…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/

Home of Metal is collaborating with Flatpack Festival to bring a very special screening to this year’s edition of the prestigious film festival. On Saturday 26th March, ‘In Bed with Chris Needham’ will be screened at IKON Eastside, followed by a Q&A with Chris Needham himself.

‘In Bed with Chris Needham’ follows a 17 year old thrash fan as he about to embark on his band’s debut gig. Full of quotable lines, its a fantastic insight into teenage fan-dom and is, of course, a testament to the power of Heavy Metal. Unscreened for two decades, this will be a very special event.

20:30 – 23:00 Sat 26th March 2011
Screening : £6.50 Tickets from HERE

In 2009, Home of Metal brought the Led Zeppelin classic ‘Song Remains the Same’ to Flatpack Festival – if you missed it (or just really need to see it again) we’ll be showing it earlier that day at our Home of Metal Open Day at The Public, West Brom. So come along and make a day if it!

Flatpack Festival 2011 programme is now online!