Barfly

Riuven exploded out of Toxteth, Liverpool, in a blaze of goth batterin’ and ganja smoke in early 2006. For Liverpool, a city not known for producing exciting rap acts, Riuven’s unrelentingly harsh and unmistakably scouse approach was a revelation. Discovering his flair for rapping after grabbing the mic at a special brew and skunk party, Riuven has gone on to be a cult figure in his home city despite just a handful of live performances and even less sightings of him on the mean streets of Liverpool. Always elusive, Riuven’s popularity came through his Myspace page where songs such as ‘What lad’ and ‘The LIV’ had tens of thousands of plays and were soon being Bluetoothed around the city. Producing tunes at a rate of knots, disses such as ‘Lily Allen Rich Kid’ were immediately pinging around mobile phones. That tongue-in-cheek attack on the London singer even caught the attention of the national press. Undoubtedly funny, the ‘your ma’ jokes, weed references and casual misogyny hide a social commentary of a city where many teenagers pass the time by joyriding, taking drugs and generally misbehaving. In Nike Air, a baseball cap and never more than a burglary away from an ASBO, Riuven is every bit a kidder with the ability to spit fire. Concerning himself with pastimes such as scoring skunk and screwing the dole, Riuven is a mysterious figure not often seen in public. A string of upcoming court appearances might also be helping him to stay indoors.

Panic

Every 1^st and 3^rd Friday of the month

Black Box

Every 2^nd and 4th Friday MESHUGGY presents Black Box; imagine the best ATP-esque line-up you could imagine playing a greatest (mis)hits set in our bar; music from the likes of Deerhoff, The Pixies, Modest Mouse, Les Savy Fav, The Shins, Minutemen, Joy Division and much much more

Every 2nd and 4th Friday of the month

Both nights FREE ENTRY before 11.30pm, £1 after