Photo by John Convery

APPLY HERE

“I loved hosting my workshop at such an eclectic and vibrant festival, everyone that participated in the workshop had such a positive and open attitude to creating something, whether they were creative or not. It was an absolute pleasure to host at Supersonic!”

– Workshop leader feedback from last year.

We are on the lookout for some wonderfully creative minds to bring us unusual, imaginative and engaging new workshops that will take place as part of the festival weekend.

From in-depth sessions to indulgent fun, we want you to craft something extraordinary for our curious audiences. Whether you’re flying solo, a group or an organisation, we want to hear ideas that embrace our passion for collaboration between both artists and audience alike.

We are a festival which celebrates expressive, challenging and generally out-there music and art. We remain inclusive, accessible and engaging to varied audiences; new and returning.

Workshop proposals should present a singular, innovative idea that encapsulates a clear understanding of what Supersonic is about.

We’ve previously hosted workshops around singing, zines, upcycling, life-drawing, yoga, costume-making, sculpture – you name it!

The application deadline is 5pm, Monday 9 June, 2025.

The fee is £150 + 2 weekend tickets (inclusive of materials).

For enquiries please contact: [email protected]

Photo by Snaprockandpop

Our internationally renowned Supersonic Festival returns to Digbeth August 29 – 31st and we need a dedicated team of volunteers to help deliver it!

APPLY HERE

“The volunteer care in terms of orientation and guidance, as well as helping people feel welcome was of the very highest quality. I found the organisation, care towards community and prioritisation of excellent music to be absolutely impeccable”
– Volunteer feedback from last year.

Supersonic has secured its experimental reputation with consistently innovative and explosive concoctions of visual installations, films, exhibitions and music. Guaranteed to open eyes and ears to music and art outside the predictable genre labels and familiar performance spaces.

You will be part of an ever growing, friendly community of music and art lovers helping to maintain the values of bringing the extraordinary to curious audiences in an all-inclusive way. This will be an invaluable experience into how our festival runs but not only that, you’ll be contributing to something truly Superspecial whilst making friends along the way!

It’s worth noting that volunteer shifts will take place within a festival environment which can be loud and busy with people. 

The festival is small enough for every volunteer to give real input and value in the following areas:

• Artist Liaison
• Box Office
• Hospitality
• Site Set up
• Merch
• Promotion

You must be able to volunteer for all three days of the festival and will work up to 16 hours (spread over the weekend).

Volunteers must be over 18 years old.

Application deadline: Monday 23rd June.

Reference: Once the deadline has passed, we will source references for all first-time volunteers before we can confirm your place.

Deposit: All volunteers are required to submit a £50 deposit by August 1st (unless you are unable to do so and have contacted us beforehand). This will be returned in FULL the week after the festival. We’ll be in touch about this in July.

Rota: You will be emailed your shifts two weeks before the festival.

If you have any questions, then please email [email protected]

SUPERSONIC FESTIVAL WELCOMES THE FOLLOWING ADDITIONS TO THE 2025 EDITION; ABDULLAH MINIAWY, AYA, BIG SPECIAL, JACKIE-O MOTHERFUCKER, PENELOPE TRAPPES, RÚN, SKLOSS, SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE

| TICKETS ON SALE NOW!!! | LINE UP INFO | HOTELS |

As well as General Weekend tickets we are including a payment plan option this year to help spread the cost, these must be purchased by the end of April. Plus we have Solidarity Tickets for those who can afford to pay more to help us subsidise a % of tickets for those on low incomes or unemployed.

To purchase Weekend Tickets + Solidarity go HERE
LAST CHANCE TO PURCHASE WEEKEND TICKETS VIA OUR PLAYMENT PLAN go HERE

Supersonic will return to Digbeth, Birmingham on the 29th-31st August 2025, making space for moments of collective joyful communion and true escapism against a backdrop of a world in turmoil. Says artistic director Lisa Meyer, “We are living in abhorrent times, so now more than ever we must cherish our creative spaces. I am so grateful that our audiences and artists trust in us. This is what keeps pushing the festival forward.”

The Supersonic line-up is as follows:

ABDULLAH MINIAWY | AUNTY RAYZOR | AYA | BACKXWASH | BIG SPECIAL | BRIDGET HAYDEN AND THE APPARITIONS | BUÑUEL | CINDER WELL | DEATH GOALS | DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE | HEDGLING | HIRS COLLECTIVE | JACKIE-O MOTHERFUCKER | MARIA W HORN & SARA PARKMAN present FUNERAL FOLK | MEATDRIPPER | MERMAID CHUNKY | MOIN | OMO |
PENELOPE TRAPPES | POOR CREATURE | RICH(ARD) DAWSON | RÚN | SKLOSS |
SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE | WATER DAMAGE | WITCH CLUB SATAN | ZU 

Aya Photo by Dee Iskrzynska

New names have also been added to the lineup, including Aya, notorious for her raw energy, humour, and unpredictability. Combining high-concept ideas with DIY aesthetics, Aya uses voice, electronics, and razor-sharp wit to blur the boundaries between performance art, rave, and stand-up comedy. Her shows can feel like a shared exorcism—funny, chaotic, sweaty, and emotionally charged.

Abdullah Miniawy photo by Danio Holtz

Egyptian born Abdullah Miniawy merges the spiritual intensity of Sufi chants with the improvisational freedom of jazz. Accompanied by trombonists Robinson Khoury (2024 Django Reinhardt Prize from the Academy of Jazz) and Jules Boittin, Miniawy’s sound is one of resistance, ritual, and reimagining—music that doesn’t just cross cultures, but reshapes them.

Penelope Trappes

Penelope Trappes creates immersive, emotionally resonant soundscapes that blend ambient, shoegaze, and experimental electronics. Her music is intimate and atmospheric, with reverb-drenched vocals and minimalist textures that evoke a haunting, dreamlike world. Jackie-O Motherfucker, the experimental collective founded in Portland, Oregon, in 1994, will bring their dynamic fusion of free jazz, psychedelic folk, drone, and space rock, renowned for their unpredictable live shows.

Six Organs of Admittance photo by Kami Chasny

Supersonic is excited to welcome back Six Organs of Admittance, who present an ever-evolving blend of ecstatic melody, acoustic intricacy and spiritual noise. Skloss, the Austin-by-way-of-Glasgow duo of Karen Skloss and Sandy Carson will bring heavy psychedelia, post-metal drones, meditative rhythms, and raw distorted riffs. Rocket Recordings latest signing Rún, an Irish band whose sound is rooted in folk tradition but deeply exploratory and atmospheric (channeling influences from Coil to Pauline Oliveros), will also be welcomed to the Supersonic stage. And Black Country duo Big Special will fuse the grit and spirit of their industrial roots into a raw, urgent and evocative sound that blends the personal with the political.

Big Special Photo by Isaac Watson

“We’re buzzing to be on this year’s Supersonic line up. To get the nod from our hometown’s top alt festival for outside the box artists is a proper sense of pride. It’s always been the festival that showcases the most interesting experimental genres, and some of the best up and comers from scenes you never knew existed… it’s a festival that helps cement Brum as the cultural hub it is.”
– Big Special

To purchase Weekend Tickets + Solidarity go HERE
LAST CHANCE TO PURCHASE WEEKEND TICKETS VIA OUR PLAYMENT PLAN go HERE

We are proud members of PRS Foundation, Talent Development Network (TDN) 2025. One of the many ways we are using this support is to produce a regular news item for UK music creators specifically designed to signpost the most significant national and international opportunities.

Please help us spread this work by sharing the newsletter resource with your peers, and also if you know of any other relevant opportunities that we haven’t included, please send any upcoming opportunities to us [email protected]

SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST

BURSARY & GRANTS

PRS: PPL Momentum Music Fund

Deadline: May 12, 2025.

The PPL Momentum Music Fund offers grants of £5k-£15k for UK based artists/bands to break through to the next level of their careers. Activities eligible for support include recording, touring and marketing. Previous recipients include Big Joanie and Little Simz.

PRS: Early Career Promoter Fund

Deadline: May 15, 2025.

Grants of up to £3,500 for independent promotors to support with –

• The booking, programming and promotion of gigs, concerts, club nights, showcases, tours
• Costs associated with those activities (eg venue hire, production, artist and/or DJ fees)
• Capacity building (including mentoring, coaching, shadowing, workshops etc)
• Other expenditure

Arts Council: Developing your Creative Practice

Deadline: May 22, 2025. 

£2,000-£12,000

Supporting individual creative and cultural practitioners to focus on their development and take them to the next stage of their practice.

• building new networks​
• experimenting with new collaborators or partners ​
• international travel to explore your practice​
• professional development activities, such as training or working with mentors ​
• research and development time to explore your practice and take risks

PRS Foundation: The Open Fund for Music Creators

Deadline: September 1, 2025.

Supporting the development of music creators with grants of up to £5000.

Projects must fulfill all of the following: support the creation, performance and promotion of outstanding new music in any genre, enable the UK’s most talented music creators to realise their potential and reach audiences.

The White Pube: The Creatives Grant

Monthly.

One-off £500 grant to be given out to a different working class creative practitioner based in the UK once every month.

To support creatives of all ages who are early in their careers and would benefit from this no-strings attached financial support to help them in whatever they like – be that money to cover time to make, or money to fund materials, equipment, research, subscriptions, development, travel, or even rent and bills.

The grant is open to anybody who makes stuff, this can be art, writing, performance, sound, music, craft, comedy, games etc

Creative Debuts: Black Artists Grant

Monthly.

One-off £500 grant to be given to black artists every month.

A no-strings attached grant for black artists to be spent making new work, buying equipment or materials, travel, research, visiting exhibitions or conferences, or to even just cover some life expenses.

ARTIST DEVELOPMENT

B:MUSIC She:Music 

Deadline: April 28, 2025. 

A 3 year programme that aims to promote bold cross-genre collaborations and break down the barriers that women face in creating innovative, genre-defying music.

• Working with Girl Grind UK and Women in Jazz to provide performance platforms for women.
• Provide work placement opportunities for women in technical and production
• Provide 6 open workshops for women wishing to pursue careers in the music industry, based on general themes of: self-employment; self-promotion & contracts; events management; how to make venue spaces (performance, recording, practice, etc) as safe as possible
• To create a network of women who will encourage, inspire & support each other.

Sound and Music: In the Making

Deadline: May 5, 2025. 

The UK’s only year-long artist development programme for talented young music creators and composers aged 14–18.

It supports those passionate about making music in any form and is open to all, regardless of instrument, musical interests, creative goals, background, or location. 

The programme brings together 50 young music creators from across the UK for a week-long residential at the University of Huddersfield where they will create, record and perform their own original new music and access a wealth of workshops, learning sessions and career development. 

They are guided by artists, top composers, industry professionals and tutors throughout the week and then during their subsequent 12-month virtual journey, transforming their composing and performing skills while building their confidence, experience, and creative ambition. 

Means-tested bursaries are available, which can cover up to 100% of the fee and in some cases can also contribute to travel costs. 

Diaphonique – Franco – British – Irish Fund for Contemporary Music 

Deadline: May 15, 2025. 

Franco-British-Irish fund for classical and contemporary music, is pleased to announce the opening of its 2025 call for projects.  Diaphonique supports artistic collaborations between France, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, helping musicians, composers, and institutions bring ambitious joint projects to life.  

Open to ensembles, institutions, and creators wishing to develop original projects between the three countries. It aims to encourage contemporary creation, the dissemination of repertoire, and the establishment of long-term partnerships in classical and contemporary music.   

China Plate: The Optimists Summer Course 2025

Deadline: May 23, 2025.

Unique training opportunity for emerging artists, creative practitioners or aspiring producers hoping to develop your professional producing skills in the subsidised arts sector.

Drawing on China Plate’s extensive experience and real examples in theatre producing, the training course provides knowledge and insight on the practicalities of making, funding, touring, and promoting your work.

Sessions will take place in-person between 14 June and 2 August at venues across the West Midlands.

Bursaries are available, covering the full cost of the course.

Culture Central – Various Programmes

INCLUDING:

• Inclusive Network – unites trailblazers, leaders, and creative activists to support, empower, and provide opportunities for traditionally excluded groups within the creative workforce. 
• West Midlands Cultural Response Unit 2025/26 – WMCRU meetings will explore key strategic challenges and opportunities that affect the sector and the region. It is aimed at those leading strategic activity in their organisations or networks. 
• Grow – a mentoring scheme that works across art forms, skills and experience levels.  
• Collective – Culture Central x people make it work x Collective is a three year leadership programme for those traditionally excluded from senior roles in the cultural sector. 

LES SAVY FAV

+ Special Guests

THURSDAY 30 OCTOBER 2025

The Castle & Falcon, Birmingham

| TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY 10AM |

“it’s unpredictable and chaotic but in a joyous way and they involve the crowd more than most bands – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a band try and move the security barrier before, let alone lift audience members over to bring them closer.”

– Paper Champion Zine

DEERHOOF

+ Special Guests

THURSDAY 24 JULY 2025

The Castle & Falcon, Birmingham

| TICKETS |

by Satoru Eguchi

One of the finest bands out there Deerhoof are returning to Birmingham on Thursday 24 July at the Castle & Falcon

For a band that seems to thrive on collapse, it’s simply amazing that this US/Japanese quartet is now celebrating its 31st year. Deerhoof long ago established themselves as one of the greatest rock groups ever to stride the earth. And if you think that’s an exaggeration, you haven’t seen them live. The furiously inventive quartet releases new albums on the schedule of a young band still hungry for its first break. Each one discovers some previously unknown combination of candy-coated hard-rock riffs and free-jazz percussive freak-outs, sideways J-pop hooks and fearsome dissonance, trenchant social commentary and surrealist humour. Their music is joyful and foreboding, cybernetic and deeply human, carrying an implicit note of defiant optimism in their refusal to bow to convention!

“noise pop has never been so much fun”

– The Quietus

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

★★★★★ – The Guardian

“Two decades in, Supersonic remains the ultimate annual platform for interesting, experimental and boundary-pushing music in the UK and beyond. More than just a brilliant festival, Supersonic is the nexus point for the genuine underground – one of the country’s most important incubators for the culture we see as totally critical.” – The Quietus

FIRST NAMES REVEALED…

AUNTY RAYZOR | BACKXWASH | BRIDGET HAYDEN AND THE APPARITIONS | BUÑUEL | CINDER WELL | DEATH GOALS | DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE | HEDGLING | HIRS COLLECTIVE | MARIA W HORN & SARA PARKMAN present FUNERAL FOLK | MEATDRIPPER | MERMAID CHUNKY | MOIN | OMO | POOR CREATURE | RICH(ARD) DAWSON | WATER DAMAGE | WITCH CLUB SATAN | ZU
+ more to be announced

Clockwise – Bacxwash, Rich(ard) Dawson, Moin & Witch Club Satan

Highlights include, a UK exclusive from Backxwash showcasing her incoming album ‘Only Dust Remains’. Rich(ard) Dawson will also be presenting music from his new album, End of the Middle with drummer Andrew Cheetham. Performing in the UK for the first time Swedish artists Maria W Horn & Sara Parkman present Funeral Folk, a singular and ritualistic musical exploration of death and grief. We are proud to host the first UK show for Witch Club Satan, an occult, feminist Black Metal trio from Norway. Three-piece experimental outfit Moin join us, alongside Water Damage, a Texas-based droning supergroup, composed of experimental veterans from projects including Black Eyes, Swans, and USA/Mexico. Plus loads more vital new music.

Clockwise Divide And Dissolve, Maria W Horn & Sara Parkman, Hirs Collective & Poor Creature

To get to know our 2025 lineup, have a listen to our Supersonic Festival Playlist! Enjoy all of our announced artists from Mermaid Chunky to Zu in one place and follow our profile to be the first to sonically witness future curated playlists!

Tickets will go on sale at 10am on Friday

The initial Supersonic line-up as follows:

AUNTY RAYZOR | BACKXWASH | BRIDGET HAYDEN AND THE APPARITIONS | BUÑUEL |
CINDER WELL | DEATH GOALS | DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE | HEDGLING | HIRS COLLECTIVE |
|  MARIA W HORN & SARA PARKMAN present FUNERAL FOLK |
|  MEATDRIPPER | MERMAID CHUNKY | MOIN | OMO | POOR CREATURE |
| RICH(ARD) DAWSON | WATER DAMAGE | WITCH CLUB SATAN | ZU |
+ more to be announced

★★★★★ THE GUARDIAN

 “One of our most diverse, exciting and forward-thinking festivals.” – THE WIRE

“As long as festivals as uplifting, as communal, and as defiant as Supersonic continue to defy the odds, there is hope.”
– THE QUIETUS

“Despite facing many challenges last year brought on by gentrification and a precarious festival landscape, I was truly humbled by the incredible response to the festival; it felt triumphant in the face of adversity.
We are living in abhorrent times, so now more than ever we must cherish our creative spaces. Supersonic Festival is committed to doing things differently and to putting a spotlight on lesser-known artists, to challenge the commercial logic of wider music festival culture with an alternative and more risk-taking programme and by presenting some of the most vital artists of the underground. I am so grateful that our audiences and artists trust in us, this is what keeps pushing the festival forward.” 
– Lisa Meyer, Artistic Director of Supersonic Festival

Backxwash Photo by Méchant Vaporwave

For 2025, Supersonic welcomes back Zambian-Canadian producer and rapper Backxwash with open arms, as a UK exclusive performance of her forthcoming album, Only Dust Remains. This first release outside of her critically-acclaimed album trilogy showcases her evolution into a broader and more diverse sonic landscape.

“Supersonic was a great experience!! The energy from the crowd and the attention to detail from the organisers made our first UK show unforgettable. The festival has an incredibly unique curation of many talented artists and fosters a community-driven environment. I’m so grateful to be returning this year to perform my upcoming album and look forward to this year’s lineup.”
– Backxwash

Alongside Backxwash, Rich(ard) Dawson will also be performing music from his new album, End of the Middle. Richard Dawson’s music echoes with the voices of the past, present and future. Following many memorable appearances on Supersonic line-ups gone by, Supersonic is delighted to welcome him back for a special performance with drummer Andrew Cheetham.

Funeral Folk Photo by Gustav Broms

Funeral Folk is a collaboration between Swedish artists Maria W Horn & Sara Parkman. Performing in the UK for the first time, a singular and ritualistic musical exploration of death and grief. Alongside these meditations on death, Funeral Folk also embraces themes of renewal and reincarnation, with celebratory undertones woven into its complex compositions.

Witch Club Satan is an occult, feminist Black Metal trio from Norway who identify as witches, and invite their ancestors, and the women who were burnt on stakes to scream through them on the stage. The lyrics are written and performed as spells, and the concerts form a ritualistic, holistic experience, with extreme visuals and sensory elements. Supersonic is proud to host their first UK show.

Moin are a three-piece experimental outfit from London, whose members, while never having played Supersonic Festival as Moin, are no strangers to its stage. The group is comprised of Tom Halstead and Joe Andrews of the experimental duo Raime (Blackest Ever Black, RR), whose own immersive sound has graced the Supersonic stage in the past, alongside the endlessly inventive percussionist Valentina Magaletti, known for her work with Tomaga, Vanishing Twin, Holy Tongue, and Ondatta Rossa – all projects that Supersonic Festival have been fortunate to host in the past.

Witch Club Satan by Helge Brekker

Supersonic exists increasingly as a political act as much as a festival, and when times become dire, it’s important we have music which channels our fears and anxieties into cathartic rage and noise. HIRS Collective are here to do just that, a dynamic, shapeshifting ensemble rooted in individualisation and anarchist ethos. Death Goals will bring the queercore fury, with a cacophony that combines post-hardcore, screamo and noise rock. And Divide And Dissolve are returning to perform from their forthcoming album Insatiable, Takiaya Reed will provide floor-shaking, life-affirming drones, in music that is heavy and beautiful. Divide and Dissolve’s music is an acknowledgement of the dispossession that occurs due to colonial violence, it honours ancestors, opposes white supremacy and calls for indigenous sovereignty. Insatiable in particular, is an album about love, and an urgent call to imagine a better world before it’s too late.

Supersonic will also be host to a performance from the doom cabaret collective OMO, a band featuring members of iconic Scottish acts like Mogwai, The Twilight Sad, Desalvo, Aereogramme, and Stretchheads. Water Damage are a Texas-based droning supergroup of sorts, composed of experimental veterans from projects including Spray Paint, Black Eyes, Swans, more eaze, USA/Mexico, and more. Adding to the heaviness of the lineup are Meatdripper (featuring Kaila Whyte of THE NONE), an entity summoned from the remnants of punk, experimental, and noise rock bands. Forged in the industrial haze of Birmingham, this band was never meant to exist – Supersonic hosted their debut live performance last year and couldn’t resist bringing them back for more.

Mermaid Chunky Photo by Simon Pizzey

Supersonic aims to help attendees unload from the heaviness of the world by bringing the party. Mermaid Chunky will be joining the festival for an expanded performance which can only be described as a kaleidoscopic, hypnotic dance ritual of joyous chaos. They will also be the guest artists performing at the Supersonic Kid’s gig. Nigerian sonic trailblazer Aunty Rayzor (Nyege Nyege) will be delivering commanding rap verses and catchy pop hooks, driven by exuberant bass, playful rhythms, and unmatched energy. Buñuel will return to the festival, featuring Eugene S. Robinson (formerly Oxbow), whose truly wild noise rock takes the listener to extreme places in unpredictable fashion. There’s also Zu, an atypical Italian trio of drums, electric bass and baritone saxophone, who blend math rock, no wave, punk, jazz, and grindcore into a sonic explosion.

Aunty Rayzor

Joining the programme, Supersonic have provided a selection of some of the most exciting folk acts in the underground today. Those include Cinder Well, the project of multi-instrumentalist and songwriter/producer Amelia Baker whose songs carry a heaviness in their words and atmosphere as opposed to distortion. Hedgling are an Irish duo consisting of Natalia Beylis and Willie Stewart, whose music utilises found objects and dissolving tapes loops to evoke the parallel worlds that co-exist around, above and beneath us. Poor Creature are Cormac Mac Diarmada (Lankum), Ruth Clinton (Landless) and John Dermody (The Jimmy Cake). They take songs of love, loss and the supernatural from Irish and American traditions, reimagining them in new arrangements that are by turns sparse, dreamy, psychedelic and propulsive. Bridget Hayden and the Apparitions will also play. Hayden is an experimental musician whose haunting, atmospheric sound draws from the landscapes of Todmorden, West Yorkshire. With a voice weathered by time, her music blends aching folk abstractions with immersive, reverb-soaked textures.

Rich(ard) Dawson by Sally Pilkington

We are proud members of PRS Foundation, Talent Development Network (TDN) 2025. One of the many ways we are using this support is to produce a regular news item for UK music creators specifically designed to signpost the most significant national and international opportunities.

Please help us spread this work by sharing the newsletter resource with your peers, and also if you know of any other relevant opportunities that we haven’t included, please send any upcoming opportunities to us [email protected]

SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST

GROVE performing at Supersonic Festival 2024 by Robert Barrett

BURSARY & GRANTS

Youth Music: NextGen Fund

Deadline: February 7, 2025.

The Youth Music NextGen Fund is for early-stage musicians and wider music adjacent creatives to invest up to £3,000 in their own projects and make their ideas happen. It’s open to 18–25-year-olds (and up to 30-year-olds who identify as d/Deaf, neurodivergent or Disabled) who live in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. The fund is especially aimed at those whose lack of finance holds them back from pursuing their goals.

UK Harp Association: £1000 Commission Fund

Deadline: March 1, 2025.

The March Creative Fund will be allocated as a single award of £1000 to support a new commission involving the harp. The commissioned work can be a solo piece or an ensemble work that features the harp prominently and can be written for any type of harp.

PRS Foundation: The Hitmaker Fund

Applications open from February 3 – March 3, 2025.

The Hitmaker Fund offers an opportunity for songwriters and producers working in popular music genres to further develop their careers and writing/production with grants of between £5,000 –  £10,000.

PRS Foundation: Women Make Music 

Applications open from March 3 – March 31, 2025.

Supporting the development of outstanding women, trans and non binary songwriters and composers of all genres and backgrounds at different stages of their career. The fund can support projects by women, trans and non binary songwriters, composers, artists, bands and performers who are writing their own music.

PRS Foundation: Composers’ Fund

Applications open from February 17 – April 1, 2025.

The Composers’ Fund supports up to 15 composers per year who can make the case for the kind of support that would enable them to make a significant step change in their career. A contribution of up to £8,000 – £15,000 is available to composers who are already making a significant cultural contribution in the UK and have the potential for greater impact in the UK and overseas. Previous projects have included recordings, the promotion and performance of existing works, international co-commissions and development, performer collaboration, residencies, sabbaticals or childcare costs and project or promotional support.

PRS Foundation: PPL Momentum Music Fund

Applications open from April 14 – May 12, 2025.

The PPL Momentum Music Fund offers grants of £5k-£15k for UK based artists/bands to break through to the next level of their careers. Activities eligible for support include recording, touring and marketing. Previous recipients include Big Joanie and Little Simz.

PRS Foundation: The Open Fund for Music Creators

Applications open from March 3 – September 1, 2025.

Supporting the development of music creators with grants of up to £5000. Projects must fulfill all of the following: support the creation, performance and promotion of outstanding new music in any genre, enable the UK’s most talented music creators to realise their potential and reach audiences.

ARTIST DEVELOPMENT

Help Musicians: Next Level Awards

Deadline: February 28, 2025.

For an individual musician with a strong track record but lacking the resources to embark on larger and longer-term projects. This programme offers one-to-one business advice and peer support, alongside financial support to help you pursue your opportunity, this is designed to help you take your career to the next level.

PRS Foundation: Power Up

Deadline: March 13, 2025.

The POWER UP Participant Programme is designed to elevate exciting Black music creators and industry professionals and address barriers for those at crucial career stages.

Participants will bring their expertise and experiences to the network and will POWER UP through:

• Grant support of up to £10,000
• Capacity building and mentoring
• Support from and access to partners
• Marketing and promotional support from the PRS Foundation and POWER UP partners

We are ecstatic that Supersonic Festival is returning once again to our home in Digbeth from 29 – 31 August! Get ready for a weekend packed with the best in experimental and DIY music, cutting-edge art, immersive workshops, talks, and exhibitions. 

Despite challenges with venues and rising costs, our team is hard at work curating a mighty fine lineup to bring our community together this August! A super limited number of EARLYBIRD TICKETS will be released at 10am on Friday 31 January.

Early Bird tickets have sold out but our standard weekend tickets go on sale at the end of February.

We’ve thought carefully about ticket pricing, and we want to make sure the festival remains accessible. We recognise that not everyone has equal access to live events and that the cost of entry is a barrier to some people. We are working to create an inclusive space which is accessible to all, regardless of their financial situation. This year, we’ll be working with partners to give away a % of free tickets to people in our music community who are on low wages or are unemployed, supported by our Solidarity ticket scheme.

Photo by Catherine Dineley

SOLIDARITY TICKET – We know that some of our long-standing fans can afford to pay more. Inspired by the global “solidarity ticket” movement, we have tiered tickets available. So if you are able to invest in Supersonic through a solidarity ticket, you’ll be subsidising a % of free tickets for others, whilst also ensuring the good ship Supersonic keeps sailing for many future festival editions.

If you’re traveling from outside Birmingham and looking for a place to stay – check out our info page for exclusive hotel deals and accommodation recommendations.

Sign up to our mailing list for all further updates – the first lineup announcement and standard weekend tickets will be available at the end of February!

DRUM ROLL PLEASE! Supersonic Festival will be returning on 29 – 31 Aug 2025 bringing you the best in experimental and DIY music, art, workshops, talks and exhibitions!

So grab your diaries, and pencil in those dates! The team are working hard behind the scenes prepping a jaw-dropping line-up for our wonderful audiences worldwide. First line-up announcement, hotel deals and tickets will be going on sale end in the coming months – keep those eyes peeled!

In the meantime, here’s a very happy reminder of what happened last time we all met under the rumbling roofs of Digbeth…

THOU

With support from Moloch + Special Guests

MONDAY 14 APRIL 2025

The Castle & Falcon, Birmingham

| TICKETS |

Supersonic Festival are thrilled to welcome the thunderous Thou back to Birmingham. Brace yourself for the sludgiest riffs known to man and the deep, guttural sounds that only Thou can deliver!

Thou has always been a force of raw energy and unapologetic dissent, defying easy categorization and challenging listeners to confront the complexities of existence. Though often lumped in with New Orleans sludge bands like Eyehategod and Crowbar, Thou transcends genre boundaries, drawing inspiration from a diverse array of influences spanning from ’90s proto-grunge icons like Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden to the raw intensity of obscure ’90s DIY hardcore punk found on labels like Ebullition, Vermiform, and Crimethinc. 

Their latest record Umbilical, Thou’s first full-length release of original music since their 2018 Sacred Bones debut Magus, is their firmest nod to the latter – a record filled with mosh-ready riffs, heavy breakdowns and scathing vocals. The band’s aesthetic and political impulses have always been punk and like anyone embroiled in the subculture Thou have been exploring what it means to exist within and without a rigid morality. That exploration takes thematic centre on Umbilical and their self-assessment is as harsh as that of the world around them.

Moloch formed out of the Midlands DIY punk and hardcore scene in 2007, and have been ruining your night for almost 20 years of tears.

We are proud members of PRS Foundation, Talent Development Network (TDN) 2024. One of the many ways we are using this support is to produce a regular news item for UK music creators specifically designed to signpost the most significant national and international opportunities.

Please help us spread this work by sharing the newsletter resource with your peers, and also if you know of any other relevant opportunities that we haven’t included, please send any upcoming opportunities to us [email protected]

SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST

GROVE performing at Supersonic Festival 2024 by Robert Barrett

BURSARY & GRANTS

Arts Council England: Immersive Arts

Deadline: 2 December 2024

A brand new funding and support programme for UK-based artists, designed to help them develop their art by using immersive technologies. Artists at all levels of experience are invited to apply, to explore, experiment or expand how they work with this exciting field of practice.

PRS Foundation: Early Career Promoter Fund

Deadline: 13 December 2024

The fund aims to help emerging promoters to do what they do best – book and promote shows to develop scenes, support artists and DJs and to reach and engage audiences locally, regionally, and nationally, and build sustainable careers in the grassroots music sector.

Grants will be available to support a range of activity including the booking, programming and promotion of gigs, concerts, club nights, showcases, tours and the costs associated with those activities such as venue hire and artist and/or DJ fees. As well as money to be used for mentoring, coaching, shadowing, workshops, masterclasses, and other skill building and networking opportunities.

Sound and Music: Awards for Young Musicians – Awards Programme

Deadline: 31 December

For talented young people from low-income families, helping them to overcome financial and social barriers they face to progression. We provide flexible funding towards musical costs (like tuition, instrument costs or travel) plus individual support to cater to personal circumstances. This could be anything from mentoring and workshops with professional musicians, the chance to observe them perform, free tickets to concerts and performance opportunities.

They currently have funding particularly aimed at supporting young musicians in the West Midlands region.

Arts Council England: Supporting Grassroots Music Fund

Deadline: end of 2024

ACE is still welcoming applications from the Midlands for their Supporting Grassroots Music fund, open to venues (live and/or electronic music), music festivals, promoters, recording and rehearsal studios. Interested in applying? Find out more and submit your application by the end of 2024.

Need advice or support, especially if you’re applying for the first time? You can email Midlands Relationship Manager, Rosie Tunley at [email protected]

Vaughan Williams Foundation: Supporting the work of Professional Composers

Deadline: 3 January 2025

The Foundation offers funding towards: the performance, commissioning or recording of music by professional British/Irish composers active in the last 100 years; or projects and organisations in the UK which create developmental opportunities for composers, or which promote wider awareness of British/Irish music of the last 100 years.

Arts Council England: Incentivising Touring

Deadline: 20 January 2025

This is a £5 million pilot offering repayable grants for theatre and dance, to address growing challenges around mid and large-scale touring. The scheme has been collaboratively developed with the sector, and aims to support regional touring with commercial potential, helping to provide more people across England with access to a wide range of high-quality cultural experiences.

Arts Council of Northern Ireland: The National Lottery Support for Individual Artists Programme – Travel Awards 

Deadline: rolling 

For individual artists and established music groups (up to 2 members) to travel from Northern Ireland to develop their skills and expertise. Applicants must provide evidence that they’ve been invited by a host organisation in the country to which they intend to travel.

Youth Music: Application Access Fund to support d/Deaf and Disabled applicants

Deadline: rolling

If you identify as d/Deaf, Disabled or Neurodivergent  and need further support to make an application to Youth Music, you can apply to our Application Access Fund. This provides funding to cover any additional access costs that might be required for you to make an application to one of Youth Music’s main grant funds.

ARTIST DEVELOPMENT

Sound & Music: In Motion

Deadline: 4 December 2024

Designed to support you to develop clarity around your goals for your artistic and professional development as well as produce a creative project that can support you to achieve these goals. For any composers working with music and sound in the UK.

As a composer on the programme, you will receive:

• An artist bursary of £1,800
• A production grant of up to £4,000 to support with project or artistic development expenses
• Regular 1:1 sessions with a dedicated team member
• Coaching sessions with an accredited coach
• An allowance to pay for mentoring sessions
• Group-sharing sessions and workshops, including a two-day residential called the Networking Days

Saffron Music: Emerging 2024-25

Deadline: 8 December 2024

Artist development programme for a black (or of black heritage) woman, non-binary person, trans, intersex or gender non-conforming music creator based in Bristol or Southwest England.

Successful applicants will receive funding to cover the costs of creating and self-releasing their music, in addition to 1-2-1 mentoring, peer support sessions and community masterclasses. Programme activity also includes a 5-day residential retreat at Hawkwood in Stroud.

Alumni includes Supersonic Festival performer GROVE!

Vivid Projects: Vivid Lab Call Out

Deadline: 10 December 2024

Vivid Lab offers an environment for artists to develop projects that explore new processes, ideas, techniques and critical thinking. They will work responsively with your research and development proposal and can support your practice through mentoring, bid writing, access to audio-visual resources, a project space and unique archival resources. They welcome proposals focused on digital art, live performance, sound art, installation, moving image, AV and archival exploration, collaborative & social practices, web based works along with interests focused on programming, writing and curating.

Elvtr: Music Composition For Games

Apply now! Online course running from 10 December – 30 January

Create strong, recognizable musical motifs that enhance the game’s identity and resonate with players through emotional storytelling. The course is perfect for composers at any stage. Whether you’re interested in learning advanced techniques, looking to break into game music, or seeking structured learning.

Learn from the BAFTA-winning composer Jason Graves, renowned for his innovative approach to orchestration and cinematic narratives for games including Call of Duty: Warzone2, The Dark Pictures Anthology, Moss, Tomb Raider.

Arts Council England: Developing Your Creative Practice

Deadline: 12 December 2024

This fund is designed to support your growth and help you reach new heights in your art. Whether you’re interested in diving into research, expanding your network, or experimenting with your work, this opportunity is here to help you invest in yourself and your next steps.

Somerset House Studios Assembly Residency

Deadline: 31 December 2024 

Studios is inviting applications from artists working in music and sound for a 12-month residency (April 2025 – March 2026). This opportunity is open to three artists whose practices are interested in experimentation and cross-disciplinary collaboration, demonstrating an engagement with bold ideas, urgent issues and/or new technologies.

The residency will be shaped through mentorship from artists including Beatrice Dillon and Elaine Mitchener. During this period, participating artists will develop new live work to be presented at Assembly, the Studios’ bi-annual series of experimental music and performance, returning in Spring 2026.

TRAINING

Help Musicians: Booking Tours and Gigs to Promote Your Music 

Event takes place Monday 2^nd  December from 6 – 7PM online. Sign up places are still available – first come first served.

For musicians looking to boost their income through innovative merch strategies. The session will also cover effective strategies for approaching and building relationships with promoters, venues and funders, providing valuable insights in securing gigs, tours and festival spots. Discover how to maximise promotional opportunities on tour, including timing new releases and merchandise drops.

Help Musicians: Making Money from Merch 

Event takes place Monday 16 December from 6 – 7PM online. Sign up places are still available – first come first served.

For musicians looking to amplify their reach and expand their audience. Free online event with insights from Andy Allen, CEO of BSI Merch.

SUBMISSIONS / RADIO

Sound and Music: Open submissions for Club Together Club community radio show in Bristol/Berlin.

Deadline: 3^rd December

For female, non-binary or gender non-conforming artists. Opportunity to have your music and a 5-10 interview played on Berlin based radio station Club Together Club.

JOB FEATURE

Oxford Contemporary Music: Programme Producer (22.5 hours per week)

Deadline: 10am on Wednesday 11 December:

We are so pleased to share that we won the Arts and Culture award at the Brum Awards 2024!

The Birmingham Awards are dedicated to recognising excellence across various sectors, fostering a sense of pride and unity within our community.

“We are thrilled to have won the Arts and Culture Award 2024, it’s great to be acknowledged for our work in the city, especially as this year we are celebrating our 25^th anniversary. It’s not been an easy journey but we feel very lucky to work with such extraordinary artists and to have a brilliantly dedicated team who make these projects come to life, and of course we have only been able to evolve and grow because of the support of our loyal audiences.”

Lisa Meyer – CEO/Artistic Director

Photos by Edwin Ladd

BIG JOANIE + THE NONE + FLESH CREEP

THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER 2024

CASTLE & FALCON

| TICKETS |

We’re celebrating 25 years of Capsule Events, and there’s no better way to mark the occasion than by bringing together some of our favourite bands for a festive Christmas celebration! The party will see live performances from Big Joanie, The NONE, and Flesh Creep, all of whom perfectly embody the spirit of Capsule. Limber up, and get your dancing shoes on for a medley of heavy hits and power ballads from our guest DJs, PLUS a plethora of ‘organised’ fun and general merriment!

Starting out 25 years ago, our first event took place at the turn of a new century when the world was on the cusp of ending because of the millennium bug, it’s a miracle we’re here to celebrate and only made possible through sheer grit and determination, we’ve had the honour of working with some of the most extraordinary artists, been supported by the most wonderful audience and our Capsule family has grown and evolved over the years to become what it is today!

More info here

Supersonic Festival are honoured to host Chat Pile alongside HIRS Collective this coming April. Rising from the DIY music scene of Oklahoma City in 2019, Chat Pile is a band dedicated to creating a raw and chaotic sound. The band comprises Raygun Busch on vocals, Luther Manhole on guitar, Stin on bass, and Captain Ron on drums. 

FRIDAY 25 APRIL 2025

The Crossing, Birmingham

| TICKETS |

Their dark, sludgy take on noise rock carves out a unique space within the underground music world, encapsulating the crushing intensity of Godflesh, the experimental edge of Sonic Youth, and the grotesque humour of The Jesus Lizard. Chat Pile will be performing songs from their new album Cool World, among other material. Like towering mounds of toxic waste, Cool World is a suffocating, grotesque embodiment of the existential anguish that has defined the 21st Century. It figures that a band with such an abrasive, unrelenting, and outlandish sound has struck as strong a chord as it has. Dread has replaced the American dream, and Chat Pile’s music is a poignant reminder of that shift – a portrait of an American rock band moulded by a society defined by its cold and cruel power systems. Chat Pile’s arrival in Birmingham is highly anticipated – we can’t wait to welcome them for the first time!

Support comes from HIRS Collective, who exist to fight for, defend, and celebrate the survival of trans, queer, POC, black, women and any and all other folks who have to constantly face violence, marginalisation, and oppression. Emerging from the leftist punk world, they prioritise community, collaboration, and radicalism. Known for their chaotic punk fury and socially conscious commentary, the collective’s work holds a mirror to societal injustices, emphasising the power of true community and the importance of collaborative creativity.

Supersonic Festival are delighted to welcome the brilliant Beak> this December. Featuring members of Portishead and Moon Gangs, they made their debut in 2009. Known for their unique blend of krautrock and electronic sounds, Beak> delivers an unforgettable live experience filled with motorik rhythms, hypnotic bass lines, and a powerful sonic atmosphere.

SATURDAY 7 DECEMBER 2024

Castle & Falcon

| TICKETS |

Sometimes a band can be no more than the sum of it’s parts, but Beak> are an equation in which it’s impossible to define equivalents or totals. Instead the meeting of three talent’s form a foundation from which idea’s assimilate and propagate. A new Beak> album might not come around often, but when it does, it always seems to capture a specific moment in time, a new set of elegies for the present moment. With the surprise announcement and release of >>>>, Beak> deliver another taste of a different moment, suspended in stasis and simultaneously rushing towards the vanishing point on the horizon.

Support comes from Los Angeles avant-garde synth artist Litronix & avant-pop composer/performer Rosie Tee.

We are once again completely heart warmed by the incredible press, artist and audience response from this year’s festival. A huge thank you to all that joined us in creating joyous memories together. The festival wouldn’t be what it is without the support from our wonderful audience.

“Others are catalysts and cultivators – places where connections are made, communities are sustained and future collaborations may take root. The inspiring, tenacious Supersonic is one of the latter, and for anyone still in doubt of its value, for even a relatively blockbuster (in this context) artist like Oldham, decades-established in his own right, it remains integral.”

★★★★★

The Guardian, read full review

photo by Robert Barrett

“As long as festivals as uplifting, as communal, and as defiant as Supersonic continue to defy the odds, there is hope.”

– The Quietus, read full review

“Artistic Director Lisa Meyer articulately expressed her aspirations for the three day event: “I hope that Supersonic will be a space for people to find comfort in one another, catharsis in music, and a celebration of an amazing community and extraordinary art.”… we are delighted to confirm that Meyer’s words transcended into a real life experience for us.”
– Get In Her Ears, read full review

Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone goes Supersonic 2024 | Listen Here 

The Freak Zone makes its annual pilgrimage to Birmingham for the mighty Supersonic festival for a celebration of leftfield and experimental music. Expect to hear from Gazelle Twin, Mary Lattimore, ØXN, some prog morris dancers and some wrestlers in giant papier-mache heads.

Taliable by Alice Needham

 “The ever-amazing Capsule crew have been curating the best in the most challenging, experimental and downright rocking music and art year after year to huge acclaim.”

–  Devolution Magazine, read full review

“The most cutting of cutting edge festivals returns for its annual celebration of the eclectic and a typically stunning bill of music that keeps you both intrigued and guessing.”

– Louder Than War, read full review

Maxine Peake with Pocket Signs Punch and Judy Photo by John Convey

“Demonstrates how the festival constantly pushes boundaries in terms of it’s artistic exploration“

– God Is In The TV Zine, read full review

“Birmingham is lucky to have such a visionary festival in its portfolio.”

– John Robb, Louder Than War, read full review

“Among the many reasons to love Supersonic, up near the top of the list is the programming. Sunday brings an unprecedented line-up of artists making striking new music that is openly engaged with traditional forms or in some way folk adjacent.” 

– Echoes and Dust, read full review

“The Supersonic team pulled off another blinder in 2024 and, as Bonnie “Prince” Billy proclaimed during his headline set on Sunday: “I hope that you’re all enjoying this weekend – because there’s absolutely no excuse not to.”

★★★★★

The Arts Desk, read full review

Bonnie “Prince” Billy by Robert Barrett

“a celebration of the very best in experimental music on a world wide scale!”

– Birthday Cake For Breakfast, read full review

“what makes it so great and so nourishing, but such an abundance of cultural riches takes time to fully digest.”
– Friday Echoes and Dust, read full review

“Supersonic is a very important and special festival”

– TDE Promotions, read full review

“They do not miss. She’s fierce but Yallah radiates positive vibes while Debmaster brings the futurist beats. Their set is a double joy… a smiling demonstration of the festival’s defiant spirit.”

– Echos and Dust on MC Yallah X Debmaster Performance, read full review

MC Yallah By Alice Needham

“HOLY SHITSNACKS CAN I COME BACK NEXT YEAR?!! But seriously, the whole team put their hearts and souls into making Birmingham the coolest place on Earth, curating the best programme with the most experimental alternative acts from all over the world. Supersonic is also a wonderful place where community is more than a word.”

– The Sleeping Shaman, read the full review of Friday / Saturday / Sunday

“my bones would rattle, my brain would fizz, and my ears would hear things they had never heard before. All thanks to Supersonic Festival – legendary among explorers of the sonically daring.”

“Supersonic’s reputation precedes it, often cited as one of the UK’s best small festivals. Like all the best festivals, it does not try to be all things to all people, and over 20 years it has ploughed its own furrow of championing experimental sounds and encouraging creativity…from a curatorial standpoint, the team at Capsule, the Birmingham-based group behind the festival, pulled an absolute blinder out. I don’t do stars, but if I did, I’d offer five.”

– In Spite Magazine, read the full review of Friday / Saturday / Sunday

“To transport the audience into another world is a high-flown premise of many music festivals. It’s not an easy thing to do. Birmingham’s 2024 Supersonic Festival performed the task splendidly. With a line-up filled to the brims with high-quality performances of various genres and disciplines, a laid-back atmosphere, workshops, other activities, and friendly enthusiastic faces across the audience, Supersonic created space where one could relax and fully immerse oneself into this alternative reality where art can flourish. The artist list was incredibly rich in various genres, genders and backgrounds.”

– Women of Noise, read full review

F*CHOIR By Ewan Williamson

“It remains one of our most diverse, exciting and forward-thinking festivals.”

– The Wire

“also what makes Supersonic special: the audience isn’t treated as a commodity or cash cow to be squeezed for every last penny; rather, they are integrated into the festival’s very fabric. From the workshops to the intimate performances and the warmth of the festival staff, this positive energy permeates the atmosphere. You can really sense that the artists buy into this ethos, with established names like Maxine Peake, and Brum techno legend DJ Surgeon all making appearances throughout the weekend.”

– Off Licence Magazine, read full review

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

We’re gutted to announce that, due to flight cancellations and delays, Upchuck are unable to perform at Supersonic this weekend. We’re so sorry to everyone that was looking forward to seeing them, and we wish Upchuck a safe rest of their journey.

Doors for XOYO will now be at 15:30

Please see the updated timetable here

We are sorry to announce the cancellation of Cosey Fanni Tutti’s appearance at Supersonic Festival this week. This is due to a family emergency. we are Delighted to say that Gazelle Twin has stepped up and will now be in Conversation with Maxine Peake!

British composer, producer, and musician Elizabeth Bernholz, aka Gazelle Twin makes sounds that are somewhere between a nightmare and a dream, always shifting tectonically. who is no stranger to performing at Supersonic. They will be Performing themselves on Friday at The 02 Institute. Maxine Peake is a socialist, feminist and environmentalist. A tenacious campaigner on issues local, national and global, as well as having excellent musical taste. We couldn’t be more thrilled to have her join us.

Gazelle and Maxine have both recently been involved with an original production of Robin/Red/Breast, a take on the 1970s TV play Robin Redbreast, blending folk horror with immersive storytelling and live music – we can’t wait to learn more

This event is currently at capacity

https://www.gazelletwin.com/

Here’s the bit you’ve all been waiting for… the Supersonic 2024 timetable! Grab a pen and get circling, cause you won’t want to miss any of the mind-blowing music, workshops, and talks we have in store for you!

| SUPERSONIC 2024 TIMETABLE |

* please note timetable may be subject to change *

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