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That Was The Sheep That Was...

It's traditional around this time for me to review the year and thank all those people that have contributed to Black Sheep along the way... but this time it's a little different. In 2003, we had more DJs, more bands, more late bars, more nights even(!) than ever before and I couldn't possibly do justice to it all here. So I've linked to it instead:

Black Sheep Review of the Year!

So, that was 2003. But what of 2004? Well, you probably know by now, but thanks to at least one of the events mentioned in the review, the Phono has invited us to do a run of four special events, each on the first Friday of the month, starting on Friday 6th February:

Thank Flock It's Friday!!

It's even got its own rather blue website (oo-er!), and its own area in the forums. The flyers have been printed (in colour, no less!), and will hopefully start appearing all over Yorkshire very shortly. As ever, any distribution help will be muchly appreciated. As far as I can tell, it's the first new goth club-night in Leeds in over five years, so I hope you'll all come along and support us!!

Black Sheep: Live and festive!

So, 2003 is nearly over and the "Year Of The Black Sheep" along with it... but not to worry, there's life in the old year yet! On the 14th December we're lucky enough to be hosting the Leeds date of All Living Fear's "Home Too Soon" tour. All Living Fear are "guitar-driven goth-rock" at it's finest, that's proper goth to you and me! Support comes from the weird but very wonderful Zombina & The Skeletones who mix goth, punk and psychobilly (not to mention the occasional '60s harmony) to wonderous effect... you'll wonder how you lived without them for so long! Full details are on the Live page.

December is also the month when it's considered socially acceptable for hairy old men to shower children with gifts from their bulging sacks. Not to be left out, the Bah Humbug Bar Phono is granting us a late licence on the 28th for our annual comedy cheesefest somber celebration of the ahem, well, whatever it was. As Leeds is a multi-cultural, metropolitan sort of a city, we thought it'd also be appropriate to celebrate the Winter's Solstice on the 21st. It's honestly not just an excuse for another piss-up with a late licence, oh no.

Looking forward and things are already afoot for the new year, its all terribly "hush hust"(!) right now, but I'm sure the news will sneak out in the forums before long...

Finally, if I don't update before then, I hope you enjoy whatever you celebrate, however you celebrate it!

Lively little lamb...

Well, how much variety can you get out of one little goth night? Quite a lot judging by September's Sheeps!  No less than four bands, each pushing the genre in a different direction, but all most certainly goth at heart. So many thanks to Psychophile, Screaming Banshee Aircrew, Zeitgeist Zero and Little Match Girl for playing down the 'Sheep. All four bands were very warmly received, not to mention being well reviewed elsewhere. Given the quality of the "local" bands involved, it really feels like we're finally getting Leeds back onto the world goth map!

Of course, it wasn't all bands, and we were fortune to enjoy the welcome return of York's Simon A after a long absence, not to mention our own reliable Urban Cannibal... and finally we had a surprise guest appearance from the wonderful Nils from Slimelight, possibly the most famous goth club in the world!
Oh yes, September was damn good.

Looking forward a bit, and I can announce that come December we'll be hosting the Leeds gig on the forthcoming All Living Fear tour. Having been around for over a decade, All Living Fear are returning to the live scene to promote "Home Too Soon", their highly anticipated new album. Futher information is available, as always, on the Live page.

Lively little lamb...

Well, how much variety can you get out of one little goth night? Quite a lot judging by September's Sheeps!  No less than four bands, each pushing the genre in a different direction, but all most certainly goth at heart. So many thanks to Psychophile, Screaming Banshee Aircrew, Zeitgeist Zero and Little Match Girl for playing down the 'Sheep. All four bands were very warmly received, not to mention being well reviewed elsewhere. Given the quality of the "local" bands involved, it really feels like we're finally getting Leeds back onto the world goth map!

Of course, it wasn't all bands, and we were fortune to enjoy the welcome return of York's Simon A after a long absence, not to mention our own reliable Urban Cannibal... and finally we had a surprise guest appearance from the wonderful Nils from Slimelight, possibly the most famous goth club in the world!
Oh yes, September was damn good.

Looking forward a bit, and I can announce that come December we'll be hosting the Leeds gig on the forthcoming All Living Fear tour. Having been around for over a decade, All Living Fear are returning to the live scene to promote "Home Too Soon", their highly anticipated new album. Futher information is available, as always, on the Live page.

More Black Sheep Live..!

You've probably seen the flyers by now, or read about it in the Live pages, but in case you haven't (and good lord why not?!) Little Match Girl and Zeitgeist Zero will be playing Black Sheep on the 28th of this month. Full details are here.

Three quarters of Zeitgeist Zero are 'Sheep regulars, with both Corin and Kerry occasionally Djing on a Sunday night. With only a few gigs under their belt they are already attracting a strong local following, and were particularly well received at their recent Joseph's Well gig. Main band Little Match Girl are also 'Sheep regulars and their track "Burn Me Up" has become something of a dancefloor favourite!

Tickets are now available from the usual channels, and of course members get a reduction if they're bought on a Sunday night!

Black Sheep Live...

Not content with resting on our laurels following the success of those "Friday" festivities, I'm very pleased to confirm that, as announced elsewhere, the Aircrew are returning to Black Sheep on Sunday 7th September, supported by the excellent Psychophile:

Screaming Banshee Aircrew + Psychophile

This will be the Screaming Banshee Aircrew's first Leeds gig since their recent high-profile support slot with the Cruxshadows.
This time they are joined by special guests Psychophile, described by Starvox as "Gung-ho hedonism... Darkwave pop at its finest", whose latest album "Transition" was recently released by Wasp Factory to critical acclaim.

Ticket details are now available in the new Live section.

Friday I'm In Love...

So, we had less than four weeks notice, we'd never done one on a Friday night before and nearly everything that could go wrong did... but what a staggering success it was!

We had over 160 people through the doors, meaning the Phono was very close to capacity! For the third time this year I get to say "it was the busiest Black Sheep ever"!

Thankfully all the problems were "behind the scenes" (who needs working CD decks or headphones anyway?!) and soon sorted out. I'd like to thank everyone for coming and making it such a great night. Particular thanks must go to DJs Urban Cannibal and Tracey, Sarah Orange for photography, Sally for emergency transportation and Ross for mucking in at the beginning when we were rushing around trying to get open on time. Also thanks to everyone who either flyered or helped spread the word in any way, shape or form.

Cheers!

Photos are now up in the Gallery, nearly 50 of them..!

Thank Flock it's Friday!!

Friday 4th July 2003 - Friday Flock! - Black Sheep Special!

Its a bit short notice, but thanks to the success of the recent Bank Holiday Specials, we've been asked to do a special one-off event on the first Friday in July!

This is a great opportunity to enjoy Black Sheep in all its glory, without the usual hangover on a monday morning!!

We'll be open from 9pm until 3am, no doubt with all the drinks promotions and stuff that the Phono usually does... I've only known about this for two days, so I don't know the full details yet, but when I do they'll be posted in the forums here.

Celebrate the Fourth of July at your favourite weekly goth club!

Eeek! ...is it June already?!

Thanks to everyone, and particularly Screaming Banshee Aircrew, for making May 2003 the busiest month ever for Black Sheep. It was all rather hectic, and I'm afraid I've been so busy with it that June is, well, slightly less organised as a result!

There are still a load of photos to be uploaded to the gallery, which I hope will be sorted within the next week. Also, not all the guest DJs for the the month are confirmed yet, so when they are they'll be announced here in the forums.

Finally I've been doing a spot of virtual DJing for Bloodlust-UK, including a goth set which might just include a few Black Sheep favourites, not to mention some local heroes! You can find out more about the online radio station here.

Baaank Holiday

This is just a very quick reminder that, probably for the last time this year, its another Bank Holiday Special this sunday!

25th May 2003 - "Another Long One!"

It's another seven hours of madness from 7pm until 2am!!
DJs Paul (Oblivion/Black Sheep), Urban Cannibal (Nightmare) & Ross.

 full details here.

The Screaming Banshee Aircrew

It's this coming sunday!

11th May 2003 - The Screaming Banshee Aircrew

"A writhing riot of hair, makeup, leather, PVC and punk-goth cabaret!"

Doors 7pm
Band onstage somewhere around 9.30
Close Midnight

Full support from resident Black Sheep DJs before and after The Screaming Banshee Aircrew.

£2.50/£2.00 with flyer/Free with Black Sheep membership card.

The Bassment (around the corner from the Phono)
Wade Lane (side of Merrion Centre)
Leeds.

Splendidly Sheepish

Thanks to all those people who helped make the Easter Special the biggest and best Black Sheep ever!  I'd also like to express my gratitude for all the compliments, expressed both publicly and privately, that we (both the night and the DJs) have received. I really have been quite speechless about the whole thing!

I really didn't expect to be saying this, but, well... it was so successful, we're going to do it all again in May!!

4th May 2003 - Surely Not Another Bank Holiday Special?!

        It's another seven hours of madness from 7pm until 2am!!
        DJs Paul (Oblivion/Black Sheep), Spooky & TBC

        full details here.

And while we're talking about May, it's worth a quick reminder about:

11th May 2003 - The Screaming Banshee Aircrew

        York's finest play their debut Leeds gig at Black Sheep.
        7pm until midnight at The Bassment (just around the corner)
        DJs Paul (Oblivion/Black Sheep) & Simon (Nightmare)

        full details here.

Full DJ listings and stuff will be announced in the forums shortly. See you all soon..!

Easter Lambs

Black Sheep is the only weekly goth night in Leeds.
It runs from 7 until 11 every sunday night at the Bar Phono.
Usually...

20th April 2003 - Easter Bank Holiday Special!

        running a staggering seven hours from 7pm until 2am !!
        DJs Paul (Oblivion/Black Sheep) & Tracey (BlackOut)
        featuring all your favourite floorfillers all night

        full details here.

and coming in May:

11th May 2003 - The Screaming Banshee Aircrew

        York's finest play their debut Leeds gig at Black Sheep.
        7pm until midnight at The Bassment (just around the corner)
        DJs Paul (Oblivion/Black Sheep) & Simon (Nightmare)

        full details here.

A couple of big events for your diary there... the longest ever Sheep, and the first Sheep ever to feature a live band!  As for the rest of April, full details can be found here.
Not sure what the plans are for the May bank holidays yet, but I'll put something up in the forums as soon as I know...

Beware the ewes of March

For all those people bemoaning the lack of a Wendy House in April, I have great pleasure in announcing that our Easter bash will be a stonking 7pm until 2am affair... thats seven hours of quality drinking time, plus the usual bank holiday mix of goth and alternative dancefloor fillers!!
So that'll be on the 20th April 2003 and its all for a paltry pound!

Back to this month, and unexpectedly we have two members of local heroes Zeitgeist Zero DJing this month. You can also read Hard Wired's review of their debut release here. We also have Ketlogic from Deviation and Simon from Nightmare. Finally we end the month in a typically alcohol-fuelled daze with the irrepressible Howard from Carpe Noctum.

And that's about it for this month. I forgot to mention last time that I've finally sorted out a proper FAQ. Feel free to email me anything I may have missed. Oh, and I still haven't got around to updating the gallery section. I'm sure it'll happen soon(ish)...

Oh yes, according to the chinese fortune calendar it is indeed the year of the Black Sheep: "Year 2003 is Female Water Sheep, the 20th of the Stem-Branch in the system. Because Water is equivalent to color Black in the Five-Element system, Year 2003 is also called Black Sheep year". I didn't realise there were colours involved as well as animals, but there you go! Its all explained here. Although I'm not quite sure I believe them when they say 2004 will be the year of the Wooden Monkey...

...which in no way brings us to the subject of this month's Guest DJs! In an almost coincidental way we go Modern-Trad-Modern-Trad (possibly the new goth two-step) through February in the reliable hands of Gilly, Polidori, Simon and Mark Raffo.

Finally, last month I forgot to thank all the lovely people who made Black Sheep so wonderfully diverse last year. In 2002 we had guest DJs from Black Lodge, Black Veil, BlackOut, Carpe Noctum, Dead Stars, Deviation, Implant and Nightmare. So muchas gracias mis amigos to Allan, Andy C, Corin, Dominic, French Paul, Gadge, Gilly, Grufti, Horny Simon, Howard, Ketlogic, Louise, Malaise, Mark NG, Matt, Nik Gee, Polidori, Ross, Russell, Tracey and the ever wonderful Simon Breton. Cheers!

Paul.

Is it really 2003 already?

Respect and thanks to Simon and Gadge for the very successful "Nightmare" event they put on in December, and also to Tracey for ensuring that the week after was just as good. I think between the two nights we covered the "all shades of goth" remit to the full!

January is nearly all booked, and there should be something for everyone (I hope!). First off was Ian providing a set of "proper" trad goth on the 5th. This week we have Matt with his Implant style Industrial thang, and on the 19th we have Mr Breton doing things that go bleep in the night. As I've spent most of the last fortnight trashed I'm not sure if I've booked someone for the 26th, but when I know I'll announce them here, and I'm sure they'll be wonderful as well!

Paul.

Black Sheep: Live and festive!

So, 2003 is nearly over and the "Year Of The Black Sheep" along with it... but not to worry, there's life in the old year yet! On the 14th December we're lucky enough to be hosting the Leeds date of All Living Fear's "Home Too Soon" tour. All Living Fear are "guitar-driven goth-rock" at it's finest, that's proper goth to you and me! Support comes from the weird but very wonderful Zombina & The Skeletones who mix goth, punk and psychobilly (not to mention the occasional '60s harmony) to wonderous effect... you'll wonder how you lived without them for so long! Full details are on the Live page.

December is also the month when it's considered socially acceptable for hairy old men to shower children with gifts from their bulging sacks. Not to be left out, the Bah Humbug Bar Phono is granting us a late licence on the 28th for our annual comedy cheesefest somber celebration of the ahem, well, whatever it was. As Leeds is a multi-cultural, metropolitan sort of a city, we thought it'd also be appropriate to celebrate the Winter's Solstice on the 21st. It's honestly not just an excuse for another piss-up with a late licence, oh no.

Looking forward and things are already afoot for the new year, its all terribly "hush hust"(!) right now, but I'm sure the news will sneak out in the forums before long...

Finally, if I don't update before then, I hope you enjoy whatever you celebrate, however you celebrate it!

Lively little lamb...

Well, how much variety can you get out of one little goth night? Quite a lot judging by September's Sheeps!  No less than four bands, each pushing the genre in a different direction, but all most certainly goth at heart. So many thanks to Psychophile, Screaming Banshee Aircrew, Zeitgeist Zero and Little Match Girl for playing down the 'Sheep. All four bands were very warmly received, not to mention being well reviewed elsewhere. Given the quality of the "local" bands involved, it really feels like we're finally getting Leeds back onto the world goth map!

Of course, it wasn't all bands, and we were fortune to enjoy the welcome return of York's Simon A after a long absence, not to mention our own reliable Urban Cannibal... and finally we had a surprise guest appearance from the wonderful Nils from Slimelight, possibly the most famous goth club in the world!
Oh yes, September was damn good.

Looking forward a bit, and I can announce that come December we'll be hosting the Leeds gig on the forthcoming All Living Fear tour. Having been around for over a decade, All Living Fear are returning to the live scene to promote "Home Too Soon", their highly anticipated new album. Futher information is available, as always, on the Live page.

More Black Sheep Live..!

You've probably seen the flyers by now, or read about it in the Live pages, but in case you haven't (and good lord why not?!) Little Match Girl and Zeitgeist Zero will be playing Black Sheep on the 28th of this month. Full details are here.

Three quarters of Zeitgeist Zero are 'Sheep regulars, with both Corin and Kerry occasionally Djing on a Sunday night. With only a few gigs under their belt they are already attracting a strong local following, and were particularly well received at their recent Joseph's Well gig. Main band Little Match Girl are also 'Sheep regulars and their track "Burn Me Up" has become something of a dancefloor favourite!

Tickets are now available from the usual channels, and of course members get a reduction if they're bought on a Sunday night!

Black Sheep Live...

Not content with resting on our laurels following the success of those "Friday" festivities, I'm very pleased to confirm that, as announced elsewhere, the Aircrew are returning to Black Sheep on Sunday 7th September, supported by the excellent Psychophile:

Screaming Banshee Aircrew + Psychophile

This will be the Screaming Banshee Aircrew's first Leeds gig since their recent high-profile support slot with the Cruxshadows.
This time they are joined by special guests Psychophile, described by Starvox as "Gung-ho hedonism... Darkwave pop at its finest", whose latest album "Transition" was recently released by Wasp Factory to critical acclaim.

Ticket details are now available in the new Live section.

Friday I'm In Love...

So, we had less than four weeks notice, we'd never done one on a Friday night before and nearly everything that could go wrong did... but what a staggering success it was!

We had over 160 people through the doors, meaning the Phono was very close to capacity! For the third time this year I get to say "it was the busiest Black Sheep ever"!

Thankfully all the problems were "behind the scenes" (who needs working CD decks or headphones anyway?!) and soon sorted out. I'd like to thank everyone for coming and making it such a great night. Particular thanks must go to DJs Urban Cannibal and Tracey, Sarah Orange for photography, Sally for emergency transportation and Ross for mucking in at the beginning when we were rushing around trying to get open on time. Also thanks to everyone who either flyered or helped spread the word in any way, shape or form.

Cheers!

Photos are now up in the Gallery, nearly 50 of them..!

Thank Flock it's Friday!!

Friday 4th July 2003 - Friday Flock! - Black Sheep Special!

Its a bit short notice, but thanks to the success of the recent Bank Holiday Specials, we've been asked to do a special one-off event on the first Friday in July!

This is a great opportunity to enjoy Black Sheep in all its glory, without the usual hangover on a monday morning!!

We'll be open from 9pm until 3am, no doubt with all the drinks promotions and stuff that the Phono usually does... I've only known about this for two days, so I don't know the full details yet, but when I do they'll be posted in the forums here.

Celebrate the Fourth of July at your favourite weekly goth club!

Eeek! ...is it June already?!

Thanks to everyone, and particularly Screaming Banshee Aircrew, for making May 2003 the busiest month ever for Black Sheep. It was all rather hectic, and I'm afraid I've been so busy with it that June is, well, slightly less organised as a result!

There are still a load of photos to be uploaded to the gallery, which I hope will be sorted within the next week. Also, not all the guest DJs for the the month are confirmed yet, so when they are they'll be announced here in the forums.

Finally I've been doing a spot of virtual DJing for Bloodlust-UK, including a goth set which might just include a few Black Sheep favourites, not to mention some local heroes! You can find out more about the online radio station here.

Baaank Holiday

This is just a very quick reminder that, probably for the last time this year, its another Bank Holiday Special this sunday!

25th May 2003 - "Another Long One!"

It's another seven hours of madness from 7pm until 2am!!
DJs Paul (Oblivion/Black Sheep), Urban Cannibal (Nightmare) & Ross.

 full details here.

The Screaming Banshee Aircrew

It's this coming sunday!

11th May 2003 - The Screaming Banshee Aircrew

"A writhing riot of hair, makeup, leather, PVC and punk-goth cabaret!"

Doors 7pm
Band onstage somewhere around 9.30
Close Midnight

Full support from resident Black Sheep DJs before and after The Screaming Banshee Aircrew.

£2.50/£2.00 with flyer/Free with Black Sheep membership card.

The Bassment (around the corner from the Phono)
Wade Lane (side of Merrion Centre)
Leeds.

Splendidly Sheepish

Thanks to all those people who helped make the Easter Special the biggest and best Black Sheep ever!  I'd also like to express my gratitude for all the compliments, expressed both publicly and privately, that we (both the night and the DJs) have received. I really have been quite speechless about the whole thing!

I really didn't expect to be saying this, but, well... it was so successful, we're going to do it all again in May!!

4th May 2003 - Surely Not Another Bank Holiday Special?!

        It's another seven hours of madness from 7pm until 2am!!
        DJs Paul (Oblivion/Black Sheep), Spooky & TBC

        full details here.

And while we're talking about May, it's worth a quick reminder about:

11th May 2003 - The Screaming Banshee Aircrew

        York's finest play their debut Leeds gig at Black Sheep.
        7pm until midnight at The Bassment (just around the corner)
        DJs Paul (Oblivion/Black Sheep) & Simon (Nightmare)

        full details here.

Full DJ listings and stuff will be announced in the forums shortly. See you all soon..!

Easter Lambs

Black Sheep is the only weekly goth night in Leeds.
It runs from 7 until 11 every sunday night at the Bar Phono.
Usually...

20th April 2003 - Easter Bank Holiday Special!

        running a staggering seven hours from 7pm until 2am !!
        DJs Paul (Oblivion/Black Sheep) & Tracey (BlackOut)
        featuring all your favourite floorfillers all night

        full details here.

and coming in May:

11th May 2003 - The Screaming Banshee Aircrew

        York's finest play their debut Leeds gig at Black Sheep.
        7pm until midnight at The Bassment (just around the corner)
        DJs Paul (Oblivion/Black Sheep) & Simon (Nightmare)

        full details here.

A couple of big events for your diary there... the longest ever Sheep, and the first Sheep ever to feature a live band!  As for the rest of April, full details can be found here.
Not sure what the plans are for the May bank holidays yet, but I'll put something up in the forums as soon as I know...

Beware the ewes of March

For all those people bemoaning the lack of a Wendy House in April, I have great pleasure in announcing that our Easter bash will be a stonking 7pm until 2am affair... thats seven hours of quality drinking time, plus the usual bank holiday mix of goth and alternative dancefloor fillers!!
So that'll be on the 20th April 2003 and its all for a paltry pound!

Back to this month, and unexpectedly we have two members of local heroes Zeitgeist Zero DJing this month. You can also read Hard Wired's review of their debut release here. We also have Ketlogic from Deviation and Simon from Nightmare. Finally we end the month in a typically alcohol-fuelled daze with the irrepressible Howard from Carpe Noctum.

And that's about it for this month. I forgot to mention last time that I've finally sorted out a proper FAQ. Feel free to email me anything I may have missed. Oh, and I still haven't got around to updating the gallery section. I'm sure it'll happen soon(ish)...

Oh yes, according to the chinese fortune calendar it is indeed the year of the Black Sheep: "Year 2003 is Female Water Sheep, the 20th of the Stem-Branch in the system. Because Water is equivalent to color Black in the Five-Element system, Year 2003 is also called Black Sheep year". I didn't realise there were colours involved as well as animals, but there you go! Its all explained here. Although I'm not quite sure I believe them when they say 2004 will be the year of the Wooden Monkey...

...which in no way brings us to the subject of this month's Guest DJs! In an almost coincidental way we go Modern-Trad-Modern-Trad (possibly the new goth two-step) through February in the reliable hands of Gilly, Polidori, Simon and Mark Raffo.

Finally, last month I forgot to thank all the lovely people who made Black Sheep so wonderfully diverse last year. In 2002 we had guest DJs from Black Lodge, Black Veil, BlackOut, Carpe Noctum, Dead Stars, Deviation, Implant and Nightmare. So muchas gracias mis amigos to Allan, Andy C, Corin, Dominic, French Paul, Gadge, Gilly, Grufti, Horny Simon, Howard, Ketlogic, Louise, Malaise, Mark NG, Matt, Nik Gee, Polidori, Ross, Russell, Tracey and the ever wonderful Simon Breton. Cheers!

Paul.

Is it really 2003 already?

Respect and thanks to Simon and Gadge for the very successful "Nightmare" event they put on in December, and also to Tracey for ensuring that the week after was just as good. I think between the two nights we covered the "all shades of goth" remit to the full!

January is nearly all booked, and there should be something for everyone (I hope!). First off was Ian providing a set of "proper" trad goth on the 5th. This week we have Matt with his Implant style Industrial thang, and on the 19th we have Mr Breton doing things that go bleep in the night. As I've spent most of the last fortnight trashed I'm not sure if I've booked someone for the 26th, but when I know I'll announce them here, and I'm sure they'll be wonderful as well!

Paul.

Last site update:

02 - 07 - 08