Gig review: Mouth Ulcers and Corrine, Sneaky Pete’s Edinburgh, 6th October 2026

With rare-for-the-genre “Sold Out” notices posted weeks in advance (albeit in one of the city’s smallest venues), one of the most hotly anticipated goth gigs of the year brings media darlings Mouth Ulcers to town for their first show in Scotland’s capital.

                     Mouth Ulcers on stage at Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh

The London-based band have enjoyed an incredible trajectory in little over a year,  with regular plays on UK national radio, a début gig at a European festival, a German mini-tour lined up next year with equal billing with established scene guv’nors Then Comes Silence and a prestigious forthcoming support to The Mission at the request of Mr Hussey himself, with critics falling over themselves to laud the project’s “distinctive sound” and “unique take on 80’s goth”.

Viewed from a different perspective, rather than being unique, the band’s sound on the studio releases to date - a motorik driving drumbeat, pulsing eight-to-the-bar basslines, duel heavily-reverbed dark twang guitar with a low-in-the-mix vocal- is in fact remarkably similar to that of the early, more derivative releases of the gothic post-punk Class of 2015 (Whispering Sons, Holygram, Rendez Vous, Je T’Aime, Second Still etc) who presumably share the same original influences, and with only seven (albeit highly impressive) songs available so far, some of which have appeared on no fewer than three separate releases so far including recent compilation EP Silent Pictures, the band seem to have been gifted opportunities at an early stage of development which other talented young British goth bands (such as the recently split Social Youth Cult) were not offered. 

But is the hype deserved, or are Mouth Ulcers just the latest band to be built up and then destroyed, or even worse, ignored? Before we can judge, we are afforded the opportunity to see another act laying claim to the G-word crown, Glasgow’s Corrine with their self-professed “heavy goth” sound, mixing dark 90’s-influenced alt-rock with folk-tinged female vocals. 

                              Corrine’s Cat on stage at Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh

The band has released several singles over the last couple of years and are no strangers to support slots at Sneaky Pete’s as they have honed their live show, picking up the pace this year with the more subtle yet denser sound of single Wait and other excellent new songs on their own six track début CD Big Sad which was released last month.

                       Extract of Corrine performing the song Wait at Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh

Corinne construct atmospheric soundscapes with Andrew’s post-grunge riffing offset by Erin’s simpler, bluesier bass lines, with Cat’s melodic yet mournful vocal adding a dreamy layer over the occasional cacophony of the louder sections of songs like Visions, where the band flirt with other adjacent genres like doom and 70’s flower power rock, with Andrew’s occasional and somewhat obtrusive screamo backing vocals.

In the live context, Nyall’s precise and versatile drumming is the key to keeping everything in check through the frequent time signature changes, with Cat’s pure and confident vocal delivery the musical and visual focus despite Andrew’s axeman histrionics, and the tightly packed crowd respond very positively throughout the set.

The air of expectancy continues to rise before Mouth Ulcers squeeze their way past the pillar and through the throng to reach the low stage and begin the preparations for their own set, which mixes all the tracks from the Bandcamp-dominating EP with unrecorded songs which hint at a much broader musical palette than the holy trinity of post-punk influences (Bauhaus, Joy Division and The Cure) they usually cite in interviews.

Extract of Mouth Ulcers playing The Devil’s Mad, Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh

Opener Lady Rust takes some time to ignite, with guitar feedback dominating the overall sound, but the energetic pace of early single Prevail soon has the crowd jumping. The unexpected swamp preacher goth’n’roll of another newer song The Devil’s Mad, built around a familiar (Dead Souls?) three power-chord riff keeps things moving, whilst other unrecorded tracks add other musical elements, such as additional taped synth (A Cure For The Diseased and the multi-layered Flames) or a janglier guitar sound (You’re Not In Heaven). These newer tracks are interspersed with the better-known songs from the Silent Pictures EP like Western Horror Story and Space, and the already infectiously frenetic pace builds to a crescendo in a five-song finale, four of which come from the EP.

                   Mouth Ulcers at Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh

The grungy power of the slow-burning Satisfy is followed by the cleaner lines of Silent Pictures, before the fast-paced  repetitive goth’n’roll refrain of Stuck In Your Head segues into the equally insistent driving beat of A Perfect End, before the pace moves up a further notch with the frantic 176 BPM finale Closer To You, with its classic Bela Lugosi’s Dead bridge, leaving a sweaty audience fully sated.

Extract of Mouth Ulcers playing A Perfect End, Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh 

For a young band effectively growing up in public, Mouth Ulcers deliver a confidently impressive performance on their first appearance in Edinburgh in which lead singer and main guitarist Zak Watson plays a pre-eminent role. With his hair swept back to reveal his finely-chiselled features and sporting a dark waistcoat over a red shirt, his Perry Farrell meets Nick Cave look is offset by second guitarist (and backing vocalist) Josephine Rose and drummer David Zbirka’s more Romany goth look (One The Juggler, anyone?) and bassist Jamie-Lee Culver’s classic and more overtly gothic appearance as she stares impassively into the crowd, and this eclectic image is reflected in the growing variety of their musical offering, which hints at the potential for future development outwith the narrow confines of the darkwave ghetto.

Mouth Ulcers play further gigs in the UK, Netherlands, France and Portugal over the next two months, whilst Corrine’s next gig is at 1990 in Glasgow on the 22nd of this month.

Mouth Ulcers Bandcamp link

Corrine Bandcamp link

Gig review: Byronic Sex & Exile, 13 Tombs and Jan Doyle Band at People’s Leisure Club, Edinburgh, 27th September 2026

 The dreich autumnal late September weather matches the mood as a small smattering of goths gather in Scotland’s capital at the end of a sad week for the genre, with the news of the sudden break-up of the UK’s best young goth act Social Youth Cult followed by that of the tragic death of Das Ich’s Bruno Kramm at the age of fifty-eight.

The venue for this gig is the latest addition to the many small-capacity basement rooms catering to the cottage industry end of the musical entertainment market, The People’s Leisure Club, the name of which alone has surely attracted tonight’s headliner and gig organiser, Byronic Sex & Exile, the alter ego of one-man band Joel Heyes, one of the genre’s most politically active performers who keeps alive the post-punk revolutionary spirit which was a crucial (but sadly rarely present these days) strand of goth’s very foundations.

         Byronic Sex & Exile on stage at People’s Leisure Club, Edinburgh

Other key aspects which enabled the essentially very different acts now regarded as the founding fathers of the movement to be grouped together under one flag were an understanding of the importance of both dramatic performance and of providing a sense of community for those ostracised by mainstream society in an age where the concepts of “safe spaces” and “inclusion” had yet to be defined, and no current act exemplifies these key two aspects more than the evening’s opening performer, Jan Doyle Band.

Performing as usual in Edinburgh in striking solo fully ‘gothed-up’ mode, JDB sets the scene in the dimly-lit venue with a series of slower, more introspective pieces with live guitar backing, creating a real sense of atmosphere culminating in the spellbinding afterhours vibe of Getting Near with its unique and engaging mathcore time signature. 

                        Jan Doyle Band performing They at People’s Leisure Club, Edinburgh

The second half of the performance picks up the pace with more deathrock influenced numbers like They and Dance Down The Moon, allowing the impressively-clad performer to cavort and totter more freely and effectively around the low stage, culminating in a flamboyant if faithful rendition of Christian Death’s early six-chord classic Spiritual Cramp.

            Jan Doyle Band performing Spiritual Cramp at People’s Leisure Club, Edinburgh

Whether performing solo in goth mode or with a band in neo-futurist Bowiesque attire, a Jan Doyle Band gig is always a veritable full-on performance event, and it comes as no surprise that they have been headhunted to appear at a Spanish festival shortly.

Following Jan Doyle Band on stage must be a daunting experience, but Fife’s 13 Tombs positively revel in their extended forty-five minute timeslot, showcasing the full range of their garage punk gothabilly deathrock sound in a set which features many of the songs on their recent coloured vinyl début LP. Brothers Mark (vocals) and Al (guitar) rattle through a maximum goth’n’roll set at breakneck pace, with pauses between songs so short that even The Ramones would find them a little brief. Slower songs like Deep Dark Water, referencing “Aleister Crowley, Jimmy Page and Nessie” (and presumably Boleskine House) gave greater scope to the duo’s musicianship and songwriting skills, whilst maintaining the spooky garage rock vibe. 

          13 Tombs performing Dehydrating at People’s Leisure Club, Edinburgh

A lifetime’s fascination with horror b-movie culture diffused through the music of the likes of the Misfits and The Cramps is distilled in the band’s lyrics and overall sound, which is energetically performed with some of the fastest fretwork this side of P Paul Fenech, before they end as usual with a riotous Monkey Pus, a song in the fine verité storytelling tradition of other punky tales of woe like Jilted John, Where’s Me Jumper? and Caught By The Fuzz.

Byronic Sex & Exile’s performance was similarly well-paced, beginning with a few “goth bangers” (Nothing But Lead, 114 and Vathek) with his spacey Pink Floyd-esque guitar sound creating a cinematically epic sound. The focus switched to pure drama during the middle section of the set, with the customary swordplay during Death Or Joy, followed by a very moving version of Jacobin, and his setting of Lord Byron’s The Giaour (introduced as “a song about murder, lust, revenge, vampires…what I call Thursdays”!!).

       Byronic Sex & Exile performing Jacobin at People’s Leisure Club, Edinburgh

It’s back to the bangers for the end of the set, with Vampire Guitars and Grave Is In the Heart getting the audience moving at last, before a stomp through the revised version of Bella Ciao from the acclaimed recent EP Dauntless Zeal and the traditional finale Leviathan to round off an excellent evening of high quality contemporary goth.

The BS&E set was however punctuated by comments about the elephant in the room, or rather the lack of said elephants, in that the gig had attracted less than half the number of punters that had seen the same line-up of bands almost exactly a year previously, in a venue under half a mile away. As a result, all three acts will have lost money on the gig, with the two travelling Yorkshire acts’ losses likely to run well into three figures, leading to questions as to whether this particular gothic game is still worth the somewhat expensive candle. Joel Heyes was open about the unpalatable truth that BS&E gigs are judged primarily on the number of punters he can attract, but it is equally true that gigs like this one are the beating heart of the goth scene and help to keep it alive, forging links between performers and attendees, and on a purely musical level the gig was an unqualified success, with all three acts producing the best performances I have yet seen from them.

Jan Doyle Band Bandcamp link

13 Tombs Bandcamp link

Byronic Sex & Exile Bandcamp link

Play review: New Dawn Fades, Perth Theatre, Tuesday 1st September 2026

 It seemed more than apt to be going to see a play about Joy Division on the first day of meteorological autumn, and the sense of pathetic fallacy was only heightened as I waited in the drizzle on a windswept hillside for my lift (delayed by traffic jams caused by a motorway accident) to Perth, to the extent that I even looked around in vain for a punctured bicycle to complete the tableau of Mancunian miserabilism.

But New Dawn Fades, a play premiered thirteen years ago and now beginning another UK tour is far from being a non-stop gloomfest however, leavened as it is by frequent flashes of humour in the accurate portrayals of the likes of Peter Hook, Rob Gretton and above all our genial host, legendary Factory boss and local TV personality Tony Wilson, our narrator for the evening, played mannerism-perfect by the play’s author, Brian Gorham.

The first half of the play successfully contextualises the growth of the Manchester punk scene in the wider history of the city itself, from its Roman founders through the Peterloo massacre and the writings of Friedrich Engels, with Wilson successfully navigating the audience through fast-paced scenes with a dazzlingly array of characters from Julius Agricola to Paul Morley, although those unfamiliar with the topography of the contemporary Manchester city centre may have missed some of the references.

Interspersed with the city’s social and political history is the development of the band itself, through the early succession of drummers, the change of band name from Warsaw to Joy Division and the earliest gigs and recordings. The play doesn’t shy away from the accusations of Nazi obsession to which the choice of band name and record sleeve art rightly gave rise, but the band narrative increasingly shares centre stage with the development of the relationship between Ian Curtis and his young bride Deborah (played sympathetically by the play’s Director Lauren Greenwood) as Joy Division experience their first breakthroughs, culminating in a reconstruction of the band’s TV appearance on Granada Reports playing Shadowplay. 

In a mesmerising performance which closes the play’s first half, Josh Lonsdale as Curtis provides an impressively accurate live vocal and physical performance, dancing jerkily with flailing arms over the taped musical backing mimed by the actors portraying the rest of the band.

Overhearing snatches of conversation during the interval from those amongst the capacity audience who saw the band live in the late 197O’s or who had travelled hundreds of miles just to see the play was a stark reminder of the unique and enduring appeal of a band who sold a relatively paltry amount of records during their career, and whose tragic ending has undoubtedly played a part in galvanising all those their music touched.

The second half of the play begins with the portentous riff of the track which gives the play its name and whose title hints at the troubles ahead, as the play understandably focuses on the factors that increasingly closed in on Curtis, from the physical pressures of epilepsy through the emotional angst of attempting to reconcile his role as husband and father with his relationship with (the unseen) Annik Honoré to the mental stresses of being the frontman of a band increasingly in the spotlight.

As the play nears its inevitable denouement, it veers perilously close to jukebox musical territory at times (notably with the focus on the middle section of Isolation during the recording of Closer and in a touching scene where Ian and Deborah quote lines from Love Will Tear Us Apart at each other as their relationship disintegrates further), yet the writing and direction are never clunky, and the lyrics give an indication of Curtis’ state of mind to a modern audience hopefully more aware of the importance of men openly discussing their mental health than was generally the case at the turn of the eighties.

Gorman as writer handles the suicide scene sensitively, drawing heavily on Deborah Curtis’ memoir Touching From A Distance, with the effective use of a discordant section of Funtime from Iggy Pop’s The Idiot. After a final scene in which the rest of the band, Wilson and Gretton try to come to terms with what has happened and move on as New Order, as an encore Lonsdale leads the band through an emotional rendition of Love Will Tear Us Apart, with authentic instruments which will have been noted by the clearly knowledgeable and appreciative audience.

With a superb ensemble cast and a pace that never flags, this production of New Dawn Fades was over all too soon, and is highly recommended as it continues its tour around the UK throughout September and October.

For full details, see the play’s own website.

The Cure, Mogwai and Slowdive, Edinburgh Royal Highland Showground, Sunday 23rd August 2026

 The Cure’s undisputed status as the kings of the alternative music scene over the last four decades was confirmed when tickets for this thirty thousand plus capacity gig sold out within hours of going on sale last autumn. This was one of two large outdoor shows the band played this week on the UK mainland as part of their summer festival tour.

By the time we made our way into the already busy venue Slowdive were already beginning their late afternoon set to an understandably enthusiastic reception, as their classic shoegaze sound, which seems more popular today than in their early 90’s heyday, shares the same melancholic yet comforting and uplifting mood as Robert Smith’s own ensemble. Indeed, their reverb-drenched complex musical soundscapes share such a similar vibe to The Cure’s slow-burning, mid-tempo songs that they are in many ways the perfect warm-up act for Crawley’s finest, with Star Roving (from their eponymous 2017 comeback album) and signature song Catch The Breeze from their stunning 1991 début Just For A Day) setting the tone for a set rich in shimmering blissed-out melody from alternating vocalists Rachel and Neil.

The lengthy pauses between bands at single stage outdoor gigs not only gives the opportunity for refreshment and comfort breaks but also for extended people-watching. One of The Cure’s great strengths has always been their ability to appeal to a more mainstream audience than any of their goth-adjacent contemporaries, including a much broader age range, with many multi-generational family groups in attendance on this occasion (parenting done well). Although perhaps ten per cent of those present are ‘gothed-up’ to a greater or lesser extent, the vast majority look as if they could be attending any outdoor show: of the roughly 25% of attendees sporting a band t-shirt, the overwhelming majority feature the evening’s headliners, although there was a small smattering of the expected ‘goth legends’ (Sisters, Siouxsie, JD, Bauhaus), a handful of more modern acts (Traitrs, Whispering Sons, Drab Majesty) and some truly random outliers (Madness, Dead Kennedys and All Saints for example).

Only one solitary t-shirt was spotted bearing the name of the main support act, native Scottish band Mogwai, an indication of the niche position their primarily instrumental compositions hold in the musical landscape. If Slowdive are the archetypal shoegaze group, then Mogwai can be considered the ultimate post-rock act, their carefully constructed cinematic noisescapes making them the muso’s go-to musos. Those in the audience who had been attracted to the gig by The Cure’s more playful numbers (The Love Cats, Friday I’m In Love et al) seemed somewhat bemused by the succession of dynamic-contrast-filled musical pieces drenched in guitar-FX floating over the Royal Highland Showground, a unique mix of experimental neo-psychedelia, prog-tinged space rock and groove-based krautrock, underpinned by Martin Bulloch’s metronomic drumming. Their genuinely career-spanning set began with two tracks from last year’s The Bad Fire and ended with the legendary and lengthy Mogwai Fear Satan from 1997 début Mogwai Young Team, but the highlight was Ritchie Sacramento, the closest Mogwai come to a traditional song structure with its plaintive “All gone“ chorus , a moving paen to musicians who lost their lives too young, such as fellow Scottish artist Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit.

The Glaswegian act’s smouldering epics set the scene perfectly for The Cure’s own main set, bookended as it was with intense masterpieces (Plainsong and the title track) from 1989’s seminal goth blueprint Disintegration, which provided a further five songs in a dark set replete with deep album cuts from the first fifteen years of the band’s career. That the band played not a single track from a further trio of seminal gothic albums - Faith, Pornography and 2024’s Songs Of A Lost World - and still produced a mesmering set of darkly dramatic music speaks volumes for Smith’s talent as a musician, whether as singer, guitarist or songwriter, a fact often overlooked due to his cartoonish trademark appearance, a blur of smudged make-up, oversized jumpers and spiderish hairstyles. Now 67, his passion for the music remains as strong as ever, and his vocals show no sign of decline, unlike many of his peers. His subtle and stunning musical interplay with eternally cool bassist Simon Gallup is as much a joy to behold on stage as it is to hear on record, with the rest of the band also on top form: former Bowie acolyte Reeves Gabrels on guitar (with occasional support from Simon’s son Eden Gallup), drummer Jason Cooper (whose energetic tub-thumping made Burn an early set highlight), Roger O’Donnell on keyboards, with Jason’s son Gabriel Cooper providing a sax solo on A Night Like This.

Whilst the inspired pairing of indie hits In Between Days and Just Like Heaven midway through the main set had the whole crowd dancing, the rest of the show was more introspective in tone, with Smith admitting when the band returned for the encore that performing such songs take a lot more out of the band then the “light set” which formed an impressive eight-song encore which was effectively a mini ‘greatest hits’ set ending in a joyous Boys Don’t Cry to send the assembled multitude home sated but exhausted, whilst maintaining the band’s longstanding reputation for marathon gigs of exceptional quality. Not even a bizarre false start to Charlotte Sometimes, which Smith attributed to there being two different setlists amongst the band members (despite admitting that he was personally responsible for the selection of songs) could detract from a memorable evening which once again confirmed that The Cure remain peerless leaders of the alternative pack.