Kate Nash was born in 1987 and raised in North Harrow, London. She studied theatre at the Brit school and achieved early success in 2007 with her single Foundations and debut album, Made of Bricks, which charted at No 2 and No 1 respectively. She has released four more albums – three of them independently – most recently 9 Sad Symphonies in 2024. As an actor, Nash starred in the Netflix series Glow. Her new cover of Sinéad O’Connor’s Famine is out now on Kill Rock Stars, and she plays Bearded Theory in Derbyshire on 23 May.
Music
Biird live at EartH, London, 28 May
Biird are an all-female Irish trad band who reimagine what women in trad can be. The brains and muscle behind this project is Lisa Canny, a woman with fiery red hair, strong shoulders and a bouncing heel, who is one of the best harp players in the world. I’ve seen this woman learn a tune on the banjo in two minutes while downing a drink and making dirty jokes to people walking past her in a busy corridor and then walk on stage and play it note-perfect. She’s a force to be reckoned with. You don’t want to miss this ride.
Documentary
It’s Different for Girls (2025, dir. Billie JD Porter)
Billie JD Porter is a British journalist and model from London living in LA. Her newest work is a short documentary that really caught my eye. It’s about male birth control and the small community working towards creating history- making new treatments. For the last few years it feels like feminism has been shoved into a corner and forced to fight with itself, so I was overjoyed to see someone tackle a subject we see so little about but that could change the world for all genders.
DJ
Tom the Bomb
Tom Prendergast has a club night at the Commercial in Limerick that will have you sweating into the early hours as you find yourself freed by the strange and eclectic soundtrack. His signature move is to click to the music and the crowd click back like they’re under a spell. He also volunteers for young kids in Limerick and has a show called The Last Bus Home on Limerick City Community Radio. He doesn’t do social media or streaming, so if you want the playlist, you’ll have to get hold of his email address and he’ll add you to his mailing list.
Film
November (2017, dir. Rainer Sarnet)
This is a strange and beautiful film about folklore set in 19th-century Estonia – a fantasy horror about love, witchcraft and surviving the winter. It’s weird, funny, haunting and creepy, and has some of my favourite visuals. In the film, there are these supernaturally powered automatons called kratts that steal livestock and do manual labour. I’m obsessed with them. You have to watch to understand. I love films that make things that look handmade and tactile and stay away from CGI. I don’t really want to give too much away, as I think it’s better to go in knowing less. Just expect the unexpected.
Podcast
The Blindboy Podcast
The sweet dulcet tones of this unique man are sometimes the only thing that can calm my mind in this hectic world. Blindboy will take you on a walk through history; you’ll be learning about potatoes, synthesisers, birds, AI, humanity, The Wire. He often can’t describe what the podcast is about, but you’ll learn to trust his process and, for certain, you’ll end up down some unexpected corridors while he chuckles to himself. His reflections have become very precious to me and many others.
Book
Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten Radicals by Maurice J Casey
Casey is interested in telling history through people who we don’t normally hear about. Hotel Lux was a real hotel in communist Moscow in the early 20th century. The book follows three anti-fascist women. It’s fascinating to hear about these forgotten radicals – “ordinary” women in extraordinary times. The book feels connected to the present moment, and makes you think about how your friendships, conversations and personal interactions can all actually be a part of shaping the future we don’t know is coming.
Photographs by Max Cisotti/Dave Benett/Getty Images, Sun and Beau, Tom Prendergast, Gabriela Liivamägi, Mark Nixon