BEMN pronounced Bem-Na was first mooted by Mitch Ruston placing an ad in the Birmingham Mail’s clubs meetings and societies section asking for like minded people to get in touch to form a collective to establish a music venue to perform experimental music.
In the eighties the advent of cheaper synthesisers and affordable cassette based multi-track recorders allowed “bedroom” musicians to create their own music and trade it around the world using the underground cassette culture network.
The Turks Head cellar function room became the main venue to perform live shows for the bands and a meeting point to sell your recordings.
The first meeting was October 1987 and continued the third Wednesday of every month, with a newsletter printed to share information about the BEMN later becoming a cassette newsletter with the advent of cheap £ shop multi-packs allowing music to be also included.
As well as being able to sell your own cassettes two BEMN compilation tapes where also produced allowing people/groups to contribute single releases highlighting the diversity of scene.
Generally the sounds devided into two camps, synth players inspired by Tangerine Dream and J M Jarre etc and the “noise merchants” more into punk and industrial although there was much cross fertilisation between the two but usually taking it in turn to host the months meeting with the occasional meeting set aside to involve the entire crowd with improvisations such as the “Acoustic Percussion Thrash” and the “Acoustic Radio Thrash” (as we liked to produce ART that was APT).
At the same time Birmingham University music department used to run a night school course doing Electronic Music and Mystique Concrete which allowed us access to high end equipment and recording technology for a very reasonable price.
The MAC also introduced World Music classes with African drumming, Indonesian Gamelan and Indian tabla and drone well attended by the members.
Three main tape labels where established in the network, Boiled Dove (Laughing Academy), the Anti Musick Industry and Alternate Media allowing distribution around the world.
Bio by Penga
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An to Antone to Zazas Zazas list of musicians associated with BEMN in no particular order.
Antone
Dynamic Institute of Noise
Whitey Infidel
Side brain
Basiculo Ad Cunnum
Captain Pavement
Penga
Mitch Rushton
John Packer
Malakriction
Maz Mitrenke
Rob Morrison
Godflesh
Brett Valiant
Snout
El Khouariki
Side brain
Machine Shop
Sacred Harmonic Society
G24
Epsilon
Steve Purcell
Emmellar
Dark Enigma
Quadraphase
The Burning Buddhists
Family Patrol Group
Condom
The Laughing Academy
Organ
Probe
The Mental Health Act
Sunny Lemon Tina
Nature and Organisation
C And G
Claire
Temple Ov Psychic Youth
The Galore Brothers
Ramleh
JFK
Zazas Zazas
To add to APT ART there was also the Acoustic Guitar Thrash
My favourite gig involved a guy shaving his hair off with amplified mike next to the shaver and then coming back with a vacuum to clean up the mess and we all shouted encore.