Raincliff

I was asked to go to the Queenscliff Festival with The Wagons to get some shots of their set. They have about 10,000 shots of them performing from me so this time they asked for lots of crowd shots which meant I was allowed everywhere, even on stage!

It rained that day, like really really rained, lucky the show was held in a massive tent and everyone was undercover (there was an announcement during the set that peoples tents were blowing away, Si told them that they should probably go check it out, but after their set. We were pretty much in and out so didn't see many bands, I got to witness the tail end (long tail) of the Triffids which looked like a slick and well presented show and about 30mins of The Cruel Sea which was also pretty slick.

See 'em all here 

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Wagons (c) Michael Christian 2011

Wagons (c) Michael Christian 2011

Wagons (c) Michael Christian 2011

Wagons (c) Michael Christian 2011

Wagons (c) Michael Christian 2011

Wagons (c) Michael Christian 2011

Wagons (c) Michael Christian 2011

....

It was a bit of a late call up but I was off to The Corner Hotel to photograph 3 aussie bands for my Friday night... Calling All Cars are on tour promoting their new album, they bring with them Redcoats and Boy In A Box. I had photographed Redcoats before when they played with another favourite Melbourne band, [ME] and had always been keen on seeing these guys again. I hadn't heard of Boy In A Box, not really my thing and neither was Calling All Cars, but they were both great to photograph, which is the reason why I went....

Originally appeared in the AU Review

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Redcoats (c) Michael Christian 2011 . Originally appeared in AU Review

Calling All Cars (c) Michael Christian 2011 . Originally appeared in AU Review

Calling All Cars (c) Michael Christian 2011 . Originally appeared in AU Review

farty teenager and a rainy tram

I had not photographed at the East Brunswick Club since I shot Band of Skulls here last year, that was a great gig... would this be one too?

I got there stupidly early as usual, but that gave me enough time to walk back towards the city about 4 tram stops to find somewhere that would serve my coffee before the gig. I fucked around some more and still got in early, but I had a spot up the front so all was not lost.

Gold Fields were on first, and, I am going out on a limb here, but they were possibly the better act of the night (but each to their own, ya know? Holidays were the ones who sold the venue out) they were slinky, a little bit funky, a tad rocky - better than most the supports I have seen - check 'em out!

Between acts I was treated to smelly farts coming from the zitty 18yo beside me, not worth checking that out.

The Holidays came on, I was shooting, so was not really concentrating that much on the music only to think a few songs in that this is getting better as we go along on this Holiday of sorts. I decided to call it quits about 15mins early in favor of getting a ride home and not having to face the trams and trains at midnight in the rain... I stood back a bit on the way out and noticed that the sound was A LOT better as in they sounded really sweet.

Just as I noticed that Sydney girl band girls were different from Melbourne girl band girls, Sydney hipster bands are different from Melbourne hipster bands!

Photos!

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or here!

WOW

National

This band has more buzz surrounding them than a vibrator convention, people are gushing over their live shows, they are bigger than.. um.. Coldplay or something.

I didn't connect though, I like their album and the show seemed good from what I saw. Who knows, I wasn't sitting down and focused on the show - I was only allowed three songs and from the side of the stage - then I had an hour watching the show before I was told to leave by security. The amount of people saying it was an awesome show makes me think it was me and not them...

Support was from The Middle East (the band, not the place) who were pretty cool.

The one thing that annoyed me however, was the sheep mentality of the audience and this isn't limited to just the National show...

Lights flicker "WOOOOOOO HOOOOOO"

Lights change colour "OOOOOO MAI GAWDDDDDD!"

Lights turn on "AAAAARGGGH MY HEAD IS GOING TO EXPLODE FORM AWESOMENESS"

All pics here

My McChicken was good though.

cheer up emo squid

On a Monday night! oh my - I am waaaay too old for this..

I need some hard stuff to get me through the night, I can..
(a) rack up a line of coke in the toilets of some wanky night club with some guy from the CBA who rents his car and has a girlfriend with spray on tan who he cheats on
or (b) have a V and a coffee with 3 shots in it...

After the coffee and V I proceed to the Toff, in town, only to find out my name isn't on the door! SAY WHAT!?? DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM??! I'M MIKE!

Anyway.. I managed to get in and got myself a position and waited (and waited, and waited). Finally the support act came on stage - a lady who called herself Pikelet - she was pretty cool - for some reason to be an arteest musician in Melbourne you need to have a repeater pedal, which she played well - worth checking out if you ever get the chance.

It must have taken ages to change the laptops over because we had to wait almost an hour for El Perro Del Mar to appear on stage. El Perro Del Mar are a two piece outfit from Sweeden who are currently touring the world on their third album 'Love Is Not Pop'. They were also really good and I was glad I had the chance to see another band I would never have seen if I didn't get in for free and get to take photos... thanks Dwarf

anyway.....

check me out mum!

I have been signed up with an online magazine called the Dwarf for probably about 2 years now. Every week or so they send out a list of gigs available to shoot or review and every week I think to myself "if you were only good enough to put your name forward" (translate that to: If I only had enough balls to put my name forward) so anyway, I (finally) asked and I received a gig which I shot last Friday at the Corner Hotel in Richmond, here in Melbourne.

The gig in question was Grafton Primary with supports from Cassette Kids and Neon Love - all of which I knew nothing about. I was expecting some kinda super DJ set but no, they all had instruments! the first band (Neon Love) had LOTS of instruments! the 2nd band, Cassette Kids, had lots of instruments and a singer with a short skirt and Grafton Primary had not very many instruments and no female singer with a short skirt... you can make your own conclusions from that.

Anyway, I wasn't sent to review, I was sent to take photos.....