terça-feira, 20 de dezembro de 2011

Vende-se: a casa de American Horror Story


Por Simone Ribeiro             

Quem acompanhou a primeira temporada de um dos mais intrigantes seriados de 2011 deve estar reconhecendo essa casa aí da foto.  Ela mesma, a mansão da família Harmon, de American Horror Story, também conhecida por ser local de vários assassinatos e acontecimentos um tanto quanto bizarros.


E que believe or not, está a venda. Por alguns milhões de dólares você pode morar na mansão que tem 6 quartos, 5 banheiros e talvez alguns fantasmas no porão. 
  
Localizada no número 1120 da Westchester Place, em Los Angeles, o local só foi utilizado, na verdade,  na filmagem do episódio piloto do seriado. Os outros 11 capítulos foram todos feitos em uma réplica da mesma, em estúdio.

Já considerada um ponto turístico não apenas para os amantes da série, você pode conferir todos os outros detalhes sobre o imóvel, no site do agente imobiliário responsável pelo negócio: Joe Babajian. Só resta saber se o cara com a roupa de borracha vem junto com a compra! 

quinta-feira, 15 de dezembro de 2011

O melhor da street art, em 2011



O blog Street Art Utopia, coletivo bacanex de artistas, publicou uma série de 106 fotos com as melhores artes urbanas de 2011 espalhadas por mundo.Passamos por lá para escolher os nossos favoritos também.Tem graffiti, estêncio, arte em 3D, panfletagem e tudo mais que possa imaginar!













É muita criatividade espalhada por aí e o melhor, nas ruas e de graça! Foi bem difícil escolher apenas 10 para ilustrar o post, mas o resto da lista está aqui!  

sexta-feira, 9 de dezembro de 2011

Paul Murphy’s interview: a Beatnik in the Midlands- 2nd part!


Photos: Simone Ribeiro

In this last part of the interview, Paul Murphy talks about his childhood in Belfast and the family’s influence in his career. Tell us how the meeting with The Destroyers has happened; as well as talks about the music scene in Birmingham and his first album solo, The Glen, that was released in early December.

Ma: Was it difficult for you to make music in your early days in Belfast?

Paul Murphy: In the time I was growing up Belfast was very interesting and a kind of grey city and that time it was very much dominated. We have on part in power for fifty years unbroken. They sustain their power by things like the special powers which meant that they could constitute as illegal any meeting of more than three people. That was that kind of notion that folk music was associated as sedition and rebellion.

I grew up in a very much working class rising state. My father, who was a Scotchman, when he came to Belfast, he was at the R.E.F. He ended up in Belfast, met my mom, they got married and stayed in there. He was determined that that we would grow up in a sectarian ghetto and he opted that we would live a kind of mixing of Catholics and protests place.  That was very important for me in terms of seeing the people beyond their ideologies; beyond political divides, building alliances with the people and seeing things from other points of view.

But music wise it was really pop music. That was the stuff came through the radio. I remember having to do an archaeological strip back in terms of media. Because we had no television until we were 12 years old and we had the radio and it usually played BBC and I remember my older brother John tuning the radio in Luxembourg to get some pop music, do you know what I mean?

Plus my dad was a whistler I supposed because he was a postman. He was always whistling those lovely melodies, most of them were beautiful scotch melodies and he played a bit of harmonica as well, he liked a bit of entertainment. Evenmy father and I ended up like as loggerheads, I realized that actually he was a big influence in term of music.

And my mom loved poetry. Even she was out of school because many catholic people didn’t have the opportunity to go on and have education but she loved poetry and she could recycle poetry.

My auntie who was a little crippled woman, who never grow up too more than this size, she was a fantastic story teller. So we used to go and visit here. And she was also very liberal. She told us ghost stories, fairy stories and history things. That really influenced me. That was a mishmash of influence.

But it is really about life. Written songs about when children were born, songs in sorrow and etc. With The Destroyers it is different because has to be a big sort of panorama. With the guitar it is much more gentle and intimacy. I like having those two dimensions of the thing and I still love writing songs. In a way songs get harder to be written because you don’t want to repeat yourself, you know.

Ma: Do you think your music changed too much?

Paul Murphy: No, I think my music hasn’t changed. The only thing that I think that is different, for example, have you heard Out of Babel? When I wrote it was like this…

(To listen to Paul playing Out of Babel at this interview click here)

…But the essence of the song is the same. One of the songs we do “Glass Coffin Burial of Professor Zurinack” I wrote that song when I was seventeen. I wrote that in 1967 in London. The way of doing it with the Destroyers is a bit of magic. I wasn’t in a band it was much easier for me to be a solo musician, especially with kids and stuff, because I only had one calendar and in a band it is 15 people to trying coordinating all. It was always easier not to being in a band because it got me a bit of freedom.

But I also think nice being in a band in my age because I am free to do what I want to do and being on the road again. It is lovely. People in the band are half of my age, except for our hurdy-gurdy player Mick. (Laugh) But it is wonderful. We have great musicians and that allows room for collaboration. So Leighton Hargreaves our fiddle player is also fabulous composer and he and I had worked in a lot of track together like Where has the money gone?

Gaz Jones, our clarinet player, is a fabulous composer and he has written a number of symphonies. We have in the Destroyers people who unlike me are school musicians. I am a folk musician I do at all by my ear. They are able to write music. It is a beautiful combination, has a great energy and keeps me on my toes. I have to swim regularly to keep in shape (laugh).

Ma: How did this meeting happen?

Paul Murphy: My nephew Joe who came to Birmingham as a guitar student to the conservatory so many of the destroyers went to the conservatory and they hired this house at Speedwell Road down in the city centre.

It was one of the UB 40’s houses. It is a fabulous big house and they turned the basement into a club and it is a melting pot for musician. 

They called the band The Destroyers because it was the name of an old balkan tune and that time it was the kind of music they listened to, the eastern European music .

About that time I run a company which was called C21 Vox, I set it up in 1996 with my wife Honora. It was part of the Songwriter’s Café which was established that time. We also worked with the interface of arts and education across all media, so we devised and delivered projects with   filmmakers, musicians, dramatis, poetries and etc working with young people often in quite challenging situations. I employed people from at the music college at the summer to work in projects.

Joe gathered few musicians together to go out with me and play in few festivals some of my old stuff. So some they are part of The Destroyers. And then one day the Destroyers said to me: “Would you fancy doing something with us?”. I said “what we are going to do?” and they said I don’t know we just made it up. So I just went and we just made it up. And it kind of worked. So they said to me: Let do it again. I did the festival with them. They loved the song Out of Babel and made some arrangements of it and just grew like that and it is just five years now since then.

We have done a lot of gigs and obviously it is hard to make it sustainable but it is a great experience being in a band and it is s great collection of musicians. Lovely, I love human beings. We have our disagreement, of course, but all it is set down.  It is very exciting.

I like to keep the other side of life for myself. I like to take the guitar and go out and do stuff because it is deadly easy and it allows me to do songs that wouldn’t be suitable to The Destroyers.  Plus I never have to think about the order, do you know what I mean. But with the band you have to have it all written down, have a set list and that stuff. I like those contracts.

For the first time we took August (which is summer holidays in the U.k.) off.  We haven’t done any gigs since July. We usually have loads of gigs in August but one of our members is getting married so we have decided to have a break.

(But the band is already on the road again on tour in the U.K  )

Ma: Can you feel the difference between playing in the small venues and big stages like in big festivals like Glastonbury?

Paul Murphy: The only advantage of being in a big stage is that we don’t fall over each other; do you know what I mean? When we were in Glastonbury, we have played four gigs there. One of the gigs on Sunday afternoon was like a warm up before our final gig at Club Dada, which was a big stage.

It seems like one of those old traditional bands, 15 of us hanging off the edge and it was fantastic. So from my point of view, it doesn’t matter. There is something great about the really tight and packed spaces. We played in spaces where I have been worried about it. We could hear the stacks to fall, you know. But I love the kind of collective catharsis that the Destroyer can engender.

Ma: I saw you in the audience at the gig of the Birmingham band Goodnight Lenin at Espirito Brum Festival. How are you involved to the new music of Birmingham?

Paul Muprhy: Yes, Songwriter’s café was that kind of philosophy and when we first started it was in city centre. I supposed it is parts of being a teacher but I love kind of encouraging talent particularly, obviously, because I am a songwriter. I had Goodnight Lenin here for Songwriter’s café with only 40 people in the audience, a little stage and fire burning. It was beautiful.

We had Simon (Fowler), from Ocean Colour Scene. He used to came and play at Songwriters. So on Sunday afternoon we had 12 artists, every Sunday afternoon with an audience up to 200 people listening to the song, loads of young song writers came through.  

So, that was part of the philosophy of thing to shining a light at the new talent. You know, it is a nice big space and it was every Sunday afternoon and it is a free event. I love encourage song writers like Goodnight Lenin that are an inspiring young band.

Simon, obviously, was already kind of famous; the Ocean Colour Scene were already in the charts so it was fantastic that Simon used to come and brought really interesting other musicians. So the young musicians had the feeling of “oh, we are playing at the same stage that Simon, from Ocean Colour Scene” so everybody got fucking mad to get their songs right. Do you know what I mean?  It raises the aspiration and encourages people to write.

You know, I keep in contact with some writers and musicians. They always have been my community. Do you know what I mean? Much more than few audiences or anything else my community is like musicians.

Ma: I think Birmingham is an inspiring place to make music and culture, isn’t it?

Paul Murphy: I think so and Birmingham has changed enormously over the last decades. This is the most multicultural city in the country and that has really added to the flavor of the city in a wonderful way. Initially the Irish communities that came here during the farm years and the afro Caribbean’s community came here in the fifties.

You think like The UB 40 as a world famous band and they are kids from Birmingham.  Some of them, like the Campbell brothers, their dad, Ian Campbell, were a famous Scottish folk musician. They were working class kids, who brought together that kind of songs, things from their father tradition and the reggae influence.  And it shaped the thing.

Ever since, the things had grown. We had some people like Luiz Gabriel Lopes came here (to the Songwriter Café) and played with Mendi Singhi, who is a tabla player, and they never met before that collaboration. That is a great enrichment of Birmingham.

Ma: So being in a Festival such as Espirito Brum was a great experience. How was it for you?

Paul Murphy: It was lovely. It was lovely to meet Gilberto Mauro and chat with him, he played some music and we are going to be in contact. It was lovely to meet Wanderson Lopez as well, lovely man and great player. It was lovely to have the opportunity to have Aline (Yasmim) and Sâmya (Lievore) here for a dinner and a nice kind of hearing about their overview of the festival and what they are doing in Europe and so forth. 

So it was a lovely evening to get the essence of what was happing in Brazil, both in terms of culture and politics.

Because you know, I had been to a meeting in London about four years ago with a guy from the Brazilian Culture Ministry who was responsible for the digital culture he was called Claudio Prada. He was a long term associated to Gilberto Gil and the fact he had said he came to England with Gilberto Gil in 1971 when Claudio Prada arranged a concert to Gilberto to play at the Isle of Wright festival.

So it was very interesting having heard Claudio talking about the way how the Cultural ministry was using digital technology and the way it was organized and its priority. It was very interesting to get more inside in the discussion with Aline about it.

Tessa (Burwood) and I talked about this collaboration maybe 8 months ago so it was wonderful to see it. She represents something really important in the Birmingham music scene. When you look to Birmingham, like as you describe this city “God, look this city with so much music and stuff” and yet you think “why there weren’t more record companies, publishers, managers and etc” in Birmingham. You know, the bands have to go to London in order to get to the next level.

So, having people like Tessa, who come as a facilitator of the arts, that is what we need more in Birmingham. I keep saying it to people, we must encourage that kind of people who are not musician but they are the sympathizers, really organisers. PR’s people, graphics people. Songwriters Café try to do it, we have graphics, artists and filmmakers involved. We try to kind of do the art interacts. It is great to see that and it is what Birmingham needs.

Ma: Did you know something about Brazilian music before the festival?

Paul Murphy: Not really. The thing that I was aware about Brazilian music, like Irish music or British music was more diverse. That wasn’t one Brazilian music, there were folkers, jazzers, rockers and so forth. There was the specific ingredient of the Portuguese culture coming with the indigena’s culture that unique sort of things that would come out with that in all the art forms.

I wasn’t particularly knowlegible, but to be honest, even I have been writing music for lot of years, I never had a record player.

Most of the music I have listened to is live and always has been. I love live music. I love silence, so when I am working I don’t want music playing or TV on (Laugh). So you know what I mean? So when music really impresses me is when I am in the company or able to hear it alive. The people in The destroyers are real musicologists, they are fantastic knowlegible about music and all these influences and so forth. I am more like just kind of get through it. I love all kind of music, I love hearing it live, small venues, seeing the expression of other person playing stuff.

Ma: To finish, I would like you to talk about your gig “Folk for Free” at Birmingham Symphony Hall (The gig was on November 30th).

Paul Murphy: It is part of the series of gigs I am doing in Symphony Hall on Friday evenings. It is really nice because catches people who finishes work before they go home. Again, it’s the contrast.  I do love the opportunity of just go, sit and sing the songs.

At The Destroyers I go and come off the stage, I jump around a lot and it is complete different experience. They asked me if I would like to do it. I thought I would love to do it. It is also good to be just near when my album (The Glen) is going to be finished now and to be released in the start of December.( The album was release on December 1st). It is going to be very acoustic, very much in contract with the Destroyers and it will be useful to go out and play some of the songs from it.

Ma: So the next step is now just working on your solo album, The Glen, and obviously, being with the Destroyers on tour…

Paul Murphy: Yes, I have been in the studio recently mixing the Destroyers stuff, all the vocals and everything has done, we are just tweaking it. But we decided that it just will be release it (the second album: Hole in the Universe) in the spring. So I thought it would be an opportunity for me. I started doing this album six years ago. I recorded song for song with all the musicians, I had some beautiful musicians playing on it, and for a variety of reasons maybe because where I was in relation to the material.

But I kind of decided start everything again ad also there were few more songs that I wanna to write and some other few songs that I recorded at that time that I didn’t feel that would fit on it. I am taking it back and I am doing a very simple treatment to it.

I am working in the same studio where The Destroyers recorded and with the same producer. I always fear studios, do you know what I mean, studios that I have never been. Studios always seemed to me dead places. (Laugh) I was in record studios when I was 16 in London when I first went there, with bands to record stuff so I am not a strange to this but in terms of my essential inspiration it take me years to record stuff. But the time is definitely now.

A little bit more of Paul Murphy solo project:

quinta-feira, 8 de dezembro de 2011

No guts, No Glory: the D.I.Y. taken seriously

By: Simone Ribeiro
Photos: No Guts, no Glory

Recession has been a big problem to all kind of businesses in The U.k. On the other hand, it has also being the opportunity to the local shops and young entrepreneurs being in the spotlight. Obviously, it will depend on how creative and interesting your products are. That’s the case of the independent shop No Guts, no Glory, from Exeter.

A mix of courage and good ideas that became reality in 2009 from the mind of the photographer Nathan Blaker, No guts, No glory is today a strong D.I.Y. project that is successfully recycling the entrepreneurism in the country.   We talked to Nathan, t hat I met at the Supersonic Festival, to know more about NGNG itself and all his projects.

Ma:   Tell me about your work with NGNG. How was the initial idea behind it? And who are the people behind this idea?

Nathan Blaker: I started No Guts No Glory back in 2009.  It was a global recession; I had just graduated and was finding it really difficult to find work in the photography industry.  Many other artists I knew were also struggling, so I decided to open up a shop that would be able to provide an outlet for their work.  I had a total budget of £300, and no idea what I was doing at all, but the ideal little shop space became available and I took the plunge.  Although I'm the sole proprietor of NGNG, I'd definitely say that it is owned by the people that helped to bring it into existence, and those that have made it possible for the project to continue over the last two years.

Ma: NGNG used the D.I.Y ethics at its products. What does it mean in practice?

Nathan Blaker: With such a small start-up budget, No Guts No Glory has relied upon the people that surround the project and a strong D.I.Y ethic right from its conception.  With such a small start-up budget, I had to do almost everything for myself, including making all the fittings for the shop out of scrap materials, and teach myself the basics of running a business.  

I think that D.I.Y culture and community go hand in hand, and the shared values really bring people together to create something, especially at a time when it seems like all else is “closing down”.  

Two years on, I still fit the shop from recycled materials, and have taught myself a lot about accounting, PR and how to run a business.  A D.I.Y ethic, while it can mean spending much more time and energy doing things, means that you also become so much closer to what you are working on, and as a result it has been amazing to see the project being built around my personal values.

Ma:  Besides the t-shirts, tote bags and all other products available at NGNG you also display prints and fanzines in general. What is your relation with fanzine culture and what kind of fanzines can we find at NGNG?

Nathan Blaker: Zines, being self-published works full of whatever content the publisher desires, are a perfect example of D.I.Y ethics and community.  Rather than waiting for a publisher, people just make their own publications and then network throughout the country/world to spread the word of them.  

There are Zine Fairs every where all over the world and people come from far and wide to attend them, display their zines, and spend some time meeting and catching up with other zinesters.  I'm very fond of analogue techniques such as 35mm photography and screen printing, and combined with values of doing things for enjoyment and not for profit, zines have become of great interest to me.

Ma: Talking about fanzines. The D.I.Y Times is already in the fourth issue? How is this work doing until now?

Nathan Blaker: I love working on The D.I.Y Times.  The project started really when I first contacted Get A Grip about screen printing the T-Shirts for No Guts No Glory in 2009.  

Our projects started at almost exactly the same time, and we quickly became business pen-pals, emailing each other daily with updates on the worries and excitements of becoming self-employed.  

Although we had never met, and lived around 200 miles apart, we quickly realised that we had many mutual friends around the UK; punk rock bands, artists, publications, zinesters, bloggers.  We happened to know of all of these people for one common reason - D.I.Y ethics.  

So, we decided that as a side project to our ventures, we'd make a zine to spread the word of these inspiring people.  It's great to be on the 4th issue, and we're nowhere near being stuck for things to write about.  Each Zine is limited to 200 copies, Get A Grip screen print the covers, and I print the insides on a printer that I salvaged from an office clear out.  We split everything down the middle.

Ma: How was the experience of being at Supersonic Festival spreading your work during the three days of festival? Were you there in partnership with Get a Grip?

Nathan Blaker: Supersonic was great.  I really enjoy the chance to take NGNG on the road, and to go and meet new people and friends that I have made on previous visits to the Birmingham Zine Fair.  Issue Four of The D.I.Y Times includes a five page interview with the guys that run the festival, and Kay and Sam at Get A Grip invited me up to help out in their shop as well as to help them make some new shop fittings, after seeing some t-shirt rails I made out of shipping pallets over the summer.  It was a pleasure to spend some time helping them and catching up.

Ma:  2011 is already saying goodbye. What are reserved for NgNg in 2012?

Nathan Blaker: Tell me about it, I have no idea where this year has gone! NGNG turns two years old on the 2nd November - it's very humbling to still be here after two years, and to look back on the journey that the shop has taken.  Going into 2012, we have plans to create a whole range of community inspired projects - from movie nights and creative sessions in the local area, to bigger projects and collaborations with the friends and community around the country.  It's really exciting to see where this project takes itself, I  try not to give myself any fixed goals to reach and that keeps the whole thing constantly refreshing and open to new ideas.  



Come and say Hi at www.ngngdesign.com :)

Get a Grip: sustainability and art walking together

By: Simone Ribeiro
Photos: Get a Grip

From printing t-shirts in a garage to running a business at the Mecca of the independent shops at Custard Factory, in Digbeth, Get a Grip is making its own trajectory at the screen printing friendly environment market since 2009. Besides being specialised in the screen printing, the shop owners Kay and Sam also share a mutual interest in punk rock which became another influent element in their work.

This year, Get a Grip was also present at the Supersonic Festival holding a workshop about Screen Printing. In partnership with Nathan, from No gut, no Glory, Sam edits the fanzine The Time D.I.Y.  We interviewed Kay to know a bit more about all Get a Grip projects!

Ma: How and when has started your interesting in Screen Printing?

Kay Stanley: My first experience with screen printing was during a summer holiday club at a local secondary school in my hometown when I was about 8 years old. I don’t remember much- but I do remember the ink was purple and I had to be lifted up to reach the print bed. After that I experimented a little in sixth form and during my art foundation course with some pretty DIY attempts, and went on to complete a degree in textile design- specialising in printed textiles. Sam came from a completely different side- studying business at University then investing in all the equipment so he could print thing for a clothing label- then printing on commission for businesses.

Ma: How did Get a Grip studio begin? And why the name “Get a Grip”?

Kay Stanley: GET A GRIP came about while I was sharing a little shop in The Custard Factory with someone during the summer of 2009. I was printing T-shirts in my parents’ garage, and I met Sam because he printed the T-shirts for the guy I shared the shop with. He was struggling a little with his screen-printing business, and I knew we’d be closing the shop in the December, so we decided to join forces and see what happened. We couldn’t think of a name for weeks- I basically stole the name off my friends who wanted to start a hardcore band Get A Grip (they never did).

Ma: You have a constant concern about the sustainability. How does it is important at your work?

Kay Stanley: Sam has always been passionate about the environmental impact of his life and business- so it would have been a non-starter if I hadn’t cooperated. Since then I’ve learnt a LOT about the impact businesses can have- both with the pointless waste of materials, and the positive and negative influences you can have on customers.

We like to be positive in promoting organic and sustainable T-shirts and garments- so reduce our printing prices when people choose to use them- and not add a profit margin on for ourselves like other print companies seem to do. From joining 1% For The Planet, and switching to a renewable energy supplier- we are trying to be as environmentally conscious in our decisions in all aspects of the business- not just the fact that we use water based inks and recycled paper.

Ma: What is the importance of keeping an independent shop at Custard Factory? Does it make some difference? In which ways?

Kay Stanley: If The Custard Factory started bringing in chain stores, then people may as well walk the five minutes up the road to the Bullring. The Custard Factory offers something entirely different to the highstreet- with around 20 independent shops all offering a huge range of items- from specialised furniture, instruments, framing etc- to gifts and clothing accessible to anyone. Birmingham is very lucky to have The Custard Factory- and although it’s been a struggle for the last few years, the place is on the up and we’re very excited to be part of it.

Ma: Besides the D.I.Y. ethics and ecological concern, your work is also a reflex of your love for punk rock. How does music inspire Get a Grip products?

Kay Stanley: We constantly have music on in the studio- it can set the mood for the day and encourage us all to be productive. We work a lot with bands from the UK Punk Rock scene- and a lot are changing over to organic cotton rather than churning out the cheapest T-shirt they can buy. That, in turn, is being passed on to their fans- who are getting a better quality of T-shirt, which they’ll wear more- thus promoting the band more- everyone wins. The UK Punk Rock scene is very strong and very close at the moment, and we’re really happy to have a place in it. Through it, we’ve met and worked for a huge host of illustrators and designers- which we’ve then been able to commission for designs in our shop- so they all go hand in hand together.

Ma: You also work in partnership with Nathan, from No guts, no glory, publishing the fanzine The Time D.I.Y. How is this work going so far?  

Kay Stanley: We love producing the zine with Nath. He’s a great guy, and No Guts No Glory is a great business. Through GET A GRIP we’ve met so many people doing things for themselves, their friends, their communities and more- so it’s great to have an excuse to ask them about it- put it in the zine, and tell more people about what good things they’re doing. DIY is not just Punk Rock, and it’s not just the zine culture- there are people absolutely everywhere doing anything you can think of off their own backs- from breaking into stand-up comedy, to making apps for iphones. Not everyone needs a boss or a brand behind them- and we hope it encourages more people to get up and DO stuff rather than waiting for someone else to.

Ma: How was the experience of giving Screen Printing workshop during the Supersonic this year?

Kay Stanley: We’ve done a couple of workshops before for Birmingham Zine Festival, and we also printed the merchandise for Supersonic this year and last year- so it was great to be asked to run the workshop too. Every one of the participants were great- and picked it up really quickly too- which meant it was really enjoyable. The point of having the printing equipment in the shop is to show any passing member of public how screen printing works- so to run the workshop during the festival was great as many people got to see the equipment in action. Supersonic is a great festival run by an awesome group of people, so we love getting to be part of it all.

Ma:  What can we expect from Get a Grip in 2012? 

Kay Stanley: After the huge changes we went through in 2011 (moving into the shop and starting to print for the shop rather than solely on commission), I think 2012 will be building on what we’ve started- growing the shop, doing more workshops and encouraging more people to think about the garments they want printing.

Supersonic Festival is not for beginners!

By Simone Ribeiro

Photos: Simone Ribeiro and Rob Dann

If it needs a definition, the 9th edition of the Supersonic Festival can be summarized as: nearly 30 hours of music, artistic interventions of all sort, workshops for nor musicians or audiences complain.
A festival that keeps the truly meaning of the word underground is not for beginners. You must to keep the ears and feet in shape to face the three-day event. And we moved, literally, to Digbeth, and check out the festival from its starts to the end.

Unlike other British festivals that are held in large parks, farms and other relatively giant places, the Supersonic Festival is held in the Custard Factory - for those who do not know the space, the venue hosts events, exhibitions and gigs, besides maintaining a good number of independent -  which is located in the district of Digbeth,  famous for its bohemian life which includes pubs, nightclubs and etc.

(Read more about the relationship between Supersonic Festival and Custard Factory here!)

On Friday, 21 day, even with the temperature dropping rapidly, about 9 pm, there was already a significant queue at the entrance of the event. With gigs simultaneously happening in two different stages, Boxxed and Space 2, I had to choose what to watch first.

And I chose those who were playing on stage Space 2. The collective from Liverpool called APatt just showed what they got! A multimedia experience abusing of the virtuosism of its musicians that during all gig, alternate the instruments!  

A good combination of synthesizers and other sort of sound effects! Later, at the same stage, the band from London, Part Chimp did a show in which the ears were not spared.

The band, which will finish its activities late this year, presented a concert which guitars and distortions prevailed. Good for the audience present and not good for those who have lost one of the last opportunities to see a good representative of the English experimental rock.

The
DJ Scotch Egg, one of the most waited gigs for me at the festival-, would be on Boxxed stage right after Part Chimp one. And I ran over there! I ran not, I set out. Because one of the good things about Supersonic is the distance between the stage!
Less than 50 meters apart from one gig to another! Thus it was pretty much possible to see without rushing around, the show Dj Japanese Shigero Isihara, aka Scotch Egg, that you can also calls "bonkers" because what he does on stage is unmatched. Making music with a gameboy is not for everyone. Just brilliant!

See more pictures of what happened in Supersonic on Friday
here!

On Saturday, the festival began earlier. At 1:30 in the afternoon for us, at least! After have regretted losing one of the best shows of the event on Friday, the Secret Chiefs 3, we tracked early to Digbeth, after all, this was the day that everything would happen at once.

Installations, exhibitions, workshops, get together with press, coffee and cakes of the most varied and a lot of noise, of course, yet to come. A day to turn the Custard Factory upside down, literally! First stop was at the Get a Grip shop, where the public could make your own t-shirt and participate in the workshop of screen printing. I met also the work of Nathan Blacker, who edit the fanzine DIY Times and he runs a really cool shop called No Guts No Glory, in Exeter.

The first band to check was
Bardo Pond, on The Space 2 stage. The American psychedelic rock proved to be competent in the sweet voice of the vocalist Isobel Sollenberg, who also took turns playing the flute, properly muffled by the guitar riffs of her band.

A third stage was also presented that day, the Old Library one, where it held a lot of alternative bands. And we still had time to do with a quick snack right at the opposite of this stage!  And even if they are not our sponsors, vegetarian pizza of 
Yumm’s Café  deserves all our respect. Best snack in Digbeth ever!
As the area as well has the best pubs in Birmingham, why not stop to drink in two of the traditional ones: Spotted Dog and The Old Crown. Places where you could find some musicians of the festival as well, of course.

At 08:30 pm I had to make a decision:Lucky Dragons and Wolves in the Throne Room? With both playing at the same time, in different stages, of course, watch a bit of each one: always the best decision.

The Lucky Dragons’ gig is quite an experience I must say. The French duo that makes a concert in which the audience participates all the time is phenomenal, a true invitation to risk yourself making some music with the guys, even more so if the drinks are already having an effect on you.  Multimedia effects and even spit (!?!) were part of the unconventional repertoire of them.

The doom metal of the
Wolves in the Throne Room brought a lot of weight and dry ice to the stage  Space 2, opening the headbanger’s session on Saturday night, which continued to predominate with the concert of the  Electric Wizard, a.k.a. “ the most heavy  band of the world.

In the early minutes of Sunday, my favorite band took the stage. The North American duo
Zombi, made an impeccable gig. Steve Moore – that you know, also gave us an exclusive interview – and Tony Panterra are a kind of Rush formed by only two members. And it is a hell of a compliment, mate!!!

The Progressive rock, full of virtuosity and synthesizers closed Saturday night and opened the Sunday to those who waited for the gig in a cold Birmingham day-break. Just a pity that Monarch gig was at the same time that the Zombie one. The choice had to be made!

Check the photos of what happened in the second day of Supersonic
here!

 Sunday, last day of Supersonic, baby. A day waited for the fans of the legendary punk rock band Turbonegro. For us, the time to check out the legend of Synthesizers, Silver Apples!

But why not starting the day with the project of DJ Scotch Egg and his friends? The
Drum Eyes was the most pleasant surprise of the festival. More power than noise, a sound they call "pop" but so exciting that was just impossible to be stand or still.  With songs based on the album Gira Gira, from 2010, the band did the best gig of the day.

Meanwhile, at the Old Library, Japanese, Hiroshi Hasegawa (aka Astro) did a gig in which synthesizers and incense gave life to the psychedelic. Introspective without ceasing to be exciting! We still had time to check the presentation of the Barn Own , formed by Evan Camitini and Jon Porras (great name, by the way!) on Space  2.

As the next concert of our "agenda" was the
Silver Apple, I headed to the nearest pub, which lies within the Custard Factory itself, to rest your feet, fill the can and also check  the six goals of the incredible beating of Manchester City  against its rival that day. Historic score to a also historic day!

When I went to the Boxxed stage, a friendly gentleman wearing glasses was already warming up his instrument. Who would say he is the one responsible for changing the psychedelic hippie scene in New York in the late 60? Great influence to loads of people, and the great news are the music that Silver Apples makes can still be considered very current.

A real school for those who want to venture into electronic music! The American musician spoke to the audience, complained when his instrument decided not to work and he was also extremely grateful to the audience who cheered during all gig, of course.


The last concert of the night and the festival-at least for us- was the Japanese hardcore band
Envy. With the experience of those who have released eight albums and traveled the around the world on tour, Envy played that night highlighting the impeccable performance of vocalist Tetsuya Fukagawa who walk through the guttural vocals and the sweetest of all songs. A treat indeed!

And that way we close the coverage of Supersonic in 2011, hoping to join next year, the 10th edition, of the most underground festival in this country. #fact

Check the photos of the last day of Supersonic
here.
Lucky Dragon`s gig: