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17/11/2023

Fronting a synth-based duo is hard work, and not for the faint-hearted. You have to carry all the theatre, the drama, the tension, and the excitement of the music, fully exposed to the audience, while The Other One gets to loiter behind the equipment, where it's safe, making all the noise. Fortunately for all concerned, The Frixion's frontist, Gene Serene shoulders that burden with aplomb. Noisemaker Lloyd is no slouch either though - a veteran of multiple bands (including at least one 80s chart-topper), his hooded figure lurks behind the keyboards like a synth-worrying Nazgul.

Between the two of them, they delivered a perfectly-crafted and polished set (inlcuding Deceive A Believer - a cracking song!), which was an ideal start to a Friday night, before handing the stage over to Depeche Mode tribute - the excellent The Devout - Depeche Mode Tribute Act (more on that later).

29/10/2023

This was a cracking gig - Temples were amazing (as were Spirits Of Saturn in support)..

26/10/2023

21/09/2023

It was going to be a tough ask to follow Too Many Zooz' performance, but if you're going to do it, go big or go home. The following evening at The Fleece Bristol was kicked off with the deliciously uplifting vibes of teeth-rattling deep-dubsters, Omega Nebula before the Easy Star All-Stars took to the stage to give us a selection of audience favourites from The Dub Side of the Moon, RadioDread, Ziggy Stardub, and others. It's' pretty much impossible to leave a night like that without a huge smile!

15/09/2023

Well, this weekend just got a whole lot better - Bitter Kisses are at the Worcester Music Festival too!

25/08/2023

Last week was busier than usual - it saw me at The Fleece Bristol twice, on consecutive nights, always a pleasure to be at one of my favourite venues. And I must give an honourable mention to the bar management at The Fleece for having not just AN alcohol-free cider on offer, but a selection thereof - I'm usually driving, and I don't like the taste of the alternative sweeteners that are in most bar-served soft drinks these days, so having a choice of things that I can enjoy drinking while remaining street-legal is very much appreciated.

Back to the bands! Wednesday night saw TOO MANY ZOOZ visiting our fair city. I remember seeing these guys on Youtube, when that video of them busking in a New York subway station went viral. I remember thinking at the time that it was a cool idea, a nice kind of ironic hipster novelty - something I'd enjoy for a few minutes on my way to catch a train, but not something that would bear any full-scale performance.

Well, colour me corrected - Too Many Zooz put on a thoroughly entertaining full length set. Enthusiastic, engaging, energetic (other adjectives beginning with "E" are available), polished - mixing rock n roll pomp and pose with a self-defined Brass House sound - Leo, Matt and The King of Sludge drew a full-house crowd into their world, tossed us around on their frenetic jazz waves, and then spat us out at the end of the night, sweaty and exhausted. I went from wondering how their act would work as a full performance to wishing there had been another 15-20 minutes of it. Absolutely brilliant stuff!

16/08/2023

Tonight's office... Ready for some saxophonical lunacy...

27/07/2023

An absolute pleasure to photograph Moments of Pleasure: The Music of Kate Bush at The Fleece Bristol last Friday! A very faithful and enjoyable performance of Kate Bush's songs.

27/07/2023

I didn't used to like the square crop that Instagram demands, it just didn't suit the way I think/thought about image composition. I've had to learn to live it with it though, because most bands are using Instagram in preference to Facebook, and letting Insta impose its own square crop on an image that was shot in 4:3 format is more often than not a disaster. Now when I'm shooting a gig, and picking/processing the pictures afterwards, I'm thinking in terms of how any shot will work in 4:3, and how it'll work as a square, because different details in the image become important in different ratio formats.

But in amongst all of that distrust of the square crop, I'm absolutely in love with this square-cropped shot of Lisa-Marie Walters vocalist of the brilliant Moments of Pleasure: The Music of Kate Bush

21/06/2023

Oh heck yes - looks like I'll be photographing The Joy Formidable in September! Not gonna lie - pretty excited about that one...

16/06/2023

Another night at The Fleece Bristol - this time to photograph Fantastic Negrito. Support from Nat Oaks was the perfect compliment for the night, with a captivatingly melodic and passionate set that wrapped some classic trip-hop elements in a very contemporary shell. The main event took that passion and ran with it - slick and incredibly stylish, they exploded onto the stage with a shower of bluesy rocky funky soulful goodness for an enthusiastic and very well-behaved audience. And I have a soft spot for performers who act up for the camera..

10/06/2023

I thoroughly enjoyed this gig - and it was great to The Sieged getting a headline slot!