The Destroyers are one of Birmingham’s more intriguing musical outfits. A 15 piece (give or take) group made up of alumni from the Birmingham Conservatoire plus other like minded souls they formed three years ago having met at various jam sessions in the city.
The core of their sound is Klezmer, “a musical tradition which parallels Hasidic and Ashkenazic Judaism”, and East European folk music which they play with great precision occasionally layering their own twists and influences onto the music. They also have experimented with mixing this style with other genres, bringing in regular singer Paul Murphy and, quite recently, a rapper.
They’re also becoming well know for their live accompaniment of vintage films. The BFI commissioned them to play alongside the Mitchell & Kenyon collection of circa 1900 films which they performed at last years Artsfest. There was also a Halloween gig at the Glee Club where they accompanied clips from The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, Nosferatu, Faust and Night of the Living Dead. A couple of these have surfaced on YouTube…
Night of the Living Dead
The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari
The future looks good for The Destroyers. They continue to pack out venues and a full album is planned for this year.
Thanks for the shout out.
Upcoming stuff we’ve got planned:
* recording the second of 3 sessions which will make up our full length to be released in 2007
* Performing at ‘The World in One Place’ a concert organised by Musicate – another interesting and innovative Birmingham based organisation – http://www.musicate.org
* a bunch of festival dates this summer
Keep those eyes and ears peeled….
PAUL MURPHY
you utter utter legened!!! just thought id mention, That your set at shambala playing the guitar for the shambala radio was utterly beautifull…. Your songs about fairy tales and legends are wonderfull :D. So stay dench ;) and dont forgett that cress is as many ss as it wants not just on cotton wool or in a patatoe :) never mind about flipflops and them thongs that them australians call them…. I wont forgett them tunes ever!
So thankyou :)