“Birmingham’s Supersonic Festival occupies an exalted position at the vanguard of the festival circuit. And rightly so. Since its inception over ten years ago, it has maintained a staggeringly focused and intelligent curatorial policy, transcending the music and art worlds to present a programme teeming with invention, audience participation and a certain amount of unpredictability. It’s also a bloody good knees up.”
The Skinny

Folks it’s time to plan your weekend – our timetable is now up

In addition we would recommend the following
Friday
10.30 am – 12 Supersonic Kids Gig at Symphony Hall Foyer with Sarah Kenchington (for unders 10′s and their families)
from 5.30pm Digbeth Dining Club – great selection of street food
Bill Drummond exhibition at Eastside Projects Friday – Saturday, 12–5pm
Descent at Millennium Point
Supersonic Festival – Doors open at 9.00pm – 11.30pm (No Entry after 11.30pm)

Saturday
Birmingham Loves Photography ‘Collective Memory’ talk at Alfie Birds 1-2pm
Supersonic Festival – Doors open at 4.00pm

Sunday
2pm Racket at Stryx with Graham Dunning, Sarah Farmer, Manoli Moriaty , Rosanne Robertson , David Birchall , Debbie Sharp

***Remember***
Cash Points
There is only one cash point on site and they charge for withdrawals but there is one located at Digbeth Coach Station

Food & Drink
Friday:
Gourmet Pizzas in Alfie Birds + Supersonic Tearoom
Supersonic Bar – with Purity Ales + Plantation Rum
Alfie Birds cocktail bar

Saturday:
Gourmet Pizzas in Alfie Birds + Supersonic Tearoom + Mexican Bean + Canoodle (Pan Asian Street food)
Supersonic Bar – with Purity Ales + Plantation Rum
Alfie Birds cocktail bar

Setting off on a UK tour, Melt Banana have decided to share a new video for ‘Lefty Dog (Run Caper Run)’. Yako explains:

“The song title is ‘Lefty Dog (Run Caper Run)’. It is the second music video from our album ‘Fetch’. It was directed by Iroha who does VJ for our shows in Japan sometimes. Like the first video ‘The Hive’ it is very colourful and we like how it looks very much”

See them perform on Tuesday at the Rainbow Warehouse, support from Thrilling Headgear and Glatze
Tickets are available from theticketsellers + Milque and Muhle

Melt-Banana are a noise rock duo (vocalist Yako & guitarist Agarto) hailing from Tokyo, Japan. The twosome are well known for playing extremely fast grindcore and noise music mixed with experimental, electronica and pop-based song structures.

We’ve traced some rather shaky footage captured by a member of the audience from the last time Capsule put on Melt Banana… all the way back in 2008! Were you there? If so, here’s a chance to reminisce ahead of seeing them play again this May 27th at Rainbow Warehouse. Tickets here.

They will be supported once again by Glatze, who also played the 2008 show… so it’s a right little reunion for all involved! Sam Underwood, the man behind Glatze had this to say: “I can’t wait to dust Glatze off for another outing alongside Melt Banana; for old times’ sake”. We also warmly welcome Thrilling Headgear to the bill. Thrilling Headgear features past/present members of Opium Lord & Stinky Wizzleteat. They take influence from Bad Brains, Melvins, Cavity, Floor, ZZ top and much more. But the “the page we’re all on is groove”, says guitarist Neil Bailey. 

Tickets for Melt Banana + Glatze + Thrilling Headgear can be bought here.

Melt Banana – Facebook page

Thrilling Headgear  – Facebook page

Glatze – Website

With just over a week away to this year’s Supersonic Festival ,  we’re super excited to have our new merch arrive – this is our brand new Supersonic Ltd Edtn tea towel – ‘For Curious Audiences’ designed by the very talented David Hand.
For more of our merch check out our shop
There are a handful of tickets left now via theticketsellers.co.uk or via Milque & Muhle

Capsule are partnering with this exciting project as part of the Frontiers Festival.

CALL OUT!!!
We’re looking for participants to take part in A Secret Rose for 100 Guitars by Rhys Chatham – information about the piece, and the most recent performance in California last November, is here. Chatham was a pioneer of No Wave music in New York in the mid/late ‘70s, and from the late ‘80s onwards has been making these large-scale ‘guitar orchestra’ pieces. There’s a Pitchfork review of his work here, also listing some of the many guitarists who’ve been performed in his pieces in the past from Thurston Moore to Modern Lovers’ Ernie Brooks.

We’re planning the first UK performance, for Birmingham Town Hall on 7 June. Rehearsals on 5 & 6 June. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and we have guitarists coming from across the world, from Baltimore and Buenos Aires to Balsall Heath. Alongside Rhys, the section leaders include Seth Olinsky (Akron/Family), Tobin Summerfield (Never Enough Hope, Crush Kill Destroy etc), and David Daniell (San Agustin, collaborator with Fennesz / Tony Buck etc); and the rhythm section has Laurence Hunt (Pram, Modified Toy Orchestra) and Sebastiano Dessaney.

Participation is voluntary for what amounts to a unique gig. You need to be a competent guitarist with at least a rudimentary comprehension of standard musical notation, and be available for rehearsals on the late afternoon / evening of 5 & 6 June, and for the performance on 7 June. The sign-up page is here: http://birmingham-secret-rose.frontporchproductions.org/

Earlier this month we posted Melt Banana‘s cover of Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You‘. Listen to that here.

Melt Banana seem to like the occasional cover (who doesn’t?) and we’ve found Banana-fied versions of songs from Devo, The Damned, The Beach Boys and even Bing Crosby with, you guessed it, White Christmas. But up for your delectation now is their spectacular version of Kraftwerk’s ‘Showroom Dummies‘ off the Krautrockers’ Trans-Europe Express album, see track below.

Get your tickets now to see the weird and wonderfully original Melt Banana. Tickets here! Melt Banana play Digbeth’s Rainbow Warehouse on May 27th with support from…

Glatze  – Glatze is all about attention grabbing, energetic live performances so draws influences from the likes of Henry Rollins, Afrirampo, rave DJs such as Sy and Slipmatt, and of course Melt Banana! Glatze is Sam Underwood‘s alter ego.

Thrilling Headgear – Thrilling Headgear is all about libidinous acts of creation, getting hyped off of hype stoked off of stoke. Features current/ex- members of Stinky Wizzleteat and Opium Lord.

Buy Advance Tickets, cheaper than on the door! That’s extra pennies to spend on merch!

Melt Banana Official

Melt Banana will be with us in just over two weeks! They play May 27th at Rainbow Warehouse, Digbeth… get your advance tickets here.

With drum and bass sections now replaced by sequenced samples, the band’s live sound is more left-field than ever. There aren’t really any bands to compare Melt Banana to, that’s how unique, weird and, frankly, ‘out-there’ they are. The best we can do is attempt to describe their sound. Imagine Tommy-gun style drum beats, ear-piercing riffs and sound effects that range from the chaotic to the hyper-catchy. Ichirou Agata emits sounds from his guitar that seem to defy logic, whilst Yasuko Onuki’s energy and vocal style is something to observe in awe.

Get the idea? Well if not here’s some really recent footage of the Japanese noise-rock duo blasting through 8 songs in the space of  3 minutes!

Supporting Melt Banana are these local noisemakers:

Glatze  – Glatze is all about attention grabbing, energetic live performances so draws influences from the likes of Henry Rollins, Afrirampo, rave DJs such as Sy and Slipmatt, and of course Melt Banana!

Thrilling Headgear – Thrilling Headgear is all about libidinous acts of creation, getting hyped off of hype stoked off of stoke.

Buy Tickets

Melt Banana Official

Listen to MELT BANANA‘s quirky cover of Queen’s classic anthem ‘We Will Rock You‘. It starts off fairly normal, but things get distinctively more Melt Banana-like as the track progresses…

Japanoise at it’s best, don’t miss a rare opportunity to see Melt Banana play this May 27th at the Rainbow Warehouse in Digbeth.

“One of the primary misunderstandings that people who do not listen to extreme metal or punk frequently articulate is that extreme music must be angry and negative. ….  One of the coolest things about Melt-Banana is that the mirth, whimsy, and elation in their music is almost unmistakable, even to people who cannot wrap their minds around extreme music.”  – Benjamin Hedge Olson, PopMatters

Advance tickets are available now from here & will cost you less than on the door on the night. Support comes from THRILLING HEADGEAR and Sam Underwood’s ‘nutjob’ solo project GLATZE.

For more information about all of these acts and to sample tracks read our preview.

Tickets here