Hellfest has almost come around again, and this time its bigger then ever. Its even got it’s own APP for devils sake!
Beatmag has been in attendance for 3 years now, and we have developed a real soft spot for this gathering of head-bangers in Clisson, France. Each year, the promoters manage to pull off some seriously heavy weight line-ups, and this year they have really outdone themselves. Iggy and the Stooges, Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions, Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, Down, Rob Zombie and Diff Mac Kagen are among the headliners who will be tearing up the main stage, while some other Beatmag favourites that will be grinding their axes include Kyuss (lives), Municipal Waste, Hawkwind, Electric Wizard, Grand Magus and Bad Brains. But we could go on…. and on…. and the quality still wouldn’t wain. As far as metal festivals go, this summer is looking very strong. With Sonisphere landing the “big 4″ and Download pulling out some big guns, its going to mean strong competition. But if we had to choose one rock festival to attend?… I think it would have to be Hellfest every time.
36 year old freelance illustrator, Richard Wilkinson, has taken his merry time to find his niche in life. It all started in York, where he studied fine art, “In the 1st week I was told not to use black lines. Don’t go there. They sucked all the joy out of it for me. After that I worked in sound design and then in commercials production until I remembered I wanted to be a commercial artist. That was 3 years ago”. And some where in between, he had a brief career in music, although he is rather modest about it (he was signed to Ninja Tune you know!), “I used to make music but was rubbish at it. I still listen to it though. I’m good at that.”
We pinned down the multi talented maestro to quiz him about his work and got together a selection of his illustrations for you to devour… (more…)
Although David Bowie is well-known as the artist who changed his image time and time again, Gary Numan has also been a pop chameleon: from alien-chic to Mad Max pastiche; from white-faced/blue haired mannequin to white-suit with red bow-tie gent; and from blonde cyberpunk to current industrial Goth. Numan was born in 1958, London, his father a baggage handler at Heathrow airport, a psycho-geographic space that would have enormous influence for him. From an early age, Newman possessed an enviable ability to know exactly what he wanted from life; he knew that music and planes were central to his plans. (more…)
Mike Kaye, a Graphic designer living in Florida, is obsessed with lunchboxes.
“I’ve been a collector for most of my life,” says Mike Kaye proudly, “I’ve collected baseball cards, comics, phone cards, rabbits feet, rubber bouncing balls, Smurfs, fuzzy Martian men, original comic artwork and at one time even the coloured plastic sticks that were put on steaks to determine whether [they were] well done. Born a collector, always a collector!” (more…)
Writer and mysterious musical artist Nag’s Head stands up for boredom.
These are infotainment saturated times, and boredom has been banished forever. Millions of dedicated media professionals work quite hard 24 hours a day to ensure that your every desire is served up on a digital dinner-plate in three seconds flat. If you’re tired of my spiel already then google ‘celebrity midget fisting’, and hey presto, you are instantly un-bored. But do you NEED all that pleasure and stimulation? No. What you NEED is some of that lovely velvet-grey ennui. (more…)
This weekend is the 8th annual Supersonic festival, in Birmingham’s Custard Factory. The lineup is quite wonderful, featuring a smorgasbord of delicacies such Napalm Death, Tweak Bird, Melt Banana, Drumcorps, Swans and the wonderful Demons (from my home town of Portsmouth). A full platter of pics and review coming next week but for now, in the words of the organisers….
Capsulethe brains behind Supersonic Festival are curators, promoters and fans of the finest music, revealing the otherwise indescribable connections between contemporary music and art, crafting extraordinary events for adventurous audiences. Now in it’s 8th year, the event will once again take place at the Custard Factory in the heart of in the heart of Eastside of Birmingham, utilising converted factory warehouses and art galleries and offering up-close, intimate settings to showcase some of the most exciting music out there. Capsule’s passion for genre bending sound and performances is at the heart of all their events – there are not many places where you can listen to funeral doom, prog, folk, avant jazz and grindcore in one weekend.
The festival is now in it’s 8th year, starting out as a 1 day event in 2003 which featured Coil, LCD Sound System, The Bug, DJ Food and many more. Over the years the festival has garnered a worldwide reputation for being one of the most exciting events for experimental music, gathering audiences from all corners of the UK and further a field.
Hot on the heels of Primavera, Beatmag decided to keep in European and take in the sights, sounds and smells of Hellfest. After last years introduction to Europe’s premiere metal festival we were salivating at the thought of getting back to Clisson, and the vests were being substituted for a whole lotta leather. And with a lineup including Kiss, Alice Cooper, Slash, Slayer, Motorhead and the solo projects of Kyuss members (which ended up as a partial reunion on stage), it was an event that could not be missed. And we didnt miss it. Hard.
So this is what happens when you give a bunch of douchebags VIP tickets to Primavera with a free bar all weekend. Id tell you about the bands, sunshine, fun etc but i think it would just be rubbing salt in the wounds of those who missed out on the festival event of the summer so far. So here are some pictures that explain themselves. Viva la Barcelona!
This Thursday night Red Bull host the collaborative art stream, ProjectRoom – a unique collaborative live art event featuring the cream of today’s street artists : Remi/Rough, Jaybo and Juice 126. The three artists will create three individual artworks in front of live crowd on the night and then go on to work on each others work to produce nine artworks across the night. Remi/Rough and Jaybo have collaborated in a similar way before and the results from the night can be seen here to give you an idea of what to expect:
As well as creating some fresh, new artwork on the night the artists also produce an exclusive soundtrack for the evening too.
