When Home Of Metal met Lemmy


Home Of Metal launch at sxsw

It’s been a bit of a crazy time here at SXSW in Austen Texas, despite having brought a bit of the British weather with us (yip full on rain yesterday) our launch of Home Of Metal has been amazingly well received – in brief here are some photos from our time out here more info coming post a bit of sleep.

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Lemmy’s tour bus with the Home Of Metal logo on the side – spreading the word all round Austin.

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Lemmy arrives at the world premiere of the film ‘Lemmy’ – a fancy red carpet event
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Q & A with the directors of the film Wes Orshoski and Greg Olliver in front of a very enthusiastic audience
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Followed the next day by our very own launch of Home Of Metal with Johnny Doom interviewing Lemmy at the British Music Embassy – the man is a living legend and extremely witty.
Check out Home Of Metal

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Capsule get used to the jet set life style

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

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Home Of Metal at SXSW

Home Of Metal are delighted to be launching our digital archive out at SXSW in Austin Texas. To help us get this off with a bang the legendary frontman of Motorhead Lemmy will be doing a Q & A with Johnny Doom from Kerrang! Radio in front of loads of music industry folk. Fused Magazine will be doing a podcast of the event and so will Kerrang! Radio so you’ll get the chance to hear all about it.

Lemmy will be a very busy man during his time at SXSW as he is there to help launch a film all about him entitled ‘Lemmy“.

We’re pretty excited that phase two of our Home Of Metal archive is now up and running, a huge thanks to the Tak! Team for doing such an amazing job. Feel free to have a look and get involved. www.homeofmetal.com

For those of you not familiar with the project here is some info:
Home of Metal is a celebration of the music that was created in the West Midlands, its legacy and influence across the world. Bringing people together to share their passion for the music by creating a digital archive, heritage tours, exhibitions and ultimately a permanent collection dedicated to telling the story of Metal and its unique birthplace.

The Home of Metal digital archive is an opportunity for fans from all corners of the globe to share their passion for Heavy Metal music and contribute stories and memorabilia by uploading images, sound files & film footage to www.homeofmetal.com

In the summer of 2011 Capsule will be producing and curating a series of ambitious exhibitions and associated programme under the banner of Home of Metal taking place throughout The Black Country and Birmingham UK. To include exhibitions at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Wolverhampton Art Gallery & The New Art Gallery Walsall throughout June – September 2011, plus a conference, concerts and film programme to take place in The Black Country early September 2011.

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SXSW part 2

img_1415Next up was Tweak Bird from LA, we’d been recommended to check this band out by our friends from Belmont bookings and what a great recommendation it was, this duo are similar to Big Business but with high pitched vocals, very rhythmic and pretty hypnotic in terms of how their set builds, we loved them and fingers crossed they will be joining us for Supersonic.
img_1423Popped in very briefly on our way home to see our buddy Drop The Lime, he was just starting to warm up the party and get the crowd going but we were pretty worn out but this point so headed home after a short while, afterall we had fitted in about 8 bands in one night.
The following  day we started with a couple of meetings with various European agents and then a catch up with Gordon from Relapse Records , exchanged some contacts and ideas for Home Of Metal, as Gordon used to be the US press person for Earache back in the day.

Late afternoon we sheltered from the 80+ degree heat by going to a screening of SWEETHEARTS OF THE PRISON RODEO, a documentary as part of SXSW Film, which follows the journey of female prisoners in Oklahoma state penitentiary who compete in a gladiatorial type rodeo. The film had us gasping in horror, shedding tears and also laughing a truely heart wrenching hour and half.
That evening was the Southern Lord showcase, which we attended after going for dinner at Moonshine Bar & Grill with some of the Bristol music group, we consumed a couple of rather potent Patron based margaritas which set us up for another evening of shows.
img_1430We took Bristol based sound artists Duncan Speakman along with us and also met up with Brian Hickam from The University of Toledo Libraries who is also working towards creating a Heavy Metal archive, was great to have the chance to talk with him about potential links for our Home Of Metal project and building opportunities for the project to become trans atlantic . Brian was sporting one of our Home Of Metal t-shirts!img_1432Southern Lord showcase was a great chance for us to catch with old friends Pelican, we compared pup photos and made sure they weren’t going to get themselves embroiled in any bar room brawls after their heroic involvement in our SXSW showcase with Oxbow in 2007. We arrived just in time to catch Black Cobra, again another duo who make a tremendous racket, heavy as hell! img_1429Followed by a solo acoustic set by Wino of Saint Vitus & The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan fame, which was a little over shadowed by the din of people chatting but was still pretty moving.
img_1436The highlight however was Wolves In The Throne Room, who we’ve had play in Birmingham just recently, they played a ferocious set, and despite the show being in a white tent in what is normally a car park, they still managed to create quite an atmospheric performance with big candles on the side of the stage and loads of dry ice.
img_1459Also managed to pop over the road to Red 7 to catch a few songs by Kylesa before hitting the road for bed.
And still more to come…

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SXSW report part 1

So here is a little run down of what we saw while at SXSW in Austin Texas,  it might be useful to get a bit of background info on the festival which began in 1987. The reason for starting the festival came out of a frustration and isolation that was felt by musicians based in Austin, what with them being located in the middle of Texas they wanted to reach out to a global market and bring business to them. To do that successfully, SXSW needed to appeal to people other than local artists whether they were from Austin, Ft. Worth, Chicago, Toronto, Munich or Tokyo. The music event has grown from 700 professional registrants in 1987 to nearly 12,000 registrants, people now come from all over the world in order to network, check out new bands and to showcase labels.

This is our fourth year at SXSW and we have found it invaluable in terms of finding interesting acts for both our year round programme and also for curating Supersonic Festival, it also gives us the opportunity to meet with agents and labels that we work with face to face. Each year we try and approach our time at SXSW slightly differently in order to have new experiences. Of course this is where we had our showcase with Oxbow in 2007 which turned into a full blown bar room brawl (you can read all about that here).

So here is a little run down of what we did at SXSW Music:
img_1387 Firstly and I guess most importantly was the cupcake van, no festival is complete without some kind of baked delights, this ingenious van was located at convenient places over the course of the week, which meant that I had to try a carrot cake cup cake with cream cheese topping purely as research.
img_1389We went and checked out HR from Bad Brains solo project, having been a big fan of Bad Brains we were curious to see what this was going to be like…unfortunately it was a little dull a bit too dub.

img_0040img_1467This is Flatstock, a huge poster art fair, presented by the American Poster Institute, a truely overwhelming experience when you first enter a huge warehouse type space filled with music related screen prints. Over the years we have purchased many a print, to the point where we no longer have wall space at home. Flatstock features groups such as Burlesque Of North America, Mexican Chocolate Design and Engine House 13.


Teepee records showcase, the highlight was a band called  Black Math Horseman these guys are from Los Angeles and have a female vocalist with a similar vibe to OM in that they are pretty heavy & repetitive, Tee Pee describe them as ambient post-doom.  Also playing were Earthless (who will be at Supersonic this year and feature proloific drummer and skateboarder Mario Rubalcaba, he’s played with Rocket From The Crypt, went on to bang away for the Hot Snakes, was the drummer for hardcore art-punks Clikatat Ikatowi and previously was in the Black Heart Procession.) We first saw Earthless at a Teepee showcase 3 years ago and have been hassling them to play Supersonic ever since, so we’re really excited that they’ll be over in July.
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We were lucky enough to catch the Flower Travellin’ Band and wig out to Endless Boogie at the Knitting Factory showcase, it was a real privilege to witness the antics of the Flower Travellin Band from Japan, they were originally meant to open for the Rolling Stones in 1973 but due to visa issues were not allowed into States, so better late that never, they must have been a really big influence on Acid Mothers Temple.

“Their particular brand of psychedelic rock is delightfully heavy and strange, emphasized by the fact that they have abandoned the electric guitar in favor of the hugely complex, wide-necked sitarla. Vocalist Akira “Joe” Yamanaka’s voice is jarring and alien, but somehow suits the band’s style quite well. I don’t often think of this sound as having thrived across the world in Japan, but FTB’s extensive discography says otherwise.” [JDub Records blog]

img_1402img_1409img_1406More to come…

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Oxes poster artwork by Drew Millward

Have been meaning to draw your attention to this artwork produced by Drew Millward for the Oxes tour which starts in a couple of weeks time, the Birmingham date is at the Hare & Hounds on Friday 24th of October. We love it! You can check out more of his designs on gigposters.com

While on the subject of poster art here are some other exciting examples of artists who produce gig posters that are worth checking out including Seldon Hunt

and Burlesque Of North America whom we discovered at SXSW a few years ago at Flatstock and ended up parting with a fair bit of cash and now a lack of wall space.

Flatstock is co-presented by the American Poster Institute (API) and South by Southwest (SXSW), and displays the works of more than 100 artists from across North America.

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