Jodie Leith

The Glasgow Guardian • 28th February 2021

Now That’s What I Call An Existential Crisis

Opening Twitter and being confronted by the onslaught of chaotic discourse surrounding MGMT's Kids’ addition to a "dad rock" compilation album was, to put it lightly, food for an existential crisis. The infectious yet pessimistic kaleidoscope-pop track which soundtracked the late 2000s for many indie fans - and FIFA players - had been deemed as a classic for dads. Dads? I was immediately transported back, á la food critic in Ratatouille style, to a time when I was a die-hard MGMT fan.

MGMT were

The Glasgow Guardian • 14th January 2021

Musicians of Glasgow Uni: Pete from The Runaway Models

In this edition of our Musicians of Glasgow Uni series, we catch up with History student Peter Visocchi from up-and-coming, high energy, Glasgow-based punk band The Runaway Models. Originally from Fife, The Runaway Models’ music is loud, unapologetic and oozes the punk attitude of the DIY scene in the 70s. Definitely a band with big things ahead of them, we ask Pete a series of our quick-fire questions (and he reveals his traitor behaviour with St. Andrews Uni).

Hometown: Came from the fields o

The Glasgow Guardian • 11th January 2021

Pretty Preachers Club: “We’ve made all our music ourselves at home… DIY musicians have boomed over lockdown.”

Logging into Zoom on the first day of the second official lockdown, I found myself chatting online with a band who, themselves, were a product of the first lockdown. Hannah Berry (vocals, guitar and piano) and Martha McKay (vocals, guitar and violin) formed Pretty Preachers Club just last year, amidst the chaos of 2020, and managed to release their debut single in October and debut EP, Going Nowhere Fast, in December; all from their bedrooms.

While they technically haven't played their first li

The Glasgow Guardian • 19th November 2020

Musicians of Glasgow Uni: Fin from Yellow Helen

To kick off our 2020 series, I caught up with Fin Logie from Yellow Helen. The five-piece, originating from Edinburgh, released their debut EP, The Honeymoon Suite, on 31 October 2020 and with a sound that can only be described as The Beach Boys meets The Beatles meets Halloween; it’s clear Yellow Helen are one to watch.

GG: Which year are you and which subjects do you study at the University of Glasgow?

FL: I’m in third year and I study film & television and comparative literature.

GG: How w

The Glasgow Guardian • 17th November 2020

Dead Pony: ‘People don’t really sing about friendship breakups. To me, they can be more hurtful than relationship breakups.’

Up-and-coming, post-punk quartet Dead Pony have enjoyed their fair share of success in a rather sensational, albeit, surreal 2020. From playing a sold-out, cramped-but-bouncing King Tuts and supporting The Dunts at a monumental gig in SWG3’s Galvanizers Yard, to becoming championed as indie rising stars on BBC’s Radio 1 – the band aren’t set to slow down anytime soon.

The band embody the play-loud-be-unapologetic motto of punk bands gone by and with a nomination for best rock/alternative act in

The Glasgow Guardian • 13th November 2020

The Snuts: “We want the sector recognised for what it is – a hard working, talented sector of skilled individuals who can’t just put down tools and retrain.”

It seems The Snuts have been an upward trajectory since the four-piece began playing together in high school at the age of 15. The band, consisting of Jack Cochrane (vocals/guitar), Joe McGillveray (guitar), Callum Wilson (bass) and Jordan Mackay (drums), have enjoyed nothing short of music success; playing a socially-distanced gig with The Libertines in Newcastle, topping the iTunes singles charts with Elephants this summer and having their track, That’s All It Is, featured in indie’s favourite

The Glasgow Guardian • 5th October 2020

Glasgow teen organises live stream charity gig Sam’s Night with Lewis Capaldi, The Snuts and more

19-year-old Glasgow teen and music lover Liam Hannah has organised an online festival in memory of his younger brother Sam Hannah, who passed away this year after battling with leukaemia, at just 14 years old. The charity event, Sam’s Night, streams 9 October at 5pm. The night has already gathered an impressive line-up of musical talent including: The Snuts, Mark Sharp, Luke La Volpe, Dictator, Voodoos, Spyres, Shambolics, Katuns, Ryan Phillips, White Novels, Lewis Payne, Joshua Grant, Dylan Ram

The Glasgow Guardian • 14th September 2020

Freshers’ guide to the music in Glasgow

Ah, Freshers'. As a home student, I wasn’t privy to the true entertaining hellscape that is Freshers’ Week, which could be cited as the most important week on a first year’s social calendar. Personally, I was more fixated on the possibility of free pizza (I spun a wheel-of-high-cholesterol and won a measly garlic and chive dip; gutting) than the baptism of fire that is most students’ first, drunken HIVE outing and subsequent, sketchy Murano afters. As a result of this lack of proximity, my own p

The Glasgow Guardian • 11th September 2020

Preview: Subcity Radio soundtracks Freshers’ Week with ground-breaking broadcast

It’s undeniable that Freshers’ Week will bring an unconventional start to University life for many new students. The continued closure of many clubs in Glasgow, enforced social distancing guidelines in bars and increased emphasis on remote learning from the University all mean that the traditional Freshers’ Week will be missed this year.

But fear not! Glasgow’s Subcity Radio aims to cure any fear of missing out on the freshers' experience with some innovative 24-hour long broadcasts over the we

The Glasgow Guardian • 11th September 2020

Review: Our Ladies

Debuting at the 2020 Glasgow Film Festival earlier this year, Scottish Catholic schoolgirls-gone-wild “teen” flick, Our Ladies, is not the sort of film you want to watch sandwiched between your mother and sister. Unfortunately, I did. Having lived through the unspeakable discomfort of endless filthy innuendoes, unwarranted full-frontal nudity, and awkward sex scenes —the worst featured one of the girls outdoors, being whipped with a rosary during the act; thank God my mum went to the toilet) — I

The Glasgow Guardian • 31st December 2020

The GG team’s top albums of 2020

Without further ado, in a year we needed music most, here are the albums that were, simply, better than the rest…

Yves Tumor was unlike any artist I had ever heard before. As I was sitting on the inevitably delayed ScotRail service, late to my Film & Television class and planning the sneakiest entrance into the lecture; Spotify presented me with the great Yves Tumor. I was caught off guard by the unforgettable sound of Licking An Orchid, an experimental rock, pop, trip-hop fusion with angsty, l

The Glasgow Guardian • 13th July 2020

White Riot: A Look Back at Rock Against Racism

Music Columnist Jodie Leith examines the Rock Against Racism movement of the 70s, and how its indelible legacy mirrors the Black Lives Matter movement and current world affairs today.

“We peeled away the Union Jack to reveal the swastika”

Britain in the 1970s was a society at war with itself; racial and class tensions had reached a high with mass unemployment, racism, rioting and the establishment of far-right fascist political party the National Front (NF), which at the time managed to secure

The Glasgow Guardian • 10th June 2020

Review: Normal People

Our pull towards falling in love with Normal People, explained.

When asked about the concept of normalcy within her 2018 best-selling novel Normal People at the London Review Bookshop, author Sally Rooney answers that she’s always loved “to read and to write about are experiences that, are in fact, completely banal but that don’t necessarily conform to our narrative about what normality is [… ] Experiences that maybe feel weird while they’re happening but are in fact utterly run of the mill bec

The Glasgow Guardian • 17th February 2020

Review: Uncut Gems

NBA star Kevin Garnett, The Weeknd, and Adam Sandler star in one of the tensest films of the year.

Uncut Gems follows Howard Ratner, portrayed by Adam Sandler, a morally ambiguous, New York City jeweller (and profligate gambler) through an uncomfortable descent into madness and chaos. Directed by Josh and Benny Safdie, the film is anxiety. Pure anxiety, and adrenaline, to say the very LEAST (I capitalise this to emphasise that if you have a heart condition, you should second guess watching this