Brum Notes Magazine October 2012

1October 2012

ALSO INSIDE THIS MONTH: Your guide to the OxjamBrum Takeover Festival 2012 /Celebrating 10 years of Supersonic Festival / Birmingham Comedy Festival returns to the city / Moseley Folk Festival in pictures / AND your complete guide to what’s on in October

PLUS:BLOC PARTYPEACEDOG IS DEADTOY DAKOTA BEATSBLACKLISTERSAnd more…

MAKING WAVES WITH

ALT-Jwww.brumnotes.com free

October 2012

music and lifestyle for the west midlands

2 Brum Notes Magazine

16-18 Horsefair, Bristol St, Birmingham, B1 1DBDoors 7.00pm unless stated • Venue box office opening hours: Mon-Fri 12pm-4pm, Sat 11am-4pm • No booking fee on cash transactionsticketweb.co.uk • seetickets.com • gigantic.com • ticketmaster.co.uk

10.30pm doors, £4 advspecial guests include:Fri 28th SeptJames Buckley DJ SetFri 12th OctGreg James DJ SetFri 19th OctSubways Live

Sat 29th Sept • £16 advMaverick Sabre+ Ms Dynamite + Daley

Sat 29th Sept • £21.50 advTeedra Moses

Thurs 4th Oct • £10 advVince Kidd

Fri 5th Oct • £10 adv6pm - 10pm

The Skints + Tyler Mae

Tues 9th Oct • £10 advLower Than Atlantis + The Dangerous Summer + Don Broco + Gnarwolves

Weds 10th Oct • £22 adv7pm - 10pm

Serj Tankian + Viza

Thurs 11th Oct • £17.50 advHot Chip + Disclosure

Thurs 11th Oct • £14 adv10pm - 2am • over 18s only

Foreign Beggars


Ren Harvieu + The Sundowners

Sat 13th Oct • £18 adv / £50 VIPHugh Cornwellperforming the albums ‘No More Heroes’ and ‘Totem and Taboo’

Sun 14th Oct • £17.50 advThe Midnight Beast

Mon 15th Oct Bloc Party

Mon 15th Oct • £14 advImpericon Never Say Die! Tour 2012 ft. We Came As Romans, Bless the Fall, Stick to Your Guns, For the Fallen Dreams, Obey The Brave, At The Skylines,The Browning, At Dawn We Rage

Weds 17th Oct • £13 adv6pm - 10pm

Gallows+ Feed The Rhino+ Brotherhood Of The Lake

Thurs 18th Oct • £17.50 advNewton Faulkner

Thurs 18th Oct • £22.50 advRick Astley

Fri 19th Oct • £11.50 adv6pm - 10pm

The Jim Jones Revue

Sat 20th Oct The Gaslight Anthem

Sat 20th Oct • £8 adv6.30pm - 11pm

Ex-Senators (Chicago US)

Sun 21st Oct • £12.50 adv7.30pm - 11pm

Reverend And The Makers + The Janice Graham Band + The Carpels

Sun 21st Oct • £12.50 advGaz Coombes

Mon 22nd Oct • £15 advLabrinth + Dbanj

Tues 23rd Oct • £10 advLittle Comets + General Fiasco

Weds 24th Oct • £18.50 adv6pm - 10pm

Bowling For Soup + The Dollyrots + Patent Pending

Weds 24th Oct • £8.50 adv6pm - 10pm

Dog Is Dead

Thurs 25th Oct • £17.50 advSpace

Fri 26th Oct • £17.50 adv6pm - 10pm

The Enemy


Brum Notes presents...Dakota Beats + Paper Shapes + Dive Exit + The One Twos

Sat 27th Oct • £15 advMindless Self Indulgence+ The Dead Betas

Sun 28th Oct • £16 advShinedown+ Redlight King + Exit Ten

Mon 29th Oct • £20 advHeaven 17 The Luxury Gap Tour

Tues 30th Oct • £15 advTyler Hilton + Dion Roy

Weds 31st Oct 6.30pm - 10pm

Alt-J + Stealing Sheep

Weds 31st Oct • £3 fancy dress / £4 others **More on the Door** 10.30pm - 3.30am • over 18s only

Propaganda Halloween Fancy Dress Party

Fri 2nd Nov • £6 adv6pm - 10pm

Next Big Thing Competition - Heat 1 ft. The Mighty Young + Grace The Skies + Lucid Uprising + Severed Ties + I Can Talk + Free Or Nearest Offer

Sat 3rd Nov • £13.50 adv3oh!3 + Lucius Brave + La Fontaines

Sat 3rd Nov • £13.50 advTwin Atlantic + Charlie Simpson + Dead Sara

Tues 6th Nov • £18.50 advNightwish + Pain

Tues 6th Nov • £10 advPulled Apart By Horses

Weds 7th Nov Jack White

Weds 7th Nov • £15 adv6.30pm - 10pm

Punch Brothers

Sat 17th Nov Sun 18th Nov Rizzle Kicks

Weds 21st Nov • £18.50 advEurope

Fri 23rd Nov • £22.50 adv6pm - 10pm

Levellers

Sun 30th Sept • £8 advTwisted Wheel

Mon 1st Oct • £8 advRyan O’Shaughnessy

Tues 2nd Oct • £5 advJellybean Rebellion+ Sharks vs. Bears + Bodhi Tree + Thunder Lion + The Fluffs

Weds 3rd Oct • £8 adv6.30pm - 10pm

Ben Montague + Joe Karchud

Sat 6th Oct • £5 advKites + Look, Stranger!

Sun 7th Oct • £6 advWe Are Knuckle DraggerRomansAntlered ManThe Villains & Vigilantes Tour

Mon 15th Oct • £6 advWe Came From Wolves + A Plastic Rose

Tues 16th Oct • £7 advFearless Vampire Killers + The Dead Lay Waiting+ Obscure Pleasures+ A Promise To Forget

Weds 17th Oct • FREEFor tickets vist www.atomlive.co.ukAtom Live Tour with The Piratones+ The Enquiry + Magic Powers

Sat 20th Oct • £5 advSnooty Bobs + Sugar Mama + Hooting Howling Owls + Claire Boswell + Jody Capper

Mon 22nd Oct • £6 advahab + The Hummingbirds

Tues 23rd Oct • £10 advBarcaMusic and Dust on the Tracks present

The Ordeal Descent from Hell Tour 2012+ Knock Out Kaine

Thurs 25th Oct • £12.50 advEvile+ Wolf

Sat 27th Oct • £11 advEuroblast Tourft. Jeff Loomis + Monuments + Vildhjarta + Stealing Axion

Sun 4th Nov • £8 advMetal Hammer Razor Tourft. Devil Sold His Soul + Heights + Heart Of A Coward + Steak Number Eight

Mon 5th Nov • £8 advOh, Sleeper + Social Suicide

Tues 6th Nov • £18.50 advClaudia Brücken The Lost Are Found Tour

Weds 7th Nov • £12 adv6pm - 10pm

Mike Peters of The AlarmRed Poppy Tour

Fri 9th Nov • £6 adv6.30pm - 10pm

Maybeshewill + Gallops

Fri 16th Nov • £8.50 adv6.30pm - 10pm

[spunge]

Sun 18th Nov • £6 advLA Shark

Mon 19th Nov • £8 advJuan Zelada

3October 2012

Plus special guests

presents

O2 ACADEMY2 BIRMINGHAMWEDNESDAY 24 OCTOBER

DOORS: 6PM / CURFEW: 10PM / £8.50 ADV

facebook.com/dogisdeadbrumnotes.com | o2academybirmingham.co.uk

Buy tickets now from:o2academybirmingham.co.uk

0844 477 2000 (24hr)

in association with Academy Events

DOG IS DEAD

Untitled-4 1 21/08/2012 23:26

Dive Exit | City Lightz | The One Twos

Plus special guests:

presents

O2 ACADEMY2 BIRMINGHAMFRIDAY 26 OCTOBER

DOORS: 6PM / CURFEW: 10PM / £6 ADV

facebook.com/dakotabeatsband | facebook.com/papershapesfacebook.com/DiveExit | facebook.com/TheOneTwos


0844 477 2000 (24hr)

in association with Academy Events


CONTENTS

Regulars

News 6-7

Live Reviews 34-37

Style 38-39

Food & Drink 41

What’s On Guide 43-46

Music and Features

Birmingham Comedy Festival 8-9

Comedy: Alexei Sayle 10

Clubbing: FACE 3rd Birthday 12

Blacklisters 15

10 years of Supersonic Festival 16-17

Dakota Beats 18-19

TOY 20

OxjamBrum: Scott Matthews 21

OxjamBrum Takeover Festival Guide 22-23

Bloc Party 26-27

Peace 28-29

Dog Is Dead 30-31

Alt-J 32-33All content © Brum Notes Magazine. Views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Brum Notes Magazine. While all care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of content, Brum Notes Magazine will not be held liable for any errors or losses claimed to have been incurred by any errors. Advertising terms and conditions available on request.

The Destroyers live at Moseley Folk Festival. See more on P34-35. Photo by Wayne Fox Photography.

Brum Notes Magazine Unit 12 The Bond 180-182 Fazeley Street DigbethBirminghamB5 [email protected] 0121 224 7363

Advertising0121 224 7363 [email protected]! 0121 224 7364

Editor: Chris MoriartyContributorsWords: David Vincent, Tom Pell, Amy Sumner, Jon Pritchard, Guy Hirst, Daron Billings, Kez Whelan, Ellie Crean, Richard Armitage, Nic Toms, Matt Saull, Tamara RoperPictures: Wayne Fox Photography, Jack Spicer Adams Photography, Kate Hook, Andy HughesStyle editor: Jade [email protected] Design: Adam Williams, Andy Aitken

ConnectTwitter: @BrumNotesMagFacebook: www.facebook.com/BrumNotesMagazineOnline: www.brumnotes.com

5October 2012


wallaCE & grOmiT CrEaTOrS TO TEaCh SkillS aT flip fESTivalThe creators of Wallace and Gromit will head to Wolverhampton to give hands-on workshops in model making as part of a film festival next month. Annual animation festival FLIP runs from November 1 to 3, with organisers boosted by Grants for the Arts funding to help them deliver a series of interactive events throughout the festival. Events include a mass participation gif-making project which will see a temporary street art projection onto a landmark city centre building, free entry 2D artwork exhibitions across empty shop spaces and experimental animation film screenings. One of the highlights is expected to be the return of Aardman, the team behind clay animations including Wallace and Gromit, with experts giving a model-making workshop to children and young people in the Wulfrun Shopping Centre. For more information visit www.flipfestival.co.uk.

NEw STudENT-friENdly wEEkly Club NighT hEadS TO ThE q ClubA brand new club night launches at one of Birmingham’s most historic venues this month. The iconic Q Club is once again opening its doors to revellers and will see brand new night Ritual taking over all five rooms every Saturday.

It promises student-friendly drinks prices and a varied music pol-icy taking in alternative, chart, indie rock, hip hop breaks and more, as well as karaoke, live music and spoken word from some of Birmingham’s best upcoming bands and artists.

Resident DJs from across the city are also lined up to perform in-cluding Shaun Walsh (90s Night/Resurrec-tion), Josh Mooney (Zombie Prom/Adam & Eve), Gemma Holz (Supersonic Vague/Panic!) and more for a veritable musical mash-up.Opening night is on October 6 with live performances from Cold Fields, Tom & Jimmy, Tim Fletcher, Adore and THIEVES.Entry is £3 advance or with a flyer before 11.30pm, £4 NUS, £5 on the door. Advance tickets are available at www.theticketsellers.co.uk.

iN briEfHandsworth will be a laughing stock when comedian Mark Steel performs a unique show for the BBC in this month. The radio funnyman returns for the fourth series of his award-winning BBC Radio 4 show Mark Steel’s in Town which sees him visiting six more UK towns. He will perform at The Drum in Aston on October 17 from 7.30pm with a bespoke show all about the nearby Handsworth area of the city, looking at what makes its residents distinctive, unique – and funny.

Bargain hunters and vintage clothing fans will be able to rummage through suitcases for hidden gems at a special event in Selly Oak next month. The Suitcase Rummage and Vintage Fair will take place at Selly Oak Methodist Church on November 17 from 11am to 2pm, with DJs, refreshments and the chance to haggle or swap goods on the day. Tables and suitcase spaces are still available for those looking to sell items at the event, priced at £15 per table and £5 per suitcase. Call 07753 251145 to book. Entry for shoppers is 50p.

Reggae-fused punk icons Ruts DC return to Birmingham this month as part of a comeback tour nearly 30 years after they first split. Ruts DC were formed in 1981 from the rhythm section and guitarist of The Ruts, following the death of The Ruts frontman Malcolm Owen in 1980. They will perform at the Hare & Hounds on October 6, the first date of their comeback tour, with co-founder Dave Ruffy saying he was particularly looking forward to returning to Birmingham. “Things I like about Birmingham are the Christmas Market, the unpretentious people, the curries, Top Banana vintage store in Kings Heath and my lovely friends I have there.”

wEEkENd muSiC fESTival rETurNS TO ikON gallEry ThiS auTumN An autumnal festival of music will return to Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery next month. The Autumn Almanac returns for its second year with an exhibition and events exploring ‘the treasures of the human voice’.Guest curated by Sam Belinfante and Third Ear, this year’s Autumn Almanac features representations of the voice in film and performance, with contributions from artists including Turner Prize nominee Elizabeth Price, Venice Biennale Golden Lion winner Christian Marclay, Kurt Schwitters, Alvin Lucier, Yoko Ono, Birmingham Opera Company and Ex Cathedra. A number of talks and events complements the exhibition programme, with guests including Birmingham Opera Company’s dynamic director Graham Vick and Scottish film director Don Boyd.Autumn Almanac: The Voice and the Lens runs from November 8 to 11. Visit www.ikon-gallery.co.uk for full details and booking information.

7October 2012

viNTagE ‘dEparTmENT STOrE’ TO lauNCh iN digbETh ThiS mONThA ‘vintage department store’ will launch in the heart of Birmingham’s creative quarter this month, offering shoppers the chance to browse goods from more than 20 independent traders under one roof. Mr Birds Emporium, named after Bird’s Custard inventor Sir Frederick Alfred Bird, will launch in Digbeth’s Custard Factory on October 13 with traders for the 10 permanent pitches all now confirmed. The concept store will also host temporary stalls as well as a weekly vintage fair on Saturdays, all of which will showcase an eclectic mix of independent fashion designers, young Birmingham graduates and arts and crafts talent. The emporium is being launched by Urban Village owner Frankie Johns and Sutton Coldfield Vintage Fairs organiser Sabina Gran (pictured below). They will be joined by new retailers including fashion graduate Sarah Warner, founder of Bits & Bows, Trunk Junkies Vintage, a quirky vintage brand that prides itself on its cherry-picked items, Vote Vintage, an eccentric vintage brand that sells ‘quirkier the better’ clothing, alongside ‘dope hand-picked vintage’ from Sneeky Fox Apparel, ‘vintage inspired streetwear’ Roxy Valetta, ‘eclectic boutique’ Uptodated and more. The emporium will be open from Tuesdays to Saturdays, 10.30pm to 5.30pm, launching on October 13. A special Student Lock-In evening will also take place from 6pm to 8pm on October 24, with DJs, discounts and drinks. Visit www.mrbirdsemporium.co.uk.

NON PROFIT MUSIC REHEARSAL ROOMFLOODGATE STREET MUSIC COMPANY

£5REHEARSALS

£45PER WEEK

LOCKUP

ALSO FREE TO

REFUGEES & ASYLUM SEEKERS

[email protected] 448 0323 | 07535 669 726

9-13 Floodgate St (off Digbeth High St)

SuppOrT SlOTS aT ThE CiviC hall up fOr grabS iN baNd CONTEST Black Country rockers The Lines will host their own battle of the bands contest to choose a support act for their show at Wolverhampton’s Civic Hall later this year. The concert on December 15 will be the band’s biggest headline appearance to date and they are giving one local and unsigned band the chance to open up the night at the 3,000-capacity venue. To enter, bands and fans need to head over to The Lines Facebook page at www.facebook/thelines and then post recommendations or links through comments on the page. The 10 bands with the most mentions or ‘likes’ will then go through to a live final at Walkabout in Wolverhampton on October 12. Lead singer Alex Ohm said: “We want to give a young band the chance to play a legendary venue that has hosted some of the best bands over the years. We understand how hard it is to get platforms like this to showcase your music and would love to give somebody that opportunity.” Visit www.facebook/thelines.


“I suppose one of the things I was thinking about was my son who looks to me to set a good example, the right way to behave, and the feelings I have about being a bit inad-equate in presenting a fully rounded char-acter,” he confesses. “Much of what I do is abstract - I sit around on a computer all day, I look at the internet, and then I go out. My father, and his generation, were different - he had a tool shed, he could grow vegeta-bles, and I can’t do any of that. “I’ve been looking at good role models for my son, father fi gures, from modern and past times [and] I was looking at profes-sional footballers and asking if they make discerning models. “The only thing true [about football] is the fans - the players, the managers, the fi nance, it all seems so ephemeral. If you don’t support a side, it seems so arbitrary from the outside, there’s nothing there! I grew up without a side and I’m quite baffl ed by it all ... there’s nothing to do with locality, although that seems quite tribal.” In his search for suitable heroes, Simon recalls several historical greats.

“One I iconise in the show is Ernest Shack-leton,” he says of the early 20th century adventurer whose Antarctic exploits gripped

a nation. “He and the explorers in that era endured extraordinary hardship. That old fashioned stiff-upper-lip is a nice counter-point to that attention-grabbing, over dram-atised journeys people make onto X Factor. There’s too much melodrama. These men, like Shackleton, just used to knuckle down and get on with it.

“The Olympics are a good example of good sportsmanship - that’s been tremen-dous and gripping. They train hard and push themselves to the limit, which doesn’t contrast well with professional footballers, who seem to be pushing what you can get away with. If you just run around a track in circles, you are pushing your capabilities ... but just yanking someone’s shirt? That’s not professional.”

Surprisingly, Simon’s negative view of today’s multi-million pound strikers has so far gone unchallenged. He chuckles play-fully, “No-one has had a go at me just yet ... but I am quite looking forward to it.”

Cutting his teeth on the mid-90s comedy circuit, Simon moved into writing, collabo-rating with such acts as Jimmy Carr, Sean Lock and Dara O’Briain. His long-standing professional relationship with Lee Mack - who spotted him starting out - led to TV sports quiz They Think It’s All Over and

gag-heavy sitcom Not Going Out - which is about to enter its sixth season.

“We’ve written all the scripts, done the read throughs, seen what has worked, then made some changes and cut everything down to size,” he says. “They’re going to be fi lming this autumn so I’d think it’d probably be on in the spring, but I’m not sure.” He is remaining tight-lipped on storylines, however, for the most part at least. “They have announced already that Tim Vine is not appearing, so his character has been quietly removed with-out an inescapable fate, so it’s more about Lee and Lucy’s relationship. Daisy remains a prominent character, but there are new characters who will be appearing in differ-ent episodes. Other than that, I can’t say much more...”

Having already followed the familiar route from live comedy to radio and then TV over the last 15 years, Simon’s discovering there are far more new opportunities for today’s comics – hence his present UK tour, only his second - and he’s hoping to grab a few quiz and panel show slots to add to his already considerable CV. “Like most comedians, I like to have a number of arrows in my quiver.”

Simon Evans is live at The Glee Club on October 9 as part of Birmingham Come-dy Festival.

“Day one of the [Ed Sheeran] tour was in Aberdeen and was nerve wracking,” recalls Rob Broderick, aka Abandoman. “Music audiences are very different to comedy audi-ences. There’s lots of screaming for starters ... lots of screaming.” Thankfully though, there were only a couple of upsets, despite the screams. “Ed’s audiences were a little bit younger than the comedy audiences we’d been play-ing to, so when we asked things like ‘what job do you have?’, those that did actually have jobs were waiters or worked in bars, so we had to drop the songs about jobs. And we couldn’t ask them about their child-hood dreams because they hadn’t left, or were only just leaving, their childhood. So we replaced that gap with a giant Connect Four game, which was great fun.” It was only when the tour reached London that audiences seemed antagonistic - though only briefl y. “We did hear that ‘What the f*ck?’ once, at Brixton,” Rob says. “We came out and I said, ‘How ya doing? We’re an Irish hip hop group...!’ I didn’t hear it, but there was this ‘booo...’ But once the songs started, it was great.”

It should be stressed that Abandoman is not your average musical comedy act. Combin-ing stand up improv skills with quick-fi re rhymes, Rob uses audience input to weave his material on the fl y. “I push the audience to give me a ridiculous answer,” he says, enjoying the unique night-ly challenge. “If they say something [bland] I ask them to give me something really ridic-ulous, I want to be pushed, for it to be silly so I stay fresh.” While it’s Abandoman who is currently gain-ing the acclaim, Rob also has a separate career as a stand-up comedian. “The two happened completely separately,” he says of his music and comedy careers. “I was very much into hip hop at 13, then at 15-16 I discovered this incredible world of stand-up comedy. You inherit a lot of your infl uences, so I grew up with Billy Connolly, Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Hicks a little bit. I got really into it and discovered The Interna-tional [in Dublin] and I saw people like Dara O’Briain and Des Bishop there.” Of his initial infatuation with rap, he says he was both mystifi ed and entranced. “I was in awe. I didn’t know what ‘chronic’ meant or what a ‘homeboy’ was! A lot of what I heard was on the radio, Atlantic 252, and I

thought, ‘this is just amazing storytelling, they have these verbal skills’ ... that storytelling is what it’s about.

“And if you listen to Kanye West, he drops ridiculously good punchlines,” he adds. “I started doing stand-up in 2005. I was free-styling separately in 2007-2008, but was primarily doing-stand up, but that went nowhere, so during open mic nights I start-ed sneaking in freestyling, and two years later I’d stopped the stand-up and was just chatting with the crowd, and freestyling.”

Though it’s a pretty slick act, Abandoman is still developing, with new show Party In The Key Of C Major adding the concept of a narrative framework - in this case, Rob’s lifestory - into which improvised rhymes are dropped. “I watch people do stuff written down and that’s such a different skill set, I’m used to interaction, I’m used to crowds - it’s a differ-ent skill set to do something that lasts a bit longer. Freestyle is where I’m most comfort-able – permanent freaks me out.”

Abandoman is live at The Glee Club on October 7 as part of Birmingham Comedy Festival. The festival runs from October 5 to 14 at venues across the city. Visit www.bhamcomfest.co.uk

As a writer and comedian, Simon Evans leads a very different life to his father. But his thoughts about how he’s perceived by his own offspring has inspired his new one-man show, Friendly Fire, which heads to Birmingham Comedy Festival this month. David Vincent fi nds out more.

Opening for multi-platinum selling multi award winning singer Ed Sheeran on his recent UK tour, improv’ comedy rap act Abandoman initially wondered if he might have to abandon the gigs. Thankfully he’s persevered and brings his brand of musical comedy to Brum, he tells David Vincent. fi nds out.

ABANDOMANSIMON EVANS

9October 2012

“I suppose one of the things I was thinking about was my son who looks to me to set a good example, the right way to behave, and the feelings I have about being a bit inad-equate in presenting a fully rounded char-acter,” he confesses. “Much of what I do is abstract - I sit around on a computer all day, I look at the internet, and then I go out. My father, and his generation, were different - he had a tool shed, he could grow vegeta-bles, and I can’t do any of that. “I’ve been looking at good role models for my son, father fi gures, from modern and past times [and] I was looking at profes-sional footballers and asking if they make discerning models. “The only thing true [about football] is the fans - the players, the managers, the fi nance, it all seems so ephemeral. If you don’t support a side, it seems so arbitrary from the outside, there’s nothing there! I grew up without a side and I’m quite baffl ed by it all ... there’s nothing to do with locality, although that seems quite tribal.” In his search for suitable heroes, Simon recalls several historical greats.

“One I iconise in the show is Ernest Shack-leton,” he says of the early 20th century adventurer whose Antarctic exploits gripped

a nation. “He and the explorers in that era endured extraordinary hardship. That old fashioned stiff-upper-lip is a nice counter-point to that attention-grabbing, over dram-atised journeys people make onto X Factor. There’s too much melodrama. These men, like Shackleton, just used to knuckle down and get on with it.

“The Olympics are a good example of good sportsmanship - that’s been tremen-dous and gripping. They train hard and push themselves to the limit, which doesn’t contrast well with professional footballers, who seem to be pushing what you can get away with. If you just run around a track in circles, you are pushing your capabilities ... but just yanking someone’s shirt? That’s not professional.”

Surprisingly, Simon’s negative view of today’s multi-million pound strikers has so far gone unchallenged. He chuckles play-fully, “No-one has had a go at me just yet ... but I am quite looking forward to it.”

Cutting his teeth on the mid-90s comedy circuit, Simon moved into writing, collabo-rating with such acts as Jimmy Carr, Sean Lock and Dara O’Briain. His long-standing professional relationship with Lee Mack - who spotted him starting out - led to TV sports quiz They Think It’s All Over and

gag-heavy sitcom Not Going Out - which is about to enter its sixth season.

“We’ve written all the scripts, done the read throughs, seen what has worked, then made some changes and cut everything down to size,” he says. “They’re going to be fi lming this autumn so I’d think it’d probably be on in the spring, but I’m not sure.” He is remaining tight-lipped on storylines, however, for the most part at least. “They have announced already that Tim Vine is not appearing, so his character has been quietly removed with-out an inescapable fate, so it’s more about Lee and Lucy’s relationship. Daisy remains a prominent character, but there are new characters who will be appearing in differ-ent episodes. Other than that, I can’t say much more...”

Having already followed the familiar route from live comedy to radio and then TV over the last 15 years, Simon’s discovering there are far more new opportunities for today’s comics – hence his present UK tour, only his second - and he’s hoping to grab a few quiz and panel show slots to add to his already considerable CV. “Like most comedians, I like to have a number of arrows in my quiver.”

Simon Evans is live at The Glee Club on October 9 as part of Birmingham Come-dy Festival.

“Day one of the [Ed Sheeran] tour was in Aberdeen and was nerve wracking,” recalls Rob Broderick, aka Abandoman. “Music audiences are very different to comedy audi-ences. There’s lots of screaming for starters ... lots of screaming.” Thankfully though, there were only a couple of upsets, despite the screams. “Ed’s audiences were a little bit younger than the comedy audiences we’d been play-ing to, so when we asked things like ‘what job do you have?’, those that did actually have jobs were waiters or worked in bars, so we had to drop the songs about jobs. And we couldn’t ask them about their child-hood dreams because they hadn’t left, or were only just leaving, their childhood. So we replaced that gap with a giant Connect Four game, which was great fun.” It was only when the tour reached London that audiences seemed antagonistic - though only briefl y. “We did hear that ‘What the f*ck?’ once, at Brixton,” Rob says. “We came out and I said, ‘How ya doing? We’re an Irish hip hop group...!’ I didn’t hear it, but there was this ‘booo...’ But once the songs started, it was great.”

It should be stressed that Abandoman is not your average musical comedy act. Combin-ing stand up improv skills with quick-fi re rhymes, Rob uses audience input to weave his material on the fl y. “I push the audience to give me a ridiculous answer,” he says, enjoying the unique night-ly challenge. “If they say something [bland] I ask them to give me something really ridic-ulous, I want to be pushed, for it to be silly so I stay fresh.” While it’s Abandoman who is currently gain-ing the acclaim, Rob also has a separate career as a stand-up comedian. “The two happened completely separately,” he says of his music and comedy careers. “I was very much into hip hop at 13, then at 15-16 I discovered this incredible world of stand-up comedy. You inherit a lot of your infl uences, so I grew up with Billy Connolly, Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Hicks a little bit. I got really into it and discovered The Interna-tional [in Dublin] and I saw people like Dara O’Briain and Des Bishop there.” Of his initial infatuation with rap, he says he was both mystifi ed and entranced. “I was in awe. I didn’t know what ‘chronic’ meant or what a ‘homeboy’ was! A lot of what I heard was on the radio, Atlantic 252, and I

thought, ‘this is just amazing storytelling, they have these verbal skills’ ... that storytelling is what it’s about.

“And if you listen to Kanye West, he drops ridiculously good punchlines,” he adds. “I started doing stand-up in 2005. I was free-styling separately in 2007-2008, but was primarily doing-stand up, but that went nowhere, so during open mic nights I start-ed sneaking in freestyling, and two years later I’d stopped the stand-up and was just chatting with the crowd, and freestyling.”

Though it’s a pretty slick act, Abandoman is still developing, with new show Party In The Key Of C Major adding the concept of a narrative framework - in this case, Rob’s lifestory - into which improvised rhymes are dropped. “I watch people do stuff written down and that’s such a different skill set, I’m used to interaction, I’m used to crowds - it’s a differ-ent skill set to do something that lasts a bit longer. Freestyle is where I’m most comfort-able – permanent freaks me out.”

Abandoman is live at The Glee Club on October 7 as part of Birmingham Comedy Festival. The festival runs from October 5 to 14 at venues across the city. Visit www.bhamcomfest.co.uk

As a writer and comedian, Simon Evans leads a very different life to his father. But his thoughts about how he’s perceived by his own offspring has inspired his new one-man show, Friendly Fire, which heads to Birmingham Comedy Festival this month. David Vincent fi nds out more.

Opening for multi-platinum selling multi award winning singer Ed Sheeran on his recent UK tour, improv’ comedy rap act Abandoman initially wondered if he might have to abandon the gigs. Thankfully he’s persevered and brings his brand of musical comedy to Brum, he tells David Vincent. fi nds out.

ABANDOMANSIMON EVANS


It’s been a while since Alexei Sayle strayed into the world of stand-up. A founding father of ‘Alternative Comedy’, he was the original MC at the legendary London Comedy Store where, along with such luminaries as Ben El-ton, Rik Mayall, Ade Edmonson, and French & Saunders, he changed the direction Brit-ish comedy during the Thatcherite 1980s. From live appearances, he made the move to TV with The Comic Strip Presents and The Young Ones, quickly graduating to his own series (Stuff) and pop stardom (Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?). Popping up alongside Indiana Jones and Doctor Who signalled a flirtation with celebrity status, while his move away from stand-up has been counter-bal-anced by an increasingly successful writing career — both as a newspaper columnist and author. But now after a lengthy 16-year break, he’s back on stage in comedy-mode, and if that’s a surprise to his audience, it’s an even big-ger surprise to the man himself. “I never thought I would, I s’pose I couldn’t see a way,” confesses the now 60-year-old, before referring to his bolshy comedy char-acter, famed for ill-fitting clothing and tilted hat. “I had this idea fixed in my mind of how I used to do it with the tight suit, and that was not an option.” It was Stuart Lee who re-lit the stand up spark, and showing Alexei the way by tempt-ing him back on stage as part of the one-off Royal Festival Hall event At Last! The 1981 Show, a 2011 celebration of 80s alt-comedy

and entertainment featuring Nigel Planer, The Oblivion Boys, The Frank Chickens and others. “I performed in a completely different way,” says Alexei, who was MC for the occasion. “When people describe dying, of walking into a bright light, that sense of serenity, that’s what I felt, walking into the light, on stage. I felt this wave of appreciation. And it went down much better than it did before.” Supping a cuppa in his London home, he talks about his forthcoming dates as a ten-tative return, stressing it’s “work in progress” prior — if things go well — to a slightly larger tour next year. “So I’m getting back into it gradually,” he says, chuckling. “It’s like slipping back into alcoholism. You have just one drink. Then the next day, a couple more. And by the end of the week you’re in a coma in a container in Istanbul.” The onslaught of his old Comedy Store-borne stage persona has been replaced by one shaped by many years of more intimate, less confrontational literary recitations. “It grew out of doing book readings. The per-sonality I have now [on stage] is fairly close to the real me. I was doing book readings of my memoirs — Stalin Ate My Homework — and did really well ... it’s all connected,” he says, adding, “I did think about adapting my memoirs, but it just didn’t work. But I do talk about my mother.”

Alongside the tour, there’s also a new volume of short-stories currently taking shape (due 2013), and, of course, his weekly motoring column for the Saturday Telegraph. “I’ve always been a car fan. I used to write for Car Magazine, then the Independent, in the motor supplement. I was an occasional pre-senter on Top Gear in the really, really, really bad days, when it was always shit. My par-ents were Communists, and my dad worked on the trains so we had free rail travel, so I never learnt to drive until I was 30. I was al-ways fascinated.” As he discusses his Citroen C6, a trip to the Paris Motorshow, new models by Ferrari and Porsche, his enthusiasm for motoring is genuine, though the subversive, political thread that has been a constant throughout his career does sneak through. “The Telegraph people are great ... although their readers hate me,” he says. “I always go on about being Left Wing. ‘Why is this Com-mie writing for our paper? He’s shit!’ “One of the last [articles] I did was about my mum, who was a lollipop lady. All that ‘...turned the key in the Ferrari ignition...’, I don’t do that. I can do it. But I don’t.” He gives a little chuckle: “It’s like Picasso ... he could draw ... but he’d rather not.”

Alexei Sayle is live at The Public, West Bromwich, on October 17. He also per-forms at the Wulfrun, Wolverhampon, on October 24 and The Glee Club, Birming-ham, on November 11.

Comedy

One of the pioneers of alternative comedy, Alexei Sayle makes a long-awaited return to

the stand-up stage this autumn after a 16-year break, with a series of gigs at intimate venues

across the country. He tells David Vincent why he’s more surprised than anyone to be back.

alExEiSaylE

11October 2012

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

For full festival listings see: www.bhamcomfest.co.uk Facebook: BhamComFest Twitter: @BhamComFest

Stand-up - Art - Film - Music - Theatre - Workshops Over 60 events across the city, including:

John Bishop | The Hairy Bikers | Seann WalshThe Midnight Beast | John Cooper Clarke

Abandoman | Comedy In The Dark | Joe LycettMrs Barbara Nice | Charlie Murphy | Bob Mills

Isy Suttie | Laurel & HardyScottish Falsetto Sock Puppet TheatreFrancesca Martinez | Patrick Monahan

Bob Mills | Death of a Beauty SaleswomanA Midsummer Night’s Dream

...and much more.

SUPPORTED BY


Clubbing

The Rainbow’s weekly club night FACE hits the ripe old age of three-years-old this

month and will be celebrating in true style with a world class warehouse rave. We caught

up with co-founder Elliot Croft about where it all started.

faCE: ThrEE yEarS Old aNd COuNTiNg...

FACE will be three years to the good in October, what does it feel like being three-years-old?

It feels great! When we first started FACE we really never knew how long it was going to be around... so to celebrate our third birthday is pretty special. It has flown if I’m honest, here’s to another three years!

What was your initial inspiration when starting?

Initially Lee McDonald approached me to start up FACE with Scott [Bleepz]. They had being running another night on a Saturday at The Rainbow called Fused it ran into a few issues with the name which is another story, haha, but also a change in direction was needed for it to work. So with a different name and vibe, the three of us started up FACE. Since spending the summer in Ibiza back in 2009 I was really eager to get back to the UK and start my own night up and when I had the call off Lee to get involved I was buzzing, I’ve always loved The Rainbow since my first trip to an early Below many years ago. We’ve always wanted FACE to be a great social night, with a different vibes in each of the three rooms, with only one room ever being really underground and serious, the other two rooms purely party vibes. We tried and tested a few different things when we first started out and we learnt from some mistakes and I think now we have the perfect formula for what we want our night to be about and have a great team behind it.

What have been your highlights?

For me personally there has been to many to mention. But particu-larly our first Birthday was pretty special with Jamie Jones, purely on the fact that we had made it to our first big milestone, which now is such a hard thing to do with a weekly clubnight. Other highlights have been hosting parties this year at both Snowbombing in Aus-tria with Heidi and Soul Clap and also our pool party at Hideout Festival in Croatia with Subb-an, Adam Shelton and Simon Baker together with myself, Scott and our other resident Bunny. Our last NYE party with Maceo Plex, Tanzmann and Dyed Soundorom was amazing with us witnessing our first “sit down” at FACE.

Your birthday showcase leaves no stone unturned - what was your thoughts leading up to the booking of the line-up?

Well basically there are three very distinctively different vibes at our regular FACE weekly Saturdays, the house and techno in the court-yard and the more bass-orientated music in the cellar and the party vibes in the bar. For our birthday we’ve tried to get the house and techno sounds transferred to the Warehouse and Garden with the line-up we’ve planned, with Tanzmann and Squillace looking after the Warehouse and Joy Orbison and Scuba in the Garden, then of course the party vibes in the inner room of the Warehouse.

For all the new arrivals in Birmingham at the start of a new term, why should thy come and check out FACE?

Well there really is something for everyone. The younger crowd that we get at FACE literally love all of the three rooms and wander quite freely around most of the night. We pride ourselves on bringing the best artists/DJs from around the globe to Brum on a weekly basis with a crowd that is all smiles. Noone else does that really in the city weekly so if they want to have it right off in probably the best venue in Birmingham then they definitely should come check us out.

Can you tell us more about the future of FACE and what else you have in store?

The way that this country is at the minute with its economy, we’d like to see us still being here weekly! But we will still keep pushing boundaries and always trying to keep things fresh. We have talked in depth about taking FACE to Ibiza and also touring the UK and beyond, so maybe that could be on the horizon for us. But of course we will always make sure its done right and never neglecting our humble home in Brum.

Face 3rd Birthday Warehouse Rave, featuring Matthias Tanz-mann, Joy Orbison and more takes place at The Rainbow Ware-house, Digbeth, on October 13.

13October 2012


You’re becoming regulars in Birmingham, do you always enjoy gigging here?

Yeah, always, I think it shares a lot in common with Leeds. Real strong music scene, lots of people in it together. Also with all the other towns/cities that are around it I think that helps keep the scene varied. It’s always good to us and long may that continue.

Favourite thing about Birmingham?

Steve from Shapes’ beautiful face, I could stare at it for the rest of my life and never need to look at anything again.

You’re last stop was Off The Cuff Festi-val at The Flapper, how was that for you, suitably sweaty and messy?

Yeah it was a good one, it’s a great festival, we have played it a couple of times now and have always had a great time, plus I got to see Them Wolves, who for me are one of the best bands around at the moment, and

I got given a bouncy ball. You can’t ask for too much more in life.

It’s a Halloween show you’ll be play-ing, what’s the scariest thing you’ve ever seen?

I have a picture of Paul McCartney I carry with me at all times. It’s like a shrunken head or one of those gargoyles to help keep evil away. It’s pretty fucked up and I can barely look at it for more than a couple of seconds

Any particular party pieces planned for the night?

None yet, but I guess we should dress up. Maybe we’ll all come as Gary Glitter or Townsend. You know, one of the greats?

What about Halloween-themed drinks on the rider?

I think we’d be happy with bad lager served in babies’ skulls

Have you been pleased with the reaction to your debut album so far?

Yeah man, I think all the reviews were positive, there might have been one bad one. So maybe we’re alright. It’s only a maybe though.

Does it still feel like a new album to you guys?

No, we recorded it a year before it was released so all of the songs and all of it feels old. New songs on the horizon though so if you’re a bit bored you won’t have to wait too long. Hopefully by the time we come to The Flapper we’ll have a couple added to the set but we can’t promise these things.

There’s lots of rude words on it, what would your parents say?

My mum’s always saying: “You f*cking c*nts! Stop talking all the f*cked up sh*t. Who the f*ck do you think you are? F*cking Alanis F*cking Morrisette?” But that’s mums for you isn’t it?

Blacklisters are live at The Flapper, Birmingham, for the Birmingham Promoters and It’s Just Noise Halloween Party on October 31.

After unleashing their ear-melting debut album BLKLSTRS to

widespread acclaim, Leeds noise rock outfi t Blacklisters have

continued to deliver their devastating live sets across the country. They

make a welcome return to Birmingham this month for some Halloween

scaremongering. Frontman Billy Mason-Wood tells us what’s in store.

Top of the list

15October 2012

You’re becoming regulars in Birmingham, do you always enjoy gigging here?

Yeah, always, I think it shares a lot in common with Leeds. Real strong music scene, lots of people in it together. Also with all the other towns/cities that are around it I think that helps keep the scene varied. It’s always good to us and long may that continue.

Favourite thing about Birmingham?

Steve from Shapes’ beautiful face, I could stare at it for the rest of my life and never need to look at anything again.

You’re last stop was Off The Cuff Festi-val at The Flapper, how was that for you, suitably sweaty and messy?

Yeah it was a good one, it’s a great festival, we have played it a couple of times now and have always had a great time, plus I got to see Them Wolves, who for me are one of the best bands around at the moment, and

I got given a bouncy ball. You can’t ask for too much more in life.

It’s a Halloween show you’ll be play-ing, what’s the scariest thing you’ve ever seen?

I have a picture of Paul McCartney I carry with me at all times. It’s like a shrunken head or one of those gargoyles to help keep evil away. It’s pretty fucked up and I can barely look at it for more than a couple of seconds

Any particular party pieces planned for the night?

None yet, but I guess we should dress up. Maybe we’ll all come as Gary Glitter or Townsend. You know, one of the greats?

What about Halloween-themed drinks on the rider?

I think we’d be happy with bad lager served in babies’ skulls

Have you been pleased with the reaction to your debut album so far?

Yeah man, I think all the reviews were positive, there might have been one bad one. So maybe we’re alright. It’s only a maybe though.

Does it still feel like a new album to you guys?

No, we recorded it a year before it was released so all of the songs and all of it feels old. New songs on the horizon though so if you’re a bit bored you won’t have to wait too long. Hopefully by the time we come to The Flapper we’ll have a couple added to the set but we can’t promise these things.

There’s lots of rude words on it, what would your parents say?

My mum’s always saying: “You f*cking c*nts! Stop talking all the f*cked up sh*t. Who the f*ck do you think you are? F*cking Alanis F*cking Morrisette?” But that’s mums for you isn’t it?

Blacklisters are live at The Flapper, Birmingham, for the Birmingham Promoters and It’s Just Noise Halloween Party on October 31.

After unleashing their ear-melting debut album BLKLSTRS to

widespread acclaim, Leeds noise rock outfi t Blacklisters have

continued to deliver their devastating live sets across the country. They

make a welcome return to Birmingham this month for some Halloween

scaremongering. Frontman Billy Mason-Wood tells us what’s in store.

Top of the list


How did the idea for Supersonic originate?

Jenny [Capsule co-founder Jenny Moore] and I fi rst off have pretty eclectic taste musi-cally and are also passionate about cham-pioning contemporary culture, particularly work that you might describe as sitting on the outskirts and presenting that to a wider audience. We have also been keen on programming work that is more than just a gig but somehow embodies the idea of a community and brings people together. Essentially we are fans and the festival is produced from that as a starting point.

When you started the festival back in 2003, did you have any idea that it would still be going strong and boasting such fantastic line-ups a decade later?

It’s been a massive learning curve over the last 10 years and we are constantly push-ing ourselves to fi nd news ways to devel-op the festival. I don’t think we would have ever started the festival if we knew what it would become, that would have been far too scary! It’s amazing to have the opportunity to not only work with artists that you massively admire but with a team of people who make the festival happen, that for us is the great-est achievement. Oh, and that we’ve creat-ed something so unique that people get on trains and planes to make the journey to the festival — that’s pretty remarkable.

Have there been many changes in the way the festival is organised over the years?

Indeed there has, in the beginning we did everything from booking the artists, to stage managing to cooking veggie chilli, now we have an amazing team who help us deliv-er the festival as well as an army of 90+ volunteers.

How do you think Supersonic has affect-ed Birmingham’s local music scene?

I’m not sure it’s affected the Birmingham scene, rather we hope that we can showcase some of the amazing talent from Birmingham to a wider audience via the festival, we can use it as a platform to expose artists to press and a travelling audience.

Obviously all the bands on the bill are 100 per cent Capsule approved, but which ones are you particularly looking forward to this year?

Obviously I’m biased and am pretty excit-ed about all of our line-up but some of the key highlights this year include a special collaboration of the unique and unpredict-able guitar pairing of the iconic Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth and free-noise guitarist Bill Nace. Together, they are known as BODY/HEAD. The Oxbow Orchestra, expect strings, woodwinds, brass, operatic back-ing vocals and classically contained render-ings of the Oxbow songbook. A screening of Jeremy Deller’s ‘The Bruce Lacey Experi-ence’. A large-scale installation combining sound art, video art and kinetic sculpture, the Vinyl Rally; an immersive participatory

play-set playing off vinyl fetishism, video arcade mystique and the machismo of motor sports in a video game played within a real world setting! We’re also delighted to be bringing psychedelic rock band Goat to the UK for the fi rst time. In addition we have a few surprises in store to help mark our 10th year celebrations.

And what have you been some of your main highlights from the past 10 years of the fest?

Well we started out as a one-day event not really knowing what we were doing, and now 10 years later the festival has grown with a worldwide reputation so that is really excit-ing for us. There have been so many amaz-ing performances but LCD Sound System, followed by Coil performing over the pool at the Custard Factory in our fi rst year was quite an achievement. Monotonix played a pretty amazing set causing an absolute frenzy of sweat and Speedos. Also hosting early performances by artists that then go on to really build their reputation and audi-ence always feels like an achievement for us and that we have in some small way helped them on their journey. In other ways, having our audience travel from all over the globe

is equally satisfying — knowing that they are making the journey as they won’t experience this kind of event anywhere else in the world.

Are there any bands that have yet to play that the festival that you’ve been itching to book?

Black Sabbath — I know, an obvious choice but you can dream...

Finally, what does the future hold for Supersonic Festival?

Having reached 10 years is a good oppor-tunity to re-imagine what the festival might be like in the future and what format it might take, even reconsidering the location. So lots for us to think about to prepare ourselves for the next decade of Supersonic memo-rable moments

Ten years

of Super–sonic

Supersonic Festival will take place in Birmingham’s Custard Factory from October 19 to October 21. Weekends tickets are £80, day tickets are £20 for Friday and £35 for Saturday or Sunday. Tickets are available from Polar Bear Records in Kings Heath or online through www.theticketsell-ers.co.uk. Visit www.supersonicfesti-val.com for more details.

Digbeth’s Custard Factory will be transformed into an avant-garde utopia once more this month when groundbreaking music and art festival Supersonic returns for its 10th anniversary instalment. Since its origins as a single-day event in 2003, Supersonic has blossomed into the full-on three-day extravaganza it’s known as today, and festival organisers Capsule have several surprises up their collective sleeves to celebrate the event’s milestone year. Kez Whelan caught up with Capsule co-founder and director Lisa Meyer to talk about the Supersonic Festival’s past, present and future…

Monotonix

Lichens

DJ Scotch Egg

Glatze

17October 2012

How did the idea for Supersonic originate?

Jenny [Capsule co-founder Jenny Moore] and I fi rst off have pretty eclectic taste musi-cally and are also passionate about cham-pioning contemporary culture, particularly work that you might describe as sitting on the outskirts and presenting that to a wider audience. We have also been keen on programming work that is more than just a gig but somehow embodies the idea of a community and brings people together. Essentially we are fans and the festival is produced from that as a starting point.

When you started the festival back in 2003, did you have any idea that it would still be going strong and boasting such fantastic line-ups a decade later?

It’s been a massive learning curve over the last 10 years and we are constantly push-ing ourselves to fi nd news ways to devel-op the festival. I don’t think we would have ever started the festival if we knew what it would become, that would have been far too scary! It’s amazing to have the opportunity to not only work with artists that you massively admire but with a team of people who make the festival happen, that for us is the great-est achievement. Oh, and that we’ve creat-ed something so unique that people get on trains and planes to make the journey to the festival — that’s pretty remarkable.

Have there been many changes in the way the festival is organised over the years?

Indeed there has, in the beginning we did everything from booking the artists, to stage managing to cooking veggie chilli, now we have an amazing team who help us deliv-er the festival as well as an army of 90+ volunteers.

How do you think Supersonic has affect-ed Birmingham’s local music scene?

I’m not sure it’s affected the Birmingham scene, rather we hope that we can showcase some of the amazing talent from Birmingham to a wider audience via the festival, we can use it as a platform to expose artists to press and a travelling audience.

Obviously all the bands on the bill are 100 per cent Capsule approved, but which ones are you particularly looking forward to this year?

Obviously I’m biased and am pretty excit-ed about all of our line-up but some of the key highlights this year include a special collaboration of the unique and unpredict-able guitar pairing of the iconic Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth and free-noise guitarist Bill Nace. Together, they are known as BODY/HEAD. The Oxbow Orchestra, expect strings, woodwinds, brass, operatic back-ing vocals and classically contained render-ings of the Oxbow songbook. A screening of Jeremy Deller’s ‘The Bruce Lacey Experi-ence’. A large-scale installation combining sound art, video art and kinetic sculpture, the Vinyl Rally; an immersive participatory

play-set playing off vinyl fetishism, video arcade mystique and the machismo of motor sports in a video game played within a real world setting! We’re also delighted to be bringing psychedelic rock band Goat to the UK for the fi rst time. In addition we have a few surprises in store to help mark our 10th year celebrations.

And what have you been some of your main highlights from the past 10 years of the fest?

Well we started out as a one-day event not really knowing what we were doing, and now 10 years later the festival has grown with a worldwide reputation so that is really excit-ing for us. There have been so many amaz-ing performances but LCD Sound System, followed by Coil performing over the pool at the Custard Factory in our fi rst year was quite an achievement. Monotonix played a pretty amazing set causing an absolute frenzy of sweat and Speedos. Also hosting early performances by artists that then go on to really build their reputation and audi-ence always feels like an achievement for us and that we have in some small way helped them on their journey. In other ways, having our audience travel from all over the globe

is equally satisfying — knowing that they are making the journey as they won’t experience this kind of event anywhere else in the world.

Are there any bands that have yet to play that the festival that you’ve been itching to book?

Black Sabbath — I know, an obvious choice but you can dream...

Finally, what does the future hold for Supersonic Festival?

Having reached 10 years is a good oppor-tunity to re-imagine what the festival might be like in the future and what format it might take, even reconsidering the location. So lots for us to think about to prepare ourselves for the next decade of Supersonic memo-rable moments

Ten years

of Super–sonic

Supersonic Festival will take place in Birmingham’s Custard Factory from October 19 to October 21. Weekends tickets are £80, day tickets are £20 for Friday and £35 for Saturday or Sunday. Tickets are available from Polar Bear Records in Kings Heath or online through www.theticketsell-ers.co.uk. Visit www.supersonicfesti-val.com for more details.

Digbeth’s Custard Factory will be transformed into an avant-garde utopia once more this month when groundbreaking music and art festival Supersonic returns for its 10th anniversary instalment. Since its origins as a single-day event in 2003, Supersonic has blossomed into the full-on three-day extravaganza it’s known as today, and festival organisers Capsule have several surprises up their collective sleeves to celebrate the event’s milestone year. Kez Whelan caught up with Capsule co-founder and director Lisa Meyer to talk about the Supersonic Festival’s past, present and future…

Monotonix

Lichens

DJ Scotch Egg

Glatze


“Our last EP, The Tides Will Turn, was based solely around heartache and lost love,” explains Dakota Beats frontman Dan Harris.

Ahhhh, can you feel it? Songs about heart-ache and lost love. Always there for you when you need them, like a warm blanket in front of an open fire in winter. But don’t get too comfortable just yet, because Dakota Beats aren’t the average band that statement may suggest. Oh no. They’re doing some-thing different with their latest set of songs. Something as far away from cuddling up by the fire as possible.

That’s right, the band, line-up completed by James and Tom Amphlett on guitars, Mark Grigg on drums and Richard Campbell on bass, have thought outside the box when it comes to recording their new tracks. Having teamed up with producer Ryan Pinson for the tracks, the band chose to record the new material in old attic rooms they stum-bled upon at the Newhampton Arts Centre in

Wolverhampton, a venue which has proved a popular haunt for some of their most excit-ing gigs so far, but who would have thought having a nosey about upstairs would inspire a whole new atmosphere to their music?

“We enjoy working with our producer Ryan Pinson and between us we came up with an idea of making some almost live record-ings in a big, atmospheric room to try and recreate our live sound and produce some-thing with tons of ambience and energy,” Dan continues.

“We found that the Newhampton had some old attic rooms perfect for the job so we started recording from there. We have such a tight relationship with Ryan now; he’s like our sixth member. He inspires us to make the music we do and I’d like to think we do the same for him.

“We have no real plans for these tracks to be released as an EP; in many ways this is

us experimenting in public. The tracks will be available to download though; we always think it’s important to put our music out there.

“The last two EPs we have done had no real plans beforehand, when the songs are ready and sounding right we might put them on an EP but then again we might not. It’s what feels right for us and if the songs would work together well as EP and not just a bunch of songs.”

While other bands have spent the summer jumping on the festival bandwagon to appeal to as many new fans as possible, Dakota Beats have done the exact opposite. Locked in a secret underground bunker (ok, maybe it’s not secret, or underground, but it does have a bunker feel), the band have been working with Ryan to mould their new sound and explore their latest batch of songs.

And the boys from the Black Country have found their perfect way to start their 2013,

albeit a little early, with the help of the latest Brum Notes Presents night.

Dan excitedly tells us: “We have locked ourselves away in the studio getting ready for the winter. We just can’t wait to unleash what we’ve been working on and what better place to do that than B-Town! 2013 is a big year for us so it’s been important to get everything right but it all starts in Birming-ham on October 26.

“The Brum Notes show is the start of a huge year for us as we move ourselves from Wolves to Birmingham. We have a huge show planned and are expecting a big crowd. We recognise that Birmingham is making big noises at the moment and although we will always be a Black Country band we’re happy to show Brum what we’re all about, and we’re confident they will like what they see and hear. I’d like to think you’ll see us a lot more in the Second City but we’ll always show our love back home.”

Fans of Dakota Beats will have witnessed a mammoth change in the band’s sound over the past two years. These new songs, set to be unveiled to the expectant public for the first time this month, are once again a step

in a different direction.

Nothing’s Wrong, Nothing’s Right, Dive Into The Deep End and another as yet untitled new song show the heavier side to the band.

For anyone who has followed the band since their inception, this can only be a good thing. If the band can reproduce the form that saw them write rabble-rousing guitars and thun-dering, painful lyrics, such as those on Sir Frank James and The Tides, then this new era for them can only be a significant step

in the right direction.

“The new tracks are definitely heavier,” insists Dan, “we have been called an indie pop band in the past but we are certainly matur-ing into a more indie rock sound. That’s what we want to be, it doesn’t mean we’re going to grow our hair and start wearing oversized tie dye t-shirts, it just means we’re chang-ing, as musicians, as people, and as a band.

“When you listen to our songs they’re always accessible and easier to remember and that won’t change but maybe now we’ll be able to tap into our dark side a bit more.”

So, it seems they are not as cosy as warm blankets in front of the fire after all. Sure they’re writing about heartbreak and lost love, but it’s not Adele. Their songs are cold and hard and walk the streets of the Black Country on the weekend, looking for love in pubs and on dancefloors. But no one likes to stop in any more anyway.

Brum Notes presents Dakota Beats live, with Dive Exit, City Lightz and The One Twos at the O2 Academy 2, Birmingham, on October 26.

Black Country indie outfit Dakota Beats are a band who like to do things on their own terms. And with a fiercely loyal following to show for it, who can argue? As they prepare for one of their biggest headline gigs so far, this month’s Brum Notes Presents show at the O2 Academy 2, Jon Pritchard meets a band ready to explore their dark side.

“ We recognise that Birmingham is making big noises at the moment and although we will always be a Black Country band we’re happy to show Brum what we’re all about, and we’re confident they will like what they see and hear.”

MARCHING TO THEIR

OWN BEAT

Pho

to b

y A

ndy

Hug

hes

19October 2012

“Our last EP, The Tides Will Turn, was based solely around heartache and lost love,” explains Dakota Beats frontman Dan Harris.

Ahhhh, can you feel it? Songs about heart-ache and lost love. Always there for you when you need them, like a warm blanket in front of an open fire in winter. But don’t get too comfortable just yet, because Dakota Beats aren’t the average band that statement may suggest. Oh no. They’re doing some-thing different with their latest set of songs. Something as far away from cuddling up by the fire as possible.

That’s right, the band, line-up completed by James and Tom Amphlett on guitars, Mark Grigg on drums and Richard Campbell on bass, have thought outside the box when it comes to recording their new tracks. Having teamed up with producer Ryan Pinson for the tracks, the band chose to record the new material in old attic rooms they stum-bled upon at the Newhampton Arts Centre in

Wolverhampton, a venue which has proved a popular haunt for some of their most excit-ing gigs so far, but who would have thought having a nosey about upstairs would inspire a whole new atmosphere to their music?

“We enjoy working with our producer Ryan Pinson and between us we came up with an idea of making some almost live record-ings in a big, atmospheric room to try and recreate our live sound and produce some-thing with tons of ambience and energy,” Dan continues.

“We found that the Newhampton had some old attic rooms perfect for the job so we started recording from there. We have such a tight relationship with Ryan now; he’s like our sixth member. He inspires us to make the music we do and I’d like to think we do the same for him.

“We have no real plans for these tracks to be released as an EP; in many ways this is

us experimenting in public. The tracks will be available to download though; we always think it’s important to put our music out there.

“The last two EPs we have done had no real plans beforehand, when the songs are ready and sounding right we might put them on an EP but then again we might not. It’s what feels right for us and if the songs would work together well as EP and not just a bunch of songs.”

While other bands have spent the summer jumping on the festival bandwagon to appeal to as many new fans as possible, Dakota Beats have done the exact opposite. Locked in a secret underground bunker (ok, maybe it’s not secret, or underground, but it does have a bunker feel), the band have been working with Ryan to mould their new sound and explore their latest batch of songs.

And the boys from the Black Country have found their perfect way to start their 2013,

albeit a little early, with the help of the latest Brum Notes Presents night.

Dan excitedly tells us: “We have locked ourselves away in the studio getting ready for the winter. We just can’t wait to unleash what we’ve been working on and what better place to do that than B-Town! 2013 is a big year for us so it’s been important to get everything right but it all starts in Birming-ham on October 26.

“The Brum Notes show is the start of a huge year for us as we move ourselves from Wolves to Birmingham. We have a huge show planned and are expecting a big crowd. We recognise that Birmingham is making big noises at the moment and although we will always be a Black Country band we’re happy to show Brum what we’re all about, and we’re confident they will like what they see and hear. I’d like to think you’ll see us a lot more in the Second City but we’ll always show our love back home.”

Fans of Dakota Beats will have witnessed a mammoth change in the band’s sound over the past two years. These new songs, set to be unveiled to the expectant public for the first time this month, are once again a step

in a different direction.

Nothing’s Wrong, Nothing’s Right, Dive Into The Deep End and another as yet untitled new song show the heavier side to the band.

For anyone who has followed the band since their inception, this can only be a good thing. If the band can reproduce the form that saw them write rabble-rousing guitars and thun-dering, painful lyrics, such as those on Sir Frank James and The Tides, then this new era for them can only be a significant step

in the right direction.

“The new tracks are definitely heavier,” insists Dan, “we have been called an indie pop band in the past but we are certainly matur-ing into a more indie rock sound. That’s what we want to be, it doesn’t mean we’re going to grow our hair and start wearing oversized tie dye t-shirts, it just means we’re chang-ing, as musicians, as people, and as a band.

“When you listen to our songs they’re always accessible and easier to remember and that won’t change but maybe now we’ll be able to tap into our dark side a bit more.”

So, it seems they are not as cosy as warm blankets in front of the fire after all. Sure they’re writing about heartbreak and lost love, but it’s not Adele. Their songs are cold and hard and walk the streets of the Black Country on the weekend, looking for love in pubs and on dancefloors. But no one likes to stop in any more anyway.

Brum Notes presents Dakota Beats live, with Dive Exit, City Lightz and The One Twos at the O2 Academy 2, Birmingham, on October 26.

Black Country indie outfit Dakota Beats are a band who like to do things on their own terms. And with a fiercely loyal following to show for it, who can argue? As they prepare for one of their biggest headline gigs so far, this month’s Brum Notes Presents show at the O2 Academy 2, Jon Pritchard meets a band ready to explore their dark side.

“ We recognise that Birmingham is making big noises at the moment and although we will always be a Black Country band we’re happy to show Brum what we’re all about, and we’re confident they will like what they see and hear.”

MARCHING TO THEIR

OWN BEAT

Pho

to b

y A

ndy

Hug

hes


Toy are busy. Very busy. They’ve just emerged from the BBC 6Music studios following an astounding live session for Lauren Laverne, but there is little time to rest, each member is now being passed around for various interview duties. This is, of course, what happens when you release a debut album which has seem-ingly captured the imagination of music fans and critics across the board.

“It was really good,” says Alejandra Diez, after their brief lunchtime set on 6Music. “It was really nice and we just did two songs and we were able to do Kopter which is one of the long ones so it’s quite good we got to play a nine-minute song quite like that on radio, but yeah it was a lot of fun, really good.”

And it seems the fun is only just begin-ning for the Spanish-born synth player and her London-based bandmates, with the acclaim that has greeted their epony-mous debut album making them a band very much in demand act as they prepare for their biggest headline tour to date.

“To be honest we’ve been really excit-ed,” continues Alejandra, “it was quite nice working just before we streamed the album because obviously we didn’t know what the reviews would be like, it’s quite strange having people talk about your work, but yeah it’s been really good.”

For many, it may seem as though Toy have pretty much emerged from nowhere. Formed just a couple of years ago by a

group of friends made up partly of three former members of ill-fated indie hype act Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong — a band to which Toy bear little resemblance in terms of sound, or indeed quality.

“Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong was never their band,” insists Alejandra, refl ecting on the involvement of Toy members vocalist Tom Dougall, guitarist Dom O’Dair and bassist Maxim Barron in the set-up, “it was Joe Lean’s band but none of them had any control over the songs or the sound, this is the fi rst time that we’re doing something together that we want to do.

“We’d known each other for years, I met them a couple of months after I moved to England and we all moved to London at the same and spent lots of time together, but they were in the other band, although we knew we all wanted to do something together and after that band ended we started playing together.”

Group writing sessions at Alejandra and Dom’s home quickly gave them a body of work to develop and propelled them into the studio. And it seems the end result has all come about very naturally. “It feels unreal that it’s actually ours [the album], everything has happened really quickly. We recorded it in May over a 10-day period and we were really keen on releasing it as quick as possible but the fact that it’s just been a few months rather than a year, which seems to be the average now for bands to be able to

release the album, the fact that it’s out is a pretty amazing feeling to be honest, like we’ve actually done something.

“It was great, we did it with a friend of ours [producer] Dan Carey (Bat for Lash-es, Mystery Jets, The Kills) who we’ve known for a lot of years so it was a lot of fun. It was all recorded live and we tracked all the songs in like four days and then it was literally just a couple of over-dubs and everything was really quick — and we managed to squeeze a couple of parties in the middle. It was really good and great fun.

“We wanted to start recording as soon as we had a bunch of songs to choose between. We didn’t actually have a masterplan behind the sound, it was just what came out when we started playing.

“We really wanted to do it live and it seems to have worked out well, we just wanted to get a bit of the live ener-gy on the record and it seems to have worked. I still think that there are things that come out live that you can’t get on the record but hopefully there are things on the record you can’t quite get live as well so hopefully people can hear both sides of it.”

Toy are live at the HMV Institute on October 20. Their self-titled debut album is out now on Heavenly Recordings.

TOY have produced one of the most talked about debuts of the year with their effortlessly cool blend of psychedelia and krautrock. Synth player Alejandra Diez tells Chris Moriarty how it all came about so naturally.

CHILD’S PLAY

Scott Matthews is, by his own admission, one of those “surefi re boring people”. He remains living near his family in Wolverhamp-ton and likes nothing more than coming home to his missus and a fi lm after a playing a gig. Not words you’d expect from the musician behind an Ivor Novello-winning song and three successful albums.

Despite a wealth of success and a success career touring the globe, he admits he is humbled to be performing at this years OxjamBrum Takeover Festival, which returns to venues across Birmingham on October 13.“I’m privileged to be able to give back,” he says. “It’s refreshing and hits home what it’s all about.”While national press may be jumping on some-thing of a Birmingham bandwagon right now, Matthews is proud to be a West Midlands hero but admits it is has always been easy for him or other artists with the area having had something of a stigma attached to it in the past.“I experienced it with some people; the accent would come out and I’d feel myself being looked down on,” admits Matthews.

But music is as good an avenue as any to rise above preconceptions, and for Matthews, he is adamant that “as long as people are listening and discovering”, music still has the chance to make the connection it always has with fans, despite the changes in the industry and decline of record stores and independent venues.

“It’s easy to lose sight of your purpose, but the support is often overwhelming,” he continues. “If one of my songs reaches out to someone driving down the motorway at 3am, even if it’s just one line, it brings back to me the reason why I do this”.

Despite what he calls the “decline of the music industry”, Scott has no intention of packing in what he’s been doing professionally since 2006. His first album, Passing Stranger, included the track Elusive which went on to win a prestigious Ivor Novello award for best song musically and lyrically, beating the likes of Arctic Monkeys among others. Two more studio albums followed and Scott insists there is plenty more to come, with big plans having been laid out for potentially two new albums next year, with the next expected as early as March. “I’m trying to make music that has more of an emotional connection. I lost my way on the second record,” he admits, “tried to follow trends that weren’t really me.”

As a result, he has been experimenting with newer, potentially more unexpected sounds. “I dug out my brother’s old synth from the 80s, it’s huge, very Kraftwerk-y. The sounds are actually much more textured than you’d imagine.” He’s also admits to having toyed with the idea of releasing an album of bass guitar-driven music, though DnB is a genre he claims to

not follow at all, while inspired by Sigur Ros, Matthews wants to bring in a “strong under-current of other-wordliness”. New sounds to be experimented with and a clearer, more positive mind set has seen Scott realise where his strengths lie and if you’ll excuse the pun, play to them.

His headline set at OxjamBrum is to be followed by a single date at Birmingham’s Town Hall December 1, where he hopes to debut tracks from his new album(s). Instead of choosing a support band, he will instead play the equivalent of two sets: one, acoustic and solo, the other with his band, showcasing the heavier side of his repertoire. For there is a lot more to Scott Matthews than you might expect. A relative veteran compared to many chart stars these days, after six years and three albums, he is happy to compare himself to a “fi ne wine,” ageing and improving with every album. Only time will tell if this will ring true of course, but by the sound of things, he is certainly confi dent.

Scott Matthews plays the OxjamBrum Takeover Festival 2012 on Saturday, Octo-ber 13. He is also live at the Town Hall, Birmingham, on December 1. Wristbands for the OxjamBrum Takeover Festival are £10 from www.oxjambrum.org.uk. Turn over the page for a guide to the venues and artists making up this year’s festival.

He may not be a wild man of rock, but Scott Matthews is a musician who lets his music do the talking. Tamara Roper speaks to the Ivor Novello-winning Midlander ahead of his headline appearance at this month’s OxjamBrum Takeover Festival.

Lone Wolf

21October 2012

Toy are busy. Very busy. They’ve just emerged from the BBC 6Music studios following an astounding live session for Lauren Laverne, but there is little time to rest, each member is now being passed around for various interview duties. This is, of course, what happens when you release a debut album which has seem-ingly captured the imagination of music fans and critics across the board.

“It was really good,” says Alejandra Diez, after their brief lunchtime set on 6Music. “It was really nice and we just did two songs and we were able to do Kopter which is one of the long ones so it’s quite good we got to play a nine-minute song quite like that on radio, but yeah it was a lot of fun, really good.”

And it seems the fun is only just begin-ning for the Spanish-born synth player and her London-based bandmates, with the acclaim that has greeted their epony-mous debut album making them a band very much in demand act as they prepare for their biggest headline tour to date.

“To be honest we’ve been really excit-ed,” continues Alejandra, “it was quite nice working just before we streamed the album because obviously we didn’t know what the reviews would be like, it’s quite strange having people talk about your work, but yeah it’s been really good.”

For many, it may seem as though Toy have pretty much emerged from nowhere. Formed just a couple of years ago by a

group of friends made up partly of three former members of ill-fated indie hype act Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong — a band to which Toy bear little resemblance in terms of sound, or indeed quality.

“Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong was never their band,” insists Alejandra, refl ecting on the involvement of Toy members vocalist Tom Dougall, guitarist Dom O’Dair and bassist Maxim Barron in the set-up, “it was Joe Lean’s band but none of them had any control over the songs or the sound, this is the fi rst time that we’re doing something together that we want to do.

“We’d known each other for years, I met them a couple of months after I moved to England and we all moved to London at the same and spent lots of time together, but they were in the other band, although we knew we all wanted to do something together and after that band ended we started playing together.”

Group writing sessions at Alejandra and Dom’s home quickly gave them a body of work to develop and propelled them into the studio. And it seems the end result has all come about very naturally. “It feels unreal that it’s actually ours [the album], everything has happened really quickly. We recorded it in May over a 10-day period and we were really keen on releasing it as quick as possible but the fact that it’s just been a few months rather than a year, which seems to be the average now for bands to be able to

release the album, the fact that it’s out is a pretty amazing feeling to be honest, like we’ve actually done something.

“It was great, we did it with a friend of ours [producer] Dan Carey (Bat for Lash-es, Mystery Jets, The Kills) who we’ve known for a lot of years so it was a lot of fun. It was all recorded live and we tracked all the songs in like four days and then it was literally just a couple of over-dubs and everything was really quick — and we managed to squeeze a couple of parties in the middle. It was really good and great fun.

“We wanted to start recording as soon as we had a bunch of songs to choose between. We didn’t actually have a masterplan behind the sound, it was just what came out when we started playing.

“We really wanted to do it live and it seems to have worked out well, we just wanted to get a bit of the live ener-gy on the record and it seems to have worked. I still think that there are things that come out live that you can’t get on the record but hopefully there are things on the record you can’t quite get live as well so hopefully people can hear both sides of it.”

Toy are live at the HMV Institute on October 20. Their self-titled debut album is out now on Heavenly Recordings.

TOY have produced one of the most talked about debuts of the year with their effortlessly cool blend of psychedelia and krautrock. Synth player Alejandra Diez tells Chris Moriarty how it all came about so naturally.

CHILD’S PLAY

Scott Matthews is, by his own admission, one of those “surefi re boring people”. He remains living near his family in Wolverhamp-ton and likes nothing more than coming home to his missus and a fi lm after a playing a gig. Not words you’d expect from the musician behind an Ivor Novello-winning song and three successful albums.

Despite a wealth of success and a success career touring the globe, he admits he is humbled to be performing at this years OxjamBrum Takeover Festival, which returns to venues across Birmingham on October 13.“I’m privileged to be able to give back,” he says. “It’s refreshing and hits home what it’s all about.”While national press may be jumping on some-thing of a Birmingham bandwagon right now, Matthews is proud to be a West Midlands hero but admits it is has always been easy for him or other artists with the area having had something of a stigma attached to it in the past.“I experienced it with some people; the accent would come out and I’d feel myself being looked down on,” admits Matthews.

But music is as good an avenue as any to rise above preconceptions, and for Matthews, he is adamant that “as long as people are listening and discovering”, music still has the chance to make the connection it always has with fans, despite the changes in the industry and decline of record stores and independent venues.

“It’s easy to lose sight of your purpose, but the support is often overwhelming,” he continues. “If one of my songs reaches out to someone driving down the motorway at 3am, even if it’s just one line, it brings back to me the reason why I do this”.

Despite what he calls the “decline of the music industry”, Scott has no intention of packing in what he’s been doing professionally since 2006. His first album, Passing Stranger, included the track Elusive which went on to win a prestigious Ivor Novello award for best song musically and lyrically, beating the likes of Arctic Monkeys among others. Two more studio albums followed and Scott insists there is plenty more to come, with big plans having been laid out for potentially two new albums next year, with the next expected as early as March. “I’m trying to make music that has more of an emotional connection. I lost my way on the second record,” he admits, “tried to follow trends that weren’t really me.”

As a result, he has been experimenting with newer, potentially more unexpected sounds. “I dug out my brother’s old synth from the 80s, it’s huge, very Kraftwerk-y. The sounds are actually much more textured than you’d imagine.” He’s also admits to having toyed with the idea of releasing an album of bass guitar-driven music, though DnB is a genre he claims to

not follow at all, while inspired by Sigur Ros, Matthews wants to bring in a “strong under-current of other-wordliness”. New sounds to be experimented with and a clearer, more positive mind set has seen Scott realise where his strengths lie and if you’ll excuse the pun, play to them.

His headline set at OxjamBrum is to be followed by a single date at Birmingham’s Town Hall December 1, where he hopes to debut tracks from his new album(s). Instead of choosing a support band, he will instead play the equivalent of two sets: one, acoustic and solo, the other with his band, showcasing the heavier side of his repertoire. For there is a lot more to Scott Matthews than you might expect. A relative veteran compared to many chart stars these days, after six years and three albums, he is happy to compare himself to a “fi ne wine,” ageing and improving with every album. Only time will tell if this will ring true of course, but by the sound of things, he is certainly confi dent.

Scott Matthews plays the OxjamBrum Takeover Festival 2012 on Saturday, Octo-ber 13. He is also live at the Town Hall, Birmingham, on December 1. Wristbands for the OxjamBrum Takeover Festival are £10 from www.oxjambrum.org.uk. Turn over the page for a guide to the venues and artists making up this year’s festival.

He may not be a wild man of rock, but Scott Matthews is a musician who lets his music do the talking. Tamara Roper speaks to the Ivor Novello-winning Midlander ahead of his headline appearance at this month’s OxjamBrum Takeover Festival.

Lone Wolf


Symphony Hall Cafe Bar

Frederick

The Yardbird

OxjamBrum Takeover Festival

Words by Matt Saull, Nic TomsDesign by Oscar French, Alex Blanchard and Matt Saull

Charity/music bonanza OxjamBrum Takeover returns to Birmingham this month, so we’ve got the lowdown on what’s on and where to find it. This one-day multi-venue festival is back for its fourth year and will feature performances from over 40 artists including singer-songwriters, DJs, bands, MCs and more. Spread across seven venues in the city centre, one wristband (£10 adv) will allow you access to everything on offer including music, spoken word, workshops, industry panel discussions, a walking tour and pop-up gigs. The OxjamBrum Takeover Festival 2012 celebrates the creative talent that Birmingham produces — particularly from the independent music community — whilst raising funds for Oxfam’s vital work around the world. The day will start at 2pm with a parade through the city centre led by samba collective Oya Batucada, then the festival will launch its new ‘pay what you can’ daytime programme with music and events suitable for all the family. From 6pm wristband holders can bar hop through the city centre sampling everything Brum has to offer from indie to electro, hip hop to rock and folk to funk.

This special souvenir guide previews the line-up at each of the seven venues and provides a handy map for the day. We will also be live tweeting using the hashtag #oxjambrum2012.

2pm - 2am, October 13, 2012

For more details, including the full line-up and ticket information, go to the OxjamBrum website atwww.oxjambrum.org.uk

23October 2012

The Victoria

Cafe Blend

Island Bar

Sunflower Lounge

OxjamBrum Takeover Festival

Here OxjamBrum will host some of the day’s more experimental musical treats alongside local promoters This is Tmrw. Sick Boys Club will be kicking off Island’s line-up with their self-described ‘music for the apoca-lypse’. Moving through to new boys VOWS, Anushka, a new project from Annie Palmer (Tantrums, Little Palm), Killing Fields of On-tario, dirty rock ‘n’ rollers Horrorshow and Brum stalwarts IO. If that ain’t enough Sam Redmore (Freestyle) will be spinning records downstairs.

Festivals are difficult, right? We once missed Blur by having a nap... Don’t regret it. If the hustle and bustle of the festival gets too much then a chill-out at Café Blend might be in order. Relax with a tea, coffee or a coffee martini while poet Leanne Stoddart comperes a heady mix of singer songwrit-ers, spoken word artists and a performance by Brum’s very own ukulele collective Mo-selele. James Summerfield wraps up the programme here with full band.

Did you ever hear that Birmingham’s better than Venice? Well OxjamBrum are prov-ing this down at Gas St Basin by taking over Frederick for the day. This classy ca-nal barge has a fully-stocked bar and a host of treats during the festival. There’s a song writing workshop with Dan Whitehouse, sto-rytelling with Paul Murphy and an industry panel discussion. Also, watch out on Twitter for the rumours of secret guests appearing there over the course of the day.

It’s hard to look past Ivor Novello-winning singer-songwriter Scott Matthews when looking at the Yardbird line-up, but to do so is to your advantage. The Bluebeat Arkestra’s eclectic dance-hall sound is one to listen out for — especially considering this is one of eight gigs in their mammoth national Oxjam marathon, including four in one day — but Genius Collective, XOVA and Is I Cinema give the line-up real quality in depth. Also watch out for Secret Walls’ live graffiti out-side the venue earlier in the day.

Long-time bastion of the Birmingham lo-cal music scene, the Sunflower Lounge is hosting some of the more established art-ists on the line-up. Spoken-word legend Polarbear makes a welcome return home to Birmingham to headline the venue, while earlier performances come from local stars such as Johnny Normal and the ever-en-tertaining Tom Peel. Electro champion Jake Bullitt will then take over for the late night party, with the venue open all night.

Sunflower Lounge 3pm-2am

Celebrating its 21st birthday in 2012, the iconic Symphony Hall will open its doors to the OxjamBrum team for an afternoon of great singer-songwriters. The talented Dan Whitehouse will headline the space, and Cannon Street, the sisters who caused such a stir at this year’s Moseley Folk Festi-val, bring their sweet harmonies to the cosy cafe. Others performing include Kezia Sioul, The Scribers and a one-off from the Jazzlines Summer School Ensemble.

Downstairs will play host to music industry discussions and talkshops, while upstairs of the old theatre pub will be truly kicking off in the evening, with Ghosts of Dead Air-planes dovetailing with Giant Elf Fist and Miles Perhower on a line-up bristling with in-die-rock power. From 11pm, the venue gets taken over by promoters Brum Town and Eat Good. Highlights will include open mics, some of the city’s best MCs and the best hip hop battles this side of Flava Flav’s clock.

The Victoria3pm-2am

Frederick3pm onwards

Island Bar5pm-2am

The Yardbird 3pm-2am

Café Blend3pm-9pm

Symphony Hall Cafe Bar3pm onwards


m e t r o p o l i s m u s i c p r e s e n t

F o r e x c l u s i v e l i v e a n n o u n c e m e n t s a n d p r i o r i t y b o o k i n g s



Wednesday 28th November

BIRMINGHAM NIA0844 338 8000 | gigsandtours.com

A Metropolis Music presentation by arrangement with X-ray

elbow.co.uk

PLUS VERY SPECIAL GUESTS

SUNDAY 09 DECEMBERBIRMINGHAM NIA

0844 338 8000 | GIGSANDTOURS.COMA METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH CAA

THE ALBUM‘EL CAMINO’OUT NOW

PLUS GUESTS

SATURDAY 22 JUNE

BIRMINGHAM LG ARENA0844 338 8000 | GIGSANDTOURS.COM

NEW ALBUM OUT NOWMAROON5.COM | TWITTER.COM/MAROON5

A METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH ITB

THU 11 OCTOBER / O2 ACADEMY BIRMINGHAM0844 477 2000 / GIGSANDTOURS.COMHOTCHIP.CO.UK IN OUR HEADS OUT NOW

with SPECIAL GUESTS

Sunday 21 October

O2 ACADEMYBIRMINGHAM0844 477 2000 / gigsandtours.comNew album ‘@Reverend_Makers’ out now iamreverend.com by arrangement with Coda

PLUS GUESTS

JANICE GRAHAM BAND+THE CARPELS

Metropolis Music & Academy Events by arrangement with VAT proudly presents Orbital in concert

The new album Wonky out now

orbitalofficial.com

O2 AcademyBirmingham09.12.12

OrbitalTour 2012

plus support Nathan Fake

Friday 26 October

O2 AcademyBirmingham

0844 477 2000 | gigsandtours.comAlbum ‘Streets in the Sky’out now

theenemy.com facebook.com/theenemyby arrangement with Coda Agency

PLUS GUESTS

THE ANTICS + STATES OF EMOTION

plus support The Chevinfriday 12 OCTOBERBirmingham HMV Temple 0844 248 5037 / gigsandtours.comNew album ‘Journey Through the Shadows’ out now by arrangement with X-ray

A Metropolis Music presentation

FRIDAY 09 NOVEMBER

BIRMINGHAM HMV INSTITUTE

TEMPLEGIGSANDTOURS.COM

‘WRITE IT ON YOUR SKIN TOUR’PLUS COLOUR THE ATLAS

THURSDAY 18 OCTOBERO2 ACADEMYBIRMINGHAM

NEW ALBUM ‘WRITE IT ON YOUR SKIN’ OUT NOWNEWTONFAULKNER.COM

A METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH CAA

SATURDAY 27 OCTOBERBIRMINGHAMHMV INSTITUTE

0844 248 5037 / GIGSANDTOURS.COMNEW ALBUM ‘HEAVEN’ OUT NOW

THEWALKMEN.COMby arrangement with CAA

Plus special guests

Thursday 1st NovemberBIRMINGHAM

HMV INSTITUTE0844 248 5037 | gigsandtours.com

New album out 15 October Pre-order now from batforlashes.com

by arrangement with X-ray

L I V E T O U RSAT 10 NOVEMBER•BIRMINGHAM HMV INSTITUTE

0844 248 5037 / GIGSANDTOURS.COMNEW ALBUM ‘DEAD SILENCE’ OUT NOW BILLYTALENT.COM BY ARRANGEMENT WITH THE AGENCY GROUP

WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

THURSDAY 25 OCTOBERO2 ACADEMY3BIRMINGHAM

0844 477 2000 / GIGSANDTOURSALBUM FIVE SERPENT'S TEETH

OUT NOW. EVILE.CO.UKIN ASSOCIATION WITH WISEBLOOD MANAGEMENT

+ FACTORY MUSIC

WEDNESDAY 10 OCTOBERO2 ACADEMY BIRMINGHAM

0844 477 2000 / GIGSANDTOURS.COMTHE NEW ALBUM ‘HARAKIRI’ OUT NOW. SERJTANKIAN.COM

BY ARRANGEMENT WITH CAA

PLUS GUESTS HARAKIRI WORLD TOUR 2012

TUESDAY 26TH FEBRUARYBIRMINGHAM HMV INSTITUTE0844 248 5037 / GIGSANDTOURS.COM

ALBUM ‘MY HEAD IS AN ANIMAL’ OUT NOWOFMONSTERSANDMEN.IS

By arrangement with CAA

SATURDAY 09 MARCHB I R M I N G H A M H M V I N S T I T U T E0844 248 5037GIGSANDTOURS.COMDEBUT ALBUM 'DEVOTION' OUT NOW JESSIEWARE.COMFB.COM/JESSIEWAREMUSIC | @JESSIE_WAREBY ARRANGEMENT WITH CODA

Albums of the Year

BrumNotes_DPS_September_24_Layout 1 26/09/2012 16:01 Page 1

25October 2012





Wednesday 28th November

BIRMINGHAM NIA0844 338 8000 | gigsandtours.com

A Metropolis Music presentation by arrangement with X-ray

elbow.co.uk

PLUS VERY SPECIAL GUESTS

SUNDAY 09 DECEMBERBIRMINGHAM NIA

0844 338 8000 | GIGSANDTOURS.COMA METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH CAA

THE ALBUM‘EL CAMINO’OUT NOW

PLUS GUESTS

SATURDAY 22 JUNE

BIRMINGHAM LG ARENA0844 338 8000 | GIGSANDTOURS.COM

NEW ALBUM OUT NOWMAROON5.COM | TWITTER.COM/MAROON5

A METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH ITB

THU 11 OCTOBER / O2 ACADEMY BIRMINGHAM0844 477 2000 / GIGSANDTOURS.COMHOTCHIP.CO.UK IN OUR HEADS OUT NOW

with SPECIAL GUESTS

Sunday 21 October

O2 ACADEMYBIRMINGHAM0844 477 2000 / gigsandtours.comNew album ‘@Reverend_Makers’ out now iamreverend.com by arrangement with Coda

PLUS GUESTS

JANICE GRAHAM BAND+THE CARPELS

Metropolis Music & Academy Events by arrangement with VAT proudly presents Orbital in concert

The new album Wonky out now

orbitalofficial.com

O2 AcademyBirmingham09.12.12

OrbitalTour 2012

plus support Nathan Fake

Friday 26 October

O2 AcademyBirmingham

0844 477 2000 | gigsandtours.comAlbum ‘Streets in the Sky’out now

theenemy.com facebook.com/theenemyby arrangement with Coda Agency

PLUS GUESTS

THE ANTICS + STATES OF EMOTION

plus support The Chevinfriday 12 OCTOBERBirmingham HMV Temple 0844 248 5037 / gigsandtours.comNew album ‘Journey Through the Shadows’ out now by arrangement with X-ray

A Metropolis Music presentation

FRIDAY 09 NOVEMBER

BIRMINGHAM HMV INSTITUTE

TEMPLEGIGSANDTOURS.COM

‘WRITE IT ON YOUR SKIN TOUR’PLUS COLOUR THE ATLAS

THURSDAY 18 OCTOBERO2 ACADEMYBIRMINGHAM

NEW ALBUM ‘WRITE IT ON YOUR SKIN’ OUT NOWNEWTONFAULKNER.COM

A METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH CAA

SATURDAY 27 OCTOBERBIRMINGHAMHMV INSTITUTE

0844 248 5037 / GIGSANDTOURS.COMNEW ALBUM ‘HEAVEN’ OUT NOW

THEWALKMEN.COMby arrangement with CAA

Plus special guests

Thursday 1st NovemberBIRMINGHAM

HMV INSTITUTE0844 248 5037 | gigsandtours.com

New album out 15 October Pre-order now from batforlashes.com

by arrangement with X-ray

L I V E T O U RSAT 10 NOVEMBER•BIRMINGHAM HMV INSTITUTE

0844 248 5037 / GIGSANDTOURS.COMNEW ALBUM ‘DEAD SILENCE’ OUT NOW BILLYTALENT.COM BY ARRANGEMENT WITH THE AGENCY GROUP

WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

THURSDAY 25 OCTOBERO2 ACADEMY3BIRMINGHAM

0844 477 2000 / GIGSANDTOURSALBUM FIVE SERPENT'S TEETH

OUT NOW. EVILE.CO.UKIN ASSOCIATION WITH WISEBLOOD MANAGEMENT

+ FACTORY MUSIC

WEDNESDAY 10 OCTOBERO2 ACADEMY BIRMINGHAM

0844 477 2000 / GIGSANDTOURS.COMTHE NEW ALBUM ‘HARAKIRI’ OUT NOW. SERJTANKIAN.COM

BY ARRANGEMENT WITH CAA

PLUS GUESTS HARAKIRI WORLD TOUR 2012

TUESDAY 26TH FEBRUARYBIRMINGHAM HMV INSTITUTE0844 248 5037 / GIGSANDTOURS.COM

ALBUM ‘MY HEAD IS AN ANIMAL’ OUT NOWOFMONSTERSANDMEN.IS

By arrangement with CAA

SATURDAY 09 MARCHB I R M I N G H A M H M V I N S T I T U T E0844 248 5037GIGSANDTOURS.COMDEBUT ALBUM 'DEVOTION' OUT NOW JESSIEWARE.COMFB.COM/JESSIEWAREMUSIC | @JESSIE_WAREBY ARRANGEMENT WITH CODA

Albums of the Year

BrumNotes_DPS_September_24_Layout 1 26/09/2012 16:01 Page 1


“When we did sit down, and talked, that fi rst time [after the break], it did feel real-ly emotional. We remembered what we’d achieved together, we had a renewed sense of purpose, and this record is a direct result of that.” For Gordon, the best example of that feeling in action is new track Team A, “…because it was one of these awesome moments when you realise you’re doing something unique, that only that combination of people can do. Russell was playing with effects pedals, and we were playing along to that, and these strange shaped melodies came out of it. I felt that really represented us … we were fi ring on all cylinders.” The album was pieced together in NYC with the band keen to (re)capture the energy of a cohesive live unit. “We initially did want to get away from all the haunts we knew as a band,” Gordon explains on the decision to head to NYC. “As we fi nished touring previously, there was a feeling of the machinery of the band grind-ing onwards. This time we’ve reconnected as four of us, we’ve remembered how we used to do things in pokey rehearsal rooms some-where in London … without management

banging on the door, without anyone remind-ing us of things we have to do, places we have to go to, all that ‘industry’ side. We’ve remembered what the band meant to us … we’ve gone back to the basics … So there is that sense of the band picking up and playing without the pressure of business getting in the way.” So, does it feel like a, dare we say it, comeback? “Comeback? From what?” Gordon laughs, adding, “from not doing it? “We had been in the studio but there was a natural break from touring. But now we’ve played a few festivals and shows it feels like we’ve never been away, it feels like we’ve been doing it all the time. At the beginning of this run we were conscious about the break, that three years is a long time in rock these days. We felt that wave of anticipation and warmth from fans. As we tour around, we are aware it’s three years since we last played there, but we feel that anticipation and that warmth every time we’ve played.” Previous albums Silent Alarm and Intimacy were followed by full remix collections featur-ing retooled takes by such knob-twiddlers as Gold Panda, Filthy Dukes, Armand Van Helden, Mogwai and Erol Alkan. But don’t expect Four to get the same treatment. “There’s not the same impetus to repur-pose this time. In terms of a remix record, this record is not about that … although there may be the odd remix. The point of this record is that it’s a band playing together, it’s not about layers to be unpicked, the songs work as they are.”

Bloc Party are live at the O2 Academy, Birmingham, on October 15. Latest album Four is out now.

It’s 11am and Gordon Moakes is ensconced in a Washington DC hotel room between shows, contemplating Bloc Party’s return to touring after a three year break. “It’s been good,” says the bass player, quiet-ly though confi dently. “We’ve been playing festivals all summer, which is a nice way to warm up, a nice way to get good at playing together again. We’ve had to deal with a few sound issues with some rooms, but we’ve played the 9:30 Club in [Washington] DC, which is one of the best clubs in the States … and to play rooms like that and for it to go well has been great.” The reason for the chat is the recent arriv-al of fourth studio album Four, a collection few predicted, as well as the accompany-ing tour, ticket sales for which have served as a reminder as to how much Bloc Party have been missed. While there was no public meltdown after 2009’s Intimacy, there

was clearly a Bloc parting. Frontman Kele Okereke relocated to New York, started writ-ing short stories (with a book evidently due next year), and recorded his solo debut, the punchy Boxer. Drummer Matt Tong also relo-cated to NYC, and guitarist Russell Lissack threw his weight behind Ash and electronic rock duo Pin Me Down. Meanwhile, Gordon was busy as part of Young Legionnaires with Paul Mullen of The Automatic and La Roux’s William Bowerman. The Party looked like it might be almost over.

But here we are in 2012, with all four members back in the studio and back on stage, and it seems rumours of their impend-ing demise were greatly exaggerated — it’s just the planned rest, a chance to re-charge those batteries and review where things were at, took a little longer than they initially mapped out. However, the time away has given the foursome a newfound energy that has seen them go back to their roots and

rediscover Bloc Party. Critics have labelled Four the best since their debut, the product of a hungry band with something to prove, but whatever your opinion, the long-player is certainly not a record BP circa 2009 would — or could — have made. “That’s defi nitely true,” Gordon reckons, “there would have been no impetus if it wasn’t for the break. Then, we only had two options: one was to take a break, and the other one was to head towards a brick wall. Individually, we felt we couldn’t keep going. But we were smart enough to realise that the best thing to do was to leave it alone for a while, to park it. “Leaving it and coming back to it at a later date means you get a perspective, otherwise it would have taken over our lives. Leaving it has created space in our lives and — with-out meaning to sound too slushy — created space in our hearts,” he chuckles.

Bloc Party are back with a bang after a self-imposed three year hiatus, with a top three album already in the bag and a sell-out tour ahead. David Vincent fi nds out why the break has done them a world of good.

“ We remembered what we’d achieved together, we had a renewed sense of purpose, and this record is a direct result of that.”

BACK ON THE BLOC

With Bloc Party back on the road, where does that leave all those solo and side projects, such as Gordon’s Young Legionnaires? “I’ve kind of got my hands tied a little with what I’m doing now,” Gordon laughs. “The schedule doesn’t real-ly allow a two-week Young Legion-naires tour, if something like that came up, right now. I don’t know how long we’ll be touring, but it will be into next year, but we [Young Legionnaires] will get together again. Though the focus for me now is Bloc Party, for next year and prob-ably the year after that.” He pauses, clearly refl ecting on his stint as a Young Legionnaire: “I defi -nitely feel that there are bits of me I can exercise in that band that I can’t exercise anywhere else. It’s nice to have avenues for other ideas and sounds ... and playing huge guitars at volume...”

PLAYING THE

FIELD OR RULING

THE SIDE—LINES?

27October 2012

“When we did sit down, and talked, that fi rst time [after the break], it did feel real-ly emotional. We remembered what we’d achieved together, we had a renewed sense of purpose, and this record is a direct result of that.” For Gordon, the best example of that feeling in action is new track Team A, “…because it was one of these awesome moments when you realise you’re doing something unique, that only that combination of people can do. Russell was playing with effects pedals, and we were playing along to that, and these strange shaped melodies came out of it. I felt that really represented us … we were fi ring on all cylinders.” The album was pieced together in NYC with the band keen to (re)capture the energy of a cohesive live unit. “We initially did want to get away from all the haunts we knew as a band,” Gordon explains on the decision to head to NYC. “As we fi nished touring previously, there was a feeling of the machinery of the band grind-ing onwards. This time we’ve reconnected as four of us, we’ve remembered how we used to do things in pokey rehearsal rooms some-where in London … without management

banging on the door, without anyone remind-ing us of things we have to do, places we have to go to, all that ‘industry’ side. We’ve remembered what the band meant to us … we’ve gone back to the basics … So there is that sense of the band picking up and playing without the pressure of business getting in the way.” So, does it feel like a, dare we say it, comeback? “Comeback? From what?” Gordon laughs, adding, “from not doing it? “We had been in the studio but there was a natural break from touring. But now we’ve played a few festivals and shows it feels like we’ve never been away, it feels like we’ve been doing it all the time. At the beginning of this run we were conscious about the break, that three years is a long time in rock these days. We felt that wave of anticipation and warmth from fans. As we tour around, we are aware it’s three years since we last played there, but we feel that anticipation and that warmth every time we’ve played.” Previous albums Silent Alarm and Intimacy were followed by full remix collections featur-ing retooled takes by such knob-twiddlers as Gold Panda, Filthy Dukes, Armand Van Helden, Mogwai and Erol Alkan. But don’t expect Four to get the same treatment. “There’s not the same impetus to repur-pose this time. In terms of a remix record, this record is not about that … although there may be the odd remix. The point of this record is that it’s a band playing together, it’s not about layers to be unpicked, the songs work as they are.”

Bloc Party are live at the O2 Academy, Birmingham, on October 15. Latest album Four is out now.

It’s 11am and Gordon Moakes is ensconced in a Washington DC hotel room between shows, contemplating Bloc Party’s return to touring after a three year break. “It’s been good,” says the bass player, quiet-ly though confi dently. “We’ve been playing festivals all summer, which is a nice way to warm up, a nice way to get good at playing together again. We’ve had to deal with a few sound issues with some rooms, but we’ve played the 9:30 Club in [Washington] DC, which is one of the best clubs in the States … and to play rooms like that and for it to go well has been great.” The reason for the chat is the recent arriv-al of fourth studio album Four, a collection few predicted, as well as the accompany-ing tour, ticket sales for which have served as a reminder as to how much Bloc Party have been missed. While there was no public meltdown after 2009’s Intimacy, there

was clearly a Bloc parting. Frontman Kele Okereke relocated to New York, started writ-ing short stories (with a book evidently due next year), and recorded his solo debut, the punchy Boxer. Drummer Matt Tong also relo-cated to NYC, and guitarist Russell Lissack threw his weight behind Ash and electronic rock duo Pin Me Down. Meanwhile, Gordon was busy as part of Young Legionnaires with Paul Mullen of The Automatic and La Roux’s William Bowerman. The Party looked like it might be almost over.

But here we are in 2012, with all four members back in the studio and back on stage, and it seems rumours of their impend-ing demise were greatly exaggerated — it’s just the planned rest, a chance to re-charge those batteries and review where things were at, took a little longer than they initially mapped out. However, the time away has given the foursome a newfound energy that has seen them go back to their roots and

rediscover Bloc Party. Critics have labelled Four the best since their debut, the product of a hungry band with something to prove, but whatever your opinion, the long-player is certainly not a record BP circa 2009 would — or could — have made. “That’s defi nitely true,” Gordon reckons, “there would have been no impetus if it wasn’t for the break. Then, we only had two options: one was to take a break, and the other one was to head towards a brick wall. Individually, we felt we couldn’t keep going. But we were smart enough to realise that the best thing to do was to leave it alone for a while, to park it. “Leaving it and coming back to it at a later date means you get a perspective, otherwise it would have taken over our lives. Leaving it has created space in our lives and — with-out meaning to sound too slushy — created space in our hearts,” he chuckles.

Bloc Party are back with a bang after a self-imposed three year hiatus, with a top three album already in the bag and a sell-out tour ahead. David Vincent fi nds out why the break has done them a world of good.

“ We remembered what we’d achieved together, we had a renewed sense of purpose, and this record is a direct result of that.”

BACK ON THE BLOC

With Bloc Party back on the road, where does that leave all those solo and side projects, such as Gordon’s Young Legionnaires? “I’ve kind of got my hands tied a little with what I’m doing now,” Gordon laughs. “The schedule doesn’t real-ly allow a two-week Young Legion-naires tour, if something like that came up, right now. I don’t know how long we’ll be touring, but it will be into next year, but we [Young Legionnaires] will get together again. Though the focus for me now is Bloc Party, for next year and prob-ably the year after that.” He pauses, clearly refl ecting on his stint as a Young Legionnaire: “I defi -nitely feel that there are bits of me I can exercise in that band that I can’t exercise anywhere else. It’s nice to have avenues for other ideas and sounds ... and playing huge guitars at volume...”

PLAYING THE

FIELD OR RULING

THE SIDE—LINES?


So, things have moved pretty fast since we last spoke to you. How did it feel to pen the deal with Columbia?Well we’d never had a record deal and I didn’t know anyone who had signed a record deal before so it was all totally new. It felt cool. I think I was the last person to sign with Mike Smith’s pen he’s signed every band with. It stopped working at the end of my signature and then Sam had to use a Biro. It was cool though.

What’s the strangest thing that’s happened since you got signed?I think the strangest thing that happened was the night we signed. They took us to the NME awards and unspeakable things happened. Other than that I met the drum-mer from Fall Out Boy at a party but then I talked to him and then I wasn’t sure if it was the drummer from Fall Out Boy so maybe it wasn’t? I can’t really remember. There’s a 40 per cent chance it was the drummer from Fall Out Boy.

Any stalker fans yet?I don’t think so. There’s some people who really, really like us but we’re cool with that.

So, a 5* review in The Fly, 9/10 in NME, …er interviews in Brum Notes Magazine, could you have dreamed of such a posi-tive response to the EP?We thought it was a good EP because we liked it. We hadn’t really thought about reviews though. I’m glad people like it. If someone really hated it, it’d hurt my feelings.

You seem to have conquered Google too, as your site (peaceforeverever.co.uk) comes up second when you search for ‘peace’, narrowly pipped by the Wikipe-dia defi nition of ‘peace’ itself. Is it hard to resist Googling yourselves and what’s the strangest thing you’ve read about your own band?I try real hard to not read about ourselves online. Our manager said to me before we put our fi rst single out to not read anything

online because it can drive you crazy and the internet is basically witch magic. That’s cool about Google, I didn’t know that. I read somewhere that [bassist] Sam was dating Jed from Spector but as far as I’m aware that’s 50/50.

Does it add any pressure or do you enjoy the expectation?I don’t really think about the future. Or the present. I tend to just replay the years 2004 — 2006 in my head, when I’m not watching Friends or sleeping.

You had some nice guerrilla marketing efforts stapled to the bins at Beacons Festival; what’s the best thing you’ve done so far to get people along to your shows?Oh yeah, that was because we weren’t in the programme. We used to put posters up in every city we played in with a picture of my friend Hessy, the peace symbol, the venue name and the word ‘TONIGHT’. I think I told

people Cat Deeley was coming to one of our shows once as well. Deeley’s a babe.

How has the summer of festivals been for you, any highlights?Latitude was a good day. Me and Cavan from Swim Deep got next level wasted and ended up on a boat on a lake with some children. I don’t know how or when but we found pictures the next day. The night was a bit gothic though.

You must be looking forward to the Octo-ber tour, how are you getting used to life on the road, all still getting on or are you discovering all of each other’s most annoying habits?We’re all really excited. We’ve constantly been playing live since we started really so it feels weird that we’ve had the last few months off. I haven’t noticed anything new. I knew everyone’s annoying habits before we started touring. I’m a fantastic judge of character.

So, ‘B-Town’, are you sick of hearing that phrase yet or are you proud that your band is being so closely associated with heading up this fi ne city’s exciting music scene?

I still stand by that ‘B-Town’ came from a hashtag I used on Twitter but others say it was Cavan from Swim Deep. The uncer-tainty and injustice behind its origin is frus-trating for everyone but otherwise it’s cool that Radio 1 presenters have a word to say.Birmingham is exciting isn’t it? I’ve always said.

Does the new national perception of Birmingham’s music scene seem quite strange to you guys?Not really. I don’t really see it as just a music scene though. It’s all like.. pals? I didn’t real-ly start hanging around Digbeth until 2010 and I was in London a lot at the time too and I constantly told people how fun Birming-ham was. I don’t know. The last few years were like constant pre drinks and everyone had a real laugh or whatever. It’s just weird/cool that there’s like national attention? Who knows…

And who else from Birmingham do you recommend everyone checks out? Any hidden gems?There’s a new band. It’s too soon to name names but It’s a close friend of mine who recorded some of our fi rst demos and Swim Deep’s fi rst demos. He’s starting a band with

another good friend of mine. They’re in the middle of recording demos but they’re both incredible songwriters and I’ve never been this excited about a band that I haven’t been in before. JAWS and Wide Eyed are defi -nitely worth checking out.

And for all those new students who’ve just moved here what are your top three tips for making the most of life in Brum?1) Drink K Cider in Digbeth and go to The Rainbow. Especially on a Saturday because when that fi nishes you can go to the Adam & Eve & they won’t make you leave until Monday morning.2) Be careful of the drinks in Snobs, I don’t know what it is but there is SOMETHING in the drinks that makes you go daffy. No one wants to be the guy who headbutts their BFF and tries to snog their own cousin. At least not in the same night.3) Search for the one they call Terence P Wade. If you fi nd him your will learn what it is to live, love and laugh. Real Talk.

Peace are live at The Rainbow on Octo-ber 31. Debut EP Delicious is out now on Columbia.

It’s been quite an eventful few months since we last caught up with hotly-tipped Brummie hopefuls Peace, inking a record deal with Columbia, releasing debut EP Delicious to fi ve star reviews and critical acclaim and generally being hailed as the pioneers of the so-called ‘B-Town scene’ by the national music press. We caught up with frontman Harry Koisser about life in the fast lane as they prepare for their biggest tour yet.

Taste sensations

29October 2012

So, things have moved pretty fast since we last spoke to you. How did it feel to pen the deal with Columbia?Well we’d never had a record deal and I didn’t know anyone who had signed a record deal before so it was all totally new. It felt cool. I think I was the last person to sign with Mike Smith’s pen he’s signed every band with. It stopped working at the end of my signature and then Sam had to use a Biro. It was cool though.

What’s the strangest thing that’s happened since you got signed?I think the strangest thing that happened was the night we signed. They took us to the NME awards and unspeakable things happened. Other than that I met the drum-mer from Fall Out Boy at a party but then I talked to him and then I wasn’t sure if it was the drummer from Fall Out Boy so maybe it wasn’t? I can’t really remember. There’s a 40 per cent chance it was the drummer from Fall Out Boy.

Any stalker fans yet?I don’t think so. There’s some people who really, really like us but we’re cool with that.

So, a 5* review in The Fly, 9/10 in NME, …er interviews in Brum Notes Magazine, could you have dreamed of such a posi-tive response to the EP?We thought it was a good EP because we liked it. We hadn’t really thought about reviews though. I’m glad people like it. If someone really hated it, it’d hurt my feelings.

You seem to have conquered Google too, as your site (peaceforeverever.co.uk) comes up second when you search for ‘peace’, narrowly pipped by the Wikipe-dia defi nition of ‘peace’ itself. Is it hard to resist Googling yourselves and what’s the strangest thing you’ve read about your own band?I try real hard to not read about ourselves online. Our manager said to me before we put our fi rst single out to not read anything

online because it can drive you crazy and the internet is basically witch magic. That’s cool about Google, I didn’t know that. I read somewhere that [bassist] Sam was dating Jed from Spector but as far as I’m aware that’s 50/50.

Does it add any pressure or do you enjoy the expectation?I don’t really think about the future. Or the present. I tend to just replay the years 2004 — 2006 in my head, when I’m not watching Friends or sleeping.

You had some nice guerrilla marketing efforts stapled to the bins at Beacons Festival; what’s the best thing you’ve done so far to get people along to your shows?Oh yeah, that was because we weren’t in the programme. We used to put posters up in every city we played in with a picture of my friend Hessy, the peace symbol, the venue name and the word ‘TONIGHT’. I think I told

people Cat Deeley was coming to one of our shows once as well. Deeley’s a babe.

How has the summer of festivals been for you, any highlights?Latitude was a good day. Me and Cavan from Swim Deep got next level wasted and ended up on a boat on a lake with some children. I don’t know how or when but we found pictures the next day. The night was a bit gothic though.

You must be looking forward to the Octo-ber tour, how are you getting used to life on the road, all still getting on or are you discovering all of each other’s most annoying habits?We’re all really excited. We’ve constantly been playing live since we started really so it feels weird that we’ve had the last few months off. I haven’t noticed anything new. I knew everyone’s annoying habits before we started touring. I’m a fantastic judge of character.

So, ‘B-Town’, are you sick of hearing that phrase yet or are you proud that your band is being so closely associated with heading up this fi ne city’s exciting music scene?

I still stand by that ‘B-Town’ came from a hashtag I used on Twitter but others say it was Cavan from Swim Deep. The uncer-tainty and injustice behind its origin is frus-trating for everyone but otherwise it’s cool that Radio 1 presenters have a word to say.Birmingham is exciting isn’t it? I’ve always said.

Does the new national perception of Birmingham’s music scene seem quite strange to you guys?Not really. I don’t really see it as just a music scene though. It’s all like.. pals? I didn’t real-ly start hanging around Digbeth until 2010 and I was in London a lot at the time too and I constantly told people how fun Birming-ham was. I don’t know. The last few years were like constant pre drinks and everyone had a real laugh or whatever. It’s just weird/cool that there’s like national attention? Who knows…

And who else from Birmingham do you recommend everyone checks out? Any hidden gems?There’s a new band. It’s too soon to name names but It’s a close friend of mine who recorded some of our fi rst demos and Swim Deep’s fi rst demos. He’s starting a band with

another good friend of mine. They’re in the middle of recording demos but they’re both incredible songwriters and I’ve never been this excited about a band that I haven’t been in before. JAWS and Wide Eyed are defi -nitely worth checking out.

And for all those new students who’ve just moved here what are your top three tips for making the most of life in Brum?1) Drink K Cider in Digbeth and go to The Rainbow. Especially on a Saturday because when that fi nishes you can go to the Adam & Eve & they won’t make you leave until Monday morning.2) Be careful of the drinks in Snobs, I don’t know what it is but there is SOMETHING in the drinks that makes you go daffy. No one wants to be the guy who headbutts their BFF and tries to snog their own cousin. At least not in the same night.3) Search for the one they call Terence P Wade. If you fi nd him your will learn what it is to live, love and laugh. Real Talk.

Peace are live at The Rainbow on Octo-ber 31. Debut EP Delicious is out now on Columbia.

It’s been quite an eventful few months since we last caught up with hotly-tipped Brummie hopefuls Peace, inking a record deal with Columbia, releasing debut EP Delicious to fi ve star reviews and critical acclaim and generally being hailed as the pioneers of the so-called ‘B-Town scene’ by the national music press. We caught up with frontman Harry Koisser about life in the fast lane as they prepare for their biggest tour yet.

Taste sensations


Five years of writing and growing up togeth-er has yielded much change. Twisted are the youthful tales of summer nights out on the lash, now tainted with words of regret and lessons learned. We caught up with frontman Rob Milton, to check everyone was alright.

First track, Get Low starts so jarringly that the departure from DID’s usual joy hits you like a swig of MD 20/20. Aggressive drums and quizzical bass tease until frontman Milton arrives on scene with the pearler, “A fear of the dark is a walk in the park when you’re wasted.” Bang. Now we’ve started. The sound is brave new ground, with even hints of big hitters like Kasabian in parts. But unmistakably, this is Dog Is Dead.

“I guess it’s that other side of growing up; the more miserable things,” explains Rob. “The record is all about the natural highs of growing up, but you always get the dark comedowns too. There is a lot of relief in it, and I think it’s a really interesting one to start the record with. People by now think of us, melodically a least, as this crazy, happy summer band, so it straight away throws a spanner in the works opening with Get Low.”

The evolving sound was tweaked with the release of summer single Two Devils, seen

later on the record. A darker tone and a more detailed lyrical emphasis allowed Milton to stand out as a leader, rather than sit amongst the wall of sound harmonies that had been heard before. Though, fear not as, “…we haven’t ditched them by any means! But it is more of my unique experiences. It’s very much me telling my stories with the other guys coming in, rather than that original wall of sound. We wanted to be more dynamic, and we wanted to write great songs.”

TV montage producers will delight in the euphoric chorus of Teenage Daughter, a song similar to Two Devils in structure but ending with a challenging mixed vocal where Milton seems to borrow Matt Bellamy’s megaphone from Muse’s take on Feeling Good. Time after time on the record a knack for melody is shown, if not from the vocal, then from a witty bass fi ll, subtle summer keyboards or Paul Roberts’ ever-jangly Rickenbacker.

Starting subtly, new single Talk Through The Night is harmless fayre, but it’s far from wet. Glorifi ed pop with an indie stamp, ticking all the right boxes and making all the right noises in all the right places. Bigger venues await such anthemic tunes, and a brave band is one which writes songs unbefi tting of the tiny clubs they will fi rst play their way around.

“I feel it’s a real friends’ song,” continues the frontman. “A really geeky, least coolest song in the world, song. But one that has its own merit, and hopefully someone can have a barbecue to it before it starts raining.”

The previous single heavyweights sit in the middle of the record. Two Devils, like Tyson — moody, coiled and fi nally all arms swing-ing — shows off Milton’s range as he glides up an octave half way through. Euphoric chorus number 426? Check. David Haye would be Hands Down. Brilliant, but due to its glossy appeal, fi nds its home in the most bizarre places on your tellybox. Point in case, last year’s Barcelona vs Real Madrid highlights.

“I’ll say to people from school, ‘Oh, we played Glastonbury’ and they’re like, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ Or I’ll say, ‘Hey, we’re going on tour, or we’ve made this album..’ and still it’s, ‘Yeah, yeah…’ still looking at me like a douchebag, but then we’re on the FOOTBALL, and suddenly we’ve made it!” he laughs.

Finally, 2011’s Glockenspiel Song is Ali. It may be old, but it’s still the greatest. It’s been trimmed down and had its edges rounded, but Trev’s sax solo remains. If you listen to one song today, make it this.

To tick all the ‘album staple’ boxes, you have to have a good ender. It has to be slow, acoustic if you can manage it, and understatedly epic. The boys follow the formula with Any Move-ment, an emotional waltz through a broken relationship, knowing there’s life ahead. It’s 80s as hell, with an outro very reminiscent of Brand New’s youthful farewell Soco Amaret-to Lime.

“It wasn’t a conscious 80’s move, but we are big fans of bands from that era, like The Cure, The Police and stuff. It’s nice to make some noises we hadn’t made before, and use string machines, electronic drums and all that. It means way more to me, having something that sounds a little oddball but is still mine, than having a huge pop hit.”

Think Out Of This World by The Cure or I Know It’s Over by The Smiths. It’s about a broken relationship, but sonically, it’s almost a goodbye. A nod in the direction of girls lost and scars gained. The end of an era. Not unlike Whatever People Say I am, That Is What I Am Not, where Arctic Monkeys left behind a part of themselves, you wonder what direction future DID releases will go. Hope-fully they won’t just hit the real world, ‘cause no one likes an album full of council tax, Tesco clubcards and an illegitimate pregnancy.

Six months ago a tour was about to start, alongside hopes and dreams of playing “a few festivals”. It’s safe to say the boys found home. Their headline tour bled into a summer compromising no less than 25 festi-val appearances, and now almost straight into a second tour starting October 23.

“It was a big thing to go on that 30-day tour, with so little rest days. To see people at the shows was just unreal. And since then, having such an incredible festival season, we’ve just caught the fever. But with this tour it’s going to be so much more fun, because, with the record, people will actually know the lyrics and the songs. It should be something really, really special.”

With our DID fl ags waving proudly in the air, Brum Notes will co-promote the 02 Acad-emy gig in Birmingham on the 24th. Ooh, get us. Last time was a memorable fi rst trip to Birmingham for the group, and the lucky few that where there enjoyed a short and sweet set concluding with actual real life band crowd surfi ng, whilst still playing. Like in the fi lms, and all that.

“That was our fi rst Birmingham show! Oh, it was a ridiculous night. It had a lot to live up to as the fi rst dates before that had been randomly brilliant, and we had no idea what to expect. I remember, there were people who had masks on with our faces on! I remember singing, quite solemnly, into my own face, at one point. Staring into my own eyes and really going for it,” he chuckles. “So, yeah. We abso-lutely can’t wait to come back...”

Masks at the ready, a fever is coming.

Dog Is Dead are live at the O2 Academy 2, Birmingham, on October 24, presented by Brum Notes and Academy Events. Debut album All Our Favourite Stories is out on October 8 on Atlantic.

Don’t say we didn’t tell you. Last year’s Viva Brother warm-up act and subsequent Brum Notes cover stars Dog Is Dead have fi nally recorded an album. And, guess what? It’s good. It’s really, bloody good. Tom Pell fi nds out what went into All Our Favourite Stories.

“It’s very much me telling my

stories with the other guys

coming in, rather than that

original wall of sound. We

wanted to be more dynamic, and

we wanted to write great songs.”

It’s adog’s life

31October 2012

Five years of writing and growing up togeth-er has yielded much change. Twisted are the youthful tales of summer nights out on the lash, now tainted with words of regret and lessons learned. We caught up with frontman Rob Milton, to check everyone was alright.

First track, Get Low starts so jarringly that the departure from DID’s usual joy hits you like a swig of MD 20/20. Aggressive drums and quizzical bass tease until frontman Milton arrives on scene with the pearler, “A fear of the dark is a walk in the park when you’re wasted.” Bang. Now we’ve started. The sound is brave new ground, with even hints of big hitters like Kasabian in parts. But unmistakably, this is Dog Is Dead.

“I guess it’s that other side of growing up; the more miserable things,” explains Rob. “The record is all about the natural highs of growing up, but you always get the dark comedowns too. There is a lot of relief in it, and I think it’s a really interesting one to start the record with. People by now think of us, melodically a least, as this crazy, happy summer band, so it straight away throws a spanner in the works opening with Get Low.”

The evolving sound was tweaked with the release of summer single Two Devils, seen

later on the record. A darker tone and a more detailed lyrical emphasis allowed Milton to stand out as a leader, rather than sit amongst the wall of sound harmonies that had been heard before. Though, fear not as, “…we haven’t ditched them by any means! But it is more of my unique experiences. It’s very much me telling my stories with the other guys coming in, rather than that original wall of sound. We wanted to be more dynamic, and we wanted to write great songs.”

TV montage producers will delight in the euphoric chorus of Teenage Daughter, a song similar to Two Devils in structure but ending with a challenging mixed vocal where Milton seems to borrow Matt Bellamy’s megaphone from Muse’s take on Feeling Good. Time after time on the record a knack for melody is shown, if not from the vocal, then from a witty bass fi ll, subtle summer keyboards or Paul Roberts’ ever-jangly Rickenbacker.

Starting subtly, new single Talk Through The Night is harmless fayre, but it’s far from wet. Glorifi ed pop with an indie stamp, ticking all the right boxes and making all the right noises in all the right places. Bigger venues await such anthemic tunes, and a brave band is one which writes songs unbefi tting of the tiny clubs they will fi rst play their way around.

“I feel it’s a real friends’ song,” continues the frontman. “A really geeky, least coolest song in the world, song. But one that has its own merit, and hopefully someone can have a barbecue to it before it starts raining.”

The previous single heavyweights sit in the middle of the record. Two Devils, like Tyson — moody, coiled and fi nally all arms swing-ing — shows off Milton’s range as he glides up an octave half way through. Euphoric chorus number 426? Check. David Haye would be Hands Down. Brilliant, but due to its glossy appeal, fi nds its home in the most bizarre places on your tellybox. Point in case, last year’s Barcelona vs Real Madrid highlights.

“I’ll say to people from school, ‘Oh, we played Glastonbury’ and they’re like, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ Or I’ll say, ‘Hey, we’re going on tour, or we’ve made this album..’ and still it’s, ‘Yeah, yeah…’ still looking at me like a douchebag, but then we’re on the FOOTBALL, and suddenly we’ve made it!” he laughs.

Finally, 2011’s Glockenspiel Song is Ali. It may be old, but it’s still the greatest. It’s been trimmed down and had its edges rounded, but Trev’s sax solo remains. If you listen to one song today, make it this.

To tick all the ‘album staple’ boxes, you have to have a good ender. It has to be slow, acoustic if you can manage it, and understatedly epic. The boys follow the formula with Any Move-ment, an emotional waltz through a broken relationship, knowing there’s life ahead. It’s 80s as hell, with an outro very reminiscent of Brand New’s youthful farewell Soco Amaret-to Lime.

“It wasn’t a conscious 80’s move, but we are big fans of bands from that era, like The Cure, The Police and stuff. It’s nice to make some noises we hadn’t made before, and use string machines, electronic drums and all that. It means way more to me, having something that sounds a little oddball but is still mine, than having a huge pop hit.”

Think Out Of This World by The Cure or I Know It’s Over by The Smiths. It’s about a broken relationship, but sonically, it’s almost a goodbye. A nod in the direction of girls lost and scars gained. The end of an era. Not unlike Whatever People Say I am, That Is What I Am Not, where Arctic Monkeys left behind a part of themselves, you wonder what direction future DID releases will go. Hope-fully they won’t just hit the real world, ‘cause no one likes an album full of council tax, Tesco clubcards and an illegitimate pregnancy.

Six months ago a tour was about to start, alongside hopes and dreams of playing “a few festivals”. It’s safe to say the boys found home. Their headline tour bled into a summer compromising no less than 25 festi-val appearances, and now almost straight into a second tour starting October 23.

“It was a big thing to go on that 30-day tour, with so little rest days. To see people at the shows was just unreal. And since then, having such an incredible festival season, we’ve just caught the fever. But with this tour it’s going to be so much more fun, because, with the record, people will actually know the lyrics and the songs. It should be something really, really special.”

With our DID fl ags waving proudly in the air, Brum Notes will co-promote the 02 Acad-emy gig in Birmingham on the 24th. Ooh, get us. Last time was a memorable fi rst trip to Birmingham for the group, and the lucky few that where there enjoyed a short and sweet set concluding with actual real life band crowd surfi ng, whilst still playing. Like in the fi lms, and all that.

“That was our fi rst Birmingham show! Oh, it was a ridiculous night. It had a lot to live up to as the fi rst dates before that had been randomly brilliant, and we had no idea what to expect. I remember, there were people who had masks on with our faces on! I remember singing, quite solemnly, into my own face, at one point. Staring into my own eyes and really going for it,” he chuckles. “So, yeah. We abso-lutely can’t wait to come back...”

Masks at the ready, a fever is coming.

Dog Is Dead are live at the O2 Academy 2, Birmingham, on October 24, presented by Brum Notes and Academy Events. Debut album All Our Favourite Stories is out on October 8 on Atlantic.

Don’t say we didn’t tell you. Last year’s Viva Brother warm-up act and subsequent Brum Notes cover stars Dog Is Dead have fi nally recorded an album. And, guess what? It’s good. It’s really, bloody good. Tom Pell fi nds out what went into All Our Favourite Stories.

“It’s very much me telling my

stories with the other guys

coming in, rather than that

original wall of sound. We

wanted to be more dynamic, and

we wanted to write great songs.”

It’s adog’s life


One of 2012’s most acclaimed debuts, newcomers Alt-J’s An Awesome Wave is an album of almost alarming maturity. Featuring introspective, brooding instrumental passag-es, folky a cappella and clipped math rock, it’s the kind of long-player you’d expect two or even three records into a career, certainly not from a band who seem to have appeared out of nowhere.

But of course, behind the ‘where did they come from?’ headlines is the story of years of hard graft. “It’s extremely nice to have those kind of compliments, being told your music has a sound that’s mature,” says Gus Unger-Hamil-ton. “And I guess it has been maturing as we started on the record three years ago, doing demos for Matilda and Breezeblocks — and they ended up on the album. We didn’t make the album quickly, Matilda and Breezeblocks gave us confidence, they received a good response from people that heard them and that made us think about writing songs like that, that we like.”

One of An Awesome Wave’s surprising strengths is its ability to sound coherent despite the variety.

“There are elements of our sound in every-thing we do – Joe’s voice, Tom’s dry, cymbal-less drumming, Gwil’s picked guitar and the close vocal harmonies from me and Joe. Those four elements are always there. I think people like all of our songs, so we’re not so worried about a style, we don’t think of variety in terms of it being a strength or a weakness, but we

Having made one of the most exciting records of the year, Alt-J have been installed as one of the favourites to pick up this year’s Mercury Prize. But as they prepare to head out on their biggest tour to date, it is exciting the fans rather than impressing the judges that keeps them motivated, as David Vincent finds out.

LOVE TRIANGLE

do think it’s a positive thing, to have a broad sound.”

One comparison that keeps cropping up in reviews (alongside mentions of Antony and the Johnsons, Wild Beasts and trip hop) is that of Radiohead.

“With the Radiohead comparisons, it’s very flattering, but we don’t take them too seri-ously,” smiles Gus. “I mean they’ve had, what is it, eight albums, and we’ve only done one! Do they mean Pablo Honey or Kid A? They are so diverse… but theirs is a career we’d like to have. Twenty years… that’s something we’d like to aspire to, that kind of career, that longevity and to still be so diverse and so current.”

Though keyboard player Gus, guitarist/bass-ist Gwil Sainsbury, guitarist Joe Newman and drummer Thom Green released their debut single, Bloodflood / Tessellate, just 12 months ago, they’d been playing together since 2007. Having met at Leeds University, Joe and Gwil’s GarageBand demos spawned Daljit Dhaliwal, then Films, before they rested on the Alt-J moniker (actually the delta/triangle character created when you hold down ‘alt’ and ‘j’ on a Mac) in the summer of 2011.While they’d perfected their music away from the spotlight, in Leeds then Cambridge, the quartet initially lacked a live presence until tour dates with Ghostpoet showed them how to not just sound like a band, but act like one to.

“He’s a fun guy to hang out with, a great guy,” Gus reports. “He taught us a lot about work-ing crowds. Up until then we hadn’t played

much and I guess and we’d be standing on stage quaking in our boots… just looking at our boots. “But he’s incredible at working a crowd. We learnt so much, although it’s hard to articu-late. Just shouting ‘are you having a good time?’ generally helps,” Gus laughs. “But just moving on stage, dancing, freeing your mind, moving…”

Adding to that live confidence has been a run of festival and foreign appearances, including Belgium where they find themselves as a bona fide chart act.

“Without meaning to generalise, there’s not a big home grown music scene there… although they do have a home grown scene. I think The xx went to number one there. But I’m not sure why they like us. We have played there and they seem to love their music.”

America is another territory which has embraced the band with gusto.

“They seem to have taken to us well. We played 200-capacity venues and they were sold out, which is a good sign. I think they’re our second or third biggest fan territory on Soundcloud, so we are getting a nice fan-base there. The album dropped on September 18, I think, so we’re quite hopeful. Our label seem very positive about it.”

Of course, here in Blighty, the top 20 debut LP An Awesome Wave has made it onto the Mercury Prize list, alongside releases from Plan B, Richard Hawley, Django Django and Michael Kiwanuka.

“That’s extremely flattering,” declares Gus, who was in the US when the nominations were announced. “That could change things, but we’re not thinking too much about winning a Mercury or waiting for that to see what happens. I do hope it won’t change things – heaven forbid if we win, as we’re happy where we are, the level that we’re at, this level of, I don’t know… acclaim?”

Acclaim it is, but it’s not those gushing broad-sheet and blog reviews that really excite Alt-J, but the compliments from casual listeners and fans that really get them buzzing.

“The stuff we love to hear is that someone is listening to us on the train or while driving or while they’re doing their revision. That makes us feel very real because that’s what I would have done – listening to music while revising for an exam or on the train into London. So to get a tweet about something like that, from a real person doing a real thing is genuinely so exciting, it makes it so real.”

Alt-J are live at the O2 Academy 2, Birming-ham, on October 31. Debut album An Awesome Wave is out now.

33October 2012

One of 2012’s most acclaimed debuts, newcomers Alt-J’s An Awesome Wave is an album of almost alarming maturity. Featuring introspective, brooding instrumental passag-es, folky a cappella and clipped math rock, it’s the kind of long-player you’d expect two or even three records into a career, certainly not from a band who seem to have appeared out of nowhere.

But of course, behind the ‘where did they come from?’ headlines is the story of years of hard graft. “It’s extremely nice to have those kind of compliments, being told your music has a sound that’s mature,” says Gus Unger-Hamil-ton. “And I guess it has been maturing as we started on the record three years ago, doing demos for Matilda and Breezeblocks — and they ended up on the album. We didn’t make the album quickly, Matilda and Breezeblocks gave us confidence, they received a good response from people that heard them and that made us think about writing songs like that, that we like.”

One of An Awesome Wave’s surprising strengths is its ability to sound coherent despite the variety.

“There are elements of our sound in every-thing we do – Joe’s voice, Tom’s dry, cymbal-less drumming, Gwil’s picked guitar and the close vocal harmonies from me and Joe. Those four elements are always there. I think people like all of our songs, so we’re not so worried about a style, we don’t think of variety in terms of it being a strength or a weakness, but we

Having made one of the most exciting records of the year, Alt-J have been installed as one of the favourites to pick up this year’s Mercury Prize. But as they prepare to head out on their biggest tour to date, it is exciting the fans rather than impressing the judges that keeps them motivated, as David Vincent finds out.

LOVE TRIANGLE

do think it’s a positive thing, to have a broad sound.”

One comparison that keeps cropping up in reviews (alongside mentions of Antony and the Johnsons, Wild Beasts and trip hop) is that of Radiohead.

“With the Radiohead comparisons, it’s very flattering, but we don’t take them too seri-ously,” smiles Gus. “I mean they’ve had, what is it, eight albums, and we’ve only done one! Do they mean Pablo Honey or Kid A? They are so diverse… but theirs is a career we’d like to have. Twenty years… that’s something we’d like to aspire to, that kind of career, that longevity and to still be so diverse and so current.”

Though keyboard player Gus, guitarist/bass-ist Gwil Sainsbury, guitarist Joe Newman and drummer Thom Green released their debut single, Bloodflood / Tessellate, just 12 months ago, they’d been playing together since 2007. Having met at Leeds University, Joe and Gwil’s GarageBand demos spawned Daljit Dhaliwal, then Films, before they rested on the Alt-J moniker (actually the delta/triangle character created when you hold down ‘alt’ and ‘j’ on a Mac) in the summer of 2011.While they’d perfected their music away from the spotlight, in Leeds then Cambridge, the quartet initially lacked a live presence until tour dates with Ghostpoet showed them how to not just sound like a band, but act like one to.

“He’s a fun guy to hang out with, a great guy,” Gus reports. “He taught us a lot about work-ing crowds. Up until then we hadn’t played

much and I guess and we’d be standing on stage quaking in our boots… just looking at our boots. “But he’s incredible at working a crowd. We learnt so much, although it’s hard to articu-late. Just shouting ‘are you having a good time?’ generally helps,” Gus laughs. “But just moving on stage, dancing, freeing your mind, moving…”

Adding to that live confidence has been a run of festival and foreign appearances, including Belgium where they find themselves as a bona fide chart act.

“Without meaning to generalise, there’s not a big home grown music scene there… although they do have a home grown scene. I think The xx went to number one there. But I’m not sure why they like us. We have played there and they seem to love their music.”

America is another territory which has embraced the band with gusto.

“They seem to have taken to us well. We played 200-capacity venues and they were sold out, which is a good sign. I think they’re our second or third biggest fan territory on Soundcloud, so we are getting a nice fan-base there. The album dropped on September 18, I think, so we’re quite hopeful. Our label seem very positive about it.”

Of course, here in Blighty, the top 20 debut LP An Awesome Wave has made it onto the Mercury Prize list, alongside releases from Plan B, Richard Hawley, Django Django and Michael Kiwanuka.

“That’s extremely flattering,” declares Gus, who was in the US when the nominations were announced. “That could change things, but we’re not thinking too much about winning a Mercury or waiting for that to see what happens. I do hope it won’t change things – heaven forbid if we win, as we’re happy where we are, the level that we’re at, this level of, I don’t know… acclaim?”

Acclaim it is, but it’s not those gushing broad-sheet and blog reviews that really excite Alt-J, but the compliments from casual listeners and fans that really get them buzzing.

“The stuff we love to hear is that someone is listening to us on the train or while driving or while they’re doing their revision. That makes us feel very real because that’s what I would have done – listening to music while revising for an exam or on the train into London. So to get a tweet about something like that, from a real person doing a real thing is genuinely so exciting, it makes it so real.”

Alt-J are live at the O2 Academy 2, Birming-ham, on October 31. Debut album An Awesome Wave is out now.


FridayNow in its seventh year, MoFo’s become a firm festival favourite and day one once again dished up a delightfully eclectic bill with BETH JEANS HOuGHTON AND HER HOOVES OF DESTINY showcasing her endearing brand of northern kookiness and poperatic warbling. One of the best things to come out of Newcastle since Byker Grove. Over in the Bohemian Jukebox tent BEN CALVERT married the laconic wit and wis-dom of Morrissey with the gentle charm of Nick Drake whilst back on the main stage GuILLEMOTS overcame a few niggling sound issues to cement Fyfe’s reputation as one of the best British romantic songwriters around right now. The headline act got one of the oddest in-troductions of the festival with compere Jan-ice Long dragging her son on stage. Poor bloke. There was a link though. ECHO AND THE BuNNYMEN’S lead singer Ian Mc-Culloch used to babysit Long Jr back in the day. How rock n roll, eh? Wonder if he sang him to sleep? It’s no secret that McCull-och would’ve loved to have been Jim Mor-rison (minus all the bloating and drowning in a bathtub bit you’d imagine) and opening number Rescue bore all the hallmarks of the lizard king himself. An impressive start, things just got better with meaty versions of Seven Seas, Bring On The Dancing Horses, The Killing Moon and Middle Eastern-tinged

indie anthem The Cutter. Janice Long led the chant for an encore with the admission, “I was like a pig in SH*T!” and an acous-tic take on Walk On The Wild Side and full band version of Lips Like Sugar were the just rewards.

SaturdayLocal hero MICkEY GREANEY’S clearly been through the mill a bit but happily he seems to have come through it all with the battle scars needed to produce some stun-ningly compelling songs, like set highlight The Last Word which scaled the heights Jeff Buckley reached shortly before his ill-advised dip in the Mississippi. Last year CANNON STREET (sisters Nadi

and Rukaiyah Qazi) were working as stew-ards at the festival. This year they were playing it. Deservedly so. Delicious sibling harmonies and deceptively simple but in-stantly loveable songs. GOODNIGHT LENIN have been busy boys this year, playing a whole bunch of festivals and recording their debut album with leg-endary producer John Wood (the knob twid-dler behind Nick Drake’s albums). It’s not out until next year so you’ll have to wait to hear the results, for now we still have fine per-formances like this to enjoy. Poignant lyrics, great playing and the feel of a band really on the cusp of that big break. On the surface JuLIAN COPE seems like a bit of whacko but he really is a...well...floored

livE

Echo & the Bunnymen

MOSELEY FOLk FESTIVALMoseley Park, Moseley31/08/12-02/09/12

Guillemots

35October 2012

genius. Take set opener, a delightful ditty entitled I’m Living In The Room They Found Saddam In, not the most obvious song title in the world but in Cope’s hands it sounds like a pop hit. Nothing from Teardrop Ex-plodes sadly, nor a World Shut Your Mouth, but we did get Autogeddon Blues, Double Vegetation, Sunspots and Robert Mitchum along with a wonderfully wibbly analogue synth backed Pristine. Back up at the Boho tent RED SHOES played a beautiful set of original tunes in-cluding one specially written for the great Dave Swarbrick called Sunday Afternoon (they’re recording it with him soon for their new album). A moving muse on the fragility of life, it’s right up there with ROY HARP-ER’S When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease, speaking of which...Harper’s a legend but perhaps not the most obvious choice for a Saturday night head-liner though and his own words, “Most of you will be bored out of your brains by the time I’m finished,” proved prophetic with a number of the audience sloping off before the end. If you stayed, your patience was well rewarded though with One Man Rock and Roll Band giving him chance to show

off his guitar skills and When An Old Crick-eter Leaves The Crease truly tugging at the heart strings. SundayFrom EMILY PORTMAN’S Stick Stock, a nightmarish track about being baked into a pie by your stepmother, through to SPIRO’S soundtrack for rural England, day three was the folkiest of the lot. For the casual folk fan the day still provided plenty of variety though kicking off with the health and safety-baiting kAWA CIRCuS, a travelling troupe from Rajasthan that climaxed with a bloke spin-ning around on his bollocks on top of a 20ft bamboo pole. After THE LONG NOTES soundtracked the now traditional MoFo hay-down (basi-cally an excuse to chuck straw all over each other thinly disguised as a ceilidh) local hero Simon Fowler (yes, him from Ocean Colour Scene) unveiled his new MERRYMOuTH project. Blink Of An Eye was the sort of track John Lewis would pay gazillions to use in one of their TV ads and naturally there was time to revisit some old OCS favourites too, including a movingly stripped-to-the-bone version of The Circle. From something old to something new. At just 17-years-old kATHERINE PRIDDY’S already been shortlisted for the 2012 PRS Songwriting & Composition Award and played the O2 Arena. With a look as ethe-real as her twisted fairytale songs she put on a bewitch-ing performance. Next up, WOODEN HORSE deliv-ered another of the stand-out sets of the weekend with some fine testifyin’ blues be-fore penultimate act, VIL-LAGE WELL, a three-piece with a line-up that makes the UN look unrepresenta-tive. There’s an Iraqi Kurd, a

Chilean and an Indian who, together, pro-duced a truly unique mash up of gypsy jazz, folk, tabla and possibly some genres not yet discovered by scientists. Awesome.Ask the average person in the street to sing a folk song the chances are that they’ll stick one finger in their ear and come out with “Aaalllllllllllllll around my hat”. It’s arguably THE definitive folk song, audio shorthand for the entire genre. Given this, the song’s most famous interpreters, STEELEYE SPAN, were the perfect band to close MoFo. Plucking tracks from some of their classic albums (notably Now We Are Six) the Span rocked the folk out of the place. She may be a pensioner but Maddy Prior’s voice remains as powerful as ever and the whole band were as tight as a milkmaid’s grip. Unsurprisingly they saved the big guns for the end with a hearty All Around My Hat. The climax was a truly hair raising Gaudete though. “This is risky,” admitted Prior before the band pulled off a note-perfect rendition of Alan Partridge’s favourite track. What a voice. A truly beautiful end to yet another beautiful MoFo.

Daron BillingsPhotos by Wayne Fox Photography

Steeleye Span

Ceilidh with The Long Notes

Goodnight Lenin

Beth Jeans Houghton


TROuMACA + VICTORIES AT SEAHare & Hounds, kings Heath31/08/12

In a plan as cunning as any in Blackadder, tonight’s affair has been branded the official afterparty of the Moseley Folk Festival hap-pening just down the road in, you guessed it, Moseley. So when those festival goers turn up all folked out and ready to party, the en-tire venue is heaving. Not literally — it ain’t Glasto. Against a backdrop of visuals en-tirely fitting for a party of this kind, opener Arc Vel presents his mesh of DJ set vs live performance and firm Hare favourites Victo-ries at Sea lift the lid on some new material (plus the stellar old faves), doing far more than merely warming up the crowd. They in fact own it. Which means that by the time Troumaca do take to the stage, no one needs any en-couraging whatsoever in joining lead singer Sam Baylis and throwing some mighty fine shapes indeed. Troumaca sound real good tonight, and they look good too. They’re completely in control of a room packed to the rafters with admiring onlookers and their confidence in themselves shines through. The biggest cheer is reserved for old favour-ite Fire which sounds damn near explosive in a room this packed and only serves to prove that right now Troumaca are just as exciting as all that hype. So maybe you can believe it after all.Amy Sumner

ALLO DARLIN’ Subside, Birmingham03/09/12

Subside is an odd choice for a gig which is as far away from metal as it comes, and see-ing the venue before 5am without unsticking your feet from the floor with each step adds to its slight peculiarity. Support act Ace Bushy Striptease’s deliver-ance of their brand of shambolic indie pop though (led by the memorising Eve Phillips), proves that the decision was legit. And the fact that some band members play under-neath the stairs and others off the stage is entirely fitting with the DIY ethos of this eve. Allo Darlin’ seem assured in their perfor-mance, which is made up of a collection of songs off both debut album and new record Europe, plus the odd cover. The gig is part of the band’s English tour which sees the Australian-Brit combo playing up and down the nation, introducing songs from the new record to old fans and new listeners alike. And if Birmingham’s crowd is anything to go by, then they go down very well indeed. Allo Darlin’ are a fun band, but there’s more

to them than mere frippery, they are light hearted and sincere in equal measure and they are always completely engaging. Which just goes to show that no matter where you stick ‘em, if a band’s got something to give then you’re in for a sterling affair.Amy Sumner

THE BOuRGEOIS FOuRThe Station, kings Heath 07/09/12

You know when aging rockstars get tired of lounging around LA, cheating on their tro-phy wives with a procession of ever younger women, in between visits to the plastic sur-geon to have a new septum fitted and em-barking on another comeback tour just for something different to do? Well it was noth-ing like that. The Bourgeois Four’s reunifica-tion gig, a one-off charity fundraiser for Dylan Adams’ World Challenge, had the feel of a family get together. I almost felt like I was in-truding on something personal. Something I’m more than experienced in. Following an eclectic virtuoso performance from Loopy Tom McNair, and a sweet-sounding acoustic trio with no official name, The Bourgeoisie rolled on stage later than planned, with the old menace bubbling close to the surface, singer Tristan Morrisey strik-ing poses and guitarist Andy Roberts furi-ously lurching about like a young Peter Hook. The years may have passed since their last performance but they’ve retained their vis-ceral edge and with no agenda beyond this one gig they displayed an impressive ease that belied the fact that four and a half years stood between today and their last gig. Spitting out their punky, sharp-edged tunes made you wonder what it could be like if the return was made permanent. The Bourgeois Four could easily hold their own amongst the current breed of bands around Birmingham. But as they said themselves, don’t call it a comeback.Jeff Stuka

GREG BIRD & FLAMINGO FLAME Hare & Hounds, kings Heath14/09/12

It’s the morn...er...night after the night be-fore. Yesterday, Greg Bird and his Flamingo Flame cordoned off with gaffa tape a corner of Urban Outfitters and prepared to launch their new EP Black Tableaux to Birming-ham’s finest amidst the new arrivals. It was good, and tonight is better. There’s some neat DJ sets courtesy of Gold-en Trash and New York Noise and if you’ve got a spare fiver lying around, you can go get your face covered in sparkles and other

niceties by Metempsychosis in the corner. Plus there’s some visuals up on stage which make you feel nice when you look at them, and that’s always good. GB&FF play a lot of new material tonight and it goes down really well not least be-cause it’s presented by a frontman wearing a bird mask and some fairy lights. When he ventures out into the audience (and indeed when he lies down on the floor) the crowd is completely onside with this unique brand of house which could only really have been improved by turning it all up a bit. All in all, this is definitely a band to watch and they’re only gonna get better as they gain more ex-perience. So go get that EP when it’s out and keep ‘em on the radar, because they’ve got some awesome tunes but they’ve also got some right good props and that’s kind of half of it.Amy Sumner

Fu MANCHu02 Academy 2, Birmingham17/09/12

In front of a fully impregnated venue, Fu Manchu take their stance and immediate-ly conjure intimidating guttural drones and unhallowed feedback. With unearthly reso-nance and menacing volume the band are

Greg Bird & Flamingo Flame

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37October 2012

transformed into an irrepressible sonic force. As the extended crescendo blares, these Californian kings elevate their already deaf-ening instruments and frontman Scott Hill lunges forward into their opening track Evil Eye, propelling this full-album performance of The Action is Go into orbit.Impressively, Hill’s vocals have remained fresh and as potent as his doped riffage and profoundly stoned grooves that thun-der from the bowels of his Fender Jaguar. The guitar’s mammoth tone almost rivals the depths of Brad Davis’s bass, giving extra girth to those low monster riffs, especially on tracks like Anodizer, Unknown World and Hogwash, all of which sound uncanny to the 1997 landmark release.With blistering proficiency, lead player Bob Balch executes his radically cool solos, add-ing some turbulence into the band’s un-yielding vortex of sound. Consumed, the audience is split into those paralysed in awe and those thrashing their heads back and forth. However, all audience members stand wide eyed and drooling at Saturn III as its instrumental wizardry takes them captive. Making Mongoose their first encore and King of the Road their second, they shift to fifth gear one last time to accelerate exceed-ingly hard. Neither vigour nor originality has been lost from either band or The Action is

Go within the last 15 years, thus proving ev-ermore that all good music is truly timeless.Guy Hirst

EMILY EWINGSun on the Hill, Birmingham19/09/12

Emily Ewing is fast becoming a staple of the Birmingham music scene and is a treat for anyone who stumbles across her through-out local venues. Her simplistic,understated approach draws you in and she effortlessly creates a relaxed, informal atmosphere.Performing at the Sun on the Hill, her power-ful, soaring vocals are complimented by mel-ancholy piano and lyrics make for a beautiful live performance with ballad Fight or Flight being the best example of this along with the frank Let It Go. She also performs a refresh-ing take on Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Under the Bridge showing some diversity which we can only hope to see more of in the future.Ellie Crean

OMThe Rainbow Warehouse, Birmingham25/09/12

For seven years OM have been stealthily evolving their particular brand of cerebral

doom. Expanding the drum and bass gui-tar line up to include keyboards and strings has pushed their earth-moving drone riffs towards a more meditative sound that uses space to amplify intensity. In 2012 OM sound like the rhythm section of Black Sab-bath after a breakdown and a gap year in India. As the band take the stage a ritual drone pulses. The drums lollop and vocalist Al Cisneros chants over meandering east-ern scales. The bass is clean and insist-ent, a gentle throb beneath richly textured drones, capturing a hazy ambience of east-ern soundscapes that then explode into the pounding riffs of old.The majority of the set comes from their lat-est album Advaitic Songs, but the perfor-mance is more about atmospherics than anything else. OM only really play one song and there is a sense that every performance is the chance to refine and perfect its perfor-mance. Their music is designed to awe the listener whilst the lyrics work as mantra, with rhythm emphasised over melody. Still, it is still the bass that really leaves its mark. The ever swelling power of notes, droning, meandering, tightening and loos-ening as the band careen towards a point unknown. Richard Armitage

Jaws

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39October 2012

ON THE STREET

KARAN, 21, SALES ASSISTANTKaran is wearing a vintage aztec print blouse from COW, acid-wash jeans from Urban Out-fitters and pumps from Topshop. Her favourite shop in Birmingham is urban Outfitters. Her style icon is Kanya West.

SETH, 24, SALES ASSISTANTSeth’s cap is from New Era and the rest, includ-ed his shoes, are all from Topman. His favourite retailer in Birmingham is Selfridges and Marilyn Manson is his style icon.

CHARLOTTE, 17, STUDENTCharlotte is actually wearing her school uni-form. Her top is from a charity shop, the sheep-skin collared jacket is from H&M and the rest is all from Urban Outfitters. Her favourite retailer in Birmingham is COW and style icon is Jes-sie J.

ELAINE, 31, SELF EMPLOYEDElaine is wearing a Diesel all-in-one jumper and Underground creepers from Office. Both her coat and her hat are from Urban Outfitters. Die-sel is her favourite shop in Birmingham. Elaine’s stye icon is Iris Apfel.

ADAM, 28, IT ASSISTANTAdam’s printed jumper and slim jeans are both from Topman and his loafer shoes are vintage. His favourite shop in Birmingham is Cow and he tells us his style icon is Ryan Gosling.

ABBY, 16, STUDENTAbby is wearing an outfit entirely made up of Topshop items, apart from her shoes which are from New Look. It’s no surprise but her favourite shop is Topshop and her style icon is Rihanna.

photos Kate Hook


Friday 12th OctoberST. PATRICKS SOCIAL CLUB

LEAMINGTON SPA, WITH THE TITANICS'

Friday 19th OctoberTHE YARDBIRD

Friday 9th NovemberTHE STATION, KINGS HEATH WITH RYLAND AND THE BIRD

Friday 14th DecemberTHE YARDBIRD

www.theatlanticplayers.com

presents in association with Academy Events

Plus very special guests

O2 ACADEMY2 BIRMINGHAMFRIDAY 30 NOVEMBER

DOORS: 6PM / CURFEW: 10PM / £7 ADV

boattorow.combrumnotes.com

o2academybirmingham.co.uk


0844 477 2000 (24hr)

41October 2012

fOOd+

driNk

recipe: EggS bENEdiCTIngredients: 20ml Genever20ml broitet rhubarb liqueur30ml Benedictine5 ml homemade nutmeg syrup 1 whole egg

Directions: Add all the ingredients into a boston tin and shake well, then fine strain into a glass.

driNk Of ThE mONTh: gENEvErAs the modern drinker’s tipple of choice moves from the clean, tasteless vodkas to the more intricate gin division let’s hark back to the origins of this fine spirit. Jenever/ genever/ genievre translates as juniper and is the pre-cursor to modern London Dry Gin. Discovered during the 1100s when juniper’s medicinal benefits were discovered, the invention of genever is accredited to Sylvius de Bouve, a Dutch chemist and alchemist during the 16th century.

As well as the ageing process, the main difference between London Dry Gin and genever is the alcohol base used. Traditionally a spirit distilled from malt wine was used rather than a neutral grain spirit which is used now. This is likely due to the more rudimentary distilling techniques which were not as advanced as they are now – with juniper and other botani-cals used to mask the harsh flavour from distilled malt wine. Yet it is the malt wine base which gives the genever its earth flavour, similar to reposado tequila or cachaca.

In Holland genever is traditionally served frozen as a chaser to a malty beer. This is called a ‘kopstootje’, or head-butt, indicative of the no-hands approach of drinking the spirit be-fore being washed down with the beer. However it works really well in cocktails too and here at the Jekyll & Hyde we have opted to flavour-match genever with pear, redcurrant or cherry to give it added interest.

In our new menu we have paired Bols Genever with maraschino and almond to add a nut-ty rich sweetness, balanced it with lemon juice and lengthened with soda for a refreshing twist on a Collins. We have also paired it with rhubarb for a sweet tartness, Benedictine for a herbal complexity, nutmeg syrup to add intensity and then a whole egg for texture.

The Jekyll & Hyde is a bar and specialist gin parlour based in Steelhouse Lane in Birmingham city centre. For more information visit www.thejekyllandhyde.co.uk or call 0121 236 0345.

recipe: gOd (dam)Ingredients: 25ml Bols Genever20ml Orgeat (almond syrup)12.5ml Maraschino25ml Lemon juice1 spoon or Opies cherries syrupTopped with soda

Directions: Place all the ingredients in a tall, iced glass and stir vigorously, gar-nish with a lemon wedge and a cherry.

43October 2012

KEY TO LISTINGS:M = LIVE MUSICCN = CLUB NIGHTC = COMEDYwhaT’S ON

Monday, Oct 1

M Ryan O’Shaughnessy

O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Straight Lines The Rainbow Birmingham

M W.A.S.P. Wulfrun Wolverhampton

Tuesday, Oct 2

M Nickelback NIA Birmingham

M Dead Skeletons The End @ The Ballroom

Birmingham

M We Are The Ocean The Temple @ HMV Institute

Birmingham

C Al Murray Alexandra Theatre Birmingham

Wednesday, Oct 3

M Ben Montague O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Andrius Mamon-tovas

The Temple @ HMV Institute

Birmingham

M Sebastien Tree The Yardbird Birmingham

M Carina Round Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Wintersleep Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

CN Leftfoot & Le Lieu Present Jacques Greene

Bull’s Head Moseley

C Marcus Brigstocke The Glee Club Birmingham

C Mark Watson Town Hall Birmingham

Thursday, Oct 4

M Fun. HMV Institute Birmingham

M Krar Collective Mac Birmingham

M Vince Kidd O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Pretentious Class O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Tonight Alive O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M 4FT Fingers The End @ The Ballroom

Birmingham

M Ruarri Joseph The Glee Club Birmingham

M Traditional Song Session

The Kitchen Garden Cafe

Kings Heath

M Axewound The Slade Rooms Wolverhampton

CN Movement Club PST Birmingham

CN Soundkitchen pre-sent Coppe

Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

C Andrew O’Neill Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

C Jesus Christ Super-star

NIA Birmingham

C Danny Bhoy Symphony Hall Birmingham

C Sean Collins The Glee Club Birmingham

Friday, Oct 5

M Funeral Suits Sunflower Lounge

Birmingham

M Framed The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M The Rimes The End @ The Ballroom

Birmingham

M My Grey Horse Bull’s Head Moseley

CN Supersonic Vague Gatecrasher Birmingham

CN Remedy Jekyll & Hyde Birmingham

CN Propaganda O2 Academy Birmingham

CN The Source present Peshay


CN Freestyle Bull’s Head Moseley

C Kill For a Seat Comedy Club

Mac Birmingham

C Jesus Christ Super-star

NIA Birmingham

C Francesca Martinez The Glee Club Birmingham


Saturday, Oct 6

M Adam Piggot & Jayne Freeman

Ort Balsall Heath

M Kites O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

Want your gig or club

night listed in our monthly guide? Send

details to:

[email protected]

All details correct at time of going to press.

Check with venues before

setting out.

BIRMINGHAM: O2 Academy, Horsefair, Bristol St B1, 0844 4772000; HMV Institute, High St, Digbeth B5, 0844 2485037; NIA, King Edwards Rd B1, 0121 7804141; LG Arena, NEC, Solihull B40, 0121 7804141; The Flapper, Kingston Row B1, 0121 2362421; The Victoria, John Bright St B1, 0121 6339439; Hare & Hounds, High St, Kings Heath B14, 0121 4442081; The Actress & Bishop, Ludgate Hill B3, 0121 2367426; The Sunflower Lounge, Smallbrook Queensway B5, 0121 6327656; Symphony Hall, Broad St B1, 0121 7803333; Town Hall, Victoria Sq B3, 0121 7803333; Kitchen Garden Cafe, York Road, Kings Heath B14, 0121 4434725; Alexandra Theatre, Station St B1, 0844 8472302; Bull’s Head, St Marys Row, Moseley B13, 0121 2567777; Island Bar, Suffolk St B1, 0121 6325296; The Jam House, St Pauls Sq B3, 0121 2003030; The Asylum, Hampton St, Hockley B19, 0121 2331109; The Rainbow, High St, Digbeth B12, 0121 7728174; Adam & Eve, Bradford St, Digbeth B12, 0121 6931500; The Rose Villa Tavern, Warstone Lane, B18, 0121 2367910; The Yardbird, Paradise Place B3, 0121 2122524; The Glee Club, The Arcadian, Hurst St B5, 0871 4720400; MAC, Cannon Hill Park B12, 0121 4463232; Nightingale, Kent St B5, 0121 6221718; Scruffy Murphys, The Priory Queensway B4, 0121 2362035; The Wagon & Horses, Adderley St, Digbeth B9, 0121 7721403; Highlight, Broad St B1, 08700 111 960; The Ballroom, Dale End B4, 0121 320 2820; Lab11, Trent St B5, lab11.co.uk; The Moseley Arms, Ravenhurst St B12, 0121 7668467; Air, Heath Mill Lane B9, 0121 7666646; WOLVERHAMPTON: Civic Hall/Wulfrun Hall, North St WV1, 0870 320 7000; The Slade Rooms, Broad St WV1, 0870 320 7000; Robin 2, Mount Pleasant, Bilston WV14, 01902 401211; WEST BROMWICH: The Public, New St B70, 0121 5337161; COVENTRY: Kasbah, Primrose Hill St, CV1, 024 76554473; Warwick Arts Centre, University of Warwick, CV4, 024 7652 4524


M Barnesy Sunflower Lounge

Birmingham

M The Lieutenants The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Tonight Alive + Lost Alone + Blitz Kids

The Asylum Birmingham

M Ruts DC Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

CN Knife Party + Feed Me

HMV Institute Birmingham

CN Ritual Q Club Birmingham

CN Loose Joints Rose Villa Tavern Birmingham

CN SOS Subway City Birmingham

CN i Luv Hip Hop Suki10c Birmingham

CN MC Triggas Birthday The Ballroom Birmingham

CN Machine The End @ The Ballroom

Birmingham

CN FACE presents Il-lusion

The Rainbow Birmingham

CN Sumo Sound Sys-tem


CN Prospec Present Dub Phizix



Sunday, Oct 7

M Villains & Vigilantes Tour Features Ant-lered Man, Romans & We Are Knuckle Dragger

O2 Academy Birmingham

M Big Joe Pleasure The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Young Runaways The Yardbird Birmingham

M Peter Case & Mi-chael Weston King


Kings Heath

C Birmingham Come-dy Festival presents Paul Savage


C Barbara Nice Mac Birmingham

C Abandoman The Glee Club Birmingham

C Lee Hurst Artrix Bromsgrove

Monday, Oct 8

M Flux Pavilion HMV Institute Birmingham

Birmingham

M Shonen Knife The Glee Club Birmingham

C Jonny & The Bap-tists


Kings Heath

Tuesday, Oct 9

M Slash National Indoor Arena

Birmingham

M Lower Than Atlantis O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M We Are Augustines The Ballroom Birmingham

M Erica Mou The Kitchen Garden Cafe

Kings Heath

M Marina & the Dia-monds

Wulfrun Wolverhampton

C Simon Evans The Glee Club Birmingham

Wednesday, Oct 10

M Serj Tankian O2 Academy Birmingham

M Mayday Parade The Library @ HMV Institute

Birmingham

M Karine Polwart Artrix Bromsgrove

M Michelle Shocked Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

CN Hump! Gatecrasher Birmingham

C Laughing Cows The Kitchen Garden Cafe

Kings Heath

C The Quadrantines Ort Balsall Heath

C Seann Walsh The Glee Club Birmingham

Thursday, Oct 11

M Hot Chip O2 Academy Birmingham

M Foreign Beggars O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Nina Nesbitt O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Al Lewis The Glee Club Birmingham

M John Cale The Library @ HMV Institute

Birmingham

M BIGkids The Rainbow Birmingham

M Baghdaddies Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

CN Fantastic Damage: Ghostface Hallow-een Party


C Short and Swede Ort Balsall Heath

C Tom Stade The Glee Club Birmingham

Friday, Oct 12

M Lianne La Havas HMV Institute Birmingham

M Ren Harvieu O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Sugar Razors O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Subtotal The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M The Dark Lights The Rainbow Birmingham

M The Parlotones The Temple @ HMV Institute

Birmingham

M My Autumn Empire Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Sick Boys Club Bull’s Head Moseley

M Field Music The Slade Rooms Wolverhampton

CN Lucha Libre Bodega Birmingham

CN Supersonic Vague Gatecrasher Birmingham

CN Opening Party Gibb St Warehouse

Birmingham



CN Benga The Rainbow Birmingham

CN Osmosis The Wagon & Horses

Birmingham

CN Futureboogie Special




Saturday, Oct 13

M The Big Tent and the Gypsy Lantern

Ort Balsall Heath

M Hugh Cornwell O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Only the Good O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Open to Fire The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M The Nightingales The Wagon & Horses

Birmingham

M Ian Parker Artrix Bromsgrove

M The Brute Chorus Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

CN Renaissance 20th Anniversary Pt 2

Gibb St Warehouse

Birmingham


CN Juqebox Rose Villa Tavern Birmingham


CN FACE 3rd Birthday The Rainbow Warehouse

Birmingham

45October 2012

CN High Fidelity Club Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

CN Hot Club De Swing Gypsy Circus Spe-cial


CN Hott Wax Club Bull’s Head Moseley


Sunday, Oct 14

M Turbowolf HMV Institute Birmingham

M Dragster The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M The Birthday Suit The End @ The Ballroom

Birmingham

M Hazel O’Connor The Other Room @ The Ballroom

Birmingham

M Tall Ships The Rainbow Birmingham

M George Ezra The Yardbird Birmingham

M Frutaloka Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Bohemian Jukebox Sunday Social


C Jo Caulfield Artrix Bromsgrove

C Freddie Farrell The Kitchen Garden Cafe

Kings Heath

C Jo Enright The Glee Club Birmingham

Monday, Oct 15

M Bloc Party O2 Academy Birmingham

M Michael Chapman Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

Tuesday, Oct 16

M Kathryn Williams The Glee Club Birmingham

M Mama Rosin Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M We Were Promised Jetpacks


Wednesday, Oct 17

M Bastille HMV Institute Birmingham

M Trivium HMV Institute Birmingham

M Benjamin Francis Leftwich

Irish Centre Birmingham

M Gallows O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Nina Nesbitt The Ballroom Birmingham

M Dirty Goods The Rainbow Birmingham

M Jodi Ann Bickley Presents Speak Up


CN Hump! Gatecrasher Birmingham

C Chris Ramsey The Glee Club Birmingham

C Alexei Sayle The Public West Bromwich

Thursday, Oct 18

M Newton Faulkner O2 Academy Birmingham

M SevenDaze O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Limehouse Lizzy The End @ The Ballroom

Birmingham

M Kid British The Rainbow Birmingham

M Liars The Rainbow Warehouse

Birmingham

M Fossil Collective Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

C Lenny Henry Artrix Bromsgrove

C Hardeep Singh Kohli

Mac Birmingham

C Jarred Christmas The Glee Club Birmingham

C Ray Peacock Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

Friday, Oct 19

M Supersonic Festival Custard Factory Birmingham

M The Jim Jones Revue

O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M The Karma Suits O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Empire in Exile The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Prayers The End @ The Ballroom

Birmingham

M John Paul Villafrati The Glee Club Birmingham

M Palma Violets The Rainbow Birmingham

M The Searchers Artrix Bromsgrove

M Echo Lake Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Smoove & Turrell Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Jake Bullit + Eat Y’self Pretty



CN Neoteric Launch Party

Lab11 Birmingham


CN Red Bull Culture Clash

The Ballroom Birmingham

CN We Love DnB The Rainbow Birmingham



Saturday, Oct 20


M Down HMV Institute Birmingham

M TOY HMV Institute Birmingham

M Soweto Kinch Trio Mac Birmingham

M The Gaslight An-them


M Snooty Bobs O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Lady Fortune Sunflower Lounge

Birmingham

M Broken Witt Rebels The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M The Musgraves The Other Room @ The Ballroom

Birmingham

M TOY The Temple @ HMV Institute

Birmingham

M RDF The Wagon & Horses

Birmingham

M Eglo Live Band Hare & Hounds Kings Heath




CN FACE The Rainbow Birmingham

CN Brothel VI The Rainbow Warehouse

Birmingham

CN Second City Pre-sent Andy Riley & Jem Atkins


C Barnstormers Artrix Bromsgrove


Sunday, Oct 21


M Reverend & The Makers


M Gaz Coombes O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Derek Holt & Friends

The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Delilah The Library @ HMV Institute

Birmingham


M Matt Cardle The Temple @ HMV Institute

Birmingham

M Blue Nation The Yardbird Birmingham

M Holy Mountain Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M I Like Trains Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Random Canyon Growlers


Kings Heath

M Tenacious D Civic Hall Wolverhampton

C The Boy With Tape On His Face

The Glee Club Birmingham

Monday, Oct 22

M Howler HMV Institute Birmingham

M Labrinth O2 Academy Birmingham

M Tim Burgess The Glee Club Birmingham

M The Twilight Sad Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

C Mark Thomas Artrix Bromsgrove

Tuesday, Oct 23

M Sparks HMV Institute Birmingham

M Little Comets O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Summer The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Life in Film Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M This Town Needs Guns


M Dean Friedman The Kitchen Garden Cafe

Kings Heath

C Joe Lycett The Glee Club Birmingham

C Piff the Magic Dragon

Artrix Bromsgrove

Wednesday, Oct 24

M Dog Is Dead O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Eddi Reader The Glee Club Birmingham

M Misha B The Library @ HMV Institute

Birmingham

M Rolo Tomassi The Rainbow Birmingham

M My Darling Clem-entine


M The Magnolia Sisters


Kings Heath

M B Town And Beyond Bull’s Head Moseley

CN Bondax The Rainbow Garden

Birmingham

C Dean Friedman Artrix Bromsgrove

C Alexei Sayle Wulfrun Wolverhampton

Thursday, Oct 25

M Sam Sallon Ort Balsall Heath

M The Ghosts The End @ The Ballroom

Birmingham

M Slim Chance Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

C John Fothergill The Glee Club Birmingham

Friday, Oct 26

M Lucy Rose HMV Institute Birmingham

M The Enemy O2 Academy Birmingham

M Dakota Beats O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Framed The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Blue Nation The End @ The Ballroom

Birmingham

M Paper Aeroplanes The Glee Club Birmingham

M Chris Tye Bull’s Head Moseley

CN Lucha Libre Bodega Birmingham


CN Discographic Rose Villa Tavern Birmingham

CN Subculture Hallow-een Special

The Ballroom Birmingham

CN The Friday Night Project

The Rainbow Warehouse

Birmingham



Saturday, Oct 27

M Wizz Jones + John Renbourn

Mac Birmingham

M Reptile Youth Sunflower Lounge

Birmingham

M Clockwork Orange The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Ed Sheeran The Ballroom Birmingham

M Towns The Flapper Birmingham

M Inner Terrestrials The Wagon & Horses

Birmingham

CN Liquid Sessions Club PST Birmingham

CN Eclectricity Hallow-een Special

HMV Institute Birmingham




CN Fancy Dress Hal-loween Party

The Flapper Birmingham

CN Hip Hop Supa Heros Vs Supa Vil-lains Fancy Dress Party


CN Jam Hott Halloween Special


C Bridget Christie Artrix Bromsgrove


Sunday, Oct 28

M Blueswamp South-ern

The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham


M Jack Savoretti The Glee Club Birmingham

M Lewis Watson The Rainbow Birmingham

M Velvet Riot The Yardbird Birmingham

M Martyn Joseph Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

C Mary Coughlan Artrix Bromsgrove

Monday, Oct 29


Tuesday, Oct 30

M Dry The River HMV Institute Birmingham

M Granny Takes A Trip The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Brother & Bones The Flapper Birmingham

M Tom McRae The Glee Club Birmingham

M Strangle Kojak The Other Room @ The Ballroom

Birmingham

M Japandroids Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

Wednesday, Oct 31

M Alt-J O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Blacklisters The Flapper Birmingham

M Peace The Rainbow Birmingham

CN Propaganda Hal-loween Party


C Sean Hughes The Glee Club Birmingham

47October 2012

Brum Notes Magazine October 2012

Documents

Transcript of Brum Notes Magazine October 2012