Meet Glatze…

The stars have aligned once again to bring back a pairing we last saw together in 2009. Yes that’s right folks, GLATZE return to support the one and only MELT BANANA this May 27th at the Rainbow Warehouse, in what can only be described as sweet, sweet déjà vu. Back then this was the first time Sam Underwood (the musical man/loon behind Glatze) had performed at a Capsule event. Since then Sam’s been involved with numerous other Capsule events through his other projects which include Ore, MortonUnderwood &

also If Wet which will be brought along to Supersonic Festival this May.

We caught up with Sam to talk about his upcoming performance with Glatze. See our mini Q & A below. Tickets for this event can be purchased here.

5 years on, what’s it like knowing you’ll be back sharing the stage at a Capsule gig with Melt Banana all over again?

It means a lot to me. I have warm memories of my first encounter as an artist with Capsule and I have been a Melt Banana fan for many moons. Capsule have continued to support me since that day and I can’t wait to dust Glatze off for another outing alongside Melt Banana; for old times’ sake.

Sam, you’re a busy man…you build instruments (MortonUnderwood), play in Ore and also run your own monthly event, If Wet, which will be transported to Supersonic Festival later this May. How do you balance all of these different projects and where does Glatze fit in?

Off the back of my sabbatical I had all these amazing strands I could pursue. For a while I did just that; I just kept throwing them against the wall to see what stuck. That’s hard work though, as I was essentially saying YES to everything. Now I have a clearer idea of what aspects really appeal to me I have started saying NO to some stuff, in order to concentrate my efforts. This makes my life easier and my output more focussed. Glatze is quite distinct in all this, he just lurks on the side-lines waiting for fun opportunities to

play. He’s my light relief.

Image courtesy of Pete Ashton: Taken in 2009 during Glatze’s last performance alongside Melt Banana.

Who are some of your musical (or otherwise) influences?

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!

How do you go about writing a song? Do you jam and figure stuff out that way or is the writing process much more structured?

As Glatze, my music always has half an eye on what the live aspects of it will be. It mainly starts with studio production, although tunes range from fully improvised pieces that are constructed entirely live to heavily produced dancefloor vibes with me just twatting about over the top!

What can people expect from Glatze live?

Glatze is older and wiser now so expect more madcap inventions and theatricalities than ever before, and the usual fun-at-all-costs mentality!

For tickets to see MELT BANANA plus GLATZE and THRILLING HEADGEAR go here.

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Meet THRILLING HEADGEAR…

THRILLING HEADGEAR will support the mighty MELT BANANA this May 27th at the Rainbow Warehouse in Digbeth. We caught up with guitarist and local Brum resident Neil Bailey (Opium Lord, Stinky Wizzleteat) to talk about his new band and what the audience can expect from their upcoming performance. Tickets for the show can be purchased HERE.

THRILLING HEADGEAR are:

Neil Bailey – guitars

John Dixon – drums

Bruce Goodenough – bass

Nathan Coyle – vocals


First up, what’s with the name? We dig it, but we’re curious.
Thrilling Headgear is another Ren and Stimpy-ism. Wizzleteat was a big dumb name because we never wanted to take it too seriously, but we ended up getting all super cereal, so I reckon this is still not super cereal but it’s the attitude you bring that really decides it. So it’s not so big and dumb but still a bit dumb and big.

Neil, you already play in Opium Lord and before that Stinky Wizzleteat. What made you decide to form Thrilling Headgear and what makes this band different? Did you both have a specific sound in mind when you initially started?
After Wizzleteat finished up I text Nathan and Bruce to let them know, they’d put our EP out and I wanted to let them know they might be left with a load of unshiftable units since we wouldn’t be out there promoting them… so Nathan asks if I want to play bass in Opium Lord, and I was really grateful to be asked, playing bass was a nice change of pace and writing with 4 other people instead of just one was a fantastic experience. Really I love playing guitar and writing like I did in Teat but by the end of it I was bitter and angry, all lines of communication between me and John were down, we’d tried living together and it really didn’t work out. But John is one of my best friends, he’s a fantastic drummer and we just needed a bit of time apart to learn to be friends again. Thrilling Headgear is me getting to play with John Dixon again, getting Bruce and Nath involved, libidinous acts of creation, getting hyped off of hype stoked off of stoke. Trying to make noises we like.
Who are some of your musical (or otherwise) influences?
Musically, I think you have to continuously feed yourself good stuff and allow your intuitions to talk. Stuff that’s in there is stuff like Bad Brains, Melvins, Cavity, Floor, ZZ top, Oxes, Black Cobra, Godflesh, Deftones, Funkadelic, you can list bands for days but the page we’re all on is groove. Most of what I buy now is jazz and I listen to radio 3 a lot. Bruce has a hard-on for Electric Electric and other dance-mathy combos, John does a lot of reggae, but we all converge. What I would say is that I think it’s important to read and consume other narrative forms, identify approaches to structure in other media, or just think about stories and how they’re told, because music to me is story-telling. Influence is nothing without critical function. You have to think about why you like what you like.

How do you go about writing a song? Do you jam and figure stuff out that way or is the writing process much more structured?

Writing songs is a bastard, but I love writing songs. Writing a song is like having a baby. Writing songs is like creating a landscape for yourself to explore, but in the end you have to draw just one line from one side of that landscape to the other. Sometimes that landscape is a little plain and unadorned so you have to plant something, sometimes you have to chop back. Sometimes what you thought was a main bit will turn out to be a tiny link, sometimes a tiny link will become a main function. That’s where jamming is good, because John’s drumming is very descriptive and it can carry it’s own. What’s important is to play every day, even if you’re feeling fallow. I write slowly but I’m not in any rush. I want quality. I like things to come together intuitively. Frustration doesn’t do you any good. The attitude you bring to playing is important. Playing music is fun! Functionality is a primary concern. How things function, how things function against each other, in relation to ever other aspect of a song. A song is a mechanism, you just keep tweaking at it till you achieve as economical a transference of meaning as you can get. Something’s done when you can say, “of course it goes like that”. Like there’s no other way it could have been.

What can people expect from Thrilling Headgear live?
John Dixon playing rad. Groovemaster Goodenough rocking out. Haircut 100 thanking everyone and their mum. First steps on the short road to global domination.
You’re supporting Melt Banana, are you psyched?
Yeah we’re stoked. I don’t know how it happened but we’re really, really grateful for the opportunity. Thanks everyone at Capsule you are the best. We got some impetus now to actually be awesome, so we’re going to go and work on being awesome.
For tickets to see MELT BANANA plus GLATZE and THRILLING HEADGEAR go HERE.
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March playlist

March’s playlist brings together tracks from some of the artists performing at Capsule’s upcoming events this Spring.

On April 18th Capsule partners up with purveyors of fine records and good buddies MILQUE & MUHLE to curate an evening of musical activity held across two stages at Hare & Hounds. Topping the main stage are Dutch punk rock legends, THE EX, who are supported by percussion heavy RATTLE & rock experimentalists HEALTH & EFFICIENCY.

The second stage programmed by M+M takes things on a doomier route with GHOLD tipping their hat to the godfathers of sludge whilst continuing to forge their own unique sound. Hardcore will also be well represented on the bill with MOB RULES and BAYONNEBLEEDER both promising to punish ears and minds. Lastly SUMP will deliver their own hybrid of black metal and punk.

Tickets for THE EX on April 18th are available now & grant access to both stages making this one all-nighter you don’t want to miss out on. Buy tickets HERE.

Later on May 27th we welcome back Japan’s unequivocal answer to grindcore-noise rock, MELT BANANA, who are

touring in support of their latest album Fetch. Support comes from sound artist and instrument maker Sam Underwood who returns with GLATZE, his solo outlet for his broader musical endeavours. The line-up is completed with local sonic deviants THRILLING HEADGEAR, born out of the ashes of Stinky Wizzleteat and ready to pummel with their bleeted, transcendent take on punk-rock. Tickets for MELT BANANA can be purchased HERE.

 

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MELT BANANA Peel Session…

Capsule welcome back high-speed Japanese noise rock act MELT BANANA to Birmingham this May 27th [Tickets here]. The band will tour in support of their latest offering and 7th studio album, the well-received ‘Fetch’. With this in mind, we thought we’d look back at the band’s friendship with legendary radio presenter and record producer John Peel.

An early supporter of the band, Peel witnessed Melt Banana’s live performance at Maida Vale in September 1999 and declared it: “Simply one of the most extraordinary performances I have ever seen and ever heard … just mesmerizing, absolutely astonishing.”

Peel also described MB as “one of the world’s great bands” and would go on to feature the band regularly on his radio show. This appreciation resulted in several live Melt Banana recordings for The Peel Sessions. You can listen to one of these extraordinary live sets below in the 2001 Melt Banana Peel Session:

Admiration between the band and Peel was clearly mutual, and after Peel’s death in October 2004 Melt Banana issued the following statement:

“Today is the funeral of Mr.John Peel. For us, he was like Santa Clause. We feel so maybe because of his beard and his big round eyes, but not only because of that, of course. He gave us many things and did many thing for us, and it is difficult for us to express how much we thank him. We don’t know how and when he first found us, but it seemed that he knew about us from the very beginning, like, from our 1st album. He played our music many times on his radio show, and it helped spreading our music all over the world, which is amazing. Every time when we visited U.K. to tour, he had some special events for us. He gave us a opportunity to play real-time-on-air live show at BBC, and another time, he invited audience to the studio for our peel session. Last time when we saw him was when we played a show for the radio one show case in Brighton in 2003. He was smiling. Thanks, Mr.John Peel, for your love to our music. We miss you. MELT-BANANA”

Now performing as a duo, MELT BANANA will be supported by GLATZE and THRILLING HEADGEAR at the Rainbow Warehouse in Digbeth, May 27th. Tickets for this not-to-miss show can be purchased now

from here.

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GLATZE join MELT BANANA

Photo credit: Pete Ashton

Capsule are pleased to announce the addition of GLATZE to our upcoming MELT BANANA show this May 27th, tickets HERE.

Glatze is back! After a brief hiatus the one-man musical loon (Sam Underwood) has been coaxed out to play by the prospect of supporting Melt Banana again, for old times’ sake. Glatze’s first gig for Capsule was this very same support slot, back in 2009.

Expect the usual live improvised electronic mayhem, with just a hint more “mad professor” than “young buck”. He promises to do his very best in support of one of his favourite live acts…

www.glatze.co.uk

Japanese noise-rock innovators MELT BANANA return to Birmingham’s Rainbow Warehouse this May 27th and are supported by Glatze + Thrilling Headgear. This is one show you do not want to miss! Tickets available now from HERE.

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