Image taken from http://dachshundlove.blogspot.com/

RIP Elizabeth Taylor, the actor best known for her roles in Cleopatra, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and National Velvet died of heart failure aged 79

…another excellent event coming up at Flatpack Festival. This Thursday 25th March at IKON Eastside, Flatpack will be screening ‘We Don’t Care About Music Anyway’, a portrait of the Japanese experimental music scene with a performance from Sakamoto Hiromichi, an intriguing cellist who also uses voice, musical saw and an array of instruments to craft beautiful, and always surprising, pieces. I’m personally hugely excited, having discovered him through his collaborations with sound artist Haco.

Tickets are available here, and there will also be opportunities to donate to the Red Cross at the event in the wake of recent events in Japan.

Don’t forget on Saturday 26th March Home of Metal will be screening ‘In Bed with Chris Needham’ at IKON Eastside, tickets for that event are available here

…than with Home of Metal?

If you’re around the Black Country, you may have seen Home of Metal splashed all over your buses, metro stations and more, all promoting our Heavy Metal dedicated day on Saturday 26th March.

We’re starting off at The Public, West Brom where we’re inviting Heavy Metal fans to bring along their memorabilia to add to our digital archive, anything from t-shirts, ticket stubs, fanzines and records are all invaluable to the project!

Johnny Doom will be hosting the event, interviewing cult metal hero Krusher (former ‘Raw Power’ presenter and Kerrang! art director) who will be talking about some of the Black Sabbath and Monsters of Rock artwork he has created.

Steve Gerrard will be giving a masterlass in music photography, showing you how to get the perfect live shot. Please note that this class is now full.

Steve has been an accredited photographer for bands such as Radiohead, Metallica, Kiss, Muse, Nine Inch Nails, Iron Maiden, The Sex Pistols, Bon Jovi and Melvins. As part of the Home of Metal open day he will be giving one lucky unsigned band a free photoshoot!

We’ll also be screening the first and only Led Zeppelin feature film  ‘Song Remains the Same’ – along with (sometimes bizarre) dream sequences the film sees the band storm through ‘Stairway to Heaven’, ‘Black Dog’, ‘Heartbreaker’ and the rest, to thunderous effect.

Birmingham based artists Juneau Projects will be in attendance on the day to help you create your very own  electronic cardboard instrument. Use cardboard to build your own Telecaster or Flying V, drumkit, keyboard or invent your own instrument. Then add some simple electronics to trigger sound samples, take to the stage, dress up and play!

It’ll be a great day, and it’s all FREE – Home of Metal Open Day, The Public, 11am-4pm

And that’s not all as in the evening we’re hooking up with Flatpack Festival and The Quietus to bring you a very exciting screening of ‘In Bed with Chris Needham’ at IKON Eastside

“The plot: Chris Needham, a 17 year-old Thrash Metal fan from Loughbrough who has been absolutely lacerated by the puberty stick, is about to play his first gig with his band, Manslaughter. The problem is, they’re complete rammel. Between their first painful attempts to stand musically upright and their debut gig, Chris takes the time to defend Metal and Youth, unleashes torrents of adolescent venom upon the Green movement, ‘old bastards’, vegetarians, ‘Chart Music’, organised religion, teachers, and Neighbours, conducts a relationship with his girlfriend in excruciating silence, gets hassled by Mr Taggart and His Amazing Shirt, and goes fishing.”
– Al Needham, Leftlion

‘In Bed with Chris Needham’, IKON Eastside, 8.30pm, tickets from HERE

For up to date news and to contribute to the archive go to http://www.homeofmetal.com/

Capsule is delighted to announce they have been awarded a grant of £60,000 over two years from Paul Hamlyn Foundation. The award will be used toward capacity and organisational development in particular the successful delivery of forthcoming projects Home of Metal and Supersonic 2011, and the development of a five year plan.

We are really grateful to the Paul Hamlyn Foundation for recognising the contribution we are making to the region and further a-field. The grant will be of enormous benefit to Capsule  and particularly help secure our future during these uncertain times. It’s wonderful to get recognition from such a prestigious organisation.

The Paul Hamlyn Foundation Arts programme supports the development and dissemination of new ideas to increase people’s experience, enjoyment and involvement in the arts.

The bad news is that the Blood Ceremony + Ghost show, scheduled for 30th April has been cancelled. Here is the statement from the Elastic Artists –

“We are extremely sorry to announce that we have been forced to cancel
Blood Ceremony in Birmingham and the rest of the band’s scheduled UK
dates. This is due to a conflict in schedule with Ghost who had been due to
tour as a package with Blood Ceremony. We have tried everything we
possibly could to keep the shows on but unfortunately it has not been
possible owing to the complex logistics involved. Blood Ceremony will
be returning to the UK in the Summer of 2011”

A real shame. If you already bought your tickets online, theticketsellers will contact you regarding a refund.

But keep the date in your diary as we’re planning a Capsule party of some great Brum bands – you can’t hold back the grannies!

The good news is that Emeralds will be coming to Birmingham on 22nd May with some fine local support from Iron Fist of the Sun and Mr Underwood. Should be a great show. Tickets are available here

Obviously, you don’t need to wait til then to see some excellent live music as the wonderful WOODS will be headlining the next Capsule show along with Spectrals and The Doozer. A night of lo-fi psych folk, I for one am most looking forward to

On 26th March, at The Public, as part of Home of Metal’s open day, photographer Steve Gerrard is offering 15 lucky people the chance of attending a masterclass. This is an opportunity not to be missed by any budding band photographer!

Steve Gerard has been an accredited photographer for bands such as Radiohead, Metallica, Kiss, Muse, Nine Inch Nails, Iron Maiden, The Sex Pistols, Bon Jovi and Kings Of Leon. His work has been published in magazines including Rolling Stone, Kerrang!, NME, Terrorizer, Metal Hammer and Rock Sound.

The masterclass will aim to cover:

* Music and photography, a brief history
* The easy way to becoming a music photographer
* Passes and how to get them
* Equipment
* Technique
* Professionalism & Etiquette
* The business of music photography
* Shooting Offstage
* Lighting – How Steve uses natural light, off camera flash and simple, portable lighting set-ups.

To guarantee your spot on the day, call The Public on 0121 533 7161 to book.

Thanks to those who came down to Hare and Hounds last night for the Kayo Dot show – a pretty impressive percussive close to the set i’m sure you’ll agree (tin cans and buckets galore!). Piccies to come soon.

The next Capsule show will be a psych folk freak out with three stellar bands who bridge psychedelia with more pop sensibilities.

Woods have been gathering momentum since 2006 with their spooky campfire folk and noisey interludes.

Spectrals’ equal love for 60s girl groups and distorted tape collages creates a fine blend of guitar pop

The Doozer was profiled in last month’s Wire, as a key player in the ‘Alternative Cambridge’ scene, full of feaky, underground experimentation. His vocal work has been likened to Syd Barrett and Thurston Moore is a fan!

Home of Metal have teamed up with photographer Steve Gerrard to offer an unsigned band the chance of winning a free Band Photoshoot!
Steve has been an accredited photographer for bands such as Radiohead, Metallica, Kiss, Muse, Nine Inch Nails, Iron Maiden, The Sex Pistols, Bon Jovi and Kings Of Leon. His work has been published in magazines including Rolling Stone, Kerrang!, NME, Terrorizer, Metal Hammer and Rock Sound.

You could win your band a variety of great portraits to help you stand out from the crowd.

To be in with a chance of being photographed by Steve, all you have to do is tell us in less than 200 words: who your local West Midlands music hero is an why?

Email the answer along with the name of your band, location and contact phone number to [email protected]

Closing date for entries is 14th March.

The competition coincides with our Home of Metal open day at The Public on March 26th. Fans of all ages are invited to bring along their memorabilia and stories to be recorded for the digital archive. Home Of Metal is looking for everything from concert tickets to photographs, badges, album covers, t-shirts and flyers relating to Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Diamond Head, Magnum and Napalm Death.

Hosted by Kerrang! Radio DJ Johnny Doom who will be talking to former ‘Raw Power’ presenter, Ozzfest compere and all round metal expert Krusher. In addition Juneau Projects will be showing you how you can make your very own DIY guitar + loads of rockin fun family activities!

Free event all ages welcome 11am – 4pm
http://www.thepublic.com