Music / Exhibitions
IDLES bassist and Sickboy collaborate on music activism exhibition
Members of IDLES and Bristol artists have joined forces to create a visual celebration of the city’s music activism.
In Sound_Check, on show at the PIT in Totterdown, art, photography and punk attitudes coalesce to recreate, on the wall, the wild vitality of the longstanding genre-straddling music scenes that underpin Bristol’s independent spirit.
IDLES bass player Adam Devonshire and street artist Sickboy have curated the exhibition which includes press passes, vintage posters, photographs and original artwork spanning thirty years of Bristol gigs.
is needed now More than ever
Bass player Adam Devonshire DJ’d at the launch of the exhibition, which runs until June 7 – photo: Ursula Billington
Photos of artists that have made their name in the city as well as putting Bristol on the map – including Heavy Lungs, Massive Attack and IDLES themselves – sit alongside striking images of big names known for their outspoken attitude towards injustice such as Kneecap and Paul Weller, as well as today’s underground community groups that are keeping Bristol’s strident creative streak alive.
The pieces have been produced by Bristol’s best contemporary artists and photographers including Pit Lad, Giulia Spadafora and Colin Moody.
At a private view of the exhibition on Thursday, Devonshire DJ’d tasteful indie and electronica to a noisy room of Bristol’s creative glitterati.
“Live music is a life source. It’s a way of life for countless people and this exhibition is a celebration of those who capture those unique moments,” he said.
“The relationship between artist, audience and photographer is paramount to the beauty and mayhem of the live music experience and this exhibition is a love letter and a warm hug to those who bask in live music’s ample glories.”
Seen at the exhibition, GOSH 7 Times’ photo ‘Danny in the Pit’ captures Danny Nedelko, singer of Heavy Lungs. The IDLES song of the same name celebrates multiculturalism as well as Danny’s Ukrainian heritage and their close friendship – photo: Josh ‘Gosh 7 Times’ Collins
The PIT’s basement has become a low-lit ‘rave cave’ with neon strips and UV highlights showcasing classic reworked posters dating back to 1977.
Bristol’s creative culture is reexamined and built up through layers of time, artistic style and interpretation: the vintage T-Rex poster from their gig at Bristol Beacon (then Colston Hall) has been reworked with a punky abstract twist by Mina Hamada and Mr Jago brings new life to an original Dug Out flyer by Inkie.
Lucy McLauchlan’s portrait of PJ Harvey captures the artist in her bath at home in Bristol, where she lived for a period early in her career, and Mudwig reimagines a 1993 Radiohead poster from the Fleece as a ‘time tomb’, capturing the band’s early angst just before their breakout.
A new take by Inkie and DJ Dazee on a 1996 Ruffneck Ting flyer, with its well known signature font, is a highlight.
The exhibition features neon and UV-augmented reimagined gig posters – photo: Ursula Billington
Nods to independent venues like Trinity, Lakota and the Louisiana – including a poster of IDLES’ gig at the small venue in Bathurst Basin that they say was a defining turning point for the band – resound in the exhibition, that also features prominent moments in the city’s live music history such as Simple Things festival and Massive Attack’s gig on the Downs, as well as lesser known yet nonetheless vital movements like Bristol Ballroom.
Colin Moody regards this representation of Bristol’s scenes, styles and changing culture as significant.
“It’s messy and interesting – cos that’s Bristol isn’t it?” he said. “Bristol is a cultural melting pot of so many things. I always try to take pictures of things that are real life and full of joy and energy.
“That only really happens in cultural intersectional points in the city. I’m always looking for those places. We need them, otherwise we’ll just turn into a city full of chains and our nightlife will become homogenised.”
This image of a Bristol Ballroom event features in the Sound Check exhibition alongside some of Moody’s other vibrant images of Bristol’s underground nightlife – photo: Colin Moody
Some of Moody’s photos on the wall at Sound_Check will also feature in his book celebrating Bristol nightlife in all its unfiltered and fluid glory.
Up All Night is a collaboration with journalist Jasmine Ketibuah-Foley that has been five years in the making and is due for publication in autumn 2025.
“We’re really keen to showcase the grassroots cultures of our city which are really important,” he said.
“When young people get together and decide, this is what we’re going to, and they agree and go forward as a movement – that’s happening all the time and I’m really starting to appreciate that, so I’m really excited to be a part of some of these new and ever-changing cultures, to open the door to them and show them to people through my pictures.”
Sound Check features three rooms and a basement of art, photography and music paraphernalia – photo: Ursula Billington
Other photographers that appear in the exhibition include David Jeffery Hughes, Lindsey Davies, Ben Birchall and Ciara Hillyer, while artists include Matt Eko and Xenx and on- and off-stage moments captured feature Eva Lazarus, Fontaines DC and Lauryn Hill.
Sound_Check is supporting Gig Buddies, a charity working to make live music more accessible for people with learning disabilities. Their team will be present across the opening weekend, raising awareness and signing up new volunteers.
For more information on Sound_Check, visit pitbristol.com or @thepitbristol. The exhibition is open from 10am to 5pm on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 May, then by appointment until June 7.
Main image: Crowdsurfers at 2024’s IDLES War Child benefit at the O2 Academy by Tom Ham.
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