Supersonic Boom
Now, I had thought that Capsule having their 2010 Supersonic festival in Oc-bleedin’-tober was something akin to those horrible mascot people waving their jackplug connections at the sky and daring the weather to do its worst, but the prophecy turned out to be largely unfulfilled. There was some rain and it was bloody cold towards the end there, but it could easily have been (approximately) a million billion times more rainy and cold. I do genuinely think a bullet (a precipitatory, shivery bullet) was dodged. The timing actually turned out to be fortuitous in the end – most of us, I think, needed cheering up after the governmental scorched-earth-policy-antics of a few days prior.
Things began to begin on Friday the 22nd: after a quiet getting-my-head-together-pint in The Lamp Tavern (I guessed that all the pubs nearer to the festival site would be stupidly busy. For a very reasonable fee I can plan your pub strategy, too. Hit me up, yo), the time came to approach the Custard Factory and the non-custard-related delights therein. Upon getting through the big ol’ queue and obtaining my stylish “I’ve paid guvnor, look” wristband, I headed straight up to The Old Library stage and immediately fell in love with a lot of what I saw. Great structural improvement number one: In the last few years the third/smallest band stage was in the Medicine Bar/Factory Club, and I’d basically given up on it and accepted that it was a part of the festival I couldn’t get into due to there already being at least fifty-seven-squillion people squashed in there at any given time. The Old Library was still overloaded to the point of one-in/one-out a few times, but it’s far closer to being an appropriate size than the Med Bar was. Great structural improvement number two: There were extra recycling bins scattered around the place. The lack of bin-age is something I’ve complained about after every Supersonic I’ve ever been to, so I was pleased to see this. Great structural improvement number three: A real bar! Apparently the Factory Club-controlled bars elsewhere on site were charging £4.50 per pint of your basic stuff, but here it was £3 for a pint of either Hogans cider, Veltins lager or your Purity ales. Awesome. My one minor complaint (and this wouldn’t be a Russ L blog post without one) simply regards the placing of the thing in the busy Old Library – there were a few times over the weekend when Johnny Punter couldn’t get in to get a drink. This is surely not ideal. I don’t have any particularly good idea about where it could go instead, but there must be somewhere.
The first turn of the weekend, then, were Necro Deathmort. I almost didn’t want to see them – it really would have been heartbreaking if a band with a name as good as “Necro Deathmort” turned out to be rubbish. I was very happy to find that they were really good. Drone melting into doom melting into breakbeats, suggesting stoned indolence building up to weed psychosis. I wish I’d stayed for all of their set, now, but I left halfway through to see some of Gum Takes Tooth on the outside stage. They did a very self-consciously silly digital grind thing, which was reasonably fun. They also did it with carrier bags over their heads, something that I was always told was very dangerous.
I then watched a bit of Demons back in the Old Library, and I recall that I didn’t find them very interesting. I genuinely remember nothing else about them apart from that fact. There’s always one, isn’t there?
The annoyance that high expectations can cause was demonstrated after this, out on the outside stage. Being a grindcore offshoot of Mistress/Nathrakh, I expected Fukpig to have a bit more oomph and be a bit funnier to watch than they actually were. They were every bit as fast and furious as the Read Money Round of yore and they did sprinkle a few odd-sounding guitar leads over the top to vary things up a touch, but they weren’t anywhere near as good as the Strawpig of my imagination.
That was it for my Friday. I would have liked to have seen Napalm Death and PCM (the latter being something of a Supersonic tradition), but I didn’t consider it the end of the world to miss either of them. Meanwhile, if I’d had to get a taxi home on all three nights I would probably have had to have sold some bodily organs to raise the money. And nobody is going to be stupid enough to buy any of my crappy organs. I don’t think that plan would have worked.
Saturday didn’t have the most auspicious of starts. I wanted to go and see the Pigeon thingy, but after wandering back and forth on Floodgate street I couldn’t find any obvious way in to the Rea Garden that was open at about twenty to four (The Rea Garden is what was once The Secret Garden, isn’t it? If not then that would explain a lot, I suppose). I was forced to console myself for the lack of feathery friends by popping into The Anchor for a pint of Cheddar Valley (Friday was ale, Saturday and Sunday were cider). After getting into the CustarFact I flitted between stages but couldn’t find much to love in any of the bits I saw of the first few bands on – A Wild Horse’s Side Parting or whatever they think they’re called (dull soundscapes with a-rhythmic drumming sprinkled over the top), Blue Sabbath Black Fiji (chaos to no particular end), and Eagle Twin (just your typical doom/stoner).
Things picked up more than just a little bit with Lichens in The Old Library and possibly the best combination of music and backing visuals that I’ve ever seen. The music started as an initially shrieky one-note drone, before building into a far lusher texture. The backing projections saw a series of expanding concentric circles, which got more messy and less circular as the set went on. When they first began to take irregular shapes it gave an impression of height/depth, like a hill on some psychedelic ordinance survey map; as they sped up and got more and more chaotic it felt like I was flying into the centre of them, reminding me of that flight scene in “2001”. I was dazed by the end of it all, and I mean that in a very good way.
I nipped over to Space 2 after that to have a look at industrial-doom herberts Gnaw, but I left after a bit. The vocalisings of Alan Dubin (your man from Khanate) may well sound like a smack addict being sick on a baby when heard on record, but they didn’t have as much impact here. Between a touch of disappointment about that and the fact that it I was still reeling from Lichens, this seemed like a good time to pop over to Manzil’s for my tea (lamb Madras and a cheese naan, if you’re int’rested. Nom nom nom).
I returned and spent a little while gently grooving to the gentle grooves of Dosh (nothing too exciting but nothing too likely to hamper digestive processes either, so that was good) on the outside stage before heading into the theatre space for the “Fear Of Music” talk: David Stubbs (Wire journo and author of a book on this subject, which I should very much like to read after this), Christian Jendreiko (German artiste) and Brian Duffy (anyone likely to be reading this is probably already aware of him) discussing why avante garde music doesn’t have quite the same position in popular culture that avante garde visual art does (cf: ten million squillions people going to The Tate Modern each year and so forth), as well as frequently digressing onto other things. This was extremely interesting, and I actually wish I’d taken notes. I even put my hand up to ask a question (this is unlike me), but with my customary lack of eloquence I completely fluffed it and ended up asking something entirely different to what I was thinking. My own fault, of course.
Fantastic as that was, it was a shame that I missed half of King Midas Sound whilst in there. The current guise of your man Kevin Martin from/of Techno Animal/The Bug etc, here bolstered by Roger Robinson and Kiki Hitomi on vocals and sounding like Massive Attack with all the dials pushing well into the red. This is clearly a wondrous thing. There was enough bass to make even the sturdy structure of Space 2 wobble a bit, while Kiki and Roger projected steely confidence in the face of the metaphorical walls closing in.
I had initially only popped up to The Old Library to get another pint of cider after that, but Tweak Bird’s Sabbath-y riffs over interesting rhythms proved both distracting and likeable enough for me to tarry awhile and nod a bit of head. Whilst there, I saw a man give a thumbs-up to one of the recycling bins after throwing something in it. I’m not joking, now – he stood in front of it with a big smile on his face, and gave it a thumbs-up sign. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.
It was back over to Space 2 soon enough, though, for one of our main events. Although I absolutely love and adore Godflesh (or a good chunk of their cannon, at the very least), I wasn’t really expecting ‘em to be all that much live. I don’t know why, but I just wasn’t, and as such their “solidly good on the night, actually” turned out really well for me. Concentrating on the older more industrial/less beat-styled stuff, “Like Rats” made for a huge opener but for a good while they were somewhat quieter than anyone might have liked. Happily that got better throughout the set and they were working up a goodly amount of oomph by the end there. I enjoyed ‘em, although I suppose in a distant way it was similar to the time I saw the Pistols a couple of years ago – there are riffs that by this point cause quasi-Pavlovian responses. Like, quite possibly, Rats.
One more and done, then: Melt Banana on the Outside Stage, beginning in their two-piece guise (a smaller version of Melt Banana should quite obviously be referred to as Melt Plantain) before growing an extra couple of heads. This was the fourth time I’ve seen them now and every time their high energy popgrind inspires the biggest of smiles. They’re just so… day-glo. Seeing them is like watching the Japanese dub of “The Teletubbies” after inhaling a massive amount of illuminous paint fumes. As ever, “Nine Short Songs” was the best bit and summed them up as whole – possibly the most effective distillation of pop and punk, delivering the idea and dispensing with the crapola. Yasuko, combining as she does some of the stereotypical Engrish nuttery with a somehow uncommonly dignified air (even when meow-ing “Happy Birthday To You”), is the coolest person on this planet.
Home. Bed.
Due to stupidity (to be more accurate: due to my own stupidity) I arrived slightly later than I intended to on Sunday, and so began by picking up the end of Bong’s set in Space 2. I thought I knew who they were but turned out to have got it wrong – it took me a few days to work out that Bongzilla were the band I was thinking of. Bong were good, though – a mixture of your doom-y drone and your Eastern (Ipswich, possibly) sitar-y drone, creating an enormous sound.
Efterklang-collaborating-sort Peter Broderick did a solo set in The Old Library next and it was fan-daby-dozie, varying between folksy and more compositional pieces and making great use of loop pedal. His last song saw him looping a mournful wail while he steamed into the audience (he was in and out of the crowd a few times) shaking percussion, and suggested the sound of Efterklang meeting Arthur Russell. Off the top of my head I can’t think of a better combination.
Thence to Space 2 for Voice Of The Seven Thunders, the new band of Ricky Tomlinson (by which I mean the fella who used to go as Voice Of The Seven Woods, and not that fella off the telly) and cohorts. Their doings are very definitely within the realms of prog-rock, with a heavy Middle Eastern influence – suggestive of hookah-smoke, rather than the dry ice that most bands hereabouts brought to mind. The songs had a nicely subtle build, too, changing in interesting ways over their course. If all of that sounds too serious for you, be aware that he also told a lovely joke about a slice of cheese between songs.
Food, next, obtained from the Italian stall. The meatballs and sauce were absolutely lovely, but the ciabatta tasted as though it had been left outside all day. Which is probably precisely what had happened, now that I think about it.
I hopped up to the Old Library then to have a look at Ruins, but so did a lot of other people. I bailed before they started (once we reached the point where there was no longer a single cubic inch of space not filled with human flesh) and eventually ended up in Space 2 in front of Mothlite and their 80s goth/synthpop, perhaps a bit like some of your earlier Nine Inch Nails stuff. Their songs weren’t in the slightest bit catchy or memorable, but I did appreciate the necklace of feathers that the singer was wearing – I assume that this was in honour of it being ornithological day at Supersonic (with Swans and Barn Owl playing), and I do have a certain respect for apposite accessorising.
Nissenenmondai. Nissenenenenmondai. Nissenenenenenenenenen&c. Maybe not quite as good as last year’s towering set, but still better than practically anything else in the world that you might choose to name. Their krautrock/prog-house/disco (yeah, really) ascended far above the outside stage and poked the eyes of God. They truly are an astonishingly good live band, and the first of the two on the Sunday that I’d describe as inspiring euphoric feelings.
I needed to reset my jaw to “non-dropped” position after that, and so I nipped out of the festival to The Anchor for a bit. I returned halfway through Factory Floor’s set on the outside stage, and got a “okay-ish” sort of vibe from them. I’m not convinced they justify all of the hype, though – standard electronic blibleblibleblibleblible with a “62 different ways to play the violin” demonstration over the top.
It may or may not have been at this point that I had one of the lovely samosas they were selling at the bar. This may or may not be important.
The Old Library was stupidly, stupidly busy again for Chrome Hoof (as well it might be), but this time I hung on and bore it in the name of Funkdiscokrautrockmetalmothershipmusic. It actually thinned out a fair bit as the set went on, but I was nevertheless somewhat put off. There is a possibility (although it is far from certain) that this is why this time seemed to have the least impact out of the four times I’ve seen them, but even at half strength they’re great. Funkdiscokrautrockmetalspaceshipmusic, as I said. Funkdiscokrautrockmetalspaceshipmusic with silver bacofoil costumes, even. I’m still aggrieved by otherwise sensible people pronouncing “hoof” to rhyme with “roof”, though.
I made sure I’d seen the “Ooh arr, let’s put Gary Bushell in a bubble” one and the “Towards zero, Bermondsey’s in equilibrium” one before bopsing over to Space 2 to make sure I saw at least a little bit of Zeni Geva (massively unfortunate timetable clashes here, having them on opposite Hoof and Hallo, although given the amount of fantastic stuff there was all weekend it’s amazing that this was the only big one for me). I didn’t get to hear very much, but it seemed pretty good while I was there – a real savage sound, just like you want from Zeni Geva.
I was really happy about the fact that Hallogallo 2010 (on the outside stage) were everything I wanted them to be. They’re Michael Rother of Neu!’s current band (if y’didn’t know), playing Neu! stuff amongst various other things, and I’m the sort of fella who thinks “Neu! 75” is as fine an album as ever you’ll hear. They had that advancing feel that you want/get from anything Neu!-related (I promise that’s the last time in this paragraph that I’m going to use that bandname that sounds like someone from the six counties enthusiastically saying “no”), but also a huge dollop of pip-pip-cheerio excitable energy, too. Combined with the general good vibes you get in a “hey we’re looking at a legend” situations, this was all really very uplifting – the second band of the day that I’d describe as euphoric. The motorik motored along, but not exclusively; they even sounded a little bit breakbeat-ish right at the end there.
Finally, at the end of this somewhat spectacular weekend, we had Swans. The purists may wish to look away now. My reactions to their set were no doubt influenced in no small way by the fact that during it I was tired (I think I did really well all weekend, but by this point it was leaning on me), I was very cold (as I said at the top – the weather was astonishingly good for the end of October, but by this point it genuinely was bitter) and Iantention was saying words at me (force of nature, nothing you can do about that), but… well they weren’t bad. There was a strong air of restrained force for long stretches, and very occasionally the sonic violence for which they are known burst forward and they captured that almost ritualistic feel I’ve been known to get from them on record. At other times, though, they didn’t have much impact. I do not find myself in agreement with most of the rapturous accounts I’ve read since then.
It matters not. This was definitely the best Supersonic yet, and that’s no small compliment. Joint-best-band-awards have to go to Lichens, Melt Banana, Nissenenmondai and Hallogalo (whilst Peter Broderick and King Midas Sound were very close behind them). If a similar quality of line-up could be replicated in future combined with a shift of the bar to somewhere more convenient and a return to the whole affair happening in July, I think I’d probably explode with happiness.
(Many other folks have written/photographed/filmed/drawn – check them out via the Collective Memory).
Lots Of Things To See And Do In The West Midlands: October 2010
There are distinct themes to things happening this month. I will let you discern them for yourselves, lest my pointing-out of them might lead others to think that there may be a faint hint of the less-than-serious about the things I write here.
Standard disclaimers: I can’t ensure that these events will go ahead, that they’ll be good, or that I will be going to them. This is just a list of things I found that looked like they might be interesting, so please do not contact me to ask for your event to be included. That’s not the way it works.
Friday the 1st till Sunday the 10th – Birmingham Comedy Festival @ various venues in Birmingham – In prior years this has been mocked for just being a banner headline put up over the comedy tours that’d be coming by anyway, but there definitely looks like there’s a lot more happening this time. This here The Awkward Silence sketch stageshow sounds interesting, and I can only assume that an outfit known as Men With Bananas would have to be good.
Saturday the 2nd till Saturday the 23rd – “Art Heist” events @ New Art Gallery, Walsall – An interactive typathing, in which you can plan how you’d half-inch a piece of art from a gallery. I really hope this doesn’t turn out to bite the New Art Gallery on the arse in the future.
Sunday the 3rd – Oxjam’s 11 Bus thingy @ the outer circle, Birmingham – Buy your ticket, board the 11 outside the Hare & Hounds, and be given a tour of Brum with “musical entertainment” on the bus over the course of the day. All for charidee, too.
Tuesday the 5th till Thursday the 21st – The Birmingham Book Festival @ various venues in Birmingham – Hooray! Raphael Selbourne talks about what constitutes a city’s culture, Catherine O’Flynn talks about her new book, lots of people discuss what it’s like to be a refugee in Birmingham, and lots and lots more.
Saturday the 2nd till Saturday the 9th – “The Birthday Party” (The Crescent Company) @ The Crescent Theatre, Birmingham – There seems to be loads of Pinter around just lately.
Saturday the 2nd & Sunday the 3rd – GB Judo World Cup For Women @ The NIA, Birmingham – “If there is effort, there is always accomplishment” – Jigoro Kano
Saturday the 2nd – “I Am A Camera” (Jadis Shadows) @ The Old Rep Theatre, Birmingham – So “The Berlin Stories” novels were made into this play which was made into a film which was made into the musical “Cabaret” which was then made into a film itself. Oh Sally Bowles, what a complicated web you weave.
Saturday the 2nd – Mouse On Keys @ The Public, West Bromwich – Japanese groovo-jazz-rock. If I know mice, they won’t play “The Entertainer”. That’s a Cats On Keys thing.
Tuesday the 5th – Kelis @ The Institute, Digbeth, Birmingham – Artists impression of what the gig will be like here.
Wednesday the 6th till Sunday the 10th – Horse Of The Year Show @ The LG Arena, Marston Green, Birmingham – A horse is a horse, of course. Of course!
Wednesday the 6th & Thursday the 7th – “The Good Person Of Sezuan” (Matt & Sister Tree) @ The Drum, Newtown, Birmingham – A version of the Brecht play done in patois. It’s on at The Arena in Wolves on the 14th, too.
Thursday the 7th till Saturday the 9th – “Sounds Of Space” events @ Town Hall & Symphony Hall, Birmingham – Music, talks, a mobile planetarium, and all sorts of celestial superfun.
Friday the 8th – Rodney Bewes’ one-man version of “Three Men In A Boat” @ the town hall/library theatre, Stourbridge – Rodney Bewes as in the one from “The Likely Lads” that wasn’t James Bolan. I suppose we now know what happened to him.
Saturday the 9th – Kings Heath charity shop crawl @ the High Street, Kings Heath, Birmingham – They should come over here to the Black Country. We have some towns that consist completely and entirely of charity shops.
Monday the 11th – Stiff Little Fingers @ The Institute, Digbeth, Birmingham – One of the most righteously powerful punk bands ever, once. They’ve done some other stuff since then too, but let’s dwell on the positives.
Tuesday the 12th – Midge Ure @ The Robin 2, Bilston – So, HMHB last month was £16 advance/£18 door. TMTCH later this month is £15 advance/£16 door. This gig, with the actual famous artist out of the three that stood out to me, is less at £13 advance/£15 door. They actually are using a dartboard to set these prices, aren’t they?
Wednesday the 13th till Saturday the 16th – “Doctor Faustus” (Birmingham School Of Acting) @ The Crescent Theatre, Birmingham – I’ve often wondered what sort of price the devil would offer me for my soul. Ten quid and a bag of chips, probably.
Wednesday the 13th – Napoleon IIIrd @ The Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham – Epic electronic pop from Napoleon the Thirdrd.
Thursday the 14th till Saturday the 16th – “Tuning Out With Radio Z” (Stan’s Café) @ The Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry – An interactive theatre performance, where you can make suggestions to the two radio DJs it concerns. I’m not sure if this is the full 8 hour version or not.
Thursday the 14th – Arrested Development @ The Institute, Digbeth, Birmingham – The happiest of happy-hop.
Friday the 15th till Saturday the 6th of November – “The Cherry Orchard” (Birmingham Rep Theatre Company) @ The Rep Theatre, Birmingham – Chekhov/no you Chekhov etc. Starring Josie Lawrence.
Sunday the 17th – Jeff Beck @ Symphony Hall, Birmingham – Shouldn’t he be playing in Wolverhampton, really?
Sunday the 17th – The Men They Couldn’t Hang @ The Robin 2, Bilston – See above re: prices at The Robin for another example of how the Ironmasters always get their way.
Monday the 18th – Badly Drawn Boy @ The Town Hall, Birmingham – [Foghorn Leghorn]“Boy, ah say boy…”[/Foghorn Leghorn]
Tuesday the 19th till Saturday the 23rd – “The Author” (News From Nowhere/Royal Court Theatre) @ The Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry – A play written by a playwright within a play written by a playwright.
Tuesday the 19th – Colour Presents… @ The Victoria, Birmingham – A night, they say, of exploratory scoundscapes and space travel. Whether or not you get any of that, you will get music from Port-Royal, Milimetrik, and Arc Vel.
Wednesday the 20th till Saturday the 23rd – “Untitled” (Fuel) @ The Rep Door, Birmingham – Two brothers separated at birth, one with name and one without.
Friday the 22nd till Sunday the 24th – Supersonic Festival @ The Custard Factory, Digbeth, Birmingham (with fringe arty bits at other places in Digbeth) – I have misgivings about a partially outdoor event being moved from July to October (I foresee both widespread illness due to people standing in wet clothes in the cold and widespread injuries due to how murderous the Custard Factory boardwalk and the steps down to the pond are going to be once the rain has its way), but I certainly don’t have misgivings about the line-up: Godflesh, nearly-Neu!, Melt Banana, Nisennenmondai, Chrome Hoof, Peter Broderick, King Midas Sound, Zeni Geva, Napalm Death, Voice Of The Seven Woonders, PCM, an indeterminate number of guitars playing for seven hours, and a big pile more. The best line-up yet for me, on paper at least (also see the 23rd below).
Friday the 22nd & Saturday the 23rd – “Almost Human” & “Precious Jewel” (Nobody’s Perfect Theatre Company) @ The Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham – A double-bill in which a computer programme evolves out of itself and Elizabeth I encounters a hiding Catholic Priest.
Friday the 22nd – Ramesses @ The Asylum 2, Hockley, Birmingham – Dooooom. It’s unfortunate for all concerned that this is clashing with Supersonic, but there we are.
Saturday the 23rd – Supersonic Kids gigs @ The MAC, Edgbaston, Birmingham – A Supersonic Festival offshoot for the young’ins (2-7 years), with Dosh and Glatze. What a brilliant idea.
Satuday the 23rd – KRS-ONE @ The Institute, Digbeth, Birmingham – Artists impression of what the gig will be like here.
Sunday the 24th – “The World’s Largest Orchestra” @ The LG Arena, Marston Green, Birmingham – Presumably this is the exact opposite of the world’s tiniest violin.
Tuesday the 26th – Manic Street Preachers @ The Academy, Birmingham – They may not be very manic or street, but I suppose some might say they preach.
Wednesday the 27th & Thursday the 28th – “From Me To 3792” (OJS in-house) @ The Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham – An ordinary woman is moved to write to a prisoner on death row in America. Why’s that, then? That is what this play looks at.
Wednesday the 27th – The Psychedelic Furs @ The Institute, Digbeth, Birmingham – A band I always expect to be a bit more well-remembered than they actually are, given the fondness for 80s indie-rock exhibited by many in recent times.
Thursday the 28th till Saturday the 30th – “Rum And Coca-Cola” (Talawa Theatre Company) @ The Drum, Newtown – A play concerning a faded Calypso band in Trinidad, directed by Don Warrington. It’s definitely a month for fellas from old sitcoms.
Thursday the 28th till Saturday the 30th – The Birmingham Beer Festival @ The Second City Suite, Birmingham – There are always beer festivals everywhere, obviously (and that’s a good thing), but this one also promises extra entertainment including music and games of “shove ha’penny”. I really don’t feel that as much shoving is delivered unto ha’pennies as is deserved, nowadays.
Thursday the 28th – The Dillinger Escape Plan / Rolo Tomassi @ The Academy 2, Birmingham – Well there certainly will be some sudden time-changes on this particular evening, that we can be sure of.
Thursday the 28th – Chrome Hoof @ Taylor John’s House, Coventry – As I wondered a little while back, I wonder how long it’ll be before people start turning up to Chrome Hoof gigs in silver jumpers they’ve made themselves?
Friday the 29th – Juice Aleem @ The Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham – As part of the Inqlab “conscious club night” benefit for Pakistan flood relief.
Saturday the 30th – The Destroyers @ The Midland Arts Centre, Edgbaston, Birmingham – I may have mentioned them once or twice before.
Saturday the 30th – Seth Lakeman @ The Town Hall, Birmingham – I am always surprised by the fact that some people think of “Seth” as a tough urban kind of kind of name rather than a folky Emmerdale-y kind of name (see also: flat caps). This here Seth is definitely one of the latter type.
Sunday the 31st – Youngblood Brass Band @ The Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham – A punk-hop brass band, or “riot jazz” as they have it.
Sunday the 31st – Nightingales / The Coutesy Group @ The Old Wharf, Digbeth, Birmingham – Two of the local post-punk bands most (but not entirely) likely to go clonk when you think they’ll go ping and go ping when you think they’ll go spa-roowie.
The best bits of June/start of July
Yeah, alright, well, no, maybe not. There were going to be themed digest posts (‘live music in June’, ‘fightsports in June’ and so forth) but it appears I am too much of a lazy git to do even that. I’m just going to list the best bits of recent times. The bad bits can go hang.
~ I spent £40 on a ticket to see the Sex Pistols at The Academy on the 11th of June and almost immediately started wondering about precisely why I’d done such a silly thing. I love the Pistols, of course, but I’m not an enormous fan or anything like that (I think The Clash were by far the better band, as do all correct-livin’ folk) and I can’t say I’m hugely invested in their mythology (although I do like it). They’re really old now and last reunion around they were pretty open about the fact that they were just doing it for the money. It was bound to be crap, wasn’t it?
It wasn’t, surprisingly. Putting ‘standard disgustingness of a sold-out Academy’ aside, they were actually really fun. I’m sure it’s not nostalgia as such, since I wasn’t even alive when they were knocking about, but their songs have such resonance. It’s hard not to get a tiny bit excitable when the riff to this or that starts up. The sound was absolutely rotten (Edit: Arf. Unintentional) and this may or may not completely explain why they sounded so darn messy at times, but that doesn’t matter. That’s not why you go to see the Pistols, or at least I would hope not. I really enjoyed them.
~ Much like Mr Pryke I found myself happily getting more than I anticipated at Birmingham Town Hall on the 12th, expecting as I was an ordinary gig from The Destroyers which would include collaborations with The Dholblasters and Sanchita Pal in the middle of their set. As it turned out, for the first half of the evening The Destroyers formed the backbone of a larger ensemble which performed Cristina Piňero Maese’s “Scheherazade’s Rhapsody”, telling the tale of Scheherazade’s own thoughts and dreams during her story-telling captivity. I know even less about Indian classical music than anything else I find myself writing about while knowing nothing about it, but I really enjoyed this. Sanchita’s singing was wonderful and I really enjoyed the dancing, particularly the silhouetted routine behind a curtain in the second movement.
After a break the event transformed into more typical Destroyers gig (if such a thing can be said to exist. They entered the hall and approached the stage from the back as a monks procession, cowled and robed. Of course). My usual affliction of ‘having written about them 381,789 times before’ afflicts away with a vengeance and as such I have nothing to add, but the big finale when everyone came back to the stage (including the dancers) could be picked out as a highlight. I keep thinking that The Destroyers won’t be able to overload my senses any more than they already have, but they keep managing it. I salute.
~ The Courtesy Group! They’re always ace and were once again on Monday the 16th at The Hare And Hounds. Use was made of a chair and a dustpan brush. I sat on the chair afterwards, because my legs were tired.
~ The finale of this years series of The ‘Oo may have been a touch on the crappy side (on the plus side: ‘Midnight’ was brilliant), but Toby Hadoke’s Moths Ate My Dr Who Scarf one-man-show at Bloxwich Library Theatre on the 19th was very warm and fun. The jokes, unsurprisingly, are about fandom in general and contemporary society more so than about ‘Dr Who’ itself (so don’t panic, you don’t need to know any minutiae or anything), and into this he weaves autobiographical stuff that is actually genuinely moving. I’d really recommend this to all.
~ The less said about the incredible anticlimax of a main event of the boxing at The Civic on the 20th the better*, but there were some good things on the undercard. The go-go-go Midlands Area welterweight title fight between Mark Lloyd and Andrew Alan Lowe had constant action for the eight rounds it lasted, and Steve Saville managed to just about squeak past Baz Carey in a fun brawly four-rounder. It’s always nice to see Lyndsey Scragg doing well, and the same goes for Rob Hunt even if he didn’t look at his best against the entertaining but ever-unorthodox (that’s me being all subtle and polite, y’see) Alex Brew.
~ The Big Weekend O’ Boxing continued at the NIA on the following night. The main event here was a fantastic affair and incredibly exciting to watch, although I shake my head at anyone who still thinks that Amir Khan is even remotely close to world class at the moment. His handspeed is a thing to behold and I’m glad I’ve had the chance to actually see it in real life, but not only does he keep dropping his hands and sticking his (weak) chin out, Michael Gomez has now proved that he can be hurt with bodyshots too.
The undercard had more than its fair share of good stuff. The mantle of “Best Four-Rounder I Have Ever Seen” (belonging to Martin Gethin vs Baz Carey) was very nearly transferred to D. Mitchell vs Martin Concepcion. I was happy although surprised to see Steve Bendall get the judges nod against Paul Smith for the English middleweight title in a scrappy but fun affair. Don Broadhurst looked absolutely fantastic in his dominant win, and the finish in which Curtis Woodhouse put Wayne Downing on the floor for the count with a volley of bodyshots was worthy of a highlight real.
~ It was another profoundly distasteful ‘sold out venue’ experience at The Hare And Hounds on the 22nd and there were moments of distinct unpleasantness to have to endure, but Melt Banana proved worth it. ‘Grindcore’ is often where they’re said to fall, but (although I stand by my years-long protest that a genre name doesn’t equate to a qualitative judgement) that really doesn’t feel right. Rickidickidickidow, rickidickidickidow, shriek shriek shriek shriek. Only catchy. And dynamically varied. That’s how to describe them. And they’re aaaawesome.
The best bit (as with last time they were over here) was the ‘short songs’ bit – a series of single ideas, single hooks, each presented without any additional nonsense to waste your time. Occasionally I think that all pop music should be like that.
~ Oh man, Bacchus (under the Burlington Hotel in Brum) is great. I love that place.
~ The UK Cagefighting Championships card at The Skydome on the 29th was pretty poor on the whole, but it’s always nice to see Team Supreme going undefeated. Well… they did as far as I remember, anyway. The results don’t seem to have been sent to any of the fightfinder sites (there is this…).
~ I had fun at Old Man Mulvaney’s retirement do on the 4th of July.
~ There’s been some good fighting for watching on screens. In terms of MMA, Rampage vs Forrest Griffin was a classic for the ages. When it comes to boxing, Manny Pacquiao vs David Diaz wasn’t really a ‘fight’ as such but it was a genuinely amazing performance from Pacman, and everyone needs to watch Ricardo Torres vs Kendall Holt II. 61 seconds of absolute hell-on-wheels.
And that’s about it, I think. Supersonic this weekend! Ooh, it’s gonna be great.
* This is hidden away in the netherworld of the asterisk due to the main post being about the good things this month, but I did feel the need to say something. Wayne Elcock vs Darren McDermott had been building up for a ridiculously long time. People had talked about it for years, but it actually seemed like a possibility when McDermott won one of those ever-valuable British title eliminators in February 2007, and Elcock won the title itself that September (I was there). Elcock proceeded to kill a bit of time by getting seven bells knocked out of himself at the hands of Arthur Abraham, but soon enough the time came to defend the belt. There were mumblings about Elcock preferring to face LocalTicketSeller Supreme Matthew Macklin and McDermott needing to win a final eliminator (told you those things were valuable), but eventually the big Black Country vs Birmingham derby was signed. It was On Like The Fall Of Saigon.
Except it wasn’t. Elcock got a chest infection. Words were exchanged in the press, McDermott’s camp accused Elcock of ducking him, Elcock’s camp accused McDermott of wanting to get out of it, and the fight was rescheduled for the 20th of June. It was On Like The Film Tron, but where oh where? Fightfans waited breath a-baited as practically every building in the West Midlands county was named as a venue. It’s at AVEC! No it’s not – it’s at The Skydome! Woah there Nelly – with less than a week to go, we’re moving it to The Civic!
The night itself came. Anticipation was building throughout and by the time the fight came around the atmosphere was something else. Our Macca was hailed as a hero by the ferociociferus (no real adjective could actually describe just how ferociociferus they were) crowd; the despised (for one night only. I’ll still support him when he’s against an opponent who’s unlucky enough to come from somewhere other than the Black Country) Elcock was looked upon as someone who’d swanned into our Yampy wonderhome and walked mud onto our carpets, dropped crumbs on our settee and made lewd comments about our daughter. In a metaphorical sense, I suppose he had. F’n Zulus.
The culmination of this epic campaign for fistic dominance and local supremacy?
Cut stoppage from an accidental clash of heads, R2.
I hate the entire world.
Lots Of Things To See And Do In The West Midlands: June 2008
Right then my gas firin’ never tirin’ steam punkin’ pop junkin’ ballin’ brawlin’ shot-callin’ little chickadees: we may have had a month off in May (chiefly because I couldn’t, ‘ow you Eeenglish say, be arsed), but here’s your LOTTSADITWM for June.
Standard disclaimers: I can’t ensure that these events will go ahead, that they’ll be good, or that I will be going to them. This is just a list of things I found that looked like they might be interesting, so please do not contact me to ask for your event to be included. That’s not the way it works.
Thursday the 29th of May till Saturday the 21st – “Our House” (Birmingham Rep Theatre Company) @ The Rep, Birmingham – The musical set to Madness songs. Always thought that was a fun idea.
Saturday the 31st of May till Monday the 30th of June – BASS Festival @ all over the Midlands – That’s right folks, Birmingham’s annual ‘Ten Different Things Calling Themselves Festivals At Any Given Time’ season is in full swing (although this one is Midlands-wide so perhaps it’s not the best example of that particular mania). There’s tons of urban music/culture related stuff a-happening, mostly in Birmingham, Leicester and Nottingham. Their events diary can be seen here.
Saturday the 31st of May till Sunday the 8th – Climate Change Festival @ Various places in Birmingham and Walsall – Surely it’s nothing to celebrate? Or maybe they’re against it. Claystation sounds like fun.
Monday the 2nd and Tuesday the 3rd – ‘Shadow Play’ (Travelling Light) @ The Warwick Arts Centre, University Of Warwick, Coventry – Theatre, dance and Mime thingy that is apparently “inspired by the way that children use ‘play’ to investigate the world around them”.
Tuesday the 3rd – Schostakovich’s 3rd (Philharmonia Orchestra) @ Symphony Hall, Birmingham – Dmitri’s sly “A Soviet Artist’s Reply To Just Criticism”, conducted here by Gustavo Dudamel (who has apparently received the highest possible praise from no less than Simon Rattle).
Wednesday the 4th – Flogging Molly @ The Academy, Birmingham – With an Oi Oi Oi and a Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Li. Great live band.
Thursday the 5th till Sunday the 8th – “Everyone Loves Elmer!” (Birmingham Stage Company) @ The Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton – I do, certainly. Always thought the lil’ patchwork pachyderm was too cute for words.
Thursday the 5th till Saturday the 20th – New Generation Arts Festival @ various fighters in Birmingham – A festival, eh? Whodathunkit. The stated categories for this one are visual arts, music, design, animation & film, creative writing, and ‘online interactive’. Have a little look at the list of events.
Thursday the 5th to Friday the 20th of June- Emergent Game @ all across Birmingham – Part of the above NGA festival, this… erm… no, I’m not going to pretend I have the first idea of what in the world this is all about. I think I quite like it, nevertheless. Just click the link.
Thursday the 5th to Saturday the 7th – Integra 2008 festival @ Sundry Birmingham venues – Part of the NGA, making this a festival within a festival. How very Birmingham. ‘Fusing music and technology’ is the tagline, and amongst other things it includes BEAST, and Capsule putting on The Bays with The BIT20 ensemble.
Friday the 6th – Mary J. Blige @ The NEC, Marston Green, Birmingham – Drama: no more of it.
Saturday the 7th – The Autumn Store @ The Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham – Birmingham’s main indiepop night is back, with Pete Green, Lime Chalks, and Little My.
Saturday the 8th – ISKA supershow (kickboxing) @ The Que Club, Birmingham – Promoted by Kash ‘The Flash’ Gill (a legend round these parts). I’m assuming it’s FC style kickboxing. Public information always seems scarce about this sort of thing.
Monday the 9th – Moha! @ The Rainbow, Digbeth, Birmingham – Usual annoying exclamation mark aside, this band sound pretty cool. Motorik jazz-industrial, if you will. Or something. Also: they have an album called “Norwegianism”.
Wednesday the 11th – Sex Pistols @ The Academy, Birmingham – Old, old men. But… erm… well, that’s it really. I still don’t know why I went and bought a ticket for this.
Wednesday the 11th and Thursday the 12th – “Farewell, But Not Goodbye” (CBSO) @ Symphony Hall, Birmingham – Sakari Oramo’s last fling as music director/chief conductor of the CBSO. Aaaaaw, I always loved the lil’ hyperactive fella. Beethoven’s 9th, anyway.
Thursday the 12th – The Destroyers @ The Town Hall, Birmingham – The Greatest Band In The World Ever Ever Ever (it’s official, you know) playing a new collaboration (‘1001 Nights’) with The Dholblasters and Sanchita Pal.
Friday the 13th – Sunburned Hand Of Man @ The Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham – Psychedelic/weirdness collective. ‘Tis Capsule.
Saturday the 14th – ‘Cinderella Ashputtel” (Banyan Theatre) @ The Warwick Arts Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry – A puppet-theatre reworking of ‘Cinderella’. The actual figures themselves look gorgeous.
Monday the 16th – Norman Lovett & Hattie Hayridge @ The Little Civic, Wolverhampton – Stand-up comedy from the two people who played Holly in Red Dwarf, which is as sensible a manner of putting a tour together as any I suppose. It also provides a nice bit of continuity for the next entry…
Monday the 16th – Holly GoLightly @ The Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham – Former Billy Childish cohort and Headcoatees member. Does that make her a Headcoatee-ee? It is a Curate’s Egg gig (flyer), but I’ve been told that the fact that it’s on a Monday means it should actually finish at a righteous time.
Monday the 16th – Origin / Impaled @ The Flapper & Firkin, Birmingham – Birmingham’s main extreme metal promoting sorts Reanimator forgo their usual haunt The Bristol Pear to bring you a night of death metal in the city centre (flyer).
Wednesday the 18th – Alanis Morissette @ The Academy, Birmingham – Hur hur hur that song she did about the irony mentioned things that weren’t ironic hur hur hur stock tropes from crap mid-90s comedians hur hur hur…
Thursday the 19th – “Moths Ate My Dr Who Scarf” (Toby Hadoke) @ The Library Theatre, Bloxwich– A David Benson-esque (by the sounds of it) one-man show, about The ‘Oo and the place The ‘Oo has had in the life of one Toby Hadoke.
Friday the 20th – “They Get Free Mobiles… Don’t They?” (Banner Theatre) @ The Belgrade Theatre, Coventry – Multimedia thingy, looking at the facts and myths about refugees.
Friday the 20th – Wayne Elcock vs Darren McDermott (Boxing; Hennessy Sports) @ The Skydome, Coventry – The one we’ve all been waiting for, rescheduled from April. A proper Black Country vs Birmingham derby, and for the British middleweight title too. (EDIT: And no, you’re not going mad – it was originally at the Aston Events Centre. Now it ain’t). It’s just a shame that it’s the same night as…
Friday the 20th –Boxing (First Team promotions) @ Civic Hall, Wolverhampton – …Another boxing card, with a bunch of your local faves. Then, on top of these, on the following day also you have…
Saturday the 21st – Boxing (Sports Network) @ The NIA, Birmingham – …Amir Khan’s latest mismatch, and an undercard including Marcus Portman, Richie Collins, Don Broadhurst, Steve Bendall, and the very highly-regarded Thomas Costello.
Saturday the 21st – Jimmy Cliff @ The Aston Events Centre, Aston, Birmingham – Genuine legend. Although he’ll have many canals to cross rather than rivers, around here.
Saturday the 21st – “Score 12 – Cast” (Bill Drummond/The17) @ I think you get to pick where in Birmingham – A Bill Drummond doin’ is transpirin’. It is connected with manhole covers.
Sunday the 22nd – Melt Banana @ The Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham – Japanese grindo-fun lovelies. ‘Tis Capsule again.
Monday the 23rd – “Paul Merton’s Impro Chums” @ The Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton – Improvised comedy from Paul Merton and, presumably, some of his chums. Is this the type of thing where they ask the audience to shout out a profession and they act it out in song?
Tuesday the 24th – Thea Gilmore @ The Glee Club, Birmingham – She got a bit confused between Wolverhampton and Bilston last time she was around here, bless ‘er, but her songs are fab.
Thursday the 26th – “My Bum Is Genetic, Deal With It” (Village Gossip Productions) @ The Drum, Newtown, Birmingham – Presented in affiliation with the BASS Festival mentioned above. A comic monologue/spoken word type of thing in which a South African woman attempts to figure out her image of beauty.
Saturday the 28th – The Public opening doings @ The Public, West Bromwich – Well, it’s meant to finally be opening. There’s nothing on the thing’s own website. Given its history, I think we can be excused any and all cynicism. If they do manage to get the doors open then I imagine there’ll be some sort of festivities, or maybe the budget for them will run out.
Saturday the 28th – British Pipe Band Championships @ Cannon Hill Park, Edgbaston, Birmingham – Over 100 pipe bands will compete in this heroic struggle. Who, I ask you who, will prevail?
Sunday the 29th – MMA (UK Cage Fighting Championships) @ The Skydome, Coventry – Good stuff, I have happy memories of seeing MMA at The Skydome.
Sunday the 29th – Muay Thai (K-Star) @ The Tower Ballroom, Edgbaston, Birmingham – Fists, elbow, knees and shins a-flying near the reservoir.
Chats With A Limited Man 
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