What's On In Brum? - Your guide to what's on in Birmingham?

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

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

Putting the “Art“ in “Party“
(Project X Presents - 13th September at “Busk“)

In a world full of flyers swirling past our eyes and ears like dollar bills on a bad game show, these cardboard diplomats claiming to offer “an eclectic range of music”, turn out to be, more often than not, mere cool-kid propaganda. Stagnant club nights trying to pull a new crowd with a DJ with a big record collection and some nice words. Sometimes, however, we are lucky enough to pull out a golden ticket in amongst the small change.

Enter Project X.

It is not a club night. It is an event. Something to put into the calendar next to Auntie Maud’s birthday and your dental appointment (for those of us who can still afford to have their teeth looked after). Project X does not commit to one style of music. It does not project a single image of itself. It has no number. In its own words, it is an “Omnimedia experience”, and it certainly has a transcendental quality.

I have noticed that where there is an interest in getting underground talent onstage, professionalism often gets sacrificed. Saturday night, however, was supremely smooth in its execution, implementing a brilliant set up consisting of 2 adjacent stages, allowing acts to flow truly seamlessly, often leading into each other in overlap.

With a dense line-up, it was difficult to see everyone, but there were a few eclectic treats that stood out for me. Firstly, local literary lunatics Wrote Under took the stage early on in the night and gave a varied selection of words, from excellent spoken word from Louis Campbell to stream of consciousness strangeness from Jimmy Fantastic, all wrapped up by Birmingham poetry mascot, Big Bren.

Shana Tova provided a balanced combination twixt raucous flair and strong pop sensibilities with catchy indie tunes that make you nod your head before your neck knows what it‘s doing. I noted in particular some brilliant lyrical gems in amongst the often deceptively sweet riffs.

Aa’shiq al Rasul blew me away with their multilingual meditations and I could tell from looking at the audience, that the on-stage trance of the musicians was contagious. It was a genuinely beautiful experience and the use of Urdu and Arabic was fascinating.

Twice Perrier award nominee and Project X regular, Reginald D Hunter, who till now I had not had the pleasure of witnessing, literally gave me a side stitch I laughed so continuously. His rapport with the crowd is brilliant and though he truly owns the stage from the moment he gets up there, his hilarity extends to the rest of reality as a chat in the smoking area with him proved, as he continued to force a smile into my cheeks which were still hurting from his set. Clearly success at the fringe and a few appearances on “Have I Got News For You” have not affected his ego.
Hailing from West-Brom, Cellardoor pumped the speakers full of quality atmospheric post-rock. I am sure their sound takes inspiration from forms of hypnosis, and with a theme of “digital dystopia”, perhaps this feeling was intended as a mind altering antidote to the subliminal messaging we receive through the many screens we use each day.

Pianist Richard Batsford mesmerised the audience with beautiful arpeggiated soundscapes reminiscent of Rick Wakeman’s later solo work. What really stole the show, however, was an accompanying piece of expressive dance which I found genuinely touching. Beginning with a single dancer, later joined by a second, they told a passionate narrative of 2 lovers through a combination of balletic, contemporary and abstract movement in a confined space no greater that 3 metres by 2. Sadly I have no recollection of their names being announced, so cannot credit their impressive performance.

Project X draws a crowd receptive to beauty from any background. As a member of the audience, you feel like a neuron in a collective brain. Indeed, every person I stopped to talk to was creatively active in some form or other, be it a gigging musician, club promoter, studying photographer or bedroom poet.  Project X is the world wide web of synapses that connect these creative energies. The wires that criss and cross between minds and provide a platform for communal innovation.

A dreamlike state of mind is induced by the experience of being at Project X (influenced greatly by the futuristic decor and fantastic performance art troupe “Object X”, who admirably never once came out of their cyborg characters), but then you stand back and realise the truly awesome degree of effort and meticulous preparation that goes into such a production. It goes without saying that Project X is a non-profit organisation, and it is clear that every penny that is made goes straight back into making the next event even more impressive.

The Flyer for this Project X claimed “an unforgettable night”, and were it not for having experienced the quality of previous events under the same banner, I would most likely scoff at the seemingly premature confidence, yet now that I stand on the other side of the weekend, I think it is fair to allow the organisers a great deal of confidence. Hell! Let them have a little smugness too for having pulled off such a happening quite so flawlessly. Past Project X events have also been impressive and interesting, but this “Digital Dystopia” I think marks a real fruition of collective efforts that deserves all the praise it gets.

Aside from blowing people’s minds and keeping them greatly entertained, the true success in Project X is in turning up the volume on the crème de la crème of the Birmingham underground and giving me that feeling that hasn’t been dared for a while: being proud of Birmingham (gasp!). Yes, I said it, and maybe it’s about time you did too.

Words: Dominik Kai Brotherton
Photography: Alina Ha

9th August 2008 Ultra+ with Dan Ghenacia & Deepchild (live)

It had been a wet week in August, and everyone on the street looks depressed. Maybe things will dry up for Saturday, and we can break out the BBQ, crack open a can and try to recoup some of our lost summer with a night of fun at the Custard Factory?

However the rain was relentless, and even the thought of going outside to get such essentials as bread and bog roll seemed like things we could put off forever. What is it with British weather, or more to the point, what is it with our hope that it’s going to ever turn out nice?

Thank goodness then, that Ultra+ teamed up with Bristol based Empathy on the 9th August to battle through the dismal rain and bring some super summer vibes to the Custard Factory.

Once again Ultra+ transformed the rather dull interior of the Factory club into and an all singing all dancing light and laser show, with sparkled silver drapes running down the length either side. The center piece being the now trade mark appearance of Shiela and her now over protective boyfriend hanging from the ceiling - who watch over ravers, rather like cupid gone wrong.

Ultra+ regulars Steve Carter, Tanner Jarvis and Ben Nott did a great job of warming up the crowd in the main room, building up some great energy. By the time Ben span his last track and unplugged his headphones, the crowd were eager for headliner, Parisian king of techno, Dan Ghenacia to take to the decks and take them off into a world of luscious minimal techno.

Unfortunately things never really kicked off for Dan Ghenacia, and the crowd, now feeling rather frustrated, went in search of something else they could splurge their hours of built up groove all over. By the time Deepchild plugged in his array of exciting midi controllers and flashing boxes, there was not much left for him to impress - which is a shame, because I really do think he has a lot to offer.

Thankfully the people from Empathy were not going to let anyone down, and the outside pool mezzanine area soon became the focus point of the night. Hidden through banks of thick thick smoke, was a great lump of people dancing to the sounds of Empathy’s residents, with Jim Rivers and Stuart Wilkinson both providing top quality sets.

Some respect should be given to all the people who braved the rain and got their legs down on the night. The weather did put a bit of a dampener on an otherwise faultless night.

Ultra+ is returning to the Factory in October, so keep ‘em peeled!

Words / Photography Tom Horton

Butterfly Catchers
Doin’ Time (Self Released EP)

The songs on this record are lovingly crafted, beautifully arranged and played and sound consumately professional.
However there is something missing which makes it hard for Butterfly Catchers to really engage me. Their sound is intimate
and earthy, basically acoustic pop with some touches of strings and laidback percussion. The eponymous track, ‘Doin Time’,
is the best, but the band never really get out of first gear. Rather than delicate, lush and compelling, they come across as a
bit bland, like unplugged by numbers. Like an even more laid back Corrs. Vocalist, Melissa, has a lovely voice, but the lyrics are a bit pedestrian and add nothing new to her time honoured tales of lost love. The band won a Birmingham Music Award for ‘Best Unplugged
Act’ so they must be doing something right, but they don’t do it for me.

Adam Moffatt

ArnoCorps  Scruffy Murphys   13 July 2008

Just like The A Team, the five members of ArnoCorps went AWOL from their unit in the Austrian Army. They now roam the land, righting wrongs and inspiring the masses with musical interpretations of ancient Austrian folk tales. Such stories as ‘Terminator’, ‘Predator’ and ‘Total Recall’ have for too long been exploited for commercial gain by the Hollywood film industry and a certain unscrupulous actor. ArnoCorps are taking them back for the masses, touring the world and elsewhere to promote Austrian culture and the action adventure lifestyle. Audiences have been known to leave their shows with increased muscle mass, self belief and discipline and great big smiles on their faces.

But seriously…the concept behind ArnoCorps is nice, but until you see them live it is hard to understand how good they actually are. Yes, they might be a one trick pony, playing rock songs inspired by a string of (whisper it) Schwarzenegger’s gloriously and ridiculously macho action films, but this is one goddamn BALLSY pony. If you have a sense of humour and an appreciation of such films then you’ll love ArnoCorps. Their live show is absolutely bang on. The energy they give off is really insane, especially what with this being the last show of ArnoCorps’ British tour. An epic jaunt which took in London, Sheffield, Northampton, Manchester and Irish dates in Galway and Belfast, ArnoCorps ended up in Brum for a performance which seemed more like one massive end of tour party than a gig as such. Scruffy Murphys is a suitably rough and ready venue, and its beer soaked basement is rammed full of fans in camo facepaint and helmets. There were literally people hanging from rafters.

The feeling from the crowd is one of real devotion, like a football match where everyone’s supporting the same team. You’ll be familiar with such an atmosphere if you’ve been to any power metal gigs by bands such as DragonForce. In fact there is a bit of a similarity in the audience. Right from the off the crowd are eating out of vocalist Holzfeur’s gloved hand. This guy is a great performer who interacts constantly with the punters, fuelling the fires of their devotion and urging them onto greater heroic deeds. His between song banter is priceless, at one point inviting the fans to tell him “what is best in life?”, which naturally elicits the response “to crush your enemies, to see them driven before you and to hear the lamentations of the women”. In the middle of ‘Running Man’ the band bring things down to a rock steady beat whilst Holzfeur gets everyone running on the spot and his bandmate, bassist Toten Adler indulges in a spot of crowd surfing. Holzfeur also proves he has no truck with fans invading the stage, as he bodyslams one hapless guy who tries it. Said fan is launched about ten feet into the crowd, landing on his head. He gets up with a massive grin on his face. Perhaps his helmet protected him.

After a run through of all their classics there is a lull in the action. Holzfeur invites someone to buy him a Jagermeister and then there is just time for an encore of ‘Eraser’ and a cover of ‘Real American’ before the band get into their chopper and fly off into the sunset, to fight another day. They leave the crowd in a state of rapture and screaming for more. I have to say that musically, ArnoCorps are not really anything to write home about. They play no frills, punky metal in the vein of early Celtic Frost or The Misfits. I can’t imagine wanting to own one of their albums and listen to their songs out of context. But in the atmosphere of a masterful live show, with so much enthusiasm and fun to be had, ArnoCorps were fanTASTIC.

Adam Moffatt

Photos: Tom Horton

Oh my goodness, were you there? Wednesday 4th June 2008: Infinity Festival @ Q Club

3 Universities got together to put on a huge charity event at the legendary Que Club. With a Dj set from Bloc Party, and super funky sounds from a Spectrum led Pete Jordan and Joebot back to back bonanza, the main room was a rockin’.

Other rooms were hosted by Birmingham University Jazz Society and Kerrang - as well as there being a full blown R&B room, and a drum and bass room. There was literally something for everyones taste - including free give aways by Rustlers (anyone fancy a burger?). You could even get screened for Clamidia, as there was a sexual health awareness stand who would happily furnish you with a glow stick in return for a bottle of pee - not a bad ploy! I’ve seen similar things run at popular student nights such as The Night Before at Oceana. It’s a great way to promote sexual health in young hedonistic students

Despite being huge and exciting, with stair cases to random hidden rooms, The Q Club could really do with a lick of paint inside (the novelty of a dusty old venues is starting to wear a bit thin), and the availability of free tap water is unfortunately non existent. I wonder if it’s still trying to sell itself on memories of the past, rather than looking to making a venue for the future.

3000 odd students got together to party the night away and raise loads of cash for the very worthy Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

Everyone I spoke to was having a fantastic night out - although I notice a growing trend for people to spend most of the night sat down texting on their phones.

Lots of photos from Infinity Festival can be found here

The Restless Debt of Third World Beauty

Woom Gallery Exhibition by celebrated South African artist Faith47. Her work depicts strong female characters in dilapidated environments. It focuses on the importance and the spirit of the strong female identity through adversity.

A super duper evening : )

Like what it says on the tin really - another fantastic night put on by the guys at Ultra+. James Zambiela is a bit of a wizard on the decks, and Ultra+ had the bright idea of hooking up a  camera and projecting it on a nice big screen so everyone could see what was going on. One of the most excited crowds I’ve seen at the Factory for a while. There seemed to be an unusually high number of complete nutters (good nutters, not punch your face in nutters), making up an awful lot of high energy in the main room. Something in the water perhaps? I think the photos speak for themselves really. Someone made off with Shiela the Ultra+ mascot, a life size blow up doll of dubious origin who looks down upon the party goes from the rafters. Anyone with knowledge of her whereabouts is urged to keep it to themselves.