BPreviews Archives - Page 11 of 69 -

April 21, 2018April 21, 2018

BPREVIEW: The Academic + Sea Girls @ Mama Roux’s 22.04.18

Words by Ed King

On Sunday 22^nd April, The Academic perform live at Mama Roux’s, with a support from Sea Girls and a DJ set from Abbie McCarthy.

Doors open at the Digbeth venue from 7pm, with tickets priced at £9.90 (plus bf) – as presented by Good Karma Club and Birmingham Promoters. For online ticket sales, click here. To visit the gig’s Facebook Event Page, click here.

Hailing from Miullingar in County Westmeath, Ireland, The Academic have been firmly embedding themselves into international tour circuits, radio playlists, and music media column inches (or whatever the digital equivalent is… URL rankings?) over the past couple of years.

Forming in 2013, started by school friends Craig Fitzgerald (vocals, guitar) and Dean Gavin (percussion), The Academic embraced Matt (guitar) and Stephen Murtagh (bass) and signed with Global Publishing in 2015 – releasing their debut single, ‘Different’, the same year they joined the media conglomerate that owns half the broadcasters in the UK. Or is it all of them, we lose track. But it wasn’t a bad move for a band who seem to sneeze out uber catchy indie rock, with strong and addictive melodies that scream the more credible end of RADIO FRIENDLY.

An easy win for ‘one to watch’ listicles, The Academic needed to follow up their post-signing momentum with an album and something to drag the rest of the musical landscape into their world. So, in a stroke of genius that sits somewhere between The Matrix and OK GO’s treadmill choreography, they did just that – releasing Tales from the Backseat in January 2018, and deconstructing the first new single from their debut LP using Facebook Live’s 10 second delay as an AV loop.

OK, perhaps the latter doesn’t sound that exciting. But click here or watch the video below and if you’re not laughing, clapping, or singing along by the end of it then you’re probably a bit dead on the inside. Sheer brilliance, sheer joy. Well done lads.

Joining The Academic at Mama Roux’s, and for just over half of their Good Karma Club UK tour dates, are Sea Girls – the indie rock four piece who are neither afraid of CAPITALS LETTERS or ‘apologetic about a bold chorus, especially one that can be sung in unison by thousands of fans together of all walks of life’.

But if you’ve got it then flaunt it, and Sea Girl’s lead singer, Henry Camamile, has the kind of honey dripped husky vocals that are hard to escape from. Plus, this is another band that can churn out tracks that bite down like a bulldog – for a good case study on this, check out Sea Girl’s latest single below, ‘Eat Me Whole’. If you need more, then you can skip your fingers over to that iTunes logo on your taskbar (other music sites are available) and grab a copy of Sea Girl’s latest EP, Heavenly War. Not a bad way to spend your bus fare.

Rounding off an already damn fine Sunday night, there will be a DJ set from Abbie McCarthy – the brains and brawn behind Good Karma Club, and the presenter of BBC Introducing Kent.

McCarthy often steps in for DJs on Radio One and is somewhat of a smarty-pants-know-it-all when it comes to solid, new music. So, having her behind the decks (or whatever the digital equivalent is…) at Mama Roux’s, as well as curating and promoting the gig, is a pretty wise idea.

‘Bear Claws’ – The Academic (deconstructed using Facebook Live)

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‘Eat Me Whole’ – Sea Girls

The Academic + Sea Girls perform live at Mama Roux’s on Sunday 22^nd April, with a supporting DJ set from Abbie McCarthy – as presented by Good Karma Club and Birmingham Promoters. For online ticket sales, click here. To visit the gig’s Facebook Event Page, click here.

For more on The Academic, visit www.soundcloud.com/theacademic

For more on Sea Girls, visit www.seagirls.net

For more on Abbie McCarthy, visit www.insanitygroup.com/client/abbie-mccarthy

For more from Good Karma Club, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.facebook.GoodKarmaClub1

For more from Birmingham Promoters, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.birminghampromoters.com

For more on Mama Roux’s, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.facebook.com/mamarouxs

April 20, 2018

BPREVIEW: Mallory Knox @ Mama Roux’s 24.04.18

Words by Eleanor Sutcliffe

Mallory Knox will be performing an intimate show in Mama Roux’s on Tuesday 24^th April as part of their spring UK tour, with support from Dead! and JUDAS.

Doors open at Mama Roux’s from 7:30pm, with tickets priced from £20 (plus booking fee) – as presented by Kilimanjaro Live. For online ticket sales click here. To visit the gig’s Facebook Event page, click here.

Following main stage performances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals, and the independent release of their latest track ‘Black Holes’, Mallory Knox are proving themselves a force to be reckoned with.

Building up their fan base since the release of their debut UK album, Signals, back in 2013, the band have slowly but surely climbed their way to the top of the UK alternative rock scene. Just under a year later and the release of their sophomore album, Asymmetry, landed them at No16 in the UK Album Charts and secured them a host of performances with bands such as Pierce the Veil and Sleeping with Sirens – as well as an independent UK tour that saw them sell out London’s Electric Ballroom two nights in a row.

This continued to peak when Mallory Knox were announced for both the Slam Dunk Festival and the iconic Vans Warped Tour –with the band’s last studio album, Wired, released in March 2017 and reaching both No1 on the UK Rock & Metal Album Charts and No18 on the UK Album Charts.

Committed to carving out their own niche in the UK music scene, Mallory Knox have spent years developing their sound – just listen to the differences between tracks such as ‘Oceans’ and ‘Sugar’ if you don’t believe me. And boy, has it paid off. Their commitment to experimentation without straying too far from the path has resulted in the band becoming a favourite with rock and metal fans across the UK.

Although this time, it could be slightly different. The seemingly sudden departure of Mikey Chapman has lost Mallory Knox their unique vocals. Although from what we’ve heard of ‘Black Holes’, Mallory Knox’s co-vocalist and bass player Sam Douglas seems more than ready to take the reins.

Playing it safe with a string of intimate shows across the UK this spring, coming to Mama Roux’s in Birmingham on Tuesday 24^th April, it’s just exciting to see what Mallory Knox have in store for us next.

‘Black Holes’ – Mallory Knox

On Tuesday 24^th April, Mallory Knox play at Mama Roux’s with support from Dead! and JUDAS – as presented by Kilimanjaro Live. For online ticket sales click here. To visit the gig’s Facebook Event page, click here.

For more on Mallory Knox, visit www.malloryknox.com

For more Dead!, visit www.theinternetisdead.co.uk

For more on JUDAS, visit www.wearejudas.com

For more from Kilimanjaro Live, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.kilimanjarolive.co.uk

For more on Mama Roux’s, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.facebook.com/mamarouxs

April 12, 2018

BPREVIEW: Flatpack Film Festival 2018 @ various venues across Birmingham from 13-22.04.18

Words by Ashleigh Goodwin

Despite the slight frustration of it being April already, the start of spring brings with it a myriad of cultural, musical and recreational events within the second city. But kicking off this fruitful month, Flatpack return for their 12^thannual film festival – running from Friday 13^th April to Sunday 22^nd April 2018.

Tickets and venues vary across the Flatpack Film Festival 2018 programme, but for direct information on all screenings and events, click here.

With over a hundred events on offer, Flatpack Festival 2018 is definitely not to be overlooked – not that you could if you tried (and why would you ever want to?) as the nine-day festival spans across the city centre, Digbeth and wider Birmingham. Flatpack Festival 2018 comprises of ‘films, performances, contraptions and surprises’, whilst being described as ‘magnificently eclectic, and joyously inventive’. With an impressive reputation to uphold, Flatpack does not disappoint with this year’s festival, providing an eclectic roster of carefully curated content.

It would be near impossible to cover each aspect of the programme in detail (no matter how tempting), so here are our cited highlights of Flatpack Film Festival 2018.

Over the festival’s opening weekend (Friday 13^th– Sunday 15^th April) Flatpack presents Birmingham 68 – an eye-opening reflection of the turbulent and culturally fertile year of 1968, in a ‘city-straddling programme that will take you from Digbeth bikers to Erdington psychedelia, from black masses in Solihull to the lost streets of Balsall Heath’ and featuring a range of special guests for ‘walks, talks and screenings tapping into a range of subjects that still resonate today’.

Birmingham 68 was launched prior to Flatpack Film Festival 2018 festival with the free entry photography exhibition Ghost Streets of Balsall Heath by Janet Mendelsohn, which is on display at the Ort Gallery until Saturday 28^th April.

Birmingham 68 encompasses sixty-eight exhibitions over the next couple of weeks, including film screenings such as Lindsay Anderson’s if… with a Q&A from Chris Menges at The Electric, and a double-bill of 1960’s unease, media and paranoia in David Holzman’s Diary and The Secret Cinema at The Mockingbird.

Birmingham 68 presents a further multitude of exhibitions, such as Richard P Rogers’s Frank Cook and the Birmingham Scene – which showcases a panorama of Birmingham at a time of disorientation and change, alongside discussions from Ernie Hudson & Bob Linney – two integral faces behind the screen-printed posters of the Birmingham Arts Lab.

There is also a discourse around Carlton Ballroom’s launch as a rock club in Mothers, that brings together former punters and performers in an ‘attempt to piece together what went on in this UV-lit monochrome den’, as well as a series of city walks such as Early Worm which ‘reconstructs art collective Worm’s tale of teenage pranks, mods, beatniks and the influence of William Burroughs’. For a full programme of all the Birmingham 68 events, visit www.2018.flatpackfestival.org.uk/strand/birmingham-68

As part of their impressive roster of thirteen Special Events including performances, parties and a quiz, the festival organisers have named The Paper Cinema’s reimagination of Macbeth as a particular highlight. This runs from Thursday 19^th April to Saturday 21^st April at various times in the Hippodrome’s Patrick Centre venue – accessible through the main theatre on Hurst Street, with tickets priced between £10-14.

After their critically acclaimed success with Odyssey, The Paper Cinema returns to combine distinctive live animation with elements of projection, music and puppetry, bringing this silent, two-dimensional world to life with charm, wit and invention. This adaptation of Macbeth further translates as a ‘cautionary tale for our times’ and was acclaimed upon its Edinburgh debut last summer. Flatpack Film Festival 2018 provides audiences with one of the first opportunities to catch this widely popular, compelling attraction as it goes out on the road. For more information on the rest of the festivals special events, visit www.2018.flatpackfestival.org.uk/strand/special-events

Another beauty of Flatpack Film Festival 2018 is the inclusivity of the event; their colossal programme spans all mediums, requirements and preferences, and this is reflected in the weekend long Colour Box running from Saturday 21^st April-Sunday 22^nd April at various times in both the Birmingham Hippodrome and mac.

Colour Box unleashes an immersive combination of family-friendly activities and events with the intention of inspiring the next generation of film makers through a ‘doing as much as on viewing’ approach. Colour Box is comprised of ‘workshops, special screenings and performances’ including VR: Rain or Shine, Moonmin Puppets, DIY Cinema and Fantastic Voyages – a selection of short films for ages 7+ that explore characters leaving the comfort of home for the first time to explore the world.

Colour Box is also screening the ‘best family shorts and features from around the world’ combining coveted, breakthrough pieces such as Horus, Prince of the Sun – showing on Sunday 22^nd April, from 16:00-17:30 at mac Birmingham. A landmark anime that is both essential to the history of animation and the first collaboration between Studio Ghibli founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, interweaving a coming of age narrative with sub-plots of environmentalism and community.

There is also newer material from Japan’s Studio Ponoc, such as the fantastical fable Mary and the Witch’s Flower – showing on Sunday 22^nd April, from 11:00-12:45 again at mac. Tickets for both respectively start at £4 and can be brought directly through the Flatpack website. For more information on Colour Box, visit www.2018.flatpackfestival.org.uk/strand/colour-box

Whilst Flatpack Film Festival 2018 showcases the richness of film as a medium and its all-encompassing elements, it would be easy to forget to actually see a feature film amongst all the workshops, walks and talks. However, ensure time is made for this as the festival’s Features section – primarily based at The Electric and The Mockingbird – which boasts some cherry-picked recent releases from across the world.

Similarly, Flatpack Film Festival 2018 offers a range of documentaries that are ‘stranger than fiction’ by explaining that ‘the world is currently offering an inexhaustible supply of great stories, so why bother making them up?’ Whether this is exploring the streets of France with Agnes Varda and her partner in crime, JR, in Faces Places, following a multinational team of scientists striving to create a nuclear fusion project that could revolutionise the future of clean energy in Let There Be Light, or watching the sobering journey of migrant workers building a tower block in Beirut against the current Syrian climate and civil war in The Taste of Cement.

With these documentaries, Flatpack Film Festival 2018 presents the heart-warming, reflective, and often astounding facets of the world – screened at The Electric, The Mockingbird and Centrala throughout the festival, with tickets starting from £8.

Alongside the programme of feature films and documentaries, a round-up of Flatpack Film Festival 2018 cannot be written without mentioning the Shorts section of the event – a programme that sits at the very core of what Flatpack does and is aptly described as their ‘first love’. This is why the handpicked selection of short films at this year’s festival ‘are an end in themselves, overflowing with great ideas and indelible images’ and span a host of genres including drama, sci-fi, animation, documentaries and experimental, with each event encompassing central themes and topics different to the next. For the full selection of the twelve shorts at Flatpack Film Festival 2018, visit www.2018.flatpackfestival.org.uk/strand/shorts

Unsurprisingly, this does not even scratch the surface of the plethora of events and screenings, with strands such as Optical Sound and Unpacked also to look forward to at Flatpack Film Festival 2018 – running at venues across the city from 13^th to 22^nd April.

For direct information on the entire programe at Flatpack Film Festival 2018, including venue and ticket details, visit the festival’s official website at www.2018.flatpackfestival.org.uk

April 12, 2018April 11, 2018

BPREVIEW: Love from Stourbridge – The Wonder Stuff & Ned’s Atomic Dustbin @ O2 Academy 14/15.04.18

Words by Ed King

On Saturday 14^th and Sunday 15^th April, the Love from Stourbridge Tour comes to the O2 Academy Birmingham – with The Wonder Stuff and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin both playing live, alongside a DJ set from Graham Crabb of Pop Will Eat Itself.

Doors open at the O2 Academy from 7pm, with tickets priced at £34.25 – as presented by Academy Events. For direct gig information, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

Back in the hey days of the late 80’s and early 90s – when Indie meant independent, the NME was still credible, and a singles chart position meant you’d actually sold some records (that were actual records), Britain’s alternative music scene was a pretty awesome place. And whilst Seattle was spewing out Cobain and Cornell (R.I.P. gents xx) slap bang in the middle of it all on this side of the pond was The Midlands, with The Wonder Stuff and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin packing out shows at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre, The Hummingbird, and other 3k capacity venues before they became a haven for jungle and knife crime.

Both hailing from Stourbridge, a place God apparently created one wet Tuesday afternoon, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin and The Wonder Stuff ran somewhat parallel to each other – with the former getting their ‘big break’ as the support band on the latter’s tours in 1989 and 1990. And aside from having the best name/t-shirts in music at the time (and possibly for some years afterwards, we’re open to suggestions here) Ned’s Atomic Dustbin are the edgier of the two, with notorious mosh pits, ferocious live shows, and overt murderous intent towards the nation’s goggle-boxes.

The Wonder Stuff, on the other hand, were the top rung of the Indie ladder back in ‘the day’ with consistent chart success, an international fanbase, and headline slots at leading UK music festivals – releasing four albums in five years, until the band’s split in 1994, with three of those LPs breaking the Top 5 in the official UK Album Charts. Their debut, Eight Legged Groove Machine, reached No.18. The Wonder Stuff may not be as angst ridden as Ned’s Atomic Dustbin (may I present Exhibit A, ‘Dizzy’, your honour) but they achieved phenomenal success and stayed rock and roll to the core, even when sharing the mic with Vic Reeves. They dressed a little better than Ned’s back then too.

But the best thing about these two bands is that if you stumble over their music today – regardless of age or naivety/cynicism – it still stands up, nearly 30 years after the first people upturned these Stourbridge stones. But I guess that’s what the Love from Stourbridge Tour is all about, dragging out the old fans for a night of nostalgia whilst gaining new fans by just being solid musicians performing on stage.

And whist there is new/newish material out there on-shelf and on iTunes, it wouldn’t be a bad show if we just sat in the least expensive part of the room and smashed a few Samsung flat screens… don’t worry, the reference points are below.

‘Welcome to the Cheap Seats’ – The Wonder Stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCMCvzPEsFc

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‘Kill Your Television’ – Ned’s Atomic Dustbin

On Saturday 14^th and Sunday 15^th, the Love from Stourbridge Tour comes to the O2 Academy Birmingham – with The Wonder Stuff and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin. For direct gig information, including venue details and online ticket sales, visit https://bit.ly/2IMaduJ

For more on The Wonder Stuff, visit www.thewonderstuff.co.uk

For more on Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, visit www.nedsatomicdustbin.com

For more on Pop Will Eat Itself, visit www.popwilleatitself.net

For more from the O2 Academy Birmingham, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2academybirmingham

April 9, 2018April 9, 2018

BPREVIEW: Brighton Rock @ Birmingham REP 10-14.04.18

Words by Lucy Mounfield / Production shots by Karl Andre Photography

From Tuesday 10^th to Saturday 14^th April, the REP’s main stage will host Bryony Lavery’s acclaimed adaptation of Graham Greene’s classic novel Brighton Rock.

Co-produced by Pilot Theatre and York Theatre Royal, Lavery’s adaptation is directed by Pilot Theatre’s artistic director Esther Richardson. Hannah Peel has composed music for the new production, with her compositions performed by Laura Groves live on stage during the UK tour.

Evening performances at the REP will be held daily from 7:30pm, except on Tuesday 9^th April when the show is scheduled for 7pm. Matinee performances will also be held from 2pm on Thursday 12^th and Saturday 14^th April. Tickets are priced £15, with seats available at the weekday matinee from £10 – for direct show information, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

This new production re-tells Greene’s classic noir thriller; published in 1938, this eighty-year-old novel is being staged for a new audience, many of whom will not remember this period prior to the second world war. However, many more may be familiar with the two film adaptations of Brighton Rock – the 1948 classic starring Richard Attenborough as the main character Pinkie, and the underwhelming 2010 release with Sam Riley as the male lead.

The story revolves around antihero, Pinkie Brown, the sociopathic teenage leader of a Brighton gang. Fellow mob member, Charles Hale, is murdered for his betrayal of the gang and whilst being pursued meets a local woman, Ida Arnold, to whom he confides his fears. After Hale is found dead Ida takes it upon herself to find his murderer, which ultimately leads her into the heart of Brighton’s seedy criminal dark side.

Although ostensibly a noir thriller of the sort so fashionable in the 1930s, Greene’s novel has stood the test of time with its darker and more cerebral themes that deal with the Roman Catholic Church and their doctrine of sin. Having read Brighton Rock a few years ago, I must admit I found it heavy going. However, the visual evocation in the 1948 film was easier to follow and cut through Greene’s dense prose and religious symbolism; it will be interesting to see how Lavery and Pilot Theatre tackle this literary classic when bringing it to the stage.

Prior to debuting Brighton Rock at the York Theatre Royal in March this year, Pilot Theatre have produced numerous applauded productions both in the UK and internationally. They are also active participants in their home community of York, producing insightful and locally inspired productions such as 18 and The Railway Kin – the latter an interactive digital walk with accompanying audio and a map to guide the participant’s journey to the National Railway Museum in York.

Using new technology and innovative staging, it will also be interesting to see how Pilot Theatre immerse the audience into 1930s Brighton – something of a far cry from the vibrant and open atmosphere of the modern-day seaside town.

Brighton Rock – Theatrical Trailer

Brighton Rock runs at the Birmingham REP from Tuesday 9^th to Saturday 14^th April. For direct show information, including venue details and online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/brighton-rock

For more on Pilot Theatre, visit www.pilot-theatre.com

For more from the Birmingham REP, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk