girls, girls, girls

My flatmate has been into Girls for a while - he was very excited when I said I will be photographing them. I thought he would come along, and he was going to - but I got the 'you go now, and if I come in I'll give you a txt'... he had a ride to and from the gig from me, if he turned that down do you think he was going to walk to the train station, wait for a train, train to Jolimont, walk to Richmond? andyway... I got in the car knowing that I was going to this gig alone - which is fine cos I would have been taking photos anyway.

Unlike last time, I got there early enough to get up the front - I watched a couple of bands who were ok but both had a constant red light on them - making taking photos pretty hard... that's not why I didn't post any though - I just didn't.

OK.

yup.

Hi.

Kaki King

I didn't know if I was going to make it to this one. The band that I play in also had a gig on that night so I had to 'jet' (I'm so 2008) as soon as we finished to get to the Corner Hotel on time for kaki's set. I normally turn up quite early to get a good position for the first few songs then spend the rest of the gig walkin round getting photos of the band from different vantage points, but I had to settle with something like 3rd row back this time. She was good - I had youtubed her and myspaced her so I knew that she was some sort of guitar goddess who did this crazy tapping shit, ala Andy McKee. It was a good gig and the crowd was digging it but I left early cos I'm old and tired and my feet hurt.

review here

all photos here

.

I photographed Perth band, The Chemist at The Grace Darling on Smith Street.

They were supported by two generic tight pants wearing, hollow body Gibson guitar having pointy shoed bands (who were really quite good) but shit man, it's all getting a little long in the tooth - I spent most of their sets wondering what the next fad is going to be (I predict lady bands) and wishing for it to arrive fast.

The Chemists, however, were great. Maybe it's because I think Tom Waits is awesome and there was some Tom Waits influence shining through, maybe it's just cos they were different from all the other bands I have been seeing...


anyway.

Field Day

I almost didn't get to this gig - I had not received confirmation from the promoter (via the Dwarf) come Friday night, so I could have easily left this one and spent a night on the couch.. but I had not received any emails saying I couldn't go either! So I have the Thornbury Theatre a call about 8pm and the friendly guy said I could come along.

I arrived a little late which was the plan, figuring that all the support acts would be singer / guitarists with no bands - which isn't a bad thing, but I was already tired (and Red Bulls were $6). I did see Angie Heart, who I found out during the set used to be in the band Frente! who had a hit back in the day (90's) with a song called Accidently Kelly Street.. what a blast from the past - she still has the voice too..

Georgia Fields' Mini Indie Orchestra came onto the stage while Georgia waited backstage I took the opportunity of getting a couple of really nice shots of her - I think the best of the night! The music was sublime - alot of these bands that I listen to on Myspace sound so much better live - Myspace really does not do some bands justice.

trip to the dead city...

Our poor van is on the out... we have had Tiger for about 11 months and we needed to get Victorian plates, which means having to take the van for a roadworthy, which he will fail, which means we can't get VIC plates, which means we can't drive him in VIC. So we went on a road trip over Melbourne Cup weekend - we thought we would drive to Adelaide!

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NEWS FLASH: ADELAIDE IS A LONG WAY A-WAY

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We split the trip up into 4 days of semi-fucking-huge drives, a quick squizz at Google Maps and we had a couple of cool places to stop off at along the way..

Please note: DO NOT go food shopping before you cross the VIC / SA border, or you, like us, and the other car load of people will be sitting at the border eating as much fruit and veges that you can before throwing them into a bin..

Mount Gambier

I can sum it up in two words: "Shit town, cool crater lakes and a REALLY cool abandoned hospital"

Day two was Adelaide via Naracoorte to check out some caves, which were pretty cool, there was a free one to walk thru, it was pretty great! I am sure the others were better.

We reached Adelaide, had shit service at a pizza place, had a nice sleep in the van beside the beach and a swim in the morning then left... no photos for you.

The next day was a biiiiig drive (650kms) we wanted to do a big one so we just had a small drive back to Melbourne the following day - we headed along some highway, saw a lizard and went through a bunch of cute wee towns and ended up at a place called Sea Lake for dinner and photos:

We drove on into the night and stayed at a place called Charlton which was kinda scary and had a Famer Claus-looking type of fullah looking in the rubbish bins.

OT

It's not very often i post a non-music related blog, so it must be pretty special... not really, just once in a while you take a bunch of photos somewhere that you would never usually be and they come out better than you thought... I went to the Armageddon Expo in the weekend, my girlfriend was working there so I scored free entry - just the usual freaks and geeks, Dr Who cast, people dressed as storm troopers etc.

And wrestling!

This has happened one other time - I ended up at the greyhound racing in Sydney when I was living there, I have no idea why but I got some great shots, all totally unexpected. Maybe it's good to go to things you wouldn't normally go to - get shots with fresh eyes etc etc..

I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok

I learnt a few things about Canadians tonight:

1) They dress like lumberjacks
2) They really aren't anything like Americans
3) They are kinda geeky like us Kiwis

I went along to the Ding Dong Lounge in Melbourne to photograph a Canadian Showcase for the Dwarf - Elliott Brood, Final Flash and The Trews. These three bands must be popular in the United States of Canadia right now (or are just touring at the same time) I enjoyed parts of all three bands, but I wasn't really into it tonight - end of a long week and all. The lumberjacks in the crowd seemed to enjoy it. A friend was there reviewing it aswell - maybe I'll link to hers when it is posted - it may be a little nicer.

Anyway - on with the photos.

For the first time in history I could not decide on the best cum face of the gig - so you get this little treat... A CUMTAGE!!!!!

blood on the dancefloor

OK, so things seem to be on the up and up - after a nice break from taking gig photos, I have my name down for a few (unconfirmed by the promoter) gigs: Final Flash, Georgia Fields, The Chemist, Kaki King and Girls over the next few months - so I should be blogging abit more!

Speaking of Audiac - the band I play in had the pleasure of taking part in 80 Gigs in 80 Days which has been put together by I Heart Cusack - who are playing 80 gigs in 80 days (in various forms of the band) we got to see just the singer and keyboard player on this particular night but it was still pretty cool, if you get a chance to see the full band I think it would be well worth it.

My girlfriend, Jess, took pics of us and I took the pics of the guys from I Heart Cusack...






































































Cum face of the gig comes from the third band of the night, what's that? I didn't mention the third band? yes I did... didn't I?

























And the award for most blood shed on a bass guitar on the night goes to.......
























ME!

so anyway

While I am on the subject of Grinderman, I remember seeing them in Sydney in 2007 with support from Nick Cave solo + guests (some Bad Seeds) it was a great show, and one that I had to take my point and shoot camera to as I wasn't taking photos for anyone at that stage... but I did get one goodie, that I still really like (above) and also some video (below).

Grinderman 2

I haven't been attending many gigs recently so I thought I'd keep all 9 of you who follow my blog a review on the new Grinderman album "Grinderman 2".

It's pretty fucking good.

fin.

Band of Skulls

I first heard about these guys through a friend a couple of years ago, but haven't really followed them up until I got this gig through the Dwarf as part of a feast of Splendor in the Grass sidewshows that are coming through Melbourne at the moment.

I got there nice and early cos I'm a good boy and very trustworthy - then managed to get myself lost in the pub... yep. lost. I stood around for a bit pretending that I am waiting for someone and then sheepshly followed some people who looked like they knew where they were going - and they

did!

I took some photos of the support band Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire!, but the lighting was shit and so were the photos - what didn't get deleted in the camera on the tram on the way home got deleted when I put them on the computer. They were a good band though but totally let down by the phenomenon known as 'make-the-support-band-look-shit-ist.

Band of Skulls were awesome - best little band I have seen since Kitty, Daisy and Lewis. From the start to the end it was a rock n' roll show to get your groove on to - and I couldn't move from the front - so I now have 330 photos from one position :)

....

Alberta Cross

I was asked at late notice to photograph New Yorkian band Alberta Cross.

There was a catch.

I had to go as the photographer who pulled out.. yes, I had a porno name. I sat on the tram all the way to The Corner Hotel telling myself "I am **** ****", and by the time I got there, I WAS **** ****!!!

what's this? I have to sign something?

fuck.

I knew who I was, but I didn't know how to spell my name!

I miffed at and was granted entry to photograph, wondering if I was able to get **** **** banned from the Corner.

After a pretty good support support act we were treated to some ear bleeding tunes from The Vasco Era. I saw some Kurdt Cobain in there, it was good, but only the last song or two were great - and I mean GREAT, so well worth checking out if you can.

I had not heard of Alberta Cross, a quick Google said that Oasis liked them, I didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing. But they were good, I was actually concentrating on taking photos so I can't really say much apart form that.

what's that?

photos?

And now for the C.F.o.t.G and it goes to the guitar player / singer from the Vasco Era, whose guitar playing rocked... hence the entire gig was spent in cum face heaven.

swing-a-ding-ding my dang-a-long-ling-dong

I was asked to photograph a band who had been working hard over the past few months and wanted someone to get some shots of their final night in the run of Wednesdays at a particular bar. They played jazz, which I am into so it was no problem going along with a 'maybe' getting paid. It was a great night and busier than I expected.


They are pretty new to the scene so their MySpace is kinda empty, but keep checking back - some of their original songs we great! I was fighting with the light all night long, it was pretty badly lit - shooting at f2.8 and 6400ISO it was still hit and miss!

ch cha cha check it out.

Check out the new single from our upcoming album!

first job kinda maybe

As you can see, I photographed The Wagons a few weekends ago - the week after I received an email from the Wagons manager saying they loved my photos and would I be interested in doing some shots of Henry Wagons (lead singer). My first reaction was to give the job to my girlfriend Jess cos she is great at portraits, but she told me I had to do it!

anyway, I met Henry at the Fitzroy Gardens - he had some ideas for shots so off we went and took some shots for a couple of hours.

It was pretty fun, I had a flash with me but I am not very confident with it so I just used available light (what a wanky statement that is.. available light) I have sent the photos off to the manager and Henry and now am waiting for a response, which is scary! All in all it was pretty fun and probably something that I should get into - I really enjoy taking live shots and portrait shoots like this will hopefully be on offer more and more.

And Henry is a really nice guy.