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The Legend of the 7 Black Tentacles – Sheffield Telegraph Interview

Vex — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 00:46:59 +0000

Stay at home for a weekend festival

TOO poor for Glastonbury? Or too disorganised to register? Don’t look any further than Sheffield this month.

This weekend The Harley runs its third 2 Poor 2 Pitch event, which features national bands and a selection of Sheffield’s most idiosyncratic soundsmiths, such as The Legend of the 7 Black Tentacles.

The Sheffield group have been fine-tuning their hip-hop jazz and metal for some years and have stumbled upon the winning formula: “We used to have different tracks that nodded to different sounds but we are getting better at creating tracks that encorporate the various genres in one song,” says Ben Eckersley (cello).

“We have eight people in the band and that’s helped to mark us out. We all come from different musical backgrounds.”

The group’s instruments range from cello to a Kaos Pad – which creates unusual effects.

The band’s moniker is not without meaning, either, says Ben. “There is a story, a ‘legend’ behind the name but you need all the band members to be present in order to tell it. The idea is is that our songs each tell a bit of the legend.”

The eight-piece will share a bill with the Liverpudlian post punkers Clinic, who support Radiohead later this year.

Other acts include Johnny Foreigner, Sky Larkin, who will be playing material from latest LP Kaleide, Cats in Paris, Grammatics and Cardiff experimentalists Islet.

The festival runs from tomorrow, Friday to Sunday at The Harley, Glossop Road.

Original Source: Sheffield Telegraph

Friday June 4th – 2poor2pitch: The Legend of the 7 Black Tentacles @ The Harley supporting Clinic

Vex — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 23:22:42 +0000

Thirsty Ear Present: DJ Cheeba and DJ Moneyshot @ The Harley (Saturday May 1st)

Vex — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 17:18:26 +0000

Tomorrow night (Saturday May 1st), the Thirsty Ear boys are bringing a heavyweight line-up to the City of Steel. Representing the likes of Ninja Tunes, Mixed Business and Solid Steel are the star attractions DJ Cheeba and the Mixtape King DJ Moneyshot. If that wasn’t enough they’re bringing a spectacular Solid Steel A/V show with them to really smack all five of your senses in the face.

-And as usual, the residents of Thirsty Ear will be warming up the turntables with their usual bag of 7″ rarities and speaker blowing anthems. I highly suggest you get down early to avoid disappointment, The Harley is going to fill up very quickly.

If you’re not there, you’re probably getting a nut buss’d on your forehead.

Door Tax is £3 | (Free Entry before 11.00PM) | Last Entry at 01.00AM | 10.00PM – 03.00AM
@ The Harley, 303 Glossop Road (West Street, Sheffield)

- Peace

Gigs and Live Events 2010 (updated March 17th)

Vex — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 01:14:47 +0000

Happy new year to one and all, I’ve been a little busy with other matters i.e. chasing up studio equipment, trying to sort out events and general bullshit so I apoligise for the lack of updates. There’s some new live events to announce right up until August, trying to keep busy. Dates and venues are subject to change, I’ll be updating this list with more information on door charges and support acts as time goes on.

First up are the dates for the Renegade Brass Band and myself. Keep your eyes peeled for us at Les Sons du Nord in May, it’s going to be my first festival performance outside of England and my first international gig. Get in.

January 19th @ The Tuesday Club, Sheffield.
Supporting Homecut (Live)
Tickets – £4 (2 for 1 offer)
February 7th @ The Forum, Sheffield.
Now Then Magazine Party
Tickets – (TBA)
February 25th @ Raynor Lounge, Sheffield.
TTC Residents @ The Union
Tickets – (TBA) * Added 15th of Feb
February 27th @ Funky, Hull. *Cancelled
More information to follow.
Tickets – (TBA)
March 1st @ Soyo, Sheffield.
Soyo Live, supporting Pistola Kicks
Tickets – (TBA)
April 3rd @ DQ, Sheffield *Recently added
BBC Raw Talent: Following RBB’s slot on Iain Hodgson’s Raw Talent radio show, a live gig to showcase the best of South Yorkshire music. Line-up to be confirmed.
Tickets: TBA
April 18th @ The HiFi Club, Leeds *Recently added
More information of follow.
Tickets – (TBA)
May 8th @ Les Sons du Nord, Lens (France)
More information to follow.
Tickets – (TBA)
May 15th @ Bearded Theory Festival 2010 (Derbyshire)
Beardtop Stage (Full line-up here)
Tickets – Entire Festival: £60

Here’s a list of dates for The Legend of the 7 Black Tentacles. Be sure to catch us on the mainstage at Jamstand Festival in August and Headlining the Opus Stage at Peace in the Park in Sheffield. More festivals to be confirmed later on this year… We will be playing festivals this year.

February 7th @ The Forum, Sheffield.
Supporting Dennis Jones
Tickets – (TBA)
February 20th @ The Harley, Sheffield.
X-Ray Horse IV
Tickets – (TBA)
February 27th @ The Dog and Partridge, Bolton.
Supporting The Broken Door
Tickets – (TBA)
March 27th @ Penelope’s, Sheffield. *Date Changed
King Capisce Album Launch
Tickets – (TBA)
April 1st @ The Forum, Sheffield
Suckerpunch
Tickets – (TBA)
May 2nd @ Salford Festival, Manchester
Tickets – (TBA)
May 14th/15th @ The Green Room, Manchester (TBC)
Mind on Fire
Tickets – (TBA)
May 16th @ Ruby Lounge, Manchester (TBC)
More info to follow.
Tickets – (TBA)
June 12th @ Ponderosa Park, Sheffield
Peace in the Park Festival
Headlining Opus Stage
Tickets – Free
August 13th @ Jamstand, Bristol
Jamstand Festival
Tickets – (TBA)

On top of all that we’re heading back into the studio very soon to record our second E.P; and it’s going to surpass the first volume in everyway. All of the songs we’re recording are heavyweight.

April 18th @ The HiFi Club, Leeds

Renegade Brass Band @ Cuba Libre/TTC Images

Vex — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:53:10 +0000

I’ve just got settled after spending the night in the comfortable hands of Lola and Nulty from Whilst Other Girls. Thanks a lot for the Peroni’s, much appreciated. Last night saw the return of one of Sheffield’s finest exports to the south, DJ Risco. If you’re not in the know about Big Dog Risco, you better ask someone. One third of Sheffield hip-hop collective Constant Creation, Heads from the Hills DJ and top notch turntablist Risco is one of the best producers in the UK today. Here’s one of his old summer jam mixes:

DJ Risco – Filthy Few

Friday night was great, in three words it was loud, messy and surreal. I’ve never had the pleasure to have people bum rush the stage, see a blind emcee move the crowd and watch Ms. Dynamite apply make up all in one night; like I said surreal. Renegade Brass Band tore the roof off, I was happy to shout over the top of them, the crowd was exceptionally positive through out the whole performance. One person was so into the rhythm he found himself on stage before being hauled off by Security. The Nextmen were great, unfortunately our set times kind of ran through both of our performances so we only caught the last fifteen minutes of their set. They did a real good remix of Major Lazer and Santigold with High Contrast that I managed to catch, dopeness. Brad and Dom thought Rory the drummer from Renegade Brass Band looked like a miniature DJ Yoda.

We managed to get some live shots from the gig:

ftp://vexation@afdit.co.uk@ftp.afdit.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/Public%20Media/Dj%20Risco%20Filthy%20Few.mp3

Consoul XIV – Line Up

Vex — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:51:40 +0000

It’s Freshers week and with the influx of new students to the city, event promoters can finally breath a sigh of reflief. Thursday at the Harley is certainly a night to get educated. When we’re holding a forum, it’s best to take notes. This month we’ll be treating you to two live acts and Mr. Mercer, Baron Von Badd and myself will be holding down the plates until the early morning.

First on:

Bell Hagg Orkestar

“Bell Hagg Orkestar combines the bitter and twisted sounds of Poke with eastern eurpean troubadors Minnie Moosika. We got together in 2007 to play at the Firefly festival. Since then we’ve played in bars, cabarets and festivals around the UK. 2009: In June we played EcoFest and Peace in the Park – sheffield’s best day of musical merriment. Ecofest takes place at a beautiful hill top site near Lincoln. We were the final act on stage Friday night and got the whole field jumping around. Beat Herder in July was an amazing festival – a huge main stage (very scary) and loads of tents playing music all night long.”

Followed by:

The Broken Door

“TheBrokenDoor is a live improvised drum & bass band hailing from Manchester, UK. Writing tracks live as they play, they provide audiences with styles varying from your classic chill out dnb tracks to dance floor slamming tracks of substancial proportions.

Dropping famous vocal samples by famous artists from varying genres in their live set gives their audience new music with a sense of familiarity. The line up is a concoction of professional drum n bass musicians and engineers – Emma Welsby (drum n bass producer Dylemma) on vibraphone & vox, Dan Owens (composer, arranger and session musician) on bass, Adam Owens (drummer extraordinaire) on kit and Liam Maloney (producer and engineer Womb) on synths/electronics.”

Closing off the evening festivities will be the resident DJ’s:

The Tentacle DJ Team

3 DJ’s going back to back mixing beats, hip-hop, funk, soul, electronica and glitchy noises. V3xation Mr.Mercer and Baron Von Badd.

All this and more absoultely free, be sure to take advantage of all of the great nights happening this week regardless if you’re new to the city or not. Consoul XIV is on Thursday 24th of September @ The Harley (334 Glossop Road/ Start of West Street) from 8 – late, including live support to be announced.

Bell Hagg Orkestar combines the bitter and twisted sounds of Poke with eastern eurpean troubadors Minnie Moosika. We got together in 2007 to play at the Firefly festival. Since then we’ve played in bars, cabarets and festivals around the UK. 2009: In June we played EcoFest and Peace in the Park – sheffield’s best day of musical merriment. Ecofest takes place at a beautiful hill top site near Lincoln. We were the final act on stage Friday night and got the whole field jumping around. Beat Herder in July was an amazing festival – a huge main stage (very scary) and loads of tents playing music all night long. In september were playing in Walkley community hall with the Fates and Little Johnny Cash (5th) then a festival inDerby (6th) and on 21st November playing at the Casbah with sheffield’s fantatsic Mojo and the Beatniks and Smerrin’s Anti Social Club from Bristol. Bring on the dancing sheep …..

Live Events, Twitter and minor updates.

Vex — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:49:03 +0000

Just a quick heads up for those in Manchester and Leeds, we’re headlining the Oxjam Festival in Leeds on Sunday October 25th on a boat.

For those in Manchester on December 4th I highly suggest you grab a ticket to see us and the electronic marvel that is From The Kites of San Quentin. We really enjoyed playing with them back in August at Thirsty Ear with Kid Kanevil.

Small updates at http://www.myspace.com/vexthesurgeon and Facebook and Twitter accounts if you’re down with all that jazz.

A couple of links to throw out before I sign off.

- I fucked a mermaid…