Home of Metal awarded Ambition For Excellence funding

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Photo of Black Sabbath fans at Download Festival 2016 – Katja Ogrin

Arts Council England is investing £450,000 in Capsule’s international plans to celebrate the musical influence and fandom of the Birmingham-born band, Black Sabbath.

Capsule will receive £450,000 from the Arts Council’s Ambition for Excellence programme to take its Home of Metal programme global.

The Arts Council’s investment will support Capsule to create a three-year international programme inspired by the story of how four working-class lads from Birmingham changed the face of music with some financial power.

The funding will help bring together Black Sabbath fans with artists, academic institutions and cultural venues around the world to explore the cultural legacy of the band and the musical genre it created.

The Home of Metal programme will officially launch in February 2017 in Birmingham on the final UK date of Black Sabbath’s last world tour.

Peter Knott, Area Director, Arts Council England said: “Our Ambition for Excellence fund helps arts and cultural organisations produce excellent work with an international dimension – which is exactly what Capsule are setting out to do with Home of Metal. Over the last few years, Capsule has created events and exhibitions that celebrate music from Birmingham and the Black Country. Now it will be brilliant to see our funding supporting them to reach out to international audiences, exploring and sharing how the cultural heritage of the West Midlands has shaped musical tastes around the world.”

Lisa Meyer, Artistic Director, Capsule said: “This support from Arts Council England will enable Capsule to develop the next ambitious phase of Home of Metal and take the project to a global audience, we will be celebrating what is at the heart of the genre, the fans and putting them centre stage.”

Tony Iommi, Guitarist of Black Sabbath said: “An artist or band’s success can be measured by their relationship with the fans and the success of the ‘Home of Metal’ exhibition brought home just how dedicated and loyal ours are. It’s always humbling to realise how you’ve touched people’s lives with your music, a project where fans are actively involved would be great.”

Through the creation of a new digital archive, commissioned artworks and a touring exhibition, Home of Metal will reach out to the band’s fans in Birmingham and beyond, including those in Brazil, Chile, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and the USA.

Using social media to curate and share stories, memorabilia and photographs, Home of Metal will shed light on the global impact of Black Sabbath’s music and fandom through the creation of contemporary, digital archive and international touring exhibition.

The programme will end with festival season in Birmingham and the Black Country featuring new artworks, events and exhibitions.

The season will include an extended version of the international touring exhibition at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery designed by Morag Myerscough. At The New Art Gallery Walsall, Home of Metal will work with curators to showcase fan’s own collections, building on the legacy of the People’s Show in 1990.

At Centrala, artists  will create works in response to the creative ways fans have found to share music whilst living under repressive regimes, from X-Ray generated records to pirate radio.

Keep up to date www.homeofmetal.com

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Capsule tees, record, totes & more…

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We’ve pulled out just a small selection of items to show you from stockroom. All these bits and bobs are available to buy on our online shop, so have a look for yourself HERE. There’s plenty more where that came from!

Need some new music in your life? Then check out our edition of live recordings taken at previous Supersonic Festivals and issued on high quality heavyweight vinyl. Harvey Milk, Tweak Bird, Iron Lung, Capsule’s 10th Birthday 7″ and other items on CD…. these are VERY reasonably priced right now, so now’s the time to christen your deck with something new!

Thanks for all the support to those of you who’ve already gone shopping with us!

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Visit the Capsule Shop

 

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Home of Metal Family Tree tea towel – back in stock


Back by very popular demand is the Home of Metal Family Tree tea towel. Illustrated by Bunny Bissoux, the map traces the tangled web of heavy metal history. A lovely Christmas present we reckon, but make sure you get your order in by Thursday 19th December at the latest. Visit our shop.

Home of Metal is a celebration of the music that was born in the Black Country and Birmingham – check out, and contribute to, the digital archive.

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Why visit Birmingham?

 

For the Heavy Metal of course!

In its recent UK city culture guides, the Guardian highlighted the city’s Heavy Metal heritage as the key cultural highlight of Birmingham. With a nod to Capsule’s Home of Metal project and 2011 programme, they recommend a visit to Brum to check out the current heavy music scene.

 

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Studded leather and the diary of a mad man

Lots of great pieces have been added to the Home of Metal digital archive recently. Including Judas Priest stage costumes, direct from the band themselves. How they manage to perform in those is beyond us. There’s also a handwritten letter to a fan from Rob Halford, where he passionately declares his love for all things METAL, a gig journal from the most devoted Sabbath fan the Home of Metal team have met yet and handwritten lyrics from Ozzy’s ‘Diary of a Madman’ loaned by the album cover artist Krusher.

It’s so exiting to see these pieces from music history alongside precious fan memorabilia. And we want more! Upload images of your ticket stubs, photographs, prized records or tell us about your Heavy Metal memories and be part of this global music archive. To find out more, go here .

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Your highlights of 2011

Thanks to BeanTownHandmade
for this wonderful image – Frank might just get one for Christmas if he’s a lucky boy.

2011 has been an incredible year for Capsule with tons of wonderful events and unforgettable moments. Feel free to let us know what your highlights were from our 2011 program and let us know what you’re keen to see more of in 2012.

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2011 – big thanks!

This year has been pretty stellar for Capsule, as well as some great shows and another fantastic Supersonic, Home of Metal became a powerhouse of a project. Here’s a little round up of the year with details of our Christmas party – we hope you can join us to see out this incredible year.

The year started with some great shows at the Hare & Hounds, showcasing local talent alongside international touring bands. We were thrilled to host Kayo Dot, Seefeel, Woods and Arbouretum in Birmingham, an ever bass heavy set from Dead Fader and a great new discovery in Cambridge’s The Doozer.

Woods at Hare & Hounds on 14th March 2011 – photo by Katja Ogrin

Just one of the awesome gig posters produced for by Tom J Hughes

March saw us revving up for a full on year of Home of Metal events with a screening of ‘In Bed with Chris Needham’ at Flatpack Festival, a cult piece of video that follows a 17 year old Thrash Metal fan through those difficult teenage years. We also held a Home of Metal Open Day – think Antique’s Roadshow for Metal fans, at The Public with special guest Krusher and a DIY cardboard guitar making workshop with Juneau Projects.

Some pretty serious guitar design, photo by Katja Ogrin

Spring saw some really special shows take place as Capsule favourites Earth played in April, the ever intriguing Matmos and Emeralds played in May. We also had our own Royal Wedding party with some great Birmingham bands, including new  favourites Backwards. Behind the scenes we were busy putting together our major Home of Metal exhibition at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and planning for the season of Heavy Metal celebrations.

Matmos at the mac, 15th May 2011 photo by Kate Fitzgeorge

Backwards at Hare & Hounds, 30th April 2011

‘Home of Metal: 40 years of Heavy Metal and its unique birthplace’ opened at BM&AG on 18th June 2011 and ran through out the summer. We were more than a bit hyped when Black Sabbath guitarist and all round hero was our special guest of honour at the opening. The exhibition explored the ingredients that together created Heavy Metal and was greeted with amazing audience figures and a huge amount of press attention. Thanks again to all who contributed to the show’s success – it was a landmark moment for the project and for Capsule as an organisation.

Johnny Doom keeping it casual in our recreation of Ozzy’s Aston home, photo by Katja Ogrin

The show included a number of key objects from the featured bands history, including Judas Priest stage costumes and Sabbath’s Mob Rules stage cross. Photo by Katja Ogrin

Yeah, that’s right – Tony Iommi. Photo by Katja Ogrin

The Home of Metal season also saw exhibitions across the Black Country, exploring various themes relating to Heavy Metal, from the music’s visual impact to the metal working industries of the region. Home of Metal also hosted the UK’s first Heavy Metal academic conference which saw world leaders in the field of metal studies discuss ‘Heavy Metal and Place’. A weekender of activity around the Black Country included the ‘Metal on Film’ festival, the touring Vintage Mobile Cinema, more DIY guitar action with Juneau Projects and as ever some great live music from bands like Gentleman’s Pistols, Stinky Wizzleteat and Selfless.

A newly commissioned work by Nicholas Bullen and Damien Deroubaix, referencing the first Napalm Death record. Photo by Katja Ogrin

Crust/grind band Selfless perform at the screening of ”Heavy Metal Parking Lot’ at Wolverhampton Lighthouse. Photo by Katja Ogrin.

The crowd watching Gentleman’s Pistols at New art Gallery Walsall.  Photo by Katja Ogrin.

Clearly, you never quite know what to expect on a day out in Dudley

It was an exhausting but awesome summer, but the momentum couldn’t stop there as that little ol thing Supersonic crept up on us in October. We were thrilled to have Tony Conrad, Secret Chiefs 3, Alva Noto and many more influential names on the line up as well as showcase exciting new or underground artists such as Teeth of the Sea, Drunk in Hell, Agathe Max and Ore.

This (literally) ceiling shattering set was one of the last chances to catch Scorn live. Photo by Greg Neate

After filling the Theatre Space in 2010, Barn Owl took to the largest stage at the festival, and played a beautiful set. Photo by Robert Knowles

Lucky Dragons’ participatory performance was a highlight for many. Photo by Craig Earp.

Supersonic 2011 in 90 seconds by HTF media. For more photos and reviews visit the Supersonic Collective Memory

Thanks to all who came along, performed, volunteered and generally supported. Since then we’ve has two excellent shows with firm favourites The Melvins performing in November, may a Capsule fist in the air! IKON invited Capsule to curate a night as part of their Autumn Almanac series of events. It was the Sound of Birmingham and saw performance from tuba doom band Ore, a Black Sabbath inspired improvised piece by Andrew Moscardo Parker and a collective of string players plus field recordings inspired by ‘metal’ by SOUNDkitchen.

Buzz of The Melvins, 1st November 2011. Photo by Katja Ogrin.

Don’t forget we’ll be having a Christmas party on 18th December at Hare & Hounds with our friends Polar Bear Records, Birmingham Bike Foundry and Ideal. There’ll be live music in the form of Backwards, Stinky Wizzleteat and Selfless, a raffle and other treats. Tickets available here, hope to see you there!

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Thanks to all who made it on Sunday for our event at IKON. Part of the gallery’s Autumn Almanac series, celebrating the city’s cultural activity, we were invited to program a night of music and sound art. This seemed a wonderful way to round off our wonderful Home of Metal year, celebrating the sound of Birmingham with two exciting performances that explored the concept of Heavy Metal and created something entirely new.

Fresh from their Supersonic debut, Ore played their tuba doom. Referencing Metal, Classical and Experimental sounds.

Andrew Moscardo Parker took inspiration from the newly reformed godfathers of Metal, taking the first three notes of the song ‘Black Sabbath’ ( these notes were known as the Devil’s Intervals in Medieval times) and creating a 30 minute string piece. Eight string players surrounded the audience to create a truly immersive piece of work.

Capsule’s very own Ms Sara Fowles (centre) contributes viola

Huge thanks to all the players, to SOUNDkitchen for contributing field recordings based around the notion of ‘Metal’ and to IKON.

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