We'll be opening Monochrome 2023 with a special event at The Cube Microplex on 5th April.

We wanted to give you something a bit different from the usual "here's 3 bands we couldn't crowbar into the main lineup" warmup event. Making the most of the Cube as both a cinema and a music venue, we're pleased to present 2 new A/V collaborations.

Opening the night will be John Doran, editor and chief of The Quietus presenting "What Is This That Stands Before Me: Heavy Metal And Modernism" in collaboration with visual artists Saphire Goss.

An audio visual event of live manipulated film and drone music with spoken word. Writer John Doran states his case that heavy metal is the last true iteration of mass modernism and traces some of the revolutionary flash points in half a century of revolution and reinvention, starting with Black Sabbath in Aston, Birmingham in 1970 and spreading to every corner of the globe, taking in Mayhem, Napalm Death and SunnO))) along the way.

Filmmaker Sapphire Goss utilises obsolete technologies and experimental materials to form narrative layers resulting in enigmatic, haunted images that both support and challenge the narrative being presented. And both manipulate a spatial sonic soundtrack created from a blend of found sounds, drones and music referenced, drifting in and out of static. 

Next up, percussionist Dan Johnson (EP/64, Run Logan Run) and filmmaker Guest, will collaborate on a special AV presentation of Dan's thunderous and unrelenting solo drum piece The Bellflower. 

Dan is a distinctive improviser and prolific collaborator who has established himself as a key figure in the UK experimental arts and music community. While he's capable of enormous range and subtlety, for a performance at a festival planting a flag for "ugly music", he'll be playing at his most riotous and fullfisted. Ear plugs at the bar.

For the first time, The Bellflower will be performed in collaboration with musician, synth builder and AV artist Jasmine Butt (AKA Guest). Using a 16mm projector and analogue expanded-film techniques she'll bring a whole new dimension to the piece. 

Then it's back to the bar where John Doran will round out the night with a DJ set, giving his own spin on ugly music.

Doors: 20:00
John Doran & Sapphire Goss: 23:00
Dan Johnson & Guest: 22:30