
Books & Spoken Word
Hammer & Tongue ft. Tony D & Eve Piper
Monthly open poetry slam night hosted by Hammer & Tongue. This month’s headline acts are Tony D and Eve Piper.
Tony D is considered a veteran in both the British rap battling scene and the UK underground hip-hop scene. He was a founding member of the group Poisonous Poets. The group also consisted of Lowkey, Doc Brown, Reveal, Stylah, Therapist and DJ Snips.
Manchester bred Eve Piper is an emerging poet sinking her roots into Bristol ground. During her time at the University of Bristol she has been president of the Spoken Word Society. She was specially selected to take part in the Words First project run by BBC 1Xtra and the Roundhouse, wherein she was mentored by Chris Redmond (Tongue Fu) and Harry Baker. She has performed all around Bristol, including at the Tobacco Factory Theatres, supporting Hollie McNish. Her poetry tends to chase the conflicting emotions of young womanhood, relaying urban narratives with a mellow approach.
is needed now More than ever
Slammers are chosen at random from the sign-up list to perform – spoken word only, no music, no props. Each competitor has 3 minutes from the time they start talking on the mic. After 10 seconds’ grace period, they start losing points (1 point for every 10 seconds!). At the end, they’re given points out of 10 by 5 judges chosen from the audience, while the top and bottom scores are removed to ensure fairness. The slammer gets a score out of 30, and the competition moves on.
The winner of that evening’s competition goes through to the Regional Final (the Bristol one is in June), and the winner (and runner-up) of the Regional Final goes through to the National Final. The winner of the National Final gets crowned H&T National Slam Champion.