#futureyard

Birkenhead is perhaps best known as being the best place to view the famous Liverpool skyline. But Birkenhead is also home to Tranmere Rovers, Half Man Half Biscuit, Cammell Laird ship building yard, a defunct tram system and Stairways (the greatest alternative music club known to 16 year olds). For better or worse Birkenhead is also my hometown.

That’s why I’ve been really excited to see its name popping up on lots of gig-posters recently, courtesy of the new venue Future Yard. (Yes, this massively local news to me but I’m sharing anyway!)

Since opening its doors in April 2021, Future Yard has already hosted Shame, Black Country, New Road and is also set to host Lazarus Kane, BDRMM and OMD.

In its continuing commitment to live music and supporting the next generation of musicians, Future Yard has recently announced a new artist membership scheme: Propeller.

Propeller will give up and coming acts access to quality practice space, bespoke mentor support and expert knowledge. Through this membership scheme Future Yard will “work with early-career and established artists with huge potential, to help them develop their work, build their audience and establish robust career foundations.”

Project lead and mentor Cath Hurley says, “Having worked with exciting and emerging talent for the past 15 years, it’s easy to spot where the disconnects lie in the pathway for regional talent who deserve to progress on to a world stage…Future Yard is creating a community where information and experience is shared freely and opportunities can be sought out and maximised in order to grow.”

To help support artists in achieving this, Propeller members will have a tailored development plan. They will also have access to workshops and classes provided not only by Future Yard, but also by industry leaders who come from a variety of institutions including Bandcamp, Redlight Management, Partisan Records and The Musicians’ Union.

Cath Hurley again, “The wider Propeller team is packed full of professionals that inspire us and have achieved great results with special artists. I can’t wait to introduce them to our growing community of local talent. Music in our region is so special and I can’t wait to hear so much of it thudding out of our rehearsal rooms and onto our stage.”

Put together by the team behind Bido Lito! magazine, a local monthly which has been promoting arts and culture on Merseyside for the best part of a decade now, the stated aim of Future Yard was to put the much neglected Birkenhead back on the map by re-imagining venues and spaces around the city. Best known as a shipbuilding town prior to the decline of that industry during the second half of the 20th century, Birkenhead is often synonymous with crime and poverty in the minds of many. Frequently dismissed as living in the shadow of its world famous neighbour across the Mersey, it's a city with a rich history of its own. Besides containing an array listed buildings that includes the stunning 850-year-old Birkenhead Priory, it was also home to England's first street tramway system. In addition to this there's Birkenhead Park, the first in the world to be financed using public funds and a forerunner to the Parks Movement which inspired the likes of Central Park in New York and Sefton Park in Liverpool. Although based there Future Yard is not just about the host city, it's about the wider Wirral area of which Birkenhead is essentially the capital. Flanked in the south west by the River Dee, the oblong shaped peninsula also has historical and social connections with parts of North Wales. Featuring a diverse range of local talent performing alongside national and international artists, Future Yard couldn't have picked a better weekend on which to host its inaugural festival of "weird Wirral wonderment". FRIDAY Arriving at the Priory early on the Friday, it was a good opportunity catch a glimpse of PYLON. An installation created by Wirral-born electronic artist Forest Swords in collaboration with the Kazimer, it was housed in the refurbished Priory refectory. Comprised of a pylon with a series of programmed symbols running through the middle, they would be "activated" by artists such as Scalping, Luke Abbot and others across the weekend. Designed as a space for "improvisation, exploration and contemplation", the plylon was positioned in the centre of the room and encircled by pillows on which a number of early arrivals could be found enjoying its meditative sounds while waiting for Samurai Kip to kick off the festival with their blend of jazz, funk and soul.

It's never easy opening a festival, particularly a brand new one, but the local quartet put on a good performance for a small crowd. The setting couldn't be more perfect, with the rarely seen summer sun shining down over the Priory garden. There was a large naval ship docked behind the mobile bar selling cold cans of Future Yard pale ale which had been brewed exclusively for the festival by Black Lodge in the Baltic Triangle. It was difficult to leave the Priory garden but if you wanted to witness the West Kirby-born Bill Ryder-Jones perform an intimate piano set in the fifty capacity max Priory Chapel then there was little time to snooze on the grass. A queue began to form twenty-plus minutes before the set began, which in turn led to a fifteen minute delay so a speaker could be put outside. Revealing that he wasn't particularly in the mood, the former Coral man was in good form but some of the audience were a little slow to react to his jokes at first. Beginning by taking a few requests, Jones performed a heartfelt set playing the likes of 'John', the incredibly sad 'Daniel' about his deceased brother, as well as 'There Are Worse Things I Could Do'.

There's usually a point where a festival really kicks off and it was a performance in the Priory garden by The Intergalactic Republic of Kongo that really got Future Yard going after somewhat slow-ish start. With the audience hesitant to come too closer, IRoK vocalist and driving force Mike Title jumped over the railings and practically dragged everyone forward. Dealing in a mix of Afrofuturism and early 90's dance-rock, the highlight was when they called a young kid up on stage and let him take over vocal duties for one of the songs. The young lad enjoyed himself so much that you thought they might have had a job on their hands getting the microphone back off him.

Given the hype starting to grow around the London-based six-piece over the past year, you'd have thought Black Country, New Road would have attracted a larger audience than they did in the Priory garden. Some sound issues delayed things by about ten minutes but their performance was easily one of the best of the weekend. Their sound is an experimental blend of post-punk, noise rock, jazz and Balkan folk, which can perhaps best described as listening to Swans, Slint, Tortoise and King Crimson all at once, with a tense and fearful David Byrne-esque character on vocals. Cacophonous and incredibly gripping, the sax and violin really add to the dark tension they create. Keep your eye on this band. The Priory garden cleared out pretty quickly as the majority of people headed off to check out what was on at the Town Hall and the Bloom Building. However, it soon filled back up as new faces arrived to catch Australian singer-songwriter Stella Donnelly. Unsure whether to stick or twist, the kind offer of a beer from a fellow festival goer persuaded us to stick and we were very glad that we did.

Connected to the area via her Welsh mother, Stella Donnelly performed a few tracks solo before being joined by her bandmates. Having not been that impressed with her album Beware of the Dogs earlier in the year, she was brilliant live and put in perhaps the funniest show of the weekend. Sharp and very witty, the chemistry she has with her band was also great to witness. It was a pleasure to be proven wrong. After spending most of the day at the Priory it was about time to check out the Bloom Building properly. Conveniently only a minute down the road, it was quite packed down when we'd poked our heads in earlier on. Holding around a hundred-or-so max with extra space outside, the audience at the brightly coloured converted industrial unit tended to be younger on average than those in and around the Priory. Although this wasn't the case for experimental trio Szun Waves, with the crowd being a little older but also fairly sparse during parts of their fifty minute set. Made up of electronic producer Luke Abbott, Laurence Pike of PVT on drums and Jack Wyllie of Portico Quartet on sax, their psychedelic electronic jazz explorations were perhaps a little too experimental for most of those who popped their heads in and out at various times. Bill Ryder-Jones took to the stage in the Town Hall as the Friday night headline act and seemed a little wobbly after one too ales throughout the day. Despite this though it didn't prevent him and his band from putting in a great performance, with the shoegazey and slowcore blend of 'Satellites' being one of a number of standout tracks in their ninety minute set.

After recognising numerous family and friends dotted around in the audience, he joked about how it's nice that the locals don't have to get a taxi back across the river after watching live music for once. After a bit more piss taking he uttered "no divisions" with a wry smile. But it wasn't an inter-city rivalry which divided the room, it was the large numbers of people at the back insisting on chattering constantly throughout his performance, with Jones asking them to keep quiet numerous occasions. SATURDAY Day two began very early for some with a two hour bike tour. Titled 'Viking Wirral on Wheels' it was scheduled to depart the Priory gates at 10:30am. How many people made it we have no idea, but we spotted a group of about two dozen heading out on a walking tour just after 1pm led by a local historian. Preferring something a bit more relaxing, we sat back and watched some yoga in the Priory garden and had a look at the Saturday's offerings. Kicking off the second day of music at the Priory was a programme curated by Focus Wales, an annual festival held in Wrexham which showcases the finest in Welsh talent. Opening this was Flintshire-born melodic soundscape artist Meilir who hopped between an electronic piano, an acoustic guitar and a typewriter, with his most powerful instrument being his stunning vocals. In addition, the Focus Wales showcase included performances by Cardiff-based electronic pop artist Ani Glass (formerly of The Pipettes in which she performed with her sister of Gwenno Saunders), as well as electronic pop duo HMS Morris who were performing in Liverpool for only the second time.

Merging North Wales with Merseyside were seven-piece melancholic pop band Gintis, with members from both Abergele and Liverpool. Crowds were starting to pick up a bit by the time they performed just after 5pm and they certainly made the best of their time on stage on what was turning out to be a super hot day. Despite the sun shining down we headed inside to the Priory Chapel to witness one of the highlights of the festival where Lo Five got the Reformat showcase rolling. The Liverpool-born, Hoylake-based electronic artist put together a seamless set of melodic, ambient techno-inspired tunes that had us hypnotised. We could easily have listened to another couple more hours of that. Faced with a difficult choice, we went with Seatbelts down at the Town Hall over the highly rated Eyesore & the Jinx over at the Bloom Building. It was good to stretch our legs a bit after spending most of the day sat on the grass in the Priory garden. We certainly weren't the only ones who spent large parts of their weekend basking in the sun.

Assembled by Hooton Tennis Club songwriting duo James Madden and Ryan Murphy after they began writing tunes that were a little more experimental, their socially conscious songs are great fun live. Abi Woods on keys and vocals has been a great addition to this band, who with two solid EP's behind them are certainly one to keep an eye on. Rather than walk ten minutes to the other venues only we grabbed a pint and waited for Beija Flo to enter the stage. It's pretty difficult to pick one standout act from the weekend as there were multiple but she has to be in the conversation. Her performance had everything, featuring a bit of poetry, comedy, dance and activism in between some great music.

She puts so much of her personality into her art and had the full attention of everyone in the Town Hall, opening up at one point about her issues with MRKH Syndrome (a condition which causes the vagina and uterus to be underdeveloped or absent, affecting one in five thousand women). An incredibly original artist who has the potential to go very far indeed. Line-up clashes are virtually inevitable at one point or another, especially with line-ups as good as Future Yard. It was certainly the case on Saturday evening. Pixx, Polypores and SPQR are all great and we were gutted that we were forced to miss them, but we just couldn't miss the opportunity to see Nilüfer Yanya perform in the Priory garden..

With the sun gone for another day, the 23-year old West London-born artist put in a fantastic performance. Playing tracks from her critically acclaimed full-length debut Miss Universe, the BBC Sound of 2018 nominee closed the Priory stage with her sophisticated blend of art pop, indie rock, soul, R&B and jazz. The sax playing was just superb. With no other performances taking place during her Saturday night headline set, the entire festival headed over to the Town Hall to witness Anna Calvi. It didn't take very long to see why many were happy to pay for a ticket just to see the Mercury-nominated singer-songwriter. While her studio material is pretty good, live she is something else entirely. A force of nature.

With the first ever Future Yard festival kicking off in Birkenhead in just a few days time, we've been getting pretty excited here at GIGsoup. Created by the team behind Bido Lito! magazine, the festival will open its doors on Friday 23rd for two days of music from a diverse range of local, national and international artists. With over fifty performances taking place across the bank holiday weekend, we've selected the five artists that we're looking forward to seeing the most. Beija Flo With her father being among the first to introduce capoeira in Britain (an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics, and music), and her mother also being a cabaret performer and a clown, Beija Flo was always going to have an interesting career ahead of her. Named after the Portuguese for hummingbird, the Essex-born artist arrived on Merseyside via the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts and has quickly become one of the most unique talents in the city today. More than just a musician, she's a performance artist who brings together elements of dance, theatre and activism into the her boundary pushing, immersive and deeply personal live shows. Part of the Eggy Records family, she’s perhaps best known for her stunning second single ‘Mary’ which was released in March last year. If you want to witness something a little bit different at Future Yard then head over to Birkenhead Town Hall on Saturday evening from 20:15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8dijl43N7Y Black Country, New Road The London-based six piece came together off the back of an old project in the summer of 2018 and have been blowing minds with their cacophonous, experimental blend of post-punk, noise, jazz and Balkan folk featuring angsty, Black Mirror-esque lyrics. With only one single released thus far in the form of the excellent Speedy Wunderground issued 'Athen's, France', their sets uploaded to YouTube from Brixton's Windmill have been driving much of the steadily building hype. Full of twists and turns, their performances are incredibly gripping with sax and violin adding to the apocalyptic tension. If you're into bands such as Swans, Slint, Tortoise and King Crimson then you should definitely to get yourself down to Birkenhead Priory from 19:45 on Friday night. https://soundcloud.com/speedywunderground/sw026-black-country-new-road-athens-france Lo Five After releasing a selection of albums on Bandcamp from 2014, the Liverpool-born, Hoylake-based multi-instrumentalist electronic artist Lo Five came to wider attention in 2017 with When It’s Time To Let Go. Issued via Patterned Air, it received positive reviews from a number of publications, including a write up in experimental music magazine The Wire by the one and only Simon Reynolds. In addition to releasing his own material, Lo Five is also the leader of the Emotion Wave crew. Known for putting on regular events which showcase the best local electronic artists, they will be curating Reformat at Future Yard where Lo Five will be joined by Polypores, Foxen Cyn, Bye Louis and DJ Luna. If you love melodic electronic music then get yourself along to Priory Chapel & Green from 18:00 on the Saturday where Lo Five will be opening the Reformat showcase. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_aZE1h8EWA Nilüfer Yanya Twice turned down in her efforts to study a popular music degree, the 23-year old West London-born artist whose parents are of Turkish and Bajan origin began playing at open mic nights and uploading her music to SoundCloud. Louis Tomlinson of One Direction was impressed enough to offer her a place in a girl group he was forming. Thankfully, she rejected the offer to concentrate on her own music and made a breakthrough with the single 'Baby Luv' in late 2017. After three EPs in as many years between 2016 and 2018, her full-length debut Miss Universe arrived back in March. A sophisticated blend of art pop, indie rock, soul, R&B and jazz with husky and intelligent vocals, it was met with widespread acclaim and fully justified the hype that has surrounded her since being named on the BBC Sound of 2018 longlist. It's unfortunate that her set clashes with the likes of Pixx, Polypores and SPQR, but Nilüfer Yanya's headline performance on the Saturday at Birkenhead Priory from 21:15 should not be missed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iekDxslbyew Working Men's Club The West Yorkshire via Italy and Poland group started life as a trio after meeting at college in Manchester but have since added a fourth member. We've only heard three songs from them thus far but you couldn't ask for a better introduction from a new band. Blending post-punk and new wave on their first single 'Bad Blood' and its b-side 'Suburban Heights', their second single 'Teeth' shifted their sound in a darker, more electronic direction. Taking cues from late 70's and early 80's artists such as Talking Heads, New Order and Suicide, we don't know which direction they might take on their next release but we're very excited to hear more from the Heavenly Recordings signed band. Be sure to catch them on Saturday evening in the Bloom Building from 20:45. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqQkFYxV25Y The inaugural Future Yard will take place across five performance spaces in Birkenhead on Friday 23rd and 24th August. For more details about the festival, including how to purchase weekend and day tickets, head over to FutureYard.org

Songwriting duo James Madden and Ryan Murphy have been making guitar pop together for the best part of a decade, previously as one half of the popular Hooton Tennis Club (currently on indefinite hiatus), and now as the wry, socially observant Seatbelts. The birth of Seatbelts can be traced back to late 2017, when songs they were writing together started to take on a different, more experimental form. Not feeling that they were very well suited to their old band, they formed a new band through which to channel them. Joining forces with Abi Woods (keys, vocals) and Alex Quinn (drums), they released their Kurt Vonnegut-inspired debut EP Songs For Vonnegut last summer. Wasting very little time, they followed it up with another EP this past April in the form of the excellent Please Slow Down. In the sixth of our series of interviews with the Future Yard line-up, we spoke to Seatbelts about their music and their upcoming appearance at the festival. For someone who may never have come across your work before, how would you describe your music? And if you could recommend them one of your songs, which one would that be? Seatbelts make song-driven, melodic music. Full of surprises, with sounds that bring about a post-punk party atmosphere, and lyrics to get you thinking. A combination of singers create unpredictable vocal lines delivered with verve and belief. With this being said, we would recommend you start by listening to ‘Spanish Songs’ from our most recent EP Please Slow Down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-8rxYBtsCw Who or what have been the biggest influences on your sound? Casio, Parr Street, Scotland, heartbreak, Europe, vogue, SEX & sensitivity, cowbells, Postcard Records, Godard, capitalism. How well do you know Birkenhead and wider Wirral area? We played and made a bootleg recording at Fresh Goods Studio in 2018. Some of us of nearly from the Wirral. One of us works at the pierhead and looks at Birkenhead everyday. It’s said to be the Brooklyn to our New York. What’s your favourite festival memory, either as a performer or as a fan? A double rainbow appeared over the mountain stage at Green Man whilst Connnan Mockasin was swooning the crowd. Also, a sing-along to ‘Shipbuilding’ at the Glastonbury Stone Circle one sunrise. https://youtu.be/D-ghHq0dpmk Apart from yourselves, who would you recommend people go see at Future Yard? Bill Ryder-Jones, Audiobooks, SPQR, Strawberry Guy, and Bill Nickson. Why should festival goers take time out to come and see you play? What can they expect from your performance at Future Yard? We haven’t all been together since we travelled to the highlands in July, one of our members went off-grid to go and explore the Hebrides. We don’t know where they are or if they are alive, so we hope that when we play Future Yard our performance will have all the elements of a joyous reunion. Come along and find out if we got it together. Seatbelts will be performing at Future Yard on Saturday 25th August in Birkenhead Town Hall at 19:15. You can hear more music by Seatbelts over at Bandcamp. They can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. For more details about the festival, including how to purchase weekend and day tickets, head over to FutureYard.org