Music / News
Below The Belt: A creative collective with big ambitions
Below The Belt is a multimedia collective of creatives obsessed with music and art and “running the opposite direction from the nine to five life”.
The project started out hosting gigs for friends’ bands in anarchist squats and putting on queer performance raves at Lost Horizon.
This year they shifted focus to music and video production, as well as setting up a printing studio for band merch production and running a YouTube live session series, Double Hammer.
is needed now More than ever
Beth Zajac tells Bristol24/7 more about the series and Below the Belt’s big ambitions.
Below the Belt hosting a live music session for their Double Hammer online series
“Double Hammer showcases the genre-bending, eclectic and talented south west music scene.
“Bristol is rich with independent venues and freelancers, singers and drummers, sax players, music producers and fire eaters. Step out into Bristol any night of the week and you will find a gig worth seeing.
“Below the Belt are the ticket purchasers, the pint drinkers, the foot stompers, attending small gigs at small venues and finding bands to feature on Double Hammer.
“We most recently posted an episode featuring Grandma’s House, a lively punk band that has opened for IDLES.
“The most memorable interview for me was with Bristol rapper Kwazi, and most memorable set was heavy rock band Splitdogs.
“Our ‘Double Hammer presents…’ gigs at The Cloak are something for everyone, multi-genre nights where you can sit in and out of your comfort zone. Our latest gig, just last week, featured Grandma’s House, the Eve Appleton Band and Kwazi.
“We love working out of The Cloak as a music venue. It’s a late-night café upstairs and intimate gig venue downstairs. They’re really supportive of everything we have been doing at Below the Belt and definitely carry the same ethos of supporting your local whether it be venues, talent, bands, artists or pubs.
“In the future we want to be the whole package for bands – recording music, making music videos, designing and printing merch and putting gigs on. A one stop shop.
The collectives’ Double Hammer magazine featured a range of local artists
“There are so many great sounds coming out of Bristol at the minute. We have been loving The Scuttlers, Tianna, Dogsbody, Myer U Clark, Townhouses, Trans-Siberian Express, Wych Elm and so, so much more.
“Support your local artists, your local independent venues, your freelance friends, print, small businesses, and…us.”
All photos: Below the Belt
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