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Blasts from the past...

27 APRIL 2008
Under new MGMT

If there are two songs that by the end of the year I am most likely to describe as standout tracks of 2008, it's Kids and Time to Pretend by MGMT. Kids in particular is such an amazing song and I hope it's going to get a full single release soon. There's a video on YouTube which I thought was official but apparently it was done as some sort of school project. You wouldn't know it though, and as far as I'm concerned, it really should be the official video as it's absolutely fantastic. The video is embedded here so check it out - and make sure to get the band's excellent debut album Oracular Spectacular.


Anyway, back to business. Last night I headed to the Astoria again to shoot The Courteeners. They're a new band whose debut album has been in the Top 10 for the last couple of weeks. I was suprised that there were only three photographers there in total - it's good news for me though as it means I might sell one or two shots from the show.
View 'The Courteeners' gallery



24 APRIL 2008
How does this make you feel?

I got a pass to shoot Supergrass at the Astoria last night - a venue that by the end of this year will be gone forever. What an absolute atrocity - it's most definitely one of the worst decisions ever made concerning London; a city that day by day seems to lose a little bit of its character. Anyway, it was the band's second show at the venue so it seems they still know how to attract a crowd - even though I'm sure they'd much rather play Wembley Arena at this stage in their career. The shoot was fun and I got some really nice shots of the guys thanks to the rather decent lighting. It's been a quiet week otherwise and I've got a couple of nights off now before my next shoot.

On a different note, I got a message on Flickr! today: "I've just had a look at your site and now feel jealous and completely inadequate!" Oh please don't say that - I'm already busy enough worrying about the state of the world and don't really want to have to worry about your state of mind as well now...
View the 'Supergrass' gallery



22 April 2008
Totally great

I picked up the May issue of Total Guitar today and am happy to report that one of my The Hoosiers shots is printed in the 'Learn to play' section. I remember the gig well - the lighting was just nasty and I wasn't actually happy with any of the shots I'd got. The one they used is one of my favourites from that shoot so it's nice that they picked that one.



20 APRIL 2008
Time will crawl - in Camden

OK, so it's been a bit of a mad weekend. Friday was day one of the Camden Crawl, as previously reported, so I headed to north London to shoot a number of different bands. I was lucky enough to be asked to cover Enter Shikari's secret MySpace gig at the Bull and Gate in the early afternoon. The email I got said a 100+ competition winners would be picked up near the Roundhouse by an old Routemaster Bus and driven to the secret location. I'd heard a lot about Enter Shikari's energetic performance and they did not disappoint - at times I was a bit worried about getting jumped on though as there was some very wild pogo dancing going on behind me. The band jumped around a lot (!) on the small stage and even though I had brought my 24-70mm lens I really needed a 12-24mm lens to capture all the action. I still managed to get some good shots and as this was my first time shooting the band, I'm happy with the results.
View the 'Enter Shikari' gallery


Ater the gig, I headed to the next venue - the Crescent - to shoot Royworld who have been getting a bit of press here and have a single and album out soon. They were pretty decent but I'm not sure they're really going to be the next big thing. Then again, what do I know?! After their gig finished I made my way to south London to shoot The Hives at Brixton Academy. It's no secret that I think The Hives are an amazing live band so I absolutely had to shoot them again - even though it meant missing some of the Camden Crawl shows. As expected, the band were on fire and I can honestly say that Friday's The Hives gig was the most exciting gig I have ever shot - and that's saying something. I got some really nice shots of the band, the second one below being one of my faves; check out how close the microphone was to my lens...
View 'The Hives' gallery


The last gig of the night was back in Camden at Dingwalls. The band performing there was Make Model who were pretty good - unfortunately I don't remember their performance that well. When I shoot a show it's rare that I actually focus on the music - unless it's a band that I like. With so much going on and the pressure of getting good shots the music doesn't always register with me. I guess it's the same for all rock photographers.

On Saturday I shot two more Camden Crawl gigs - We are Physics at Bullet and Haunts at the Crescent. We Are Physics were
S-U-P-E-R-B and I made a point of staying for their whole set. I will post some pictures of them over the next few days.


18 APRIL 2008
One for the road...

Somewhat unexpectedly I got a pass to shoot James at the Shepherd's Bush Empire last night. Due to delays on the tube, I got to the venue at exactly 8.42pm and nearly died of shock when I saw a sign on one of the doors saying that James would be on at 8.45pm. I joined the queue at the guest list window, got my pass and legged it round the corner to the stage door. Needless to say, I didn't miss the beginning of the show as James didn't come on til 9pm - thanks for that. The band were on great form and I had fun shooting them - funnily enough I didn't think it would be a particularly interesting shoot. Goes to show how wrong you can be about these things sometimes. I'm shooting quite a few gigs tonight - it's the Camden Crawl this weekend which could best be described as London's very own 2-day SXSW - so it's going to be a mental day. And of course, just to make things easier, the rain and the storms have returned to London town. Perfect timing!
View the 'James' gallery



16 April 2008
Sing it back

My Roisin Murphy shots from her gig at the Roundhouse last month are beginning to see the light of day. I was hired to shoot the entire gig and got some brilliant photos of her - even if I say so myself. One of those can be found in the May 2008 issue of Mixmag. On the gig front, I have a very busy weekend ahead of me so stay tuned for a big update and lots of new photos.



14 APRIL 2008
Violently unhappy

So, tonight Björk played the first of three London shows at the Apollo Hammersmith. I couldn't wait to shoot this show and had high expectations which - unfortunately - didn't quite get met. I think it's safe to say that Bjork isn't keen on photographers so we all got banished to the far left and right hand side of the pit - no one was allowed to leave the specially marked photo area and shoot from the centre of the pit. This was my first show with my brand new 70-200mm f/2.8 lens but things didn't really get off to a flying start because of the shooting restrictions. The lighting was also a real problem so overall I didn't get a lot of great shots from tonight's show. The few shots that did come out OK look rather boring due to the rather dull background I got shooting her from the side. Never mind, there's always next time...



12 APRIL 2008
Give me a telescope...

It's interesting how some weeks can be extremely quiet while others are just insanely exciting and open up new doors and possibilities. On the gig front, I did three consecutive shoots last week, starting off with Sia at Koko on Wednesday (9 April), followed by the legendary Portishead at the Apollo on Thursday, and Jose Gonzalez at the Shepherd's Bush Empire on Friday. The Sia shoot went really well even if I did turn up too late for Harmar Superstar (her support act) who I really wanted to shoot. Most of the stage for Sia's performance was covered in fluffy toys making me wonder if Hamley's had secretly sponsored the gig. The start of the show was particularly interesting as Sia and her band came out in fluorescent clothing which looked pretty cool in the otherwise pitch black venue...
View the 'Sia' gallery


I'd really been looking forward to shooting Portishead but on the day of the show I was warned that the lighting would be really appalling. Funnily enough I wasn't too worried about the lack of light; what concerned me more was the fact that the band were going to perform at the Apollo - a venue known for its rather large stage. Maybe it has something to do with the in-house sound system but a lot of the bands I have shot there tend to be positioned really far back on the stage so even when you are in the pit you are not actually close to the action. My 24-70mm lens on my full frame camera just didn’t have a big enough zoom range to get any close ups of the band so overall the whole shoot was a bit of a disappointment (even if the performance itself was brilliant).


Last night, it was time for the third and final shoot of the week - José Gonzalez at the Shepherd's Bush Empire (he's from Sweden in case you hadn't guessed). As previously reported, the pit at the Empire is pretty narrow so it's never a problem getting good shots there. Well, usually it isn't... For some reason, José decided to go all Portishead on us and performed on the drum riser - which was at the back of the stage. It was a bit silly really as he performs most of his songs on his own and is only occasionally joined by two additional musicians. I suppose he wanted everyone in the audience to be able to see him so it’s fair enough. However, for the second night in the row I didn't get any close ups. One thing that totally amazed me was that we were allowed to shoot the first six songs. When the security guard said to me "First 6, no flash" I couldn't quite believe it.
View the 'José Gonzalez' gallery


In other news, I’ve got a pretty cool shoot lined up for Monday, am currently in the middle of writing an article on rock photography which should see the light of day in June, and have been asked to shoot one of the big summer festivals. In hindsight, it's been a pretty eventful week.


3 APRIL 2008
No news...

Things continue to be fairly quiet so I've been keeping myself busy by planning ahead and updating the site. I've just added a few more photos to the PORTFOLIO section of the site, so feel free to have a look. I've also just realised that I didn't post my We Are Scientists photos from their HMV in-store gig on 20 March so here are two shots for your viewing pleasure.



1 April 2008
LA memories

It's been a very quiet week - there's not an awful lot happening in terms of gigs at the moment so I'm feeling a little bored I have to admit. Luckily, next week things will pick up again and should remain busy until the end of the month. Fingers crossed.

I've been doing a bit of archiving and have come across some of my LA photos from early February when I was in LA-LA land to shoot the Kooks. Get ready for my first non-music shot/collage on here - the view I got out of my little airplane window as we made our way to LA (taken half way through the flight and just before landing). The other shot was taken backstage at the Kooks' show in West Hollywood. The chick on the left is Dirty Harry (remember her?) and the one on the right doesn't really need an introduction...it's the one and only Courtney Love (what's going on with her belly button though). Completing the sandwhich is Luke Pritchard, lead singer of the Kooks. Click here to read my LA diary.



Continue: March 2008 archive