Tag: gig

B309 – CLEAR SKYS AND COLD WEATHER – PERFECT

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Last night was one of those nights, while on my walk to Old street, my photos just seemed to happen. I think half of that was down to the light, I had hit the perfect time, just as the sun was setting and theres this cool kind of blue light in the sky. I know it might sound a bit weird as well but I think it definitely helped that it was ridiculously cold. A lot of the time I walk around and really struggle to take some photos decent photos that I actually like, that definitely wasn’t the case last night.

One of the things I have learnt about myself over the past 309 days is that I really love street photography and take pictures of people and capturing those random moments that we all see happen and that give us those little chuckle to ourselves. thats definitely my favourite thing to photograph, but Ill also take a clear cold night where you are given loads of strong, bright, contrasty colours from shop windows and the odd coffee shop.

At the moment I really don’t have a lot of time to make it down to gigs and music venues to work on that photography project, which is really annoying. The only way I could make it is if I probably stop eating dinner and cut my sleep down but as I think that would probably do more damage than good, for now Im just going to put it on hold and get through the next couple of weeks / months and then pick it up from there. So sorry to anyone that Ive been speaking to about gigs for events, I haven’t forgotten about you.

my plan for the future is to write these posts that night instead of the morning before work, I just dont leave myself enough time and now spent my morning rushing around. theres nothing better waking up in the morning before work, knowing that the post is ready to go. C’mon josh up your game!!!

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– Bethnal Green Road towards Shoreditch –
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– I cant remember if I have taken a photo of this before, but I like this shot so Ill post it anyway –
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– its like the hand it pushing him back –

B298 – A MONKEY IN A MOSH PIT!

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So last night im not really too sure what band I saw play, I know it was like nothing Ive ever seen on stage before. You know its going to be interesting when the band come out and say “We are the worst band in london” and the scream some words down the mic that this gig is going to make so cool photos. This is exactly my thought process last night, it was a mixutre between scream, death metal and drum n bass.

This was kind of the gig that Ive wanted to photograph for a while, its just something completely different and basically a gig that I probably would never end up going to if it wasn’t for photography. Maybe thats not a good way to think but thats the truth, and thats also why I am doing this photography project to uncover gigs and cultures around London that all associate with live music. What makes it cool is that fact that last night was the first time Ive ever seen a man in a gorilla suite wearing some kind of mad max googles join in with a mosh pit and then get up on stage in introduce the next band. I couldn’t stay for the next gig but I hope it was just as bonkers as the gig I saw. I really wish I knew the name of the band but Ive found their event page and think it is worth check out. so check out the event page from last night and maybe get down to the next one if you want to see something that I promise most of you have never seen before.

for now though I have to keep this post pretty short as Ive got to get up dressed and off to a meeting in Richmond that Im quickly becoming pretty late for. Heres some photos from yesterdays gig! enjoy!

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– Thats a monkey in a mosh pit –
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– they did well to hold down that stage, I would definitely go to the next one! –
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– really good crowd there aswell! –

 

B297 – PROPER ROAD TRIP STUFF

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My plan for today is to post some photos from the gig yesterday, I really get paranoid that I take so many photos I like from gigs and then they just sit on my hard drive for the rest of eternity, so Im just going to go ahead and post them. I haven’t stopped listening to Blueprint Blue since I heard them, its kind of getting me ready for the summer in a weird way, they are proper road trip music.

As Im sure most of you are aware today is Friday, which means its one more sleep till the weekend and thats my last weekend as a free man, because as of Monday I start my next job. Its been a fun two months of doing what I like and I have to say I’ve spent that time pretty busy which is actually quite good, Im not looking back on December and January and thinking “wow I watched some great TV series”, its more “oh cool, Ive taken some fun photos, made a few cool videos and created a pretty solid 2018 plan”. It now just comes down to putting all of that plan into practice and not spending to much of the time in the pub. Im quickly approaching a massive mile stone in this blog and thats something Im pretty proud of, its day 300! After that the finish line is in sight!

Today I have a bit of plan to get my life in order and sort out some of the boring stuff in life, but after all that I want to get down to the south bank and take some photos. I haven’t really been there in the day to take photos, so it will be good to see how that turns out, its a mini city adventure. but for now, heres so more of my favourite photos for that gig the other night.

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– Seeing a pack out gig on a wednesday night at the Seabright arms, makes it all worth it –
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– looking forward to going to their next gig –
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– because the stage is so dark, I definitely think black and white photos look so much better –

 

B296 – BLUEPRINT BLUE, AMAZING WEDNESDAY NIGHT GIG.

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As most of you know, Im trying to go to as many gigs as possible and photograph all these amazing free gigs around London. Last night I heard of a gig headlined by a Band called Blueprint Blue, before last night I hadn’t heard of the band, normally what I do is listen to the band during the day of the gig so when I get there I know what Im in for, but last night I was on a total wim.

When I arrived it was just starting to get busy and people where arrive but by the time the band were all set up and ready to go, the place was fully packed. I have never been to a free gig at the Seabright Arms before and seen it that busy. Then they started playing and I could see why, this band are amazing. Just good music and a pretty high cool factor, their songs are pretty slow but with the old fast rift everyone is always singing in Harmony and they’ve just kind of found a style and made it their own. After I write this blog post I will be sending them an email to see when they are next playing and if its ok to come along and take some photos. If these guys aren’t playing some amazing festival gigs over the summer Ill be surprised and i hope they will soon be on everyone radar.

One of my favourite songs of theirs is called Wheres The Sun, its one of those songs that you can just listen to over and over again. Im sure some music review person could give you a better reason for why its soo good, but I just like them tempo of this band and how well their voices go with the music.

Heres a link to their Soundcloud and my favourite youtube song.

Heres my photos from the gig, I hope you like them!

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– for 21:45 on a Wednesday night it was so worth it –
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– all of them just seemed to understand each other and had the timings down –
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– sorry theres no photos of the Keyboard player, he was just out of shot –

B260 – IVE WANTED TO SEE THEM FOR YEARS

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Last week I went to a gig that I had wanted to go to for a while, it was for a band called Mellow Gang, they’re this band I discovered while in America and was that band I would listen to on the long plane journeys and extra long passport queues, well this band are probably the reason I’m still sane. The gig was at the famous Seabright Arms on Hackney road, you’ve definitely read about me going to this place before, its like 2 minutes from my house and actually plays really good music most weeks. and even better a lot of it is free which makes the whole gig a no brainer.

I find it a bit weird writing about a gig I went to last week as its not that fresh in my head and I cant really remember all my favourite parts, but unfortunately Im really not able to post any photos today as Ive spent the day running around different Disney stores trying to get hold of this Doll for my niece (don’t worry she’s too young to read so no chance of her finds out through this blog what I got her), well anyway that didn’t go to plan as no disney store had the right thing so I just brought as much stuff as my bank account would let me and moved on to the next task, which I cant really talk about on here but I can say that even that didn’t go smooth as I had realised after being in the store for an hour trying to get everything completely perfect to the point where I had to ask for a tape measure, well I went through all that to realise I had left my wallet at home. but luckily after a short phone call to Amy for her card details we were up and away, I just need to go back tomorrow morning and collect it. I have to say this year I have really pulled it out the bag with my christmas presents!

I really hope you like me writing and photographing gigs around London because I actually enjoy it quite a lot. So if you don’t like what I write and photograph let me know why and ill see what I can do to make it better!

Also don’t forget I still have prints for sale, so dig deep and buy one. Ill even send you a christmas card!

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– Mellow gang doing there thing –
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– Seabright arms on Hackney road, have a look at the Dice App for re gigs, trust me it is actually a pretty useful tool –
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– this was Phundo Art, a rapper from South Africa –

B259 – A GIG NOT TO BE MISSED

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Yesterday my plan for the evening was to watch some junk TV and sit on the sofa, that all changed when I got a last minute invite to a gig at the Shackwell Arms, one of the best things about London is the amount of free gigs that go on literally every night, alot of the time they can be a bit hit and miss but theres one venue which always seems to draw a crowd and thats the Shackwell Arms in Dulston, its always got a decent sized audience and the bands that play are mostly amazing.

Last night was no exception, the band playing were called Tracey Bryant and before 4pm yesterday I had never heard of them and definitely hadn’t listened to any of their music. well that has all changed, they were literally one of the best free gigs ive ever been too, you know when a band opens up their set with the first song of just guitar thrashing riffs for 5 minutes that your about to witness something pretty cool.

The band are from Los Angeles and currently over in Europe on tour,  and tonight they play in Belgium which is kind of annoying I was hoping they would be playing in London again so I could go along but I suppose Ill just have to wait till they come back for a festival or something, this cant be there last gig in London I refuse to believe it.

If you want to listen to these guys and trust me I think you should heres a link to their Band Camp profile, its got there latest album.

https://tracybryant.bandcamp.com/

As from me I just need to say thank you to Anders for the invite it was definitely a gig not to miss and as my photography project goes on, Tracey Bryant will definitely be remember as the gig not to be missed.

Any way in other news my prints are now going to be selling in a few coffee shops around London, but you can also buy them on my website. So please help me out during this expensive time of year and buy one of my prints.

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– so many amazing guitar solos it was just talent –
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– LA has some amazing bands and these guys were definitely up there –
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– these guys are going to be massive –

B256 – PSYCHEDLIC POST ROCK ELECTRO GRUNG.

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Yep you read that title correct, last night I ventured over to The Beehive in Bromley By Bow, its this pub which looks and feels like its be held in time, one of those proper east london pubs, where people pay money into the Juke box and listen to Frank Sinatra while downing pint after pint of Stella.

While all that is happening out the front of house, in a small door which is also connected to the Womens toilets, theres a small 10 meter by 10 meter black room where last night you could have found some wild post rock beats mixted with the odd grung song. It wasnt a massive crowd but that doesnt really matter when you think about it.

The bands that played last night where the Desert Clouds, Ditsea Yella, The Anderson Tapes and the Heros Of The Last Age. it was the music I want to focus on for my photography project, it was those bands that dont play to massive audiences and their music is there hobby not there main income. I definitely feel that these bands are the reason for London being such a cool place to live, they are the creatives and expressionists that live and work in everyday London, who on their own are just a little bit quirky but when you have a few thousand quirky individuals all of a sudden its a movement.

I don’t want to show off to many photos from last night as I need to send them onto the promotor who sorted me out with the gig and let him post them all over social media but obviously I need to show you three photos. The Promotor who’s gig I was at is called Spoons Event sound Solution, its kind of an punk / rock promotor so the gigs aren’t your capital FM pop music stuff, its all heavy and completely off the beaten track in a way. really cool music and I’m looking forward to more gigs like it.

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– Ditsy Yella –
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– im not sure if that is a wig or real hair, but its definitly got a stage presences –
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– Desert Clouds, the first band to on stage –

B248 – HAZY JANE – SEABRIGHT ARMS 06.12.17

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As yesterday was a working day, and I don’t want to be one of those guys that runs round a venue taking personal photos and then posting them online. I decided to have some thing stocked up in the bag ready to show you guys, Im talking about the warm up band for the other nights gig at the Seabright Arms. its the band HAZY JANE. this band are the kind of people that pop up at 3am in a music festival around that camp fire and all of a sudden your its 6am in the morning and your now best friends with a stranger talking about all the things you guys are going to get up to in the future. thats the type of band these guys are.

What makes it even better is that this band is based out of Hackney, so pretty local to where I live they play British Folk /indie music so all pretty chilled out accoustic sets. One thing I love is that they set up a crowd funding page to raise some money to record their first single “Us On A Wire” and even now have like a mini UK tour planned for April next year and will be playing all round the London, Norwich and Brighton. trust me if you see that they are playing at a gig near you, get down there and give them a listen. you cant go wrong.

check out this music video.

and heres their tour dates. trust me get yourself down to one of their gigs! https://www.hazeyjane.com/tour

Sorry that is post is a few hours late, but I kind of over slept this morning and have been trying to juggle getting this done, while trying to organise my life a bit.

Heres some photos, enjoy.

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– listen to the song – Take my soul, its got grit –
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-Seabright Arms 06.12.17 –
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– I cant remember at what point in the gig this was, but its a pretty cool photo –

B236 – PANIC ATTACKS AND COLOUR CLASHES

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A few months ago amy brought some tickets to see the Kooks play in Brighton, they are a band Ive wanted to see for ages and something which I’ve been excited for since she told me we were going. but before we can go to an amazing gig we had to do something that turns girls like amy into monsters / dictators, I’m talking about is IKEA.  Yesterday we had to venture over to the warehouse of nightmares and shop till my credit card pops.

I saw a side to amy which scared me and it happened in the cushion department, we were trying to work out what colours go with what pattern and what fabric would work with the sofa. I never new that cushion shopping was a thing, I just thought they came with a sofa and that was it. who wrong I was. cushion shopping involves panic attacks and a lot of tongue bitting. Apparently my opinions will be taken into consideration but in the end they will be ignored, she even let me pick a cushion that she chose.

After cushion gate has finished it was time to hit the road and head down to Brighton and meet some good old chums and put the whole ikea experience behind us. the kooks smash it they were literally amazing the lead singer is a guy called Luke Pritchard and he knows a thing or two about performing and somehow have managed to hold down a top spot in British indie music since their album Inside in inside out was released in 2006. what was amazing about the show for me was when the blue curtain came down and he performed an acoustic set, for some reason when you bring the curtain down mid set it really makes the gig feel intimate. if you have the chance to see the Kooks definitely get down to a gig, tonight they are playing in Cardiff and if I could get down there I would.

As I spent the day running round doing a million and one things, all my photos were taken on my phone.

P.s Amy thanks for taking me around Ikea, you’ve given me the interior design bug and also for getting the Kooks tickets!!!!!

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– this part of the set made it worth it –
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– the literally havent aged as a band since 2006 –
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– amy mid panic attack because yellow doesn’t go with the orange of the wall… or does it?! –