Deliaphonic x Boudica Festival Present
Stealing Sheep Wow Machine
Jerry Dammers DJ Set
The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum. Coventry
18th October 2019
To start off the annual Boudica Festival in Coventry and to conyinue the excellent Deliaphonic events to honour Coventry’s electronic music pioneer Deliah Derbyshire, Three piece Stealing Sheep give us ‘theatrical-musical-dance-art spectacular’ and founder of The Specials Jerry Dammers will give us a DJ set of Library Music. Fighting Boredom are looking forward to this one.
We park up in the very centre of Coventry, walk around the corner to the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum and pass the painted mural of Delia Derbyshire on the wall of the old Odean cinema. As this night is named after our very own pioneer of electronic music it’s a nice moment. The venue is magnificent, a modern addition to the museum it’s a high vaulted ceiling with alternate glass and plaster and wooden beams. The stage is set up at the far end with a globe projected. There’s a fair amount of people here already.
Jerry Dammers takes to the stage after talking to the woman sitting at a laptop next to it. Fighting Boredom were blown away by his DJ set at the Deliaphonic event at Coventry Cathedral so we are really looking forward to this. Jerry comes onstage behind two record decks, he moves the microphone, sorts through his box and puts his glasses on. He looks out at us and tells us that he is going to be playing Library Music, which is obscure, off the shelf music used for TV themes, films and the like, and that he will mainly be playing music from the sixties and seventies, lot’s of this stuff was released on Decca, he pauses to find the first record and says that nothing’s working, but the record crackles, the music starts and we are off. It’s a journey into space. The main thing about the music is that it’s odd, odd electronica, odd beats and pretty soon you get Pinky and Perky going into space. The screen has old pulp sci-fi pictures and films playing as the music flows by, alien landscapes and fried minds, there’s a flow into static and then a funky odd ska beat. Hammond organs come and go as the music heads further out there.
Jerry points out that the modern art looking psychedelic images on the screen are various covers from the library music records. ‘You can go to the toilet or bar but as it’s library music the only rule is don’t talk’ we get French library music and are told ‘The mistakes are all part of it’ the film turns to old black and white sci-fi and monster movies and cartoons, ‘If you’re starting to feel a bit bored then that’s good’ grins Jerry as he informs us that this is Italian library music now. It feels like being at your friend’s house while they play you music, it’s intimate and warm.
‘Here’s one you might recognise, as we’re in Coventry’ he plays Guns of Navarone and dances with his arms raised. ‘One last one, it’s Russian, the best and weirdest of all..’ It’s just brilliant, Jerry Dammers showing us the edges of library music which I for one will be travelling to again.
Stealing Sheep are a three piece electronic act that appear standing in a triangle with hands
clasped together above them to begin. They wear golden sparkling robes with the hoods up as electronica plays. They take their instruments and kick into funky electro with guitar, hypnotic bass and electronic sounding drums. They have an eighties pixelated planet on the screen behind them but their music sounds modern and fresh. They create odd distorted vocals over the top of the music.
Their music is funky and futuristic but not quite indie, not quite pop, the vocal turns to a pretty tuneful sound as the music carries on being just outside definition. Which is always a good thing. The sound turns more towards an eighties electronic tune and then to sophisticated synth pop. |It’s a dense layered sound and they move to dancing in front of the stage again, they lose their robes and carry on in pink skin suits. They dance then play again, there’s the sound of an organ and then back to the electro. Ultimatly though, they pale a little after the stratospheric journey we had just been taken on by Jerry Dammers. A good electronic evening. Deliah would have been proud.
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Stealing Sheep
All pictures by Martin Ward, all words by Adrian Bloxham
Jerry Dammers takes to the stage after talking to the woman sitting at a laptop next to it. Fighting Boredom were blown away by his DJ set at the Deliaphonic event at Coventry Cathedral so we are really looking forward to this. Jerry comes onstage behind two record decks, he moves the microphone, sorts through his box and puts his glasses on. He looks out at us and tells us that he is going to be playing Library Music, which is obscure, off the shelf music used for TV themes, films and the like, and that he will mainly be playing music from the sixties and seventies, lot’s of this stuff was released on Decca, he pauses to find the first record and says that nothing’s working, but the record crackles, the music starts and we are off. It’s a journey into space. The main thing about the music is that it’s odd, odd electronica, odd beats and pretty soon you get Pinky and Perky going into space. The screen has old pulp sci-fi pictures and films playing as the music flows by, alien landscapes and fried minds, there’s a flow into static and then a funky odd ska beat. Hammond organs come and go as the music heads further out there.
clasped together above them to begin. They wear golden sparkling robes with the hoods up as electronica plays. They take their instruments and kick into funky electro with guitar, hypnotic bass and electronic sounding drums. They have an eighties pixelated planet on the screen behind them but their music sounds modern and fresh. They create odd distorted vocals over the top of the music.
