Everything is Music tells the story of Bristol & Bath’s Music Scene

Music lovers are invited to explore the stories of Bristol and Bath’s iconic music scenes through the location-based digital museum project Everything is Music. The platform goes live goes live on May 28 here: http://www.everythingismusic.io/

Everything is Music is a celebration of the people and places that form these west country cities’ musical heritage. The project invites artists, prominent characters, labels, clubs, venues, record stores and festivals that form the fabric of Bristol and Bath’s musical landscape – past and present – to explain why particular locations are important to them. These stories are then told through photographs, video, audio, podcasts, music and experiences, at location-based pins in the two cities.

Music through the ages is celebrated in full across 250+ locations. The platform offers everything from stories about iconic St Pauls' sound systems, to The Wurzels’ connection to an iconic Nailsea pub. Music lovers will hear Portishead talking from a Bristol studio about recording their debut album, the story of Bath’s lost iconic rock venue The Pavilion, and an exploration through Bristol’s thriving electronic scene dominated by up-and-coming women. Though this is just a taster of the huge number of stories on offer.

The project aims to visualise the sights and sounds of these two cities, through a collaboration between international music publication Crack Magazine and cutting-edge technology from geo-location specialist Landmrk. The project harnesses the latest mobile technology to create experiences for music lovers including 4D audio reactive visualisers, 3D photogrammetry scans, archive posters in augmented reality and exclusively recorded mixes.

How it works

Participants can unlock content on their phones at these specific locations to uncover a treasure trove of artefacts and discoveries from 70 years of musical history. The platform is completely free, requires no download and can be accessed by heading to everythingismusic.io on a smartphone’s web browser. Once on the platform, you are guided to the interactive map showcasing all available pins across the two cities as well as your current location. Through walking around Bristol and Bath, content can be unlocked by being close to a pin on the map. Unlocking these pins allows you to read, listen and view stories, music and visual experiences. 

From punk icons IDLES and Rita Lynch to Sarah Records and Tears For Fears, via venues like The Granary, Lakota, Moles and Thekla, participants will be drawn into the cultural geography of Bristol and Bath. The platform allows everyone the opportunity to learn about the importance of these specially chosen locations, discover new music and explore unseen parts of both cities.

It will also provide numerous opportunities to support the ecosystem that makes up Bristol and Bath’s musical heritage. With local independent shops and businesses enduring such hardship over the past year, the platform hopes to drive much-needed custom to record shops, music venues, shops and public spaces. Equally, participants are encouraged to buy music by the artists they discover through the platform through supporting links.

Project lead Ben Price explains; “Bristol and Bath has an incredible music heritage that has been thoroughly documented and exhibited over the years by some amazing researchers, galleries and writers. This project aims to celebrate, support and tell the stories of the amazing music in these cities in a new and engaging way – specifically by immersing people within the geography of both places. With Covid-19 restrictions being lifted, it seems like the perfect time to encourage people to explore their cities. What better reason to get out and about than to discover some amazing music and above all, the chance to educate yourself about some amazing stories?

“The project has been a truly remarkable 18-month effort from our teams, and we are happy to announce it will be available for free for all participants for three months. We hope to extend its life indefinitely with contributions from participants and local funding bodies. Long-term, we want to bring Everything is Music to other cities in the UK, uncovering the people, places, sounds and social histories that connect us through music.”

This project was funded by Bristol+Bath Creative R+D as part of the Creative Industries Cluster Programme from the Arts & Humanities Research Council as part of their Industrial Strategy.

Featured Content

Participants can explore a series of specially created tours and pins:

●      Bristol drum & bass original DJ Krust will guide participants around several of his most-loved Stokes Croft, St Pauls and Montpelier hotspots as a 2D hologram

●      Bristol’s most famous gig obsessive, Big Jeffrey Johns, will talk them through his top four Bristol gigs of all time as a 2D hologram

●      A tour through Bristol's once-storied LGBT venues

●      An exploration of women in electronic music

●      A tour of four prominent St Paul’s sound systems as they’ve never been experienced before

●      DJ Pinch guiding you through a series of Bristol dubstep hotspots as an audio tour

Other locations include:

●      A spoken-word response to a year since the fall of the Edward Colston statue, by Bristol-based poets Solomon O.B and Wish Master – both presented as a 2D hologram

●      Those who ran Ashton Court Festival reflect on the event’s life and story

●      Bristol innovators Portishead discuss their seminal debut, Dummy, in the studio where they recorded it.

Vision

As the full edition of the tour is available for free, contributions from participants will ensure this cultural resource can remain permanently in the city and be experienced by future generations looking to discover Bristol and Bath’s musical lineage. Making sure everyone can continue to enjoy this resource is vital to the long-term success of the project.

While the team behind Everything is Music is happy to say they have made a dent in the historical music map of Bristol and Bath, they welcome suggestions for pins that aren’t on the map. They can head to the 'Submit a Story' button on the platform to suggest ideas to help expand the Everything is Music resource and the scope of the map’s size and content.

Everything is Music advises all participants to operate within the government’s Covid-19 guidelines and be respectful of people, place and property while doing the tour.