Brum Notes Magazine February 2013

1February 2013

PLUS: Win a month of free clubbing and gig tickets / A look ahead to SHOUT Festival / Beer tasting in Birmingham / AND your complete guide to what’s on in February

ALSO INSIDE:Everything Everything

Swim Deep Villagers

Frightened RabbitAND exclusive fi rst interview with Dumb

Preparing for lift-off with Birmingham’s voice of 2013

www.brumnotes.com free

February 2013

music and lifestyle for the west midlands

2 Brum Notes Magazine

16-18 Horsefair, Bristol St, Birmingham, B1 1DBDoors 7.00pm unless stated • Venue box office opening hours: Mon-Fri 12pm-4pm, Sat 11am-4pm • No booking fee on cash transactionsticketweb.co.uk • seetickets.com • gigantic.com • ticketmaster.co.uk

Fri 25th Jan • £10 adv6pm - 10pm

Sylosis + Devil Sold His Soul+ Cytota + Left Unscarred

Sat 26th Jan • £22.50 advRescheduled show • original tickets valid

Ali Campbell The Legendary Voice of UB40

Tues 29th Jan • £13.50 advWe The Kings

Weds 30th Jan • £10 advAnberlin+ The Xcerts + The Getaway Plan

Fri 1st Feb • £14 adv 6pm - 10pm

High On Fire

Fri 1st Feb 6.30pm - 10pm

Sat 2nd Feb Two Door Cinema Club

Fri 1st Feb • £4 adv 10.30pm - 3am • over 18s only

Propagandaft. Two Door Cinema Club (DJ Set) with Sam and Kev from the band DJing

Mon 4th Feb • £12.50 advWe Are The Ocean

Weds 6th Feb 6pm - 10pm

All Time Low+ Lower Than Atlantis

Fri 8th Feb • £12 adv6pm - 10pm

Modestep+ Document One + Koven

Sat 9th Feb Rita Ora

Sat 9th Feb • £22.50 advBrad + New Killer Shoes

Sun 10th Feb Asking Alexandria

Weds 13th Feb • £12 advDarwin Deez

Thurs 14th Feb • £10 adv6.30pm - 11pm

Your Demise+ Heights + Counterparts + Fact

Thurs 14th Feb • £16.50 adv6.30pm - 11pm

The Kerrang! Tourft. Black Veil Brides + Chiodos + Tonight Alive + Fearless Vampire Killers

Fri 15th Feb • £13.50 adv6pm - 10pm

Delphic

Sat 16th Feb • £19.10 advNME Awards Tour 2013ft. Django Django + Miles Kane+ Palma Violets + Peace

Tues 19th Feb • £26.50 advDeftones+ Letlive + Three Trapped Tigers

Tues 19th Feb Don Broco+ Mallory Knox + Hey Vanity

Thurs 21st Feb • £11 advRocksound ImpericonExposure Tour 2013ft. The Ghost Inside

Sat 23rd Feb The Courteeners

Fri 1st Mar • £5 adv 10.30pm - 3.30am • over 18s only

Propaganda ft. The Enemy (Live)

Sat 2nd Mar • £14.50 advReel Big Fish

Fri 8th Mar • £10 adv6.30pm - 10pmRescheduled show • original tickets valid

The Rollin’ Clones

Sat 9th Mar • £7 advThe One Twos+ The Two N Eights + The British Kicks + Open to Fire + Radio Dancers

Tues 12th Mar Bullet For My Valentine+ Halestorm

Weds 13th Mar • £14 advSaint Vitus+ Mos Generator

Thurs 14th Mar • £15 advThe Alarm

Sat 16th Mar • £23 advThe Stranglers

Weds 20th Mar • £10 advThe Heavy

Thurs 21st Mar • £18.50 advInspiral Carpets

Sat 23rd Mar • £5 adv Over 18s only

Jägermeister Music Tourft. Ghost+ Gojira + The Defiled

Mon 25th Mar • £33.50 advAn Evening With The Black CrowesNo Support - on stage 8pm

Tues 26th Mar Weds 27th Mar Emeli Sande

Tues 26th Mar • £8.50 advJanet Devlin

Weds 27th Mar • £16 advSteve HarrisBritish Lion

Fri 29th Mar • £16.50 adv 6pm - 10pm

Everclear

Sat 30th Mar • £23.50 advEels

Fri 5th Apr • £14 adv5.30pm - 10pm

Ill Niño & Shadows Fall

Mon 8th Apr • £13 advImmure

Weds 17th Apr • £18.50 advThe Feeling

Fri 19th Apr • £33.50 adv 6pm - 10pm

Counting Crows

Sat 20th Apr McFly

Weds 24th Apr • £18.50 adv Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls

Thurs 25th Apr • £36 adv James + Echo & The Bunnymen

Thurs 25th Apr • £10 adv CrashDiet & Jettblack + Fallen Mafia + Hell in the Club + Sleekstain

Sun 5th May Alt-J

Sun 12th May • £18.50 adv Athlete

Sun 12th May Mon 13th May Lana Del Rey

Tues 21st May • £35 advWeds 22nd May • £35 advThe Specials

Tues 17th Dec • £26 advRevelations:

The Mission &Fields Of The Nephilim

Sat 21st Dec • £22.50 advSleigh The UK 2013

The Wonder StuffPop Will Eat ItselfJesus Jones

Sat 26th Jan • £5 advMartyr De Mona + Captain Horizon + Severed Ties + Slave To The Beast + In Alchemy

Tues 12th Feb • £10 advCASH Johnny Cash Tribute

Weds 13th Feb • £6 advSchool Of Rock & Pop Showcase

Sun 17th Feb • £7 advLostAlone + The Dead Famous

Thurs 21st Feb • £8 advFidlar

Sat 23rd Feb • £5 advDiamond Lil + Twisted Species + Austin + Piston + Swamp Snakes

Sun 24th Feb • £6 advExit Calm + Deceptions Pocket

Tues 26th Feb • £8 advExit Ten + My Preserver

Weds 6th Mar • £7 adv6pm - 10pm

The Last Carnival + The Colliers + The Pressure Cell

Fri 8th Mar • £14 adv6.30pm - 10pm

Dan Reed Band

Sun 10th Mar • £9 advDizraeli & The Small Gods

Mon 11th Mar • £10 advKverlertak

Weds 13th Mar • £18.50 advClaudia Brucken The Lost Are Found TourRescheduled show • original tickets valid

Thurs 14th Mar • £17.50 advSpace + Chris Wallbank And The Cowards + RhesusRescheduled show • original tickets valid

Fri 22nd Mar • £7 adv6pm - 10pm

Pout At The Devil Europe’s No. 1 Tribute to 80’s Hair Metal and Classic Rock

Sat 20th Mar • £5 advLeft For Red& Left Unscarred + Adust + Enemo-J + Akrya

Mon 8th Apr • £7 adv6.30pm - 10pm

Ourzone Found Tour 2013

Fri 19th Apr • £10 adv6.30pm - 10pm

The Smyths Singles Night, Celebrating 30 Years of The Smiths Singles and B-Sides

Tues 23rd Apr • £7.50 advBleed From Within

Sat 6th July • £8 advStereosonics (Stereophonics Tribute Band)

3February 2013

CONTENTS

Regulars

News 4-5

Competitions 6

Hotlist 9

Live Reviews 22-23

Style 24-25

Food & Drink 26-27

What’s On Guide 28-30

Music and Features

Fresh Talent: io/Johnny Kowalski 8

SHOUT Festival preview 9

Dumb 12

Swim Deep 14-15

Laura Mvula 16-17

Frightened Rabbit 18

Villagers 19

Everything Everything 20-21

All content © Brum Notes Magazine. Views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Brum Notes Magazine. While all care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of content, Brum Notes Magazine will not be held liable for any errors or losses claimed to have been incurred by any errors. Advertising terms and conditions available on request.

Tempting Rosie on stage at the Hare & Hounds. Read the review on P22.Photo by Wayne Fox Photography.

Brum Notes Magazine Unit 12 The Bond 180-182 Fazeley Street DigbethBirminghamB5 [email protected] 0121 224 7363

Advertising0121 224 7363 [email protected]! 0121 224 7364

Editor: Chris MoriartyContributorsWords: David Vincent, Tom Pell, Amy Sumner, Lauren Cox, Lyle Bignon, Matthew Osborne, Daron Billings, Ben Russell, Joe Whitehouse, Guy Hirst, Ben CalvertContributing editor: David VincentPictures: Wayne Fox Photography, Emily Haf, Emily Baker, Jade SukiyaStyle editor: Jade [email protected] Design: Adam Williams, Andy Aitken

ConnectTwitter: @BrumNotesMagFacebook: www.facebook.com/BrumNotesMagazineOnline: www.brumnotes.com


firST hEadliNErS uNvEilEd fOr rETurNiNg SummEr jazz fESTivalThe first headliner has been announced for this year’s Mostly Jazz Funk & Soul Festival, which returns to Birmingham in July. Disco and funk legends Chic featuring Nile Rodgers will close proceedings in true style by headlining the Sunday night of the 2013 festival. The three-day event is now in its third year and will run from July 5 to 7 at Moseley Park in the Moseley area of the city. Chic are best known for delivering classics such as Le Freak with its instantly-recognisable refrain of ‘Aaahh, freak out!’ and Good Times, which became the most sampled track in music history, having been adapted by artists such as Daft Punk, Queen, The Sugarhill Gang and Beastie Boys. The official Mostly Jazz Funk & Soul Festival launch party takes place on February 16 at the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath. Tickets are £8 but for your chance to win free entry for two, turn to P6.

birmiNgham ballrOOm ClOSES iTS dOOrS afTEr 15 mONThSAn historic music venue in Birmingham city centre has closed its doors again af-ter calling in the administrators. The Birmingham Ballroom announced its closure with immediate effect last month, with all shows and club nights cancelled. A statement on the venue website said: “It is with great regret that we announce the immediate closure of The Birmingham Ballroom.“May we take this opportunity to thank all the people who have supported us over the last 18 months. All shows and events scheduled at the venues are cancelled and ticket holders should contact the outlet from which they purchased their tickets for a refund.”

The venue in Dale End has enjoyed a rich musical heritage, having previously been home to Top Rank, The Hummingbird and the Carling Academy. New owners took over after plans to demolish the building as part of a redevelopment scheme were shelved and it was reopened as The Birmingham Ballroom in October 2011.

Ticket holders are advised to contact ven-dors for refunds and business enquiries are being directed to administrators Kallis & Co in London. Has your gig, club night or event been re-scheduled to another venue in Birming-ham following the closure? Let us know at [email protected].

buSiNESS aS uSual fOr ThE iNSTiTuTE Digbeth venue The Institute has reas-sured customers that it is “business as usual”, despite uncertainty over the future of its previous owners HMV. The Institute, previously known as The HMV Institute, is no longer part of the HMV Group having been acquired by MAMA and Com-pany in December. ‘HMV’ has now been dropped from the name of the Digbeth ven-ue and bosses at the venue have confirmed that recent announcements in relation to HMV being placed in administration do not affect the venue or any scheduled events.Andy MacDonald, general business manager at The Institute, said: “We would like to re-assure all of our customers and the readers of Brum Notes that the announcement re-garding HMV’s administration will not affect The Institute or events that are scheduled to take place here. The venue was acquired by MAMA and Company in December 2012 and is no longer a part of the HMV Group. We are currently in the process of remov-ing the ‘HMV’ name from the venue and all of our marketing materials, but in the mean-time please be assured that it is business as usual at The Institute.”

NEw £1 milliON CONTEmpOrary arT ExhibiTiON hEadS TO birmiNghamA new £1 million collection of international contemporary art collection will open in Birmingham next month.Metropolis: Reflections on the Modern City will open to the public in March at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG), showcasing more than 60 works by artists from around the world with a theme of views on the modern global city. The collection has been curated by BMAG and the New Art Gallery, Walsall, in association with Ikon Gallery after the three organisations won £1m in funding from the hotly-contested Art Fund International initiative. Entrance to the exhibition is free.The works have all been created in the past decade and include items made in response to different areas of Birmingham, as well as views of modern Indian and urban environments in Paris and Russia. The exhibition runs from March 23 to June 23. Visit www.bmag.org.uk.

5February 2013

brum NOTES TO hOST NEw mONThly iSSuE lauNCh parTiES frOm marChBOMBERS will headline the first in a new monthly series of Brum Notes Magazine issue launch parties, kicking off in Moseley next month. The Birmingham band, who have just unveiled their latest double a-side maxi single Drawing/Buddy’s In a Cult on Dead London Records, will top the bill at the Bull’s Head on March 7. The night will also feature live performances from three more of the city’s most exciting new bands, Skull TV, Youth Man and Ghosts of Dead Airplanes. Entry is a bargain price of £3 on the door to see four live bands, with partygoers also enjoying special drinks promos, giveaways and more on the night. The live music upstairs will also be complemented by the tropical beats of Tropicalia DJs in the downstairs bar, making for an all-round party atmosphere throughout. Brum Notes Magazine will be hosting issue launch parties featuring some of the finest up and coming acts from Birmingham and beyond every month, so keep an eye out for more exciting announcements and line-ups over the coming weeks. Bombers new double a-side single Drawing/Buddy’s In a Cult is available as a maxi single and to download now from www.deadlondonrecords.com.

We are also excited to announce the first in the next series of Brum Notes Presents gigs taking place at the O2 Academy Birmingham. New band DUMB, formed from the ashes of The Carpels, will headline their debut hometown show at the O2 Acad-emy 3 on April 5, with tickets priced £5 adv on sale to O2 Priority customers from February 4, and on general sale from February 6. Youth Man and The Scribers and one more very special guest act will complete an exciting line-up. Visit o2academy-birmingham.co.uk to book. Read our exclusive first interview with Dumb on P12.

iN briEfStudents can get extra discounts and free booze at a vintage clothes shop in Digbeth this month. Cow Vintage in Digbeth High Street will host its Student Lock-In on February 6, with 15 per cent discounts, free drinks, DJ sets, style booths, freebies and competitions.

A new style of fitness class for discerning music fans is being launched in Birmingham, giving people the chance to workout while listening to some of the city’s best DJs. Drum ‘n’ Bounce and Dubstretch fitness will celebrate its arrival with a special launch party at the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath on March 1, with DJ sets from the likes of Mark Smallman, Ben Dunn, Mylz, Ad Jones and Vespasian Smith. Classes currently take place in and around the Moseley area, including weekly at Geese Theatre Company in Woodbridge Road and fortnightly from Feb 9 at Rigs Fitness in Willersey Road, Kings Heath. The launch party on March 1 runs from 9pm. Entry costs £5 with funds being raised to support the new venture. For information on classes visit www.drumnbounce.co.uk.


metropolis music present

LIVE ANNOUNCEMENTS & PRIORITY BOOKING • REGISTER FREE FOR ADDED BENEFITS • FIND US ON

SATURDAY 27 APRILBIRMINGHAM INSTITUTE LIBRARY

0844 248 5037 | GIGSANDTOURS.COMA METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH CODA

TUESDAY 21ST MAYEXTRA DATE ADDED DUE TO DEMAND

WEDNESDAY 22ND MAY

O2 ACADEMY BIRMINGHAM0844 477 2000 | 0844 811 0051 | GIGSANDTOURS.COM

A METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH X-RAY

SOLD OUT

Friday 12th April

BirminghamInstitute

0844 248 5037 / 0844 811 0051 / gigsandtours.com

thefratellis.comfb.com/thefratellisband

A Metropolis Music presentation by arrangement with ITB

VILLAGERS

THURSDAY 14TH FEBRUARY

BIRMINGHAM INSTITUTE LIBRARY0843 221 0100 | 0844 248 5037 | TICKETWEB.CO.UK.COM | 0844 811 0051 | GIGSANDTOURS.COM

NEW ALBUM {AWAYLAND} OUT NOW WEAREVILLAGERS.COMA METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH CAA

FRIDAY 15TH FEBRUARYV E N U E U P G R A D E D D U E T O D E M A N D

BIRMINGHAMINSTITUTE LIBRARY

0844 248 5037 | GIGSANDTOURS.COMA Metropolis Music PRESENTATION

by arrangement with Primary Talent International

+JAWS

WEDNESDAY 20 MARCH

O2 ACADEMY2BIRMINGHAM0844 477 2000 | GIGSANDTOURS.COMA METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH X-RAY

ALBUM ‘THE GLORIOUS DEAD’ OUT NOW!WWW.THEHEAVY.CO.UK

+

PLUS GUESTS THE SILENT COMEDY

MET BHam Notes pg_2013_Layout 1 28/01/2013 15:03 Page 1

COmpETiTiONSwiN a SEaSON paSS fOr TwO TO faCE aT ThE raiNbOwBirmingham clubbing behemoth FACE has unveiled its huge winter program boasting the likes of Heidi (pictured above), Maya Jane Coles, Apollonia, Bicep and more all performing at The Rainbow, with three massive all-nighters also announced. And to celebrate we have two season passes to give away, allowing two lucky clubbers free entry to FACE at The Rainbow every Saturday until the end of March. The first of the all-nighters takes place on February 2, with Apollonia aka Shonky, Dyed Soundorom and Dan Ghenacia, the second on March 2, with Radio 1‘s house mistress Heidi headlining, while Maya Jane Coles and Bicep are on the bill for the third, a Warehouse Rave on Good Friday, March 29. The weekly FACE showcase club nights will also continue at the venue every Saturday. To be in with a chance of winning tell us:

What is the name of the party series hosted by DJ Heidi around the world and which has since spawned mix CDs and a new record label? Email your answer, name, age and contact phone number to [email protected] by February 22.

mOSTly jazz fuNk & SOul fESTival lauNCh parTyThe Mostly Jazz Funk & Soul Festival will start the build-up to its summer return with a launch party at the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath on February 16. The party features live performances from Pigbag, Cantaloop, and The Bluebeat Arkestra.Tickets for the event cost £8adv but we’ve got one pair to give away for somebody who can tell us:

Where does the annual Mostly Jazz Funk & Soul Festival take place? Send your answer, name, age and contact phone num-ber to [email protected] by February 15. Winner will be notified by email by 5pm.

kErraNg! TOur 2013, livE aT ThE O2 aCadEmyThe infamous Kerrang! Tour makes a welcome return to the heavy metal hotbed of Birmingham, with the likes of Black Veil Brides, Chiodos, Tonight Alive and Fearless Vampire Killers taking over the O2 Academy in Birmingham for a Valentine’s Night with a difference on February 14. We have three pairs of tickets to give away, as well as the debut album from Tonight Alive. For a chance of winning, answer the following:

What is the name of the debut album from Aussie pop-pun-kers Tonight Alive? Send your answer, name, age and contact phone number to [email protected] by February 12. Winners will be notified by email.

7February 2013

metropolis music present

LIVE ANNOUNCEMENTS & PRIORITY BOOKING • REGISTER FREE FOR ADDED BENEFITS • FIND US ON

SATURDAY 27 APRILBIRMINGHAM INSTITUTE LIBRARY

0844 248 5037 | GIGSANDTOURS.COMA METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH CODA

TUESDAY 21ST MAYEXTRA DATE ADDED DUE TO DEMAND

WEDNESDAY 22ND MAY

O2 ACADEMY BIRMINGHAM0844 477 2000 | 0844 811 0051 | GIGSANDTOURS.COM

A METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH X-RAY

SOLD OUT

Friday 12th April

BirminghamInstitute

0844 248 5037 / 0844 811 0051 / gigsandtours.com

thefratellis.comfb.com/thefratellisband

A Metropolis Music presentation by arrangement with ITB

VILLAGERS

THURSDAY 14TH FEBRUARY

BIRMINGHAM INSTITUTE LIBRARY0843 221 0100 | 0844 248 5037 | TICKETWEB.CO.UK.COM | 0844 811 0051 | GIGSANDTOURS.COM

NEW ALBUM {AWAYLAND} OUT NOW WEAREVILLAGERS.COMA METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH CAA

FRIDAY 15TH FEBRUARYV E N U E U P G R A D E D D U E T O D E M A N D

BIRMINGHAMINSTITUTE LIBRARY

0844 248 5037 | GIGSANDTOURS.COMA Metropolis Music PRESENTATION

by arrangement with Primary Talent International

+JAWS

WEDNESDAY 20 MARCH

O2 ACADEMY2BIRMINGHAM0844 477 2000 | GIGSANDTOURS.COMA METROPOLIS MUSIC PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH X-RAY

ALBUM ‘THE GLORIOUS DEAD’ OUT NOW!WWW.THEHEAVY.CO.UK

+

PLUS GUESTS THE SILENT COMEDY

MET BHam Notes pg_2013_Layout 1 28/01/2013 15:03 Page 1


Yeah, you heard. Like many before, John-ny and the boys now have your attention. And upon listening, it appears The Libertines have got pissed up and stuck in Guy Ritch-ie’s Sherlock Holmes. ‘Carnival Punk’ has been thrown at the group, and they prefer traditional inspirations, like, ‘Balkan’. Some-thing Wonderful, opening track on debut album Victory for the Monsters, sums up the show, a circus atmosphere with more brass than you can shake a tuba at. Which they do. The song only has about 10 words, about three of those audible, and y’know what? Who cares? It’s a riot. “Sometimes it feels like people secretly have been waiting to dance for ages and we’ve just given them an excuse,” insists frontman Johnny.

They’ve just been on a European tour, in a van. “It was one of the greatest adventures of my life,” continues Johnny. “We travelled over 2,500 miles, and averaged at least sev-en hours a day in the van – hopefully the next tour will be more efficient.” Time has been taken to carry through the image to

the artwork and styling of the group. Inspi-ration is drawn from, “…any well-made art in the broader sense, be it a tattoo, painting or stencil.’ Johnny cites Nirvana as an early ob-session. But the songwriting cascades from the madness to the melancholic, on Going Out My Mind and The Morning After, with Kowalski’s distinctive gargle muzzled as an accomplished storyteller.

Seeing them live and having a dance is the key. Seemingly, because you’re sexy and you know it.

Johnny Kowalski & the Sexy Weirdo headline the Hot Club de Swing Alternative Valentine’s Ball at the Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, on February 15. They also play Club PST on February 22.

Thinking man’s hardcore comes in the form of io, a band comprising of a biochemist, an engineer and a social researcher. What hap-pened to working part-time in a pub? Busk-ing? Clearly, 2013’s plan of “buying more amps and pedals” is proving pricey. The year is already off to a good start though, following the release of third album Our Dis-integrating Museum on Grammatical Re-cords. Distorted, winding melodies are io’s calling card, mixing Mogwai with Neurosis to create an almost otherworldly trip. “We wanted the album to have an underlying nar-rative, as opposed to a collection of one off tracks,” says guitarist/vocalist Al Lawson. “We used these interests, which challenge certain viewpoints, to generate a dialogue for discussion.” These interests include and base the album upon a, “mistrust of science, and the faith people put into ungrounded

theories or practices,” continues Al.On January 1, they released said album, re-corded in Doncaster with Matt Elliss and his array of vintage guitars and amps. “On our previous album we went for a darker, lo-fi sound and we decided we wanted a brighter, almost poppier sound on this record.” From first listen, all science goes out the window. Gloomy, epic, funky riffs swim over a pound-ing drum track on opener The Last Cosmo-naut. Rage Against The Machine in parts, Million Dead in others. The video even con-jures Metallica’s One. Further listening finds more of the same, gut-wrenching vocals and complex structures, but as a journey rather than a repeat. Experimental, yes, but io are not too far from the cure.

io are live at the Bull’s Head, Moseley, on February 3.

io www.weareio.co.uk

www.sexyweirdos.co.ukjohnny kowalski & the Sexy weirdos

Photo by Emily Haf

Words by Tom Pell

9February 2013

SHOUT, Birmingham’s Festival of Queer Arts

and Culture, returns for its fourth instalment at

the end of this month. The festival, which runs

from February 28 to March 10, is organised by

Birmingham LGBT and aims to celebrate the

best in LGBT art, comedy, dance, performance

and more from across the West Midlands.

Highlights from this year’s festival, which has a theme of Genera-tions and Legacies, will include comedy shows Well That Explains It! by Clare Summerskill and 90s Woman by Rosie Wilby and an alternative cabaret club night from Birmingham-based artist Joey Vivo, who will also unveil a new youth project as part of the festival.

Tom Marshman will present a combined visual and performing arts project, compiled from interviews with older lesbian and gay adults in the local area, talking about their personal and social histories. We Love We Make We Exist is an exhibition of work from photog-rapher Marta Kochanek entitled We Love We Make We Exist that focuses on LGBT families, while fellow photographer Nick Hynan will showcase a digital exhibition called Gender Blending (pictured above right).

Festival producer Abbe Robinson said the festival in February and March would build upon the excellent reputation SHOUT had built over the past five years.

“We’ll be bringing unique and entertaining events to the region’s LGBT communities through some fantastic performances, exhibi-tions and activities,” she added.

SHOUT Festival runs from February 28 to March 10 at var-ious venues in Birmingham and the wider West Midlands. For the full programme of events visit the festival website at www.shoutfestival.co.uk or see the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/shoutfestival.

The best new material from Birmingham and beyond, for your listening pleasure.

MALPASWhere The River Runs EPDebut EP of charming folk-tronica from much-loved Birmingham outfit. Available for free download at www.malpasmusic.co.uk.

BOVINEMilitary WifeEar-splitting single from riff-tastic, furious five piece, with raucous ac-

companying video.Available now from bovine.bandcamp.com.

COLD FIELDSNever Get BackHypnotic stand-out track from intriguing Brummie indie act’s debut EP. Available now through iTunes.

ThE playliSThOTliST

ONES TO waTChgallOpSWrexham’s experimental instru-mentalists (pictured) make a welcome visit to Birmingham in the wake of their acclaimed 2012 debut album Yours Sin-cerely, Dr Hardcore. Watch them: February 14, The Flapper, with Constant Waves

midNighT bONfirESEclectic four piece perform live and curate a night of music fea-turing more rising Birmingham talent, including Symfonyah, Deceptions Pocket and Tom Forbes. Watch them: February 2, Mac Birmingham, Cannon Hill Park

Evil aliENRare live appearance from widely-tipped trippy electron-ica outfit. This headline show celebrates the release of an-themic new single Higher Than the Sun. Watch them: February 8, Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath.

Festivals

Imag

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y Nick

Hyn

an


FRIDAY 8TH MARCH 2013. THE HARE & HOUNDS

Like us on Facebook Follow us @FunkNation5

BIRMINGHAM£5 ADVANCE TICKETS FROMWEGOTTICKETS.COM

A DEDICATED LIVE FUNK AND SOUL NIGHT WITH HOUSE BAND THE FUNK SOUL COLLECTIVE, RESIDENT DJS AND GREAT BANDS FROM ACROSS THE UK AND ABROAD.

11February 2013


‘WeRDumb’ is the tagline to all of this band’s online presence – website, Facebook, SoundCloud; talk about encouraging preconceptions. It’s almost a dare in fact, this smokescreen of a facade – encouraging you to make your mind up about them, but with a wry smile that’s about as far away from actual stupidity as you can get. These boys are jokers, sure. Full of throwaway comments and quips, they spend half their time taking the piss out of each other, and the other half congratulating each other on the results. However, they’re also very considered, and that’s not only an unusual contrast, it’s also the basis for something good.

“The name is ironic,” offers guitarist (and part-time lifeguard) Tom Minchin by way of explanation. “Yes, it is a bit shit,” qualifi es drummer Jacob McQue. “But we quite like shit names; after a while they become immensely cool.”

A new project formed from members of Moseley-based The Carpels, Dumb offer an explosive new sound encompassing the energy of youth. “The internet makes it easier to brand yourself however you like and to be whoever you want to be,” delivers lead singer Dylan Williams. “Sure, platforms like Twitter can take away the mystery of a band, but on the other hand the internet is a key way to create it,” Tom fi nishes. “Bands who get tagged with any kind of hype have that misery to enjoy whereas with us, people don’t really know where we’re coming from, and that’s an advantage,” continues Dylan. A clean slate

is defi nitely a valuable (if rare) thing to have, especially in today’s Birmingham. “We don’t spend time with people in bands though,” Tom muses. “I think we have a certain indifference to fi tting in,” Jacob concludes pointedly.

Dumb have been in musical outfi ts from a young age. Now they’re older and (arguably) wiser, with material which sounds both looser and infi nitely tighter. However, they’re still all under 20 and it’s that which makes them so exciting. “The really good bands aren’t scared to access the extremities of sound,” says Dylan. “But at the same time, we’re also paying attention to the smaller sounds – the little tones on a record which make it more full,” says Tom.

What’s clear is that Dumb don’t want to fi t in – they don’t really fi t in anyway and it’s that which instantly draws us to them.

Forthcoming single Dive smacks of warmth right from the opening guitar rays, and it’s a clue as good as any that these boys are serious. The energy lurks until the chorus explodes, but it’s the instrumentals which really grab you. Likewise, on Still I’m Stuck, a brooding and Editors-esque vocal (which Dylan describes as being “over the top in its extremity, we want to creep people out…”) draws you in, the intricate refrain of ‘Nothing shows hatred like / You’re treading on the fi ngers I hold you with’ hinting at a dark undertone of melancholy. But there’s also a pop element, and that’s the jangle of Foals-like guitars over the top. The drum beat is a

driving force throughout as it rip, roars and rollicks everything along to its pleading refrain of ‘Break me down until I’m open,’ which leaves you with an incredibly multi-textured piece of music, and the desire to hear another one like it. Perhaps two.

On record, Dumb sound very convincing. But what about the live performance? Impressively, frontman Dylan Williams is completely captivating, immersing himself as he does so thoroughly in performance, whilst the sound is driven brilliantly convincingly from behind. As it were.

Dumb are the sound of a misspent youth, that’s apparent from the energy they exude. “Preparing to go really fast and really loud” (Jacob), they’re like one of those windup toys, ready and set to explode and to take down everything which happens to cross their path in the process. “In fact, we’re going to play obnoxiously loud,” Dylan adds as an afterthought, as if it’s been on his mind for a time. No, Dumb know exactly what they’re doing and they’re biding their time. Go to see this band when you can and be sure to check out their single because with their fi rst gig set for Club NME at KOKO London, it’s very obvious indeed that they’re about to go places. Not so Dumb after all then.

Dumb headline the next Brum Notes Presents show at the O2 Academy 3, Birmingham, on April 5. Debut single Dive is available from March 31. Follow @werdumb on Twitter.

Rising from the ashes of The Carpels, Birmingham quartet Dumb are far from speechless, as Amy Sumner discovers.

Pho

to b

y Ja

de S

ukiy

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13February 2013


people that we shared that stage with are all the same people that we’ve been knocking around Birmingham with and partying at The Rainbow and The Adam & Eve with for the past year. I remember the good old days, when we used to hang around Digbeth with Peace with cans of K; those days were the best man. It’s really cool that we’re all making music and actually getting somewhere with it.”

It was a special moment indeed to see fans going completely wild as Swim Deep followed by Peace took the stage, celebrating the success of the self-proclaimed kings of B-Town. And when it comes to fans, every boy band comes across their fair share of crazed ones, right?

“There was this one weird fan that was blowing out hot air once,” says Austin before hanging his head in shame at the worst joke ever made … ever. “We haven’t come across any knicker throwing yet though,” he continues after a pause, though enthusiastic crowd members

are already screaming out the names of Swim Deep personnel at gigs. Austin’s clearly a ladies’ man as he confesses he “had like 20 girlfriends in nursery.”

They’ll be plenty of opportunity for the Swim Deepers (like Beliebers, but better) all across the country to go crazy as the band tour with Two Door Cinema Club. “I’m looking forward to seeing how a bigger band operates,” says Austin. “You can take notes from any bands that are on a level like that. The way you learn is by being on tour.” If the ‘Spectour’ of last year with friends Spector and Splashh is anything to go by, there will be heaps of fun to be had. “It’s a huge part of my life and it was the best time ever,” says Austin as he reminisces about tour antics. “Every morning we’d be in the van cracking up about what happened the night before.”

As soon as the TDCC jaunt concludes, Swim Deep set out on their first ever headline tour, which includes an upgraded show at The

Institute with fellow B-Town buddies, Jaws. “It will be good to take a band like that with us, it will be so much fun,” Austin exclaims.

They won’t just be playing in England either, having announced an appearance at Spain’s FIB Benicàssim festival where they’ll be playing alongside Arctic Monkeys and The Killers. “I can’t wait to play,” says Austin. “The best thing about festivals is that they’re not within closed walls. If people don’t like your sound then they can just turn around and walk away. It means that eventually the crowd that you’re playing to actually want to see you.”

With a good set of songs already under their belt, an album ready, and plenty of gigs along with the ability to have tonnes of fun as well as staying true to themselves, it seems pretty inevitable that 2013 will bring even further success for Birmingham’s indie beach-grunge foursome.

Swim Deep support Two Door Cinema Club at the O2 Academy, Birmingham, on February 1 and 2 and headline The Library @ The Institute, Birmingham, on February 15, with Jaws.

“I remember the good old days, when we used to hang around

Digbeth with Peace with cans of K; those days were the best, man.”

“It’s really cool that we’re all making music and actually getting somewhere with it,” reckon Swim Deep as the B-Town band prepare to hit the A-list. Lauren Cox hears more.

do believe the hype

Beach bum Brummies Swim Deep went from strength to strength in 2012, capturing the attention of many with their feel good vibes. Now, with a hotly-anticipated debut album in the pipeline and a huge amount of gigs ahead of them, we can only expect them to get bigger and better during the year ahead as they continue to escape beyond the shackles of their home city.

The theme of escapism is evident not only in the name Swim Deep itself, but also in their dream-pop tunes. It’s hard to believe these have been created in the suburbs of Birmingham rather than a sunny beach in southern California. Nevertheless, their tunes

have the power to transport you to that beach, whatever the weather.

Frontman Austin Williams and guitar-playing bandmate-to-be Higgy escaped from their jobs in Morrisons in the hope of making great music with their friends and sharing it with the world. “Ever since I was a kid, being in a band is all I’ve wanted to do,” Austin explains. “Once, a supply teacher came into school and he just got his acoustic guitar out and started playing it. I could just see loads of girls running up to him and watching him in awe. I was like; I reckon I should do that … be a rock star, not a supply teacher that plays guitar to little kids.”

And that dream is well on its way to reality. The band recently recorded their debut album, set for a May release, in Brussels. “Recording was an amazing experience. We all bonded as musicians,” explains Austin. “The songs are like my children. Once you’ve made you a track it kind of becomes like your child. You watch them grow in the same way, and get angry with them, and forgive them in the same way too. You can never be 100 per cent sure with what you’ve written yourself, but I just can’t wait to show people.” If their recent singles are anything to go by, their album is certain to be a showstopper.

From echoing guitar riffs to quirky drum beats, Swim Deep have already created their signature sound. The sounds of day-to-day life rather than any specific musical influence are what make their sound so unique. “I don’t listen to a band and then want to recreate something just because I’ve listened to that,” explains Austin. “I wrote the song The Sea not realising that the ‘ooo ar’ bit was influenced by my friend’s crappy beep on her phone until recently. I guess I just took an annoying sound and turned it into something pleasurable.”

Swim Deep now stand at the forefront of the so-called ‘B-Town’ music scene, and are slowly but surely working their way into the mainstream. However, they’re determined to stay true to themselves. “When I was a kid and up until recently really, I kind of just wanted as much as possible,” says Austin. “It’s all about getting the right kind of attention and giving the right kind of influence to people. You could be the biggest band in the world and still have real bad songs, or be really massive and have no influence whatsoever. I just want to have a good influence on the mainstream.”

It’s no secret that Birmingham has become the new hotspot for great indie music – there are so many phenomenal bands emerging, bringing heaps of vintage style and fresh new indie sounds straight from the streets of Digbeth. At the Rainbow Warehouse in December last year, Swim Deep, secret additions to the line-up, played with the best of Birmingham’s up and coming bands in a show which has been nicknamed, ‘B-Townstock.’ During their set, Austin said that he was “overwhelmed” and that he could tell that the “B-Town hype was real.” He meant it. “It was just a realisation that all the stuff in the magazines can be justified. I’m glad that that gig happened. There’s always going to be speculation surrounding hype. I’m always going to think is that real or is that just being fabricated by the magazines because they want something good to write about? For once this is actually happening,” explains Austin. “It’s insane that all of those

15February 2013

people that we shared that stage with are all the same people that we’ve been knocking around Birmingham with and partying at The Rainbow and The Adam & Eve with for the past year. I remember the good old days, when we used to hang around Digbeth with Peace with cans of K; those days were the best man. It’s really cool that we’re all making music and actually getting somewhere with it.”

It was a special moment indeed to see fans going completely wild as Swim Deep followed by Peace took the stage, celebrating the success of the self-proclaimed kings of B-Town. And when it comes to fans, every boy band comes across their fair share of crazed ones, right?

“There was this one weird fan that was blowing out hot air once,” says Austin before hanging his head in shame at the worst joke ever made … ever. “We haven’t come across any knicker throwing yet though,” he continues after a pause, though enthusiastic crowd members

are already screaming out the names of Swim Deep personnel at gigs. Austin’s clearly a ladies’ man as he confesses he “had like 20 girlfriends in nursery.”

They’ll be plenty of opportunity for the Swim Deepers (like Beliebers, but better) all across the country to go crazy as the band tour with Two Door Cinema Club. “I’m looking forward to seeing how a bigger band operates,” says Austin. “You can take notes from any bands that are on a level like that. The way you learn is by being on tour.” If the ‘Spectour’ of last year with friends Spector and Splashh is anything to go by, there will be heaps of fun to be had. “It’s a huge part of my life and it was the best time ever,” says Austin as he reminisces about tour antics. “Every morning we’d be in the van cracking up about what happened the night before.”

As soon as the TDCC jaunt concludes, Swim Deep set out on their first ever headline tour, which includes an upgraded show at The

Institute with fellow B-Town buddies, Jaws. “It will be good to take a band like that with us, it will be so much fun,” Austin exclaims.

They won’t just be playing in England either, having announced an appearance at Spain’s FIB Benicàssim festival where they’ll be playing alongside Arctic Monkeys and The Killers. “I can’t wait to play,” says Austin. “The best thing about festivals is that they’re not within closed walls. If people don’t like your sound then they can just turn around and walk away. It means that eventually the crowd that you’re playing to actually want to see you.”

With a good set of songs already under their belt, an album ready, and plenty of gigs along with the ability to have tonnes of fun as well as staying true to themselves, it seems pretty inevitable that 2013 will bring even further success for Birmingham’s indie beach-grunge foursome.

Swim Deep support Two Door Cinema Club at the O2 Academy, Birmingham, on February 1 and 2 and headline The Library @ The Institute, Birmingham, on February 15, with Jaws.

“I remember the good old days, when we used to hang around

Digbeth with Peace with cans of K; those days were the best, man.”

“It’s really cool that we’re all making music and actually getting somewhere with it,” reckon Swim Deep as the B-Town band prepare to hit the A-list. Lauren Cox hears more.

do believe the hype

Beach bum Brummies Swim Deep went from strength to strength in 2012, capturing the attention of many with their feel good vibes. Now, with a hotly-anticipated debut album in the pipeline and a huge amount of gigs ahead of them, we can only expect them to get bigger and better during the year ahead as they continue to escape beyond the shackles of their home city.

The theme of escapism is evident not only in the name Swim Deep itself, but also in their dream-pop tunes. It’s hard to believe these have been created in the suburbs of Birmingham rather than a sunny beach in southern California. Nevertheless, their tunes

have the power to transport you to that beach, whatever the weather.

Frontman Austin Williams and guitar-playing bandmate-to-be Higgy escaped from their jobs in Morrisons in the hope of making great music with their friends and sharing it with the world. “Ever since I was a kid, being in a band is all I’ve wanted to do,” Austin explains. “Once, a supply teacher came into school and he just got his acoustic guitar out and started playing it. I could just see loads of girls running up to him and watching him in awe. I was like; I reckon I should do that … be a rock star, not a supply teacher that plays guitar to little kids.”

And that dream is well on its way to reality. The band recently recorded their debut album, set for a May release, in Brussels. “Recording was an amazing experience. We all bonded as musicians,” explains Austin. “The songs are like my children. Once you’ve made you a track it kind of becomes like your child. You watch them grow in the same way, and get angry with them, and forgive them in the same way too. You can never be 100 per cent sure with what you’ve written yourself, but I just can’t wait to show people.” If their recent singles are anything to go by, their album is certain to be a showstopper.

From echoing guitar riffs to quirky drum beats, Swim Deep have already created their signature sound. The sounds of day-to-day life rather than any specific musical influence are what make their sound so unique. “I don’t listen to a band and then want to recreate something just because I’ve listened to that,” explains Austin. “I wrote the song The Sea not realising that the ‘ooo ar’ bit was influenced by my friend’s crappy beep on her phone until recently. I guess I just took an annoying sound and turned it into something pleasurable.”

Swim Deep now stand at the forefront of the so-called ‘B-Town’ music scene, and are slowly but surely working their way into the mainstream. However, they’re determined to stay true to themselves. “When I was a kid and up until recently really, I kind of just wanted as much as possible,” says Austin. “It’s all about getting the right kind of attention and giving the right kind of influence to people. You could be the biggest band in the world and still have real bad songs, or be really massive and have no influence whatsoever. I just want to have a good influence on the mainstream.”

It’s no secret that Birmingham has become the new hotspot for great indie music – there are so many phenomenal bands emerging, bringing heaps of vintage style and fresh new indie sounds straight from the streets of Digbeth. At the Rainbow Warehouse in December last year, Swim Deep, secret additions to the line-up, played with the best of Birmingham’s up and coming bands in a show which has been nicknamed, ‘B-Townstock.’ During their set, Austin said that he was “overwhelmed” and that he could tell that the “B-Town hype was real.” He meant it. “It was just a realisation that all the stuff in the magazines can be justified. I’m glad that that gig happened. There’s always going to be speculation surrounding hype. I’m always going to think is that real or is that just being fabricated by the magazines because they want something good to write about? For once this is actually happening,” explains Austin. “It’s insane that all of those


So, 2012 for music in Birmingham was, most would say, a pretty good year. Metal came home, at least for one night, when Black Sabbath (minus original drummer Bill Ward) played a triumphant homecoming gig in the city; Dexys swaggered back into our collective subconscious with their fi rst new album for 27 years and a well-received comeback tour; Symphony Hall celebrated its 21st anniversary; fi ve-piece dub outfi t Troumaca caught the eye of Gilles Peterson, landing a deal with the DJ’s Brownswood label; and with a blaze of hype and glory, home-grown bands Peace and Swim Deep fl ew the fl ag for Brum following their high-profi le signings to Sony-owned Columbia and RCA Records respectively.

RCA’s Victor imprint also completed a Sony-owned Birmingham hat-trick by taking on former music student, teacher and choir member Laura Mvula as a priority act.

Laura’s background might not be so familiar to contemporary music fans used to the pop, guitar-orientated and electronic artists dominating the UK’s charts, airwaves and column inches. That the young classically-trained singer-songwriter very quickly achieved almost universal critical acclaim for debut single She is testament to both Laura’s talent, and RCA’s belief in her as an artist.

Committing her to a gruelling schedule of PR paid off in exposure terms, resulting in signifi cant features in national and music media, making BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music A-lists, and a performance on Later With…, while huge support from the online community continues to fl ood in. And we haven’t even mentioned the shortlists.

Have her feet even touched the ground yet?

“I’m sky high, but exhausted. I’m so excited for the next few months – there’s loads going on so my head feels like it’s going at a million miles an hour. It’s nice to be living in Birmingham still, to come back here for a bit of peace,” she says.

Despite racking up a Brits Critics’ Choice nomination, the fourth spot in the BBC Sound of 2013 poll (ahead of Peace), a handful of jaw-dropping live shows, and that incredible reception from the music world, Laura’s personal highpoint is most defi nitely completing forthcoming debut album Sing To The Moon.

“Having produced a body of work that I’m genuinely so happy with and have had so much fun making, I think is by far the best highlight for me. But then there are lots of things – the video for She in South Africa was the fi rst time I’d travelled for quite a long time outside the UK,” she says, before pointing out the trip was anything but a relaxing sightseeing visit. “I don’t think I could call it a holiday just because it was

a really tight schedule. We had two days to do everything and it was kind of back-to-back, so going through all the shots making sure I was feeling good, looking good, and then being emotionally connected with the whole thing. I found the whole experience very moving. I came back both completely drained and refreshed.”

Talking to Laura, it’s clear that being catapulted from virtual anonymity with a small-ish fan base and limited understanding of the business, to major recognition and major label support, has been a steep learning curve, albeit one with a good deal of guidance. In describing the

experience of working with renowned producer and TV composer Steve Brown (whose credits include Rumer and bizarrely as Alan Partridge’s musical director Glen Ponder), Laura is emphatically complimentary.

“It was a complete dream come true really. I really was lucky to meet Steve Brown when I did, because I was relatively new to the whole music industry. I’d always done things in music in and around Birmingham but in terms of making an album… well, I’d never set out to do that before. Steve is a genius – in his own world he has done so many amazing things. He really encouraged me to be very free and liberated when it came to instrumentation. Working with him meant that although things were new to me and it was all a massive challenge, it was also a safe environment in which to learn and grow – he’d never turn around and laugh at me, I could ask the silliest questions.”

Like many emerging artists, Laura has built up a solid following online, and manages her social media accounts personally, connecting with fans, peers and music biz types daily. It’s an important part of her work and something she is very keen to continue.

“The reason that Steve got in touch was because I posted something on my Facebook page. It was also because of my Facebook friends and people supporting me from the beginning, and saying that She sounds like a really cool song. Without that initial feedback, and the boost it gave me, I wouldn’t be here now. I’m lucky that at the moment there seems to be a really warm fan base – if people are really into the music they are really into the music.”

In addition to the messages of support from fans across the world, Laura also recognises the impact her musical experiences in Birmingham have had on her success, including tuition while growing up, studying theory and practice at Birmingham Conservatoire (which counts Jim Moray, Vaccines drummer Pete Robertson and members of The Destroyers amongst its notable alumni), performing with an aunt in the choir Black Voices and her own band Judyshouse, as well as teaching music at secondary schools in the city.

“Birmingham Music Services’ training ensembles and orchestras and instrumental lessons – right from junior school to secondary school, right through sixth form to when I was in the Conservatoire and when I joined the CBSO Youth – all of those experiences have been majorly signifi cant for me and are something that I will always treasure. The privilege of joining Black Voices in 2005 was incredible for me. Yes, because I got to sing with them, but more because they encouraged me to write and that was the fi rst professional outlet that I had for composition. It meant that my little pieces were either getting used in workshops, at school or on stage when we were touring.”

Aside from those formative experiences, Laura talks about her other musical infl uences with a real passion, citing Nina Simone – a singer to whom the 26-year old has regularly been compared – as well as Amy Winehouse, Miles Davis and choral composers, soul, blues and jazz as key. (Laura described herself as the ‘geeky kid of R&B’ in a recent Guardian interview). With their distinctive mix of sparse instrumentation, layers of lush orchestral and choral arrangements, the effect of years working with, and around, classical and jazz musicians can be clearly heard in her carefully crafted songs.

“I would love to perform with a major orchestra – it sounds a bit indulgent and maybe a bit ambitious – and with a choir. And also beyond that I’d love to write a fi lm score – when I was much younger that was my ultimate dream. I used to say that to everybody: I want to be a fi lm music composer. Just doing a fi rst album like I have, has kind of made things that seemed to me as fantasies actually feel attainable, even if at fi rst it feels totally unrealistic.”

An ambition, that somehow, we feel will come true in the very near future.

Laura Mvula releases her new single Green Garden on February 24, and debut album Sing To The Moon on March 4 through RCA Victor. She also supports Jessie Ware at The Institute, Birmingham, on March 9.

With little more than a dozen shows behind her, classically trained Brum songstress Laura Mvula has already earned herself a Brits Critics’ Choice nomination and BBC Sound of 2013 spot. As she prepares to release debut album Sing To The Moon, Lyle Bignon fi nds her excited and exhausted.

“It’s nice to be living in Birmingham still, to come back here for a bit of peace…”

17February 2013

So, 2012 for music in Birmingham was, most would say, a pretty good year. Metal came home, at least for one night, when Black Sabbath (minus original drummer Bill Ward) played a triumphant homecoming gig in the city; Dexys swaggered back into our collective subconscious with their fi rst new album for 27 years and a well-received comeback tour; Symphony Hall celebrated its 21st anniversary; fi ve-piece dub outfi t Troumaca caught the eye of Gilles Peterson, landing a deal with the DJ’s Brownswood label; and with a blaze of hype and glory, home-grown bands Peace and Swim Deep fl ew the fl ag for Brum following their high-profi le signings to Sony-owned Columbia and RCA Records respectively.

RCA’s Victor imprint also completed a Sony-owned Birmingham hat-trick by taking on former music student, teacher and choir member Laura Mvula as a priority act.

Laura’s background might not be so familiar to contemporary music fans used to the pop, guitar-orientated and electronic artists dominating the UK’s charts, airwaves and column inches. That the young classically-trained singer-songwriter very quickly achieved almost universal critical acclaim for debut single She is testament to both Laura’s talent, and RCA’s belief in her as an artist.

Committing her to a gruelling schedule of PR paid off in exposure terms, resulting in signifi cant features in national and music media, making BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music A-lists, and a performance on Later With…, while huge support from the online community continues to fl ood in. And we haven’t even mentioned the shortlists.

Have her feet even touched the ground yet?

“I’m sky high, but exhausted. I’m so excited for the next few months – there’s loads going on so my head feels like it’s going at a million miles an hour. It’s nice to be living in Birmingham still, to come back here for a bit of peace,” she says.

Despite racking up a Brits Critics’ Choice nomination, the fourth spot in the BBC Sound of 2013 poll (ahead of Peace), a handful of jaw-dropping live shows, and that incredible reception from the music world, Laura’s personal highpoint is most defi nitely completing forthcoming debut album Sing To The Moon.

“Having produced a body of work that I’m genuinely so happy with and have had so much fun making, I think is by far the best highlight for me. But then there are lots of things – the video for She in South Africa was the fi rst time I’d travelled for quite a long time outside the UK,” she says, before pointing out the trip was anything but a relaxing sightseeing visit. “I don’t think I could call it a holiday just because it was

a really tight schedule. We had two days to do everything and it was kind of back-to-back, so going through all the shots making sure I was feeling good, looking good, and then being emotionally connected with the whole thing. I found the whole experience very moving. I came back both completely drained and refreshed.”

Talking to Laura, it’s clear that being catapulted from virtual anonymity with a small-ish fan base and limited understanding of the business, to major recognition and major label support, has been a steep learning curve, albeit one with a good deal of guidance. In describing the

experience of working with renowned producer and TV composer Steve Brown (whose credits include Rumer and bizarrely as Alan Partridge’s musical director Glen Ponder), Laura is emphatically complimentary.

“It was a complete dream come true really. I really was lucky to meet Steve Brown when I did, because I was relatively new to the whole music industry. I’d always done things in music in and around Birmingham but in terms of making an album… well, I’d never set out to do that before. Steve is a genius – in his own world he has done so many amazing things. He really encouraged me to be very free and liberated when it came to instrumentation. Working with him meant that although things were new to me and it was all a massive challenge, it was also a safe environment in which to learn and grow – he’d never turn around and laugh at me, I could ask the silliest questions.”

Like many emerging artists, Laura has built up a solid following online, and manages her social media accounts personally, connecting with fans, peers and music biz types daily. It’s an important part of her work and something she is very keen to continue.

“The reason that Steve got in touch was because I posted something on my Facebook page. It was also because of my Facebook friends and people supporting me from the beginning, and saying that She sounds like a really cool song. Without that initial feedback, and the boost it gave me, I wouldn’t be here now. I’m lucky that at the moment there seems to be a really warm fan base – if people are really into the music they are really into the music.”

In addition to the messages of support from fans across the world, Laura also recognises the impact her musical experiences in Birmingham have had on her success, including tuition while growing up, studying theory and practice at Birmingham Conservatoire (which counts Jim Moray, Vaccines drummer Pete Robertson and members of The Destroyers amongst its notable alumni), performing with an aunt in the choir Black Voices and her own band Judyshouse, as well as teaching music at secondary schools in the city.

“Birmingham Music Services’ training ensembles and orchestras and instrumental lessons – right from junior school to secondary school, right through sixth form to when I was in the Conservatoire and when I joined the CBSO Youth – all of those experiences have been majorly signifi cant for me and are something that I will always treasure. The privilege of joining Black Voices in 2005 was incredible for me. Yes, because I got to sing with them, but more because they encouraged me to write and that was the fi rst professional outlet that I had for composition. It meant that my little pieces were either getting used in workshops, at school or on stage when we were touring.”

Aside from those formative experiences, Laura talks about her other musical infl uences with a real passion, citing Nina Simone – a singer to whom the 26-year old has regularly been compared – as well as Amy Winehouse, Miles Davis and choral composers, soul, blues and jazz as key. (Laura described herself as the ‘geeky kid of R&B’ in a recent Guardian interview). With their distinctive mix of sparse instrumentation, layers of lush orchestral and choral arrangements, the effect of years working with, and around, classical and jazz musicians can be clearly heard in her carefully crafted songs.

“I would love to perform with a major orchestra – it sounds a bit indulgent and maybe a bit ambitious – and with a choir. And also beyond that I’d love to write a fi lm score – when I was much younger that was my ultimate dream. I used to say that to everybody: I want to be a fi lm music composer. Just doing a fi rst album like I have, has kind of made things that seemed to me as fantasies actually feel attainable, even if at fi rst it feels totally unrealistic.”

An ambition, that somehow, we feel will come true in the very near future.

Laura Mvula releases her new single Green Garden on February 24, and debut album Sing To The Moon on March 4 through RCA Victor. She also supports Jessie Ware at The Institute, Birmingham, on March 9.

With little more than a dozen shows behind her, classically trained Brum songstress Laura Mvula has already earned herself a Brits Critics’ Choice nomination and BBC Sound of 2013 spot. As she prepares to release debut album Sing To The Moon, Lyle Bignon fi nds her excited and exhausted.

“It’s nice to be living in Birmingham still, to come back here for a bit of peace…”


slow &steady

In a world where it’s all about the much-hyped, brand new, next big thing, Frightened Rabbit have followed a career path that seems refreshingly antiquated. Not for them the early explosion and downward spiral that greets so many promising artists. Instead Frightened Rabbit have spent years moving slowly up the ladder, from little indie label to the larger FatCat, and now, after nearly a decade, on to major label Atlantic for fourth album, Pedestrian Verse.

“I see it now as you would with a football manager. Like you get a season to perform, you get an album to perform, and then you’re thrown into Division Two if it doesn’t go well,” says Frightened Rabbit founder and main man Scott Hutchinson, dissecting how the music business works.

“How it’s happened with us, that’s much healthier to do – slowly making progress, step-by-step. Sure, you get jealous of your friends shooting off, but that slow build seems to work for us so far… we’ll take the slow route and see how it goes. That instant success isn’t right. No-one ever hopes their fi rst album will be their best, it should always be a method of improvement. That shit state of affairs has been partly down to the media and partly the fault of the record labels wanting that huge fl ash in the pan. But I think labels now understand, and Atlantic understands what we’ve built, and want to build on that.”

Saying goodbye to FatCat after 2010’s well-received The Winter Of Mixed Drinks, the fi rst products of FR’s relationship with Atlantic – home to such acts as Bruno Mars, Fun and Flo Rida, as well as Dog Is Dead and Ed Sheeran – are last September’s State Hospital EP and recently released single The Woodpile.

“They’re kind of a good doorway to open into the new record, and once inside, it’s a lot more dense, with slighter stranger pieces of music,” reckons Scott. “They lead you into the record.”

With producer/musician and Eno cohort Leo Abrahams behind the desk, the major label deal allowed for a new-found freedom.

“The sound of the album wasn’t changed to suit a major label,” Scott stresses. “On a small label, the releases are expected to come faster, but with Atlantic, they just left us until we were fi nished. We had more time for that… so I guess there’s a much more refi ned sound, we can look at the minutiae of sounds. Everything has a reason to be there. Before, we piled sounds on and in hindsight, that not always produced the best results.”

Citing tracks Acts Of Man and Nitrous Gas as personal highlights, the vocalist/guitarist sees Abrahams’ input as an important element in shaping Pedestrian Verse

“I wasn’t aware of what he’d done in the past. But the label suggested him, and we met up, and found out that we have similar musical interests. His work with Brian Eno impressed me. We had this great connection and when he heard the demos, he fell in love with it. He didn’t make any major changes, but he almost became our sixth member while he was making the record.

“Leo’s unique. He’s an uber-talented musician… and he also has an amazing ear and amazing energy. For him it’s not about the musical performance, it’s much more about the energy. It’s such a subtle thing he did, there’s a certain subtlety and musicianship… he refi ned what we’d already started.”

The album kicks off a busy year for the Scottish quintet.

“There’s lots of touring!” Scott laughs. “We’ve found that it’s one of the best ways for us to change perceptions… to play the songs to people, so we’ll spend the next year touring. That’s where people will get the album. There’s nothing I’d like to do more than touring. I can’t stand sitting at home, not doing anything, I’ve got to get out and play live. So far we’re playing the UK in February, then the United States in March/April, and then hopefully further afi eld. I’d love to go back to Europe and go back to Australia, it’s been a while since we’ve been there. We’ve never been to South America, or Japan. These things are possible.”

As the band prepare to fi nally go global, it seems a fi tting way to mark Frightened Rabbit’s 10th anniversary.

“It’s kinda 10. Sort of. Ummm… yeah, I’ll take it!” he laughs. “Looking back to Frightened Rabbit as a notion, it’s 10 years, although it’s only the last six or seven that I’ve been taking it seriously. Before then, for the fi rst three years, it was just a hobby, and I was using it to go out and socialise. But it’s nice thinking about how things have amalgamated. It feels like something new with this record…”

Frightened Rabbit are live at The Library @ The Institute, Birmingham, on February 9. New album Pedestrian Verse is out on February 4 on Atlantic.

Frightened Rabbit have entered

the world of the major label for

their fourth album after nearly a

decade of making music.

David Vincent hears more about

the Scottish quintet’s slow building

route to success.

19February 2013

Since the slow-burning success of 2010’s Becoming A Jackal, Villagers’ Conor O’Brien has racked up a huge list of achievements. But ask the Irish songwriter to list his personal highlights from the last few years, and there’s no mention of that arena tour with Elbow, those appearances with Grizzly Bear or Neil Young, or even the string of award wins and nominations. It’s all about travel.

“I visited lots of places for the first time, like Australia, which was cool to see,” he says, clearly relishing the chance to visit far flung destinations. “We also did this intense trip to America, a tour, and we drove in this tiny van… well it was hardly a van, more like a beat-up car. We drove from the east coast to the west coast, and played everywhere in between. I was living out my Jack Kerouac fantasies – that was cool too. We also went to Singapore, which was strange, it was so culturally different, but the audience was really receptive.”

It’s perhaps therefore understandable to discover that travel has helped shape much of Villagers’ recently-released second long-player, {Awayland}.

“There’s a lot of travelling in this album – place names, places we flew over that I Googled later on – so touring is definitely in there,” Conor explains. “The whole record is a journey, there’s definitely a narrative to it, a movement between songs… [there are] landscapes and place names as a metaphor, and it all takes place in the mind of the protagonist…”

The emotive and charming Becoming A Jackal was an impressive debut, one which many

suspected could be a hard act to follow. Yet {Awayland} succeeds in topping it. Avoiding the traps of repetition, Conor takes the songs to surprising places, musically and lyrically, creating a challenging and cohesive selection that began to take shape during extensive Jackal dates.

“Some of the songs were written on tour… but most of the songs were written when we finished touring, like around the beginning of 2012, although there is one – The Bell – that was written much earlier, around 10 years ago. I used to play it, or a version of it, in my old band. I played drums on it then – now I finally get to sing it. It’s totally changed from then though,” he says. “I’d previously discounted it, as it was so old, but the words echoed the sentiments on this album… it’s nice to have it on there.”

Previously, Conor had his desire that {Awayland}’s songs would reclaim a childhood sense of curiosity and wonder, so often lost as we mature. It’s a goal which, on reflection, he believes he was only partially successful at achieving.

“I think it was more about the actual process of trying to do that which was more important than how successful I was at trying to achieve that sense of wonder. There’s a lot of tension in the songs that came from actively having that… imagining that I came from a place where I have no life behind me, I have no experience. It was a really interesting project to have, a way to create tension. Words don’t come out unless there’s push and pull. It worked sometimes, but other times… I can hear that otherworldly bittersweetness.”

Writer Kurt Vonnegut’s approach to humour and darkness, his seminal Slaughterhouse-Five, and in particular the central character of Billy Pilgrim, also fuelled Conor’s songwriting.

“[Billy’s] very much the innocent abroad, he’s too naive to understand what’s happening, so he’s taken on this great journey. So it’s almost an album for Billy Pilgrim. That helped me with the whole tragicomical aspect of the album, which musically has a lot of melancholy and darkness moments. But I took a conscious decision to infuse them with humour and make them as uplifting as possible within the context of the music.”

However, the final piece of the {Awayland} jigsaw seems to be a shift in thinking from solo act to group.

“The whole process of making the record was geared towards the band,” Conor states. “The demos sounded good, where I played everything, but to get five heads in a room, that brings much more to it. Even if the changes are very subtle, there are five subtle differences, it makes the songs move in a different way.

“We’re on the road now, and the guys are playing the things that they played on the record rather than just what I told them. We feel like a unit now, there’s an ownership of their parts, a sense of brotherhood.”

Villagers are live at The Institute, Birmingham, February 14. New album {Awayland} is out now on Domino.

Villagers frontman Conor O’Brien has journeyed far and wide since his breakthrough debut album warmed many a heart in 2010. He tells David Vincent how his travels have inspired a more worldly-wise sophomore record.

Journeyman


Jonathan Higgs is the beating heart of the very well oiled machine that is Everything Everything. Last time we spoke to him he was a man determined to make original and inspiring music that would make people sit up and pay attention. The success of 2010’s Mercury Prize nominated Man Alive helped him to achieve that goal. Now speaking to him on the eve of the release of his band’s sophomore effort, Arc, we fi nd that EE’s debut may have served as the equivalent of tapping a knife against a champagne glass at a wedding, but Arc, he hopes, will be the best man’s speech, and help establish more of a connection with his listeners, both new and old.

“We wanted this record to be far more open about who we are and what we are, and not to hide behind distractions and images of foxes,” he says, almost dismissing the cover art of Everything Everything’s debut as silly and unnecessary. “We wanted to make a more human album and clear up some of the mystery.”

This demystifi cation begins with album number two’s artwork. Arc’s front cover shows the foursome staring off into the distance, paying homage, Higgs explains, to Captain Oates, one of the courageous men on Captain Scott’s famously doomed expedition to the South Pole, a story which Higgs became fascinated and obsessed by during Arc’s gestation.

“There was a photograph of Oates, and there was something extremely modern about the picture; he had a really short haircut and it was incredibly detailed, like a high-powered digital photo, and I was just obsessed with this image. It was 100 years old and this guy had died in the South Pole and I wanted to replicate it. So we put our jumpers on and we sat in the same position and tried to emulate it. But we wanted ourselves on the cover from early on because we wanted to be much more open about who we were.”

The tragic tale of Scott’s expedition is a very human story, a classic battle of man against Mother Nature in which, sadly, Mother Nature emerged the victor. Perhaps Higgs became so enthralled by the Antarctic expedition because he saw the parallels between Scott’s attempt to reach the South Pole, and his own attempt to make an album that connects with an audience on a human level in a digital age. Where Scott faced frostbite and icy blasts, Higgs and his band mates have to contend with a world in which social media sites, television and videogames are deterring people from partaking in basic human interaction.

“There are numerous places on both records which are a plea for something more, something real,” he says. “I think we are very much a product of now. We’re very connected but we’re not really connected and there are lots of false things in the world, and as much as we all want

it and we do all love our phones and all the rest of it, there’s a feeling of unease with it. I guess that I feel that people are curious about what we should be doing, if this is natural or whatever. I guess you can’t know it until you’ve lived the other life. It’s equally scary as it is uplifting; it’s a weird time to live in.”

Higgs has long bemoaned this unease, as the lyrics from Photoshop Handsome from Man Alive, will attest to: ‘Airbrush/ What have you done with my father?/ Why does he look like a carving?/ How do I live in the present?/ Gotta come back as something organic,’ he sings, posing many questions but getting few answers in return from the soulless machines that shape our perceptions of reality.

Another obstacle which Everything Everything will have to overcome in order to connect with their audience, and convey their unifying message, is the sheer size of the venues they will soon be playing in. When asked about their recent arena sized gigs in support of Muse, Jonathan is in two minds about the experience. “The Muse [gigs] were quite disconnecting really,” he recalls thoughtfully. “There’s 20,000 people, you’re on a stage really quite far away from them. It’s all so incredibly loud and distant, and the sound of the crowd is just ridiculous, so it’s hugely different [from playing smaller, more intimate venues]. It’s satisfying in a different

way I guess, everything’s just exaggerated, so we play our most vivid songs and sort of act them out in as clear a way as possible, like in an old Roman amphitheatre or something.

“It’s a different set of skills really, a different type of show; I can’t show people my face and I can’t really talk in [the same] way, it has to be done with the music solely, the visual element is tiny. We have to play it as well as we can and rely on the music. When you’re at a smaller venue there’s much more eye contact, and you can see the people in the crowd, which makes a big difference.”

These comparisons with Scott’s Antarctic voyage are not to suggest that Everything Everything are about to embark on a doomed journey. Indeed, if responses to Arc are anything to go by, then things look very positive for the quartet. Impressive reviews from critics across the land were followed by an even more impressive top fi ve placing in the album charts upon its release, muscling its way alongside the likes of pop heavyweights Rihanna and Calvin Harris, indicating an assault on the mainstream from this most intriguing of bands.

“It’s decrypted a little bit,” says Higgs, when discussing how Arc differs from its predecessor Man Alive. “The lyrics should be far easier to understand, or at least to get a lot of the same meaning from. In general I think we’ve ironed out the distracting nature of Man Alive. Man Alive kind of felt like, ‘if we can do it we might as well if it’s fun and it excites us,’ but we feel like we’ve done that now and to do it again would be a bit boring, so we’re trying to reinforce moods and feelings and write some songs that can be translated onto other instruments or to other artists, more about the song than the particular production of it and the reliance on it being us. We want it to be more about a song that can maybe transcend a record and have other lives in other places. Man Alive made certain kinds of connections, but we’re hitting an emotional one now.”

Connectivity is certainly the buzz word that surrounds Arc. Whilst Higgs is the captain of the good ship Everything Everything, steering the band in the right direction, from song writing to artwork (with a degree in popular music to help him make the right decisions), you get the impression that he is a man with a very distinct message that he wants to convey, not just for his own benefi t, but for ours too.

“We have to believe it ourselves,” he says when asked whether he writes music for himself or for his audience. “We have to be interested in it and excited by it. There’s no point going on stage every night if you don’t believe in what you’re doing or the words you’re saying, or if you don’t think a song’s good or exciting, so you have to satisfy yourself to that degree. But at the same time I’m conscious that I want to make a connection with audiences, particularly with lyrics, with emotional stuff. I want people to know what I’m talking about this time, I want them to feel something other than just curiosity.”

Everything Everything are a modern band, a band who rely upon laptop technology to compose their songs, a band who famously reference computer games in their lyrics and who can sometimes sound like a million bits of binary data hitting you at once. But their embracing of technology does not mean that they have forgotten how to feel and their second album hopes to not only prove this, but to remind us how to feel too; to encourage us to step out from behind our computer screens and take a walk with our friends, to drop in unannounced on a loved one, or to give someone a hug rather than a ‘poke’. Arc is an emotionally charged album, aimed at our hearts and not just at our dancing shoes.

Everything Everything play The Library @ The Institute, Birmingham, on February 12. New album Arc is out now.

New long-player Arc fi nds Everything Everything opening up. “We wanted to make a more human album and clear up some of the mystery,” they tell Matthew Osborne.

21February 2013

Jonathan Higgs is the beating heart of the very well oiled machine that is Everything Everything. Last time we spoke to him he was a man determined to make original and inspiring music that would make people sit up and pay attention. The success of 2010’s Mercury Prize nominated Man Alive helped him to achieve that goal. Now speaking to him on the eve of the release of his band’s sophomore effort, Arc, we fi nd that EE’s debut may have served as the equivalent of tapping a knife against a champagne glass at a wedding, but Arc, he hopes, will be the best man’s speech, and help establish more of a connection with his listeners, both new and old.

“We wanted this record to be far more open about who we are and what we are, and not to hide behind distractions and images of foxes,” he says, almost dismissing the cover art of Everything Everything’s debut as silly and unnecessary. “We wanted to make a more human album and clear up some of the mystery.”

This demystifi cation begins with album number two’s artwork. Arc’s front cover shows the foursome staring off into the distance, paying homage, Higgs explains, to Captain Oates, one of the courageous men on Captain Scott’s famously doomed expedition to the South Pole, a story which Higgs became fascinated and obsessed by during Arc’s gestation.

“There was a photograph of Oates, and there was something extremely modern about the picture; he had a really short haircut and it was incredibly detailed, like a high-powered digital photo, and I was just obsessed with this image. It was 100 years old and this guy had died in the South Pole and I wanted to replicate it. So we put our jumpers on and we sat in the same position and tried to emulate it. But we wanted ourselves on the cover from early on because we wanted to be much more open about who we were.”

The tragic tale of Scott’s expedition is a very human story, a classic battle of man against Mother Nature in which, sadly, Mother Nature emerged the victor. Perhaps Higgs became so enthralled by the Antarctic expedition because he saw the parallels between Scott’s attempt to reach the South Pole, and his own attempt to make an album that connects with an audience on a human level in a digital age. Where Scott faced frostbite and icy blasts, Higgs and his band mates have to contend with a world in which social media sites, television and videogames are deterring people from partaking in basic human interaction.

“There are numerous places on both records which are a plea for something more, something real,” he says. “I think we are very much a product of now. We’re very connected but we’re not really connected and there are lots of false things in the world, and as much as we all want

it and we do all love our phones and all the rest of it, there’s a feeling of unease with it. I guess that I feel that people are curious about what we should be doing, if this is natural or whatever. I guess you can’t know it until you’ve lived the other life. It’s equally scary as it is uplifting; it’s a weird time to live in.”

Higgs has long bemoaned this unease, as the lyrics from Photoshop Handsome from Man Alive, will attest to: ‘Airbrush/ What have you done with my father?/ Why does he look like a carving?/ How do I live in the present?/ Gotta come back as something organic,’ he sings, posing many questions but getting few answers in return from the soulless machines that shape our perceptions of reality.

Another obstacle which Everything Everything will have to overcome in order to connect with their audience, and convey their unifying message, is the sheer size of the venues they will soon be playing in. When asked about their recent arena sized gigs in support of Muse, Jonathan is in two minds about the experience. “The Muse [gigs] were quite disconnecting really,” he recalls thoughtfully. “There’s 20,000 people, you’re on a stage really quite far away from them. It’s all so incredibly loud and distant, and the sound of the crowd is just ridiculous, so it’s hugely different [from playing smaller, more intimate venues]. It’s satisfying in a different

way I guess, everything’s just exaggerated, so we play our most vivid songs and sort of act them out in as clear a way as possible, like in an old Roman amphitheatre or something.

“It’s a different set of skills really, a different type of show; I can’t show people my face and I can’t really talk in [the same] way, it has to be done with the music solely, the visual element is tiny. We have to play it as well as we can and rely on the music. When you’re at a smaller venue there’s much more eye contact, and you can see the people in the crowd, which makes a big difference.”

These comparisons with Scott’s Antarctic voyage are not to suggest that Everything Everything are about to embark on a doomed journey. Indeed, if responses to Arc are anything to go by, then things look very positive for the quartet. Impressive reviews from critics across the land were followed by an even more impressive top fi ve placing in the album charts upon its release, muscling its way alongside the likes of pop heavyweights Rihanna and Calvin Harris, indicating an assault on the mainstream from this most intriguing of bands.

“It’s decrypted a little bit,” says Higgs, when discussing how Arc differs from its predecessor Man Alive. “The lyrics should be far easier to understand, or at least to get a lot of the same meaning from. In general I think we’ve ironed out the distracting nature of Man Alive. Man Alive kind of felt like, ‘if we can do it we might as well if it’s fun and it excites us,’ but we feel like we’ve done that now and to do it again would be a bit boring, so we’re trying to reinforce moods and feelings and write some songs that can be translated onto other instruments or to other artists, more about the song than the particular production of it and the reliance on it being us. We want it to be more about a song that can maybe transcend a record and have other lives in other places. Man Alive made certain kinds of connections, but we’re hitting an emotional one now.”

Connectivity is certainly the buzz word that surrounds Arc. Whilst Higgs is the captain of the good ship Everything Everything, steering the band in the right direction, from song writing to artwork (with a degree in popular music to help him make the right decisions), you get the impression that he is a man with a very distinct message that he wants to convey, not just for his own benefi t, but for ours too.

“We have to believe it ourselves,” he says when asked whether he writes music for himself or for his audience. “We have to be interested in it and excited by it. There’s no point going on stage every night if you don’t believe in what you’re doing or the words you’re saying, or if you don’t think a song’s good or exciting, so you have to satisfy yourself to that degree. But at the same time I’m conscious that I want to make a connection with audiences, particularly with lyrics, with emotional stuff. I want people to know what I’m talking about this time, I want them to feel something other than just curiosity.”

Everything Everything are a modern band, a band who rely upon laptop technology to compose their songs, a band who famously reference computer games in their lyrics and who can sometimes sound like a million bits of binary data hitting you at once. But their embracing of technology does not mean that they have forgotten how to feel and their second album hopes to not only prove this, but to remind us how to feel too; to encourage us to step out from behind our computer screens and take a walk with our friends, to drop in unannounced on a loved one, or to give someone a hug rather than a ‘poke’. Arc is an emotionally charged album, aimed at our hearts and not just at our dancing shoes.

Everything Everything play The Library @ The Institute, Birmingham, on February 12. New album Arc is out now.

New long-player Arc fi nds Everything Everything opening up. “We wanted to make a more human album and clear up some of the mystery,” they tell Matthew Osborne.

28 February - 10 March 2013

THEATREVISUAL ARTSPERFORMANCEMUSICLITERATUREFILMTALKS &WORKSHOPS

Festival ofQueer Arts& CultureBirmingham and the West Midlands

SHOUT is a project of

For full festival listings visit...www.shoutfestival.co.ukwww.facebook.com/shoutfestival @shoutfestival

birmingham lgbt


“Christmas doesn’t come from a store, maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more....” famously (?) wrote Dr Seuss in How The Grinch stole Christmas. How the Doctor himself anticipated the joy that Anushka, aka Anna Palmer, – previously of the parishes of Little Palm and Tantrums – and seven-piece feel-good ska outfit Tempt-ing Rosie would produce through several hours of music, I do not know. Maybe half the audience were of Mayan extraction and celebrating the last day of the world EVER. And even those of apocalyptic bent stopped to see and hear new material from singer-songwriter Anushka, who sounds more and more like a Joanna Newsom-Coco-Rosie hybrid every time she takes to the stage. A suitably upbeat cover of The Waitresses’ Christmas Wrapping had us singing along in a beautiful bar room-style, and kudos to her backing band and members of the next band who joined Anna on stage. Speak-ing of which, and shamefully it was the first time this reviewer had ever seen them live, Tempting Rosie were ace. Truly musically tight, and reminiscent of a young UB40, the band were full of verve, character and tons of confidence and played the kind of up-beat reggae and ska that would encourage a certain green Scrooge-esque monster to take up voluntary work at a charity shop on York Road. A terrific start to a lovely Christ-massy gig.Next it was the turn of headliners, local

favourites and the seemingly forever hot-ly-tipped Troumaca. And, although not as obviously upbeat as Tempting Rosie or as intriguing as Anushka, the lads did it in their own inimitable and swaggering style. Having just signed to Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings label – debut EP Virgin Island is set for release at the end of February – the band were on fine form. They didn’t disappoint an expectant and heaving crowd and played a number of laid back/tropical dub-style tracks, including the almost hypnotic new single Lady Colour. Apart from the bass and hook-laden guitars what came through from the show was the passion. What’s refreshing about watching the enigmatic five-piece is that it is painfully obvious that they love what they do. Watching someone lose themselves in a moment or be so completely wrapped up in something they have created makes it all the more enjoyable. It is almost enough to forgive them for not doing a Christmas cover – only almost though. It seems foolish to say ‘watch out for Trou-maca’, as if the majority of Birmingham don’t know who they are, but if you are new to the band check them out. This could just be the year that everyone else notices how damn talented they are.Lyle Bignon and Ben RussellPhotos by Wayne Fox Photography

OFF THE CUFF CHRISTMAS SHOW WITH SHAPES + MOREThe Flapper, Birmingham15/12/12

The annual festival celebrating all things loud is back for one hell of a noisy Christmas party, boasting an outstanding array of local talent. First up are Youth Man, renowned for chaos (the last time the played The Flapper, they short-circuited the whole venue), they do not disappoint. Their live show becomes stronger and tighter with every performance, tonight hammering through five-track EP Youth and chucking a couple of new ones in for good measure, they get the festive spirit well and truly roaring. Feral five-piece Bovine open to a wall of noise, they have an ardent following in their hometown and the room is packed to the back for the entire-ty of their set. After the ever punk-infused openers, Bovine implement a new level of aural savagery and, as always, leave every-thing they’ve got on stage. Following in much the same vein, Them Wolves tear the night to pieces with an ear-splitting 30 minute set; the raw, unadulterated energy that they channel so accurately does not leave them for a single second throughout. They tip the scales towards the end of the evening and, again, leave the stage to a rapture. Arguably the biggest band of the night, Shapes have a lot to do after three thoroughly vicious sets from their predecessors. They are by far the

livEBRUM NOTES & THIS IS TMRW CHRISTMAS PARTY WITH TROU-MACA + TEMPTING ROSIE + ANUSHKAHare & Hounds, Kings heath20/12/12 Photo by Wayne Fox Photography

23February 2013

more polished of the offering tonight yet they do not lose an inch of potency for it; a com-bination of tight, quick melodies and one of the tightest rhythm sections going all pro-vides a fitting close to the party and ensures everybody present has enjoyed, for one night at least, a very hardcore Christmas.Joe Whitehouse

RED FANGThe Temple @ The Institute, Birmingham06/12/12

Inflamed by crimson flashes, 300 pairs of eyes ignite as Red Fang hammer their first devouring drone. With ears feasting upon this resounding force the audience is pushed to the precipice of anticipation; and so Red Fang unleash and de-muzzle their hungry leviathan. Throw Up immediately brings the gig to frui-tion. Bryan Giles’s ferociously macho vo-cals are as weighted as the burly primitive guitar work that progresses beneath them. This encapsulating groove moves every sin-gle head in the venue in slow but zealous agreement. The fusion between Giles’s voice and Aaron Beam’s fluid, melodic, yet as-sertive vocals gives Red Fang that lethal double edge, which they exploit in almost every song, giving an unyielding momentum

to their vocalised energy. Flawless vocals aside, these riff lords certainly deserve the title. Songs such as Number Thirteen and Human Remains Human Remains demon-strate a great amalgamation of heavyweight grooves, break neck speed and technical composition – a recipe that appears to ap-peal to rock and metal fans alike. Powered forward by John Sherman’s fifth gear drumming, the venue quakes as they lead into Sharks, injecting punk tendencies into an already overwhelming formula. Their climaxing finale, Prehistoric Dog, inspires rapturous cheers throughout the venue. And while this definitive riff-fest stomps on, so does the front of the frenzied audience, commanded by Aaron Beam’s elevated and exemplary vocal. Red Fang are a band as aggressive as they are bearded and profes-sional as they are entertaining. They leave no room for pretentious encores, and quite frankly they don’t need to. Guy Hirst

GOODNIGHT LENINBirmingham Cathedral01/12/12

With a debut album produced by John Wood, the dude behind Nick Drake’s semi-nal releases, in the bag (it’s due out in later

in 2013) what better way to cap off another great year for Northfield’s finest than a sold-out Christmas gig at Birmingham Cathedral? Rapidly becoming something of a Christ-mas institution Goodnight Lenin’s festive shows are as much of a sign that Santa’s on his way as Noddy Holder yelling “Itttttt’ssss Chrissssstmassssss!!!!!”Highlights spilled out of the set like Christ-mas pressies from a sack, including a beau-tiful a cappella mash-up of Ballad Of A Leaving Man with Wenceslas Square. Add-ing Hannah and Kate to tonight’s line-up also proved to be a real treat, making the string parts infinitely more orchestral and much richer. Ode To Rebellion in particular really benefited from this added firepower. The freshly-penned New Electric also fleshed out the Lenin sound a little more, with its naggingly insistent opening keyboard motif giving way to another full on rock out. Lenin’s Horse With No Name? Could be. Closing with the suitably seasonal A Win-ter’s Night – “It’s like Slade with minor chords,” quipped Liam – capped off an-other magical Lenin Christmas show. Who knows, with the right roll of the dice in 2013 and the success the album deserves, it may even be the last time they’ll play here. The LG Arena just won’t be the same eh? Daron Billings

FEATURING:

BOMBERSSKULL TVYOUTH MANGHOSTS OF DEAD AIRPLANES

BRUM NOTES MAGAZINEMARCH ISSUELAUNCH PARTY

Bull's Head, Moseley

Thursday, March 7, 8pm

Entry £3 on the doorDRINKS PROMOS, GIVEAWAYS AND MORE

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presents in association with Academy Events

O2 ACADEMY3 BIRMINGHAMFRIDAY 5 APRILDOORS: 6PM / CURFEW: 10PM / £5 ADV

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Plus very special guests


STylEEDITOR'SPICKSASOS£15.00

THE HOUSE OF NINES“House creators Ross Paul Keenan and Shamrez Marawat challenge the perception of British menswear to arrive at a long-awaited rebirth of the form.”

Last month saw Birmingham’s own Shamrez Marawat and co-creator Ross Paul Keenan at London Collections: Men showcasing their House of Nines AW13-14 collection.

The pair coupled together to pro-duce a collection of tailored mens-wear with a modern edge and charm. Sophisticated but rebel-lious, these traditional methods of tailoring have been fused with modern quirks and innova-

tive artistry injecting a unique and attractive life into the brand.

The collection consists of slim line trousers, signature angled darts, lamb skin, laser cut snake print, fine Italian cotton and mother of pearl buttons, and is made up of a col-lection of strong colours such as oxblood, charcoal, burnt champagne and black. This brand is definitely one to watch in 2013.

www.thehouseofnines.com

EDITOR'S PICKS

TOPSHOP£98.00 TOPSHOP

£25.00

RIVER ISLAND£30.00

H&M£7.99

monochrome and statement jewellery

NEW LOOK£14.99

CHANEL @ DEBENHAMS

£18.00

Fashion Focus

25February 2013

EDITOR'SPICKSbirmingham street styleASH, 25, WORKS IN AN OFFICEAsh wears Cheap Monday jeans and a Penfield jacket with leather Clarks Originals. He wears whatever he feels comfortable in and his favour-ite retailer in Birmingham is Selfridges.

REBEKAH, 22, WORKS AT XFMRebekah’s jacket is from H&M, her jeans are Top-shop and she stole her t-shirt from her boyfriend. Her style influences are friends and her favourite shop in Birmingham is COW.

LOUISE, 21, DANCERLouise is wearing a bowler hat from Urban Out-fitters, a dress from Topshop and a River Island parka. Her boots are patent Doc Martens and her bag is Vivienne Westwood. Louise prefers to customise her own clothes and doesn’t have any style icons. Her favourite shop in Birmingham is COW.

CHAI, 17, STUDENTChai’s black fur coat and bag belonged to her grandmother, her patterned dress is from the charity shop and her shoes are Schuh. She looks for style inspiration from her friends and the 1920s era and her favourite places to shop in Birmingham are COW and The Custard Factory.

JAMES, 21, MUSIC PRODUCER James’s oversized jumper is from a charity shop, his gloves are from a market stall, his shoes are his dad’s and his jeans are from Cheap Monday. He doesn’t have any style icons but he likes the American preppy style and although this is his first time in Birmingham he really likes COW and Urban Outfitters.

ZOE, 17, STUDENTZoe’s aztec patterned coat is Ralph Lauren dis-covered in TK Maxx, her boots are Topshop and her leather bag is from River Island. She doesn’t have any style icons and just dresses in her own style. Her favourite shop in Birmingham is COW.

photography by Emily Baker


fOOd+

driNk

recipe: valENTiNE’S SmaShIngredients: 50ml Kamm & Sons10-12 basil leaves15ml lemon juice2tsp honey

Directions: Shake all ingredients and fine strain over cubed ice.Garnish with a basil leaf and lemon peel.

valENTiNE’S day COCkTailS The 14th of February gives us all the perfect excuse for over-indulgence with our chosen ones and what better way to round off your night than with a Valentine’s cocktail? After a carefully-selected meal revolving around the usual (aphrodisiac) suspects of oysters, asparagus and strawberries you’re going to need something to cleanse your palate. Most Valentine’s drinks stick to stereotypical, sickly-sweet, creamy concoctions of berries and chocolate, so here are a couple of different drinks loaded with natural stimulants that’ll make you forget you even went for a meal.

It would be wrong not to add a bit of fizz to your night, so our first drink features smoked watermelon gin, almond syrup and rose water topped off with Prosecco to create a delicate blend of flavours that will get your taste buds going. We infuse the gin with watermelon adding a smokey edge for that extra taste dimension that sits perfectly alongside the rose and almond notes.

The second drink we’ve created uses Kamm & Sons Ginseng spirit, a relative newcomer to the spirits market, which has ginseng, fresh grapefruit and manuka honey among its 45 botanicals. We’re mixing it with fresh basil and lemon with honey to sweeten to create a Valentine’s Smash full of nutrients, enzymes and phytochemicals to push your night in the right direction.

If you’re heading out, make sure you pop in to Island Bar on your way home, where we will be serving great shar-ing cocktails created especially for the night, with live acoustic music from Jason Pegg.

recipe: SmOkEy rOSEIngredients: 25ml Smoked Watermelon Gin7.5ml almond syrup2.5ml rose waterTop of Prosecco

Directions: Build drink in a champagne flute and garnish with a sug-ared rose petal and water-melon wedge.

By Ed Shawcross, general manager at Island Bar, Suffolk Street Queensway, Birmingham. For details on events visit www.bar-island.co.uk.

27February 2013

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N.U.S CARD OR OTHER STUDENT I.D

THESUNONTHEHILL.CO.UK 0121 448 7966

23 BENNETTS HILL, BIRMINGHAM B2 5QP

FACEBOOK.COM/THESUNONTHEHILL

TWITTER - @THESUNONTHEHILL

FOURSQUARE - THE SUN ON THE HILL

FREE LIVE ACOUSTIC MUSIC AND LIVE DJs EVERY WEDNESDAY FROM 8PM & EVERY SUNDAY FROM 4PM.

TRY OUR BRAND NEW MENU

25% OFF ALL FOOD ORDERS WITH VALID

N.U.S CARD OR OTHER STUDENT I.D

vENuE fOCuS brEwdOgJohn Bright StBirmingham city centre0121 313 1699

You might have tasted BrewDog’s beers before. They’ve been available in clued-up pubs and off licenses for a good few years now and have more recently branched out into bars of their own, unveiling their Birmingham venue in December. A self-styled ‘punk’ brewery, it seems BrewDog shares our city’s ethos of brashness. “We’d struggle to sleep at night if we didn’t have a bar in the ancestral home of heavy metal,” they confess.

Before we’re inside, the pub is already onto a winner as we are warmly welcomed in from the winter by the doorman. Inside, the decor is New York loft-styled, all brickwork and exposed metal beams, with chalk boards displaying what delights you can drink and eat. The staff are friendly, very knowledgeable about the beer, (they have to pass an exam before they can serve behind the bar), and they are happy for you to try before you buy. And although the bar is comfortably full, there are enough staff here to ensure speedy, almost immediate service. After a swift sea-sonal half of Hoppy Christmas, we’re whisked away downstairs

for the tasting.

There’s a platter for each of us with cold meats, cheeses, and breads. Our host ex-plains that part of BrewDog’s philosophy is to bring back the awareness of matching food and beer so that the tastes comple-ment each other, as is common with wine, and this is reflected by the eats on offer upstairs. We’re then told the background story to Indian Pale Ale while we sample

both the IPAs that BrewDog make. At 9.2 per cent the Hardcore IPA is loaded with three different types of hops and three malts. This gives it a deep complexity that is far beyond beers you would usually find of this strength. Next up is Tactical Nuclear Penguin. It’s 32 per cent. At that strength, you’ll be glad to know that its served in a 25ml measure in a wine glass, rather than a pint. It is a strange taste sensation. Very yeasty and sweet, but with a taste that still makes it distinguishable as a beer instead of a spirit, it’s a woozy, heady blend of the surreal and the subliminal.

And here’s why BrewDog can unashamedly adopt the punk tag – they are revolting against corporate, mass-made, tasteless beer in an effort to turn people on to good quality, tasty beer that is born of innovation and made with care. Alongside their own drinks they also serve a huge selection of draught beer from brewer-ies all round the world including Mikkeller, Evil Twin, The Kernel, Flying Dog, Rouge and Ballast Point. These strong craft beers are there to be enjoyed and savoured, and treated with respect. The mainly 30-something crowd made up of both sexes reflects this, as everyone is on the right side of merry, having a few mid-week drinks, exchanging banter with strangers while casually exchanging recommendations. Plans to start some music nights add to the attraction of this happenin’ bar. God save BrewDog. Ben Calvert.


KEY TO LISTINGS:M = LIVE MUSICCN = CLUB NIGHTC = COMEDYwhaT’S ON

Friday, Feb 1

M High on Fire O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M XOVA The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Guy Jones The Flapper Birmingham

M Keziasoul Bull’s Head Moseley

CN Go With The Flo All Nighter

Adam & Eve Birmingham

CN Lucha Libre Bodega Birmingham

CN Origins Presents Lab11 Birmingham

CN Propaganda O2 Academy Birmingham

CN Just A Groove The Rose Villa Tavern

Birmingham

CN Loose Joints The Victoria Birmingham

CN Soul Train Remem-brance

Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

CN Freestyle Bull’s Head Moseley

C Adam Bloom The Glee Club Birmingham

C Jimmy Carr Civic Hall Wolverhampton

Saturday, Feb 2

M Kicks Adam & Eve Birmingham

M Midnight Bonfires Mac Birmingham

M Two Door Cinema Club

O2 Academy Birmingham

M Penny Dreadful The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Reaside The Flapper Birmingham

M The 1975 The Temple @ The Institute

Birmingham

M Introducing per-form Daft Punk’s Discovery


M Paloma Faith Civic Hall Wolverhampton

CN Laidback Luke Gatecrasher Birmingham

CN MC Nutcracker Gibb St Warehouse Birmingham

CN Shuffle Island Bar Birmingham

CN Dr Jekyll’s Potion Jekyll & Hyde Birmingham

CN Uproar The Institute Birmingham

CN FACE The Rainbow Birmingham

CN Brothel VII The Rainbow Warehouse

Birmingham

CN Juqebox The Rose Villa Tavern

Birmingham

CN SumoSoundSys-tem


CN Prospec presents Jubei

Bull’s Head Moseley

CN Blast Off Wulfrun Hall Wolverhampton

C Adam Bloom The Glee Club Birmingham

Sunday, Feb 3

M Obscure Pleasures The Flapper Birmingham

Monday, Feb 4

M We Are The Ocean O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

Tuesday, Feb 5

M Folks Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

CN Impact Bull’s Head Moseley

Wednesday, Feb 6

M All Time Low O2 Academy Birmingham

M Heard Not Scene Sun on the Hill Birmingham

CN Candy Store The Victoria Birmingham

C Imran Yusuf The Glee Club Birmingham

Thursday, Feb 7

M Seall O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M The Formula The Flapper Birmingham

M Thurston Moore + Michael Chapman

The Glee Club Birmingham

M Esben & The Witch Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

Want your gig or club

night listed in our monthly guide? Send

details to:

[email protected]

All details correct at time of going to press.

Check with venues before

setting out.

BIRMINGHAM: O2 Academy, Horsefair, Bristol St B1, 0844 4772000; The Institute, High St, Digbeth B5, 0844 2485037; NIA, King Edwards Rd B1, 0121 7804141; LG Arena, NEC, Solihull B40, 0121 7804141; The Flapper, Kingston Row B1, 0121 2362421; The Victoria, John Bright St B1, 0121 6339439; Hare & Hounds, High St, Kings Heath B14, 0121 4442081; The Actress & Bishop, Ludgate Hill B3, 0121 2367426; The Sunflower Lounge, Smallbrook Queensway B5, 0121 6327656; Symphony Hall, Broad St B1, 0121 7803333; Town Hall, Victoria Sq B3, 0121 7803333; Kitchen Garden Cafe, York Road, Kings Heath B14, 0121 4434725; Alexandra Theatre, Station St B1, 0844 8472302; Bull’s Head, St Marys Row, Moseley B13, 0121 2567777; Island Bar, Suffolk St B1, 0121 6325296; The Jam House, St Pauls Sq B3, 0121 2003030; Ort, Moseley Rd, Balsall Heath, B12; The Asylum, Hampton St, Hockley B19, 0121 2331109; The Rainbow, High St, Digbeth B12, 0121 7728174; Adam & Eve, Bradford St, Digbeth B12, 0121 6931500; The Rose Villa Tavern, Warstone Lane, B18, 0121 2367910; The Yardbird, Paradise Place B3, 0121 2122524; The Glee Club, The Arcadian, Hurst St B5, 0871 4720400; MAC, Cannon Hill Park B12, 0121 4463232; Nightingale, Kent St B5, 0121 6221718; Scruffy Murphys, The Priory Queensway B4, 0121 2362035; The Wagon & Horses, Adderley St, Digbeth B9, 0121 7721403; Lab11, Trent St B5, lab11.co.uk; The Moseley Arms, Ravenhurst St B12, 0121 7668467; Air, Heath Mill Lane B9, 0121 7666646; Artrix, Slideslow Dr, Bromsgrove B60, 01527 577330; WOLVERHAMPTON: Civic Hall/Wulfrun Hall, North St WV1, 0870 320 7000; The Slade Rooms, Broad St WV1, 0870 320 7000; Robin 2, Mount Pleasant, Bilston WV14, 01902 401211; WEST BROMWICH: The Public, New St B70, 0121 5337161; COVENTRY: Warwick Arts Centre, University of Warwick, CV4, 024 7652 4524

29February 2013

M Traditional Song Session

Kitchen Garden Cafe

Kings Heath

C Sara Pascoe The Glee Club Birmingham

C Manila Road C The Victoria Birmingham

Friday, Feb 8

M Modestep O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Against the Wheel The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Maximum Zero The Flapper Birmingham

M Evil Alien Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M XOVA Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Carousel Circus Bull’s Head Moseley


CN Output Suki10c Birmingham

CN MJ Cole The Rainbow Birmingham

CN Shuffle The Victoria Birmingham


C Phil Cool Mac Birmingham


Saturday, Feb 9

M David Parkin Mac Birmingham

M Rita Ora O2 Academy Birmingham

M Brad O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M The Whiskey Syn-dicate

O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Mivvi The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Dolls Eye Weaver The Flapper Birmingham

M Frightened Rabbit The Institute Birmingham

M Ryan Leslie The Library @ The Institute

Birmingham

M General Fiasco The Temple @ The Institute

Birmingham

M Patrick Wolf Wulfrun Hall Wolverhampton

CN Medicine Bar Reunion

Bar 78 Birmingham

CN Rita Ora Afterparty Gatecrasher Birmingham

CN DUSH Lab11 Birmingham

CN Bassline Heaven Subway City Birmingham

CN FACE The Rainbow Birmingham

CN Beatamax The Victoria Birmingham

CN Bruk Up Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

CN This is Tmrw Bull’s Head Moseley


Sunday, Feb 10

M Asking Alexandria O2 Academy Birmingham

M High Horses Sun on the Hill Birmingham

M Betrayal The Flapper Birmingham

M Ethan Johns The Glee Club Birmingham

M Bushbury Moun-tain Daredevils

Kitchen Garden Cafe

Kings Heath

Monday, Feb 11

M Andy White Kitchen Garden Cafe

Kings Heath

Tuesday, Feb 12

M Everything Every-thing

The Library @ The Institute

Birmingham

M Gary O’Dea Kitchen Garden Cafe

Kings Heath

C ComedyJQ The Rose Villa Tavern

Birmingham

Wednesday, Feb 13

M Darwin Deez O2 Academy 2 Birmingham


M Lightfire The Flapper Birmingham

M AWOLNATION The Library @ The Institute

Birmingham

C Laughing Cows Kitchen Garden Cafe

Kings Heath

Thursday, Feb 14

M Kerrang! Tour 2013 O2 Academy Birmingham

M Your Demise O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Feed The Rhino The Asylum Birmingham

M Gallops The Flapper Birmingham

M Villagers The Library @ The Institute

Birmingham

CN Valentines Singles Night


CN Manhattan Loft The Victoria Birmingham

CN J-Dilla: A European Remembrance


CN Fantastic Damage J-Dilla Special


C The Short and Long Of It

Mac Birmingham

C Ian Moore The Glee Club Birmingham

Friday, Feb 15

M Delphic O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Palour Flames O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Redline The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Swim Deep The Library @ The Institute

Birmingham

M Death At Sea The Rainbow Birmingham

M Dutch Uncles Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

CN Lucha Libre Bodega Birmingham

CN Remedy Jekyll & Hyde Birmingham


CN Oneman Solitaire Tour

The Rainbow Birmingham

CN Live Forever The Victoria Birmingham

CN Hot Club de Swing Alternative Valen-tines Ball


CN Freestyle 4th Birth-day Party



Saturday, Feb 16

M Big Man Clayton Adam & Eve Birmingham

M Valous Eddie’s Rock Club Birmingham

M NME Awards Tour O2 Academy Birmingham

M Before the Story Ends

The Flapper Birmingham

CN At Jazz Records Party

Suki10c Birmingham

CN Uprawr The Asylum Birmingham

CN Godskitchen - Paul van Dyk

The Institute Birmingham

CN Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul Official Launch Party


CN UTC 3rd Birthday Hare & Hounds Kings Heath


CN White Men Can’t Funk



Sunday, Feb 17

M LostAlone O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Nerina Pallot The Glee Club Birmingham

Monday, Feb 18

M Louise Jordan Kitchen Garden Cafe

Kings Heath

Tuesday, Feb 19

M Deftones O2 Academy Birmingham

M Don Broco O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Winter The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Winter + Super-food

The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Funeral For a Friend

The Asylum Birmingham

M Jake Bugg The Institute Birmingham

Wednesday, Feb 20

M Expire Adam & Eve Birmingham


M Mark Eitzel The Glee Club Birmingham

M James Summer-field


Thursday, Feb 21

M Pete & The Test Tube Babies


M Yiddish Twist Or-chestra

Mac Birmingham

M Fidlar O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Redwire The Flapper Birmingham

M Dave J Giles The Rainbow Birmingham

M Micky Greaney & Friends


M Jenn Bostic Bull’s Head Moseley

C John Fothergill The Glee Club Birmingham

C Diane Spencer Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

Friday, Feb 22

M Taking Hayley O2 Academy 2 Birmingham

M Weatherbird The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Bad Moon The Flapper Birmingham

M The Chapman Family


M Pure Love The Temple @ The Institute

Birmingham

M St Malo Bull’s Head Moseley

M Kaiser Chiefs Civic Hall Wolverhampton

CN New Hype presents Checan


CN Remedy Jekyll & Hyde Birmingham


CN House of God 20th Birthday

Subway City Birmingham

CN Kanyini feat Mech-animal

Suki10c Birmingham

CN Seedy Sonics The Rainbow Birmingham

CN Giles Smith, Adam Shelton and Mark E


CN Sugarfoot Stomp Hare & Hounds Kings Heath


C Andrew Lawrence The Glee Club Birmingham

C Jerry Sadowitz Wulfrun Hall Wolverhampton

Saturday, Feb 23

M The Aheads Adam & Eve Birmingham

M The Courteeners O2 Academy Birmingham

M Silent Lights The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Awesome Propor-tion

The Flapper Birmingham

M The Lumineers The Institute Birmingham

M Andy Burrows The Temple @ The Institute

Birmingham

M Hustle! VIII Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Keep It Royale All-dayer


CN The Only Way Is Hardcore 5

Gibb St Warehouse Birmingham

CN Jaguar Skills The Institute Birmingham

CN Drum & Bass Awards


CN FACE meets 2.31 The Rainbow Birmingham

CN Jam Hott Bull’s Head Moseley

C Simon Day Mac Birmingham

C John Fothergill The Glee Club Birmingham

Sunday, Feb 24

M Exit Calm O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Robin Guthrie Trio The Glee Club Birmingham

M The Prospects The Institute Birmingham

M Sam Gray Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Martha Tilston Kitchen Garden Cafe

Kings Heath

Monday, Feb 25

M Smackpin Adam & Eve Birmingham

M Mazes Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

Tuesday, Feb 26

M Exit Ten O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Of Monsters and Men

The Institute Birmingham

M Stooshe The Library @ The Institute

Birmingham

M Walk The Moon The Temple @ The Institute

Birmingham

M Jim Lockey & the Solemn Sun


Wednesday, Feb 27

M The Drills O2 Academy 3 Birmingham


M Lindi Ortega Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

M Roosevelt Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

CN Le Lieu presents Cyril Hahn


C Henning Wehn The Glee Club Birmingham

Thursday, Feb 28

M VeXXen O2 Academy 3 Birmingham

M Stu Larsen The Actress & Bishop

Birmingham

M Maps & Atlases Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

CN Soundkitchen Hare & Hounds Kings Heath

C Andy Askins The Glee Club Birmingham

31February 2013

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Brum Notes Magazine February 2013