Come on who wouldn’t fly out to LA at the drop of a hat to meet Ozzy Osbourne? well maybe not everyone but Capsule couldn’t miss out on the opportunity so thats exactly what i’ve been up to this past weekend and i can assure you its been possibly one of the most surreal experience’s of my life this far.

Home of Metal have been exchanging emails and phone conversations with a very lovely lady called Lynn at Sharon Osbournes Management for a little while, we finally settled on a date for 8th March .

Not being able to afford to fly our very dedicated film crew (sorry Matt, Ella & Martin – we would’ve if we could!!) we had to rope in some willing volunteers to do the filming and interview and managed to find two lovely chaps Ewan Bowman (filming) and Ally Christie (interviewing) that live in LA. After some slight deliberation we decided it was too good a chance to get to meet the man himself and tell him about the project in person, so we made the decision that one of us should go, i was more than happy to take one for the team, booked the flights on Thursday and flew out on Saturday.

Arriving late Saturday night there wasn’t much chance for exploring so that was left to Sunday when I took the opportunity to indulge in some record shopping at the amazing Amoeba Records (the photos say it all) spending most of the day there I eventually tore myself away to go and meet up with Ewan for some food to figure out our game plan for the following day.

Amoeba Records

Had a lovely evening and all was going to plan, early to bed to get some much needed rest in preparation for the next day only to be awoken in the middle of the night with terrible stomach ache and shivers, spent the next 4 hours being sick at regular intervals, obviously my lovely dinner wasn’t that lovely after all.

Now we can look at this one of two ways, either it was very unfortunate that i was feeling extremely sick and therefor didn’t get any sleep and couldn’t focus on the following day, or – that the fact that I felt so ill stopped me from feeling nervous and therefor meant that I was able to function and get through the interview, i’m going with the second one.

So a half a litre of some disgusting tasting cherry rehydration liquid, lots of water and a couple of bananas and I was ready for action (well as good as i was going to get anyway)

We had a bit of a drive out to meet Ozzy so we arranged to meet early as we were all anxious to get there on time and not get stuck in traffic, this meant that we got there at about 11.20 (little too early as we weren’t due till 1pm) so we spent some time in a near by mall drinking coffee and swapping stories.

At 12pm we decided to bite the bullet and head back over, we found our way easily up to the house. We rang the door bell and Tony (Ozzy’s PA) answered he came to the door to meet us and we were greeted by a small selection of dogs (one had left a little present in the hall way so we felt very at home straight away). We were led down to Ozzy’s home recording studio in the basement via walls lined with gold discs and awards, the studio has deep red walls, dark wood flooring with gold crosses on the door handles. Ally was most impressed that there was a urinal in the bathroom (we all have own personal goals in life) i was impressed by the fridge full of Fiji water bottles and commented on how much they sell them for at Selfridges back home.

After a short while setting up cameras and a bit of time to explain the project in detail to Tony, we were ready for the interview. Ozzy walked in we all shook hands and introduced ourselves.. the strange thing was that it didn’t feel strange at all, i think it has a lot to do with the fact that we were made to feel very welcome by Tony and all of the conversations i’d had with Lynn leading up to it were great too – so thank you very much to both of them for getting us there!!. anyway Ozzy’s first question to me was where was i from – i told him Hall Green – “oh i know it yeah I know it”

So we explained the project and he just started reeling off stories even before we got to the questions! The interview went amazingly from finish to end, although i’m sure we’ve got a lot to learn with not trying to make background noise (sorry Matt) but its difficult not to laugh when Ozzy’s telling you how “a sign of success in Birmingham was being able to drink mid week” or something along those lines!

Prior to me leaving Lisa had been and brought a Brummie t-shirt from the CIB shop to give to Ozzy as a gift so i presented him with this and asked for a photo with me and him, at which point he gave me a  big hug, Ewan taking the photo declared “ah thats beautiful, look at that Brummy love!” the boys had their photies taken too …

and we all got signed photos – so that we have something to add to the archive!!
Interview over, we packed up said our good byes and made our way out, i nearly fainted leaving the house and had to make a sharp exit, think the adrenaline that had kept me going had finally subsided…

shot off to get something to eat, Ewan dropped me at the airport got on the flight at 8.30pm Monday night arrived in London Tuesday 3pm and back in Birmingham in time for tea (well a piece of dry toast for me please) and now.. here we are in Texas about to interview Lemmy, its a hard life but someones got to do it…

check out HOMEOFMETAL.COM

After tonight’s noise performance spectacle from Atsuhiro Ito, it’s on to our next show – Autechre, the godfathers of IDM, take over the Rainbow Warehouse with stellar support from a host of excellent DJs. This will be sweaty.

Autechre – Aside stable-mates like Aphex Twin, Boards Of Canada and Squarepusher, Autechre undoubtedly belongs to the absolute top of world-class electronica

Rob Hall – Autechre’s regular tour DJ, he is also a member of the semi-permanent Gescom collective

Russell Haswell - extreme sound/noise fetishist

+ Didjit – the show’s unknown DJ!

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Friday 12th March 2010
Autechre
Rob Hall
Russell Haswell
Didjit
@ The Rainbow Warehouse
Advanced Tickets: http://www.theticketsellers.co.uk

To celebrate reaching the ripe old age of 10 we produced this super limited edition 7″ vinyl with tracks by two of Birmingham’s most talented acts, Modified Toy Orchestra + Einstellung. The package also contains a beautifully designed 18 page booklet with tonnes of photos to commemorate our last decade of activity from SUNN 0))) shows in drained pools to Giant (aka Shepard Fairey) exhibition way back in 2000 .
And at only £5 these are a real bargain BUY NOW

(Only 300 produced – get them while you can)

Also available as a high fashion accessory a very limited edition enamel badge also available from our SHOP design by the pretty amazing Francesca Williams.

You too can be as cool as this lady…

“Last night at the Cinema I served a woman wearing a steel Capsule pin. She
seemed genuinely astounded when I complemented her on her badge and I looked like the coolest popcorn shoveler who has ever lived. If you live Birmingham and don’t know who Capsule are then you’re probably not actually living in Birmingham, you’re probably just existing, shuffling along mindlessly in a grey musicless world. If you’d like to learn a little about Capsule you can make a start by reading their new zine, a shamelessly self promotional little document which features n article about Skweee by Total Boner Mike Coley. Maybe he’ll eventually get around to posting in on here but in the meantime head over to Capsule’s site to read it.”
www.totallybone.com/

Review of EINSTELLUNG & CLUSTER at Town Hall Birmingham by Paul Jeffery photos by Katja Ogrin

Cluster, with their roots in the late 60s, defined the roots of everything from experimental ambient to dance, with a mighty dollop of krautrock thrown-in for good measure!
I’d not set foot in Brum Town Hall before, but it’s a cracking venue, all Victorian pomp and splendour sympathetically and expensively restored. Acoustics are good, spacious, but easily filled by relatively modest amp stacks.

First on were a band I was only very vaguely aware of – Einstellung, a Brum-based four piece relentlessly compared to Neu!. They offer-up a kind of ambient drone-metal, heavily guitar-lead, and occasionally pitching and bucking with some ferocity within the confines of their longish set pieces, ultimately yielding a sound that fits within the looser boundaries of Krautrock. These are not wet-behind-the-ears newcomers either, having all served time in other successful bands before. Their particular fusion rocks too – and I have honestly never heard guitar feedback used quite so creatively or effectively as in their set closer. On reflection I would have been pleased if I’d showed-up for this set alone.

Read Full review HERE

For your viewing pleasure and to warm you up for forthcoming announcements for Supersonic 2010 - IRON LUNG live at Supersonic 09 - absolute comic genius! Look out for a live release coming soon…

still a handful of Harvey Milk live vinyl from Supersonic 08 BUY NOW

Ben Graham from The Quietus talks to Einstellung, Birmingham based Apache beat, interstellar overlords

Formed in Birmingham in 2003 by ex-members of stoner rock band Sally, industrial metal titans Godflesh, Kat Bjelland’s Katastrophy Wife and post-rock/ shoegaze outfit Grover, Einstellung have stripped the motorik chassis of the first Neu! Album down to its essential cogs and gears, and fitted it to a custom-built hot rod roadster, equal parts Sonic Youth skronk, My Bloody Valentine narcotic noise and Black Sabbath hard rock. The resulting album, Wings of Desire, is finally available in the UK as one of the first releases on Capsule Records, brought to you by the fine people behind Birmingham’s unspeakably excellent Supersonic Festival. Released as an exquisitely-designed limited edition of 500 heavyweight vinyl double albums, Wings of Desire is a record that needs to be listened to loud, its six lengthy instrumental tracks (all given cod-German titles) building from droning, lazily melodic beginnings to monstrous, fuzz-blasted raptures and epiphanies, via sonorous avalanches of warped and clanging sturm und drang. We spoke to Einstellung guitarist Andrew Parker on the eve of a major show opening for Cluster at Birmingham Town Hall on the February 11, where the band will play their forthcoming second album, And The Rest Are Thunder, in its entirety.

Read the full interview HERE

Einstellung support legendary Krautrock duo CLUSTER on Thursday 11th Feb at Town Hall Birmingham
Tickets available from https://tickets.thsh.co.uk 0121 780 3333

You can purchase ‘Wings Of Desire‘ limited edition double vinyl from our SHOP – cover designed by artist Lucy McLauchlan (only 500 ever made)

Jenny Moore and Lisa Meyer are Capsule – Birmingham promoters of great alternative music and arguably the sole reason why great alternative artists visit the home of heavy rock music. In 2003 they launched Supersonic festival, which has carved out a reputation as the best and loudest noise festival in the UK – if not the world –seeing headliners including Mogwai and Sunn O))) – and has an undeniable knack for getting the world’s best alt. bands onto a UK stage for the very first time. Last year saw the first ever UK show for Italian soundtrack legends Goblin (whose credits include George A Romero’s Dawn of the Dead and Dario Argento’s Suspiria) – it was truly a magical moment.

Supersonic takes the best parts of city and field festivals and infuses them into one. The festival site – Birmingham’s Custard Factory – is closed off from the rest of the world, yet you still get to sleep in a comfy bed and have a shower every morning. The pool that provides the centrepiece to the Custard Factory is drained and made into the main stage, whilst readymade venues become other stages and a cavernous warehouse provides a second large stage, tailormade for the incessantly loud noise Supersonic has become known for. It’s a one of a kind, and the people who attend are described by Lisa as “people who want to experience something new and aren’t afraid to go see something a bit different, it’s definitely not for fans of playlists.”

READ FULL ARTICLE

Zun Zun Egui

This was an amazing gig bringing together the energy and anarchy of the punk rock band The Ex with the drive of Brass Unbound, a brass section with Ken Vandermark and Mats Gustafsson on baritone and tenor sax, Roy Paci on trumpet and Wolter Wierbos on trombone.  The sheer volume of sound and the swirling rhythms created a stunning degree of excitement.  Basically it was led by The Ex with weird but wonderful vocals and an excellent drummer.  I am often critical of the limitations of rock drummers, but this one (sadly I didn’t get her name) really drove the band in a very interesting way totally different from what jazz drummers do.  Brass Unbound essentially added riffs that blended very effectively and excitingly with the The Ex rhythms.

I have one fairly major reservation.  As the gig progressed, I began to want Brass Unbound to vary their role more and to have rather more freedom.  There were some solos: a particular good one from Ken, one of Mats’ almost trademark screaming solos, and punchy contributions from Paci and Wierbos, but more would have been nice.

This was, however, another good example of rock and jazz mixing naturally and successfully.  It wasn’t jazz rock as that term has become associated with a certain style that emerged in the 1960s and 70s.  Here it was a rock gig incorporating strong elements of free jazz , but in a very structured way.  And it certainly wasn’t jazz drawing on rock.  We will have to start thinking of new names to capture this important and exciting music.

Review by Tony Dudley Evans of Birmingham Jazz
Photos by Jenny Moore

Capsule Film from Film Ficciones on Vimeo.

For your viewing pleasure – a short film to celebrate our 10 years of work.
This amazing bit of documentary footage was created by Scott aka Film Ficciones

Audience from Supersonic 2009 by Mark E Rhodes

We’ve just come back from a Birmingham City Council consultation meeting about the cities ‘Music Industry’. Over the 10 years we’ve been doing Capsule related activity we’ve been invited to a fair few of these things and still very little seems to have moved on.

It occured to us that based on our breakdown of tickets sales from Supersonic (see above) we have a relatively small West Midlands audience and having spoken to other independent folks within this area this seems to be the case across the creative industries. Birmingham dates regardless of genre always seem less well attended to those in other cities in the UK. There is no doubt there is a wealth of talent and tonnes of great people working really hard to promote stuff, run venues, labels etc. However it seems across the creative industries there is quite a limited regional audience that engages with independent  activity. So my question to you wonderful folks is why do you think this is?  What are the barriers and how do we work towards resolving it?
We’d be really happy to open this debate so – answers on a postcard.