It’s that time of the year again, when the denizens of Birmingham board up their doors and lock up their daughters while a rampaging hoard of musicians descend upon The Custard Factory, the unassuming and quite wonderful venue for the annual Supersonic Festival which takes place, this year, on the 21st – 23rd of October.
The festival, over the years, has hosted some of the world’s most eclectic and unusual acts – acts that you often will not find a chance to see in the UK at any other time – and this year is no exception with sets provided by acts such as Wolves in the throne room, Monarch, Electric Wizzard, Turbo Negro, Mike Watt and many, many more. As always, no one scene dominates the bill and all tastes and proclivities are catered for this year with film screenings, workshops, live acts and art installations all combined seamlessly to make Supersonic one of the cultural highlights of the UK calendar.
Last year was an unabashed success which saw landmark sets from Zeni Geva, The Swans, Maly instrument and Mothlite whilst the atmosphere of the festival marks it out as one of the friendliest and most accepting events you are likely to visit (you can read a full review of last year’s event here)
Tickets are an unfeasibly cheap £75 for three days of top-class entertainment and can be purchased by visiting the event website here.
For the full line up see below:
FRIDAY – APPAT/CLOAKS/DRUMCUNT/MIKE WATT/PART CHIMP/SCORN/SCOTCH EGG/SECRET CHIEFS 3/SLABDRAGGER/
SATURDAY – AGATHE MAX/ALEXANDER TUCKER/ANTILLES/BACKWARDS/BARDO POND/BERG SANS NIPPLE/ELECTRIC WIZARD/KLAUS KINSKI/KOGUMAZA/LUCKY DRAGONS/MONARCH/MUTE SYNTH/NATHAN BELL/ORTHODOX/PHAROAH OVERLORD/SKULL DEFEKTS/TEETH OF THE SEA/WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM/ZOMBI/
SUNDAY – ALVA NOTO/ASTRO/BARN OWL/BYETONE/CIRCLE/CUT HANDS/DRUNK IN HELL/DRUM EYES/ENVY/ETERNAL TAPESTRY/FIRE!/ICONACLASS/JEFR CANTU LEDESMA/MODULATE/ORE/PEKKO KAPPI/SELFLESS/SILVER APPLES/TONY CONRAD/TURBONEGRO/WHITE HILLS/
The Film programme will include; $100 Dollars And A T Shirt, Suspiria, Karp Lives: Kill All Red Neck Pricks, Man With A Video Camera, Still Before (Oxbow on the road), Blood Sweat and Vinyl: DIY in the 21st Century, Fonal Records shorts and more…
Art exhibitions include; Conny Prantera, Herman Inclusus, Birmingham Zine Festival and there will be a talk with William Bennett of Cut Hands/Whitehouse/Vice Guide to Liberia also.
This year the workshops are splendid from film-making with Imperfect Cinema and screen printing t-shirts with Get A Grip to building a mute synth courtesy of Dirty Electronics.
