The Vice Guide To Liberia
Produced & Directed by Andy Capper and Shane Smith
Soundtrack by Cut Hands aka William Bennett of Whitehouse

In The Vice Guide To Liberia, VBS correspondents travel to the capital city Monrovia to meet three men who participated in the 14 years of civil war that ravaged the West African country.
These men are former warlords General Rambo, General Bin Laden and General Butt Naked, who freely admits to cannibalism and a body count of 20,000 during his time in the war. They  give us guided tours of some of the most dangerous, impoverished areas including jails, brothels, and heroin dens. Despite the UN’s intervention in the country, the majority of Liberia’s young people live in desperate poverty. Surrounded by filth, drug addiction, and teenage prostitution, the ex child soldiers who were forced into war struggle to fend for themselves by any means necessary. As the former President Charles Taylor fights accusations of mass war crimes in The Hague, the people strive for positive change against all odds. America’s one and only foray into African colonialism is keeping a very uneasy peace indeed.

On 07/07/07 at 7:07pm, Japanese group Boredoms, orchestrated a performance by 77 drummers at Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn, NYC.  Hisham Akira Bharoocha put out an email inviting drummers to apply for a place in the performance and out of the 3000 replies, 77 were chosen, including Andrew WK (drummer no 57), David Grubbs (drummer no 23) and Lightning Bolt’s Brian Chippendale (drummer no 77).  The players were positioned in a spiral that trailed from a circular stage where the principal Boredoms members – Yozoro (drummer no 1), Yoshimi (drummer no 2), Sen (drummer no 3) were situated together with Eye (0) playing electronics, a seven-necked guitar and conducting the ensemble.  This is the screening of Jun Kawaguchi’s simply shot but effective documentary of the performance, complete with behind the scenes rehearsal footage, interviews, and, of course, lots of footage of the performance itself.  Come and experience the power of this momentous musical landmark.

There are also a series of shorts from the Thrill Jockey discography, which will feature new videos from Pontiak, Future Islands, Oval, Imbogodom and Dustin Wong.

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4pm Thrill Jockey Archive
A grab-bag of music videos plucked from the vaults of Chicago’s Thrill Jockey records, including work by Fiery Furnaces, Tortoise, Tunng, Mouse on Mars and OOIOO.
www.thrilljockey.com

4.30 VBS Soft Focus
Edited highlights from Vice’s interview series, with Ian Svenonius talking to rock luminaries including Ian MacKaye, Penny Rimbaud, Henry Rollins, Mark E. Smith, Kevin Shields and Will Oldham.
www.vbs.tv/shows/soft-focus/

5.15 Talk: ‘From Heretics To Headbangers: Occultism, Rock and Pop Music in the UK’
Mark Pilkington takes a look at the roots of contemporary British occultism and their baleful influence on 20th century music. Pilkington publishes and edits Strange Attractor, ‘an irregular anthology of cultural.
www.strangeattractor.co.uk

6.15 Talk: ‘The Aesthetics of Grindcore’ – Nicholas Bullen
The work of bands like Napalm Death and Carcass grew out of a stew of influences including horror culture and 70s agit prop as well as hardcore punk. Nicholas Bullen, a founder member of Napalm Death, will be exploring some of the tropes and themes that have informed the grindcore movement since its explosion in the mid-80s.
www.monium.org.uk

7.30 Heavy Metal in Baghdad (Dir: Suroosh Alvi/Eddy Morett US 2007)
First feature documentary to emerge from Vice Films. Beginning with the fall of Saddam Hussein, this is the tale of Iraqi heavy metal band Acrassicauda and their heroic efforts to stay together and keep making music while their country disintegrated around them.
www.heavymetalinbaghdad.com/uk

9.00 Artist picks
Two short films selected by acts playing at Supersonic today. First off, Efterklang present ‘The Symphony of Jessica Noise’ by regular collaborator Karim Ghahwagi, with music by Mads Brauer from the group.. Then Daniel O’Sullivan of Guapo will introduce Magic Sun, Phill Niblock’s abstract 1968 gem featuring the Sun Ra Arkestra.

9.35 Encyclopedia Pictura
Selection of work by a San Francisco production outfit who count Cryptozoology, Psychedelic Shamanism and Fruit Sandwiches among their interests. Includes a special 3D presentation of their recent video for Bjork, Wanderlust.

Plus a selection of other shorts and promos compiled by 7 Inch Cinema.
www.encyclopediapictura.com
www.7inch.org.uk

10.35 Supersonic Shreds
Or: Does Music Belong in Humour?
VJ Hooker (Filmficciones) has been voyaging across the outer reaches of the internet and various cinematic archives, and here presents the fruits of his quest. Includes shredded works by StSanders, aka Finnish video artist Santeri Ojala.
www.youtube.com/user/filmficciones70

11.35 Kipple
After creating a laff riot in the theatre at last year’s Supersonic, cut-up duo Kipple return with more modified video from the wrong side of the tracks.

12.05 Lost and Found Video Night
Full to bursting with clips and oddities from junkshops and skips across the world, the nine DVDs in the Lost and Found series attained a new high in home entertainment. Here you find some of the best bits; expect Bollywood numbers, penis songs and Crispin Glover.
With thanks to Chunklet and 5 Minutes to Live.
www.5mtl.com
www.chunklet.com

12.30 Southern Records Archive
A screening of the rarely seen documentary on THE OBSESSED made by JOE LALLY (Fugazi) in 1994. Featuring interviews with Ian Mackaye, Henry Rollins and others.
www.southern.net

1.00 Soft Focus
Edited highlights from Vice’s interview series, with Ian Svenonius talking to rock luminaries including Ian MacKaye, Penny Rimbaud, Henry Rollins, Mark E. Smith, Kevin Shields and Will Oldham.
www.vbs.tv/shows/soft-focus/

1.30 Southern Records Archive
Rare live footage and videos from Southern’s past and present, everything from Boris to Mothlite.
www.southern.net

2.15 Thrill Jockey Archive
A grab-bag of music videos plucked from the vaults of Chicago’s Thrill Jockey records, including work by Fiery Furnaces, Tortoise, Tunng, Mouse on Mars and OOIOO.
www.thrilljockey.com

2.45 Existing Conditions, part one
A short series of films and talks presented by Eastside Projects, a new artist run space opening in Birmingham later this year.
www.eastsideprojects.org

Ivy Meet Mike (Mark Titchner, 2007)
Video work by the Turner-nominated artist, overlaying archive footage of Atomic bomb tests to create an orgasm-like release of energy.

File Under Sacred Music (Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, 2003)
London-based duo Forsyth and Pollard restaged the mythical 1978 gig played by the Cramps at Napa Mental Institute in California, and then created this blurred, grainy document of the event.

4.00 Talk/performance: Boys And Their Toys
Three presentations by sound artists with a common interest in modifying and repurposing musical instruments or music-making devices.

Yukio Fujimoto
This Osaka-based artist describes his interactive artworks as ‘philosophical toys’, using music-boxes, treated vinyl and electronic equipment to explore the way we receive music.
www.shugoarts.com

Brian Duffy
Through work with Modified Toy Orchestra and ZX Spectrum Orchestra, as well as his own circuit-bending practice, Duffy mines the hidden potential of redundant technology.
www.warmcircuit.com

In collaboration with Ikon

6.00 Performance: Pierre Bastien
French composer who built his own instruments from an early age; his Mecanium Orchestra was entirely made up of Meccano machines which play a range of instruments from around the world. Today Bastien presents a performance and installation as part of Vivid’s Flux-Fest season.
www.pierrebastien.com

In collaboration with Vivid

7.00 Nosferatu (dir: FW Murnau, Germany 1922)
A new live soundtrack to Murnau’s classic expressionist horror, written by Matthew Eaton (Pram, Micronormous) and Grandmaster Gareth (Misty’s Big Adventure) and performed alongside other members of Misty’s.
www.myspace.com/theshadowofthevampire

8.45 Existing Conditions, part two

The Limit (Laureana Toledo, 2005-8)
World premiere of a film about The Limit, a Mexican cover band formed by Laureana Toledo who only play songs from bands native to Sheffield; Def Leppard, The Human League, Joe Cocker, Pulp, ABC and The Arctic Monkeys. Based in Mexico City, Toledo is currently on a residency at Eastside Projects working on a project called Wanted: Bass Players Called John. (If you’re called John and play the bass, get in touch.)
www.eastsideprojects.org

9.45 Fantomas-Melvins Big Band
London, 2006. A unique coming-together of Mike Patton’s metal ‘supergroup’ Fantomas and big-haired sludge trio The Melvins, for one unique performance. Supersonic presents the first ever public screening of the live movie which emerged from the event, released on DVD this August with a commentary by none other than Danny DeVito.
www.southern.net

10.30 Kipple
Extra slices of video offal

11.00 Soft Focus
More highlights from the Vice interview series with Ian Svenonius asking the questions.
www.vbs.tv