From the deepest depths of the industrial heartlands of Middle England comes a small ray of light.

Last night saw the long awaited return of the Midlands own EINSTELLUNG. Supporting Touch my Secret from Japan at the Hare and Hounds Kings Heath, the band performed songs from their whole back catalogue: Wings Of Desire, And The Rest Are Thunder, All and Nothing.

We are very proud to hold some beautiful Limited Edition heavyweight double vinyls of the Wings Of Desire album AVAILABLE HERE with gatefold sleeve designed by the equally prolific Lucy McLauchlan.

Since late 2003 a warm glow has steadily grown into what can only be described as a fireball. Einstellung feature ex members of Sally, Katastrophy Wife, Cable Regime, Godflesh and Grover. Blending glorious monotonous Krautrock with melodic tones and heavy slabs of Sabbath riffage, whilst finding time to declare sonic warfare on those tinnitus victims who have passed the point of no return.

“If Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother had undergone their musical educations in 1990s Birmingham instead of 1960s Berlin, the music they would have made together under the Neu! banner probably would have sounded a lot like Einstellung’s debut, Wings Of Desire.” 
Drum Media, Sydney

Head on over to the Supersonic shop now to GRAB YOUR COPY!

LEND US YOUR EARS

Listen in to Supersonic Podcast NO.2 where we announce dates for Supersonic Festival 2018…
Plus an, ‘In conversation with…Sam Underwood of ORE’ ahead of the Supersonic Presents ORE album launch show at Centrala, Digbeth Birmingham tomorrow night (Dec 1st) TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE HERE
Sam chooses some tracks and talks about his long standing relationship with Supersonic, the collaborations sprung out of it and the new ORE album ‘Belatedly’ out on Box Records NOW

Featuring music from: Moor Mother // Yves Tumor // Harvey Milk // Broadcast // ORE // Eugene S Robinson // Khyam Allami // KK NULL // Afrirampo // Vanishing Twin

Stay tuned for more in the coming months!

Who remembers Harvey Milk at Supersonic Festival 2008?

As we G up for Supersonic 2018 (exciting announcements coming soon, watch this space) we reflect on some of our most memorable performances over the years – this one, harking back to nearly a decade ago!

This was Harvey Milk’s first EVER UK performance.

After much discussion Capsule managed to coax Harvey Milk out of America to play in the UK for the first time. Saturday night on the outside stage at Supersonic 08 became a memorable occasion with this long awaited performance providing a suitably raucous climax to the festival’s proceedings…

They certainly didn’t disappoint then and we’re equally excited to have been able to record and package up this little piece of Supersonic memorabilia as a special souvenir, whether reliving the experience or wishing you’d been there, we’re sure you’ll cherish it.

Get your copy of this RARE VINYL today via our online shop!

Click the pic.

LEND US YOUR EARS!

We are very excited to release our BRAND NEW PODCAST available now on Mixcloud!

We’ll be bring you a monthly dose of new music from here on out so stay tuned.

For our first instalment we bring you a 2 hour special hosted by our Programme Assistant – Anna Palmer.

We look back on the Experimental music calendar and talk this year’s Fat Out Fest, Supernormal, Tusk and of course, Supersonic. We tell you about the exciting shows still to come from Supersonic this year, playing tracks from the artists involved & a dig back through the Supersonic archive.
Featuring chit chat with Sarah Lafford of Arrhythmia on NTS & an interview with the legendary Steve Davis.

With tracks from: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Lone Taxidermist, Housewives, The Evil Usses, ORE & some old school Supersonic Artists such as Thrones & Hype Williams + much much more.

LISTEN NOW!

We’ve just announced our final show of the year – 1st December at Centrala in Celebration of ORE’s Album Launch. It’s a jam packed bill featuring performances from ORE, Adrena Adrena, Health & Efficiency and ILL. All for just a mere £5. With DJs til late it promises to be the ultimate closer to another Digbeth First Friday.

As if that wasn’t enough of a pull – our event provides the finale to a Guided Tour around a multitude of Digbeth First Friday events that evening, starting at 6pm, as part of brilliant new Arts initiative in Brum.

CULTURE FEAST

For just £25, sample the best in Birmingham’s contemporary scene with access to six events from Stan’s Cafe, DanceXchange, Town Hall Symphony Hall, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, and exclusive guided tours around Digbeth First Friday and Ikon Gallery. That’s six theatre, dance, music and art events all for £25 total.

It’s a truly unique experience – each evening you’ll be greeted by a member of the team who will welcome you to the event and afterwards you’ll get to let it all sink in in a post-event audience exchange, where you can chat to fellow Culture Feast visitors about what you’ve experienced (much like a “book group” for the contemporary arts).

The events included in Culture Feast are:

Time Critical – Stan’s Cafe THEATRE
Wednesday 8 November, 8pm at mac birmingham

Time Critical pits two performers against each other. She must compress 26 years of world events into 26 minutes; all the wars and elections, inventions and natural disasters, sporting successes and dance sensations. He has the same job for a theatre company, all timed by an ever-ticking chess clock. This fun, poignant and high-tempo theatre production invites us to consider how our personal histories run alongside and interweave with world events.

ZERO by Humanhood – DanceXchange DANCE
Thursday 16 November 2017, 8pm at DanceXchange, Patrick Centre, Birmingham Hippodrome

Submerge into Humanhood’s hypnotic and powerful piece ZERO. A visually and sonically mesmerising performance of immersive sound, hypnotising lights and movement. Experience a spiritual dance and be transported into a dream-like world of imagination and beauty.

DEAR ESTHER LIVE – THSH VIDEOGAME WITH LIVE ORCHESTRA
Tuesday 28 November 2017, 7.30pm at Symphony Hall

A deserted Hebridean landscape, memories of a fatal crash, a book written by a dying man – explore a haunting, deserted, island shrouded in mystery in a live performance of the videogame Dear Esther.

Guided tour of Digbeth First Friday and Supersonic Festival presents…ORE album launch show ART & MUSIC
Friday 1 December, 6pm starting at Centrala

A guided Art-tour around Birmingham’s alternative scene; Digbeth First Friday. Exhibitions, late-night openings, special events, culture in unexpected spaces, live music, street food and more. Ending with the finale of ‘Supersonic Festival presents…ORE album launch show‘ at Centrala – event page HERE.

Ikon Exhibition Tour – Ikon ART
Wednesday 17 January 2018, 6pm at Ikon Gallery

Join Ikon for an informal tour and chat about their current exhibitions – including drawings, paintings and photographs by convict artist Thomas Bock (c.1793 – 1855) and photographs and installations produced by artist Edmund Clark in response to his residency at HM Prison Grendon.

Celebrating Carter – Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and THSH MUSIC
Sunday 28 January, 4pm at Town Hall

Composer Elliott Carter was a genuine living legend – the playful, brilliantly intelligent modern master who wrote his last pieces at the age of 104. This one-off celebration of his music at Town Hall brings together the very best that Birmingham has to offer, as we transform Town Hall with a performance on the flat.

***BOOK YOUR TICKET NOW!!!***

Last weekend, the Supersonic team descended on Tusk Festival at the Sage Gateshead in Newcastle.

Our brains have just about reset from being well and truly bombed.

We had a brilliant time and made some mind-altering new discoveries. Congratulations to Lee & the team for what they delivered across those 3 days.

In celebration of our time there, here’s 2 minutes of Tusk to wrap your head around. All recorded on the very high tech voice memo app of the iPhone 4.

If you missed it, be sure to head up north next time round. Find out more HERE

We were at the Wagon and Horses in Digbeth last week for Hey Colossus, AJA, Bruxa Maria, Rainbow Grave, Squalor Fan and HAQ 123.

That’s a heavy 6 bands to fit in to 4 hours I must say.

And I forgot my ear plugs.

The night was put together by local Brums and Supersonic pals Lobeblender and Black Hole Promotions.

And my my, what a night.

HAQ 123 are Zac (9) on drums, Millie (8) on vocals and Dave (old enough to know better) on bass. The opened up our Supersonic Sunday back in June and it was an absolute joy to catch them again. Raised on the industrial sounds emitted from Brum, this heavy trio have beats, wails and tempo shifts the older touring band would spend years crafting; front woman Millie’s effortless cool and powerful banshee voice, Zac’s wild drum fills and playfulness and Dave’s ability to sit back and compliment the two young stars talents is a warm reminder to us all of what playing in a band should be about.

Next we venture upstairs and inside for Squalor Fan – a new project made up of Rob Arthur (bass) and Craig Earp (Electronics). Combining lo-fi industrial beats with more neatly produced electronics, live bass and some pretty gnarly high end creates an indiscernible mesmeric sound, like Beastie Boys meets This Heat – which is a very good thing. I just needed it to be cranked a little more. With talk of a drummer joining the duo soon for live shows i’m excited to see how Squalor Fan will develop.

I’ve seen Rainbow Grave a few times now. The more I see them, I die a little more inside. They are the constant reminder of your own mortality and the drudgery of life. They are the incessant hammer of noise pounding at your temple in the hangover. For some reason tonight though, perhaps it’s the outdoor air, they have a lifted energy on stage – like maybe, possibly, for at least some of it, they might be – dare I say it – enjoying themselves? I smile and cheer, go mad with applause for my particular favourite track Year Zero (akin to Dead and Gone’s, ‘Leave the dead to bury the dead’) and the adorning crowd are flipped the finger from Johnny Doom. F you Rainbow Grave, F you.

Then to a band i’ve never had the pleasure of witnessing before – Bruxa Maria – who absolute smashed it – no literally, smashed a glass off the table with their cacophony – a pummelling of post-hardcore. I love the dimension the synth and effects bring as the frequencies slice through the mass of distortion with precision. A triple stacked cymbal on the drums adds crunch to the perpetual crashing and the vocals somehow manage to penetrate through it all with fierce vigour. I’m in folks, please come back to Brum soon.

Upstairs in a darkened strobing room AJA enters through the audience to her table spread with delectable drum machines, effects pedals & synths – as if she’s about to feast upon what’s before her. Beginning with an enticing layered vocal loop into a throbbing mechanical beat the audience is put through their paces as AJA bears her soul. It’s a set of floor writhing, banshee screaming, speaker climbing, coma inducing strobe insanity – an assault on the senses. All tinged with a beautiful vulnerability in the way the dulcet tones of AJA’s voice sing through at intimate moments – only to be screamed at defiantly the next. It’s a whirlwind of emotion, take from it what you will.

And then we arrived at the final onslaught from Hey Colossus and I have to admit by this point I can’t remember song titles. But I can recall the visceral energy being thrashed about from stage to punter, stage to punter like playing tennis with a meteorite. I clambered up the stairs to watch it from above and witnessed a writhing dark mass below being swaddled in an unrelenting minimalist pounding of distortion with pulsating high hats (Back in the room?! I’m guessing…) interjected with terror inducing vocals.

I’m trying to avoid genre here as much as I can as Hey Colossus are a guitar band which essentially just play all the good bits of all the good guitar genres, averted to sitting still. To put it in movement terms, they induce from the audience anything from bottom-of-the-pint-staring-head-hanging to look-at-all-these-bright-lights-i-can’t-make-out-what-sounds-coming-from-where dancing. With that I look above in to the Digbeth sky at some ominous dark clouds eyeing us up for a pounding – but it’s alright I figure, what with the colossal onslaught being shot up into the air, no chance mate.

Great work Lobeblender and Black Hole Promotions – thanks for bringing such a top night to Brum. Here’s to more!

We know you love this bit! Post us your suggestions in the comments below for next year’s Supersonic. We always like to hear your wishlist, and don’t be afraid of being bold and brazen.

At Supersonic 2007 we had the likes of Mogwai, Chrome Hoof, Modified Toy Orchestra and Tuung along with OXBOW duo performing a one off rarity with Justin Broadrick (Godflesh/Jesu/Techno Animal), Stephen O’Malley (Sunn 0))) ) Dave Cochrane (Head Of David,Transitional) and Chipper (which you can nab a vinyl of HERE). And in 2017, ten years on, festival finale OXBOW choir brought tears to our eyes.

Check out this video of Eugene and Niko back then…oh, how they’ve grown!

& visit the extensive video back catalogue HERE!

HUGELY excited to announce another alt-club night in partnership with Hare & Hounds Kings Heath 10th anniversary series this November with DJ sets from: SURGEON, STEVE DAVIS & KAVUS TORABI, DJ BUS REPLACEMENT SERVICE
with visuals from EDWARDO TECH

Tickets will fly out for this 250 cap venue so ACT QUICK!

TICKETS HERE

***TELL US IF YOU’RE COMING ON THE FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE HERE***

Surgeon, real name Anthony Child, has been at the forefront of UK techno since 1994.
His debut “Surgeon EP” is regarded by many as seminal, and along with several early Downwards releases, caused a ripple of excitement through the techno cognoscenti of the time. Surgeon released a further three albums on Tresor, numerous Counterbalance and Dynamic Tension EPs and LPs “Body Request” in 2000, “Breaking The Frame” LP in 2011, and “From Farthest Known Objects” in 2016.
Over the course of his career, the Birmingham resident has perfected a unique and uncommonly effective production style. His is a tough techno sound with an industrial murk about it but also plenty of funk, swing and a sophisticated sense of dub-space learned in part from his Chain Reaction contemporaries in Berlin.
Nov 10th this local legend brings his notorious DJ set to The Hare venue 1 – NOT TO BE MISSED!
http://www.dj-surgeon.com/
https://soundcloud.com/dynamic-tension/surgeon-live-freerotation-7-7-17

RETURNING TO THE HARE after a killer show back in March this year is the one and only Steve Davis – this time with alt-music partner in tow – Kavus Torabi.
The legendary sporting phenomenon from the 80s who took snooker to new heights and as presenter of The Interesting Alternative Show on Pheonix FM with Kavus brought prog and jazz oddities to his cult audience, now turns his hands to the decks. As a hobby which he claims has spun out of control, their notorious 2016 Glastonbury set at the 500 capacity Stonebridge bar was mobbed by a curious turned shocked and enthralled crowd. With a packed out DJ diary since, the duo has continued to woo party goers from Bluedot to Bloc Festival. Drawing from an eclectic array of influences: Magma, Caravan, Oscar Perry, Soft Machine and Gong to name but a few – Steve & Kavus spin together a unique set in their quest to deliver the music they love to lovers of the party.
Listen back to The Interesting Alternative Show archive:
https://www.mixcloud.com/interestingalternative/

DJ Bus Replacement Service has been described by multi- disciplinary artist Russell Haswell as “evil” and “like a policewoman”.
Also known in Japan as DJ バスガス爆発 (BASU-GASU-bakahatsu).
https://soundcloud.com/deejaybrs

Promised to be a night of mind-bending music as these 4 alt-techno party lovers take turns on the decks, heightened by the flashes, projections & firworks of EDWARDOtme
https://www.facebook.com/edwardotme/?pnref=lhc

Tickets £12.50 advance
https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Birmingham/Hare-And-Hounds/Supersonic-Festival-x-Hare--Hounds-Surgeon-Steve-Davis–more/13050346/
£15 otd

Photos by Katja Ogrin, Joe Singh and Mark Rhodes

Wow! Supersonic 2017 was an absolute blinder. Our hearts are completely warmed. Thank you friends. We couldn’t have asked for a better weekend full of mind bending, life altering music and art, paired with fun and frolics shared amongst a loving, open minded community – something much needed in our current times.

Huge thanks and congratulations to our hard-working Supersonic team and volunteers who all go beyond the call of duty to make it happen and to our incredible artists and audience alike who elevate the whole experience to something truly special.

We will start posting up our Supersonic Collective memory (first started in 2009) over the next few days, so feel free to send your comments and blog post links and photos to us, let us know your highlights. Keep checking back as we add more content.

Supersonic photos should be added to our Flickr group (if you could tag them with band name & supersonic 2017 or ssfest17).

SUPERSONIC QUESTIONNAIRE

We know that people who come to SUPERSONIC are a knowledgeable and opinionated lot so we’d like to ask for your assistance to develop and improve the next festival by answering a few questions about you and your experience. This should take no more than a few minutes of your time, and your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Your answers here will aid us in keeping our work going and in making sure new and interesting artists will keep coming to the festival – so your input really does matter in making SUPERSONIC work.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/WJ5LBVN

REVIEWS

THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER –  4* live review 

“A deeply experimental weekend but also a genuinely accessible one too. During a period in which many line-ups of alternative festivals are becoming increasingly uniform, Supersonic brightly stands out as a true alternative to the alternative..”

ARTS DESK –  5* live review 

“The Supersonic Festival is Birmingham’s annual gathering of the sonically weird and wonderful pitched at “curious audiences” happy to lend their ears to sounds that would ordinarily be difficult to discover without a lot of effort.”

THE QUIETUS – live review

“Supersonic reasserts itself as the best European festival for new music…..Show me a room full of Napalm Death fans singing Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ with tears pouring down their faces and you show me the very reason we gather to experience live music in the first place.””

NOISEY – Feature on Napalm Death and DIY culture

“No other city has played such an integral role in defining and shattering what heavy music can be.”

ECHOES AND DUST – live review

“This year’s Supersonic Festival was an amazing experience with so much quality acts and so many forward thinking styles going on at a wonderfully organised event.”

DROWNED IN SOUND – live review

“Britain’s premier experimental music weekender: three days of risk-taking, thought-provoking, genre-defying, toe-tapping, eardrum-popping sounds for the discerning.”

FIGHTING BOREDOM – live review of Friday   / Saturday / Sunday 
“It wouldn’t be overstating things to say that Supersonic is our musical home. “

MUTUAL GRIMNESS – live review
“Supersonic Festival – Munificent. Mesmerizing. Mindblowing……Music is powerful. A platform to convey socio-political ideas. A tool to inspire and connect people.”

RADIO

BBC RADIO 3 – Supersonic preview on Late Junction (14 June)

NTS RADIO – Supersonic preview (23 May)

BBC 6 MUSIC – Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone reveal

BRUM RADIO – Supersonic Take-over show

LOCAL

MIDLANDS METALHEADS – review

MIDLANDS METALHEADS – Gallery   

MIDLANDS ROCKS – initial announcement

GRAPEVINE BIRMINGHAM – initial announcement

BIRMINGHAM MAIL – initial announcement

PRINT 

GUARDIAN GUIDE – Preview (10 June) 

GUARDIAN GUIDE – Inclusion in the festival guide (6 May)

WIRE – Inclusion in festival listings (June issue)

PREVIEWS

GUARDIAN GUIDE – listed as the top experimental music festival in Europe

“Huddled down the canal from the retail palaces of central Birmingham sits Digbeth, an area permanently flirting with regeneration – making it the perfect place for the accessible yet decidedly off-grid lineup at Supersonic.”

THE QUIETUS – general Supersonic preview 

“Birmingham’s Supersonic festival is returning bigger, bolder and more experimental than ever this weekend (June 16-18).”

DROWNED IN SOUND – preview 

“It’s all back to Birmingham for round 15 of Britain’s best city fest.”

ATTN – Q+A with Khyam 

“Beyond the entertainment factor of it all and the generous support of those at that show, it meant so much to me because it was one of the few times in my life where I felt like I actually belonged somewhere and was surrounded by like-minded spirits. Since then I have always considered Supersonic my spiritual home.”

CRACK – news article 

“Boundary-pushing experimental festival Supersonic have completed their lineup for this year’s edition, adding a crop of new artists to a bill that already includes performances from Jenny Hval, Richard Dawson, and Raime.”

FIGHTING BOREDOM – preview 

“Everything that Fighting Boredom love about music is captured by Capsule’s Supersonic Festival.”

GET INTO THIS – news article

“Where too often festivals can play it safe, settling for the same tried-and-tested headline acts guaranteed to swell ticket sales, Supersonic reads like a breath of fresh air.”

BIRMINGHAM WIRE – http://birminghamwire.co.uk/#!/coming-soon-supersonic-festival-2017

“A truly avant-garde, tightly-curated and rightly exalted experience.”

Oxbow Choir bringing Supersonic Festival 2017 to an incredible finale photo by Joe Singh

What a wonderful weekend – thank you all so much for joining us.

“Whilst the Supersonic deals superbly in experimental music, it also doesn’t take itself too seriously and alongside the mind-altering music, record fairs and pop-up stalls, activities such as black metal life drawing or Black Sabbath karaoke are offered, as well as events and gigs for children.

This thoughtfulness leads it to be a deeply experimental weekend but also a genuinely accessible one too. During a period in which many alternative festivals line-ups are becoming increasingly uniform, Supersonic brightly stands out as a true alternative to the alternative.”
The Independent – read the whole review HERE

Lone Taxidermist photo by Joe Singh

British born Lucy McLauchlan large-scale monochromatic paintings have covered multi-story buildings across Europe, gigantic billboards in China, windows in Japan, huts in The Gambia, Italian water towers, Norwegian lighthouse, Detroit car parks and abandoned NYC subway tunnels. Implicit within her work is a deep respect for nature as she draws inspiration from her immediate environment; allowing it to inform and direct what is an intuitive and explorative process.

Within Lucy’s ongoing ‘investigation’ into some of Birmingham’s more unapparent areas, ‘Birmingham By Pass’ features new works referencing her days spent along the canals and waterways of Digbeth. Culminating in an installation at the intimate gallery space located just off the canal within our partner venue Centrala.

Lucy’s residency runs from the 9th June to the 8th July, with works along the surrounding canal side.

Each year we receive lots of emails asking lots of questions, so to make life easier, we’ve collated all of the information here into the Supersonic Festival Frequently Asked Questions List. If you do have a question, check the list. If it definitely isn’t answered here, [email protected] is where you can send it.

WHAT DOES MY TICKET INCLUDE??!!!?!?!?!?!?!?!??

This has been a frequent request this year. So let’s clear it up ONCE AND FOR ALL!

• EARLY BIRD AND WEEKEND PASSES give you entrance to the opening concert at Town Hall with Anna Von Hausswolff.
• Melt Banana are playing twice – once on the FRIDAY for ADULTS and again on the SATURDAY for KIDS – Friday’s show is included in a weekend ticket OR Friday ticket holders – and the KIDS GIG tickets are now SOLD OUT
• Ticket combinations and info. can all be found on the relevant pages when you click on each ticket icon here

So, what do I do first? Box office opening times.

You get your wristband! Box office is located at our festival hub on Floodgate St; this is where you can exchange your tickets for wristbands or purchase festival tickets. This is also where press and guests should come. 

Box Office opening times are:

Friday: 18.30 – 19.00 At Town Hall for our opening concert with Anna Von Hausswolff (for early bird/weekend plus/Anna Von Hausswolff tickets only)

21.30 – 23.30 At our festival hub on Floodgate St. for all other tickets

Saturday: 16.00 – 22.00

Sunday: 15.00 – 21.00

Accommodation: “Where can I live for the weekend?”

We have negotiated a number of special rates for Supersonic visitors, you can read all about that here https://supersonicfestival.com/info/hotels/

Alcohol: “Can I bring my own alcohol?”

Unfortunately not, you may be searched on arrival and if you are found to be carrying drinks, these will be confiscated. There will be licensed bars on the festival site. If you look under 21, please bring some photo ID along.

We have a number of lovely drinks available on site including a selection of Purity Ales

Supersonic Festival bars can be found in the The Crossing, Boxxed, Wild and in the tea room.

Food

We have a food court on site located in North Yard, which will cater for vegetarians and vegans alike as well as meat eaters. 

Cash Points

There are only a few ATM machines in Digbeth, so you might want to take out money prior to arriving at the festival site. There are two free cash machines located near-by at:

• Nisa | Digbeth High Street | B5 5NR (about a 3 minute walk from the Custard Factory) which is open until midnight daily
• Birmingham Coach Station which is open 24hrs

Children

Children (under 10) can come along, but it is essential that you contact us beforehand and they usually have to leave the festival site by 9pm. [email protected] ‘under 18’s’ in the title

Directions: “How do I get to Supersonic Festival?”

Supersonic Festival is held at the The Crossing Floodgate St, Birmingham B5 5SR Find directions to each venue here.

Lost Property: Lost something at the festival?

Any lost property found by Supersonic staff will be safely stored in the production office.

If you lose something over the weekend, contact a member of Supersonic / Security Staff. If you realise you’re missing something after the festival contact [email protected]

Playing at Supersonic – can my band play at Supersonic?

Capsule HQ receive tonnes of emails from bands wishing to play the festival, we wholeheartedly wish to encourage new artists and bands and work hard to ensure that the festival features plenty of new talent, however at this point in the proceedings we’re already fully booked so please refrain from emailing us, we welcome suggestions via our recommendations blog post and refer to these when programming the festival so please use this as your first point of call.

Performance Times

Stage times for each artist can be found here.

Smoking

Normal smoking rules apply: you can smoke in any outdoor area on site, you cannot smoke inside any enclosed public buildings, tents, portacabins, or near a fuel source.

Taxis

There are loads of taxi firms in Birmingham – Here’s numbers for a couple of them:

Atlas Cars 0121-643-8888

Ambassador Cars 0121-449-8888

T.O.A. 0121-444-8888

Royal Cars 0121-444-8888

TAKE A LOOK AT THE FOOD STALLS AND BARS FUELLING OUR WEEKEND OF MIND BENDING, BODY QUAKING FUN NEXT WEEK AT SUPERSONIC…

BARS

Our very own bars can be found in The Crossing, The Wild Stage, Boxxed and the Market Place providing an array of real ale, cider, wine and spirits to aid your weekend enjoyment.

In previous years we have worked our way through eight thousand plastic cups. In a bid to reduce the impact on the environment, we have introduced a Supersonic reusable cup. There is a one off £1 charge, then itʼs your to keep. 

Our bars are run by a team of energetic and hardworking volunteers, so donʼt forget to give them a smile and please treat them nicely! 

FOOD

BEET THE SYSTEM

Hold on to your lunch boxes! Beet the System are a Vegan Worker Co-operative. They specialise in making our their own delicious, fresh Organic Tempeh in Brum which they will be cooking up into some mouthwatering dishes for Supersonic Festival. Plant Power to the People! 

www.beetthesystem.co.uk 

ORIGINAL PATTY MAN 

Birminghamʼs own Patty Pimps and Purveyors of filth return to their street food origins to provide you with serious, quality burgers. 

www.originalpattymen.com 

SRI-LICIOUS 

Specialist Sri Lankan street food dishes, prepared lovingly from scratch; weʼre talking kottu roti, egg hoppers, delicious short eats and adventurous sambols. 

www.srilicious.co.uk

*Dribble*

BUY TICKETS!

FRIDAY
Opening Concert with Anna Von Hausswollf + Khyam Allami *
Birmingham Town Hall Victoria Square, Birmingham B3 3DQ
Box Office 18.00 – 19.00 concert starts at 19.00 – 21.00
(Nearest car park Town Hall – Brunel Street, B1 1TA )

(this is a 20 mins walk from Town Hall to our festival hub – see map)

• For those of you with an EARLY BIRD or WEEKEND PLUS ticket you have entry to our opening concert at Birmingham Town Hall with Anna von Hausswolff and Khyam Allami
  Box office opens at 6.00pm and the concert starts bang on 7.00pm – this finishes at 9.00pm allowing 30 mins to walk/taxi to our main site (20 mins walk)
  We then kick off the rest of the fest at 9.30pm at our main festival hub in Digbeth

Digbeth Festival Hub
The Crossing Floodgate St, Birmingham B5 5SR
Box Office 21.00 – 23.00 concert starts at 21.30 – 2.00am
(Nearest car park Digbeth Oxford St, Birmingham B5 6DY – £2.50 for 24 hrs)

SATURDAY
Digbeth Festival Hub
The Crossing Floodgate St, Birmingham B5 5SR
Box Office 16.00 – 22.00 concert starts at 16.00 – 2.30am

offsite
Supersonic Kids Gig 14.00
Symphony Hall Foyer Cafe Broad St, Birmingham B1 2EA

Screaming Into The Void – Talk 14.00 – 16.00
Centrala Unit 4 Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley Street, Digbeth B5 5RT

Yoga in Black 12.00 – 14.00
Centrala Unit 4 Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley Street, Digbeth B5 5RT

Lucy Mclauchlan Exhibition 12.00 – 17.00
Centrala Unit 4 Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley Street, Digbeth B5 5RT

edit

Saturday 17th

Centrala @2pm

158 Fazeley Street Birmingham B5 5RT 

FREE (limited capacity so first come first serve)

Serving cake and coffee – perfect way to start your Supersonic day! 

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Napalm Death’s infamous Scum album.  At the time of its creation, Punk had already burned itself out but the ethos had been etched into the worldview of a large proportion of disaffected youth. The band preached a message of personal and social responsibility, they shouted their vision of an anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian society from the stage and implored their fans to start putting on their own gigs and set up record labels in their bedroom. Fans started tape labels and edited their own fanzines. The overarching message was to Do. It. Yourself.

This poignant anniversary offers a moment to explore Punk/DIY culture and its effectiveness for social change. 30 years on, how does the ethos translate to music and art today? What impact does anger in art have, if any? Who uses this anger and why?

Panelists include journalist Jamie Thomson, author of ‘How punk changed cities – and vice versa’ for the Guardian, Beirut based Khyam Allami of Nawa Recordings “For art/culture to move you it needs to be risky and fearless, but I believe that fearlessness is a privilege”, London based black feminist punk band Big Joanie, “I don’t think you can be a woman and not be political. I don’t think you can be a black woman and not be political. Your body is a political force” and Napalm Death co-founder Nicholas Bullen. Chaired by Nancy Beenie (BBC Radio 3)

TOMORROW, June 8th, is election day. 

Rather than screaming in to the void, GO OUT AND USE YOUR VOTE!

And on the journey to the ballot box, why not whack on our DIY Culture playlist of Supersonic 2017 artists?!

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Supersonic Festival 2017 plays host to many stunning interdisciplinary showcases across the weekend. In particular, our Friday night at the Wild stage sees groundbreaking new AV work from Birmingham duo Mothwasp and Algorave – a live coding collective. And on Saturday, our partners at Vivid Projects also host a coding workshop with BAFTA-winning digital artist Dan Hett.

Kicking off on the Friday night at 10pm on the Wild stage, Mothwasp creates an unsettling kind of “pitch black broken funk.”

Mothwasp Intro from Beat13 on Vimeo.

Descending from the long line of leather-and-denim clad noise-mongers that post-industrial Birmingham is so fond of producing, yet remain the Midlands’ “least tattooed rock band”. Combining the brute force of drums and guitar, experimental film soundtrack techniques and audio-responsive video experiments derived from defunct analogue projection apparatus, the duo sculpt movies for the ears and soundtracks for the eyes.

Vintage tools used to orchestrate warped futurism.

Live Sci-fi ambience meets video nasty.

Heavy as an anvil with madly repetitive bass and sounds like a tolling bell scattered around fast, incessant beats.

After Mothwasp’s visual performance, the Wilde stage turns into an Algorave, brought to you by Supersonic and Vivid Projects curator Antonio Roberts. If you haven’t heard of or been to an algorave, be sure to check it out; an algorave is a party where electronic music and visuals are generated live from algorithms. The word was coined around 2012, initially as a joke, but has since taken hold with Algoraves taking place in over 40 cities around the world.

Supersonic’s Algorave features artists Heavy Lifting and Blood Sport, presenting a collision and mutation of their current work in a textural and improvisatory reinterpretation of the ‘B2B’ DJ set.

Heavy Lifting is Lucy writing confused live code in TidalCycles and FoxDot – divinely inspired by toads & pickled eggs she bends time signatures to create not-quite-techno rhythms. Also a member of algorave band TYPE and co-founder of the creative collective SONA.

Blood Sport are an aggro-beat trio based in Sheffield; consisting of Alex Keegan (guitar & octatrack), Sam Parkin (drums) and Nick Potter (baritone & vocals). Creating a fractured dancefloor, Blood Sport’s work mixes pre-recorded and live performance using live-coding program Tidal Cycles. 

Heavy Lifting will live-code textures and rhythms using the sample-pack (to be publicly released this year), and Blood Sport will respond with music. This set was originally born out of a request from Blood Sport for Heavy Lifting to create a remix of one of their tracks, using a micro-sample pack Blood Sport had created for live-coding program TidalCycles; and after an outing at the Algomech Festival closing party, both acts have begun to work together on regular live and DJ driven performances.

Miri Kat continues the algorave: an AV Noise Artist working with Max/MSP, processing & found sound. Focuses on the creation of unique sounds and immersive multimedia, equipped with a loved of hacking, cats and mocha.

Closing the Algorave is BITLIP; a veteran livecoder and part-time Algoraver who makes downtempo techno collages out of strange samples, analogue-sounding synths, and broken breakbeats straight out of the late 90s.

Supersonic’s Algorave is hosted by Vivid Projects, a collaborative space supporting media arts practice. Based in Birmingham, they encourage innovation, risk and experimentation in artistic practice and work with artists and producers across disciplines.

Algorave is curated by hellocatfood – the alias of Antonio Roberts, a New Media artist and Curator based in Birmingham at Vivid. His artwork uses glitch art, hacking and technology-driven processes to explore issues surrounding copyright, remixing and free culture. For his live visuals he (mis)uses a range of programming languages to create glitched, broken visuals. He has provided visuals for the likes of MTV, Com Truise, Elmo Sexwhistle, Steve Davis, Henry Homesweet and My Panda Shall Fly.

BUY TICKETS FOR SUPERSONIC FRIDAY OR WEEKEND PLUS TICKETS!

A post shared by Antonio Roberts (@hellocatfood) on May 15, 2017 at 6:53am PDT

If Friday night sounds like just your kind of thing, on Saturday from 12:00-17:00 Vivid Projects brings you Creative Coding for Live Visual Workshops.

BAFTA-winning digital artist Dan Hett brings his computational creativity crash-course to Supersonic! Aimed at complete beginners, this course will take attendees on a colourful and interactive hands-on journey into making noise and colour with a computer. The course will firstly look at livecoding visuals and noise in the browser using the amazing LiveCodeLab, and then heads into creating unpredictable and colourful drawing tools using Processing. No previous coding experience is necessary, but you will need to bring a sparkling can-do attitude and a willingness to experiment.

You will need:

– A laptop that can connect to the internet (Windows, OSX and Linux are all fine)

– Google Chrome https://www.google.com/chrome/

– Processing, which can be downloaded for Windows, OSX and Linux https://processing.org/

Tickets £5 for Supersonic Tickets holders / £10 for general public

Supersonic Marketplace

Open Friday 21:30 – 00:00; Saturday 16:00 – 22:00; Sunday 15:00 – 21:00.

By The Crossing Stage, South & City College Birmingham

You will no doubt already be stunned by our marvellous lineup of music, art and film – but no Supersonic would be complete without its vibrant Market Place, complete with talks, high-energy DJ sets and extracurricular activities.

The Market Place is a space for independent distributors, record labels and pedlars of curiosities to sell their wares, network and for you to meet face to face. It’s also where the bands sell their merchandise. The area is equipped with a tearoom serving a selection of epicurean delights, including cakes (of course!), tea and coffee and a bottle bar for those who prefer a tasty ale with their lemon drizzle cake.

So here’s the lowdown on all the sellers joining us at Supersonic, plus a taste of the wondrous activities you’ll encounter in the Market Place over the course of the weekend.

Bunny Bissoux 

Bunny Bissoux is an artist, illustrator and hardcore fanatic, raised in Birmingham and now based in Tokyo, Japan. Her work is heavily inspired by popular culture, with recurring themes including music, teen angst, pro-wrestling, animals and idols. Previously collaborating with Capsule on exhibitions, t-shirt designs and the infamous trading cards at Supersonics gone by, Bunny returns to selling prints, zines, badges and stickers in addition to vintage trading cards, cult memorabilia and treasures from Japan.

Workshop – Sat 5-7pm, Sun 4-6pm

Bunny will also be running drop-in workshops [info here] over the course of the Festival weekend to make your own uchiwa – paper fans commonly made by concertgoers in Japan, emblazoned with band names, pictures, slogans and words of admiration, to send a message to their idols or as a memento of a live experience – show your support for the festival acts, proclaim your adoration for your all-time favourite band or create a Supersonic souvenir to treasure forever!

All materials provided, but feel free to bring an image of your favourite band or musician.

Box Records

Founded by Pigs x7’s Matt Baty in 2009 and home to fuzzed-out and furious British bands including Terminal Cheesecake and Casual Nun, Box Records is a DIY record label & distro specialising in only the wildest and finest strains of UK underground psych, noise, punk, kraut, prog, folk and rock. Expect vinyl, cassette, prints, t shirts and more!

Shelanu: Women’s Craft Collective

Shelanu is a developing social enterprise of migrant and refugee women producing high quality craft objects in collaboration with Craftspace and inspired by their new home, the city of Birmingham. They will be selling their Birmingham souvenir and Migrating Birds ranges.

Defunkt Dialekt / Irrational Media

The Irrational Media Society is a Birmingham-based record label creating vinyl for a worldwide selection of artists, with only one item on its agenda: ‘do what you love and do it well.’

Edgeworld Records

A Supersonic regular since 2011. No longer a shop but still active with pop-up stalls specialising in all things Alternative, Outsiders, Emergent…VINYL!

Farmer Glitch

A member of electronic mavericks Hacker Farm & pHarmerz, Stephen Ives (a.k.a. Farmer Glitch) customises discarded found objects into sonic devices – transforming rusted buckets and old cameras into potent noise-machines. In addition the Farmer himself specialises in his own line of compact and affordable noise-making kits, to suit a range of devious tastes.

Farmer Glitch Workshop – Sat, 3-5pm [info here]

eastvilleproject.org.uk

Lancashire & Somerset

A humble record label, currently living in the hills of Shropshire. Lancashire and Somerset attempt to help and support a growing family of bands with a like-minded ethos. Privileged to put out very special releases on mainly the superior format of vinyl. Artists include Enablers, Kogumaza, Nathan Bell, Daniel Bachman, Mugstar and Nick Jonah Davis.

Melophobe Records

Buyers and sellers of good quality vinyl records specialising in indie, post-punk, noise rock, metal and free jazz.

Wow And Flutter

Wow And Flutter is a record and comic shop in Hastings, East Sussex, specialising in cult artists and unusual releases. It opened in December 2014 in the heart of Hastings’ America Ground, a vibrant area close to the pier and home to many artists and designers. 

The Marketplace Stage will also play host to pounding DJ sets from Fat Out, Golden Cabinet, Dorcha and the place where you may also catch…

Black Metal Life Drawing with Russell MacEwan (Black Sun)

Sat, 6.40-8.40pm

Join Russell MacEwan (Black Sun Drum Korps) in exploring the brutal and beautiful art of black metal, in a two-hour introduction to life drawing, presented in the context of heavy metal and black metal art, music and history. Ritualistic in form, carbon in soul, unleash your creative potential and inner darkness in two hours of demonically fun life drawing. No previous experience required. Participants may bring their own sketchbooks if they wish, and all other materials are generously provided by Cass Art Birmingham.

Magreb Sharit Dance Party

Sat, 9 – 10.30pm
You are invited to come and spend some time with Willie Stewart and Natalia Beylis of Woven Skull and their collection of cassette tapes they have gathered up on their travels through Morocco. It’s a chance to listen, dance and celebrate the many styles of music found in North Africa and it’s place in tape culture. You can pick up a fanzine giving a brief history of the music found in Morocco as well as a mixtape or two with a selection of songs  from the Chaabi, folklore, Berber, Gnaoua and Sufi traditions.

Supernormal Presents: Sabbath-Aoke

Sat, 10.50pm-12.20am
Come all ye Children of the Grave, accept the challenge to embrace your inner Wizard, and sing your heart and lungs out to your fave Sabs anthem. Supernormal – the annual Oxfordshire festival enclave where the most otherworldly wonders of the underground converge – has been reaping minds and destroying larynxes with a regular karaoke session each year honouring the likes of Prince, Kate Bush and The Fall alike, and it seems only fitting that they should bring the Sabbathian version of this spectacle to Birmingham, the Home Of Metal and motherlode of all things Iommi-Butler-Osbourne-Ward. Moreover, we’ve enlisted the help of an unholy incarnation of both Ozzy and Sharon O. to host the ceremony. Satan’s coming round the bend, indeed.

Sunken Hum Tapes

Sun, 4.10-5.10pm

Using a four track, two tape decks and cassettes from her collection, Natalia Beylis layers seemingly incongruous recordings atop of each other to spawn strange juxtapositions and garbled parallels. Inside her stockpile of tapes are recordings she made on family vacations, a cassette of a roadside preacher she picked up in a truck stop in Nevada, rantings of blissed-out self-improvement gurus, weird noises from the natural and unnatural world and more.

So there we have it.

Come take a saunter around the Market Place at Supersonic 2017.

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JUNE HAS ARRIVED! SUPERSONIC BEGINS IN A MERE TWO WEEKS! And guess what? We have EVEN MORE delectable offerings heading your way. Check out our film screenings…

TONY CONRAD: COMPLETELY IN THE PRESENT

Sunday 12:00 I Vivid Projects 16 Minerva Works 158 Fazeley Street Birmingham B5 5RS I
free to Supersonic ticket holders I £5 to non ticket holders

Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present is a non-fiction film examining the pioneering life and works of artist, musician, and educator, Tony Conrad.

Conrad was one the great American artists of our time, we were honoured to have him perform as part of our 10^th anniversary edition of Supersonic.

Since the early 1960s, Conrad’s films and compositions have been the stuff of legend for artists and musicians everywhere. His vast, inter-disciplinary repertoire has single-handedly created and influenced major film and compositional movements. He performed in and recorded the soundtrack to Jack Smith’s legendary Flaming Creatures; he turned the paradigms of cinema upside down with The Flicker, a film composed of only black and white frames; his development and practice of Just Intonation and Minimalism through his work with Stockhausen and La Monte Young still has the music establishment scratching their heads; his pivotal role in the formation of The Velvet Underground has directly or indirectly influenced everyone who has picked up a guitar since; as an early adopter of activist public access television he democratised the emerging medium of portable video.

THE COLOSSUS OF DESTINY: A MELVINS TALE – FILM

Sunday 14:30 I Vivid Projects 16 Minerva Works 158 Fazeley Street Birmingham B5 5RS I
free to Supersonic ticket holders I £5 to non ticket holders
+ In conversation with Director Bob Hannam

“I always thought it was strange that people didn’t know more about The Melvins and I felt their story needed to be told. The band members had told me that a few people had talked the talk but had never followed up on their threats to make a film about them, so a little over two years ago things really fell into place and now the end product is finished for all to see, ” explained Director and Co-Producer Bob Hannam, who worked in tandem with co-producer Ryan Sutherby to bring the film to fruition. “It has been a long labor of love for the both of us and we are excited for people to see the film and understand the workings of a truly great band.”

“The Colossus of Destiny: A Melvins Tale” follows the band’s history, with rare behind-the-scenes footage from their early days in Washington to their multiple modern incarnations with an eye on the enduring influence they’ve had throughout their 30-year plus history. The documentary features interviews with Mike Patton, Chris Cornell, Jello Biafra, Gene Simmons, Krist Novoselic, Mark Arm, J. Mascis, Josh Homme, David Yow and many more.

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FREE PARTY 

FREE PARTY

FREE PARTY

FREE PARTY

FREE PARTY

FREE PARTY

what’s that? A FREE PARTY? A PARTY? FOR FREE?

Yes you heard right.

Come on down to the SUPERSONIC SOCIAL at Centrala as part of Digbeth First Friday on June 2nd.

From 8 til late!

Bringing together Supersonic Artists, Volunteers and Punters past and present for a good ol’ Festival Frolic.
Warmly welcoming newcomers to our loving community of curious odd bods.
Come find out what Supersonic is all about ahead of this year’s festival: June 16th-18th TICKETS

Expect DJ sets from Mothwasp, Dorcha, Girls Girls Girls and Sausage!

Themed Cocktails & Snacks, Supersonic Visuals, plus a Superspecial Performance from Birmingham’s very own unique and rare species – GORILLABOT

Oh and it’s FREE!

LET US KNOW IF YOU’RE GETTING DOWN?

FREE PARTY

FREE PARTY

FREE PARTY

FREE PARTY

FREE PARTY

FREE PARTY

harvesting stones from the moonseer on Vimeo.

THE SEER ~ HARVESTING STONES  (SPECIAL PERFORMANCE)

THE WILDE BUILDING

Giants raised me,

Years before Man,

Before ash drifted

and dust clogged their veins.

The Seer is a multimedia performance devised and directed by artist and filmmaker Conny Prantera, exploring the mythical figure of Cassandra and her modern reincarnation as visionary, healer and political dissident. Bringing together a select group of international women artists and musicians, including Agathe Max, Eliza Bennett, Lani Rocillo, Rebecca Horrox, Tom Fug and Burl. The piece presents multiple video projections, costumes, spoken word and live performance, mixing movement, music and poetry through the diverse cast of players and the participating audience. 

Want to participate? Here’s how…

Choir of the Seer

a voice workshop with Rebecca Horrox

A unique opportunity not only for singers and musicians, but for anyone who takes delight in the freedom to experiment with the voice: any ability welcome.

The choir consists of a 1.30hr workshop on Saturday 17th at 2pm leading to a live performance with The Seer, which takes place later that evening in the form of a masked choir.

The dynamic relationship between voice and body will be explored through a short devised composition for many voices. Beginning with mind and body exercises, participants will locate the voice in different parts of the body creating a sense of feeling, for breath, space and listening. The remaining time will be spent singing the composition for the concert.

Simple to follow with gestural direction and improvised sections, participants will get to use their voice in an inventive and sometimes extreme way focusing upon dynamics, texture, rhythm, and harmony, the voice telling a story of its own amidst the performance of The Seer.

To register your interest, please email [email protected]

www.theseer.co.uk

This commission has been supported by Supersonic Festival, the British Council and Arts Council England. (logos Britich Council/ACE)

Hopefully by now you’ve hit BUY TICKETS on our website due to being sufficiently wooed by our spectacular line-up featuring: Anna Von Hausswolff live at Town Hall, NAWA Showcase of the Arab world’s finest experimental musicians, avant-rock giants OXBOW with live choir, master Saxophonist Colin Stetson and genre-fluid critically acclaimed Jenny Hval…to name but a few. But if you haven’t already hit BUY TICKETS then here’s even more Supersonic delights to entice you to hit that button. If you have already hit BUY TICKETS then congrats, you win.

Love being a Supersonic spectator but itching for a chance to get your hands dirty? Well, alongside our fine array of music, markets, food and film, no Supersonic would be complete without a range of hands-on leftfield workshop activities to mix things up and stretch your brain.

YOGA IN BLACK

17/18 June Sat + Sun 12-2pm

Centrala, Unit 4 Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley Street, B5 5RT Birmingham

Sessions are for up to 12 people | Mats are provided on request.

Tickets must be purchased in advance: £15 from SAT I SUN

To celebrate the Summer Solstice and Supersonic Festival, Yoga In Black are holding two sessions of their unique take on yoga over the Festival weekend, in collaboration with electric cellist Rotten Bliss.

Yoga In Black offer sessions of Dru Yoga, with a twist – leading you through the graceful and strength-enhancing exercises of the yogic tradition, to a soundtrack of metal, gothic rock, drone, doomjazz and dark ambient music.

Dru Yoga features the use of visualisation and affirmation in its practice, and these workshops engage imagery from pagan, Voudon and Thelemic traditions to invoke a sense of inner strength and peace.

Expect big sound, and sound teachings: a workout for your mind, body and ears. It will be intense, magical and fun!

SYNTH BUILDING WORKSHOP WITH FARMER GLITCH

Saturday 15:00 – 17:00

Included in Supersonic Ticket – Sign up

Farmer Glitch (a.k.a. Stephen Ives) guides participants through making their very own Atari Punk Console – a standalone, palm-sized synth with built-in amp and speaker for portable noise-goodness. A great project for beginners and young people, or just those who love to make noise, spend a little time soldering and walk away with a lovely little addition to your sonic armoury.

For this workshop, we need you to sign up in advance – places are limited please e-mail [email protected] with ‘Synth Building Workshop’ in the Subject line to book your spot.

‘UCHIWA’ FAN WORKSHOP WITH BUNNY BISSOUX

Sat 17:00 – 19:00 I Sun 16:00 – 18:00 Marketplace

Included in Supersonic Ticket – drop in

In Japan, music fans & concertgoers commonly make uchiwa – paper fans emblazoned with band names, pictures, slogans and words of admiration, to send a message to their idols or as a memento of a live experience. Tokyo-based artist, illustrator and hardcore fanatic Bunny Bissoux presents drop-in workshops in the Marketplace for you to decorate your very own uchiwa – show your support for the festival acts, proclaim your adoration for your all-time favourite band or create a Supersonic souvenir to treasure forever!

HUMAN SEQUENCER WORKSHOP – SNAPPED ANKLES

Sunday 14:30  – 16:30 Centrala

Included in Supersonic Ticket – Sign Up

Take techno back to forest floor with Snapped Ankles and join the circle to become part of the human sequencer! Using the band’s own customised ‘log synths’ (analogue percussion synthesisers), participants will create a Synth Drum Circle, exploring rhythmic interplay and traditional bell-ringing techniques – and ultimately collaborate as a group to create a new piece of pulsing and percussive sound art.

For this workshop, places are limited, we need you to sign up in advance –  please e-mail [email protected] with ‘Human Sequencer Workshop’ in the Subject line to book your spot.

BLACK METAL LIFE DRAWING with RUSSELL MACEWAN (BLACK SUN)

Saturday  I Marketplace

Included in Supersonic Ticket – Drop In 

“When it’s cold and it’s dark, the freezing art can obsess you!”

Join Russell MacEwan (Black Sun Drum Korps) in exploring the brutal and beautiful art of black metal, in a two-hour introduction to life drawing, presented in the context of heavy metal and black metal art, music and history. Ritualistic in form, carbon in soul, unleash your creative potential and inner darkness in two hours of demonically fun life drawing. No previous experience required. Participants may bring their own sketchbooks if they wish.

.

CREATIVE CODING FOR LIVE VISUALS WORKSHOP

Saturday 12:00 – 17:00 I Vivid Projects

Tickets £5 for Supersonic Tickets holders / £10 for general public

BAFTA-winning digital artist Dan Hett brings his computational creativity crash-course to Supersonic! Aimed at complete beginners, this course will take attendees on a colourful and interactive hands-on journey into making noise and colour with a computer. The course will firstly look at livecoding visuals and noise in the browser using the amazing LiveCodeLab, and then heads into creating unpredictable and colourful drawing tools using Processing. No previous coding experience is necessary, but you will need to bring a sparkling can-do attitude and a willingness to experiment.

Hosted by Vivid Projects

GET YOUR SUPERSONIC TICKETS NOW!!!

With our Volunteer application deadline tomorrow [info here] we spoke to a couple of past Supersonic Volunteers to find out what they had to say about their festival experience…

GUSHI SOHAL

What compelled you to Volunteer with us in the first place?

I was interested in working with Supersonic because I like a lot of bands Capsule host. & Supersonic is a fun atmosphere.

Tell us about your Supersonic Volunteer experience:

My experience of Supersonic has always been enjoyable & fuelled by samosas.  I’ve met a lot of like minded people, get to see friends I don’t usually see on a regular basis & watch so many bands.

How have you used this experience outside the Festival?

Whilst working at the festival  I was able to network, so I have been able to use this experience to further my professional career.

Who are you excited about at Supersonic 2017?

The Space Lady! Dorcha, Xylorious White… Too many to chose from!

KRISTIAN CLARK

What compelled you to Volunteer with us in the first place?

I had visited the festival on two occasions and just loved the experience, the vibe was really friendly and the people were all great, as soon as i noticed the call for volunteers i knew i wanted to be a part of it.

Tell us about your Supersonic Volunteer experience:

My first year volunteering i felt nervous at first but once i met Sean and the rest of the Capsule team I was instantly put at ease. The team are so friendly and they care about everyone having a great weekend, wether you are a punter or a volunteer, they really looked after us all. It was also great that I got to meet a lot of the artists who performed at the festival, there was a real community spirit to it all, where the artist were genuinely grateful to us for giving our time to help run the festival. 

How have you used this experience outside the Festival?

I have gone on to work at other festivals/events around the UK since my first time volunteering at Supersonic. Including Tusk Festival in my home town and some dates on tour with Test Dept.

Who are you excited about at Supersonic 2017?

There’s so much to look forward to as ever…

Richard Dawson playing with a full band! (don’t miss it!)

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs (also essential, don’t forget the buckfast)

Princess Nokia (super excited to see Princess Nokia, dat girl is a tomboy!)

Ex-Easter Island Head Large Ensemble (beautiful)

Casual Nun (just got into these, love em, can’t wait to see them live)

Grey Hairs (just class, big fan of this lot)

Laura Cannell (excited to see Laura Cannell again!)

ZONAL!? (Kevin Martin & Justin Broadrick collaborating again! should be Mega)

Supersonic always get it right,  I love that every time I visit I don’t know half of the line-up, but always go home with a new favourite band or 6! 

WANT TO VOLUNTEER AT SUPERSONIC 2017?

YOU HAVE UNTIL TOMORROW TO APPLY!

“A howl-inducing music making machine” Ruth Barnes 6 Music

LONE Taxidermist is the chaotic project of cosmic Cumbrian synth artist Natalie Sharp, also an award winning experienced makeup artist and skin decorator based in London. Her work has been published and exhibited internationally for the likes of the British Library, Philharmonie de paris, The Huffington Post, New York Times, The Guardian, BBC, Channel 4 to name but a few. With clients such as Vogue, Google and Sony and longstanding close collaboration with Gazelle Twin.

Natalie’s work is always surreal and her training in fashion and music has led her to work with a roster of artists from the ground upwards. She has been described as “An iconic misfit of the first order’” by Phyllis Cohen and continues to collaborate with esteemed photographers like Perou receiving her initial training by Rankin.

Natalie’s work has achieved Viral success as her self painted images of album artwork for International Record Store Day, putting her on the global map and opening up the art of face painting to an international audience.

Lone Taxidermist plays with the gothic and enchanting to create a disturbed beauty that exists in the darkest spaces of our minds, with saws, organs, bells, broken strings, old blues howling and an exquisite voice that could raise the dead.

On her new project Trifle she’s joined by Philip Winter (Wrangler/ Tunng) and Will Kwerk for a journey into the murky, intertwined depths of sexual food fetishes, Amsr and foley artistry. The live show features music from the group’s forthcoming debut album of the same name, and explores the shadowy worlds of sploshing, cake sitting and crush fetish. It features a visual backdrop from a series of YouTube cake fetishists, and AV artist Ross Blake’s specially commissioned projections.

We were lucky enough to get right up inside LONE Taxidermist’s Trifle at Fat Out Fest 2017 – a stupefying live experience – which we can’t wait to bring to you at Supersonic.

Also not to be missed is LONE Taxidermist and Jenny Hval’s first full stage direction with makeup, costume and blood paint for Hvals Superspecial Supersonic performance.

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!

http://www.nataliesharp.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/lonetaxidermist/

https://www.instagram.com/lonetaxidermist/

Trifle Trailer from Ross Blake on Vimeo.