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

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

03/05/08 Sven Vath @ QClub

Eclectricity are proud to welcome Cocoon, Sven Vath`s Frankfurt techno brand to the Que Club in Birmingham with an unmissable all-star line up.

The Q Club was particularly busy for this bank holiday event, and drawing a good crowd is essential if the vibe in this massive venue is going to be any good. Thankfully the amphitheater was heaving, even the surrounding balconies seemed to be filling up with more than usual array of peeps looking for a bit of space to chill and sit down. Sven Vath put on an truly slick set, marred only by a brief loss of sound which was soon rectified by the quickest moving sounds techs I’ve ever seen.

Spectrum were hosting the chapel with the likes of Pete Jordan, Switch and Stanton Warriors kicking big lively breakbeat sounds. I for one preferred the closer friendly feel of the chapel area, I felt more connected with the music. Don’t get me wrong, the amphitheater is a truly impressive space, and the crowd did it justice by filling it up with the massive amount of energy it requires to feel good. It’s just that I sometimes find that amount of space a bit disjointed unless it is totally rammed and I can’t move.

Words / Photos Tom Horton