★★★★★ – The Guardian   ★★★★★ – The Arts Desk

“The mother of all British underground festivals” – The Quietus

“Supersonic is ahead of the curve again” – The Wire

We cannot wait to celebrate twenty years since Supersonic’s inception. Our internationally recognised event will be returning to Digbeth, Birmingham from 1-3 September with a lineup of crucial and innovative acts. And today is the day we reveal those formidable artists performing at our 2023 edition. So without further ado, drum roll please…

75 Dollar Bill / Ashenspire / Avalanche Kaito / BIG|BRAVE + Jessica Moss / Blacks’ Myths / Divide and Dissolve / Ex Easter Island Head / Godflesh / Hey Colossus / Horse Lords / Jessica Moss / Josephine Foster / Lankum / MC Yallah + Debmaster / Ragana / Shovel Dance Collective / Taqbir / Un.Procedure + more tba

| TICKETS ON SALE NOW |

A message from our Artistic Director, Lisa Meyer…

“In 2003 we naively created our first edition of Supersonic Festival, a one day event that reflected our own curiosity as music fans. This lineup included LCD SoundSystem, Coil and The Bug with the Warrior Queen, set in the warehouse spaces of post industrial Birmingham. The last 20 years have been a right old rollercoaster but we’ve held on with determination. The weight of the pandemic, the political situation locally, nationally and globally and another financial crisis could have done us in for good. Instead we’ve channelled that heavy energy into the festival and look forward to celebrating 20 years, gathering as a global community for one weekend, and joyfully embracing adventurous music.“

Introducing our headliners for 2023…

[LANKUM – credit Sorcha Frances Ryder]

Supersonic is proud to welcome critically acclaimed Irish quartet Lankum who will make their long awaited appearance this year, bringing with them their close vocal harmonies, instrumental interplay and dramatic storytelling. Their gritty updates of folk standards bring anger and contemporary viewpoints to traditional elements. With a diverse set of influences as disparate as Sunn O))), they show that folk music can be angry, progressive and is a vital force today.

[GODFLESH]

“Supersonic is a unifying experience of this culture I exist within, and us as a band; Godflesh, but all in my/our hometown/birthplace, Birmingham. Besides that fact, it’s run by a stellar collective and feels warm and homely.”
– Justin Broadrick, Godflesh

Supersonic welcome back Godflesh whose origins are deeply entrenched in the backdrop of post industrial Birmingham, and who have had a huge impact on heavy music. Godflesh’s storied history is legend, forming in the West Midlands, alongside the first incarnation of Napalm Death, to create landmark releases like Streetcleaner, which laid groundwork for other extreme and experimental metal releases. For the festival’s 20th edition, Godflesh will perform music from an expected new album.

[BIG|BRAVE & JESSICA MOSS]

Following stand-out performances at the 2022 edition, Divide And Dissolve will return with their incendiary work towards indigenous rights and the end of white supremacy, and BIG|BRAVE are also back to carve out their singularly gigantic sonic space of dynamic heavy minimalism. BIG|BRAVE shall perform a special collaboration with fellow Montreal-based violinist Jessica Moss, a collaboration exclusive to Supersonic which we cannot wait to witness. Jessica Moss will also perform a solo set over the weekend, her distinctive melodic sensibility channelling Klezmer, Balkan and Middle Eastern tropes, with an ear for textural grit and timbral noise forged from her 15-year tenure in political post-punk band Thee Silver Mt. Zion.

“One of the first things that struck me about entering the festival as a space was how at ease I felt with regards to how diverse, inclusive and authentic everyone attending and working there seemed, not to mention with regards to the music! The bill was incredible!” 

– Robin Wattie (BIG|BRAVE)

[RAGANA]

Supersonic champions creative subversion from all walks of the underground. Shovel Dance Collective weaves queer, proto-feminist and working class narratives together in a new kind of folk music. Storytelling and tradition get upended in the playful music of singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer Josephine Foster whose music challenges perception.

Supersonic celebrates artists who are portents of hope and solidarity, like Ashenspire’s challenging and abrasive musical textures of violin and saxophone in an enraged progressive, post-black metal framework that demands attention and argues for change. The queer and antifascist idiosyncratic black metal of Ragana is heavy, dark, beautiful and punishing in its expression. Paying tribute to the female pioneers of the UK punk scene through a riot grrrl lens is the absolutely vital Taqbir, who are working against a culture that deems their music an insult, and instead they create a space for people like themselves to freely express their anger.

[MC YALLAH]

This year’s edition promises to bring the stamina of krautrock and math rock, fused with aspects of jazz in a variety of joyous performances, with the elemental rhythms from 75 Dollar Bill, the airtight grooves of Horse Lords and the frenetic sound world of Avalanche Kaito, both traditional and experimental in nature. Blacks’ Myths will meditate on the history of blackness via their frantic collisions of free jazz, post-rock and dissonant noise. Local to Birmingham, Un.Procedure creates a post-apocalyptic sound through an avant-jazz filter, with 70s rock influenced grooves and heady, sci–fi tinged soundscapes. MC Yallah and Debmaster will bring their high energy performance with rapid flow and rugged beats.

Returning to the festival after some time are two distinct acts; Ex Easter Island Head, whose live performances have been praised for their hypnotic energy and unique spectacle, and Hey Colossus – also celebrating their 20 year anniversary – promise to put on a special performance.

“Supersonic/Capsule have done everything in 20 years. They put their minds to it. They’ve built a world. People travel miles to visit it, to visit the home of metal. This will be our third time playing the festival. Cannot wait to play again, cannot wait to see who else is playing, the unpredictable variance is one of the many attractions. Happy Birthday Supersonic.”

– Joe Thompson (Hey Colossus)

| TICKETS ON SALE NOW |

For your listening enjoyment, we’ve created a 2023 Line-up Playlist – a great sonic introduction to this year’s acts…

More of the programme will be revealed in the coming months!

Visit our line-up page here for further information about the artists.

For more information on hotel deals, and festival information visit here.

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. Find out more about our ticketing options this year to support those people in our music community who are on low wages or are unemployed here.

We’re an independent festival, we achieve a huge amount through good will, hard work and amazing support from our community.

Thanks and see you on the dancefloor!

BIG NEWS… line-up announcement & tickets go on sale for Supersonic Festival 2023 on Tuesday 28 February at 13:00 GMT ⏰

So in anticipation of our big announcement, we’re pleased to share our Highlights Reel from 2022 – a great reminder of what a joyous occasion the ‘UK’s best small festival’ can be! Bringing together live performances by some of the worlds most extraordinary artists, visual art, and audience participation to create a legendary one-of-a-kind gathering.

“From Grove’s queer swagger to Circle’s ecological visions and Divide and Dissolve’s call for decolonisation, this thrilling underground fest has radical utopianism at its heart”

– The Guardian ★★★★★

Ahead of the announcement, here’s an important message from the team about tickets for this year’s festival…

We were thrilled to be back in person with artists and audiences in Birmingham for Supersonic 2022. Your photos, feedback and a 5* review in the Guardian reminded us what a high producing a festival can be!

However, as you probably know, costs are rising everywhere – from venue and kit hire to crew fees and hotel prices – putting on a festival is becoming more expensive every year. We’ve been crunching the budget, and we need to make more from ticket income in 2023 to make the numbers balance. So we will be raising the cost of our standard ticket price this year.

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 our partners including Decolonise Fest to give away a % of free tickets to people in our music community who are on low wages or are unemployed.

SOLIDARITY TICKET – Equally, we know that some of our long-standing fans could afford to pay more. Inspired by the global “solidarity ticket” movement, we are also introducing a new voluntary tier ticket. 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. More information on that soon.

OTHER WAYS TO GET INVOLVED – Plus we’ll be looking for Workshop proposals and Volunteer applications in the coming months, so there’s always a low-cost way to get involved with Supersonic.

We’re an independent festival, we achieve a huge amount through good will, hard work and amazing support from our community.

Thanks and see you on the dancefloor!

Supersonic Recordings are proud to release ‘Echolocations’, the hypnotic new album from Matters, a Birmingham-based band pushing the boundaries of techno, psychedelic, industrial and electronic music.

Since 2015, Brid Rose & Stuart Lee Tovey of Matters have weaved a dark, driving, all-encompassing sound; shifting seamlessly from film score to basement nightclub to industrial noise. Taking a DIY approach, they produce intoxicating live shows with self-made animated visuals and immersive lighting designs. 

Their latest output ‘Echolocations’, an innovative collection of five songs, sees the band delve further into otherworldly realms; journeying through the deepest polarities of sound and exploring the planes between reality and imagination. Inspired by the aesthetic of liminal spaces, the music responds to the ambiguity of present day, capturing a feeling of collective disorientation and limbo. ‘Echolocations’ wills us to traverse the tunnel, acknowledge our liminal state and break out of it, into something tangible and genuine. 

Super limited-edition Pop-Up Book of 50 with handprinted artwork by Brid Rose of Matters.
+ digital download of Echolocations album

Pre-order the Echolocations accompanying book of artwork, featuring pop-up and interactive elements. Cloth bound with a transparent wrap around and screen printed throughout. 7” square, 20 pages, super limited to 50 handmade copies.

Option to add Vinyl and Album Launch tickets.

Available to pre-order here!

The digital album ‘Echolocations is’ out now:

Forged with a multitude of synths, pedals and guitar, Matters’ signature blend of pulsing beats, soaring synths, and transcendental soundscapes are both experimental and accessible, challenging and comforting, and above all, truly captivating. Having previously garnered much support from BBC 6 Music & NTS Radio, Matters’ ‘Echolocations’ is an album that demands to be heard in its entirety, leaving you to question reality and yearn for more.
 

Supersonic Recordings is a label championing the best in experimental and genre-bending music for the ears of curious audiences. 

The album ‘Echolocations’ will be launched with an immersive show at The Old Print Works, Birmingham on Saturday 4 March in celebration of International Women’s Day, with support from PRNCSS, Arch Femmesis and a late-night party hosted by Limpid & DJ Birthday Girl. 

| TICKETS ON SALE NOW | MORE INFO |

Grab those diaries folks…

Supersonic Festival 2023 is taking place 1st – 3rd September! 🎉

This year marks a whopping *two decades* since our first festival took place in 2003, so you can expect an extra special edition this September. 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 of February – keep those eyes peeled! 👀

In the meantime, here’s some very happy reminders of what happens when we all meet under the rumbling roofs of Digbeth…

Supersonic presents:

BIG | BRAVE

+ Aicher

The Castle + Falcon, Balsall Heath
Sunday 14 May 2023
Doors 7.00pm
£15 adv – tickets.

Reconfiguring the landscape of heavy music is the mighty Canadian trio BIG | BRAVE. Following a stand-out performance at Supersonic Festival 2022, we can’t wait to welcome them back to Birmingham on their tour celebrating new album ‘nature morte’ (Thrill Jockey records).

BIG|BRAVE create heavy, vast post-rock. This elemental ensemble of guitarist/vocalist Robin Wattie, guitarist Mathieu Ball, and drummer Tasy Hudson, harness an earthen heaviness composed of distorted and textural drones, austere bombast, and Wattie’s heart-rending voice. Minimalism, structural freedom and meticulous timing form the cornerstones of their precise, rhythmical sound. 

The trio brandish sparseness and density like weapons, cast tense atmospheres with languid tempos and mutate feedback into eruptions of enveloping tempests. Their latest release, ‘nature morte’ sharpens BIG|BRAVE’s ferocity and expansive sound into emotional elegies for the disenfranchised, wringing abstracted textures and pure fervence into songs of unfathomable mass.

We’re back with a new episode of the Supersonic Podcast, a carefully curated edition that celebrates ‘The Sounds of 2022’, looking back on the amazing year we’ve just had and of course the big return of Supersonic Festival!

It’s been a jam packed 2022, so in this new episode we’re gonna have a pit stop tour through some of the highlights of the year, spinning some cracking music from the many artists who’ve played shows with us and some exciting unheard live recordings from this year’s festival.

It’s an absolute stonker of a programme with music from Gnod, Dälek, Emma Ruth Rundle, Total Luck and live recordings from Divide and Dissolve, Shovel Dance Collective, Pharaoh Overlord & Aaron Turner and SO many more!!

LISTEN HERE

If you’re in a position to support the artists in this podcast too, we’ve put all their Bandcamp links below for your convenience…

Tracklist

We’ve commissioned the artist Ben Sadler to design a very limited edition Tea Towel featuring the Twelve Dogs of Christmas! With 100% of profit being donated to the Trussell Trust foodbanks.

| PRE-ORDER HERE |

We’ll be posting out on week comm. 12th December.

Ben Sadler is best known as one half of Juneau Projects, he’s a good friend of Supersonic creating joyously fun videos, paintings and drawings.

By purchasing you’ll be helping us raise essential funds for our local foodbank – we don’t think anyone in our community should have to face going hungry. Our foodbank is supported by The Trussell Trust, working to combat poverty and hunger across the UK.

SUPERSONIC KIDS GIG: BEN SADLER

Families! Ben will also be hosting our festive special Kids Gig at B:Music on Sunday 11 December. This Kids Gig will be hosted by everyone’s favourite alt-rocker and pyscho-storyteller, Anna Palmer from Dorcha. 

Ben Sadler is an artist who lives in a house with his wife Katy, their daughter Hazel and their three-legged cat Oscar. He has a suitcase full of wigs and costumes that he likes to wear to accompany his covers of popular songs. He also enjoys dancing and believes he can do magic. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can hire the Ben team! (PS he lives in Birmingham).

Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Sunday 11 December 2022, 11am – 12.30pm

Tickets £8 per person. Under 2’s go free.
All children must be accompanied by a guardian.
Recommended for children under 10.

| BOOK HERE |

We’re so pleased to be sharing some stellar videos of live-sets from this year’s festival, including BIG | BRAVE, Shovel Dance Collective & PRNCSS – with more to come!

So whether you want to re-live these festival moments, or you couldn’t be with us, make sure to have a watch on YouTube and subscribe to our channel for more

Grove is a Bristol-based producer and vocalist with a constantly morphing sound; meddling together elements of punk-infused dancehall, jungle, bass and pop.

Shovel Dance Collective are a group of nine musicians exploring the folk traditions of England, Scotland, Ireland and beyond. They bring sensibilities drawn from drone, free improvisation, and metal. In so doing, aiming to uncover proto-feminist narratives and queer histories.

Closing the festival at Supersonic 2022 was the joyous collaboration of Richard Dawson, Newcastle’s dark-humoured bard and the Finnish rock-group Circle with their Krautrock beats, heavy riffs, arty noise & dark psychedelia.

The Montreal, Quebec trio BIG | BRAVE create heavy, vast post-rock. Minimalism, structural freedom and meticulous timing form the cornerstones of their precise, rhythmical sound.

PRNCSS is an synth punk artist & producer born in Zimbabwe, raised in Ireland and currently based in London.

We just want to take a moment to celebrate all the amazing reviews, write-ups & feedback we’ve had of our 16th edition!

★★★★★

THE GUARDIAN

“Supersonic is not just a music festival, but a site for resistance and community, a utopia made briefly real.“

READ THE GUARDIAN REVIEW HERE.

―

“★★★★★ – Audiences were treated to feral drum and bass, doom metal, twisted folk music and some seriously experimental weirdness, amongst much else… a weekend of serious musical strangeness” 

READ THE ART DESK’S REVIEW HERE. 

―

“This is one of Supersonic’s core strengths: the way it tone-shifts between grinding sonic despair and expressions of positivity rooted in inclusivity and solidarity.”

THE WIRE MAGAZINE

―

“When artists offer humble acknowledgement of how well they’re being treated by the crew and how nice it is to play for such a welcoming audience it just underlines what a special festival this is.”

READ THE ECHOES & DUST REVIEW HERE. 

―

“A community exists around it, a music crowd seeking discovery rather than some predictable homogenous party… A little gem with a mighty message, Supersonic seeks to make you smile, think and extend – it was a genuine mission accomplished.”

READ BACKSEAT MAFIA’S REVIEW HERE.

―

“When someone mentions Birmingham the first thing that springs to mind isn’t Black Sabbath. Nor is it Aston Villa F.C. Not even Godflesh. It’s Supersonic.”

READ THE SUN13 REVIEW HERE.

―

“In the bathroom after the performance, I can hear two women speak about how they’ve never felt safer at an event. It’s a serious compliment for Supersonic given the state of things.”

READ GODISINTHETV REVIEW HERE.

―

“In the bathroom after the performance, I can hear two women speak about how they’ve never felt safer at an event. It’s a serious compliment for Supersonic given the state of things.”

READ BIRMINGHAM REVIEW FOR FRIDAY + SATURDAY + SUNDAY 

―

“One of Supersonic’s true talents is finding heaviness and experimentation in the most unexpected of crevices, but that doesn’t mean the curators shy away from tapping into Birmingham’s storied metal heritage.”

READ ASTRAL NOIZE REVIEW HERE.

―

Paul Purgas does not just produce music. His pieces are audio-visual exhibitions, stirring artistic performances.

Already as a part of The New Music Biennial Festival in Coventry and London’s Southbank Centre this year, Supersonic is proud to also have commissioned Purgas to create an exciting new project exploring the next generation of tape music.

With exhibitions in places like Tate Britain, South London Gallery, and Serpentine Gallery, a talk in Tate Modern, numerous magazine publications, and an Electronic India documentary on BBC Radio 3, Purgas has demonstrated his talent to the world over and over again. He is inspired by the development of modernism and technology in the 50s and 60s, and the history of electronic music, which heavily influenced his most recent installation – ‘We Found Our Own Reality’ in the Camden Art Centre.

Somerset House Studios, where Purgas is currently a resident, described his music as electroacoustic and computer, and his sound – broadcasting and spatialised. He redefines what we think of electronic music, adding new, previously unheard-of elements into his mix. We can certainly expect his Supersonic project to be as riveting.

Paul Purgas performs on the Sunday of Supersonic 2022 – tickets available here.

London-based solo musician Charlie Valentine, aka No Home, is the definition of experimental and truly one-of-a-kind.

Their most recent album, ‘Fucking Hell’, has been named one of the ‘The 35 Best Rock Albums of 2020’ by Pitchfork, and each song on it is a unique manifestation of their individuality. Their style pushes all boundaries of genre, their vocals are mystifying, and their sound is noisy and industrial.

The narrative of No Home is thought-provoking – it attacks capitalism and exploitation, with songs like ‘A B- in This Economy’ and ‘Who Cares, The State Wants Me Dead Anyway’. The vocals leave the listener haunted by the doom of our society, and this feeling is only pushed harder through the completely mind-bending soundscape. No Home confessed that writing and producing music for them is like therapy, partially because therapy is too expensive.

Their latest single ‘Warped Bow’, released just earlier this year, is a combination of ominous percussion, industrial uproar, and psychedelia. ‘Is it supposed to be so hard?’ they repeat twice, and the voice sounds more discontented than before. No Home’s next album is likely to reveal more of the world’s ugliness in a way we have never heard before and expand our minds beyond the limits.

No Home performs on the Saturday of Supersonic 2022 – tickets available here.

What do you get when you mix classical influences, the sound of crashing doom and the battle against systematic oppression? Divide and Dissolve are born.

The members Takiaya Reed and Sylvie Nehill see it as the primary goal to use their music to challenge white supremacy and fight for black and indigenous liberation. Their sound is heavy – you can feel the rage and the power of their will in it, trying to push against everything that is wrong in the world.

NME writes that ‘Gas Lit’, their most recent album released in 2021, ‘is a marked evolution of their absorbing sound, which spans doom, drone, and classical across a nuanced spectrum’, and calls Nehill and Reed ‘purveyors of sonic extremity’. Divide & Dissolve’s music is largely instrumental, but it does not feel like the vocals are missing at all. They have the ability to say what they want to say using the instruments alone, with extra meaning added through not-so-subtly political song titles, such as ‘Black Resistance’ and ‘Cultural Extermination’. They are not afraid to cause controversy – there is no battle without havoc.

Divide and Dissolve perform on the Sunday of Supersonic 2022 – get your tickets here.

Our evolution continues as we move to an exciting new home on the outer edges of Digbeth, Birmingham. The post-industrial landscape of our midlands home is forever changing, so here’s the most up-to-date methods of joining us for our 16th edition festival…

FESTIVAL ADDRESS

The Mill, 29 Lower Trinity St, Deritend, Birmingham B9 4AG

ON FOOT/PUBLIC TRANSPORT

We encourage folks to use public transport as much possible to get to the festival. If coming from a Train Station in the City Centre, the quickest route to the festival is down the main Digbeth High Street – but HEADS UP – it is currently swamped with roadworks!

Here’s a google map with some main landmarks to guide you to the festival!

DRIVING

For those who are driving, Birmingham’s City Centre is now a ‘Clean Air Zone’ this means only certain vehicles can enter without being charged. The festival takes place within this zone.

IMPORTANT – if you are arriving in a vehicle please check if your registration plate is compliant here.

If your vehicle isn’t compliant, you will need to pay £8.00 each day your vehicle is within the clean air zone. A ‘day’ is classified as midnight to midnight, not 24 hours from when you enter the zone.

During that midnight to midnight timeframe, you can enter and leave the zone numerous times and only incur a single charge.

You can pay:

• six days in advance of the day of your visit
• the day of your visit
• six days after the day of your visit

Payments can be paid online HERE or over the phone by calling 0300 029 8888 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 4:30pm).

PARKING

The B4100 is the main Digbeth High Street and is currently swamped with roadworks! If you are looking for somewhere to park, we recommend you enter Digbeth from the Ring Road, via Lower Trinity Street or Adderley Street. Here’s a list of recommended carparks close to the festival site…

• Trinity Street Car Park aka the ‘Crushed Car Park’ – B9 4AL [more expensive, but most convenient]

• JustPark Liverpool Street – B9 4DS [cheaper, 3 mins walk]

• Green Parking Ltd  – B5 6DY [cheapest, 10 mins walk]

Here’s the bit you’ve all been waiting for… the Supersonic 2022 timetable! So grab a pen and get circling, cause you won’t want to miss any of the mind-blowing music, workshops, films and talks we have in store for you! 

Have a gander below or download a PDF copy here: SS22 FULL TIMETABLE

Drum and bass beats, elements of jungle and dancehall, and robotic 90s rave synths – this is all Grove, and so much more.

Having started producing original music when they were just 14, Grove always knew that they wanted to create something unconventional. Inspired by the freedom of expression of Bristol, Grove creates a sound so modern it feels like it could not have been produced any time but now.

‘Music with intention is a thing that I fully subscribe to,’ says Grove. Their lyrics are a brave and unapologetic expression of queer sovereignty, leftist politics, and pride for their black heritage. It is not all politics though – they also recognise the value of simply getting absorbed into the music for the sake of it and are ‘excited to just be sweaty with everyone again’ at live shows.

The earned recognition comes with their tunes being championed by such platforms as Radio 1 and BBC 6 Music among many others and being named one of Mixmag’s ‘Best EPs of the Year’. The community is only growing bigger, and that is good news – voices like Grove’s deserve to be heard.

Grove is performing on the Friday of Supersonic 2022 – get your tickets here.

We’ve got a whole host of traders in our food court to keep you well fed over the festival weekend. The Supersonic Tea Room is back keeping you topped up with delicious cakes, and our very own bars can be found across the site providing an array of real ale, cider and spirits to aid your enjoyment. 

Purity Brewing are proud to be supplying Supersonic bars once again. Continuing a long standing partnership that builds upon shared values and principles. Purity Brewing beers are crafted with a conscience in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside, each one of their award-winning beers embodies a love of great beer with real character – brewed responsibly to leave an even better taste in your mouth.

In the food court you’ll find…

BEET THE SYSTEM – Beet the System are a Vegan Worker Co-operative from Birmingham. They make the best Organic #FreshTempeh you’ve ever tasted and they are chuffed to be fuelling Supersonic Festival again with some amazing gastronomic delights!  

MASA – Bringing authentic Mexican street food to Supersonic for the weekend, with slow-roasted meat tacos and fresh vegetarian flavours being combined with local, seasonal, and unusual ingredients for something different and delicious.

BLOW WATER – A female-led enterprise based in Birmingham, Blow Water is passionate about introducing people to the spirit of Hong Kong through authentic East Asian cuisine. You can find Sabrina serving her take on healthy home cooked flavours from Hong Kong, including delicious Heavy Metal Dumplings, throughout the weekend at Supersonic Festival.  

REALLY AWESOME COFFEE VAN – Join our mobile barista, Phil Short who can offer a selection of bean-to-cup gourmet coffees, delicious hot chocolates and made-to-order smoothies, frappes and iced coffees.  

BONEHEAD – Treating us to a range of their delicious crispy fried chicken wings at Supersonic – be sure to try their sensational Cauliflower Wings too!

‘No matter your taste, you have never heard anything exactly like Abronia’s The Whole of Each Eye, which is exactly why you should pick it up,’ claims Record Crates United, and rightly so.

The band simply does not fit into a single musical genre – one has to listen to them, and then agree on the uniqueness of the sound.

With a variety of drums and a saxophone in addition to the guitar and bass, the band is an orchestra of six people, all of which contribute a personal quality to the resulting melody.

The mystical sounds transport you into the deserts of Wild West, with the rhythm that Post-Trash identified as ‘prime and ritualistic’. The vocals are bewitching and the music entrancing.

Their third album ‘Map of Dawn’, released earlier this year, is a proud continuation of the distinctive beat of the marching band drum mixed with a synthesiser and spiritual-sounding aria.

The sound of Abronia will be spread further on their European tour this summer, and Supersonic is thrilled to be a part of it!

Abronia play the Friday of Supersonic Festival 2022 – get your tickets here.

Joining our team for Supersonic Festival 2022 is Alina Kokina, an intern from the University of Birmingham.

Alongside being a lifelong gig-goer, Alina has spent time as a ballerina and circus performer. She has a passion for travelling and languages, and can speak Russian, Latvian, a bit of German and is currently learning Ancient Greek. We asked Alina to hand-pick some of her highlights from this year’s line-up…

JERUSALEM IN MY HEART “Picture this – you are in a venue, lights are flashing soft neon, and you lose yourself in the instrumental synthesis that makes the building and the crowd within it vibrate. The kind of music that is made to be listened as loudly as possible, that equally calms and disturbs you, Jerusalem In My Heart overpowers you with experimental, electronic sound. Their audio waves make me feel like I’m swimming in the ocean – not drowning but floating together with the current, giving into the power of the tide that submerges you and you can’t resist moving with the flow of the waves.”

BIG BRAVE “Big Brave feels like a massive release of energy into the atmosphere but in a form of sound, which goes all through you – you can feel it fill up your body, you want to become part of the sound. Each song is a journey which starts at lower volume levels and, with suspense that almost feels like physical pressure of the music, builds up to eventually explode in a catharsis of electric guitar riffs like I’ve never heard before.”

HOLY TONGUE “‘The kind of music that you can’t stand still to’ is my best attempt to describe the engaging rhythm of Holy Tongue. I’m not talking crazy breakdance, but swaying, nodding and oscillating, with your eyes closed and arms extended. The band name doesn’t lie – the experience feels holy, spiritual, otherworldly. I never thought that ‘psychedelic reggae’ would be a genre that I ever encounter, but somehow it just works so well!”

FÖLLAKZOID “The music of Föllakzoid makes me feel like I am being put into a trance, which virtually resembles electronic, New Age-infused meditation. It’s psychedelic and experimental, and yet serene and mystifying at the same time. With the right atmosphere, listening to Föllakzoid is nothing short of a spiritual journey – I can only imagine what a mind-bending experience listening to it live must be!”

BUÑUEL “Buñuel managed to capture the exact sound of oh so familiar old school metal, which puts you right in the middle of a rock concert mosh pit. The drums and the guitars and the vocals all blend into a perfectly fitted chaos that just makes me want to jump and scream with my fists up, covered by the vibrations from the amps that pass through the crowd like an earthquake. It feels powerful.”

With the Supersonic 2022 site opening just a couple of weeks away, we’re proud to share with you our Market Place traders!

The Market Place has been a vibrant part of Supersonic Festival for many years now. It’s a space for independent distributors, record labels, poster artists and pedlars of all kinds of curiosities to sell their wares, network and meet audiences & likeminded folks face to face.  

This year, the Market Place will be situated in a new home as part of our 16th edition festival, taking place on the weekend of 8 – 10 July 2022. We’re bringing our global community back together with an ambitious programme of mind bending music, sense shifting art and life altering experiences.  

Here’s who you’ll find peddling their wares…

Boswellian Artifacts will be returning with an array of of weirdo wares for infernal freaks. Original screen printed t shirts, zines, limited edition books and prints. Brelliott Amps will be bringing some exclusive editions of the TODP Tube Overdrive Distortion Plus pedal with hand drawn artwork, a collaboration forged in a Supersonic Marketplaces of yesteryear.

Alongside his sold out workshop at Centrala, Farmer Glitch will be bringing a range of sonic devices, electronics project kits and audio releases from Yeovil’s Eastville Project Space, along with one-off artworks and vintage vinyl.

For all you crate diggers we’ll have offerings from Edgeworld Records, Alt.vinyl, Thrill Jockey and Viral Age selling new and second hand records and tapes for curious ears. Thrill Jockey are celebrating their thirtieth birthday, so expect some limited edition merch and releases!

Anti-profit publisher Dog Section Press will be stocked with anarchist books, pamphlets and zines, as well as their quarterly newspaper DOPE Magazine. They’ll also be selling publications on behalf of Exitstencil Press, including Dial House, a new work by Lucy McLauchlan.

Independent publishing house Re_tale Distro recently moved from Glasgow to Birmingham, and we’re pleased to welcome them to our marketplace. Bringing experimental writing, photography and art under the guise of fact and fiction, with some exclusive launches for the festival.

Shelanu: Women’s Craft Collective (supported by Craftspace) – Shelanu, a collective of migrant and refugee women working with Craftspace, will be offering high quality jewellery and objects for sale inspired by the city, cross cultures and shared experiences of migration.

Finally, Another Realm promises a curiosity cabinet of handmade trinkets, art and adornments, from lasercut jewellery to giclée prints, cards, zines, mugs and coasters.

It has been 23 years since the collective of punk rock pirates June of 44 have performed on the UK soil, and they chose Supersonic as a perfect way to reintroduce themselves.

“We’d been asked a few times throughout this very long period to reconvene for a short tour or special event in England,” Jeff Mueller told us, “at no moment did it ever seem quite possible until Supersonic expressed interest in us for their 2020 edition. At the time, we had little knowledge of the festival – upon scratching the surface, it felt like the ideal place for us to re-emerge in the UK. There is an honest, gritty, hard-working, direct carefulness with the way it seems Supersonic has been built and continues to develop – in both its curation as well as its organization. The approach resonates with us, it’s attractive and runs adjacent to the way June of 44 digs to construct itself.”

“Additionally, we’d be remiss to not at the very least mention what an honour it will be to perform in the birthplace of such incomparable, deep inspirations as Black Sabbath, John Bonham… from Broadcast to Steel Pulse, so much extraordinary music has bloomed out of beautiful Birmingham.”

The band has not been active for two decades since they released 6 albums in the 90s, but 2021 saw their return with a brand-new record under a chunky title ‘Revisionist: Adaptations and Future Histories In The Time Of Love And Survival’. The songs are a cauldron of electronic, post punk and soft metal influences, and the styles change even within a single song. Listening to them is interacting with the unexpected – you have no idea what sound will follow, but it never disappoints.

Supporting them will be an extraordinary drum duo Rattle. That’s right – with an occasional vocal harmony, Rattle only use drums in their songs, some of which are as long as 12 minutes and take you on a trance-inducing journey. Rattle have been praised for their ‘hypnotic minimalism and ecstatic regard for the dance floor’. Using just two drum sets, they never run out of new sounds – each song is bizarre and certainly unprecedented.

On Friday 8th July, whilst our festival is kicking off in Birmingham, June of 44 + Rattle will be bringing the Supersonic spirit to the good folks of London with a show at 229. Then June of 44 are travelling up to sunny Birmingham to perform on the Sunday of Supersonic Festival 2022 – tickets available here.

Birmingham-based duo Matters prioritise live performances over studio recordings and work hard to create immersive audience experiences, assembling their own lights and visuals whilst creating a live soundscape of synth patches, drums and guitar. They spoke to us about the ways in which Birmingham as a city shaped these shows.

“There’s obviously a really interesting history of heavy music in the city – electronic stuff too – and I’m sure that’s gotten in. I think part of the influence has been in what wasn’t here as well though, in our live form, trying to create our own version of experiences had elsewhere.”

This comes as no surprise, with their wide-ranging influences impacted by their various touring locations. Matters have been on tour with Flat Worms for the first couple of weeks in June, and now they’re off to play a festival in Uzbekistan before Supersonic.

This set will follow their memorable 2019 performance . New to their roster will be songs such as 2020’s Hannah, a song which was recorded pre-pandemic but released within it. “Hannah was recorded a year before the pandemic hit,” said guitarist Stuart-lee Tovey, “so for us it was the actual release of the vinyl that was impacted. We were in Brid’s print studio working as fast as we could to get the packaging made as we knew it was inevitable we were going to be locked down. Geoff from Static Caravan also worked really hard to get the orders out in case going to the post office was no longer an option. So for us that release evokes many bleak memories, but the music itself exists in a different place.”

Another highlight is sure to be 2021’s Plastik, a trance-inducing electronic song featuring vocals by fellow Supersonic performer Blue Ruth. It is clear that audiences will need to watch closely as well as listen when this group takes to the stage.

When asked about their personal favourites from this year’s line-up they told us they’re excited to see Follakzoid, Divide & Dissolve, Grove and also really looking forward to making some new discoveries.
“HHY and the Macumbas, who played after us in 2019, were a revelation!”

Matters are performing on the Friday of Supersonic 2022 – tickets are available here.

With just three weeks to go until Supersonic 2022 we’re proud to announce the following additions to our programme:

TALKS

Freak Zone in Conversation with Richard Dawson and Radwan Ghazi Moumneh

BBC Radio 6 Music presenter Stuart Maconie talks to cult icon Richard Dawson, about his life, his lyrics and his recent collaboration with Finnish legends, Circle. Then on Sunday Stuart speaks to ground breaking producer, musician and Supersonic Guest Curator Radwan Ghazi Moumneh aka Jerusalem In My Heart, an artist whose music has been on repeat in The Freak Zone home for the whole of 2022.

The Art of Collaboration

Jessika Khazrik, Sian O’Gorman (NYX), Elizabeth Bernholz (Gazelle Twin) will be talking to Sophie Morrison (SAM) about the art of collaboration and the launch of Digital Bridge, a new project led by Sound and Music and the Mexican Centre for Music and Sonic Arts (CMMAS) in partnership with Supersonic.

Electric Wizards JR Moores in Conversation with Rosie Solomon

Being in the Home of Metal we couldn’t resist an opportunity to talk to author JR Moores about his new book Electric Wizards which explores the rich tapestry of Heavy Music from 1968 right through to the vibrant modern underground, epitomised by Supersonic darlings Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs.

Jasmine Ketibuah-Foley in Conversation with Decolonise Fest and Divide and Dissolve

Our guest curators Decolonise Fest will be in conversation with Jasmine Ketibuah-Foley on Saturday. Decolonise Fest is a non-profit DIY punk festival collectively organised by and for punx of colour, made up of activists, militant community organisers, musicians, and artists.

On Sunday Jasmine will be speaking to multidimensional heavy duo Divide & Dissolve. Both from indigenous backgrounds, Divide and Dissolve aim to secure Black futures, liberation, and freedom; demand Indigenous Sovereignty; uplift people of colour’s experiences; and destroy white supremacy.

Paul Purgas In Conversation

Sound artist Paul Purgas will share his research into the history of India’s first electronic music studio founded in Ahmedabad, Gujarat in 196, and in turn how this research informed his recent commission ‘Tape Music’ for Supersonic Festival as part of the New Music Biennial.

FILMS

“Here Is a Gift for You: A Film about Old Man Gloom” directed by Kenneth Thomas

Kenneth Thomas’ will be presenting “Here Is a Gift for You: A Film about Old Man Gloom“. The official Old Man Gloom documentary will take audiences along with the band on the West Coast leg of the tour for their album, NO, in 2012.

Shorts by John Bradburn

Director John Bradburn will take us through his Birmingham-made music videos for Royal Thunder, Deafheaven, Emma Ruth Rundle, and Uniform among others, channelling the sinister, strange landscape where the ruins of industrial England meet a timeless pagan wilderness.

Shorts by Erin Weisgerber

Erin Weisgerber, a Tiohtia:ke/Montreal-based filmmaker and member of Jerusalem In My Heart shall be screening a series of short films as part of Radwan’s guest curation. All of the films were created on 16mm film using in-camera effects, optical printing, hand-processing, and other forms of image generation and manipulation unique to the material qualities of film.

DJS

Freaky Disco

On Saturday night, BBC Radio 6 Music are throwing their very own Freaky Disco featuring DJ sets from Stuart, Divide and Dissolve and Jerusalem In My Heart. They’ll also be broadcasting a Supersonic Special on 6 Music on Sunday the 17th of July, featuring live music and highlights from the festival. The Freak Zone broadcasts on BBC Radio 6 Music at 8PM every Sunday, and if you miss it, you can listen again on BBC Sounds.

The Quietus Takeover

The rooftop bar is being taken over all day Saturday and Sunday by our pals at countercultural magazine, The Quietus. Expect DJ sets from UKAEA spinning tropical disco; international punk rock fire from Noel Gardner; Alannah Chance and Jennifer Lucy Allan from BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction; and the hopefully not self-explanatory John Doran and J.R. Moores’ Naked Brunch; plus expect special performances and guest DJ spots from across the bill.

FAT OUT One Stop Transformation Shop

Returning to Supersonic again laden with all the (biodegradable) glitter & googley eyes they can carry is Fat Out’s One Stop Transformation Shop and bringing with them their hoards of rowdy glitter witches. Give yourself to Fat Out and let them transform you into your most fabulous self, ready to tear up the Supersonic pit and pull all the shapes on the dance floor.

Joining our team for Supersonic Festival 2022 is Sadie Barnett, an intern from the University of Birmingham.

Sadie Barnett is a South Londoner (who will remind you of this very often) and multidisciplinary creative. They are currently an undergraduate in their final year of English and Creative Writing. They co-host a weekly radio show called ‘Femme.FM’ which highlights female and nonbinary artists, as well as DJing as ‘Sadie.HD’.

We asked Sadie to hand-pick some of their highlights from this year’s line-up…

THE BUG feat FLOWDAN “The Bug is one of those projects I would describe as ‘your favourite alternative artist’s favourite alternative artist’. Fronted by Kevin Martin, The Bug is one of his longest-standing musical projects, with his own eclectic production style – which ranges from electronic to hip hop to dub – often being used to highlight other vocalists. The songs I’ve chosen for my playlist highlight different periods of this project; Skeng featuring Flowdan (who will be performing alongside him at Supersonic) comes from his 2008 album London Zoo, Fuck a Bitch featuring Death Grips comes from his 2014 follow up Angels and his hypnotically dark remix of On Man’s Squares and Triangles was released as single only this year. So many people I’ve spoken to about this year’s line-up have told me how excited they are for The Bug, and with decades worth of songs and plethora of genres and styles to choose from, it is clear that this performance is one that will live up to its hype.”

DJ AWKWARD BLACK GIRL “one of those artists for whom I think I may be the exact perfect demographic. On Instagram she describes herself succinctly, saying ‘Loves Chips. Dyspraxic. Queer. Awkward. Black.’ The first time I read this I did a double take – I had never seen a more accurate description of myself! As someone who is just starting up as DJ it is so inspiring to see someone so similar to me make a name for themselves. In an industry that is so often overrun by straight white men it is so refreshing to see black queer womxn take up space – not to mention the added difficulties that arise when DJ-ing with dyspraxia! She is also a founder of ‘Sister Shack’, a feminist Black and Queer CIC which works to promote women and nonbinary creatives. Their set for Sister Shack’s ‘Sister Sounds International Womxn’s Day 2022’ event – which seamlessly blends a mix of old school funk classics such as Chaka Khan with rock acts like Big Joanie and high-energy rap such as London’s Little Simz – can be found here.”

GROVE “With influences ranging from drum and bass, jungle, dancehall and even hyperpop, the most concise way to describe Grove’s music is as music that you simply cannot help but dance to. This philosophy is important to Grove, who places the dance community at the centre of their music, often playing unreleased versions of new songs to crowds in Bristol to gauge reaction. Proudly black and queer, Grove aims to make music that champions their identity within these contexts. Sticky, for example, the first track on their 2022 EP Queer+Black, was written as an ode to popular black queer club night Pxssy Palace. An addictive blend of electronic, hyperpop-infused dancehall production the bouncing bass and fast-paced drums set the stage for seductive lyrics about dancing with a girl at the club. With new singles coming out in rapid succession, Grove’s Supersonic performance is sure to be an exciting one, I know I, for one, will be trying my best not to get lost in the crowd.”

NEKRA “I am incredibly excited to see Nekra this year. The all-female hardcore punk band have been making waves in the London underground scene since their 2017 Demo, conveniently titled Demo 2017. Nekra is the kind of band that immediately draws you in with their perfect-to-mosh-to energetic style but keeps you listening with their thought-provoking lyrics. On their most recent project, 2020’s EP Royal Disruptor, singer Spooky Runo’s uniquely raspy voice goes from angrily calling out predators in Groomer to heartbroken screaming on closing track Amang. It is clear that, in each of their songs, Nekra has a point to make, whether it concerns their own experiences or wider political issues. Their live performances are energy filled spaces designed to be a safe outlet for uniquely female anger, and I’m sure I’m one of the many people excited to be absolutely furious with them at Supersonic this summer.”

We’re back with a new episode of the Supersonic Podcast celebrating the momentous return of the festival and it’s 2022 line-up!

Want to get to know the artists performing at this year’s festival?! Join Rosie & Emily from Team Supersonic as they take you on a wild journey through the sounds of Supersonic Festival 2022 -our big return to live! With so much stellar line-up to get through, we’re splitting up this edition into two parts, so welcome to part one!!

It’s an absolute stonker of a programme with music and conversation from Jerusalem In My Heart, Big Brave, Richard Dawson & Circle, The Bug, Buñuel, Föllakzoid and more. Tune on in!

LISTEN HERE

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If you’re in a position to support the artists in this podcast too, we’ve put all their Bandcamp links below for your convenience…

Tracklist