On 26 March, Home of Metal are hosting their forth and final open day at The Public, “Think Antiques Roadshow for metal fans”.

Metal fans of all ages are being invited to share their memorabilia and stories with the digital archive , further cementing West Midlands as the birthplace of Metal.

Home of Metal celebrates the music that was created in the West Midlands, its legacy and influence across the world and how the social history of the region was a fundamental ingredient in providing the backdrop against which Heavy Metal was created, defined and reshaped over the past decades.

They’ll have activities going on throughout the day, hosted by Kerrang! Radio DJ Johnny Doom who’ll be talking to former ‘Raw Power’ presenter, Ozzfest compere and all round Metal expert Krusher (he’s the jolly looking chap below).

Artist duo Juneau Project, will also be on hand with family activities including creating your own D.I.Y guitar, plus rock photographer Steve Gerrard will be dishing out advice during his photography masterclass.

The masterclass is limited to 15 places – to guarantee a spot on the day, call The Public on 0121 533 7161.

It’s actually a little tricky to find out about local music around the city, I find. This is the stuff I know about, feel free to add other stuff in the comments.

News

Brum Notes is the website for the free, monthly music and lifestyle magazine (Nov issue out now, Oct one online here).

The Birmingham Post have news and reviews here and the Birmingham Mail do rock/pop news.

Fused Magazine‘s site does the odd bit of music news, as does the website for sister magazine Area.

Surge Music takes a wider, Midlands-wide view of things, with articles and lists of gigs, bands and venues.

Cul-de-Sac turned out to be a false dawn for this sort of thing, but may come back one day.

@birminghamlive and @brumpunks are good sources for concert info too.

Reviews

Birmingham Live is the obvious choice here – someone from their ranks of volunteer reviewers and photographers will be at a gig in Birmingham pretty much every evening. Steve Gerrard organises this one (Lee Allen and I have also chipped in occasionally).

The Hearing Aid is a blog by someone called The Baron who goes to an impressive number of local gigs.

The Birmingham Mail do gig reviews too.

Get-togethers

The Birmingham Music Network meets monthly at the Department of Technology, Engineering and the Environment (T.E.E.) at Millennium Point. Their website has a good range of resources too.

Audio

I’m on shakier ground here – which radio shows promote local talent There’s Brumcast on Rhubarb Radio and Introducing on BBC WM. I don’t know enough about the shows on New Style Radio, Aston FM or any others.

Are there any Birmingham-based mp3 blogs worth talking about?

Anything else?

Let me know in the comments. Just to be clear, we’re not looking for bands/venues/promoters to plug themselves but if that’s you, where do you look to get featured?

Oh, and see also Birmingham listings.

(pic – The Editors by Steve Gerrard from the opening night of the new Academy)

Tony Iommi – guitarist for Black Sabbath – is the next person to be honoured, which ties in nicely with the Home of Metal project:

Home of Metal encourages fans of Black Sabbath to be photographed wearing their prized band t-shirts.  Images will be taken by the Birmingham photographer Steve Gerrard. The photographs will then go on display on the Home Of Metal website and in future exhibitions.

That’s all happening on 23 Nov at 6.30pm, with Kerrang hosting live bands in Centenary Square earlier in the afternoon.  More info on the Home of Metal blog.

Capsule are hosting Racebannon + Trencher + Dream Dreams The Dreamer at the Hare & Hounds later that evening. They’ve also got Clinic at the Factory Club tomorrow (Thurs) night.

Last word goes to Tony (from the Walk of Stars website):

It’s great – it’s really an honour – I’m really proud of it … I was shocked!  It’s so nice to have things like that! I’ve got one out in LA but I’m not from LA – It’s so nice being recognised in your home town”

Steve’s blogging is sometimes used as an example of how a creative type can use use regular updates to showcase their work effectively. But then why would anyone not want to read a blog that turns out images like this:

Birmingham Live, for most, is a website that posts up reviews and some excellent photographs of bands playing in Birmingham.  There are people out there covering gigs almost every night of the week.

However, for the up and coming music photographers and reviewers involved, it’s a platform where they can learn their craft and get some much-needed exposure, while gaining access to photo pits that would otherwise have been off-limits.  Here I should probably disclose that I’m one of those reviewers.

Anyway, Birmingham Live, as an entity has been progressing quite a bit recently and the website has just been overhauled to make it prettier and nicer to use.

Frankie went and interviewed Steve Gerrard, the site’s head honcho, who talked about the idea and ethos behind the site, how it’s helped contributors and how he sees the site developing: