Author: birminghamreview

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BBC Radio 6’s Steve Lamacq Brings Grove To Hare & Hounds For Independent Venue Week

Writer Jasmine Khan / Photographer Ewan Williamson

It’s heavy at the Hare and Hounds on Tuesday 31 January, and freeing my limbs might be just what I need to brush off the end of my January blues.

21 year old Birmingham-based producer and DJ Maya Randle pulls back her DnB beat to run the intro to Rihanna’s ‘Te Amo’. As she releases the bass, a moderate but enthusiastic crowd bop and shuffle, unafraid to take up the centre front of the floor.

I’m glad Brum has listened to Grove’s request to arrive unafraid of being perceived.

The next track draws on some grittier, dutty noises, and Maya smirks as her evolving sound receives the appropriately placed “oi’s” and finger guns from the crowd. I’ve got to pop downstairs because there’s no Attic Brew taps in Venue One, but it’s a small price to pay for what’s set to be an evening of immensely playful, raw, and broad mix of music.

Upon reentering the main room I’m greeted by some old pop classics, which feels a little out of place given the futuristic, punky, dancehall nature of Grove’s sound. But Maya whips out her phone and begins filming her dedicated front row who clearly don’t share my reservations.

Then the bass comes in. And it is filthy, cutting through the track’s initial softness and leaving the melodic vocals warped around the distorted rolling beats. Maya gives us a garage mix with elements of RnB, and as she winds up her set the crowd serenade her with whistles and applause.

I get caught up chatting to a couple of locals who promise me they’ll read the write up later, when I notice Grove setting up. They’re running projected visuals at the back of the stage, currently just featuring ‘GROVE’ in a sinister red fountain pen on a black background.

Grove tests the mic “Yo”, then softer, “yo yo yo.”

In our interview earlier this week, something that struck me about Grove was their gentler, reflective tone, pausing for as long as it took to find the correct words or phrases to articulate their perspective. In setting up for a live gig their focus feels the same.

“Did you know this gig is going out on 6 Music?” says Steve Lamacq. We cheer; it is very exciting.

“It’s my first time in this venue,” he continues, and goes on to praise the Hare and Hounds in abundance. Lamacq also explains the entirety of the gig is going to be filmed, and in a few moments we need to make it look as though he hasn’t said anything yet.

The cameras start rolling. “It’s Grove!” shouts Lamacq and we all oblige, playing up to the drama, screaming, and waving our hands in the air in anticipation.

Grove and EJ:AKIN are revealed, two misty silhouettes rocking backwards and forwards towards the back of the stage, looming over their decks. Grove replaces Lamacq centre stage, bending slightly at the knee so they can look us right in the eyes. It’s both intimidating and very hot.

“Reality is but a dream, let me give you what you need.” The reverb rings back squeaking into space as Grove layers elongated flowing harmonies over the growingly cooking beat.

Their voice is like stained glass windows, and each body movement and glance feels both effortlessly spontaneous and deliberately curated.

“I love being queer and I love dancehall music, so I decided to combine the two in a scandalous way.” And they’re not wrong, their next track is ‘Skin2Skin’ and its…

I can’t say much about the sound because, as instructed by Mx Grove, all I do is wind my waist and thrust my hips as they sing: “Skin to skin, out and in.”

The lights are strobing the atmosphere is electric, Grove walks around owning the space, and posing like a statue of a God in the centre. They talk about their upbringing, their dual heritage, and their feelings about ripping down the “oppressive monument” of Edward Colston in Bristol.

“It made me proud to be…” they pause and run the track, “Black.”

It’s punk and dancehall, empowering and full of pride; you can see it move through Grove as the sound travels from their toes and out of their mouth. Then, Grove treats us to some classic UK garage with a twist and a track they thank Lamacq for playing on his show.

The production is fierce and rumbles through the audience, and yet what really stands out is Grove’s voice.The next track is new and it’s called ‘I Run My Shit’ and we chant it back and forth with Grove entranced.

I feel otherworldly, like the industrial sounds, the zipping, skitting, and tapping has elevated us beyond the earth’s atmosphere.

EJ takes the mic and adds some deep vocals to the already massive sound.

“Even though I came on my period today and I’m annoyed about it, I run. My. Shit.”

Are they allowed to swear on the BBC? Grove doesn’t give a fuck and neither do we. Me and the rest of queers stomp our feet to the beat. ‘Stinking Rich Families’ is a flat out call out, driven by hard beats and resolute vocals.

Grove raps into the audience: “Stinking rich families, you know how they anger me.”

We think the beat’s going to drop, and then EJ’s almost operatic voice rings over the mic in what feels like Arabic scales to me, but I find out after the show it’s a stunning fusion.

You can see the joy in Grove’s face as they wind the track down with immaculate precision.

“You might know this one it’s called ‘Fuck Ur Landlord’,” and roaring like a lion, Grove puffs their chest out and venom bleeds from their eyes: “Off, off, off with your head.”

We scream it back, you can feel the cost of living in the sweat in the air: “Off off off off with their heads!”

Performing their signature move, Grove rushes into the crowd and begins smashing up against the audience. You can tell that we all want to bash up against them, but we’re also very respectful, so it’s hard to get the right balance.

Calling out the regularly homophobic sentiments behind dancehall lyrics, Grove’s political discourse is far reaching and they’re militant about queering it up and queering up rave music too.

We’re under their spell now, when they move we move.

For their remix of the classic Girls Aloud number ‘Sound of the Underground’, Grove splits the room in half and as the beat drops they rejoin the audience, instigating the most polite but poppin’ wall of death I’ve ever been in.

Grove announces this is their last track and they end on ‘Your Boyfriend’s Wack’, a fan favourite. A loud bang emanates from the speaker and the end of the song and Grove doubles over as if they’ve been shot.

It’s over, I’m devastated. Slyly, they look up: “We couldn’t leave you just there Birmingham”. And we get a few more minutes of pure artistry and energy from Grove.

Maybe it’s the adrenaline from all the moshing and screaming, but for me the work this artist puts in is unmatched. They’ve got a stitch, we’ve got a stick; the collective energy that Grove infuses into the crowd is transcendent feels immeasurable.

Regardless of what you’re into, I wholeheartedly recommend you go and see Grove perform live whenever and wherever you can.

For more from Grove go to: www.theyisgrove.bandcamp.com

For Steve Lamacq’s BBC Radio 6 Show go to: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0072lb2

For more from Hare and Hounds go to: www.hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk 
Check out the Independent Venues Week here: www.independentvenueweek.com/uk

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‘The Hip Hop Of Art’: Triple One Five’s Takeover Of Artefact Stirchley Brings Collage Back To Its Political Roots

Writer Victoria Lane / Photographer Connor Pope

In the early years of the 20th Century, collage gained prominence as an artistic medium as a way of reflecting the rise of biassed political narratives in the media in an increasingly fractured and fragmented society – sound familiar?

In Triple One Five’s takeover of Artefact Gallery in Stirchley, we see collage return to its anarchic, satirical roots in an explosive and irreverent fashion.

Triple One Five are a Birmingham based collective of four artists: Adam Wynn, Ken Banks, John Glennon, and Byron Jackson – whose entire oeuvre consists of satirical works created solely from words and images cut from the daily free tabloid, Metro. What started as an Instagram page evolved into a monthly zine which has now culminated in this show.

But why collage? “It’s like the hip hop of art,” Triple One Five explains to us on the show’s buzzing opening night. “It’s a way of taking something fully formed, a ready made object, then remixing and repurposing it to form something new.”

Triple One Five’s satirical works hark back to origins of collage championed by artistic movements such as Surrealism and Dadaism, whose collages poked holes in capitalist and right wing media narratives through absurdist humour.

It may not come as a surprise that Metro, most commonly found strewn on the floors of buses and trains nationwide, is the most widely read newspaper in the UK. Due to the background presence of Metro in our lives, Triple One Five suspect that we may not be fully interrogating the political motivations of the material we are reading on our way to work every day.

Whilst the paper may officially make claims about its political impartiality, its ownership by the publishers of the decidedly right-wing Daily Mail may raise more than a few eyebrows.

By remixing and reforming Metro’s images and words to dance to their own tune, Triple One Five are shining a spotlight on issues that may have been buried by mainstream media, such as successive scandals and dodgy funding – reclaiming the narrative by highlighting that hidden motivations and agendas the publishers and writers of Metro might be trying to obscure.

There’s a particular emphasis on the freshness of pieces as well. Each artwork is a direct reaction to the previous week’s Metro – something the artists are keen to describe as a way of ‘making sense of the chaos’ of contemporary politics.

Upon entering the exhibition space, the viewer is confronted with a dazzling array of pieces from the collective’s first five years. Over 100 pieces are eclectically hung together against the pop of the yellow gallery walls. The impression is that of recognisable pop figures and politicians (many of whom have since resigned in disgrace) being paraded into a conga line of corruption, callousness, and incompetence.

As a collection of artworks, the overall impression is a damning indictment of the last five years of Conservative rule.

The exhibition is not ordered by time period nor topic. Collages with strong political messages hang next to pieces of a more light-hearted and humorous nature, which particularly highlights the absurdity of contemporary politics.

For example, an impossibly long legged Peter Crouch hangs next to a piece featuring the faces of Putin, Adolf Hitler, and Ed Sheeran imposed on each other to form a sort of hellish boy band.

The absurdist juxtaposition of contemporary events remixed with elements of silliness and playfulness means that despite the heavy subject matter, the artwork never feels either overbearing or depressing.

One of the most pressing concerns within the art world is that the realm of visual art is fast becoming increasingly exclusive and elitist as marginalised people are being priced out of participation. This show opens at a time when art is being increasingly erased from the UK curriculum and only 12% of people working in the arts originate from working class backgrounds.

However, accessibility to art is important for Triple One Five, with one member of the collective having no previous artistic experience before their foray into collage. Which further makes their show at Artefact Gallery feel particularly subversive in reclaiming visual art as a rebellious medium.

This is also exemplified by the Metro collaging workshop held at Artefact the day following the show’s opening night. To create a collage, the aspiring satirist needs no previous artistic experience –  just an idea, some scissors, a pritt-stick, and a little bit of politically charged rage.

The images and words used in the making process are completely free, and use of Metro in this way feels incendiary – a way to use the establishment’s own weapons against them.

What’s next for Triple One Five? “We may put together to take out an advert in Metro so we can remix our own advert,” they laugh. Keep an eye out for that on your next commute.

Triple One Five’s exhibition is free to visit at Artefact Projects in Stirchley from 27 January – 27 February 2023

For more on Triple One Five go to: www.instagram.com/tripleonefive

For more on Artefact go to: www.artefactstirchley.co.uk

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Sofar Sounds Returns To Centrala In Digbeth 26/01/23

Writer Megan Treacy / Photographer Erin Connolly 

In Birmingham centre the streets are nearly vacant this Thursday night, but in Digbeth Centrala is comfortably full.

Tonight’s location for this sold out Sofar Sounds event, Centrala, is familiar to the city’s art-goers as a canal-adjacent café and exhibition space. However for visitors untrained to the network of samey industrial buildings this side of the railway bridge, it can feel like a mission to find.

Vigilant of lost travellers, friendly Sofar faces beacon the front gates of the Minerva Works complex and direct us to the event space where the majority of the audience have already arranged themselves on the floor.

Running a few minutes late, the last drinks orders are made and attention draws to the stage: warm purple light illuminates the leaves of a few plants which frame a sofa elevated only slightly above the crowd, and fairy lights twine around the microphone stand.

Our host for the evening is Holly, a growing musician herself who performs under the moniker Eliza May and recently supported Kate Nash at her Birmingham show last June. Holly enters the stage beaming. She scouts the audience for Sofar newcomers, like myself, and returnees — identifiable by their blanket/cushion setups — before introducing the first artist.

Birmingham-based singer Philippa Zawe seats herself on the sofa with a smile, an acoustic guitar across her lap.

Performing songs from her upcoming EP Shudder Pt.1 (launching at Midlands Arts Centre 24 March), she opens with an exclusive track ‘Shoulder To Shoulder’, singing of finding strength when “looking for a shoulder to cry on” over gentle folk-infused strumming.

‘Drive All Night’ follows, a song which Zawe shares was written originally in response to the loss of her father but has grown in meaning to express a more universal feeling of “wanting to be around people who are gone”.

Zawe’s sincere and emotional lyrics are enhanced by Centrala’s intimate setting — a characteristic feature of Sofar Sounds. As she performs recently released single ‘Would You Lean’, it feels almost wrong to record in a crowd so present and attentive.

Where videos are taken, phones are lifted hesitantly and not too high, unwilling to break the reverent atmosphere of the performance

To finish her set, Zawe performs what she terms a “Brummie lullaby”, noting that the studio recording features other Birmingham musicians on saxophone and cello. But tonight she sings about the “concrete seas” of the city with her guitar alone, foregrounding the amazing control of her voice.

A small interval ensues, however the enchantment of the crowd soon resumes as singer Michael Bird (also Birmingham based) and his red Telecaster take the sofa.

Without speaking, Bird delves into ‘Eyes For You’, which opens with the lyrics “If I said that I only had eyes for you I’d be lying”, though they are crooned in such a way that the melody seems to overpower the meaning.

Bird lengthens this short opener with a transition into ‘Ladies That Lunch’, continuing to charm the crowd with a powerful vocal display consisting of effortless runs and energetic delivery.

Before his third song, ‘Better’, Bird addresses the audience, introducing us to his EP Bloom, released last year, from which he takes his setlist.

‘Better’ is a track of faster tempo and powerful, gravelly notes. Towards its end, Bird demonstrates the incredible breadth of his vocal range with an impressive sequence of notes which seem to rise endlessly in pitch, gaining an appreciative response from the crowd.

On his final track, Bird enlists the audience to sing the hook — “hold out for a little bit longer” — a request met with no resistance as the room fills with sound, satisfyingly complimenting a moment of acappella from the artist ending his set on a soft note.

Closing the event is singer-songwriter Evie Joy, who we are told has travelled from her hometown of New York.

Upon taking the microphone, Evie Joy immediately promotes her in-progress docuseries Rewriting Romance, which she has been filming across the US and Canada and now continues in Europe — “I was in Amsterdam at 5am this morning and now I’m here” — encouraging donations to her Kickstarter in exchange for some temporary pineapple tattoos.

Moving on, she explains that love and romance are also the predominant themes of her songs, however we are warned that she makes “politically incorrect music”.

Unsure expectations turn into laughter and disbelief as Evie Joy’s first song derails us from the tender and sentimental tone set by Zawe and Bird.

‘Roll up, the Canadian Border Patrol Song’ is a comedy track about a lust felt for a Canadian Border Patrol officer while being questioned for weed possession, featuring lyrics such as “you pulled out a glove and some Vaseline, and I’m hoping I know just what you mean”.

Despite her comedic nature, Evie Joy’s musical talent is genuine, belting her lyrics commandingly as she fervently strums her ukulele. This talent is further displayed in ‘Happy’, a more serious song which evinces her ability to move as well as entertain.

The jokes return with ‘Since You’ve Been Gay’, which she preludes with the statement that she is part of the LGBTQ+ community, the necessity of which is revealed as she begins a song about a previous lover who turned out to be gay.

She reels off a list of ill wishes such as “I hope you order Uber Eats and it never arrives”.

For her final song, ‘I Confess, the Priest Song’, she live loops a backing track using her voice (mimicking the sound of the shakers she forgot to bring) over which she garners her last laughs and groans from the crowd with a pun-filled, Fleabag-esque love song to a priest.

Sofar Sounds ends with a synchronised stretching of legs and a promise of several eagerly anticipated Birmingham gigs.

For more from Philippa Zawe go to: www.philippazawe.bandcamp.com
For more from Michael Bird go to: www.michaelbirdmusic.bandcamp.com
For more from Evie Joy go to: www.eviejoymusic.com
For more from Eliza May go to: www.elizamaymusic.com

For more from Sofar Sounds go to: www.sofarsounds.com
For more from Centrala go to: www.centrala-space.org.uk

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Grove Talks To Birmingham Review About Their Legendary Pussy (Music)

Writer Jasmine Khan / Photographers Khali Ackford & Luke Tubbs

**Grove is playing at the Hare & Hounds on Tuesday 31 January, as part of Independent Venue Week – click here for tickets**


 
“No one really knows who I am,” says Grove in the humblest of tones. I try not to laugh. After Supersonic Festival, all the BR queers know about Grove – I had to fight several of them off  just to secure this interview. Not to mention they played Glastonbury last year.

For those of you who don’t know, Grove is an experimental punk-infused force of nature. The breadth of their sonic exploration includes elements of dancehall, bass, and jungle. But what stands out beyond their complex, erratic, and magnetic sound is how Grove seems to ignite an audiences’ soul.

“With the nature of being a performer, there’s the stage and then there’s the audience,” explains Grove. “But there’s also this palpable energy. It sometimes feels like there’s a force wall that needs to be broken.”


 
I’m sure we’ve all felt it in the crowd at a gig, the tension between the stage and the floor. When it disintegrates and the audience and performance become one, that’s when music truly fulfils its human purpose.

At Grove’s performances, “You’re not just watching the show, you are the show.” Indeed they emphasise, “We are the show.”

It’s “a collective energy”, one that’s designed to be emotionally and spiritually fulfilling and one which Grove hopes “can be transformed into other aspects of our lives.”

On this point transforming or perhaps transferring energy, Grove is resolute: “People need to be reminded of that, I need to be reminded of that, that we are powerful people, that our energy and our actions hold, especially in all this…” They pause and let out an extended sigh, struggling to find an apt word they settle on, “…social/political climate that we find ourselves in.”

Grove doesn’t sound defeated, but they do sound tired, tired of complaining about the state of the country as I’m sure we all are.


 
When I ask about what happens to the collective energy Grove builds with their audience and where it goes they say, “the energy at the beginning is a bit more sinister, then building it up to that crescendo point of being like, OK we are all in this, let’s throw everything we have got into this moment.

“I use the concept of catharsis a lot, in terms of a building of energy and then a release. I think I’ve come to realise that the release isn’t meant to be one moment, but taken into the world.”

Grove isn’t massively specific about what we’re meant to do with the energy they gift us at their performances, but I think that’s their point. It’s a gift, it’s for our own purposes; spare motivation to be stored for a rainy day.


 
Grove explains, after their gigs, the ones which truly feel collaborative, they love connecting with more experienced punks who often have snippets of wisdom about how to balance action with reflection. They also shout out their regular support EJ:AKIN, “a beautifully grounding person to travel and perform with.”

Grove recently performed at Decolonise Fest in London, a non-profit DIY punk festival ‘created by and for punxs of colour’ and it’s abundantly clear through their work and our on-going conversation, that Grove is heavily focused on activism and collaboration.

However, Grove also makes it abundantly clear that they do not (and never could) represent all queer people of colour: “I represent myself at that given time, and I don’t try to hold myself to any past or future version of myself.

“I do take on those labels, but I don’t claim to speak for everybody.”


 
They continue: “I’ve even come to reconsider the whole masculine and feminine energy thing”, which was a prevalent line in bios and reviews with Grove until recently, “because I think as part of my journey with gender exploration, masculine and feminine for me are so reductive in and of themselves.

“The music that I make reflects how I view gender – you just chuck it all in a pot and see what happens.

“You don’t need to label it, it’s more about the holistic experience of what you’re listening to.”

Getting back to what we’ll be listening to, I’m keen to ascertain whether we can expect anything beyond Grove’s typical experiential gig when they perform in Brum shortly.


 
“I’m going to be trying out some new tunes from an upcoming release,” says Grove. “It’s going to be very exciting and a lot more politically focused, a small body of work.”

And how would Mx Grove like their audience to show up?

“I want people to bring themselves authentically, unbridle themselves from the weight of being perceived. Move your limbs in ways you’ve never done before.

“If that’s not your thing just listen attentively, and engage in whatever way that means to you, that would be dreamy.”

I try to get a date for their upcoming ‘more politically focused release’ but Grove tuts at me and laughs it off, providing an answer almost as specific as their gender identity. “There’s no set date, it’ll be released sometime after March.” So, sometime between March and the end of time then?

I can’t wait.

Finally, I need to know whether Grove’s Spotify bio, which says ‘legendary pussy music’, is about their sound or themselves. Grove laughs again, louder this time: “I never expected anyone to actually mention it, but my friend Annie said it.

Grove insists it’s about the music. But, I’ll continue to insist it’s about both.


 
You can catch Grove, said legendary pussy (music), at the Hare and Hounds on Tuesday 31 January – tickets priced at £7.00 as part of Independent Venue Week.

For tickets to Grove’s upcoming Hare and Hounds show go to: www.independentvenueweek.com/uk/show/grove

For more from Grove go to: www.theyisgrove.com

For more from Hare and Hounds go to: www.hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk

For more from independent venue week go to: www.independentvenueweek.com/uk

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Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image Saves The World – World Premiere At Birmingham Rep, 1 February – 11 March

Words by Ed King / Images courtesy of Avalon – profile pics by Mark Harrison

If you ask someone of a certain age to “stick a deckchair up your nose” (or indeed to “casserole your gran”) they’ll immediately think a cigar smoking Thatcher, peas for dinner with John and Norma, and a mischievous gin swigging Queen Mum – firm fixtures in the original cast of Spitting Image.

First broadcast in 1984, Spitting Image is the ground breaking TV political satire sketch show where a cast of caricature puppets poke fun at modern figureheads from Westminster and popular culture.

Now, nearly 40 years to the day it was first aired, Spitting Image is treading the boards with its world premiere at Birmingham REP – running from Wednesday 1 February to Saturday 11 March.

Written by Al Murray (The Pub Landord), Matt Forde (Political Party), and the REP’s own Artistic Director Sean Foley (The Play What I Wrote) – the latter also sitting in the director’s chair – Idiots Assemble presents a modern cast including King Charles, Idris Elba, Adele, Greta Thunberg, and Rishi Sunak.

Produced by comedy giants Avalon and Birmingham Rep, the plot for the Spitting Image stage show is a relatively closely kept secret – although as the full title suggests it’s unlikely to celebrate the cerebral prowess of its protagonists. And in a world with pick and mix Prime Ministers, temper tantrum threats of nuclear war, and Donald Trump, the line between farce and reality has seldom been so faint.

Sean Foley told: “Trying to develop a satirical comedy based on the shifting politics of today has been the original fool’s errand: we’ve already thrown away three entire scripts – and several famous puppets aren’t even going to make their stage debuts anymore…

“But the sheer joy of casting Tom Cruise alongside King Charles, Greta Thunberg, RuPaul and Meghan Markle has made up for it. To be premiering this theatrical extravaganza in Birmingham, the home of the original ground-breaking television series, is a wonderful thrill.”

Spitting Image is the brainchild of artists Peter Fluck and Roger Law, first brought to television by the late designer and branding champion Martin Lambie-Nairn.

Born from the plasticine caricatures Fluck and Law created for the Sunday Times magazine, Spitting Image was originally dismissed by TV execs who believed a show with puppets could only be aimed at children.

However, after continued petitioning from Lambie-Nairn the show was picked up by the then called Central Independent Television (now ITV) and brought to the small screen on 26 February 1984 – amassing nearly 8 million viewers.

Ratings for Spitting Image dropped during the first season, with the final episode being axed, and writers Dough Grant and Rob Naylor were recruited to salvage the show for series two. Under their guidance, the writing team behind Spitting Image (which included Richard Curtis, Ian Hislop, and Ben Elton) saw the show achieve cultural acclaim and a peak of 15million viewers.

And if any Gen Zeder out there reading this is and screaming “…RELEVANCE?!?” into their iPhone27, check out the B side (turn the plastic round thing over) to the inaugural Spitting Image release and embrace the sad realisation somethings, or people, just never change.

Spitting Image was, however, finally taken off air in 1996 after a decline in viewing figures, but was briefly reborn for two series on the BBC/ITV digital broadcast platform BritBox – with Al Murray and Matt Forde amongst the team of writers, and a new cast of contemporaries including Boris Johnson, Billie Eilish, and Gareth Southgate.

Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image Saves the World is the first time the sketch show has been adapted for the stage, making its world premiere at the Birmingham Rep from Wednesday 1 February to Saturday 11 March.

Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image Saves the World – introduced by Al Murray, Matt Forde, Sean Foley

For more on Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image Saves the World at Birmingham Rep, including the full performance schedule and links to online ticket sales, visit: www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/spitting-image-live