Soul music, according to the decidedly non-Birmingham-related film The Commitments, is "the rhythm of sex. Rhythm of the factory, too". Sex, maybe, but if any sound has the rhythm of the factory – the hammering, the drilling and the thumping – it's heavy metal, and Birmingham in the late 60s and 70s had both. The second city hadn't served its denim and leather heritage well until Capsule (capsule.org.uk) produced a huge Home of Metal (homeofmetal.com) exhibition that recreated the factories where members of bands such as Black Sabbath worked. Now metal bands are a fixture in the Flapper down by the canal and at the Rainbow (High Street, Digbeth, therainbowvenues.co.uk), where even the beer garden is soundproofed. The factories are all but gone but the noise remains.

What to see: Off the Cuff festival (26-28 July, offthecuffbirmingham.co.uk) at the Flapper (Cambrian Wharf, theflapper.co.uk)