Peach Club, Future Fires, Miss World and Pool at The Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham, 6th February 2018

Sorry for the delay getting these scanned, I’ve just been under the weather the past week. Luckily I didn’t get ill until after the gig! I love seeing bands like Peach Club - standing up for yourself and taking no nonsense. I always wish I had this much sass. They had friendship bracelets for merch, which I think is such a wonderful idea for connecting to listeners. Music is so important. <3

I also printed my Hourlies! it includes 2 gig sketches in the back pages from Kaleidoscope. It’s available to order online though my Etsy shop. I’ll also be taking my comics and zines to the next Kaleidoscope event on Thursday 1st March at the Night Owl, Digbeth. Please come say hi! There will be live music and art! A lot of the zine fairs and comic shows seem to be confirming tables quite last minute this year - please look out on my twitter for more event announcements

"Guitars, bags of attitude and dancey undercurrents galore" - Medium Magazine Future Fires are a four-piece rock band from Birmingham, UK. Inspired by Birmingham indie giants such as Editors and the rough-and-ready rock of Royal Blood and The White Stripes, Future Fires combine signature thumping guitar riffs with singalong choruses. 

Forming in 2017 the band shot too early success with a high-profile slot on the main stage at Coventry's Godiva Festival alongside The Amazons and Carl Barat and the Brummie boys have been going from strength to strength ever since, getting involved with the West Midlands' growing independent music scene playing alongside Ivory Wave, The Clause, and Candid.

 "Bound to cause scenes at a summer festival" - Counteract Their debut release, 'Far' garnered local media attention and widespread radio play, including airing on BBC Introducing, and propelled the band on a series of headline and support slots across the country.

Performances at venues such as The Sunflower Lounge and Zigfrid Von Underbelly soon led to support slots for Avalanche Party and The Scruff in conjunction with This Feeling. "The kind of band you'd really enjoy live" - BBC Introducing Comprised of front-man Adam Norman, guitarist John Bidder, bassist Matt Levesley and drummer Alex Cowie, Future Fires are currently gigging across the country in support of their latest releases.

I look forward to reading this. I am very proud of your accomplishments, and for the future fires that I know burn within you. Because you are the daughter of Mark, and Christina, and that makes you special. Love, Dad.

Bollente . Future Fires . 2012

I woke up to the feel of your embrace

My heart was a turnstile

I felt something worthwhile 

that I haven't felt for years and I'm afraid

I just can't settle down

It's just not my style

Ooh, lost in your eyes

SONG DU JOUR: Blink the Star - Future Fires

As mentioned previously, Hip-Hop Heroines is part of larger programme based at Contact called Future Fires.Being a part of this programme means that I get a lot of support with my project in terms of training and funding. 

The first Future Fires training session proved to be a very insightful and enjoyable weekend. The group luckily got to spend two weekends with three members from the Brazilian cultural group Afro Reggae who are based in Rio de Janerio and are known internationally  for their pioneering work in taking young people out of the drug/gang culture of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas (shantytowns). Their mission is 'to promote social justice using art and education to bridge differences and create the foundations with which to build sustainability and exercise citizenship .'

During the first weekend we had many group discussion where we were able to draw on the vast knowledge of Afro Reggae's experience of working with young people in a creative way and discuss some of their challenges they face working in very deprived and dangerous areas. We also got a chance to think about our own projects and  were asked to consider our skills and needs as creative practitioners, which was quite surprising for me as I wasn't expecting to    

 The most exciting part of these sessions for me was the practical side. We took part in dancing and drumming workshops, which I really enjoyed especially the drumming.

The second weekend we met with other creative arts organisations  across the UK as we are all involved in Cultural Warriors, which was the programme that enabled Afro Reggae to come and work with other creative groups in the UK. It was chance for us to network with these organisations and see how we could work together and support each other.