Nazoranai video

Image by Katja Ogrin

Thanks to Simon Gray for sharing this video he made of Nazoranai’s amazing performance on Tuesday 9th July at CBSO Centre. With Keiji Haino on vocals and guitar, Stephen O’Malley on bass and Oren Ambarchi on drums it was both heavy and complex.

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Meet Stephen O’Malley

Stephen O’Malley is a musician and artist from Seattle, who has conceptualised numerous drone, doom and experimental music groups, most notably, Sunn0))), KTL, Gravetemple and Aethenor.

A long lasting friend of Capsule, Stephen has performed and exhibited under various guises at Supersonic Festival.

We are very pleased to present his recent collaboration; Nazoranai, another heavyweight collaboration under O’Malley’s sleeve, with Oren Amabarchi and Keiji Haino at CBSO Centre next Tuesday 9th July. Talking about the project,  Stephen says,

“…It was one of those ‘what now’ moments you never imagine happening, having been a fan/follower of Haino’s playing, concerts and recordings over the years. Five years later, somehow, we ended up as this trio. Haino, Oren and I were all in Holland for one reason or another and decided to try it. I played bass for the first time on stage with this group. Maybe it shows but the idea was a power trio backing up Haino-san, with a lot of amplification…It’s hard to describe the lessons through real-time communication in music with such a master of form, but needless to say, they were much different than what I was expecting and beyond! Proof again that expectations lead to dead ends. Was a most challenging experience in real-time music. I feel incredibly honored to be part of this trio.”

Tickets for this event are available via theticketsellers.co.uk

Support comes from Nicholas Bullen, who will be presenting his new album ‘Component Fixations’.

 

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Nazoranai / Nicholas Bullen / CBSO Centre / 9th July

The powerhouse trio of Stephen O’Malley, Oren Ambarchi and Keiji Haino perform a very special show at CBSO Centre on Tuesday 9th July. This is going to be loud. Nazoranai are psychedelic avant doom from “three undisputed masters in their field”.

“…It was one of those ‘what now’ moments you never imagine happening, having been a fan/follower of Haino’s playing, concerts and recordings over the years. Five years later, somehow, we ended up as this trio. Haino, Oren and I were all in Holland for one reason or another and decided to try it. I played bass for the first time on stage with this group. Maybe it shows but the idea was a power trio backing up Haino-san, with a lot of amplification…It’s hard to describe the lessons through real-time communication in music with such a master of form, but needless to say, they were much different than what I was expecting and beyond! Proof again that expectations lead to dead ends. Was a most challenging experience in real-time music. I feel incredibly honored to be part of this trio.” —Stephen O’Malley

Listen to an album preview soundcloud.com/experimedia/nazoranai-nazoranai-album

 

Nicholas Bullen (Napalm Death, Scorn, Black Galaxy) will be launching his new record Component Fixations at this event, released on Type Records.

“Over 25 years since that first Napalm Death release, Bullen is primed to release his debut solo LP through Type*. Component Fixations will offer “tape manipulations, drones and noise” spread over three long-form tracks. The album promises a synthesis of Bullen’s influences, with a particular emphasis on the electronic pioneers of the 1960s. Intriguingly, all the sounds on the record were directly sourced from field recordings made around Bullen’s house and garden” Fact

Listen to the opening track soundcloud.com/_type/nicholas-bullen-element

Tickets are £15 and available via www.theticketsellers.co.uk

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Noise Box auction


To celebrate 10 years of Supersonic Festival, musical instrument designers MortonUnderwood have created ten unique noise box synths for Capsule to auction. Each one is hand-painted by a talented designer in the Supersonic 2012 colours. The result is a beautiful set of bespoke synthesisers, which capture both the visual and sonic aesthetic of the festival.
After being on display during the festival, the Noise Boxes are now individually up for auction via ebay. All proceeds will go towards future Capsule projects, helping us to deliver more extraordinary events for adventurous audiences.

Stephen O’Malley

A musician, predominantly a guitarist, producer, composer and visual artist from Seattle, Washington who has conceptualized and participated in numerous drone doom, death/doom, and experimental music groups, most notably Sunn O))).

Simon Fowler

London based Illustrator and Print-Maker. Working typically in pen and ink and traditional print making techniques with an enthusiasm for experimentation and combining Western and Eastern print processes. Working in collaboration with a wide array of contemporary musicians and artists including Boris, Earth and Wolves in the Throne Room.

An Endless Supply

A design studio and independent publishing activity organised by Harry Blackett and Robin Kirkham. Working in many roles — as designers, editors, printers, researchers, writers — a primary objective of the studio is to support the production of new art and writing.

Sarah Coleman (Inky Mole)

“Nibs and ink are my thing. I draw on paper and ink-heavy, word-soaked imagery is my trademark. Though I creep into fashion and beauty, the worlds of advertising, fiction, packaging and music are where my work seems to fit most snugly. If ‘snug’ is the right word..”

Conny Prantera

An artist and illustrator who lives and works in London. Through her intricately detailed drawings, she tells us a story of disquieting and disturbed beauty, a collection of relics from a world of wonder which is suspiciously seductive and disturbing at the same time, but while with one eye she winks, to reassure us all is well, with the other she threatens with a baleful presage. Conny performed as part of Moonn0))) at Supersonic 2012.

David Hand

A graphic designer and sometime illustrator who currently resides in the Shropshire hills. David works on a broad range of projects of any size, shape or form including music / typography / branding / identity / surface decoration inspired by original crafted design. David created the identity for Supersonic 2012.

Ben Javens

A Birmingham based illustrator who has created many wonderful gig posters for Capsule events, other clients include The Guardian, Warburtons and Static Caravan. Ben is also a member of the Outcrowd Collective who created this year’s Festival of the Rea exhibition, which inspired the above design.

Ben Sadler (Juneau Projects)

Sadler is a member of artist group Juneau Projects, formed in 2001. The majority of their work includes participatory elements and involves projection, sound, music, animation and installation. Much of their work examines equipment-fetishism and the DIY processes which facilitate their electronic music.

Richard Sayer (French)

London based freelance artist / illustrator. A great deal of the illustration he has created has been for the skateboard industry, as well as music (Heavy Metal mainly) advertising, print, fashion and publishing. More recently he has been art directing and also curated a number of exhibitions.

Thomas J Hughes

Horror films of the 1970s, Marvel comic books, space travel, trading card graphics, traditional doom metal, twentieth century science fiction television serials and Yes album covers are just a few of the things that inspire Thomas in the making of his work. His work is created using a variety of materials, with an emphasis on hand-drawn illustration and typography.

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Rock-a-Rolla interview: Thorr’s Hammer Return!

rock-a-rolla

Rock A Rolla – May/June 2009

Thorr’s Hammer, the cult doom outfit featuring Sunn0))) duo Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson, have reformed for a very special performance at this year’s Supersonic Festival in Birmingham, UK. The band, active for a total of 6 weeks in 1994/1995, produced an EP and a demo, and disbanded once vocalist Runhild Gammelsæter aka Ozma, returned to her native Norway, ensuring their cult status and remaining the stuff of legend – until now. Runhild fills us in on underground metal’s unlikeliest comebacks.

How did this reunion happen?
We have talked about doing a reunion on and off for the last 10 years. Earlier I was negative, as I didn’t like new versions of bands who did ‘reunions’ years after. Sometimes the imaginary, epic memory of an old band can be disturbed by waking it back up to life – and the once handsome musicians are now old and wrinkly. But I am older now, and a bit more flexible in my thinking, and perhaps more nostalgic. Last year, Stephen brought up the reunion idea and all of us felt it was a good idea, that it, most of all, would be fun to play together again. Stephen really likes Supersonic festival and approached them about it. So it’s not like we had offers to play for big money or anything. Actually, I would like to point out that we are making no money on this.

It’s almost the same line-up: yourself, Stephen, Greg, Jamie Sykes and Guy Pinhas. What happened to original bassist James Hale?
Frankly, I don’t know. I lost touch with him when I left the states.

Why, do you think, given such a short lifespan and hardly any recordings, did the band go on to be such cult favourites amongst the extreme metal underground?

Four things. One: the music is quite good, if I may say so. Our stuff was different from other metal bands then and I can’t think of another band with the same sound since. I don’t believe we would be cult today if people didn’t enjoy the music. Two: a small teenage girl with very long blonde hair growling like a man is very noticeable amongst the bands composed of dudes in black t-shirts. Three: being in the right place at the right time. TH is a child of its time, and a cross-cultural band. We made a new mix of different genres: grungy doom, which was born in Seattle at the time by bands like Earth and Tad, together with Norwegian vocals about Vikings, which was used by the Norwegian black metal bands. To sum it up, we were into Norwegian black metal, from all parts of the world, and lived in Seattle when grunge and doom were born. Four: Steve and Greg went on to become big rock stars with Sunn0))), so people started looking into their other projects. That being said, the surprising thing for me is that the record has sold evenly through all these years. It hasn’t sold a lot, but we keep selling copies after 15 years, without any promotion or touring, which I think is quite rare. I am very grateful to the people who like our music and have kept the word of mouth of TH alive for all these years.

Are you planning to do anything more after Supersonic? Any new music maybe?

We might make some new music, I don’t know yet. TH is friends having fun; we’ll do whatever we like. But we will never be a tight band doing tours. Our jobs and other projects don’t allow it, and TH is and always will be old school and low key. I like that we are cult, it makes me proud.

Thorr’s Hammer play Supersonic Festival on Saturday 25th of July alongside Corrupted, The Accused, Iron Lung, Monotonix, Skullflower and many more
Tickets: https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk
24 hr order line – 0844 870 0000 – Calls cost max 5p per min from BT landline

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Supersonic live recording – Oxbow Duo perform ‘Loves Holiday’

We are proud to put out our first vinyl release, taken from Supersonic 07. Oxbow Duo performing ‘Loves Holiday’ featuring Justin Broadrick (of Godflesh/Jesu), Stephen O’Malley (Sunn/Khanate/KTL), Dave Cochrane (Transistional/Head Of David) and Chipper.

Its a limited run of 1000

The sleeve art has been designed by Ben Javens with photographs by Mei
You can purchase the record from our shop for just £10 (heavy weight vinyl) These babies are flying out so don’t miss out!

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