Absolutely wasted after the second night of ‘Kin Hell festival at Templeworks. This weekend has been so loud and there’s only one more day. Drinks are cheap and the Templeworks has more to offer than Death metal music with Jamie Reed prints pasted on the walls and graffitied murals scattered around.

Dan 3.30am noise noisw noise mii gb fr noize noise noivdw noise noise noiss moise noise nkisee koise bouse nkisee nkose boise noise boose mlose noise noise noise noise blise nooss noisw, noisw noise noiae noise nkisee moise noisw noise .oise boiad njhgse boise noise noiae nkisee .oise nouuse noise noise

Street artists Jaypee and Joy Gilleard collaborated to spray paint a wall of the Joiner’s Bar at Templeworks. The dual image represents a kind of Heaven and Hell, or Nirvana and 7 Deadly Sins; Jaypee is responsible for the dark-side featuring a rumbling tummy,  signed ‘Morbid’. If you were at any of the latest Templeworks events such as Rowan Reid’s punk night, Leeds Queer film festival and Manic Chord’s ‘After What Came Before’, then you would have seen Joy’s extra-large portrait in the back corner of the room.

Photo by Si Cliff – featuring 4 Templeworks interns (from the left) Josh, Ting, Zhe & Jeff.

There is a complete contrast in styles between the two wall murals at opposite ends of the space. Joy’s original with its photographic quality, formed anatomically in black and white, and on the other side the colourful and figurative collaborated idea. See it coming to life in the time-lapsed video below (by the notorious Si Cliff). There’s plenty more space for variation in the big, old building.

Paul Priest of Sloth Hammer -organiser and promoter of ‘kin Hell Fest, is interviewed by Tristan Marshall…

How did Sloth Hammer form?

The line we have been using is ‘Born by accident in the below zero temperatures of November 2010, in a foggy, hazy wasteland of despair, anguish and terror.’, but less pretentiously and obscure, Luke (the circuit bender toy molesting oddbod) used to live at my house, he had a solo electronic gig at The Fenton in Leeds lined up, and drunkenly I said ‘You reckon it would be awesome to have slow doomy horrible bass playing over the top of it, improvised?’ and he foolishly said ‘yes, yes it would’, and the birthing of the horrible antics occurred. We did a few recordings set up in my living room straight into a computer, and live wise, it’s mutated and grown plentifully since then.

Do you feel that that being from the North England has influenced the feel of your music?

Possibly, I personally have never really thought about whether I am particularly playing a northern style of music or anything like that. I know surroundings can make a difference for some people and some bands, I just feel like I’ve heard so much stuff from all styles from all over the world from all manner of eras that it doesn’t feel like I can say being from the north has specifically influenced me or Sloth Hammer, but, maybe. If I lived in Bournemouth or Ipswich maybe it would sound differently.

How would you describe your music to someone?

Absolute suffering. Pure abject terror and hatred, given a slow sonic shape. It’s different on ‘record’ than it is live. The recordings came out quite ambient, but because it was just two of us, they’re quite bleak, stripped down, all totally improvised, so some bits worked, some maybe not, but it was a total purging. Live wise, still all improvised, but there are four or five people usually involved, so it’s a lot heftier, more things weave in and out of each other, sometimes it even gets a bit of pace behind it, all depends on how we’re all feeling. We all feed off what each other are doing instantly, so it’s as unique to us as it is to the watcher each time.

How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?

From sitting in the living room as two of us, to playing live as four or five, (or seven as it will be at ‘kin Hell Fest), it’s definitely evolved a large amount. Sloth Hammer is now very much about the live experience and I am pretty chuffed with how things are going, nothing has been forced, it’s just how a collection of musicians who understand this kind of music perceive each experience to be.

What’s your ultimate direction for your band?

Like all other bands any musician gets passionate about and enjoys, you would love to see it playing a lot more gigs, getting some more recordings done (in our case as a full band), maybe have a few more videos made that shows more what it’s all about, but as with a load of bands too, real life and other commitments can halt or hinder the progress of a band. We’ll see how it goes. A few good supports to bigger, doom / sludge bands at gigs in the north would be great I think.

Where do you feel that Sloth Hammer falls in terms of the Leeds music scene?

There’s a really healthy doom sludge slow scene at the minute in Leeds. We don’t play frequently enough at the moment to really be considered one of the main bands, but we’re known enough to always be in the subconscious of fans of this style, hopefully every time a person feels slightly uneasy in their lives, they think of us. We don’t really fit in anywhere though I don’t think because of the strange nature of the line up, the way the gigs occur, the extra layers of noise that are emitted, just the general mood of things. We try to make it all feel as oppressive and uncomfortable as possible.

Do you see the Leeds music scene as favouring a certain genre or do you feel that it is constantly evolving, open process?

The beauty of the Leeds scene in general over all the years I’ve been going to gigs is that pretty much anything goes. On each day of the week you could go to a power violence / grind gig, a doom / sludge gig, a rock gig, a straight up metal gig, a black / death metal gig, an experimental / noise gig where people are covering trumpets in peanut butter, whatever there is, it happens in Leeds.

You’ve played at Temple works before. Can you describe what it was like? Playing in a space such as Temple Works Leeds must be very different than playing a gig in a more typical venue. Do you agree?

Yeah, Sloth Hammer played the ‘Why Rush?’ festival in May 2012 there, and even though we only saw a smaller percentage of things that were happening over the weekend, we got a very good idea of the general oddness and awesomeness that was going on. There was an authentique looking 1920′s-esque jazz blues band, a live ambient act with visuals, a piano was dropped from a crane in the outside space, just all manner of strange but quality stuff… then us! I think we certainly fit the spirit of things with the aesthetic of the band, and the idea of the improvisation, and we seemed to go down very well. It was very much fun to play, and the drummer especially had a good roam around the entire room with parts of his kit in tow! The sound was immense though, it certainly helped with the weird atmospherics and layers of sound we like to emit, so, I am very much looking forward to going back.

You are playing the upcoming ‘Kin Hell Fest. What is it like to be part of such a large line up of bands?

I am pleased with how diverse the line up has become. There are bands to cater for all fans of extreme / heavy / guitar / riffy music. It felt only right to include Sloth Hammer in this, and hopefully we won’t damage too many minds with the relatively early Saturday afternoon slot. My other band Diascorium are finishing Friday night, and it will be their last ever gig, after three years, some great gigs, supports, tours and other festivals, that previously mentioned ‘real life’ syndrome has helped close that chapter. It’s a huge shame, and I am gutted but some things run their course, we’re all still friends, so we look forward to going out on a high there.

Will you be debuting any new material at this yearsí Fest?

Every second of the entire set will be new, to us and to the crowd.

How is The ‘Kin Hell Fest different to other festivals you have played before?

I think the diversity of it will make a lot of difference. I know quite a lot of the people going will be there to see a main cluster of bands, a few mates’ bands and whatnot, but am sure that people will discover new things they had no idea about, which hopefully helps people find a whole stream of other bands too. The line up for the Saturday that we play on has come together amazingly well, and the last time we played at a festival that was more aimed towards faster bands, Blastonbury Festival at The Well at the end of 2012, we had one of the best responses of the entire weekend, I guess being something a lot different to everything else. If people like it, then great, if people don’t, but we do, then great also. Either way, I am promising something very strange, very different and very horrible and intense from us.

How do you think Temple Works has contributed to the Leeds music scene?

I’ve heard of a few things that have gone on in the past at the Templeworks, and it’s definitely offering something unique, with the setting and the sort of things it brings in. When the opportunity to do this festival there came about, it intrigued a lot of people. Most people had never heard of it or knew where it was, so hopefully we can bring something to the venue as well as them bringing a totally new setting to most, something out of the ordinary especially for this sort of collection of bands.

How can fans-to-be gain access to your music? Do you have a website with sample songs or a demo CD?

www.slothhammer.bandcamp.com has the three recordings we have so far, a split and two albums, all improvised, to a degree anyway. The split we took a bit of time on but mostly in the post mixing of it, the two albums, we literally set everything up in the living room, recorded the entire two hours jam and then I editted it and mixed it a bit. Live is where things are really Sloth Hammer-ous I feel, there’s just a few things on Youtube to check out. The best of which I think is the set we did at Filth Fest in October 2011, a month before the first ‘kin Hell Fest all dayer.

For a bit of fun also, I got a couple of short recordings of the soundchecks from the first time we played The Templeworks, to show that we do like fun as well, no matter how odd or warped that fun is!

Any final thoughts?

Come to ‘kin Hell Fest!
www.kinhellfest.webs.com
If you are at all interested in music that has riffs of all kinds, then you must do it. Things like this don’t happen very often in Leeds, or even that much in the UK. We’re trying to bring a little of the flavour of the amazing european metal / music / extreme festivals to the UK with this. The UK is sadly lacking in comparison to our european neighbours, but hopefully this will help in changing that. 36 bands, 3 days, vegan / veggie / meat food stalls, cheap drinking, merch and art stalls, an awesome setting still within 10 minutes walk of the town centre for travellers and locals. I’d certainly go to this if I wasn’t putting it on!

Tristan

http://www.rawnervezine.co.uk
http://www.kinhellfest.webs.com

There’s  a skittery ‘method actor’ lurking who plays a character called Frank (like Frank Booth in Blue Velvet or frank); one of his lines for example, “I’m gona fuck you up the arse with a knife!”

This pale, young actor is completely in part, staying out of the way, and unfortunately I entered the brute’s territory alone. He was slouched with his chair behind the door, lent back against the wall with his feet  propped up in a dark corner of the room, when I only went to make a green tea.

So I tried to ignore him whilst the kettle boiled and he ran the edges of two hunting knives across one another in the background.

-Ouf, he didn’t try to stab your bum did he?

Actually – it was hard not to laugh.

He sings ‘Baby Got Back’ or some Motown classic (anything over 50 years old for copyright reasons – in a sinister tone) during tomorrow’s stabbing scene. Apparently they’re keeping the number of film crew on set to a minimum for his performance during close-ups.

If only he could read what I’m writing right now; bet it’d put him off his lines completely.

I’m going to slide a note to him under the kitchen door asking politely to “fuck off to another dark corner outside of the kitchen so I can make a fucking coffee and stay conscious for three more hours.” His demented character causes those in his presence to say “fuck” a lot too.

Simon – writer of the screenplay, wearing McQueen tweedy trousers, baseball cap, no sunglasses, rehearsing with actors. There’s a sense of Drive (2011) in the murder scene with neon lights and an infested mattress on the floor. You can imagine the narrative features a messed up kinship system. One of the directors is Adam Barnett who also co-wrote this Leeds Met collective’s previous short film ‘Mandalla’, and both films will premier at the undergraduate final show in May/June at Leeds Broadcasting Place.

Dan 3am

‘Manic Chord’s current show “After What Comes before” (still in research stage for further development) is being pilot performed March 14 and 15 at TWL and is based on three scientists …  in a lab. I cannot say more, as it is top secret.  It will be a surge of Manic Chord energy, physicality, storytelling and word play.’

Three scientists drinking ethanol in a derelict Templeworks lab quickly turns surreal. Manic Chord had their foot to the floor all the way through their debut performance of ‘After What Comes Before’. Strobe lighting and electronic music set the stage for an electric-chair-like machine to read the mind of a moustached scientist called Dave. They think they have the answer to everything with a bureaucratic instrument for transcribing individuals onto paper, remember the hair cutting machine from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

The best part of the performance was scrawled onto blackboards at the back of the stage with obscure Illuminati messages and a Leftfield style soundtrack. See them come up with ten ways to choose a volunteer at random to sit in the infamous chair of a mind reading machine (made from a bucket and a hose pipe) with unimaginable consequences. The mind reads – “A tall man in the corner of a damp, dark room…”

 Dear Manic Chord, “After What Comes before.” Why the future anterior tense? It seems as if we were going in circles.

It couldn’t be put any simpler; it is the past in the future (or vis-versa). The scientists are not physicists with an electric-chair-like machine for reading minds (they didn’t have those when institutions were using blackboards), but actors masquerading as Grammatologists, making doodles on some big black boards at the back of the room to distract their audience from the completely artificial set they had constructed on stage before the cabaret began. But, so is the nature of deconstruction in the theatre, it’s simple and complex, and if you don’t understand what you just read (don’t panic) that’s normal.

You will want to know what’s written on the paper that feeds out of the machine when it has read the patient’s mind, but that’s obviously prescribed by the guys to distract their audience from the messages they’re chalking up during the performance. The big, black space at the back of your mind where you will decide your future, knowing only what was in the past, in memories that change over time. Once you’re inside the space (the collective unconscious, the system) you have no choice.

Their humour has become parasitic, staggered with distractions to break the snowballing pace of it. It’s pretty abstract, so just gaze at the blackboards and keep it together. They’ll make you feel like you’re sat at the front of a Harvard Quantum physics lecture at the age of 12 and just like most science tutors they could do with a few drawing lessons, however, the rhetoric is mind blowing. Praise to three years at Leeds University studying Theatre and Performance. Think of ‘Pinky and the Brain’ not ‘Big Bang Theory’; Manic Chord was more out there than Channel Four and you know why they’re not on the air? Because drugs make absurd comedy come to life. Tripping out with Manic Chord: it’s a real life animation in chalk – Caffeine to keep energies flowing – Codeine to get shit going.

There were three young women behind the scenes who organized the night of the boys’ virginal performance and hopefully the new extended team will go to Edinburgh Fringe festival. Like a lot of us with big plans for summer, the production crew, including the shadiest of them all – the sound engineer, have a manic three months ahead of them and they need all the support they can get!!

*For an insight on the performance peer over a book by Jacques Derrida, ‘Of Grammatology’.

Daniel Cunningham

Manic Chord Theatre presents ‘After What Comes Before’

What if you knew your future today? Would it change how you lived your life? Would you live forever considering your next step? Would it matter? 

Deep within the walls of the laboratory, three scientists embark on an experiment to change the lives of others but in doing so become the guinea pigs; unearthing the unexpected, changing their whole look upon life and science.

‘After What Comes Before’ is a new piece of work collaboratively devised by the company. The show follows the story of three scientists who embark on an experiment which will change their lives.

‘After What Comes Before’ will be showcased on two evenings at Temple.Works.Leeds. (http://www.templeworksleeds.com/)
Thursday 14th March – 6pm-10pm
Friday 15th March – 6pm-10pm

The company invite you into their space to experience their work and, mainly, to play. You will be able to perform your own experiments, invent a science cocktail and predict the future.

The event will be age restricted at 15+.

The work has been created with the generous support of Temple.Works.Leeds and stage@leeds.

How to contact Manic Chord:
Email: info@manicchordtheatre.co.uk
Twitter: @ManicChord
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ManicChordTheatre

It’s just over a week until Leeds Queer Film Festival arrives, and we’re proud to announce that Templeworksleeds will be hosting showings on Thursday the 28th and Friday the 29th of March 2013. Save the dates! You can get tickets from the official Leeds Queer Film Festival website. We’re looking forward to showcasing a fantastic range of LGBT/queer cinema, some of it showing in Leeds and even in the UK for the very first time. I met up with two members from the organising committee, Clare and Anne, for a cup of coffee and a chat about the event. Read all about it here on Culture Vulture, our number one pals in the blogosphere. We really hope you can be there, I know I will be! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask in the comment section below and we’ll get back to you.

- Ben

There’s a fair bit of genre teasing – flitting between electro, ragga, folk, break-beat, funk, dubstep and tear-out jungle. The basslines jump from dirty and distorted to bouncy and playful. It’s this sense of fun that binds together the creative flows of brother and sister. Marf has the lyrical ability to be sincere and tongue in cheek at the same time, part folk songstress and part rude gal – her husky tones pack a punch as, from song to song, she veers from the very personal to the downright political, discussing 21st century environments with sweet melodies and brutal honesty.

In 2010, a mutual friend introduced Congo Natty to the music of La La & the Boo Ya. Since then, Marf has appeared on stage at many a Congo Natty dance and his forthcoming album features his own take of La La & the Boo Ya’s ‘Junglist Soldiers’ as well as Marf’s guest vocalings throughout the album. LL&BY’s sense of family and music as priority has secured a long lasting working relationship with the Congo Natty Fam and their debut single ‘Lioness’ is out in March 2013 on the new Congo Natty Bass label. The single is going out as a double A side – the flipside being a Congo Natty / Vital Elements (Serial Killaz) remix featuring the UK’s dancehall queen Lady Chann.

Queen of Clubs and Congo Natty Bass present LIONESS the debut single from LA LA & THE BOO YA, and the second release on the CONGO NATTY BASS label.  This is the duo’s first single from their forthcoming album ‘BJUUM’ and will be dropping in March as a double A side with a remix by CONGO NATTY and VITAL ELEMENTS (one half of SERIAL KILLAZ), featuring the UK’s dancehall queen LADY CHANN!

Join us at a secret location in Leeds for a massive single release party on 9^th March 2013, where La La & the Boo Ya have invited an impressive array of friends from across the country to entertain thirsty music lovers and ravers alike!

Repping Bradford and West Yorkshire, the sibling partnership that is La La & the Boo Ya have a knack for mashing up dancefloors as well as kicking thoughts into gear. Their sound can be tricky to tie down, but what’s clear is the junglist mentality that runs deep.  Just as Martha Cecilia’s vocals can easily switch from ethereal harmonies to a bolshy defiant chat, MeatEd chops up tempos and styles with his bassline melodies and breaks.  They “write songs, not tunes”, and the various influences you can hear in their live-meets-digital bass music is reflected in the awesome line-up they’ve pulled together for this very special night.

Lioness launch party is shaping up to be a spectacular mash-up of all the scenes Leeds offers combined, with influences from regular long-running bass music nights like Jungle Jam and SubDub, as well as from as the more eclectic festival vibed Beaverfest, pulled together in an unusual central location which is more often used as a zombie film set than as a venue for an all-night party.

Joining the launch party will be label boss Congo Natty aka Rebel MC himself, with his son Congo Dubz. The Congo Natty Bass label, an off-shoot of legendary jungle label Congo Natty Recordings, is “a new platform for both brand new and established artists moving into the next level of the jungle revolution.”  To celebrate the collaborative effort of the single’s star-studded remix, Serial Killaz’s Vital Elements will be dropping in on the night too.  Totting up the jungle/d’n'b line-up will be CHOPSTICK DUBPLATE’s ARIES with his unique ragga-jungle sound and also Leeds’ own NORTHERN SCUM hosted by MC SPLINTER and La La & the Boo Ya’s MARF.

But this night isn’t all about the jungle!  Bristol-based international loop-station sensation MR WOODNOTE will be accompanied by his long time partners in crime, Brizzle hip-hopping emcee LIL RHYS and DUB MAFIA’s front woman EVA LAZARUS.  Expect bouncy beats, funky horn lines and dirty bass, all live and direct with the aid of a ‘loopy’, sampling Woodnote’s beatboxing artistry and live sax!

Bringing a more experimental bass sound will be FREEAR, the mastermind behind SLAMBOREE, a full live band that combine rave music with the underground circus scene.  Joined on the night by the band’s full-on front woman KATHIKA RABBIT, Freear will be mixing Glitch, Rock, Dub, Breaks, D’n'B and Balkan Rave.  Adding to the Bristol bassyness, SNAREOPHOBE (a forward thinking live/production duo) will be chucking out their high-energy set combining heavyweight bass lines, samples, loops, and FX, never failing to get the crowd moving.

“Bradford’s dub defenders”, INSPIRATIONAL SOUND will be accompanied by the delicately strong vocals of STEPH and old school toastings of DAN-I.  Bumping up the already strong female artists on the line-up will be QUEEN OF CLUBS’ own IMMI YEH, playing crowd pleasing tunes from ragga to future garage.

From the minimal beats of BOPS’ honcho ROSS ELLIOTT to the massive live sound from 35 piece drum outfit DRUM MACHINE, with everything else sandwiched between – an event like this could only be a one-off.  With early bird tickets already sold out, you better get to it if you don’t wanna miss out!

Tickets available from Tribe / Crash Records / Jumbo Records / The Disc (Bradford) or online at:

https://www.ticketarena.co.uk/events/LIONESS-DEBUT-SI/index.html

CHECK www.thequeenofclubs.co.uk and www.lalabooya.com FOR DETAILS!

press@thequeenofclubs.co.uk