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Jan 31 2012

Monsters!

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The Monsters Under The Bed

A while ago (12th March 2011 to be precise) my eldest son decided he wanted me to photograph a few of his toys. I was hoping it would only be 3 or 4 of his favourites, but he proceeded to bring in monster figures by the arm full. Fortunately some of them were pretty cool, if a little gruesome, so I didn’t mind too much, but I only got around to editing a couple of them at the time. I was trying to bring some semblence of order to my hard drive the other day and came across the ‘monster toy folder’ and thought I’d upload a few of ~~my faves~~ my son’s faves

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Nov 05 2011

SOiL

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SOiL, Norwich Waterfront 27-10-11

I remember first hearing ‘Halo’ by SOiL on the ‘Music For Maniacs’ promo cd which came free with my copy of Rob Zombie’s ‘Sinister Urge’ cd back in 2001. I was immediately struck by the power of vocalist Ryan McCombs’ voice and the seriously heavy groove the band laid down. On the basis of hearing that one song I bought their debut album ‘Scars’ and loved it.

Ten years later and it’s announced that SOiL, reunited with McCombs (who left in 2004 and joined Drowning Pool), are touring the UK celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Scars and, luckily for me, one of the dates brings them to Norwich.

As well as scoring a press/photo pass for the show, the band also allowed me to interview them and take their photo prior to the gig.

The band turned out to be a really nice bunch who seemed genuinely grateful to the fans for their success. The show was amazing, and the band had a great chemistry on stage. They also looked like they were enjoying themselves as much as the audience, which was great to see. Hopefully they’ll get to record some new material with McCombs in the very near future.

Photography-wise the lighting was pretty ropey, with louds of solid red and blues washes, but I’m prepared to overlook it on this occasion

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Oct 24 2011

Bowling For Soup

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Bowling For Soup, Norwich UEA 17-10-11

Not only was I lucky enough to get a photo/press pass for Bowling For Soup’s recent Norwich UEA show, I also got to sit down and have a chat with frontman Jaret Reddick. A 40-minute interview may not sound like a long time and, to be fair to Jaret who is a charming, interesting and very busy man, it didn’t feel like a long time. Actually typing up the thing afterwards, however, took a hell of a long time. I would love to be able to type properly but, well, it’s a bit late now, isn’t it.

While I was at the venue I noticed several Old Bill milling about. Were they alert and on the lookout for criminals? Nah, they were trying to blag a guided tour round the band’s bus. Ever wondered why there’s never a policeman about when you want one? It’s because they’re hanging around tour buses like uniformed groupies.

The full interview, should you be inclined to having a glag at it, is (or will be shortly) available to read HERE, and is in 2 parts. See, I told you it was a lot of typing!

For those of you who haven’t heard of the band, Jaret also does voiceover work for the cartoon Phineas And Ferb (for which Bowling For Soup also perform the theme tune), has several musical projects on the go (People On Vacation, Jarinus), a video company, a record label…like I said, he’s a busy man who makes me feel incredibly lazy.

I won’t waste words telling you about the gig, because I’ve written a review of it which has been published HERE

I also took some photos of Suburban Legends, who I saw earlier this year supporting Reel Big Fish, which I will put up in the near future.

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Sep 25 2011

West Highland Way

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West Highland Way – Sept 2011

This time last week I was up in the highlands of Scotland on a campsite at the base of Ben Nevis. Starting at Milngavie, just outside Glasgow, and finishing at Fort William, the West Highland Way is a 96 mile walk which takes in some of the most stunning scenery in the UK.

I slipped on a rock trying to hop across this river. My arse took a beating, but I managed to keep my camera safe.

Having had little camping experience and contending with some of the worst weather in Scotland for 25 years, as well as missing my family, it’s fair to say that, even though I was driving rather than walking, I found the 13 days in Scotland somewhat of a personal challenge. .

Beth's handywork. Discovery Quest Rules!

During the trip there were flooded campsites, a spur-of-the-moment overnight drive from Inverarnen to Scotch Corner and back, a couple of trips to A&E, I had constantly wet feet, several nights of weather and/or snoring related insomnia and midge bites aplenty. Luckily there was also plenty of camaraderie and companionship, an indomitable team spirit and last, but by no means least, lots of pubs along the way. I thoroughly recommend a drop or four of ‘Wildcat’ or ‘Sheepshaggers’.

Campsite number 1: Milngavie. T'was Squelchy.

The fellow travellers we met on the West Highland Way were a friendly bunch, particularly Spaniard, Xavi (“Bastardo irritante!”), my newfound brother-from-another-mother, with whom I shared a similar taste in music and who spent much of his time with our group. Thanks for the cd and round of tequilas, Amigo.

Xavi and Ella

I learned a lot from the trip (not least that ‘Hasta Luego’ may mean ‘See you later’ in Spanish, but a simple one-letter typo when texting could mean you’re actually offering a hand-job. Awkward!), came away with some fantastic memories and I even made some awesome new friends. Would I do it again? Hell yes.

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Sep 04 2011

Sonisphere 2011

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Sonisphere Knebworth 2011

Blogs are funny things; it’s hard to find the time to write blog posts when you’re busy because you’re too busy doing the thing that you usually blog about (or doing whatever it is you do to pay your bills if the thing you blog about isn’t the thing you do to pay your bills!). The downside of this is that it gives the false impression that you’re not busy, otherwise you’d have posted something sooner. Conversely, when you’re not busy you have the time to blog, but there’s a very distinct possibility you’ll have nothing to post because you’ve not been busy. Or something like that.

Anyway, that’s enough of my excuses for not updating my blog recently.

Sooooo…Sonisphere! Yes, I know, it was a while ago. Better late than never though, right?

Of the bands that performed at this year’s Sonisphere I was most excited about the Big4: Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer & Metallica. My musical tastes have changed a bit over the years but, many years ago, when I was a spotty teen, they were four of the most important & influential bands on the scene. I was a massive Megadeth fan, but also a fan of Slayer and, to a lesser extent Anthrax (the first band I ever saw live in 1989 at Hammersmith Odeon with Living Colour supporting) & Metallica.

One of the problems with scoring a photopass for Sonisphere is that, unless you work for one of the main music publications, you’re not likely to be allowed to shoot the main stage. Unfortunately I don’t work a major music mag, so my photopass only allowed me to shoot the smaller stages. So, with all my camera equipment to hand, but being prohibited from photographing the ‘Big4’, I did the next best thing and took some photos of the audience instead.

As well as being lucky enough to get all nostalgic watching Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer and Metallica live, I also learned two very important lessons: 1: Camping becomes less fun the older you get (and, let’s face it, it’s not that much fun to begin with) and 2: A fence is only a fence when there’s a band playing- as soon as the music stops it becomes a urinal. Some people may enjoy the sensation of being sprayed with piss by a bunch of inebriated metallers, I’m not one of them.