Fair Play! magazine launch
Review
Could I please urge you to take a look at YNES' new magazine ‘Fair Play'? The strapline is "amplifying work-class creative voices" and it's only one additional letter, but to me the plural form of the last word is the crux here. It's absolutely packed with content: 35 A4 pages in pretty small font to fit it all in & yet still beautifully put together with artwork of all kinds proliferating. YNES is really making clear the diversity of working class creative voices: these are many cultures not one homogenous one. There's so much great, really illuminating & thought provoking content that even listing it would overwhelm this article: however may I just highlight one example: three detailed sides on Coventry's ChiChi Squad which alone is a must read for you reading this and it was good to see members of the band present last evening at The Tin for the magazine launch.
Quite apart from a stupendous vision & I assume hundreds of hours of work putting it all together, it must have cost a fair bit to have such production values and in an age of often trite and ephemeral online music fanzines, printing in hard copy is a bold statement of intent for a very worthwhile concept.
Obviously buying copies is one aspect of sustaining it, but it must devour content at a rate so I'm sure YNES would be pleased to hear from people looking to help with issue number two.
As I say YNES was present (having flown in from Vancouver) and had support in regards to musical sets on the night from both Ace Ambrose (with her Oddity band scaled down to just Emmy Mckissock currently) and Yousaf who is based in the Manchester region. Sadly Duke Keats was prevented from playing by ill health.
I find it hard to describe the latter as every song in his set (including a duet with Ace) was totally different from the quiet & reflective to full on polemic (think a one person Grail Guard). It was all powerful stuff & his enthusiasm for the project & playing his music was infectious. I'm not sure how often he'll be playing round our way, but if you get the chance.. definitely recommended.
YNES herself opted not to take the headline spot at the event and delivered a characteristic set which was at the top of her form & served to remind us of how much we miss her regular presence on our local stages. With her trademark blend of apparently fragile vulnerability and steely defiance, as ever she took the recorded forms of her songs (though a couple of items in her set are yet to be released) and interpreted them via the emotions she felt in the moment: which as ever meant transcending what you hear on record. Her latest single, "What Was It All For???" made its live debut (an honour to be there) and revealed its true power and majesty. If I had to give a precise example of how YNES finds more in her own songs as she sings this, it might be her extra emphasis on the word "melodrama" throughout compared with the release. I do hope she returns again soon.
Ace therefore was the headliner, and she certainly possesses all the attributes for that role. With both Pride and Gaza under assault from the forces of darkness, lord knows she had targets enough to fuel her outrage and of course she has the songs to express that. Again, not all of these have yet come out (I'm advised that an album is on its way plus some exciting visuals) so it was exciting to hear more material for the first time. Although typically pushing back against the limitations of her own chronic health issues which meant performing seated for most of the set, the power in her voice was in no way diminished: in fact she possibly was more potent than ever.
Look out for Ace & Emmy at Coventry Pride: they are playing at Just Dropped In Records in FarGo at 1400 on 27th June (sponsored by the "Everywhere At Once" National Lottery funded initiative).
All three artists are driven by their values (and Duke Keats would have fitted in snugly on this account) and that really was the focus of the evening: counterpointing the stories in the magazine with songs of protest and seeking social justice in a variety of contexts: a well thought out evening designed to reinforce messages.
In a time when dark forces are seeking to suppress debate & disenfranchise many different groups, to have people like YNES and her collaborators actually do something about it is highly commendable. They will not keep quiet. I think we all should stand with them.
