Photos of June 25th Chill Pill at Soho Theatre & Chill Pill heading to Ireland

"One of Chill Pill's strongest shows yet, what great variety of styles and proof that the poetry scene in London is very much alive. GO CHILL PILL!" - Audience Member.

We packed out Soho Theatre on a Monday night with a poetry show and thanks to Patrick Rosalba, here's some photos from the night. Also, Chill Pill's silent ninja 'Kim Leng Hill's' filmed some highlights (coming soon).

Deanna Rodger

Simon Mole & Raymond Antrobus

Mista Gee

John Osborne

Kat Francois

George The Poet

Belinda Zhawi

Chill Pill audience get poems & jokes.

What's next for Chill Pill? well... We're going to IRELAND to provide poetry at The Liss Ard Festival - http://www.lissardfestival.com/

Then we're back in London for the Live & Unamplified Festival (UK's first Festival without amps) 3rd and 4th September - http://www.liveandunamplified.com/

Then we're back at The Albany Theatre for a very special show on September 27th.

See you then.

Wounded By Hit By A Rock (From Speed Camera Shy)

This is the debut album release from seasoned producer, remixer and soundtrack composer Jim Whelan aka Hit By A Rock (Speed Camera Shy).

A heady mix of electronic sounds and a distant descendent of dubstep, with more than a touch of dub reggae production, ‘Wounded’ is a beat-driven symphony of sounds, a soundtrack to inner city life

Featuring guest vocalists including Susheela Raman, Raymond Antrobus, Zayna Daze and Zewditu Johannes, ‘Wounded’ traverse genres, from world-infused vocals to bass heavy rhythms all tinged with some truly infectious melody lines

HBAR’s Jim Whelan has spent two years with his head in the speaker bins remixing tracks for a host of artists, allowing himself enough time to bring together a truly eclectic set of sounds to create an hour long masterpiece.

I am loving this beautifully atmospheric album at the moment, hear it on i-Tunes, Amazon & Spotify or buy it in HMV.

Here's some lovely reviews -

It’s hard to compare HBAR to many artists a lot of readers on here would be aware of, but ‘Surgery’ (featuring Raymond Antrobus) is somewhat reminiscent of Mothboy’s works with Akira the Don and it’s definitely an area of the album that I appreciated the most, with guttersnipe vocalisations and hook-line rhythm sections that snap out the lyrics with brutal conviction; more of this please.

http://blackaudio.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/hit-by-a-rock-wounded-cd-other-sounds-cherry-red/t sn

‘Wounded’ is both brutal and delicate, distorted but clear – a perfect balance; listening to this will whisk you through the inner city capturing snippets of sound as you pass by.'

http://louderthanwar.com/hit-by-a-rock-wounded-album-review/

Also check out our Speed Camera Shy album released last year if you want more wordy machine sounds.

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/speed-camera-shy/id435320962?affId=1503186

Contemporary Dance & Poetry. Sounds wank right? Watch this -

This is amazing and probably the first time I've seen Dance and Poetry merge as well as this... If you just want the poetry watch at 5:15 minutes in... but the whole piece is pretty good! - Props to my boy Anthony Anaxagorou and Mukhtar O.S Mukhtar for pulling this off.

Telling Mark (Poem from Polarbear workshop)

Polarbear ran a workshop at The Roundhouse last sunday. We spoke about writing imaginary conversations. Here's the first draft of a poem I got out of it. 

I’m sitting in a chair, it creaks when I move,

It sounds like it doesn’t want to take my weight.

I’m talking to Mark – he is playing the role

of my therapist. Mark says I don’t look like I’m all there.

Like parts of me pull in so many directions - 
                                                                      I'm never in one place.

I am staring at a crack in the wall

telling Mark about my dreams,

the dreams where grief

                                       is a suit I can’t take off,

Mark...

This might be the year my grandma dies –

This might be the year my other years anticipated.

This might be the year something about me that I like changes.

Mark looks at me like my body won’t take my weight

                                                                                       like I creak when I move.

Chill Pill - June 25th at Soho Theatre (Going IN)

These are two of London's hottest Spoken Word Artists of the next generation....

George The Poet (20 Years Old)



SGB (17 Years Old)



These poets will feature on June 25th, CHILL PILL at Soho Theatre along side these two (slightly older) superstars.

Luke Wright endorses John Osborne's face

John Osborne, author of Radio Head and The Newsagent's Window, both published by Simon&Schuster. Radio Head was broadcast as Radio 4's Book of the Week and described as 'captivating' by The Guardian, 'funny, perceptive and charming,' by The Daily Telegraph, and 'a warm, uplifting read. It made me go out and buy a new radio, too,' - Tim Key. 

First collection of poetry, What if men burst in wearing balaclavas? published in 2010 by Nasty Little Press. Have had poetry published in The Guardian, The Spectator, Rialto and The Big Issue. Performed poetry at Glastonbury, Latitude, Port Eliot and the Edinburgh Fringe.

Kat Francois models her forearm

Kat Francois, BBC3 TV poetry slam champion 2004/world poetry slam champion 2005. A well-known performance poet on the London Poetry scene. Resident poet at The Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London, where she hosts and organises monthly poetry and music nights, WORD4WORD and WORD4WORD SLAM.

Of course as well as all that you get to see the Chill Pill Poets - Mista Gee, Raymond Antrobus, Deanna Rodger & Simon Mole.

BUY TICKETS HERE - http://www.sohotheatre.com/whats-on/so-chilled-2012/ (ONLY £5)

3 Things You Need To Know If You're Into Spoken Word (See Saul Williams, Kate Tempest, John Osborne plus more)

In December 2011, Christopher Logue passed away, a shamefully under-known poet. A man who helped reawake the world to the fact that the writing and performance of poetry are two parts of the same process.

Fortunately, a number of an excellent poets will be gathering at The Wreck, near his old home of Camberwell, to celebrate the man, his poetry and his legacy. These include:

John Hegley
Kate Tempest
Angry Sam
Raymond Antrobus
Curious

There will be personal reminiscences from Logue's widow, the literary and cultural historian, Rosemary Hill, and from Rick Stroud, writer and TV director;

There will be a raffle, where members of the audience can read random pages from Prince Charming, Logue's autobiography;

And there will be sick tunes from Bobby Gandolf and Xahdrez.

BOOK TICKETS - http://sohotheatre.com/whats-on/so-chilled-2012/

Chill Pill is back at Soho Theatre on June 25th!

as well as the Chill Pill poets (Mista Gee, Deanna Rodger, Raymond Antrobus, Simon Mole) we'll be hearing from BBC Radio regular, poet 'John Osborne' and BBC 3 Slam Champion Kat Francois.  

John Osborne

Kat Francois

 Myself and poet Dzifa Benson have been coaching eight young poets to become Slam Champions for this Cultural Olympia project 'Shake The Dust'. This Saturday is the regional final at The Albany. Below is more Shake The Dust events you MUST SEE! 

Kate Tempest

National Shake the Dust Weekend 

Thursday 5 – Saturday 7 July | Southbank Centre

Three unmissable days of spoken word, featuring some of the most celebrated spoken word artists performing today, including Saul Williams, Kate Tempest, Lemn Sissay, Dizraeli and the Small Gods and many more. Plus films, music, FREE events and the UK ‘s biggest ever youth poetry slam! The Shake the Dust Champions, young poets from across the UK, will join forces with Southbank’s London Literature Festival to share a stage with top spoken word artists. 


shakethedust.co.uk / southbankcentre.co.uk

Saul Williams

Raymond Antrobus In The Poetry Shed

I joined Adam Kammerling's Poetry Shed Series.... pretty self explanatory... Adam invites poets into his shed for poems.

I was pretty ill on the day of filming this but I sucked it up and got all aggressive.

Love In Other Places (Poem)

draft


My heart belongs in no cage -

God gave me a heart loud enough to speak to so many cities –

London, Cape Town, Berlin, New York - they all know my voice when

I am a happy volcano. My love is a current that keeps me running,

running onto bomb testing sites. Can I train love to not put me into

demolition? Can my heart work in another city?   

Can I leave this place without parts of me missing?

Will my heart still have legs? Will it poison other beds? 

Am I thinking or am I looking for something in my own head?

My friend Gabriel says never say you are in love, say you are love,

say love every time you find it, say, your heart belongs in no cage.

Raymond Antrobus Featured on Dub/Funk Album - Skintologist

http://www.kudosrecords.co.uk/release/MELOR009/Skintologists_Dubble_Trubble.html

Dubble Trubble is the first full length release from bass and drum duo Mr Diablo (ex Welfare Heroine ) and Fritz Catlin (ex 23 Skidoo). Their dub reggae and funk fusions occupy a rarefied space, unquantised and autotune free, expressing all they know with every beat. At the root of their compositions Mr Diablo's bass rolls with a punky bebop tinged gait whilst Catlin's melodica playing is steeped with the birdsong he enjoys whilst working as a gardener. Influenced by the likes of Can as much as the more obvious dub masters of their youth,the musical intent is to heal as much as to challenge, using the waist winding power of swing like tai chi to ground the listener disattenuated by the info blizzard of modern life. Truly a fresh ground experience to savour at a time when most cultural output offers only instant but short lived gratification. The cover image of Skintologists' masterful debut album couldn't be more appropriate.With its suggestion of a place of residence about to be breeze-blocked byirate builders who later have second thoughts - and stop short of turning the residents home into a premature and yet permanent grave - it's got that threat of imminent violence familiar to anyone who ever lived in the London, England, borough of Hackney before it got gentrified. Yet, this could also double, or be read, as an act of nature, produced by some unforeseen seismic event. This is where Skintologists come in. With Fritz Catlin, who held down rhythms for avant-garde industrialists 23 Skidoo and the mysterious Mr Diablo, whose bass could be heard in Welfare Heroine and Pinkie Maclure And ThePuritans output in the late '80s and early '90s, we have a rhythm section extraordinaire, who with their many helpers make 'Dubble Trubble' a landmark in post-industrial urban dub music. The Do It Yourself aesthetic of the mid '80s is filtered through an industrial sensibility until you get an album that's independent, in the true spirit of the term,and yet pointedly eschews the easy option of wall-to-wall NOISE. Noise here is implicit, not explicit. The distinctive, crazy, mutant reggae-funk hybrid that results from a refusal to use loops and samples and an insistence on playing instruments in real time is here simply called 'Dubble Trubble'.

5am / March 25th (Poem)

I dreamt you were an owl,

you kept leaving me for the night.

You said night made you wise,

it’s the kind of darkness you came from

                               that’s why  you go back to it.

 You called me pigeon

                Because I knew how to hide

                                     in the night -

              I puffed up my chest

                           slept with all my hope

                  balled on the ledge of a broken window,

                    

              I had to get warm without you.

 I woke

           still thinking I could fly -

knowing the closest thing to me

                                                          was your shadow.