As you probably know we are taking a break from all the monthly events for the forseeable future, to concentrate on other projects, so until we return, we just wanted to say a massive thank you on behalf of the whole Mr Elephant crew for bringing the vibes to our last 41 events, and to everyone who has been part of any Mr Elephant event, workshop, radio show, or website.

We’ll really miss the events, and each one has been a truly inspiring experience, but the time feels right to move on to other projects until next year.

It was really important that we left things on a high, and we’re forever grateful to all the venues that have housed us throughout the last years, the Adam & Eve, Hare & Hounds, Epic Skate Park, Rainbow Beach, the Bulls Head & Prince Wales.

When we return to do events we will certainly be looking to promote local talent through smaller regular events, but there was a unananimous decision that we all wanted to return to another reason why we started Mr Elephant in the 1st place, and that is the larger more festival style events. Like the 1st 2 at Epic skate park in 2007, the family days at the Prince garden, the 12 hour celebration pf Birmingham’s Underground on the Rainbow beach/warehouse, and the workshops & multistage 2nd Birthday at the hare and hounds. Events that are one offs and that encompass all the areas of Mr Elephant in one cohesive event, or to put it another way, a balance of all the events over the last 3 years, and pushing some of the Mr Elephant ideas forward.

We’ll still be hosting our radio show on www.rhubarbradio.com with Marc Reck every monday evening at 6pm & Mr Elephant residents Skeleton & Dolhasz will be hosting The Beat Suite every wednesday from 11.30pm. However to avoid the whole website being taken up with the radio shows, it seems more appropriate for these to exist on their own websites & of course the rhubarb ones, so that the artists & events can remain on the front of this one. One of the main aims of Mr Elephant is to shine a light on great stuff, and so hopefully the videos of the events housed on this website helps further that.

There are many ideas and goals that we have as Mr Elephant and while we’ve achieved so much more than we hoped, (due to the ever expanding platform of talented contributors) there is so much we have yet to explore.

We have always been totally unfunded, and, as most will know, it becomes difficult to devote such a large portion of your life when you have to cover your own costs, and have other ambitions to explore. With that in mind we are looking at ways to fund future events so we can realise their true potential, and we’ll be taking time out to further our own interests in order to bring them back in bigger and brighter. We all want to keep the free party ethos alight wherever possible, simply because it allows the most accessibility to people, regardless of financial status, and therefore the most diverse mix of people, which is always a good thing… The logisitics of sorting the time and resources we can work out.

Anyway, once again, thanks to one and all for a truly inspiring 3 years, and on behalf of all the Mr Elephant crew, we wish you a beautiful hot summer.

One love
Mr Elephant.

Mr Elephant is 3 years, and almost 40 events old, so we are celebrating with 2 final free parties at our 2 favourite homes

Here are a few photos from the event

and a little bit of video (sorry about the sound quality) before our cameraman sorts the well shot footage out.

Update & here’s Jack Brabant‘s video

Massive thanks to all who came down and bought the vibes. Great night and one we wont forgot.

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Part One will be the phat underground floor shaking party rockin mammal sessions with 5 of Birmingham’s most versatile party rockin djs & the return of a new vj.

Headliners are the massive Doctor & Malicious ak the Brotherhood of Filth, and pioneers of http://www.bassoperations.co.uk/

DOCTOR http://www.bassoperations.co.uk/NewerTheDoctor.html plays many musical genres including Hip Hop, Dnb, Reggae, Dubstep, Oldskool & Breaks. With a massive reputation from his residencies at Scratch Club & Heducation, and his forthcoming releases, its safe to say you can expect the unexpected, with a host of genres cut up in his individual scratch style.

Malicious Dj – http://www.bassoperations.co.uk/NewerMalicious.html is another genre hopping turntablist who continues to create a floor filling party experiences for a wide variety of audiences across the country. Long time resident for Scratch Club and Heducation, Malicious dj has developed a unique scratching style mashing up his love for hip-hop, reggae and drum and bass during his versatile and creative sets.

MARC RECK – http://www.marcreck.com has been taking 6 months off djing to work on a brand new setup for May, but will be giving a sneak preview on the night alongside celebrating his own birthday. Coined as the Dj with no barriers by the Night Times and winner of best local dj in Dec 2008, Marc has 6 residencies, a radio show, and has supported a huge spectrum of live bands and headline djs, so expect peak time party rockin genre hopping.

THE BEAT SUITE – http://www.rhubarbradio.com/programmes/beatsuite/ has been going from strength to strength, both behind the decks and on the airwaves. Here’s the men behind the show.

SKELETON – http://www.myspace.com/skeletonskratch is a diverse turntablist party rocker, with bookings every weekend, and an ever growing armoury of styles. A keen ear for dynamics and superb deck skills, expect everything from dubstep, glitchybreaks through to rolling jungle and phat drum and bass.

Dolhasz – http://www.myspace.com/dolhasz brings the party to the decks and the bass to the airwaves. Host of two radio shows, a producer with recent releases, and a dj who can drop the biggest tunes at all the right moments, Dolhasz’s party rockin style of bass music will be in full effect for our last session.

This event was created by our resident Vj monsieur Blendstate, but as he will now be in Japan on the date, we will be welcoming back our last guest at cinephonci.http://www.mrelephant.com/events/featured/cinephonic-5-photos-review . All the way from Italy, Vj Delsyd will be adorning the big screen with her beautiful blend of visuals, keeping our vision enthralled throughout the evening.

And our crew will also be bringing you Elephant Crafts to get your creativity a flowing when you need a sit down from the party rockin tunes.

As a little way of saying a big thank you to everyone for their incredible support of Mr Elephant and the events over the last 3 years, these parties will be free all night and the venue have kindly given us an extra hour til 3am.

NB a lot of people have been asking why we are stopping Mr Elephant events at a time when they are seemingly going so well, and so in answer to anyone who may be wondering the same, it’s mainly because the regular events, while hugely enjoyable, take up a lot of time & with us all working for free, there was a consensus that we need to drop them for a while in favour of moving back to the original reasons to why we started it, which is the bigger festival events, and various related strands. Plus this year some of the core members need time to focus on other areas.

We will still be running the odd free event, and our radio show will continue every week, but for now we just wanted to leave things on a high, so these will be our last two for the forseeable future.

You can check all the associated video, photos and blog posts for every single event on our website http://www.mrelephant.com by clicking on the events menu item.

One love
Mr Elephant

A few photos from  a couple of our elephant crew. 1st half from Marc, & 2nd half from Emily (who both contributed this little review of the evening)

Bass love in the air at Cinephonic #5

Mr Elephant Presents hosted another audio-visual encounter in Venue 2 of the Hare and Hounds. Saturday saw a martial arts special that encompassed the visual wizardry of VJ Blendstate and VJ Delsyd with DJ duties expertly wielded by Smokedog, Shelley Rootz and Mr Elephant residents Skeleton and Dolhasz (The Beat Suite).

Shelley Rootz made her Mr Elephant debut playing a superb eclectic mix of funk, reggae and soul. Great selections with each and every track and it definitly wont be long before we ask her back.

DJ Smokedog, was up next. A man who has rocked 2 of our Party Rockin Mammal Sessions with his love of Jungle. This time however we were treated to a trip to the old school, with a big selection of music that is almost impossible to find these days and which triggered  a loyal band of old-schoolers to bust out all the old rave moves. Catch Smokedog’s audio documenatary on our upcoming 23rd radio show.

And last but certainly not least our inspiring residents, Skeleton and Dolhasz, did their usual duty of playing floor filling underground hiphop, glitch-hop, at funk at the start, and those massive breaks, dubstep and drum ‘n’ bass bangers at the end, with Kipp dropping his skilful scratching & Dolhasz vibing the crowd with his energy and sick basslines.

Catch them next month at our 13th Party Rockin Mammal Sessions on Saturday March 13th 2010.

//Martial Arts Special // Only £1 Before 12!!!//

Mr Elephant returns after a massive free party in January. Big thanks to everyone who rammed out the room and made it such a great night! This month Mr Elephant returns with Cinephonic, a night of all things video thrown in to the usual Mr Elephant mix of great vibes and great tunes. We’re on a martial arts tip this month, so look out for punches, grabs and kicks to accompany all the phat beats.

We thought we’d keep it nice and cheap (Only £1) and just have fun with it this month. To keep you moving we welcome back DJ Smokedog. Returning after a massive set (but sadly not nearly long enough) at our last party, Smokedog will be hitting you with some more proper old school breaks and Jungle. This time around though he will be performing an amazing Bruce Lee AV collaboration with VJ Delsyd. Treats for the eyes and ears…

http://www.myspace.com/smokedog5

Bringing the funk we have Shelley Rootz of Rhurbarb Radio. If you never caught her before, her set went down a storm at Shambala fest last year. Expect some seriously funky tunes to get you moving with sprinklings of reggae, soul and anything else she pulls out the bag.

http://www.rhubarbradio.com/programmes/sundaycitymusicbox/

As if that was not enough, we have the Mr E resident duo Skeleton and Dolhasz who are without a doubt running one of the most popular and top show’s on Rhurbarb Radio at the moment: The Beat Suite. Skeleton’s residences around Birmingham (including Trigger and Secret Wars) are testament to his skills and versatility on the decks. Dolhasz brings his production skills to the mix via a live ableton setup. Check out his latest release on FHT: http://www.junodownload.com/products/1492801-02.htm

http://www.rhubarbradio.com/programmes/beatsuite/

Joining all of the above on the visuals is Leicester’s finest VJ, The Lab. And Resident Mr E VJ, Blendstate.

http://www.thelab.org.uk/

Saturday 13^th February, The Hare and Hounds, Kings Heath. – 10pm – 2am

Yes another year is almost passed and as we enter a new decade we would like to whole heartedly wish you all a very happy 2010 on behalf of the Mr Elephant crew.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who bought their vibes to any of our 25 events this year, lent their ears to any of the 16 radio shows, or took part in our community workshops back in May.

And of course a big shout to the 50+ artists who delivered their magic at the various Mr Elephant events, and the 100 + people who came together behind to make it all happen, and platform and share their unique skills, with us (and each other.)

You may have noticed that this year we wanted to focus more on showcasing as many Birmingham artists as we could (hence the 3 very different monthly residencies at 3 great Birmingham venues) but we haven’t forgotten why we started Mr Elephant, and in 2010 we will be looking to hopefully bring a balance to both with slightly less regular events and slightly more of the larger events.

Because they require so much time we have had to look at how best to move forward so we will be playing the next quarter by elephant ear, but suffice to say there are plans already in action for another festival style event with the return of the mr elephant midnight parade and featuring all the trimmings of the 1st 2 at Epic from 2007, the 12 hour celebrate underground from 2008, our 1st birthday also from 2008 and  our 12 hour 2nd birthday from 2009. We are also aiming to grow our regular monthly events and showcase some great live artists,underground djs, and forward thinking vjs at two of our favourite Birmingham venues.

Our Party Rockin Mammal Sessions will be the first to return with a new home @ the Hare & Hounds room 2 on Saturday Jan 9th (http://www.hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk/party-rockin-mammal-sessions-free-party/) with a huge free party featuring around 10 of our favourite underground djs in brum, and will of course be on rotation 2nd Sat of every month thereafter with our Cinephonic A/V cinematic dancefloor sessions both bringing you a host of great djs, vjs, and live electronic artists.

Along with his unique visual talents, Vj Blendstate has taken over the promoting reigns of both of these events since mid October, along with our super skilled elephant residents the beat suite (aka skeleton & dolhasz) rocking the decks, and Liam has some big plans afoot, so if you like underground dance music and quality visuals, keep it locked.

I’ll be continuing with our live and free residency at the Adam & Eve which will feature more great live bands, eclectic djs and solo artists on the last saturday of February and each month thereafter, and will of course remain free entry til 4am, and will be returning with our eclectic radio show each monday to its home on rhubarb radio from 6pm – 8pm – (Check out/hear all our past shows and artists here) . – On a personal note i’ll be returning to the decks in around April/May with something i been working on since having a break in October.

Along with Jack and friends we will continue to capture and post footage of all artists as best we can on this website and make a loud elephant noises about the wealth of talent that exists in the city we live in. BIRMINGHAM! and our resident journalist Emily P will be continuing her cool column on the news and reviews front, and is rumoured to be bringing her interviewing prowess to the site in the new year.

The website (like the events, workshops, and of course radio) is totally unfunded, and features over 140 posts, many of which with video, photos, and of course links to all artists, so please have an explore round the various posts, check the videos and support any of the artists you enjoy by following their links and making a noise about whatever you’re into.

We would like to work the site better, so if you know about websites or have any ideas, feel free to let us know on how we can improve the community side of the website, or by dropping a comment. (We’ve had major issues with the mailing list plugin which has now been discontinued, hence no mailouts for almost a year now, but we are migrating to another option in jan)

And finally we would like raise the collective trunk and make a huge elephant noise to everyone who is, and has been, involved with Mr Elephant thus far, (which deserves a post in itself!) Whethers it’s bringing music and events this great city, using the platform to showcase and develop a creative passion, or trying a creative interest with experienced artists in hands on situations, the shared grass roots ethos that seem to run through all people who get involved with the phat mammal, is a testament to the abundance of opportunities that it continues to create.

Whatever you are interested in and however you celebrate, may 2010 bring you all you wish for, and the decade be an evolution of all that interests you.

One Love

Marc  (on behalf of Mr Elephant as a whole)

Cinephonic returns for a big ol’ christmas knees up. To get you seriously moving this month we’ve got the prodigious RCAINE joining us with his driving basslines and techy energetic breaks. Old friend of Mr Elephant, he absolutely smashed it for us back in at our Celebrate Birmingham’s Underground event last year and went down a storm at our Party Rockin Mammal’s event more recently. Be sure to check out his full bio below.

Joining him on the decks as ever are Rhurbarb Radio stars Skeleton and Dolhasz., who are without a doubt running one of the most popular and top show’s on Birmingham’s own www.rhurbarbradio.com at the moment. On the visuals we have resident VJ Blendstate and this month a special guest, Leicester’s finest VJ: The Lab. Having worked with Roland/Edirol around Europe and now working as Lisa Lashes Tour VJ his work has to be seen to be believed.

This month we are going to get in the Christmas spirit, we’ll be mashing up any and all the Xmas movies we can get our hands on to accompany the massive tunes. We wanna hear what your favourites are and we’ll get them in there for you. Just leave a comment below or email us mrelephantpresents@gmail.com.

Also for reduced £2 entry leave us your name below:)

RCAINE

RCAINE has been DJing since 1998, and like most DJ’s, he experimented with many different genre’s until finding his feet with Breaks, Techno and other associated forms. Things got a bit more serious when he won the DJ Mag/Pioneer DJ competition in June 2006 @ Earls court and has since gone from strength to strength. He’s been part of the backbone for many promotions over the years, from London to Birmingham and in his home town Wolverhampton. More recently Drop Beats Not Bombs, Rockfall and his new venture ‘Scandal’ with Boogie Dave @ Gatecrasher Birmingham. Now a regular on the Birmingham scene as well as guesting at parties all over the UK, playing alongside the biggest headliners the world has to offer, fullfilling his early years ambition. He continues to push new innovative music which also inspires his production. With the release of ‘System at Risk’ on ADHD digital featured on the ‘It’s good for the soul’ album, and a remix for a forthcoming Subsource track, from the new album due out March 2010, his productions go from strength to strength.

http://www.myspace.com/djrcaine

Friday 11th December
The Hare and Hounds

Kings Heath
9:00pm – 2:00am

Free Early/ £3 After

After kicking off to a great start with Quantic back in June, Cinephonic well and truly settled into its groove with it’s second outing this month. It was a monster weekend with the Mr Elephant team also ramming the bull’s head the night before with a funk flavoured Party Rockin Mammal Session. A little sleep later and we’re back again at the Hare and Hounds for a very different animal.

Video by Jack Brabant

As always with Cinephonic we base the visuals of the night around a theme. This time around it was all about the road movies. Marc Reck opened us up with a great bit of chilled trip-hop, the room nicely filling up to the warm sounds of artists such as Kruder & Dorfmeister, Thievery Corporation & Barry Adamson.

Mr Vj Blendstate was on the light fantastic, craftly mixing up some killer clips from Thelma & Louise, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103074/ David Lynch’s lawnmower powered movie “The Straight Story” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166896/, and the classic Easy Rider http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064276/ as the pace picked up ready for our special guests.

Rhurbarb Radio favourites Skeleton and Dolhasz perfectly translated their radio show ‘The Beat Suite” http://thebeatsuiterhubarbradio.blogspot.com/ into a live environment. Covering a massive range of genres just like a certain resident of ours loves to do, the experimental pair seemed a perfect match for Marc and the night.

The Beat suite’s 1st set saw some great scratching from Skeleton & some seamless blending from Dolchasz. Taking it from the trip hop into the hip hop and building up into choice dubstep and big room breaks, their style, vibe and mixing was 2nd to none and kept the tension building and the party rockin vibe flowing!

Despite the soaring temperature the place was nice and full by 11:00 and our DJ’s responded accordingly cracking the tunes up and getting everybody moving. The visuals hit overdrive with some feedback powered cliff driving, motorcycle acrobatics, and Lawnmower action for good measure.

Midnight came and it was time for Marc’s 2nd set. Starting from breaks and switching it up with each track, it seemed our resident was looking for what was the crowd wanted in order to set the place off.

After breaks, a little swing, it was the huge bite from the liquid drum and bass which set the place on fire and took us into a great hour of crowd pleasing jungle & drum & bass!

Blendstates visuals were creating a filmic visual narrative that bought the cinema to the dancefloor with impressive skill and inspiring imagination! Skeleton & Dolchaz took to the decks for their 2nd set and displayed why they are two of the moste versatile djs in brum, effortlessly jumping from jungle to drum and bass, from breaks to dubstep, dropping in some cheeky numbers and keeping the floor locked and jumping all the way through.

Massive thanks to all those who came out and created a truly lovely vibe creating a proper night to remember. Also special thanks the venue for staying open an extra half hour allowing our DJ’s a unanticipated B2B set at the end!

Cinephonic will return on the 10th October with details to follow soon. If you’d like to keep posted automagically, please subscribe to the rss, or join the facebook group (invites for each event)

Our 2nd Cinephonic event. Video Courtesy Of Jack Brabant