On Saturday 25th of July join Kerrang! Radio DJ – the legendary Johnny Doom at this years Supersonic Festival. A stalwart of the Midlands Metal scene Johnny, will be accompanied by special guests Sunn 0))) duo Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson discussing both the project & the influence of music from the region.

Metal and the Male Monster presented by Dr Niall Scott
Niall Scott is Senior Lecturer in Ethics at the University of Central Lancashire and the co organiser of Heavy Fundametalisms, the first global conference on heavy metal.  As part of our Home Of Metal series he will be presenting a talk that explores the notion of the monstrous male figure within Heavy Metal culture, the boundary between the imaginary and the real, the irrational and the rational.

Followed by a screening of the controversial VSB TV documentary TRUE NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL

Further info about Supersonic Festival
Supersonic Tickets: Weekend tickets – £70 / Friday Ticket – £15 /Saturday Ticket – £35
Sunday Ticket – £35

available from: www.theticketsellers.co.uk
24 hr order line – 0844 870 0000 – Calls cost max 5p per min from BT landline

Just in time for our next Home Of Metal event which is due to take place in the Waterhall Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery on Saturday 7th of Feb 11am – 4pm, a short taster film put together from our previous open days at Wolverhampton Art Gallery as part of Hello Digital (1000 in attendance) followed by an evening event at New Art Gallery Walsall  with a special live performance by Einstellung.
Special guests for Saturday 7th will include music archivist Chris Phipps, producer of the documentary Motor City Music Years, and assistant producer of The Tube. He will be in conversation with Johnny Doom at 1pm, followed by a screening of his documentary which profiled the rock history of the West Midlands.

Photographer Barry Lewis will also be at the museum taking photographs of Metal fans for the Guardian Saturday Magazine – some of you may remember him from his White Tent project which he set up  with Rhubarb Rhubarb in the Bull Ring.

The film was created by Ella Turner, Matt Taylor and Martin Poyntz-Roberts and of course the project could not happen with out the hard work of the our volunteers.

Unfortunately I didn’t make it to the Open Day at the New Art Gallery Walsall on the eve of November the 6th 2008 but judging by what I’ve seen, heard and read it proved to be a well attended, fantastic event. Well done to all involved, the seeds are sprouting up all over the place.

I was honoured to be chaufeur for Lisa (Capsule) and the film crew - Ella Turner, Matt Taylor and Martin Poyntz-Roberts on Sunday 23rd November 2008.

We were lucky enough to be able to go to the Crown Plaza Hotel for an interview with Tony Iommi prior to his Walk of Stars Award ceremony outside the Rep and ICC. Unfortunately I sat outside in the hotel hallway while Lisa,the film crew and Steve Gerrard - photographer went into his room – boohoo – yet we were all given official passes (and I managed to make up for it later!)

*

*

*

*

*

Ella,Martin,Matt and Lisa preparing for the interview and them going in to do it!!!

Following the interview we braved the rainy weather and walked over to the Kerrang! stage, very pleased to say die hard fans had also braved the elements, yet like us most of them had decided to shelter in the front of the Symphony Hall.

Jenny (Capsule) joined us and whilst we were waiting Lisa gave a squeal of delight as we spotted 2 very famous faces heading for the loos! When they reappeared Lisa gave them some well timed and appreciated advice on where to head and I got a photo of Ronnie Dio and Vinnie Appice who currently are in the band Heaven and Hell with Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler.

Wow! – right place, right time!!

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t being kind as we joined the crowds and helped Johnny Doom to give out blow up guitars. My pass proved very useful as it meant I could go right to the front of the stage to get some photos.

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Once Tony had accepted his award he was whisked away in a nice car back to the hotel and with Johnny and his friends we all went to the Yardbird Jazz Club for a well deserved drink and warm-up. It was here that I discovered that we were going to Tony’s after award party back at the hotel!!!

Well it was very interesting with all sorts of people and sunday lunch in a mouthfull!!!!( Mini yorkshire puds with roast beef n mustard were my fave snack doing the rounds!) Being chaufeur I was on the apple juice whilst the others were sipping champagne, yet my brain was in gear and when I saw the opportunity I took it (thankyou to the lady behind the bar whos name I didn’t catch but who kindly lent me a permanent marker) I went and asked Tony Iommi to sign my pass and he was really lovely and did it!!!

Having eaten a wide range of snacks including mini cones of fish n chips! It was time to go and I really couldn’t resist – my cheek got the better of me and I grabbed Martin gave him my phone and asked Tony if I could get a picture with him before I left – Joy – he agreed, and I returned the favour and got a picture of Martin on his camera. WOW, Amazing – any one thinking of volunteering for this project should definately give it a go – who knows where and who it will enable you to meet. Meeting Tony Iommi was definately a great way to finish 2008!

And so we are now just 4 days away from the Open Day and over the last few weeks Ambassadors and the Home of Metal have been busy behind the scenes working towards this being a great event.

We had a meeting at Creative Alliance on Wed Jan 21st where we discussed plans and the website.

We met again (during the start of the snow) at the Waterhall,Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery to see the space and discuss roles and jobs for the coming week. I also delivered images to Jenny which I have sourced over the last few weeks from the archives at Birmingham Central Library – old images of music venues which Chris Phipps will be discussing at the Open Day on Saturday.Some of the images I sourced went to Ben Javens last week and he has produced a wonderful leaflet to accompany Chris Phipps pilot tour.

Copyright prohibits me from uploading these images at the moment yet we’ve been given permission to exhibit them on Saturday so alongwith all the other amazing memorabillia and activities happening it is well worth making your way to the Waterhall any time between 11am and 4pm this Saturday. If you are unable to attend please,please sign up on our website and upload your own stories and images.

A big well done to Ant Ramm @Open Advantage - web developer and Ian Richards@Heavy Objects – web designer the website looks and functions brilliantly and is enabling seeds to shoot up all over the world.

HOME of METAL is well and truly planted, the roots are strong and will hopefully continue to develop into an eternally wondrous, healthy monster-sized evergreen – 2011 should prove to be a good year for this species!

!!!!4 DAYS TO GO to the HOME OF METAL OPEN DAY at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery!!!!

Saturday 25th October 2008 arrived and I picked up Lisa, Jenny and Juan and we headed off to the Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

WOW and a huge congratulations to Jenny, Lisa (Capsule) and Kate and her great team at the gallery who had completely transformed the exhibition space. It looked amazing – where there had once been bare walls and an empty room now stood beautifully displayed island units with wonderful memorabillia and the walls were covered in artwork and information for all the visitors we were hoping would arrive.

There were tables where mainly children/teens could colour in Black Sabbath images courtesy of Aye Jay also the fab Wolverhampton team were on hand offering design your own t-shirt and badge making. I did say mainly children/teens as plenty of adults during the course of the day actually participated in the activities , including me – I made badges and t-shirts for my girls to wear at the Birmingham Home of Metal Open Day.

Johnny Doom was setting up his Kerrang Radio DJ and interview space as the rest of the Ambassadors arrived and we set up all the sections and,slowly but surely, people of all age groups began to appear – All our well scattered seeds had begun to germinate.

Fuelled by an everlasting flow of coffee and tea courtesy of the Gallery we happily recieved information to record verbally and some wonderful memorabillia to photograph and document. Johnny Doom’s interviews with :Jim Simpson – Big Bear (nickname given him by DJ John Peel) who runs one of the oldest independant labels in the Uk and :Digby Pearson - Dig who founded and runs Earache Records, which has been home to outfits Napalm Death and Godflesh as well as a host of other extreme bands; proved to be a great success seeing the space filled with a diverse age range of interested people.

Jenny and Lisa chatting to Jim Simpson and friend prior to his interview with Johnny Doom.

The Digby Pearson and Johnny Doom Interview.

At lunch time there was a fantastic spread of sandwiches and fruit etc. laid on by the Gallery which was yummy – it was also really nice that the food was situated in the film screening area as we all got to see some of the wonderful footage which was shown throughout the day.

The films screened were Motor City Music Years produced by Roger Shannon and Johnie Turpie, The Scum Story courtesy of Earache, Judas Priest – British Steel directed by Tim Kirby, Led Zeppelin – Interview courtesy of Classic Rock Magazine and Napalm Death – The DVD courtesy of Earache Records.

A special mention has to go to Lisa Bardsley who very kindly lent a copious amount of memorabillia for this and future Open Days – the display cases would not have been the same without your generosity!

Well done everyone it was a great day and yes we did cope and more importantly yes people came – bearing treasured items to be archived and stories to be recorded.

And so it has begun ………Home of Metal may you rock n roll into the future.

!!!!20 DAYS TO GO to the HOME OF METAL OPEN DAY at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery!!!!

Our next Home Of Metal open day (think antiques roadshow for fans of Metal) takes place in Waterhall at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery on Saturday 7th of Feb, from 11am to 4pm.

Bring along your memorabilia, photos, old tickets, T-shirts, patches fanzines etc as well as your personal stories to be recorded and added to the Home Of Metal archive.
The event will be hosted by none other than Brummie of the year, Kerrang! Radio presenter Johnny Doom, with a host of guests, as well as a selection of memorabilia which will be on display.

The event is free – all welcome.

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.

Last Saturday was an overwhelming success with Wolverhampton Art Gallery reporting over 970 people in attendance at our first Home Of Metal open day, we had everyone from small kids, to teenagers right through to the more distinguished older gentlemen. We all had a blast and are incredibly grateful to Kate Williams Pryror and her team at Wolverhampton for all their hard work, Johnny Doom from Kerrang! Radio for hosting the day and his interviews with Jim Simpson and Digby Pearson.

Here are a few photos taken by Naz, from the day to give you a feel for what happened;

Johnny Doom interviewing Jim Simpson

A selection of press clippings and photos on display

Adults and kids making badges & colouring in Black Sabbath picture by Aye Jaye

Godflesh  & Napalm Death related cabinet courtesy of Earache Records – included hand written lyrics, original art work mock ups (old school hand made cut n paste)

Judas Priest & Black Sabbath cabinet of treasures

Led Zeppelin cabinet with rare Russian release of Stairway To Heaven (Courtesy of Lisa Bardsley) and only known official 7″ release of Stairway To Heaven (Courtesy of Nigel Dodds)
Home Of Metal family tree created by Francesca Bunny Williams

Fascinating stuff!

A rare outing for this Robert Plant painting – part of Wolverhamptons permanent collection.

Stuart Williams from Walsall local history archive

Teenage kicks!

With the first open day at Wolverhampton Art Gallery fast approaching (SATURDAY 25^th OCTOBER – in case you didn’t know!) we were invited to the hallowed offices of Kerrang! Radio last night to do an interview with the one and only – dare I even say legendary – Johnny Doom.

Myself, Lisa and fellow volunteer Bill took to the microphones and regaled our esteemed host with the aims of the project, an update on where we are with the event and how things are shaping up, coupled with multiple big fat stinking plugs for the upcoming Wolverhampton open day. I spoke briefly about my Napalm Death fandom, whilst Bill did the same for Judas Priest, leaving Lisa free to make sure Johnny got in every possible newsworthy item concerning the event.

The interview is to be played tonight – 21^st October – on Johnny Dooms show, The Late License.at 1am, so tune into 105.2FM to catch it live ; alternatively you can listen to the show on the website during the subsequent week which is located here.

Would also just like to say thanks to Johnny and Kerrang Radio for the opportunity to discuss Home Of Metal on their show – most appreciated!!!

L-R : Johnny Dooms plastic bag(!!!!), Johnny Doom, Bill and myself.