Kristen Sinclair

 “Wait, are they covering the Thomas the Tank Engine theme song?” Ciara abruptly detracts from what she was saying to point out the gimmicky chug coming from the next room. The rest of Problem Patterns burst into laughter. The band are sitting in a circle on the floor of their rehearsal space off the Springfield Road, a cosy studio littered with battered sofas and cables. Ciara and Alanah sip on iced coffees; Beth and Bev unpack their kit as we chat. Their neighbours have unknowingly joined in on a private joke. “Thomas the Tank Engine was pivotal in album recording,” Alanah laughs. “We’d just stick it on whenever we needed cheering up.” The band are still recovering from their first live set of the year at the Atlantic Bar in Portrush the previous weekend. When I ask how it was, they answer in a chorus of superlatives – amazing, electrifying, sweaty. The sold-out goodbye gig for the iconic north coast venue saw Problem Patterns take to the stage alongside ASIWYFA, Brand New Friend...

Belfast’s queer history is all around us – and the LGBTQIA+ Heritage Project NI is aiming to uncover more. As part of their work, the project organises volunteer-led walking tours which usually start from Writers’ Square and snake all around town, from Botanic to Cathedral Quarter. The heritage trails retrace the steps of old Pride marches, reveal spots which used to house covert gay bars during the Troubles and highlight the vital work of activists. “If we included everything in one tour, it would take us about four hours!” laughs Mary Ellen Campbell, the project’s coordinator. “People tend to imagine that our history is just bars, whereas we see our heritage as being in every sphere of life – politics, art, religion, business… as well as [in] bars and [as] entertainers,” she explains. “LGBTQIA+ people are and have been everywhere. Now it’s about acknowledging and celebrating that fact.” Mary Ellen was involved in the original project which finished in October last year and has come o...