So it seems my body is telling me to slow down a bit. I’m sick as a dog and not in the mood for anything except watching tv and feeling sorry for myself. Where’s my nurse when I need her!?
Probably photographing 4 gigs in 2 days hasn’t helped! Last night I was at the NIA to shoot My Chemical Romance. I only stayed for the first 4 songs but it seemed like an ok show. The place was predictably full of goth kids all around 13 years old but they were loving it. MCR know how to put on a show and they were noticeably tighter than last time I shot them.
From there I headed over to the Academy for the Twang’s homecoming gig which sold out months ago. They only played about 45 minutes, which is fair enough I s’pose when you only have one single released yet. They’re good. They have some great songs but it was the single, Wide Awake that everyone was waiting for. Got some good shots I think, despite crappy red lighting again. It was funny to see the guys from their label leaving in a chauffeur driven car. Very rock n roll!
So this morning I woke to find myself feeling the worse for wear so stayed home catching up on some easy jobs. I have quite a backlog of photos to get through but decided I’d get the Ghost Of A Thousand shots sorted as I’d promised their bass player Gez I’d email him a few. It took a while to get them down to a good selection but I got them done, emailed them and added them to the Rock Photo website (see above right). Also added the Mastodon photos from Nottingham.
The editor of Live 24-seven magazine called telling me they’d had hundreds of entries to their competition to win a photo shoot with me. Good news! I just hope we get some more business from it as well as doing the free shoot. We still have a lot of people to pay off (framers, adverts, etc) so could do with a few more paying gigs. Things are lookin positive but we’re still a long way from where we want to be. The editor also asked if I’d be available on wednesday to shoot some models modelling designer clothes at a casino. They’re looking for something slick and classy, a bit James Bond-esque. They’re not paying but have agreed to give me a free ad in the next magazine in return for the shoot, so that’s fair enough. It does mean I’ll have to go almost straight from picking up Evelyne at the airport to the job though which isn’t ideal. I just hope I feel better by then…
So, despite feeling shitty, I dragged myself out tonight to photograph 2 more gigs. First up was Unearth at the Academy, who I have to say were amazing. I’ve got the albums but live they’re a whole different beast and sounded immense. Obviously touring with Slayer has fine-tuned them nicely. Met a guy at the gig who had travelled from Guernsey to see them at a cost of £180! That’s dedication. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay for the whole gig as I’d promised to shoot my friend Zak’s band, Apollo, over at the Barfly. Bad timing meant they played at the same time as Unearth so I totally missed them which was gutting. I did stay to catch Vix n the something or other who are a new band fronted by the ex-singer from Fuzzbox who were semi-famous for 5 minutes about 2 decades ago. This was the new band’s first gig and you could tell. The sound was awful but they looked good and maybe after a few more gigs they’ll get better. It was funny that this band of 4 good looking girls in high heels had a pit full of photographers, almost all of whom had left before the headliners, Electric Animals came on. The Animals had a far superior sound and some great songs, but unfortunately no fishnets or high-heels. I grabbed a few shots but by that time I was feeling awful and decided to head home and sit in front of the fire watching the season finale of The Shield (fantastic show). Now I need some good sleep…
