Nowadays of course things are very different as
there are more internet radio stations than there
are bands; it's like when someone says to you "I'm
going to make a zombie film" and you give them
that frowned look hinting "Oh my god not
another one They've been done to death No
Stop" Changing with the times was the reason
why the Internet pirate radio station that I
(allegedly) worked for began in the first place
and why it achieved so much Once other stations
started springing up trying to imitate it it was
better to cease after three good years and go out
on a high Since then a regular three day metal
event in its honour is held in Birmingham at The
RoadHouse (Stirchley) called Basement Fest and
it's the largest gathering of some of the best
metal bands from the Birmingham and the Black
Country area If you want proof of the dedication
and love for metal that does more than just exist
then I suggest you get yourself down to the
event It's run by local legend Alan Sutheran and
it continues to grow in popularity
Metal was born in the Midlands it's in the blood
of the people here There will always be a strong
passion for it in this area it's welded to our
history and a lot of Midlanders do feel proud I
doubt that I've taught you anything new this
month but hopefully I’ve stimulated the pineal
glands of some of you out there Ta ta
music venues in Birmingham and the Black
Country were invited to hold special Home of
Metal events funded by our wonderful Councils
I've noticed a negative attitude towards the
words Rock and Metal and a distinct stigma
attached to alternative punk or heavy music in
many other Midlands publications due to the
sheer lack of representation in their pages; any
one would think that they were trying their
hardest to hide the existence of bands and
supporters or are pretending that they aren't
based in the Home of Metal; which of course
they are
Now you could argue "Hey well what about
those poor struggling Classical musicians then?
Where's their voice eh?" and I'd remind you that
despite this not being the Home of Classical
music they have had a gigantic voice since
;
one that I won't attempt to hide is Government
backed and is known as Birmingham Symphony
Hall Considered to be not only the UK’s finest
concert hall but also one of the best in the world
and supposedly built for all forms of music and
heavily funded by Birmingham City Council
but surprise surprise no metal there
I have previously been stereotyped as a biased
person who only listens to metal despite the fact
that I regularly review CD's of non metal bands
organise shows for different genre types and
more to the point I bloody enjoy most forms of
music; the main reason why I got this reputation
(other than for my own bands’ activities) is
down to my previous involvement with
underground Internet radio stations
Between
and
an internet metal radio
station which was based here in the Home of
Metal became the world's biggest pirate radio
station (for a short time) For legal reasons I
won't say the name of the station but it could
be argued that I had great pleasure as a radio
presenter importing and exporting underground
metal acts from around the globe every week on
podcasts for three years to huge numbers of
listeners At the time the team behind it
exposed a lot of UK metal bands to an
international audience though many of these
bands were ignored by Kerrang Radio before
that too sank
@weak13
@nickjtownsend
r
gg
since 1995
RGG August 2014 - p.7
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