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…

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…

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.

Our 4th Party Rockin Mammal Sessions @ The Bulls Head in Moseley, Birmingham was one of our favourite, diverse, but equally party rockin, with Funk and Breaks from our special guest Badaboon, and Swing, Breaks, and Drum and Bass from our resident Marc Reck. Really filmic visuals from Liam Blendstate and superb door hosting from our workshop and performance co-ordinator Pyn. And the mammals on the floor were legendary.

Sat night was my first 5 hour set for the first of the Night Times Presents events at the Hare. and Hounds main room, and also the official Night Times awards party. We got certificates, there were no “I’d like to thank..” speeches (thankfully) and while it was a top night, i do today wish i’d have took my ear plugs!

Weird seeing my big face on a poster, but ultimately makes you put the work in and inspired us to try something new. (Photo by Dave Piper). So last week …

Big shout to the roots and mammals for a memorable party rockin mammal sessions, and to our special guest Olbi Iyah who dropped a great selection of reggae, dancehall and ragga….

Our camera ran out immediately after that shot, but Laura kindly captured some of the mayhem when our resident Marc Reck was rinsing the breaks and jungle to some very up for it party rockin mammals!

..went remarkably well and trunks up to all those who made it happen! The first half (6-9pm) saw 3 half hour showcase sets for some visiting student reps, as part of the afternoon gigbeth conference, and despite it being an early eve performances, Smiley Mic, Mama Matrix and our very own Dj Marc Reck and Vj Liam Blendstate, all demonstrated in full effect what they do.

From 9pm was the aforementioned gigbeth fringe show organised by Consider it Done, with a little input from us. Apparently, and thankfully for us, it was one of the busiest venues, and turned out to be a really fantastic evening attracting a truly ecletic mix of people..

Last saturday was the first elephant call to t!he local party rockin mammals, when we inhabited the Bulls Head in Moseley. With our resident vj Blendstate at the helm of his multi screen visuals, and our resident dj Marc Reck at the sonic controls, we expected it to go off elephant style…Quite how much though we really didnt expect…

We’ve just been sent this at Mr Elephant Hq. A proper review by up and coming event journalist Domonic Brotherton and photographs courtesy of the very talented Alina!

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…

So this thursday is the screening of the Finished with the War Piece as part of this years “New Vibes”.  It’s a dance on film piece choreographed by Lucy Nicholls, directed by Liam D’Authereau, with performances by Saffy Setohy, Pippa Lund, and Krista Vuori, and also features my first 12 minute soundtrack.

This is the first time i’ve been asked to compose a track for a dance on film piece, yet this will be my second outing as part of new vibes, as a dj/vj/dance piece i worked on with Birmingham …