Six Of The Best: Marginal Gains

Newcastle indie-rock outfit Marginal Gains return with new single Big Night. Formed in summer 2023, the four‑piece—Daniel Dover (vocals), Charlotte Harrison (guitar/vocals), Ashleigh Walker (bass/vocals) and Roberta Harrison (drums)—have already played over 25 shows across the North East.

Their new single, Big Night, is a sharp take on the party anthem, blending social commentary with humour to capture the restless energy of nights out. Recorded at Newcastle’s Blank Studios and produced by Chris McManus, it showcases the band’s observational edge.

Sonically, the track is full‑on and fuzzed‑up, driven by raw, jagged guitar and a relentless rhythm that finds room to flourish in the spacious production. It’s an engaging listen, marked by the sharp edge of punk staccato set against an ethereal, B52s-esque surf‑rock vocal.

Here, the band talk about their influences across art, music and media, with a six of the best…

Art – Isa Genzken
Isa Genzken is a German artist who lives and creates in Berlin. I was confronted with her work at Inverleith House in the middle of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Sculpture, photography, installation, film among picnics and rhododendrons – her creations were dazzling and unpredictable just like the setting. From one angle I looked at chaotic pillars stacked with found objects, toys, coloured plastic and cartoon characters. From another, a perfectly balanced totem pole. Disarming mannequins dressed for a protest? A fashion show? Maybe a big night out – or the apocalypse? Depends who’s looking and who’s asking. Genzken captures the energy of a place, the tension, the contradictions and unpredictability of the modern Western world. She’s tapped in, punk and makes us think beyond dots and colours. RH

Books – Juno Loves Legs by Karl Geary
A story told in many parts, Juno Loves Legs is a tale of magnetic friendship set in 1980s Dublin. I’ve never read a book that captures the lens of youth quite like Geary does here. As you are transported into Juno’s world, Geary delicately presents a mix of naivety and bravery that belongs only to childhood adolescence, and how it can inspire an unbreakable bond of friendship. Despite all the odds stacked against them – neglect, control and abuse – Geary writes the characters and this story with total humility. You are completely transfixed as Juno and Legs lift one another beyond the weight of their domestic lives and dare each other to enter a world of play, wonder, self-discovery and defiance. AW

Film – No Country For Old Men
Imagine you find 2 million pounds in a briefcase under a tree. People are going to come and look for it aren’t they? That sets up No Country For Old Men. A cat and mouse chase across West Texas. Crossing borders, crossing paths and for the old guard of the film, crossing arms in the face of a new (or is anything really new) singular code of ethics. Tommy Lee Jones’s character is right, the world has gone to hell in a handbasket, the rules that applied in days gone by are out the window. What does it all mean? I can’t answer that. For me it’s a bit of a spiritual one, it films a feeling and at least in my experience the older I get the less I’m sure about and two things can be true at the same time, nothing is new and nothing is the same. DD

Comedy – Vic Reeves Big Night Out
The Stotts, Judge Nutmeg, Les, The Man With The Stick. There is so much to love about Vic Reeves Big Night Out. I remember first seeing the lovely Les, his lovely bald pate and being excited to hear a new fact about them every week. It was a live show before it was picked up on the telly. It was where Vic and Bob’s double act began. Bob Mortimer went along to Goldsmiths Tavern to join a friend for a drink and found himself on stage. I imagine the energy and excitement of those early variety show type nights was a class night out. Vic and Bob would go on to write characters together and make a go of it. It changed comedy forever and provided a bridge between variety shows and the avant-garde. To this day whenever I see a man on the street with a big paper helmet on, I will always ask “What’s on the end of the stick, Vic?” and sometimes, only sometimes they will reveal what is on the end of that stick in that plastic bag. DD

Music – Pylon, Gyrate
A record for all seasons, my go to for a bad mood, for driving when I’m nervous to drive, for cooking a fun tea, for solo vaping, picking apples, trains home with a slight hangover, you name it. The pulsing bass and jangly guitar is somehow elevated by the knowledge that guitarist Randy Bewley made up his own tunings and chords, having never traditionally learned his instrument. I just need the first 3 seconds of Volume and I’m in a dancey mood. A firm fave and influence behind the MG canon thus far. CH

Pub – The Crown Posada
The Detail, The Wood, The Window, The History, The Pints, The People, The Layout, The Decor, The Window, that amazing window. It’s mint to take it all in at The Crown Posada. In the winter it’s cosy and lively with conversations, then in the summer you can escape the hurried shuffling of quayside food markets and head down, get a pint and go to that back lane bit to talk, drink and take a look at a castle wall. People say the devil is in the detail, with that being said there is loads of detail here and it doesn’t put a foot wrong. Anyway, to put it plainly this is a class pub. DD