Saturday was our final memorabilia collecting day at City 10 in Wolverhampton, it was a great day with some fantastic pieces brought in and a rad soundtrack provided by Dunc and Bill.

A spot of Black Sabbath colouring in

One of the regulars…

For all the family (this kid was wearing a ‘Sleepyhead’ Motorhead t-shirt!)

Killer DJ skills

Uber fans

And some great memorabilia!

Go to http://www.homeofmetal.com/ for more memorabilia and Home of Metal news…

Rob Haynes speaks to avant metal pioneer Justin Broadrick about getting the gang back together for a series of hellish shows…

The thunderous rock heritage bequested the world by the Midlands of England took a startlingly effective turn for the brutal in the late 1980s. Taking the genetic strain of genre progenitors Black Sabbath and the magnificent yob-metal/ punk blend that was Stoke’s Discharge, in 1987 Birmingham’s Napalm Death announced their arrival by inserting the rocket-fueled suppository of their Scum album into the extreme scene. Guitarist on that debut was Justin Broadrick, whose fidgety musical imagination led him to depart after one side of their debut release, first to the drum stool of cult alt-noisers Head of David and then on to a project he could call his own – the mighty Godflesh. Amid the fertile noise scene as it stood, Godflesh – with Broadrick on guitar and vocals, GC Green (Benny to his friends) on bass, and an appropriately relentless drum machine – hit a midway point between the neurotic spite of Big Black and the death-knell hammer blows of Swans.

Read full Justin Broadrick interview on The Quietus
Godflesh play their first UK show in over 10 years &  join Swans, Melt Banana, Voice Of The Seven Thunders, Lichens and many more for this years Supersonic Festival 22nd – 24th OCTOBER
Weekend Tickets available here: www.theticketsellers.co.uk
www.seetickets.com

It’s been a grey, rainy day in Wolverhampton so a big thank to you all who came down to the shop to pay us a visit today.

Fans have brought down some great artefacts including this scrapbook with a page dedicated to Judas Priest

A bit of Black Sabbath colouring in…

Come along tomorrow when Steve Gerrard will be photographing fans in their band t-shirts and we’ll be playing some records – let’s hope for sun…

If you can’t make it to Wolverhampton, you can submit memorabilia direct to http://www.homeofmetal.com/

Home of Metal @ City 10, Queen Square, Wolverhampton

A sunny day in Wolverhampton sees Home of Metal descending for a temporary residency in a shop unit in Queen’s Square. Already we’ve had some great stories and pieces of memorabilia from local Heavy Metal fans. Heavy Metal was born in this region and the passion for that music hasn’t died.

A fan with Robert Plant at a Wolves match

Judas Priest ticket stub – from 1978

Home of Metal will be here tomorrow and Saturday for you to bring your memorabilia or tell your metal related story, the exhibition will continue.

City 10. Queen Square, Wolverhampton
10 am – 6 pm

After a frantic day yesterday of setting up our Home Of Metal drop in centre we’re delighted to say we’re open and ready for folks to pop in and check out what we’re doing. As well as a selection of artefacts that we’ve gathered on display, fans are welcome to bring along their memorabilia & stories to be photographed & recorded to contribute to the digital archive. Our volunteers are ready and waiting!




City 10, 18 Queen Square in Wolverhampton city centre

From Thursday 17th to Saturday 19th June 2010, 10am to 6pm, Home Of Metal will be taking up residence in a disused shop located at City 10, 18 Queen Square in Wolverhampton city centre, inviting fans to bring along their memorabilia & stories to be photographed & recorded to contribute to the digital archive or drop in to look at some of the Home Of Metal related wares we have already discovered!

WE NEED YOU!

Home Of Metal are looking for everything from concert tickets to photographs, badges, album covers, t-shirts, demo tapes, fan letters, fanzines, flyers, lyrics, posters, press articles, set lists and promotional materials to build the collection online, which will inform a series of major exhibitions which are being developed for 2011.

On Saturday 19 June, from 2pm to 6pm, renowned rock photographer Steve Gerrard will be in residence, fans are invited to have their portraits taken by him in their prized band T-shirts to feature in the Home Of Metal Exhibition.

Valerie & Mike Smith courtesy of Steve Gerrard

These are the sorts of things we’re looking for so go hassle your dads, search out your lofts…

Black Sabbath poster courtesy of Neil Parry

Patch jacket courtesy of  Ken TLF

Live Led Zep photos courtesy of Lee Dunning

Selection of T-shirts courtesy of Rex68

Judas Priest T-shirt Painkiller 1991 tour – courtesy of Billy

HomeofMetal from Mr Nat Higginbottom on Vimeo.

Home Of Metal took Johnny Doom from Kerrang! radio to meet Lemmy at SXSW in Austin Texas in March of this year, to help us launch the digital archive Stateside.

Capsule zine no.4 – this time put together by Mark Murphy
Containing interviews with Nicholas Bullen about Zine culture and sound artist Jony Easterby.

Independent Culture for Independent Students: ENGAGING NEW AUDIENCES IN BIRMINGHAM

Arguably, one of the biggest influxes of new people to the city of Birmingham is the thousands upon thousands of new students arriving here every September. In September 2007, I was one of them.

Upon arrival, I had very little knowledge of the city and what happens here apart from the events the student union were relentlessly promoting during freshers week. With loans providing a new found, short term wealth, the general consensus suggests to quickly consume as many £1 pints and 2 for 1 shots you can whilst vertical, and then pay a visit to the nauseating glamour of broad street (amongst others) to waste some more of that cash you’ll long for a few months down the line. Sure, the big night out, club culture clearly appeals to many and seems to do well at catering for much of the student population. However, I soon found myself becoming quickly disillusioned with a student lifestyle that I wasn’t interested in being a part of, yet seemingly was all that was presented to me. Something that I now understand to be a fallacy, but why didn’t I then?

The university I attend, without naming names (although I’m sure you can guess) has campuses across the city and whilst it offers a wide range of courses, it’s probably fair to say that many come under the general brackets of the creative arts and media. The students of which are exactly the sorts of creative types you’d expect to see filling live music events and engaging with the local cultural community. So why don’t they? Why do the West Midlands have much lower attendance for cultural events than other regions?

Well, there is the lack of late night public transport in the city, the actual geography and location of many of the better independent venues, making getting to and from particularly difficult for some (for piss poor students, a taxi fare is usually out of the question). What about the potential apathy of Birmingham audiences? This is something particularly noticeable in my fellow students, but perhaps, through no fault of their own.

It’s taken me the best part of three years here in Birmingham to fully discover and become involved in its vibrant, yet hidden underbelly of music, art and creative culture and I love it. Prompting discussion among peers however often results in blank faces; they don’t know it exists, just like I didn’t. Its not the fault of the city’s independent promoters or venues, they do the best they can with what resources they have, and in most cases they do a bloody good job that goes unnoticed. But Birmingham’s creative sector needs help with the students. Universities – open up the gates for access; let non-union posters go up around campuses, allow flyer distribution and evangelise about the city’s creative networks and many events. It’s no surprise that attendance figures in the union are dropping when all that’s offered is a spotty DJ with the latest Kaiser Chiefs record. Unions need programming and promoters need audiences. Opportunity knocks? We also need a council that does the same. Instead of attracting kids to Birmingham because they can spend their money in the same clubs, bars, restaurants and shops as any other large town in the country, sell Birmingham because it’s offering things that are unique to here.

So, to all the higher education establishments of Birmingham and to BCC, lend us a hand will you? Let’s grab these new audiences before they get lost in the chaff and show them all the real reasons to stay in Birmingham on completing their studies.
David Breese

Taken from our latest Capsule Zine
What are your thoughts?

RIP Ronnie James Dio who lost his battle with stomach cancer on Sunday 16th May 2010. We had the honour of meeting him at Tony Iommi’s walk of stars presentation in Birmingham, he was a true legend and will be missed.
You can leave your condolences on Facebook

We launched our new HOME OF METAL website just recently and already have had some amazing contributions to the archive. We’ve been asking people to add their Black Sabbath, Led Zep, Judas Priest, Napalm Death & Godflesh related memorabilia to the archive to help to inform our exhibition in 2011 at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. Even if you don’t have memorabilia you can help us by rating your favourite artefacts.

Currently the top three are:

In first place is this fantastic cartoon book of Sabbath uploaded by Doug Roemer from Arlington in the US.

In second place we have an awesome Tony Iommi incorporating the Sunn 0))) logo tattoo uploaded by Stephen O’Malley belonging to his friend from Finland

and in third place we have a great piece of history – a Black Sabbath at the Mayfair in the Bullring Birmingham poster from 1970 declaring that there was ‘ No Restrictions on Dress or Hair whatsoever’ uploaded by Neil Perry of West Brom

We’ve also had some great Godflesh related flyers, posters and live photos uploaded. Feel free to help us spread the word and dig out your related memorabilia – gig tickets, photos, posters, t’s, set lists, badges  and your memories or just rate the items you like best. Have a look at HOMEOFMETAL.COM