2 days ago

Jonathan GeddesGlasgow and west reporter

Pretty Ugly

Aarti Joshi of Pretty Ugly helped persuade Kirsty Wark to DJ at the club night

They would seem unlikely bedfellows - but there is a connection linking Claire from pop act Steps, chart-topping singer Paolo Nutini and legendary broadcaster Kirsty Wark.

All of the trio - plus dozens of others - have been persuaded to get behind the decks at a cult Glasgow club night, Pretty Ugly.

Organisers even nearly persuaded Nicola Sturgeon, then Scotland's First Minister, to spin some records, but a scheduling conflict caused the plan to fall through.

Started by a trio of friends working together at a PR company 20 years ago, the night is now set to celebrate with a special anniversary show at Glasgow's famed King Tut's Wah Wah Hut venue on Saturday.

The night was started by Aarti Joshi, Pam Scobbie and Lee Beattie two decades ago, when the trio were all working for the Burt Greener PR agency. None of them had any experience DJing.

"We had DJed at the Born to Be Wide music seminar in Edinburgh and we had never DJed before, " recalls Aarti, the only remaining original member.

"There was one of us on each CD deck, and one of us on the mixer, and I think because there were three girls who were diverse and looked a bit different, we started getting bookings."

Martin Barker

Aarti Joshi and Lynne Johnston say a love for pop music has always been at the heart of Pretty Ugly

Both Pam and Lee left over the years for family reasons, and were replaced by Lynne Johnston, who had gained experience with sets at the legendary Arches in the city centre.

The ethos of the club has remained consistent throughout the years though, even with line-up changes.

"Every song should make you want to dance," says Aarti.

"It's never 'oh, here's a nice half an hour to mingle' - you're up, you're dancing and you will get another four hours of it."

Pretty Ugly

The club has been held in various locations in Glasgow over two decades

The club's mixture of styles, from full-on 80s pop to emo rock and sing-a-long power ballads, earned it a reputation, as did an ability to attract a wide variety of people through the doors.

"So many people told us the club felt like a safe space, but that wasn't something we had to advertise, it was just how it was," says Lynne.

"I did a wedding a while back, and the groom was saying that his best man is gay. They loved going to Pretty Ugly in the past because there was such a mix played – it could be pop for one, emo music for another – a lot of other clubs wouldn't have that mix.

"It was just built around us having a mad, diverse group of friends."

Pretty Ugly

Paolo Nutini is one of many who've enjoyed a stint as a guest DJ at Pretty Ugly

Another attraction was a fondness - some might say daftness - for asking all sorts of people to come along and DJ.

It led to the likes of Aidan Moffat from indie rock miserabilists Arab Strap playing a stack of bouncing pop songs, while the event's 10th birthday saw Claire from Steps, Paolo Nutini and the actor Joe McFadden pop by.

The following year saw the less obvious choice of Kirsty Wark go behind the decks and drop tunes by the likes of Scissor Sisters, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Bronski Beat - before finishing with God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols.

"We DJed at the Scottish Baftas one year, where Edith Bowman usually played before us for about 20 minutes, " says Lynne.

"Kirsty Wark was with her. They played really great tunes, so we thought 'should we not just ask her if she wants to do Pretty Ugly sometime? Amazingly, she said yes and it was brilliant."

Pretty Ugly

The club landed Kirsty Wark to DJ one year, but Nicola Sturgeon was more elusive

However the duo could not land Scotland's then first minister, though came closer to pulling it off than might be expected.

"We were in talks with Nicola Sturgeon, but she's the one that got away," says Lynne.

"We had a wish list of unconventional women to ask to come and DJ, and we thought she had a really good Desert Island Discs.

"The problem was she wanted to do it in the Rum Shack venue, which was in her constituency (Glasgow Southside) and we couldn't get the dates to line up."

Pavilion Festival

The Pretty Ugly DJs feel the culture that helped the likes of Ewan McVivar is fading away

Other highlights over the years included a proposal (the couple are still together, adds Aarti proudly) and a night when a group of sailors walked in, and ended up partying away with some emo-loving regulars.

There was also the odd disagreement - both recall a particularly testy occasion when they nearly fell out over whether to play Stay by Shakespears Sister - a row that ended when Lynne broke the CD.

However the club night itself appeared to be fading away. Aarti took time away after being diagnosed with Crohn's disease, and the coronavirus pandemic dealt the nightlife scene a blow it is struggling to recover from.

But the duo's love of pop music and having a dance kept them going, albeit with concern over the clubbing sector in Scotland, and what they feel are the benefits of socialising on a night out.

"We're losing what was the Arches to become a bowling alley in the centre of Glasgow," says Lynne.

"It's killing culture because that's where people like Hannah Laing or Ewan McVicar cut their teeth. It's really sad that club culture isn't recognised as being such a core part of a city's overall culture.

"How else do you know you want to be pals with someone until you see them going mad on the dancefloor to a Kylie record?"

The Pretty Ugly 20th anniversary is at Glasgow's King Tut's Wah Wah Hut on Saturday 27 December.