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  • 4 days ago
Defects, Cherrydead, Gans and Meatdripper headline a special one-off event celebrating Birmingham’s legacy as the birthplace of metal. Hosted by Darren Harriott and backed by BBC Radio WM, the show brings the next generation of heavy music to the iconic Town Hall.

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00:00Birmingham didn't just birth a genre, it built a culture.
00:05And while the headlines this week focus on Sabbath's final bow at Villa Park,
00:09the next generation of heavy music is already making noise.
00:13Tonight's event at Town Hall isn't a tribute act, it's a rally.
00:17Four rising bands are a historic venue and a crowd that knows their riffs from their roots.
00:22Chris Proctor helped shape the event from its booking to its bigger meaning,
00:26especially when it comes to what this city still offers heavy music.
00:31From the industrial heritage of the city, that raw sound that came out from the 60s and 70s,
00:39it's still not gone away.
00:43There's so much untapped talent in Birmingham and for us we have a role to platform and champion that with tonight's gig.
00:52The Town Hall stage has held plenty of volume over the years, but not like this.
00:58The band stepping up tonight represent different branches of the same tree rooted in Sabbath.
01:03Grown through defiance, their sounds may diverge, sludge, new metal, punk, doom.
01:09But they share a lineage.
01:11For many, playing this venue is more than just a gig.
01:14It's a homecoming, a statement and a weight to carry in front of a local crowd that knows its history.
01:19You know, Black Sabbath have played here.
01:22You know, it's literally like this is like the birthplace of metal, Birmingham.
01:26So, like, for us, you know, and listening to Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest over the years,
01:32like, growing up, like, it's definitely helped shape to more modern sound for us.
01:36Like, without those bands, without places like this where they performed and grew their band once upon a time,
01:42bands like us wouldn't exist.
01:43Inside, it was pure catharsis, amps roaring, bodies moving, history thick in the air,
01:49but it's the aftermath that often tells you the most.
01:52Out here, you can still hear the buzz, voices roar, ears ringing, eyes lit up.
01:57For some, this was their first proper heavy gig.
02:00For others, it was another notch in a lifelong glove of Brum's loudest export.
02:04Either way, there's no mistaking the impact nights like this can still have on the people who turn up.
02:10This gig here tonight has been brilliant.
02:14You know, it's just like everyone's having a laugh.
02:17Everyone's having a good time.
02:18I saw Cherry Dead's were absolutely incredible.
02:22It's great to see, like, an all-female Birmingham and Black Country.
02:26I'm a Black Country girl myself.
02:28So, seeing that representation live on stage.
02:30And I just think it's so important and so good to see us finally leaning into that heavy metal heritage.
02:37So, flying the flag, bringing that sort of energy and that sort of that raw sound,
02:43which, of course, has got sort of resonance with the machine shops
02:46and sort of the factories that sort of the members of Sabath worked in
02:50when they sort of had careers, if you like, before they became professional musicians.
02:55And the rest, as they say, is history.
02:57And the rest, as they say, is history.

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