Home Of Metal – Theatre Space/Saturday

For too long Birmingham and the Black Country have failed to celebrate what is rightfully theirs, to claim the city and the region as the birth place of Heavy Metal.

‘Home of Metal’ aims to create a legacy to celebrate the innovators of the genre and those that continued to develop it: Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Napalm Death and Godflesh. Bringing people together to share their passion for the music by creating a digital archive, heritage tours, exhibitions and ultimately a permanent collection dedicated to telling the story of Metal and its unique birthplace.

Its time to start celebrating!!!

Join Kerrang! Radio DJ – the legendary Johnny Doom, a stalwart of the Midlands Metal scene who will be accompanied by special guests Sunn 0))) duo Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson discussing both the project & the influence of music from the region.

Metal and the Male Monster presented by Dr Niall Scott
Niall Scott is Senior Lecturer in Ethics at the University of Central Lancashire and the co organiser of Heavy Fundametalisms, the first global conference on heavy metal.  As part of our Home Of Metal series he will be presenting a talk that explores the notion of the monstrous male figure within Heavy Metal culture, the boundary between the imaginary and the real, the irrational and the rational.

Followed by a screening of the controversial VSB TV documentary TRUE NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL

Home Of Metal acknowledges support from the Heritage Lottery Fund

Iron Lung – US
“For those uninitiated, IRON LUNG are a two-man band from Seattle, WA that specialize in a brand of audio violence. Bearing marks of grind, thrash, and even old-school hardcore, they are one of the handful of bands that have applied new and innovative approaches (arrangements, chords structures, thematic unities, etc) to their underground musical machinations. Their rumbling, yet raging, take on CROSSED OUT meets SWANS power violence is medically thematic in both lyrical and musical delivery. With the precision of a surgeon and the devastation of an unchecked disease IRON LUNG wreak havoc on any listener smart enough to tune them in and turn them up. It blows my mind that a band can sound both so primitive and so precise at the same time.” –Jeb Branin
www.myspace.com/lifeironlungdeath

Jarboe – US
Jarboe is a solo artist who came to prominence in the mid-1980s with the New York City based group Swans. With founder Michael Gira, the duo was the core of Swans until the group broke up in 1998.
http://www.myspace.com/jarboeliving

Kim Hiorthøy – Norway

Norway’s Kim Hiorthøy is a multi-faceted artist whose work has included painting, illustration, graphic design, film, photography, and writing in addition his music, which is primarily electronic-based. In any given field of creative endeavor, and certainly in his musical explorations, he tends to defy conventions and rigid definitions, taking an unstudied and deliberately amateurish approach with typically curious and sometimes whimsical results.
www.myspace.com/kimhiorthoy

Khyam Allami – UK
Khyam Allami was born to an Iraqi family in Damascus, Syria, in 1981 and brought up in London from the age of 9. His passion for music began at a tender age in Syria when he played the role of a young violinist in an art house film. Currently, Khyam Allami is performing as an ‘Ud (Oud) soloist and is concluding his studies in Ethnomusicology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. Meanwhile he is working on original compositions, that lean more towards the contemporary as opposed to tradition, under the artistic influence of Frank Zappa, Naseer Shamma, King Crimson, Secret Chiefs 3, Riyad Al-Sunbati, Philip Glass, Jaz Coleman and many others.
http://www.myspace.com/khyamallami

Kylie Minoise  – UK
ABID ONE-MAN AURAL AGGRO-SITUATIONIST TINNITUS VENDING HEALTH AND SAFETY VIOLATION, DISHING OUT GUERRILLA RITUALS OF FIERCE FEEDBACK SHRIEK, CRIPPLED TONE, RHYTHMIC  MANGLE,  DISTANT CREEPING THREAT, INDECIPHERABLE BLASPHEMIES, SMASHED MICROPHONES, CUTS , BRUISES AND EXCRUCIATING SKULL FUCKERY…IS WATCHING YOU WHILE YOU SLEEP…IS PROBABLY IN LOVE WITH YOU…WILL PROBABLY KILL YOU…
www.myspace.com/kylieminoise

Light Trap – UK

Light Trap are a trio from Birmingham, England comprised of John (Haxan, ex Doom & Sore Throat), Doug (Una Corda) and Nic (ex Napalm Death & Scorn).
They combine blackened and primitive noise rock with progressive and experimental elements.

Marnie Stern (US)
An American musician, songwriter, and guitarist. She resides in New York City and has garnered much acclaim for her technical skill and finger-tapping style of guitar play, described as a Guitar Hero showdown between Don Caballero, Hella and … Van Halen
www.myspace.com/marniestern1

Master Musicians Of Bukkake – US
Hidden in the broken amplified logs and delayed deep green moss. Damp evergreen floors with Hidden secrets to tell. Master Musicians of Bukkake is born of this primordial Northwest passage of rights , electric old growth rituals formed when the earliest saplings and fungus brokeforth through the ground reaching their life filled limbs to the sun ever seeing ever growing. The prehistoric mountians an ever present lurker steadfastly onlooking this ascent to the heavens covered in their glacial white shrowds. No man made monoliths or megaliths could ever out shadow the giants of the olympics, of Cascadia these TOTEMS of old, TOTEMS of the ancients. As we move into the age of modern mans descent into ruin and the trees regain their dominance over the pitiful buildings and machines of humans…Now, In this final age when the sun scorches the southern states and burns our grand citys mile by mile in a hope to burn off the impurities of the earth back to the prima materia, you can hear a far away sound a scream a ritual and a gathering ….Master Musicians of Bukkake.
http://www.myspace.com/mastermusiciansofbukkake

Monotonix (Israel)

Monotonix Is an Israeli garage rock Band from Tel Aviv, Israel. Dissatisfied with the state of the music scene in their hometown the trio Monotonix formed in November 2005, influenced by Led Zeppelin, the Sonics, and Thin Lizzy. Shortly after forming, they began playing shows at local venues. They frequently set up on the floor among the crowd, playing shows raucous enough to result in the power being shut off or the police called in. Eventually finding themselves banned from most of the venues in Tel Aviv, the band decided to leave Israel so they could tour the United States and Europe. Their reputation as a band whose shows are not watched, but experienced. Monotonix have become known for setting themselves and their equipment on fire, stealing drinks from audience members to pour on themselves, and turning their shows into unabashed, frenzied dance parties.

http://www.myspace.com/monotonix

Nancy Wallace – UK
Nancy Wallace  has been described as “One of the finest folk vocalists of her generation” hailing from Suffolk, but now firmly ensconced in east London. She sings with the Memory Band, and features on the albums “The Memory Band” and “Apron Strings”. Her interpretations of songs have been included on both volumes of Tom Middleton’s Crazy Covers albums, Paris Derniere and the Big Chill compilations. Her tunes are enhanced no end by the amazing violin skills of Jenny may Logan of the Elysian Quartet , The Memory Band and the Basquiat Strings, and more recently Richard Lewis has added add his inimitable accordian, banjo and hurdy gurdy to a couple of tracks. Recently Nancy has joined the ranks of The Owl Service which she is enjoying very much indeed.
http://www.myspace.com/nancywallace

Nisennenmondai – Japan

Tokyo’s hottest all-girl punk trio, Nisennenmondai. heir driving rhythm section and metallic guitar sound something like an ungodly and hypnotic amalgamation of Boredoms, Neu!, Can, and a (pardon me) cuter version of Ruins circa 1986-7.

Himeno Sayaka (drums), Zaikawa Yuri (bass) and Takada Masako (guitar) met, of all places, at the same music club at university in Tokyo. After quickly becoming friends the obvious next step was to form a band, and Nisennenmondai was born.

“With walls of distortion and a pummeling rhythmic backbone that fluctuates between krautrock..s repetition and free-rock calamity, bassist Zai, guitarist Ma-Chan and drummer Hime have formed an unassuming juggernaut.” — Dazed & Confused

http://www.myspace.com/nisennenmondai 

Pontiak – US
Pontiak is three brothers from the Blue Ridge farm country of Virginia. Van, Lain and Jennings Carney did not play music together until the three were older and moved to Baltimore from various points around the country. The results, swaggering guitar rock, straddle the line between a power trio and something whose expansive results exceed the trio format. Their broad song structures allow ample room for Van’s amazing vocals and guitar work to stretch and captivate. Julian Cope described them as “straddling a wide sonic rift valley, with references that stretch from the southern latitudes of Spain’s Viaje A800 to the northern majesty of Black Sabbath and Harvey Milk via the Doors.” Released on Thrill Jockey
http://www.myspace.com/pontiak

Pram – UK
Birmingham’s Pram craft fairytales from concrete reality. The second city’s spin cycle of perpetual renovation, from the slum clearances to its current cosmetic upgrade, is etched in Pram’s restless groove, an endearing and gently refusenik mix encircling early Rough Trade innovators The Raincoats, astro jazz, sci-fi soundtracks, creepy Victoriana, tropical analogue and tumbledown funk.
www.myspace.com/pushthepram

Remember Remember (Scotland)

Remember Remember (AKA multi-instrumentalist Graeme Ronald), is the newest signing to Mogwai’s Rock Action Records and late last year he, with Saxophonist James Swinburne, Violinist Joan Sweeney, erstwhile Errors drummer James Hamilton and various other collaborators, released the self titled debut Remember Remember album.  A kaleidoscope of sonic textures taking in Krautrock, drone, modern classical, found sound collage, primitive techno, gushing melodies and free noise, the debut album met with glowing praise from such disparate sources as experimental music blogs and the NME.

A Remember Remember live show can be Graeme alone with a loopstation, a guitar and a box of toys, an eleven piece quasi-classical ensemble and various permutations in between.

Expect layers of echoing guitars, bubblewrap bio-rhythms, chamber-pop flourishes and perhaps a musical shark.

Rose Kemp (UK)

Rose’s unique powerful vocal is sometimes operatic, sometimes fierce but equally haunting, her musical style is extremely difficult to categorize. Folk-esque /heavy rock has previously been cited but doesn’t really sum up this exceptional album. Woven together with multi hook harmonies and quality instrumentation, this album slowly buries itself under your skin. Lyrically the songs are compelling and their content somewhat mysterious but backed up with heavy rock guitar, oversized drums and old Synths and organs, they are infectious and thought provoking. Her influences are numerous but include the classic rock of Black Sabbath and stoner rock legends Melvins, Drone artists such as Earth and Om. She is also influenced by classic Black Metal, Doom and 70’s prog right through to timeless songwriters including Kate Bush and Tom Waits, amongst many others.

Part of folk-rock heritage, Rose is the daughter of Maddy Prior and Rick Kemp from seminal, Pioneering British Folk-Rock band Steeleye Span.  As a young teenager she sang and toured and occasionally wrote with her parents various different projects including Steeleye Span (who still gig today), and her life on the road began when she was knee-high, accompanying her parents on tour.

www.myspace.com/rosekemp

Scorn – UK
Scorn is the project of former Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris. The project was formed in the early ’90s by Harris along with Nic Bullen (one of the founder members of Napalm Death in 1981). Bullen left the group in April 1995 and the projects continues on to this day as an essentially one man show.

Scorn is/was often associated with industrial and experimental music, particularly in their earlier years as a duo with much of their Earache Records era output. Scorn considered a rare example of a successful industrial/downtempo crossover artist. Since the departure of Bullen, much of the output has been minimalist beats with an emphasis on very deep bass lines, often resembling dub and trip-hop in structure.
http://www.myspace.com/mjhscorn

 Skullflower – UK
To the uninitiated, Skullflower is one of the better-known bands that originated in the early 1980s power-electronics / noise scene, and one of the few to achieve any real recognition outside their homeland, especially in the United States . Unlike most of their contemporaries (such as Whitehouse, Con-Dom, Grey Wolves, etc.), they are an actual band (as opposed to one or two musicians employing a mix of instruments, synths, and tapes), and retained just enough of rock’s basic structure to attract the attention of people beyond the power-electronics genre.

Skullflower’s roots are in the European power-electronics / noise scene taking place in the early 1980s. A number of experimental musicians and bands who had grown bored with punk began experimenting with a more confrontational brand of volume-dependent artistic expression. Bands like Whitehouse, Final, Napalm Death, Con-Dom, Throbbing Gristle, The Grey Wolves, and the like were pushing the boundaries of sonic assault, employing damaged synths, guitar noise, unsettling tapes, and extreme volume to confront audiences. Swiping a page from punk’s DIY manual, most of them were also releasing their own material (and in some cases, the material of a great many others) on cassette and (when they could afford it) vinyl, to be sold at shows or by mail order.

Taint  – Of South Wales
Something of an enigma. Many have striven to place their sound within a handy genre definition, only to find themselves wondering whether a band so dynamic and full of surprises can really be called ‘sludge’, or whether music so antithetical to boredom can justifiably be termed ‘post-hardcore’. Taint’s 2005 full-length debut for Rise Above, ‘The Ruin Of Nova Roma’ was a crafty beast that revelled in contructing such riddles for the listener and, of course, the critic. Pigeonholes are for pigeons, after all. It’s the purpose of great rock groups to not quite fit in.
http://www.myspace.com/taintuk

Tartufi – US

TARTUFI is Brian Gorman and Lynne Angel. They are friends. They are brother and sister. They are musical husband and wife. They are tar and feather. They are thunder and lightning. They are Salt N Pepa (sans Spinderella).

“Tartufi VOTED BEST INDIE BAND of 2007 by the San Francisco Bay Guardian based on their superb ’06 release, Us Upon Buildings Upon Us, the duo of Lynne Angel and Brian Gorman hew a rich, fractured world out of looped guitars, keys and voices, shape-shifting time sigs, and crashing percussion. They can go from Slint-inspired explosions or Built to Spill epic to Joan of Arc-like baroque or Breeders chug in a measure or two, the shifts revealing unassailable logic as they unfurl. Nine out of 10 buzz bands don’t deserve it; Tartufi does.”
-A. Schacht, Creative Loafing (Charlotte, NC)
http://www.myspace.com/tartufi

The Accused – US
Formed in 1981 in Oak Harbor, Washington by bassist Chibon ‘Chewy’ Batterman, Dana Collins and guitarist Tom Niemeyer. John Dahlin was the vocalist from 1982-1984. The addition of Blaine Cook (frontman of Seattle hardcore punk group The Fartz) fit nicely into the group’s migration towards a more heavy metal-based sound. In 1984, The band dubbed their style “splatter rock,” in homage to their favorite genre of horror films. Their hybrid musical formula was distinguishable by Blaine’s unusual choking-sound vocals, Niemeyer’s muted, choppy, buzzsaw guitars, dark metallic riffs, and rapid-fire drumming. The band are also responsible for creating the wild, zombie mascot Martha Splatterhead, whose likeness (created by Niemeyer) adorns most of their albums and many of their promotional items. The Accused recorded five albums, three EPs, and over 100 songs between their 1981 inception and 1990s hiatus.
The current line-up consists of Brad Mowen (also a member of Master Musicians of Bukakke and former member of Burning Witch and Asva), Dorando Hodous (also a member of Lesbian), Mike Peterson and Niemeyer.
http://www.myspace.com/kingsofsplatter

Theo – UK
Theo, the work of one Sam Knight, is one for the math rock fans. Taut, chugging guitar loops layer up with frenetic tapping patterns that interweave in spiralling complexity before near sub-atomically precise, powerhouse drumming clatters and builds each song into juggernaut of riffs and rhythms. To achieve something like this recorded is one thing, but to see Theo perform live is quite another as each song blurs into the next and the dazzling guitar and drum acrobatics leave jaws sagging on the faces of all who bear witness to the talent on offer.
http://www.myspace.com/theo1000

Dialed In – Bobby Previte vs VJ Benton-C Bainbridge (US)

Bobby Previte maverick and electrifying drum style has won him accolades and respect from the rock and jazz world and this unique project joins him with Visual  Jockey VJ Benton-C Bainbridge creating a live improvised audio visual experience. A prolific performer New Yorker Previte has played concert venues such a Lincoln Center and the New York EMPAC. Previte triggers every sound with live- no loops, no laptops and no overdubbing. VJ Benton-C paints with light, spilling off the screen and onto the performers. Using obsolete and forgotten technology scavenged from the tech dump, Benton-C warps video into strange shapes not seen since Electric Company, while Previte whips sonic fragments into powerful songs.
 
This eclectic  project will have you mesmerised and their performance at Supersonic 2009 will be the only UK date.
 
“Previte’s records often sound like soundtracks to an imaginary movie, with a multiplicity of characters, an enigmatic story line, and no particular axe to grind.” — The Penguin Guide

“Fantastic video images by Benton-C Bainbridge depicted suspended human figures, floating abstract patterns, looming godlike figures and flickering city buildings.” — NY Times
 
www.bobbyprevite.com
Dialed in movie

This performance is presented in collaboration with Birmingham Jazz & Supersonic Festival.
Birmingham Jazz is a promoting organisation and development agency which presents and commissions around 100 contemporary jazz in the city on a year-round basis.
For more information the full programme go to www.birminghamjazz.co.uk

The Memory Band play music and songs from The Wicker Man

As a tribute to the magical work of Paul Giovanni and friends The Memory Band will be performing songs such as Gently Jonny, Willow’s Song, Corn Rigs and many more from the soundtrack to the classic 1973 film The Wicker Man, The musical line up will be the usual Memory Band alignment of talents both known and emerging led by producer Stephen Cracknell.

From the county of Rutland comes young guitarist and singer Sam Carter whose second album “Keepsakes” is being released in August. From the heart of Wessex we have Sarah Scutt a multi-instrumentalist and our musical arranger recently returned from touring with James Yorkston and Lisa Knapp. From The Accidental whose album “There Were Wolves” was released  last year we have London born singer and video-maker Hannah Caughlin. Also singing with us all the way from Sunderland is Jess Roberts who as well recording tracks for the next Memory Band album is recording her own solo album. Long-time Memory Band member Rob Spriggs and his fiddle are on board as is Quinta who released her own solo album “My Sister, Boudicca” this year and has also worked with the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Bat For Lashes and Orphans and Vandals.