Last Sunday we went to interview Tony Iommi for our Home Of Metal project, and while waiting for him to receive his Walk Of Stars in the bitterly cold Birmingham rain we took shelter in the ICC.  Walking around, a little lost was none other than Ronnie Dio (of Rainbow – and not the puppets), so we helped him find his way and were rewarded with a photo – how happy do I look, well we all know how much I love a good power ballad!

It should also be noted  (taken from Wikipedia) – “Ronnie James Dio renowned for his consistently powerful voice and for popularizing the “devil’s horns” hand gesture in metal culture. He is currently collaborating on a project with former Black Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice, which is going under the name Heaven and Hell.
The Interview with Tony Iommi will be on the Home Of Metal website shortly.

Our friend Juan Rae came up with the idea of Tape Club, whereby every couple of months we get together at a mates house and produce a tape to swap, we all chip in with lots of booze and snacks and over the course of the evening listen to one side of everyones tapes chosen at random out of a bag.

Its a great idea, mainly because it makes you listen to loads of records you’ve not heard for a while and get excited about your record collection all over again! In a Fluxus stylee we all set ourselves challenges for the theme of the tape – this time I’ve gone for (surprise! surprise!) an animal related theme.

Courtesy of Popcards.fr

Side A
Pontiak – White Mice
High Places – Canary
Arbouretum – Buffalo Ballet

Pram – Monkey Puzzle
Mouse On Mars – Catching Butterflies With Hands
Black Dice – Seabird
Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit
Devendra Banhart – Dogs They Make Up The Dark
PW Long – Eagleeye
Alabama Thunder Pussy – Mosquito
Fannypack – Bunnies
King Kong – White Horse
Oxes – Boss Kitty

Courtesy of Popcards.fr

Side B
Blevin Blectum – Real Live Escargot
Coil – Blue Rats
Techno Animal – Piranha
Neurosis – United Sheep
Electric Wizard – Black Butterfly
Black Sabbath – War Pigs
John Renbourn – Goat Island
Captain Beefheart – China Pig
Songs:Ohio – Tigress
Palace – Come A Little Dog
Polar Bear – Tay

This Sunday will be our last gig of the year and its set to be a raucous affair, so come and get your fix of balls-out riff-heavy fun provided by RACEBANNON from Indianapolis. There is now a change to the original line up as TRENCHER are unfortunately unable to play due to family illness (we wish a speedy recovery) so stepping up to the challenge are those lovable rogues better known as BEESTUNG LIPS, what a great way to end this years shows with these guys throwing a bit of chaos into the mix and then of course who knows what to expect with DREAM DREAMS THE DREAMER – there will also be a raffle with some great prizes as our way of thanking you for an eventful year + some party treats. Looking forward to seeing you there!!!

Beestung photo by Penny Mcconnell

Photo from http://www.guitarmasterclass.net

The Broad Street Business Improvement District is delighted to announce that Heaven and Hell guitarist, founding member of Black Sabbath, Grammy Award winner and king of heavy metal Tony Iommi will be honoured on the Broad Street Walk of Star’s on Sunday 23rd November 2008.

Following an afternoon of live music from local bands on the stage in Centenary Square ‘Kerrang Radio’ presenter Johnny Doom will host the evening, with the presentation of the star taking place at 6.30pm.

Home of Metal encourages fans of  Black Sabbath  to be photographed wearing their prized band t-shirts.
Images will be taken by the Birmingham photographer Steve Gerrard, who has been capturing bands in action for over 20 years, and has photographed some of the biggest names and artists. The photographs will then go on display on the Home Of Metal website and in future exhibitions.

Followed by our last Capsule gig of the year at the Hare & Hounds with Racebannon + Trencher + Dream Dreams The Dreamer – doors at 8pm

I thought it was about that time of year to dig out this press shot!
As inspired by Ideals recent BHM Doppelgänger facebook group, hours of fun.

Murcof interview

We only have 3 shows left for 2008. To begin the countdown this Sunday we have esteemed Mexican electronic composer MURCOF, accompanied by live strings performing at the Hare & Hounds, support comes from Oren Marshall,  a pioneering player of acoustic and electric tuba who, crossing between classical – jazz – improvised- world music, has collaborated with the likes of Derek Bailey, Keith Tippet, the Pan-African Orchestra and the London Philharmonic. This tour has been commissioned by the CMN.

Followed on Thursday by Domino Records’ CLINIC performing in collaboration with renowned animator Clemens Habicht, famous for his work with Franz Ferdinand and many others. This takes place at the Factory Club at the Custard Factory.

Then sadly it will be our last Capsule gig of the year on the following Sunday and we wanted it to be a raucous affair, so come and get your fix of balls-out riff-heavy fun provided by RACEBANNON from Indianapolis with support from Casio-grindcore trio TRENCHER and who knows what to expect with DREAM DREAMS THE DREAMER. This takes place at the Hare & Hounds.

Trencher -‘Mouth to Anus’

Tickets for all three shows are available from  ticketweb
Polar Bear – Kings Heath or Swordfish in the city centre

Its that time of year again – when the entertaining website ‘Birmingham is Not Shit’ holds their ‘Brummie of The Year’ nominations, Capsule were lucky enough to come third last year,  winner was the outspoken Digbeth landlord John Tighe, who founded the campaign to keep Digbeth vibrant! Second was Blogger extraordinaire Pete Ashton, who pretty much single handedly got the creative industries blogging, including getting us started.

So who would be worthy this year, its a hard one – let us know who you think deserves to be nominated and crowned as Brummie of The Year?

I think it would be hard for me to choose between Johnny Doom better known as being the late night dj for Kerrang! Radio and previous lead vocalist of the band Doom,  Johnny has been an amazing advocate for our Home Of Metal project, his early support and first hand knowledge has been invaluable. But whats best is he isn’t a man afraid of hard work and got stuck in when he was co-ordinating the stage crew for us at this years Supersonic Festival, his crew are clearly the unsung heros of the festival, along with our volunteers and sound crew.

Photo courtesy of Penny  Mcconnell
My other nomination would go to Helga Henry at Fierce Earth, for the way she so generously shares her knowledge and contacts and the way she encourages so many of us working in the creative industries, and most importantly for her work in the tea room at Supersonic.
Get involved here – http://www.birminghamitsnotshit.co.uk/award

We had an amazing turn out for our second Open Day at The New Art Gallery Walsall, and clearly the project is starting to snowball as word spreads. A highlight for us all was when Sue Halford and family turned up with a great selection of Rob Halfords (lead singer of Judas Priest) costumes and related treasures.

Sue Halford with Stuart Williams from the Walsall History Society

Jenny with one of Rob’s jackets – preparing it to be photographed for the archive.

Sue in conversation with Kerrang! Radio DJ Johnny Doom

These photos are courtesy of Stuart Williams who has been inspired to start his own blog http://metaldog.vox.com/ and developing the project Walsall Rocks, which we look forward to working with in the future. More photos and interviews from the event coming soon.