love The National but didn’t realise how many other people liked them too - que stupidly rammed upstairs room for their DJ set - I love Art Brut but didn’t realise nobody in Glasgow gives a fudge - que stupidly empty lower room for their DJ set - and so it went on. There were loads of cracking bands through the door - The Brunettes, Endor, The Parkers, Miss the Occupier, We Were Promised Jetpacks, The Plimptons, Asthmatic Scene, San Sebastian and Nacional (to name just a few) - but the whole time it felt like a scrap against the Garage, the ABC and the late licensed Sleazys.

It’s fair to say your average Sauchiehall Street Joe was fairly confused by Pinups. Why is Annie Hall playing on the TVs? Why are there pictures of Cliff Richard stuck to the walls? Why are they playing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"? Guys tried to offer me cocaine wrapped in £20 notes "to play my pal’s demo", people smashed up bathrooms and wrote complaints to the management in response to fanzine articles that possibly went a bit too far ("Maddie - Those Theories In Full by Jason Donavan" being particularly badly received) and you should have seen their faces when Jesus Christ appeared at Christmas to DJ - http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e109/johnd456/Jesus.jpg . Having proper Sauchiehall Street staff also probably put a dampener on things, because they actually ask you to leave if you’re blind drunk ,or asleep in a corner, though legend has it that Paul from The Martial Arts did actually manage to get locked in overnight once.

So despite a brief consideration of a return to the Woodside Sweat Club ("did I say the bar queue was horrific? I meant sociable"), it’s the Winchester Club in the Merchant City for Pinups. There are fun Guest DJs TBC for April in the next few days (and fingers crossed pretty amazing ones for May and June), but for now here’s the acts

For April’s Pinups we had Bricolage booked for ages, but, er, they split up last week, which is a shame. But we still have LOADS of lovely music to give you! The Phantom Band headline, and their album has just been released on Chemikal Underground ("like Stereolab dosed up on ketamine and lemsip" - Is This Music?). There Will Be Fireworks sound a bit like like The Twilight Sad covering Idlewild (www.myspace.com/therewillbefireworks), Ross Clark (www.myspace.com/electricpolyester) is "Young, but certainly not doomed, there is a romance about him quite unlike any other musician in Glasgow" according to The Skinny and last but not least you can also see the inimitable comedy rock titans The Plimptons www.theplimptons.co.uk. So another cracking bill then!

And on Friday 11th the UK’s No. 1 Smiths tribute band The Smyths (www.thesmyths.net) return to Glasgow for what will be another incredible evening of Smiths and Morrissey action. Since The Smyths first appearance at Pinup Nights in 2005 alongside Guest DJ Stephen Street these gigs have acquired a legendary reputation. Expect gladioli, badges, Morrissey face masks, a special DJ set from Iain O’Connor (DJ of choice at London’s celebrated Quarry Nights) and most important of all The Smyths performing almost 2 hours worth of live Smith and Moz classics!

Tickets priced £8 are available now from Tickets Scotland or www.threadsofsound.com/pinupnights

Thanks for reading

John D.