Earlier in February Capsule presented Home of Metal at the Waterhall gallery in Birmingham city centre. The project aim? To celebrate Birmingham and the Black Country as the birthplace of Heavy Metal and “create a digital archive of everything heavy metal from the 60′s to now”. It is all part of an ongoing mission to encourage Birmingham metal fans to bring in memorabilia which will help tell the story of the genre and generate a collective home for metal identity.

At the packed out event, first and foremost, Home of Metal paid homage to the central innovators: Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Napalm Death and Godflesh. Why these bands? Each plays an unforgettable role in the development of the region as the Metal mecca: Sabbath were the founding fathers of doom, whose pioneering sound undoubtedly set the standard of Heavy Metal, Zeppelin became the unstoppable and dominating engine of hard rock, Judas Priest converted the world as ‘Metal Gods’ with hard mythology, Napalm Death brought us into the 80s with grindcore and Godflesh took 90′s Metal sound into the industrial landscape.

The proceedings were hosted by Kerrang! Radio legend Johnny Doom, and he was accompanied by special guests Mike Clement, stalwart of stage design and guitar tech for Sabbath’s Tony Iommi, and documentary maker Chris Phipps. Phipps, Birmingham born music historian and film maker, presented four film screenings, including his own classic ‘Motor City Music Years’, that tell some of the story of the evolution of blues-rock and Metal in the midlands. They were Motor City Music Years, The Scum Story, Judas Priest – British Steel and Napalm Death – DVD.

Part of the event also included a Metal Heritage Tour hosted by Chris Phipps. The whistlestop insight included some key spots around the city famed for their connections with Metal. The stop included a call to the recently refurbished Town Hall – home of many an infamous gig – and would of also have taken in The Golden Eagle on Hill Street, Whisky Agogo and Hurst Street, original spot of The Diskery, record shop famed for it’s influence as an important vintage blues retailer if we had the time on the day.

Most importantly Home of Metal was an opportunity for music fans to collaborate in an effort to map the musical heritage of their town. No doubt each piece brought in had a valuable history of its own – a relic of a wild night or unforgettable performance, the hope is that in the act of donation we have a role to play in a bigger project. Home of Metal is ultimately providing the community with a chance to experience some brilliant moments that have shaped our culture, something to be proud of. The project has received a wealth of support from homegrown talent, from the army of volunteers committing time to archiving to the photography of Birmingham legend Steve Gerrard (portraits of fans at the top of the page).

For the future, Home of Metal will be rolling across venues around the West Midlands in order to gather hidden treasures from farther a field. The next event will be a screening of ‘The Song Remains the Same’ as part of the Flatpack Festival on March 14th at South Birmingham College. This is a chance to see the Zeppelin classic, penned as “the band’s special way of giving their millions of friends what they had been clamouring for — a personal and private tour of Led Zeppelin.”

There will also be a journey into the urban anecdotes of expert Chris Phipps, who will try to decode the history of the band and the film. Home of Metal is also commissioning an ongoing project called ‘Tea Towels and Tours’. For this they are encouraging guest artists to create the ultimate souvenir to compliment the promotion of Birmingham and the Black Country as a music heritage destination.

For the summer, Home of Metal will take its place at the Supersonic Festival in July. They have a number of talks in the pipeline that will explore the region’s impact on the global music scene and of course the chance to take part in the Antiques Road of Metal will continue.

Moving forward, the long-term aim is to create a permanent collection for the region and dedicate a large-scale homage to Black Sabbath for the re-launch of Aston Hall. They want to continue working in partnership with the Wolverhampton Art Gallery, the New Art Gallery in Walsall and the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery in order to solidify the name of Home of Metal into public consciousness for the future. Of course all of this needs your support to work, something suitably summed up by Sabbath’s Tony Iommi:

“I’m really proud to be a Brummie and to call Birmingham my home, that’s why I’m supporting the Home of Metal events and message. Your surroundings and experiences influence your music so it’s important for people to know where that music came from!“

Jon Watson