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

And what could be more romantic than being in love and making noise music together? Blue Sabbath Black Fiji on stage at Supersonic Festival 2010 – they later had a little kiss on stage…

…you’ll hopefully be getting ready for the first Capsule gig of the year.
16th February sees Kayo Dot + Bilbao Syndrome at Hare and Hounds, Birmingham. Doors at 8pm. Here’s a clip of Kayo Dot on their current tour, from only 2 days ago, a pretty good indicator of what’s to come.

Tickets can be purchased here or at Polar Bear and Swordfish.

On Friday, 11th February Home of Metal will be joining the celebrations at Scruffy Murphys. It’s the rock pub’s 10th Birthday and they’ll be celebrating it in true metal fashion with a night of live doom and stoner metal featuring Birmingham’s very own Sally.

We’ll be bringing along photographer Steve Gerrard who’ll be taking your portraits to contribute to the ongoing collection of fan photos, that could feature in one of our Home of Metal exhibitions.

See you all there!

Scruffy Murphy’s, Newton Street, Dale End, Birmingham, B4 7LN

The Quietus recently interview Kevin Martin and he had lots of lovely things to say about his time at Supersonic last year, and about the festival in general – follow the link to read more.

Kevin Martin in The Quietus:

In a weird sort of way Supersonic were responsible for me rethinking what I wanted to do with King Midas Sound. I’d seen Corrupted play a year or two before and they helped me remember the roots of where I’d come from musically…To be honest we just love the festival. It’s an extremely positive experience to just wander around and check out all the other bands.

King Midas Sound live at Supersonic 2010