Xhibition

A day of exhibition and performance to challenge, explore and celebrate Moseley

Saturday May 9th - in various venues in and around Moseley Village - exhibitions of art from Midday, with musical programmes in the evening and  physical theatre performances and installations in and around the area.

Since our debut event in July 2006, the creative network Project X Presents has produced a series of live events fusing many differing strands of creative activity into one cohesive whole - these unique events being dubbed “omnimedia experiences”. 

For Xhibition, we turn the emphasis towards the identity of a place and to the exhibition of static, physical art - although being the multi-faceted group we are, we couldn’t resist adding musical and theatrical performance into the mix.

And so we will make an exhibition of ourselves in a place with the reputation as Birmingham’s beating cultural heart - Moseley Village.  We will celebrate the rich vibrancy of Moseley whilst also questioning whether its artistic reputation is fully deserved.   Is it still a creative, bohemian hotbed, or has it become province of commuters, shoppers and late night drinkers looking for an alternative Broad Street?

We offer an exhibition of a number of local artists featuring new work from legendary cartoonist Hunt Emerson, a new photographic composition from our favourite of the many talented local photographers - Matt Murtagh, plus fine art from Mandy Kasafir, Nisha Grover, Gabriella Gardosi, Matt Robinson and a number of Project X regulars alongside interactive installations from our inhouse design team, Object X.

Entry to everything is FREE except the evenings programme Upstairs at The Cross which is £5 on the door.

The next Stupid Underground takes place on Easter Bank Holiday Saturday, is also a marquee event and will be FREE before 11.30pm.

Tickets for 2manydjs on Friday 13^th March and any Custard Factory event are available from the following places;

Online: www.theticketsellers.co.uk

24 hour phone line: 0844 870 0000

In person from the new Ticket Sellers box office at The Custard Factory

For more info go to www.factoryclub.co.uk or call 07852 178 159

Friday 13^th March 2009

22:00 – 05:00

The Custard Factory

Gibb Street, Birmingham, B9 4AA

Heducation 8th Birthday Party - 24th January @ The Custard Factory

Hope you can join us to celebrate eight years of Heducation. This last year, in particular, has been unbelievable for us, with guests including Public Enemy, Sugarhill Gang, MC Black Thought from The Roots, Plastic Little, DJ Vadim, and three DMC World Champions – DJ Rafik, DJ Switch & Cutmaster Swift.

We want to say thanks to all those who have supported us over the last 8 years. including everyone who`s been down to the events, and also to all the amazing local talent, and hard-working residents.

We are conscious that recent parties have been a bit more expensive than normal, so we wanted to even the balance, and throw a free one. Download free invites from:
JPG - http://www.mylz.co.uk/heducation/flyers/8thBdayEFlyer.jpg
PDF - http://www.mylz.co.uk/heducation/flyers/8thBdayEFlyerPrint.pdf

We’re gonna get back to our roots, and have invited our favourite resident DJs from over the years.

In The Dancefloor: Party Hip Hop, Heavyweight Funk & Block Rockin Breaks

MYLZ
ADIOS
CRO
STX
COLA
MR BUSY
THE DOCTOR

In the bar: Chill Out - Reggae, Dub, Spoken Word, Beats & Breaks, Soul, Funk

NYE @ the Custard Factory

This is quite simply, one of the biggest New Years Eve parties in the country.

Considered by many to be the most current and high profile NYE show ever at the Custard Factory, this line up is simply the crème-de-la-crème of electronic music.

Headlining in the lakeside marquee are the awesome 2manydjs, a firm favourite at the Custard Factory – in fact they sold more tickets for their last show in Birmingham than they did anywhere else in the country.

2manydjs changed the face of dance music with the release of their first compilation album back in 2003. Their albums and remixes cross the borders between indie, Rock’n’Roll, R&B, and turn it all into one big rave. Expect Dolly Parton rubbing shoulders with Destiny’s Child, ZZ Top blending into The Klaxons and massive recent remixes of MGMT and The Chemical Brothers.
2manyDJs are the biggest name in electronic music. Everybody wants them on their remixes. Everybody wants them on their flyers. And we’ve got them on New Years Eve!

We’re also proud to present Simian Mobile Disco in the Marquee for what is going to be the biggest night of the year. Since the massive success of ‘We Are Your Friends’ they’ve cemented themselves as the new stars of the electro scene, smashing up dance floors around the world with a sublime mix of their own remixes and massive floor fillers.

Simian Mobile Disco are without doubt one of the hottest names at the moment, and they’ll be dancing behind the decks just as hard as the crowd in front of them. When they played here earlier this year, they pulled in over 3000 people, so they can’t wait to play again on NYE.

Meanwhile, in the Factory Club, Stupid Underground will be taking control. Stupid Underground have become renowned for putting on some of the biggest free parties the city has ever seen and are fronted by resident DJ Get Carter. The Plump DJs blend of storming broken beats will force the dance floor into submission. They’ve played at Custard several times now and have become solid Factory favourites.  This year has been a good one for The Plumps, having picked up ‘Best Producer’ and ‘Best Single’ at the International Breakbeat awards, but they’ll be leaving those on the mantelpiece at home. The only thing on their mind will be blowing the crowd out of their minds.

The third room of music will take place in a space that even Custard Factory diehards may be unaware of known as The Gallery. Deuce Soundsystem hosted this fresh warehouse space for The Factory 13th Birthday back in November and they will be back in there again on New Years Eve only this time they will be joined by new kids on the block “We’re Not Famous”. Expect underground house & minimal techno with some fidget and bassline house thrown in for good measure.

There will also be a street shut down with cocktail bars & food stalls. Extra seating will be available in The Kitchen and The Old Library.

Finally if you really want to live it up there are a limited number of VIP tickets available for just £45. This will gain you access to the exclusive VIP area which will have a private bar & comfortable seating. This will also be where the DJs will be hanging out before and after their sets.

WEDNESDAY 31ST DECEMBER 2008/09
CUSTARD FACTORY
GIBB STREET
DIGBETH
BIRMINGHAM
B9 4AA

TIMES: 9PM-6AM
INFO: 07852 178 159
EMAIL: steve@factoryevents.co.uk

TICKET PRICES:
EARLY BIRDS £25 / £20 NUS
GENERAL TICKETS £32.50 / £27.50 NUS
MORE ON THE DOOR
VIP TICKETS £45
INCLUDES QUEUE JUMP ENTRANCE,
EXCLUSIVE AREA WITH PRIVATE BAR, COMFY SEATING AND AMBIENT LIGHTING

CREDIT CARD HOTLINE 0844 870 0000
ONLINE TICKETS: www.theticketsellers.co.uk
OUTLETS:
SWORDFISH RECORDS 0121 633 4859
OLD SKOOL DAZE (SELLY OAK) 0121 472 0777
JIBBERING RECORDS (MOSELEY) 0121 449 4551
SMOKIN VINYL (ERDINGTON) 0121 373 7051

Join our community
Find us on Facebook
www.dontstayin.com/parties/factory-regulars
www.myspace.com/custardfactory
www.factoryevents.co.uk

Sunday evening rock legend Tony Iommi was awarded his star on Birmingham’s answer to the walk of fame, broad street’s walk of stars. Despite horrendous weather conditions, fans gathered to see the deputy lord mayor Randal Brew award Iommi his star. The founding member of legendary rock band Black Sabbath is quoted as saying “It’s great – it’s really an honour – I’m really proud of it … I was shocked! It’s so nice to have things like that! I’ve got one out in LA but I’m not from LA – It’s so nice being recognised in your home town”. Still remaining grounded and close to his roots this Grammy award winner continues to live in Aston where he grew up. Despite being such an idol to many people across the world (myself included), Iommi is very  down to earth and humbling.

Words and Photography : © Crystal Hughes

17th October 2008 : Hospitality, Valve & Andy C @ Custard Factory

With such a stupid line up at the Custard Factory on Friday it was
bound to be heaving and the music was bound to be heavy. With the soul
shaking, ear drum destroying Valve sound system powering the pool,
Hospital records hosting the Med bar and Eardrum Dubstep in room 3
things really did go off.

I arrived shortly after the doors opened at 10:30 to avoid any
ridiculous queuing and chilled in the Kitchen for an hour or so until
Dillinja was on in the pool at 11. As 11 o’clock came there was still
plenty of room in the pool for some stupid skanking and this is what
proceeded. Dillinja came with the bangers, plenty of familiar tunes
and couple of new surprises in there as well, Shining a strong
favourite for me!

Midnight brought “the executioner” Andy C, renowned as the best drum n
bass DJ for his unbelievable ability to mix, he was down for a two
hour set with partner in crime MC GQ> Personally I’ve lost a bit of
faith in Andy over the past year finding his two hour sets a little
boring, obviously they still have that amazing mixing but his
selection just seems to be letting him down and the same old tunes and
same old Ram classics just seem to be coming out the bag.. the crowd
thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it though. Don’t get me wrong there
were some highlights including Logistics - Together and Chase & Status
- Smash TV but other than that nothing remarkable.

After than dipping into the Med Bar to catch a bit of Nu Tone, playing
a little differently to the normal Hospital stuff, including some
disgusting Dubstep-esq tune??

Hopped over to the Kitchen to catch Jason X’s debut set, a purely cdj
set raised my eye brows at least, but he did well dropping some
serious bangers and kept the room bubbling. The next few hours were
really a wait for Plastician at four. Time passed slowly with Lemon D
on the Valve doing nothing special followed by Bryan G who decided to
bring UNCZ to the party which was definitely not a good look.

After chilling with Blaise, Grace and JP inside for a bit, 4 o’clock
came and went. Finally at 4:30 Plastician stepped up and absolutely
smashed through the next hour, working through all the familiar hits
from his Rinse show only 10x’s better live and with the added support
of SP:MC. Tune after Tune I skanked so hard to Jakes/Joker - 3k Lane,
Nero - This Way and plenty of others until Plastician finally brought
the curtain down with Japan and Intensive Snare. By then the vocal
support had switched to Stamina MC now and the “are you stupid in the
face” lyruc echoed around the arena a MASSIVE MASSIVE set from
Plastician.

My night was done, I’d seen everyone I wanted to see so we jammed for
a bit with Emile in the kitchen then headed home, Another huge night
from Broken Minds and Breakthru.

Words By Witts (bntl.co.uk)

Photos By Alina Ha

UltraExcentric Warehouse & Garden Rave Ft. Paolo Mojo, Fergie, Tim Sheridan, Deepgroove, Gavyn Mytchell, Ben Nott @Rainbow Warehouse Nov 22- Bham 9-6am

This is the big one…

If you have not yet been to the Rainbow Warehouse then this is a must, the venue is amazing and this line up is the biggest we have done in a long time, this will be mental…

Ultra+ & Excentric present

“ULTRAEXCENTRIC”
A spectacular event of mammoth proportions!

(more…)

9th October 2008

Wax:On @ The Rainbow Warehouse

Wax:On have been have been running successful nights in their hometown of Newcastle, as well as Leeds for sometime now. MixMag were nice enough to award them 2nd best nightclub in Britain in 2006, beaten only by the mighty Fabric (London).

It’s about time then, that they brought some of this magic to Birmingham, and with a huge line up of quality and genuinely “Live” acts booked, there was no doubt that this launch was going to be a big one.

Headling the night were the mighty Late of The Pier, and with recent NME front cover features, are certainly a band in the spotlight at the moment. No surprise also then, that Late of the Pier’s producer, Erol Alkan was in tow to provided Dj support (and who knows, maybe to be fiddling all the EQ’s behind the desk?).

This in its own would surely be enough of a line up to ensure a mob of neo spangled ravers raising the roof all night, raising some dust whilst sporting the most retro of all Nike High Tops. All that’s left to do is chuck in a few a few hardworking resident Dj’s to provide some fill before the main acts? Not likely, as this really was a “presents..” night worthy of the description. In support we had such fine acts as Midnight Juggernauts, Michachu, Simon Bookish and Wax:On residents People Get Real.

In essence the night ran more like a miniature festival, with 4 quality full live acts on the main stage in the warehouse. The stage was covered in a mass of undulating wires, synths, miniKorgs, guitars, drums, odd boxes with many a blinking light, and of course the sort of uber stylish hip ladies and gents (artists) that would make even the most hardened Hoxton resident feel like he’s not making an effort.

I get the feeling the set times were jiggled around a bit for various technical reasons, as Erol Alkans set, which was slipped in just before Late of the Pier graced the stage at a very *yawn isn’t it bedtime?* 2:30am, seemed a little out of place.

The crowd were up for it though, and both Midnight Juggernauts and Micachu were very well received. Late of The Pier were a climatic end to an action packed night, and despite following on from very strong support sets, still managed to set themselves apart and set the crowd alight. Plenty of people knew every single word of every song played and were happy to sing along, which shows a pretty dedicated fanbase.

In the beach garden area of the rainbow warehouse, Bigger than Barry played host throughout the night. I couldn’t quite grasp the style of things out there, as the music seemed to be going for an all round party medley than focusing on any particular style. Nevertheless, the area is always a very welcome break for chilling out and relaxing under the arches, and is a real winning feature of the club.

Wax:On will be back in Birmingham in the new year, next time for something a little more Dj / Nightclub orientated. They’ve made a big splash in Birmingham, and we really can’t wait for the next one!

Words / Photography :: Tom Horton

Scratch Club presents DJ Q Bert (13/09/08)

DJ Q Bert is widely regarded as the best DJ in the world, with 4 world DMC championships, an entry to the Technics DJ hall of fame and his work with Vestax to develop his own turntable; it’s easy to see why.

Considering these credentials it was an absolute blessing for the Scratch Club guys to bring him to the Rainbow Warehouse for one of two UK dates this year. With the other appearance being in the mighty Fabric in London, this night was always set to be huge.

From the word go it was obvious that the Birmingham Hip-Hop heads were out in force for this night, all sporting a little cheeky grin. With the line-up of support looking magical, these smiles could only continue to creep up their faces.

The venue was filling up nicely with Scratch Club residents holding the fort in The Beach and The Warehouse. Three times UK DMC Champion DJ Switch took to the stage, his consistently energetic and amazing turntable wizardry, really took the night up a level. The ever charismatic flow of Redbeard maintained the vibe, whilst the stunning stage presence and unison of energy from the Playaz Cliq boys had every head nodding in the place, with the perfect set to get the crowd hyped for DJ Q-Bert. The “shamanic beatbox explorer” MC Xander impressed the crowds with his massively dynamic, mind blowing beat box skills.

Now it was time for the man himself, DJ Q-Bert, and it really doesn’t matter how much footage you see of this guy, when he is there in front of you it’s a whole new level. Props are due to MC Kingpin who did an absolutely fantastic job of keeping the crowd hanging off the rafters, whilst Q-Bert gave us a lesson on all things turntable. He cut, juggled, drummed and crabbed his way through an amazing array of records, whilst the structure of the set was constantly picking up pace. This guy performs skills of the highest caliber with inch perfect precision, whilst smiling for a camera, ridiculous. Big up to Q-Bert for an extremely special set.

DJ Q Bert was followed by the amazing Mc Mash Clan who really boosted the tempo with an upfront and meticulous blend of d’n'b, breaks, dubstep, techno, hardcore, electro, gabba, jungle, hip hop, reggae, breakcore and psytrance.

Props are also due to everyone involved in making this night happen and a massive shout to Bass6 for doing a wonderful job of hosting the night. Everyone in the perfect Hip-Hop venue felt the full force of the Birmingham Hip-Hop scene, and anyone who had lost faith in the scene had their confidence more than fully restored. This night has set the bar very high for things to come. Watch out Birmingham!

Words: Josh Thomas
Photography: Tom Horton

You can see the rest of Tom’s photos from this night over here: Photos of Dj Qbert, Rainbow Warehouse