This weeks show is a Tipper & Ninja Tune Special. In particular playing 5 star tunes from their latest online releases, Surrounded & Ninja XX boxed set respectively. This is 2 hours of some of the very best tunes all mixed and hosted live on a 2 hour dj journey.
P.s you can also download the last 4 showsfrom my soundcloud account here – http://www.soundcloud.com/marcreck They are unhosted and designed as multigenre well mixed dj mixtapes, so do grab them while they’re up (as i’ll have to delete this week as have ran out of space on the account)
Tonight’s Mr Elephant show features – a live recording of The Correspondants, an electro swing mix from our last Project X Presents event, a Balkan mix of some of the best tunes that rocked gigs like Balkanic Eruption & The Destroyers album launch last year, a couple of balkan tracks from two brummie balkan bands, and a few great free tracks for download.
As always the show is put together as a whole with a series of mini mixes, but from hereoin we will be coupling that approach with hosting. New features include some recommended nights out and various web links that are well worth your attention, and these will grow into features on various topics of interest, similar to the audio documentary about the history of old school featured on one of the earlier shows.
Hope you enjoy the show and please check out the links to any artists you like in the tracklisting and featured weblinks below that.
They are unhosted and designed as multigenre well mixed dj mixtapes, so do grab them while they’re up (as i’ll have to delete this week as have ran out of space on the account)
As you may 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.
Here’s the camera video of two of the live headline artists, Relative Dub & 360 who both delivered fantastic sets.
Proper video to follow, and here are some photos from the same said camera
Below is the full line up / preview of last night’s event with links and a little background on the artists.
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Following our haiti fundraiser last month, we are back with our last two live and free events for a while at one of our favourite venues in Birmingham. UPDATE – The mighty 360 will also be joining us for a special live set, courtesy of a mixup at another venue Get your skanking shoes ready for the crowd pleasing skafunkapunkreggae rockers! – http://www.myspace.com/360sound
On the live stage will be Relative Dub – one of the freshest new Dub bands on the Birmingham music scene, who have been creating big waves with their unique blend of electronic dub, featuring live bass, guest vocalists, & a huge mixing desk all creating a live sonic journey. – http://www.myspace.com/relativedub
Their guest vocalist this time will be none other than Laura Louise, a live loop pedal artist from New Zealand who has played a many at mr elephant event, due her amazing voice & beautifully written songs. Normally armed with her acoustic guitar, & boss loop pedal, we know not what to expect with her collaboration with Relative – http://www.myspace.com/lauralouiseowen
Also up will be Cabsters – a band who are tearing it up on the ska scene with their crowd pleasing blend of ska, dub and funk. In just over a year, they are fast becoming big names on the circuit, and we’re well pleased that they are able to come down to once again rock the adam and eve. UPDATE > -We had news this week that their drummer can’t make it, but everyone else can, so cabsters will be bringing a special acoustic sublime style ska set with keys, bass, guitar and vocals. http://www.myspace.com/cabstars
On the 1210′s we have 3 treats keeping the venue toasty til 4am. The mighty Jam Jah will be adorning the new bassbins courtesty of Mr Bongo Damo & his seriously fine roots, reggae & record collection. – http://www.friendlyfiremusic.com/
Also returning is Tangawizi from the legendary Jibbering, who will be mixing it up once again with funk, hip hop, reggae, and anything else he has laid his hands on. – http://www.jibbering.co.uk/
Any also we welcome Shelley from Arts de Ville who hosts the sunday city musicbox every week on rhubarb, and heads up the arts de ville events. Another great record collection which spans, reggae, funk, soul and a whole load more. – http://www.rhubarbradio.com/programmes/sundaycitymusicbox/
You can also feast your eyes on our resident Vj Blendstate’s big screen antics, which will be a mixture of live camera work, and his unique vj style. – http://www.blendstate.com
As always its free entry all night long and we’ll be partying until 4am.
Amazing vibes and inspiring performances from everyone involved, Mr Elephant is full of good vibes after last night.
Massive love, props and gratitude to all who bought the vibes and all who made it happen.
Together we raised just over £300 for Haiti, and created a night we wont forget.
Here’s a little video of some footage of a few of the artists caught on camera last night, until the “proper” footage shot by our man Jack, gets edited together.
Last Saturday the Hare and Hounds saw one hell of a party! The place was buzzing all night long, the venue was rammed, the vibes were great and the tunes were massive : )
Here’s a few photos from Emily’s new Slr :
And a short pre video from our cameraman Jack Brabant
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Mr Elephant’s Party Rockin Mammal Sessions launches at its new home in the Hare and Hounds with a huge free party. We’ve gone all out and brought together as many of our guest DJ’s from last year as possible. Nowhere else will you get such an eclectic, quality line-up of Brum’s underground DJ’s for absolutely nowt, so come join us for a night to remember!
Lineup:
Boogie Dave
Dr Pepperspray
Lopan
Mark Smallman
Sam Redmore
Skeleton and Dolhasz
Smokedog
Subcitizen
+Blendstate Visuals & Elephant Crafts!
9PM – 2AM – FREE ALL NIGHT!!
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Dr Pepperspray
Long running DJ and producer, Dr Pepperspray always brings his unique style & sound to Mr Elephant for a set of strangely brewed breaks, tech, funk, bass & humour!
Member of Birmingham legends, the Sexual Allstars, and more recently resident for Sumo Sound System. The breakbeat, electro and drum and bass heavyweight turntablist Mr DJ Lopan, will be once again bringing it for us.
Mark Smallman (Custom Made)
Mark is one of the few DJs who can play chillout all the way through to drum and
bass. He knows how to rock the party, and his (and Shona’s) award winning custom events are testament to his wide musical tastes and party rockin style.
Skeleton (Trigger/Secret Wars) & Dolhasz (The Beat Suite)
Skeleton & Dolhasz of the Beat Suite (Rhurbarb Radio) impressed us so much as guests earlier last year we installed them as permanent residents! As always they will be journeying through a varied set of beats and breaks ranging from danceable funk and hip-hop to glitch-hop, breakbeat and dubstep.
One of the hottest DJ’s in Birmingham, Leftfoot and Freestyle Resident Sam Redmore, plays a special blend of funk, soul, hip-hop, disco, reggae and more together with his many custom edited tracks. A man going places…
With over 15 years experience, Smokedog is a familiar face in the festival and free party scene, and no stranger to rockin hoards of party mammals with a record collection that is brimming with music from the days before the criminal justice bill came in.
Subcitizen (Resistor Records)
Subcitizen has spent years searching for the most experimental edges of any electronic genre he can find. The most glitchy elements are always on show whether he’s playing techno, electro, electronica, drum and bass, dubstep and much more. Expect to hear many genres you’re familiar with, but chopped and hacked up in ways you didn’t think were allowed!
Rich Batsford’s 40th Birthday / Free Control – 1st B’ham Date / Mark Smallman / Dj Chromatouch
For this month’s Live and Free at the Adam and Eve we saw a very special concert with two of the finest midlands artists, a great chillout dj and a some special guests
Rich Batsford celebrated his 40th Birthday as well as his debut UK album and album relase and peformed a great crowd pleasing set with some new material and 2 special guests. Great talent and brilliant audience rapport. If you havent already head on to his website and get yourself a copy of Valentine Court. You wont be disappointed.
Free Control were up next with their first Birmingham appearance, and they were quite simply awe inspiring. The room was packed with people and like most mr elephant gigs, there was a wide range of people. Aside from the roaring response during their set, they also were congratulated by so many people throughout the night, they are already wanting to come back. Big shouts also to some truly inspired live visuals from The Lab (as he’s the resident visual maestro with Free Control, and their very cool management.
On the decks this month there were 3 great sets from Mr Elephant regulars. Mark Smallman, Vj Chromatouch and our resident Marc Reck. The room was still dancing at closing time, but despite the clocks going back we didnt get an extra hour.
Next month we are well excited to be welcoming the return of Munch Break and their home cooking djs back and Mr Elephant favourites Jam Jah will also be returning.
Mr Elephant Presents – Party Rockin’ Mammal Sessions 1st Birthday – 2nd October 2009
The Party Rockin’ Mammal Sessions have become synonymous with playing floor filling underground dancing music, guaranteed to make your tail feather shake, and a reliable way to find some of the best underground djs in the city.
Celebrating it’s 1st birthday, and final party at the Bulls Head, great vibes were in full effect, with balloons, kazoos (& those lighty up things) adorning a lovely and well up for it crowd, whilst superb sets were thrown down with celebratory style from Marc Reck, VJ Blendstate, DJ Lopan, & The Beat Suite, all of which kept the birthday mammals stomping with a dancefloor journey through hip hop, glitch-hop, funk, breaks, drum ‘n’ bass and jungle!
New residents, The Beat Suite, are a Birmingham-based duo, who can scratch, genre hop, and rock the party, joining the Mr Elephant collective at the 2nd Cinephonic. Comprising of Skeleton and Dolhasz, these two DJs began their journey at the venue filling (and much missed) Open Beats events alongside Skeleton’s residencies at Trigger. Now they host their own radio show live on rhubarb radio every Wednesday at midnight, and watch out for big things from the new 4 way partnership in 2010.
DJ Lopan was welcomed back with his record bag full of party breakbeat, and dirty electro, with some fine turnatablist skills, alongside fellow resident VJ Blendstate who delivered without doubt the finest visuals yet seen at the venue.
whilst resident sock-rocker Marc Reck once again brought his magic to the turntables with a massive crowd pleasing breaks and drum and bass set,
followed by The Beat Suite’s 2nd set of the night with some huge jungle which set the place on fire.
One of the 4 regular nights from the Mr Elephant collective, the next Party Rockin’ Mammal Sessions will be on Saturday 14th November. Sadly saying farewell to the Bulls Head, but happily taking up a new Saturday night residency at the Hare & Hounds, where it will be on rotation with Cinephonic every 2nd Saturday of the month (though the next Cinephonic will be on Friday Dec 11th for a xmas movie mashup!)
Look out for other nights belonging to the Mr Elephant family including Live and Free @ the Adam & Eve, (great live music til 4am for free!), the return on Intermix in 2010, the bi yearly festival style events, and of course the Mr Elephant radio show live on www.rhubarbradio.com every Monday evening from 6pm – 8pm.
One year after the start of our Party Rockin Mammal Sessions and almost 3 years since the birth of Mr Elephant we have combined the two to bring you the best dancefloor rockers under one roof to celebrate our 1st Birthday Celebration @ the Bulls Head in Moseley.
Party Rockin Mammal Sessions is a night of party rockin dancefloor music, building through party style underground dancefloor genres featuring funky hip hop, phat ass funk, a lil monkey swing, party breakbeat, old school jungle and big room drum and bass.
We need people who can rock the party and thats why we are pleased and excited to be welcoming our very first special guest from 2007, the breakbeat, electro and drum and bass heavyweight turntablist, Mr Dj Lopan, who will be recreating that huge VS battle from our first event back in Epic Skate Park in Feb 2007 with our resident sock rocker Marc Reck. And our new residents the very versatile and talented duo – The Beat Suite.
You may remember the Beat Suite from our very last Cinephonic event and their performance was so good, we are very pleased to be welcoming them as our two new residents. Skeleton and Dolhasz can scratch, they can genre hop, and they can sincerely rock the party.
Vj Blendstate will also be stepping it up back with the multi screen visuals and we have live percussion and a very special turntablist battle to kick us off.
If you get there before 10pm its free entry (£3 after) and for the first two hours until 11pm, you can enjoy these drinks promos courtesy of the upstairs bar.
2 bottles of beck for the price of 1 !!
Glens Dark Rum / Imperial Vodka Double £2!!
A bottle of house wine for £8 !!!
And shots of Tequila for £1 !!!
Aside from knocking a tenner of your night, it also means you you will get to witness 2 real turntablists battling it out dmc style with funky hip hop, big bottom funk, and classic breaks.
Free Kazoo on entry, Streamed Live on Rhubarb Radio, Filmed Live for Mr Elephant T.V. More attractions to be announced and if you’re on facebook, here’s the event page if you’d like to attend – http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=134749128924
Little feature on Mr Elephant appeared in the recent Night Times publication which gives a little overview of what we do as Mr Elephant.
20, 000 copies of the Night Times have been distributed this month to showcase the best of brums underground and music nightlife to our new arriving students. Copies can be found for free at your local music venues in Birmingham and for those that havent come across the paper, its a must follow publication in our opinion and we lucky to have it in the city, featuring music reviews, events and local information. As far as we know its funded only by advertisting and the fact they make the advertising really affordable and really useful to underground nights and local people who dont have much money, means its something that needs supporting, so get in touch with them if you have something you want to share with the birmingham masses.
Here’s our little biog, and click here to read a bigger version
Our first professional produced video by super talented Jack Brabant. Along with Jules Hyland, we captured the footage, and he’s spent the last week creating the video below.
Both camera’s ran out, so he’s had to work with some other sources, but suffice to say we are all somewhat blown away with the result!
Those lovely people at the Night Times have featured Mr Elephant twice in this month’s issue! An interview and a review! Click on the pics for a readable version
It was no surprise that our graphic designer Aart Tanner was so keen to get the 8 piece Paper Tiger Band down from Leeds! After seeing them at a festival in Croatia, he came back with one clear instruction…Book Paper Tiger for Mr Elephant. Our first available opportunity was our 2nd Live and Free event at the lovely Adam & Eve, and they were awesome.
We have more video on the way but unfortunately the audio didnt come out (the drums and a couple of other instruments werent miced up) but the video has come out real nice, so we will post clips as soon as poss.
For now i’ll leave you with a few pictures of the artists that played. You can check the whole set on Marc’s flickr account here, and feel free to subscribe to the rss feed or newsletter if you want automatic notification when the videos are up.
Huge thanks to Roy Roastbeef who came down and represented Funkbox and kept the dancers grooving til close at 4am! A seriously good dj, and top bloke, and watch out for August Party Rockin Mammal Sessions where he should be the summer headliner.
And of course our very own visual maestro – Liam Blendstate, who came down and made the place look good.
Next Live & Free @ The Adam & Eve is Sat 20th June with Very Special Guests – The Heels, Flame of Fervour, &
Mr Elephant’s Second Birthday Review by Dom Brotherton
A Large Slice of Birthday Cake – Mr Elephant is Putting on Weight!!
Mr Elephant by Elin Morgan
Since its inception in 2007, Mr Elephant has been on a steadily increasing diet of eclecticism, celebrating some of the best underground club nights, djs, vjs, live bands, dancers, performers and inhabitants that Birmingham has to offer. Now with 5 residencies all offering different slices of Birmingham’s nightlife, it seems appropriate to celebrate Mr Elephants success by sticking 2 candles in a cake to mark its second birthday, but on the 23rd May there was a whole lot more on the cards than our average birthday party…
Dj & Vj Workshops – Photo by Dan Roblin
Throughout the afternoon there were opportunities for all ages to learn an array of different skills in a series of grass-roots workshops, and in most cases enabling those involved to participate in the performances of the night. Drumming, vjing, djing, beatboxing, poi, animation, etc, all workshops were offered for free to anyone who wanted to try the various creative artforms, and were hosted by an excellent cast of contributors.
Drumming Workshop – Photo by Dan Roblin
As the sun set, the herd moved in-doors to be entertained by a fine hour of acoustic music from two of Birmingham’s most modest stars, namely Richard Batsford and Laura Louise, who both delivered magical performances.
Laura Louise – Photo by Dan Roblin
Rich Batsford – Photo by Dan Roblin
At 10pm the Osmosis hosted Dance Stage kicked off with phat breaks & banging techno, while the Live Stage commenced with the mighty Jam Jah reggae collective, who got people up and grooving, providing the perfect backdrop to those of the audience who were adding the finishing touches to their carnival masks.
Jam Jah Crew – Photo by Dan Roblin
As the crowd welled up, the 1st band of the night Circadia took to the stage with new changes to the line-up adding more seasoning to their tasty flavour of psychedelic ska.
Ciradia – Photo by Dan Roblin
Up next was a crowd pleasing half hour of monkey swing from Marc Reck,
Marc Reck – Photo by Dan Roblin
followed by the now infamous mr elephant midnight parade, which invited all poodle creations out for their midnight dance-floor stroll, and offering two prizes for best in breed.
Mr Elephant Midnight Poodle Parade – Photo By Dan Roblin
Following, was an unexpected drumming jam session with beat boxer and host of the Live Stage, Bass6, who as always, entertained and mediated with more energy than an army of Duracell bunnies.
Mr Elephants Midnight Percussion Jam – Photo by Dan Roblin
With the night in full swing, Bristol beat-boxer extraordinaire, Dub FX took control, complimented perfectly by talented female MC, Flower Fairy. There was a lot of buzz around Dub Fx, and he certainly didn’t disappoint! With just his mouth and a loop station with efx unit, he created phat beats, huge basslines and orchestral melodies that cranked up the atmosphere with each track.
Dub Fx – Photo by Dan Roblin
With the crowd almost at fever pitch, the 3 piece live dub, breaks & drum & bass act Alphadrive, delivered a slick set of some of filthiest breaks I’ve ever heard come out of a live band, before handing over once again to Marc Reck who delivered a massive drum & bass finale ending with don’t worry be happy as a 2nd encore.
Alphadrive – Photo by Dan Roblin
Over on the Dance Stage techno superstar Jerome Hill was rinsing it out with a hugely powerful set which sent the osmonauts into overdrive, in amongst big birthday sets from 32DM, Hijacker, and the mighty Dk Roon who finished things off with a big bang.
Jerome Hill – Photo by Tina Taylor
Massive applause is also necessary for visuals maestros Blendstate and The Lab for providing some truly awesome visuals; always interesting, innovative and apt for the occasion.
Blendstate & The Lab Visuals – Photo by Dan Roblin
Mr Elephant comes off as a much more dynamic event than your usual club night, and feels closer to a festival than a club night. Always looking to broaden horizons, it off-sets different musical genres and strives to include much more than just DJs, visuals and a space to dance in the quest to create something groundbreaking, inclusive, and celebratory. Adding to the diverse range of musical styles and the conglomerate social strata that regularly appear at Mr Elephant events, even the barrier of age was broken by the scurry of little feet in the workshops that began early in the day, and it’s refreshing to see an event that appeals to such a huge range of tastes, and ages!
Mr Elephant doesn’t have punters; it has contributors; and the evolution of audience participation from an amusing quirk to a fully fledged feature is a wonderful thing to see, because it gives us all more ownership over the event, engaging us well beyond the boundaries of the venue. Even after the final curtain call, the place was rife with chit-chat and the exchange of phone-numbers, and it’s fantastic to experience such a collective engagement, rather than the typical race for an unoccupied taxi. (My own eventual exit was met by communal singing and a drum performance by an enthusiastic fellow whose flow was only ended after 15 minutes or so due to apparent complaints from the neighbours.)
The organisers of Mr Elephant turn clubbing into a real adventure and I love that they want to celebrate the fun of interaction and offer so many ways for everyone be part of the festivities whilst also having a real desire to make elephant noises about their home city of Birmingham. With the Party Rockin Mammal Sessions @ Bulls Head showcasing Birmingham djs, The Live & Free events @ Adam & Eve showcasing live bands, the new Cinephonic & Intermix events @ the Hare pushing dj & vj boundaries, and with the forthcoming grassroots workshop programme, elephant radio shows, elephant tv, and their large website – www.mrelephant.com, it seems that there are now plenty of large tasty elephant portions that we can feast on in between the big festival style events, and it only looks to be getting bigger and more inclusive! Mr Elephant clearly invites us all to join the conga, if not start our own, so let’s put on our dancing shoes, bang on the Brum, and celebrate!
By Dominik Kai Brotherton
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Massive thanks and respect to Dom for that review and to the Night Times for publishing it! Jack Brabant, and Jules Hyland were videoing the event and Jack is putting together the entire 12 hour footage into a 4 minute video, so that will be online hopefully by mid June. Also Tony from the Lab will be putting together the Elephant Tv dvd episodes which will should be online by July.
Feel free to subscribe to the Rss if you want automatic notification, and we look out for more photos and videos as they return, plus a special Jam Jah recording of their set on Mr Elephant Radio, when it finds a new time slot.
After 2 years and 14 events at 6 of our favourite Birmingham venues, the time has come to celebrate Mr Elephant’s 2nd birthday with our biggest festival style celebration to date, featuring lots of interactivity for all ages, the launch of Elephant Workshops in conjunction with Dramask, and the community based Elephant Tv project in partnership with The Lab.
On Saturday 23rd May 2009 @ the Hare and Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham, we have a 12 hour, 4 room event over 3 stages, featuring a great lineup and a 3am license. Alongside some groundbreaking international artists, we will also be shining a light on some grassroots workshops and inspirational birmingham artists, promoters, bands, djs, vjs, and local orgs, with plenty of ways for everyone of all ages and tastes to get involved with the festivities.
A Live Stage, A Dance Stage, An Acoustic Stage, A programme of workshops, and local stalls will be the main focus of the 12 hour celebration at the award winning Hare & Hounds venue in Kings Heath Birmingham. As always local artists, and local promoters will be the main feature, though this time we’ve invited a few international artists too.
N.B - Here follows a little background on the workshops, so scroll down if you’re more interested in checking the music side of things
At the first event back in 2007, we invited all to get involved by either playing percussion with our Samba guests, decorating a mask and parading in the midnight parade to win some booze, dressing up and interacting with our interactive performers aka The Tourists. A year later, and the percussion parade, and interactive performance is now totally made up of Da’locals, with local organisations, the midnight parade has grown with each big event, and local shops and creatives are hosting stalls, with many friends of the elephant now developing their own creative practices by being more integrally involved with the events in whatever their area of interest is, mainly on the events side and workshops side.
The main addition/difference this time will be the evolution of the mr elephant workshops. The workshops began as decorating card masks, followed by 2 family/all ages welcome days, which featured a range of drop in activities for all ages from mask making and djing to drum skinning and juggling.
We always wanted the workshops to enable the participants where suitable to perform at the events in a more involved way, so we are very happy to say that this will be a part of our 2nd birthday with a range of free workshops open to the local community of all ages. Drumming, Beatboxing, Poi, Vjing, Animation, Mask Decorating, Juggling, and of course poodle making will all feature from 3pm – 7pm in our workshop area from a host of great workshop facilitators, with the masks and poodle making materials available on the evening too.
The poodles have been so well recieved that they will also feature in the performance (another open door for any budding performers, no experience necessary) with all poodles being judged in the midnight mask poodle percussion parade. Masks will also as always be available to decorate (the flip side of the flyers so keep hold of them) with materials (and masks/flyers) being provided for all.
Participants of the animation workshop will see their creations live in the visuals on the nights on either the live or dance stage. Participants of the vj workshop will get the opportunity to capture, and perform live in front of a full audience, with online support after the event, and the drummers will be invited to perform in the midnight parade (providing we can find enough drums), and there will be range of other interactive workshops and demonstrations to give the local community an opportunity to try out these various creative practices, all for free in a grassroots, comfortable and accessible environment.
We are and have always been not for profit collective, and are currently not funded in anyway with all of us involved with the event,( including all workshop providers working for free, with costs of the event at just under £2000.
We have a commitment to keeping the entry fee at the minimum, as want the event to be accessible to as many people as possible so there are some £5 early bird tickets available for people on low income, with the main advance ticket price at £7. As the capacity is around 300 at the hare and hounds, there are only 50 of these available.
Grassroots approach seems to be working though, as we’ve already had already a huge interest from workshop providers and people wanting to get involved with the next event, and we will be applying for our first funding to support another full programme of workshops at the next big mr elephant due for the summer.
This is kind of an elephant experiment and can only work with the support of the local community, so if you do like what you see, please think about passing on the email to 10 friends, and if you are on facebook, we really appreciate inviting as many facebook friends to the event, and/or the group as you have time to click on… Really does make keeping in touch with interested or local people a whole lot easier.
Alongside the workshops (3pm – 7pm folks) there will be stalls from local people from reflexology to local art, sone fine drinks promos courtesy of the hare and hounds, interactive performance from james, dom and the crew, the mr elephant midnight mask poodle parade featuring local percussionists (with prizes for best mask and poodle made), multi projector visuals from Vj Blendstate & The Lab, and a whole lot more….
We are more than excited to have this guy down from Bristol on the 23rd May 2009. He’s one of the best beatbox and loop pedal artists we’ve seen, and just check out his youtube videos for what you can expect. On heavy rotation on the mr elephant radio show, and one of Bass6’s recommendations, Dubfx is an inspiring artist, and we are going to be making a lot of noise about his incredible skills. He has a new album out on May 30th, and his last cd is available from his website… well worth a tenner.
An introduction to what he does (worth watching these through)
Jamming on the street
At Glastonbury Stone Circle
At Glastonbury on stage (Apologies for sound quality)
Our other headliners for the 2009 may bank holiday gig on sat May 23rd, these guys are quickly gaining a reputation for being one of the freshest live dance acts around showcasing “a perfect fusion of danceable dub, breaks and electronica” (Raise the Roof Festival”. Following a string of high profile appearances at UK festivals and club nights, this up-and-coming live trio have supported acts such as: Atomic Hooligan, Beardyman, The Bays, DJ Deekline, Tayo, Rogue Element, Scratch Perverts, and DJ Yoda. Definitly one to watch.
What can we say about the beatboxer Bass6, a true grassroots star in our opinion. With superb hosting skills, a inspiring attitude and a huge range of skills from beatboxing to workshops, this guy really brings the vibes, with his own productions are opening doors all over the country. He hosted our Midnight poodle parade on the beach at Celebrate Brums Underground, and he’s back for our next big event on Sat 23rd May 2009…not to be missed.
Hosting our last mr elephant midnight poodle parade competition
These guys have really come into their own this year, and one of the reasons why we are chuffed that they will be performing at our 2nd birthday. They house a great line up of talented musicians, which include multiskilled instrumentalist Jon Elliot has been one of the percussionists since our 2nd event.
Osmosis is a a co-operative run by a group of people who are passionate about their music and sharing it with like minded people. Each member of the crew has given their talent, equipment and time freely with any money made being ploughed back in to improve lighting, decor, sound, produce free CDs, and if we’re really lucky, buy us a couple of drinks.
Supported by the vibrant and eclectic venue, Rootys (rip), Osmosis has developed a reputation for it’s atmosphere, music and support of local talent, with names like Paul Damage (1881 Recordings/House of God), Sir Real (House of God) , and Sub Citizen (Resistor Records/Inukshuk) joining Residents and local heroes DK Roon’, Mack, Dr Pepperspray, HijACKER and M-AK.
A huge techno and breaks artist, and an international legend in his own right, we can’t quite get our hat on that he’s going to be headlining the dance Osmosis stage! Prepare yourselves.
Live at Glade (Apologies for Sound quality)
Scratch Practice
We couldn’t find any footage of their residents aside from the osmosis myspace link, so will be looking for mixes to help promote in the next week or two. Suffice to say Osmonauts need no introduction, and their programming and residents skills are hugely respected in the Birmingham Underground. Osmosis have organised legendary packed out parties from day one, and always attract the friendliest crowd of people you could hope to meet on a night out.This will be their first outing at the hare and hounds, so we look forward to a lot of warmth and phat music on the evening.
The other dj appearing is our own resident Marc Reck who will be playing either swing or a live eclectic set on the main stage, or a big room breaks techno, and drum and bass set on the dance stage. Here’s a recent clip of the end of his gig at the Night Times at the Custard Factory.
A core member of Project X Presents, one of Birmingham’s finest piano players, and all round top bloke, Rich Batsford is one of Birminghams’s musical treasures, and his music has been compared to that of the great steve reich, Keith Jarret, Michael Nyman, Claude Debussy, and Brian Eno. His debut album is currently free to download on his website, and his live performances are not to be missed. Check the valentines day Mr Elephant Radio show for a live recording of a gig from 2007.
Rich Batsford – Namaste
Live at Project X Presents
Laura Louise – www.myspace.com/lauralouiseowen – Hailing from New Zealand, Laura is a huge talent, and somewhat undiscovered on these shores. An amazing voice, and multi instrumentalist, she creates beautiful layers and well crafted songs with her loop pedal and a microphone. She performed a great set at the gigbeth fringe show, and we look forward to welcoming her back for our our 2nd birthday.
Cover of Fat Freddy
Laura Louise – So many days (Apologies for first 30 secs of sound ..worth watchin past)
So thats an overview of the eve, more to be added so feel free to subscribe to the mailing list, or facebook group for updates and info over the next fortnight.
All that’s really left for this post is to invite you to come and join the celebration. Its free til 9pm and tickets are needed for main stages entry upstairs
P.s here’s a little footage hashed together of our last 3 bigger events to give an idea.
On Rainbow Beach in 2008
At Hare & Hounds in 2008
At Epic in 2007
Oh and if you want to take part in any of the workshops please get in touch via email, or get there at 3pm. Timings will come soon, and workshops will be Beatboxing, Drumming, Animation, Vjing, Juggling, Poi, Mask Decorating, and Poodle Making. Seperate blog posts will give more details so subscribe to mailing list, facebook group, or the rss feed for instant notification.
Last night went down a blast at our new live & free residency at the Adam & Eve! Three truly special live sets and it was 4am before we could blink!
Thankfully we captured audio, video and photo’s thanks to Gary, Mike & Pyn, so if you weren’t there you can catch it on our site.
In short though, Mikes set was the best he and us have seen of his one man live looping show, really vibing up the early crowd, and totally in his element.
Playing Django created something truly magical, with style, charm, and exceptional playing, taking us through a whole history and getting people dancing and shouting in equal appreciative measures.
And finally at almost 1am, Munchbreak quite simply rocked it, delivering an hour long crowd pleasing set with tight musicianship, great audience connection, and selling most of their cds before they’d even left the stage.
Our resident dj had the crowd jiving and moving with his new swing, and the sound engineer, bar staff, and security were among the friendliest we’ve met, delivering a stellar service.
What was really special was how many people had come out for the event. A friday night, with around a week of promotion, in between two bank holidays and it was full of fans of one or another of the acts, with loads of elephant regulars and lots of people who’d enjoyed the dj sets, coming to try something different.
If you’d like to know when audio recordings go up, please subscribe to the rss feed via email option and you’ll get a message as soon as they are posted.
and to keep up with Mr Elephant as a whole please subscribe to the mailing list and or facebook group.
One love
Mr Elephant
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We are very excited to announce that we have not 2 but 3 fabulous live guests for our first live & free outing on Friday 24th April 2009!
Next Friday 24th April we start a brand new live (and free til 4am) elephant residency at the Adam & Eve in digbeth, and we’re more than excited to confirm that Munchbreak, Playing Django, and Smiley Mic will all be appearing live!
Munchbreak – www.munchbreak.com need no introduction and have been a firm brummie favourite since forming in 2001. Described as “a hungerbusting fried funk special with crispy hip hop and lashings of reggae gravy”, this collective of muti-talented musicians, djs, and producers have been igniting and filling venues all over birmingham since their legendary moseley jam sessions, with 2 albums to date, and a third one just been released. Munchbreak are due on stage around Midnight.
Playing Django – www.playingdjango.com are a 5 piece gypsy jazz band made up of equally pioneering birmingham musicians. While Playing Django is a relatively new project, its members have made up some of the city’s most well loved bands, and extraordinary musicians in their own right. You need to really be able to play to even think about playing some of the music of the legendary Django Reinhardt, and Stephan Grappelli, so we are more than excited to be hearing them perform next week. Playing Django are due on stage around 11pm.
Smiley Mic – www.smileymic.co.uk – is a live-looper and effectively a modern day one man band, creating whole arrangements live on stage by playing several instruments into a loop pedal. From acoustic singer songwriter stuff to hip-hop style beats with some funk thrown in, Smiley Mic plays guitar, bass, glockenspiel, and while he doesnt class himself as a beatboxer) he creates all the parts organically, whilst looping vocals into harmonies and mixing all of these elements together into one live show. He performed a great show at the Gigbeth fringe event with cid music, so we cant wait to see what he creates next Friday. Smiley Mic is due on stage at around 10pm.
Marc Reck – www.marcreck.com – Our residente will be filling in the gaps with his other side of djing. Expect reggae, swing, funk, and ska, with more party style tunes as its gets later.
The Adam & Eve is a legendary music venue with a great atmosphere. Its open til 4am, has a pool table, and hosts one of the best bars in brum.
All events are FREE entry all night, so we really hope you can join us.
For more information on the Adam & Eve, please visit their myspace – http://www.myspace.com/theadammusic , and for more info on forthcoming Mr Elephant events, please join our facebook group. Invites to interested friends are always very much appreciated.
P.s On May 30th we’ll have our 2nd live and free event with Paper Tiger, and on June 20th we’ve got the Heels as our 3rd headliner.
So thats around 6 hours of live and djed Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Funk, Hip Hop, Soul, Reggae and Ska for free! Hope you can make it
Great news and makes for a double header, but we’ve just heard that the fabulous Quantic is set to be appearing with us for our first Cinephonic event, which will start in June at the Hare & Hounds.
We’ve been keeping Cinephonic under wraps for quite a while now while our resident Vj Liam Blendstate was coming up with the identity of the night. Hes suggested making it a part of the Mr Elephant event as it would fit well with our other residencies, and as Liam is our resident, we jumped at the chance. Liams wanted to do a Vj led event for years now, and this is shaping up to be a suitably large launch.
More details soon, but we can reveal that Quantic will be debuting his latest project Tradition in Transition, and we’ll be showing the film at the start of the night, with a dj set from Will Quantic from around 12.30 am to follow. Here’s a sneak peek from the tru thoughts site – http://quantic.tru-thoughts.co.uk/
We’ve just been sent this at Mr Elephant Hq. A proper review by up and coming event journalist Dominic Brotherton and photographs courtesy of the very talented Alina Ha. The Night Times & Mr Elephant Presents: “Celebrate Birmingham’s Underground” (Saturday 20th September, 5pm till 5am @ Rainbow Warehouse & Beach)
It’s all in the Mix Magnetic, Evolve, Trigger, Breakthru, Osmosis, Drop Beats Not Bombs, Jam Jah, Mr Elephant, House of God, Custom Made, My Bass, Broken Minds, the list goes on… It reads like an elaborate and complex cocktail of contrasting ingredients that bears the danger of becoming explosive, much like the often schizophrenic face of the Birmingham underground. However, like the coffee of Kahlúa that binds the unexpected combination of vodka and milk in a White Russian, the mash up of genres slipped down wonderfully thanks to the open mindedness of the spectators: the key ingredient so core to the prevalence of the Birmingham underground scene.
Attracting such a crowd, as disparate as its line-up, the plethora of different backgrounds the night drew on was reflected in everything, from the faces at the bar to the moves on the dance floor: a spectrum of styles, but consistent smiles. The smooth production of the event also lies in the contributing organisations that themselves embrace a wide range of styles. Custom Made, Drop Beats Not Bombs, and of course, Mr Elephant are no stranger to exhibiting genres such as samba, break-beat, ska and hip-hop on the same stage.
Aside from the eclectic range of DJ’s which kept the herd dancing, there were some amusing quirks which got the crowd involved too, such as a selection of craft stalls, a truly bizarre poodle making competition and hilarious performance art from map-bearing characters known as The Tourists, who could be seen roving around the dance floor asking for directions to their hotel, picnicking on the beach, and commenting on the friendliness of the locals.
Once again, club favourite and skilled beat-boxer, Bass6, was in control of the mic, filling gaps with banter, beat breath and being an all-round brilliant host of the beach party, which it must be said, was certainly the epicentre of the joyous occasion, leaving the Night Times’ hosted Rainbow Warehouse a little under-populated at times.
R-Caine stole the show, however, with a flawless B2B appearance with fellow Drop Beats Not Bombs representative, Boogie Dave; never letting the beat become monotonous, sustaining the audience’s energy with quality break after quality break, and never a sloppy drop.
There aren’t many raves that offer the chance to make sand castles with tourists, get your fingers messy making masks, witness a hand-made poodle parade, try a selection of organic curries, buy clothes (I purchased a fantastic purple shirt which I am sure to don at the next elephantine event), and learn how to turn an old juice carton into a functioning wallet, all in one night.
For the parties of birthday boys and girls present, a member of which told me they “didn’t usually go out to these sort of things”, it must have been the most wonderful fiesta to walk in on, and I am glad they didn’t miss it. Even better was hearing from those involved in the curation of the event, for whom there is usually little time to frolic, that they too had enjoyed themselves. Last Saturday, Mr Elephant and The Night Times were without doubt hosting the best party the second city could offer.
As the 5 O’clock finish line got closer and closer, co-curator Marc Reck stepped up to the decks to provide a perfect concluding set, bringing the curtain to a close with the sublime lyrics “daylight come and we wanna go home” echoing around the venue. An idyllic outro, if not somewhat ironic, as it was clear that no one was yet ready to become bed bound. The rare pleasure of an encore at the end of the night is a true testament to the success of the celebration, and we will certainly be asking for more where that came from. Dominik Kai Brotherton
to all of you that came down on saturday!! It totally exceeded all of our expectations, and the response to the poodles, the music, the visuals and the performance has blown us all away, so first off a huge and very sincere Thank You, from all of us at Mr Elephant Presents and on behalf of Ric and Nik from the Night Times who have been two of the most hardworking and easy people we’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.
So for anyone that wasn’t there what happened?
Well we began at 5pm with Loafers on the decks, 2 huge video projections from Liam Blendstate, and with a host of local creatives hosting their own stalls, all expertly handled by our very own performance and arts co-ordinator Pyn Stockman of Dramask fame.
The stalls featured local alternative fashion designers Youth Decay, recycled tetra purses and charity shop clothes from Lentil aka Lyndall Fitzgerald, and of course our very own Poodle Making Parlor, expertly hosted by our very own Pyn, and a very talented and lovely animator called Claire (website coming soon)
A little later in the eve we were joined by the ever friendly Martha, who runs our favourite local shop on Poplar rd, and who bought a host of traditional Jamaican food. We at Mr Elephant like to feature different local businesses at each one, but i think Martha will have to be at the next one as it worked really well in that venue.
Jam Jah were up next in the beach hut, playing on one deck (until the replacement had arrived) with their residents Robin and Damo on the deck, and mc on the mic, and with effortless class played a blinding set as the sun delivering some of the best music this side of jamaica!
Bass6 also started flexing his hosting mc muscles, and from start to finish proved himself as one of the greatest hosts you could ever hope to have at your event. Really vibing the crowd up and effortlessly switching from music styles to happenings in the event.
Next up was local legend Sam Redmore representing Leftfoot and his own ecletic night Freestyle. Switching it up from reggae to funk, to soul to house, he got the whole room a shaking with some amazing mixes!
By the time Matt Tilley from Bunka had taken over, the beach was nicely full and his minimal house took the levels up and got those asses shaking. Over in the warehouse things had started kicking off, with the Night Times awesome line up, but to be fair we can’t report on that as we were busy all night with the beach.
The poodle making parlour was in full swing, and the vibe was ecletic to say the least, with a really diverse crowd of people and an infectious festival type vibe. Obviously one of the aims was to introduce crowds to other events and it was so nice to see really happen.
All of the 10 drummers had by now arrived and a stack of djembes some of them hand made by a very talented man called Rich, (who you will soon be able to purchase your own from, through the forthcoming Elephant drums nonetheless), all ready for the customary Mr Elephant Midnight Masked Parade, this time with poodles and scratch club at the controls.
Before then however it was Funkatronic’s Dani C who absolutely rocked the crowd with some big breaks and beautiful basslines! One of the sets of the night, and an extremely talented and versatile dj.
By 11.30 the Mr Elephant performers had come out, featuring Pyn and Lucy who last week performed at Project x Presents, and this week teamed up with other Mr Elephant performance resident Adam Skerrit and after her first fantastic performance at our birthday bash, the inspiring Izzy/James, all appearing as the Tourists.
The normal chaos and interest ensued, and the crowd got right behind the interactive characters, not only helping them to find out where they were on their map, but also playing beach games and paddling in the pool!
Then the clock struck midnight and it Bass6 (who’d been rocking it alongside the djs) stepped into his own, and announced the start of the midnight parade. The drummers congregated by the beatboxer and drummer, and laid down the beat while Automaton and Bass6 rocked the glitchy hip hop sound you can find at their seminal scratch club events.
The sound of the live drummers by our local favourites along with the electronic sound of the decks all tied together with the elegance and energy of Bass 6, created an experience yet unmatched in the midnight parade. If you look back at the previous events you will see how the parade has evolved, involving more and more local people and elements. Each time the crowd has got right into it, but this one it was great to see the crowd joining in on the djembes themselves!
12.30 and it was time for the poodle promenade, with the call the the creators to step up, and parade their pooch. There were some great entries and through a process of audience voting/shouting, the rosettes were awarded with the top winner also winning some customary Mr Elephant booze!
The venue was now packed out with smiley happy people from all walks of life, and the vibe was getting postively commented as we walked the venue. Blendstate’s visuals not only further created the festival environment, but were generating more comments from the audience, and even got him a rock gig residency from one of the party goers!
The man puts so much work into his craft, and we are very lucky to have him as one of residents, and we have big plans for the future so keep an eye on his work via his site – www.blendstate.com
Next up on the decks was Custom Made maestro Mark Smallman, an extremely talented promoter and dj. Despite more technical problems from the venue equipment, he effortlessly built up the vibe reaching a crescendo which had the whole crowd rocking.
Bass6 was still on the mic rocking the crowd, and the dj passed over to Russ Caine, who was reppin Drop Beats and Dj Joust, and someone we’ve been wanting to get down to mr e;ephant since seeing him play back to back with our resident Marc Reck at the Anti World festival.
Russ was also one of the co-promoters of Marc and Boogies breaks night Rockfall so it was great to see Boogie join Russ behind the decks, and Mr Elephant favourite Vj Chromatouch jumping on the visuals, and destroying the dancefloor with a huge b2b set.
By now Bass6 had had to retire due to almost losing his voice, but the packed beach crowd and amazing atmosphere remained. On the decks it was down to our resident and music curator Marc Reck, to finish off what had been one of the most amazing events we’ve ever had the pleasure to be involved with.
Effortlessly switching from techno, to all manner of phat breakbeat, and then taking us into a proper mashup of old and new drum and bass, the energy and dancefloor went off in proper party style, finishing with the perfect end of night track (Harry Belafonte’s classic Banana Boat Song)!
All in all we feel that we really did celebrate Birminghams Underground, and not only that, but celebrated ourselves in that true Mr Elephant carnival style party. The Night Times will be taking the idea into a regular thing, and we are working on the next big Mr Elephant for 2009.
You can catch a new little elephant night at the Bulls Head in Moseley from October 11th 2008 (with the next on December 12th 2008 for your diaries), featuring some of our Mr Elephant friends, and the diverse party rocking style you’ve come to know, and alongside the local family events, we will also be launching some more local creative opportunities, working with our network and local people over the next few months, so as always feel free to get in touch at mrelephantpresents@gmail.com.
If you’d like to keep updated, please join the mailing list, or subscribe to the rss if you are familiar with that, and check back for the radio shows, reports and the forthcoming Share to Create.
Oh and there are loads more pics and videos from the night, which we’ll be posting very soon.
If you were at the event we would REALLY appreciate any feedback or comments you have in the comments section of this post, and we wish you a beautiful autumn season.
Despite the forecast, the sun, and humans of all ages were out in full effect, which made for a thoroughly lovely afternoon.
It was our second attempt at a family event, since our first collaboration with Dramask last year. This time we got a lot more of our friends involved, and the result was more than inspiring.
Here’s some of the highlights this time in nice easy to digest picture form
Subvert Sounds made for a smooth setup and quality finish
Justin Bond rom Loafers Lounge kicked off the music with his blend sublime sun kissed music.
Pyn from Dramask demonstrated various gum strip and tissue techniques to a queue of potential mask makers.
whilst Jen (not pictured here) hosted another few tables for those that wanted to decorate our card masks.
Robin from Jam Jah was up next supplying his unique blend of roots and reggae.
Olly gave a drum skinning demonstration
Anna gave some juggling workshops
Rohit played some of his beautiful sitar compositions
Daz Dolczech and Anka played an amazing set of acoustic renditions of their own Mama Matrix tracks!
Thanks to everyone that came down, and to our wonderful hosts, Keith and Diane at the Prince.
There are more pictures here, and we have recordings of the Daz and Anka’s set, and various of footage of the workshops, so please check back, or subscribe to the rss or the newsletter on the right.
To everyone who came to our first birthday bash! We are all quite amazed at the response, and just how much fun it was all weekend long. Here’s a quick rundown of the night for anyone who missed it.
After a relatively easy setup (thanks to the in house engineers, and help from Christy), we welcomed the first guests at 9.01 pm, who received their free cd and choice of kazoo from our delectable door hosts, Pyn and Shelly. In room 2, Robin from Jam Jah kicked it off with some choice roots and reggae, against a backdrop Keir’s inspired visuals mash ups on a 6ft Plasma Screen, whilst Manic Organic prepared tasters from their menu to serve up to any hungry guests.
In room 1, Mr Elephant mixtapes provided the soundtrack to a late leon setting up, and much creativity, with the mask decorating table which were all feverishly surrounded by 9.30.
By 11.15 both rooms were bustling with birthday merriment, and it was time for our headline band to don the main stage. Mama Matrix once again showing why they are one of the most exciting bands in the city, delivering a blistering set of balkan gypsy jazz. Their performance even grabbing the attention of one of Birmingham’s most respected music promotor’s, and igniting many questions as to where they were from!
While Dj Christy was keeping room two on fire with more reggae and some old jungle, Room 1 saw people don their masks, and raise their kazoos, ready for the midnight mask parade. Marc announced it using his voice changer, (which unfortunatly made the announcement somewhat hard to distinguish!), but nevertheless the tribal sound of 8 of the city’s local percussionists (who had never played together before the night) commanded the focus of the party goers, and led by Issabella and Katie, who were in character as victorian ladies, the midnight mask parade journeyed around the top floor of the venue, before settling in the main room for a percussion jam that got the whole room moving.
Some people joined in on the kazoo, and our professional mask maker followed in hot pursuit, selecting 3 winners and notifying them with specially made golden tickets. Marc announced the winners, (thankfully in his normal voice!), who each won a cuddly version of me, (with the top prize being an addition of a bottle of smirnoff). Marc dropped his first record (Arthur Conley’s sweet soul music), and it was back to more dancing and merriment for the rest of the evening.
A mix of music from the mr elephant radio shows got the crowd nicely loose and ready for some big breaks, and the arrival of Khalgani Belly Dancers on stage raised the heat even more.
Birthday Boy Lopan took over, and kept the crowd rockin, before a back to back finale of huge breaks, that rock tune from Steve, and a couple of drum and bass favourites. The last two tracks were Harry Belafonte’s Daylight Come, and Don’t Worry Be Happy, leaving everyone with warm feelings and positive vibes as they journeyed to the after party at the last ever weekend sessions of the Church Inn. A truly memorable night, (and a most suitably celebratory weekend! Dave Piper took some fantastic pictures of the evening, and here’s a little video we hashed together.
With footage from our first two events courtesy of Martin, Jo and Marc. The elephant is going more underground for our next party so keep those ears big for the tremors!
Mammoth love to everyone who came down to the last mr elephant, and to all those people who came out for the days activities! We got lots of photos of the workshop, the afternoon in the prince garden, and the second mr elephant event itself, and yet again we were blown away by the response. Despite the last minute cancellations of the samba band and the beatboxer, and all the equipment traumas and license rumours, to everyone who made a mask, played a drum or shook their ass, we salute you with both feet. Nice one
And a huge thank you to all the people who went well beyond the call of duty to make it happen like it did. Pyn Stockman, for hosting the family mask workshop, the prince, and for all her work on and off the night, before playing out the tourists with proper comic skill, alongside the talented Adam Skerrit. To Marc Reck who worked relentlessly from start to finish, despite the floors falling through.
To Adie B, and Dodgy Greg for really going out their way to setup the sound and lights, and working all day in the face of adversity.
To Skinny and Aart, for their visual productions and underground vibes.
To Leon Trimble for amazing visuals and a shiny soul.
To Lyndall and Rich for their love support and warm hosting of the door, to the percussionists Mooncup, Mylo, Nath, and the percussion crew, for some inspired percussion, and live jams
To the djs, Sir Real, Marc Reck, Boogie Dave, and Adie B for completely rocking the Rockfall room all night long.
To the Jibbering soundsystem Oli, Dan, Cro and Muz for bringing some quality music, nice vibes and much needed equipment,
To Indymedia Liam for hosting some proper important films and making the chillout room into a real cinemal,
To Gary and Phil for keeping the sun out in the prince garden with the most sublime acoustic music on their spanish guitars.
To Ben and Kate from Zen for supplying the legal drugs, To the Khalgani Belly Dancers for blowing people’s minds.
To jo from blaggerz, frank, claire, sue and pete, for their support, and of course to the ever amazing hosts Keith and Diane and the Epic bar staff and security for looking after us and our guests.
And last but never least, a massive shout to all the friends that came down and filled the venue despite all the rumours about the license.
UPDATE – The mighty 360 will also be joining us for a special live set, courtesy of a mixup at another venue 
Party Rockin Mammal Sessions is a night of party rockin dancefloor music, building through party style underground dancefloor genres featuring funky hip hop, phat ass funk, a lil monkey swing, party breakbeat, old school jungle and big room drum and bass.
