Brummie band of the moment The Destroyers are to launch their UK and Ireland tour with a Summer Gypsy Ball in the new Digbeth music venue The Crossing at South Birmingham College on Milk Street. The gig this Fri 4th June will also feature a performance from East London’s Urban Vodoo Machine, live visuals from Syzygy and DJ sets from the Jibbering collective and Marc Reck.
Tickets are £10 in advance from The Ticket Sellers or £12 on the door (though I suspect this may sell out beforehand). If you can’t make what promises to be a seriously cracking gig, the action will be live streamed via The Destroyers website. As I’m on me holiday, I’m going to be well lazy and copy and paste rest of the press release below. The Irish Post have also done a feature on the gig.
The Destroyers by Pete Ashton
The Destroyers’ Summer Gypsy Ball coincides with the beginning of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month in the UK and will pay homage to a nomadic culture rich in both tradition and musical exploration. With careering Klezmer rhythms, Mariachi brass, Balkan strings, traditional Irish melodies, uptempo ska, gypsy jazz and punk-polka amongst other ingredients, The Destroyers have embraced this genre defying approach, and in doing so reflect the cultural and musical make-up of their home city as well as a love of gathering and interpreting new and established influences.
On debut album Out of Babel, the song Torregaveta paid tribute to two young Roma sisters, while the lyrics “Intorno al mondo la musica attraversa la frontiera (around the world music crosses the frontier)” sung in Italian by band member Leo Altarelli in Questa Canzone has become an unofficial mission statement for the group.
“Gypsy music has been a source of immense inspiration for us – the word gypsy itself conjures up many things. Firelight and painted caravans. Swirling skirts and stamping feet. Hand clapping and stirring guitars. A people for whom music is life-blood. I don’t have to be a fortune-teller to predict that The Destroyers’ Gypsy Ball with the Urban Voodoo Machine is going to be one whirling spectacle of a gig. Only the dead won’t dance!” Paul Murphy, The Destroyers
Urban Voodoo Machine, described by the Washington Post as “Nick Cave in a dark mood fronting a drunken Dexy’s Midnight Runners” supported veteran Irish folk-punk band The Pogues on their recent US tour, have recorded a cover of AC/DC’s Hells Bells to Classic Rock magazine’s Back in Black 30th anniversary tribute album and host the regular Gypsy Hotel night at Barden’s Boudoir in London.
Between them, Jibbering DJs and Marc Reck are responsible for programming and promoting some of Birmingham’s most eclectic and groundbreaking events, including the sell-out Mr Elephant nights at hip venues The Rainbow and Hare & Hounds and have brought internationally renowned artists such as Keith Murray, Horace Andy [Massive Attack] and The Black Seeds to the city.
2009 saw The Destroyers release debut album Out of Babel and embark on a 24 date tour, which took in single launch parties in London and Birmingham, five shows at Glastonbury in four days, an impromptu set at a tiny Norfolk village fete as well as triumphant shows at Trowbridge and Shambala Festivals.
Out of Babel was produced by influential recording engineer Gavin Monaghan [The Editors, Scott Matthews, The Twang] and Louis Robinson, a founding member of The Destroyers, at the Magic Garden Studios in Wolverhampton. Following its release the album garnered critical acclaim, including a four star review from world music bible Songlines.
The First Free Digbeth Cashpoint is now officially open! Jon Bounds kindly Cut The Riboon in the Nisa Convenience Store on Digbeth High Street, after which we downed a few pints of Cashpoint Real Ale in The Anchor. Pete Ashton has captured the moment for posterity.
Here’s a little film of Mr Underwood at the end of a very busy Theremin Day at The Edge last Saturday, looking tired but happy. He’d teamed up with the fizzPOP crew to help people build their own optical theremins during the day, a selection of which are here:
The star of the day was most definitely Julia Gilbert’s big apple:
I didn’t make the theremin-making workshop but there’s a great write-up by genzai·chi (Nikki Pugh), who also talks about the concert later that evening, which I did go along to. As Nikki says, it started off with ‘a selection of short films exploring the historical, technical and fun sides of the theremin’ including this brilliant one of Super Mario Bros. theme tune.
Then we got a set from from 8bit Pete and his Thingamagoops, of which Antonio Roberts took some nice photos:
8bit Pete by hellocatfood
I particularly liked the fact that it was as much a light show as a music set of bleepy-bloppiness. Pete managed to capture on film the performance that followed his – what Nikki describes as ‘Mr Underwood’s performance of Steve Reich’s Pendulum Music for optical theremin’ actually seemed to be a giant Newton’s Cradle office toy made out of torches, that emitted an increasingly intense hum which reverberated inside your ears. It was pretty amazing.
Last but by no means least was Ms Hypnotique playing her live theremin set, giving us nice informative introductions to the instrument, its history and the pieces she performed. It was great when she told us how Simon Cowell described her theremin playing as, “Who would buy this shit?…He kind of missed the point of what makes the theremin special.” I’ll bet he did.
Entry is free, but we really need you to bring some random stuff to help make the contraption truly great….Whatever evolves out of this crazy idea, the end results will be highly influenced by your contributions. Bring random stuff and a willingness to tinker with things until they work. All are welcome. We might also try and sell you cake.
Consultation is dead, big plans are deader | Pete Ashton – It seems the sad, neglected Curzon Street Station is to get a new lease of life as a high-speed rail link to London. No-one really knew about this until Gordon Brown came and pointed it out to us yesterday (literally, going by the above picture). Pete Ashton shows us how this will work in his neat little diagram:
Pete goes on to explains why, although this may be bad news for BCU, it may be a good thing for Digbeth (a Brummie Southwark?).
He also asks what’s happening to the planned Connaught Square development on Bradford Street/Rea Street, that has failed to materialise into anything more than a sorry pile of rubble. Carl has been keeping an eye on the Skyscrapercity forum thread about this and…er…no-one seems to know, really. The building site looks and acts like Digbeth’s very own Limbo.
Some interesting things have come to my attention that are beyond the Digbeth borders (yes, I do occasionally look beyond them). Here are a few:
Oubliette
Above is Pete Ashton’s lovely ‘Through the Viewfinder’ picture of the sad, neglected Curzon Street Station, which as Pete rightly says, ‘seems such a waste, sitting there in the middle of nowhere like an old man abandoned by the next generation, or something.’ Pete’s post touches on the whys and wherefores of the council seeing fit to watch their pennies and board the place up rather than allowing interesting things to happen there and concludes that ‘something needs to be done’.
Too right, and if the current owners don’t have the means to do anything with it or allow others do so….how’s about just moving in and taking things over in the style of Dan Simon’s London Oubliette? This isn’t squatting, mind. Oh no: ‘They are using the enormous empty space to run what they refer to as an “artshouse”, an independent cultural organisation called the Oubliette (“the dungeon” in French), which aims to support the arts without the need for public or private sector funding.’ Right then, where did I leave my crowbar…?
Dumbo
No, not the big-eared baby elephant. Helga Henry has flagged up the rather brilliant dumbonyc.com, a site for the New York neighbourhood where ‘these old factories have been converted into luxury lofts and old warehouses into art galleries and theaters….Dumbo is not quite Brooklyn brownstone and not quite Manhattan glass condo. With its exposed Belgian block streets anchored by massive bridge structures, Dumbo has a unique character all its own.’
Sound familiar? Yep, Helga thought so too and already has ‘a whole Birmingham/Brooklyn and Digbeth/Dumbo comparison thing going on in my head.’ By far the best thing about Dumbo is, of course, its name, which ‘was conceived by resident artists as a way to make the area sound silly and unattractive to people looking to buy real estate here.’ Is that all we need to do to guard against the over-gentrification of Digbeth? Give it a slightly silly name? Suggestions in the comments box, please…
Grand Opening
Chris Unitt discovered Grand Opening, I’m guessing whilst doing some research for the now-open Created in Birmingham shop in The Bullring. Grand Opening, another one from New York, ‘create interactive stores and events that get public attention and engage the community’. They take over stores for about 6 weeks and theme them up beyond recognition, turning them into environments that range from a wedding chapel to a drive-in cinema. Let’s face it, the empty shell of the now-closed Cocoon store on the High Street will need something pretty spectacular to fill the latex shoes they left behind. Perhaps we take a leaf out of Grand Opening’s book and turn it into something extra special.
Proof, if any be needed, that Digbeth does these things in style. None of your crap bits of cardboard with ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ scrawled over it in poster paint, oh no. We get top quality, beautifully intricate artwork by Beat 13′s Lucy McLauchlan on the Bradford Street/Rea Street junction, captured in this picture by Pete Ashton. Only question is: whose birthday was it? What lucky birthday boy or girl got this for their special day? Anyone know?
After having a very long, marathon sleeping session I think I’ve just about recovered from my 12-hour New Year sit-in in the new Birmingham Coach Station. It was a great night and surprisingly good fun – I cannot recommend enough that everyone spends a little time watching the world go by in the nearest coach or train station, to experience where you live as a traveler. You’ll see a truly different side to your area and get to talk to some very interesting people passing through it, who all have their own stories to tell.
Midge passes through before going to a Sheldon house party
I’ll be writing up some of the stories I got to hear here under the heading NYE Express, a title thought up by Midge, who kindly popped by to see me with a little something to see me through the night. He wasn’t the only one:
Ben Mabbett was at the station waiting for me when I arrived with a little bottle of bubbly in a brown paper bag, which was ever so thoughtful.
On the morning of New Year’s Eve I was on BBC Radio WM chatting to Daz Hale – you can listen again here for one week (I’m at the tail-end of the show, roughly 2:18 in).
Roughly twenty-two hours later I was back in Radio WM studio chatting to Brett Birks about the experience. The programme is not available to listen again but Alan Colson took a sneaky audioboo:
I managed to collect quite a few stories during the night. Watch this space for future NYE Express posts to read all about them.
On Monday 7th December I went to see Birmingham Opera Company’s production of Othello at the Argyll warehouse on Great Barr Street street. I would have written about it immediately afterwards urging everyone go to see it if it wasn’t already completely sold out for the rest of the run. And it was easy to see why – BOC’s productions are always unusual, often taking over disused places to create a really immersive performance that the audience become players within.
This was no exception – looking for the entrance to the old industrial unit in a pretty deserted part of Digbeth reminded me of looking for illegal parties as a youngster. As I walked into the warehouse, past the Morris dancers into the performance space, I soon noticed that some of the people milling around appeared to be praying. After a quick discussion with one about the meaning of his rosary beads, they soon burst into song and started the show around us, getting us all involved in some strange, operatic hokey-cokey. And it all went wonderfully on from there.
Dancing in Othello, photo by Katchooo
During the interval, a friend remarked it was the first non-conventional opera he’d been to, which made me realise Birmingham Opera Company are the only operas I’ve ever been to. That’s what makes them so great – the sheer, all consuming experience that are their productions attract much more than the traditional opera audience. I must mention the fantastic dancing in the second half – I never thought Morris dancing could be sinister until I saw it performed by people in white hooded jumpsuits and black balaclavas. And, of course, the singing was perfect – Stephanie Corley as the put-upon Desdemona seemed to do something special for me.
Anyway, here’s some links:
Index of Reviews from the likes of The Observer, The Times, Birmingham Post, etc. compiled by Pete Ashton
Created in Birmingham’s Chris Unitt thinks we should parade BOC Artistic Director Graham Vick through the Birmingham streets in triumph. He’s not wrong.
Nikki Pugh was struck by how successfully the audience were herded around the space, making her think of a ‘massively multi-player installation.’
There are some interesting photography sets on Flickr from chorus members Pete Ashton, Fiona Cullinan and Antonio Roberts, with some insightful backstage shots.
I don’t know what Birmingham Opera Company are up to next, but you can bet it will be something equally mind-blowing. If there’s a chance of becoming a part of the performance, grab it with both hands.
On Sunday afternoon, after my last stint on Rhubarb Radio’s Sunday Local show, I joined Nikki Pugh and the sizable gang she’d recruited on an Eastside Walk along the area’s boundary, which she’s been wandering repeatedly around with GPS devices for the last few weeks.
But there were no GPS devices this time. This walk was dedicated to taking the time to explore, examine and record our discoveries in whatever way we saw fit. I particularly liked Pete Ashton’s film and photo hybrids (with his homemade Flip/camera contraption). Here he is in action getting the shots in the film above:
I’d been contacted the previous week by Katy, an art student at Birmingham City University working with found objects, so thought I’d collect some items for the DiGpuss shop to pass onto her. Here are the things I found – my favorite item was the double pushchair, which became a useful receptacle to collect and carry the finds in.
Although I’ve given up presenting Sunday Local regularly (I’ve decided to stick with what they taught me in school and make Sunday a much-needed Day of Rest), Michael Grimes is carrying it onwards and upwards and will be presenting it this Sunday with Pete Ashton. So tune into Rhubarb Radio 12-2pm!
Oh no, my mistake. It’s actually the TTV Team’s entry for the Film Dash competition. Thingamagoop explores deepest darkest Digbeth in his own, cute as hell way and gets it on with a carton of orange juice. Aw, bless.
