The full collection of photographs taken on a boat trip along the Thames with live performances by Joe Robbins and Plush. Featured song is ‘Lucky Fish’ by Plush.

Really intimate performances from Plush and Joe Robbins on a boat cruising along the Thames River. 24 July 2010. London, United Kingdom.

When I still worked at Beatroute Records and Communion we shared an office with Autonomy Music Group. It certainly was a strange coincidence that they are the company responsible for marketing The Parlotones in the UK. I used to tell them about watching The Parlotones perform to a less than 10 people back in 2003. They invited me to watch the band at The Electric Ballroom in Camden.

Since moving to London I’ve been to a lot of big shows, but I have really missed the kind of photography access I had back in SA. It was brilliant to get back into the pit for a big show with decent lighting. The support band, The Little Million, were top class and really entertaining.

I haven’t seen The Parlotones live for ages (aside from a packed Flowerpot gig where I couldn’t actually see them). By the time they exploded in SA I had watched them so many times that I refused to join the masses at shows… I was always better at supporting the underdog. It was great to see how polished and professional they are these days, yet they still manage to keep a humble and approachable presence, even from the stage. They’ve worked really hard to get to this point and I’m really impressed that they haven’t let it change them. It was a quality show and made me proud to see a South African band pull such a crowd in London (even if it was the entire population of South London). That said, they are steadily growing a decent UK fanbase. Radio play and a tour supporting Ash are bound to take them to a new level.

Handshake
‘Dance Before You Die’ EP launch.
The Flowerpot (Kentish Town, London).
19 March 2010.

Thanks to Songkick, I heard that We Are Scientists were rumoured to be the surprise guests at a Barfly gig as part of the NME Shockwaves Tour. The rumours were true and the show was brilliant.

The Chapman family were the official headline act with support from Bicycle Thieves (and another band we missed). Bicycle Thieves were good but it felt like we were watching them through one-way glass. Aside from mumbling, “We’re Bicycle Thieves” at the start, they didn’t interact with the crowd at all. It’s a pity because their songs deserve more than that.

I previewed The Chapman Family on Spotify earlier in the weekend and the songs made me apprehensive about the show but they certainly sounded better live. My lazy description would be, “White Lies with a lot more noise”. The noise was immense, plenty of distortion that would jump out and bitchslap you when you least expect it. The band seems to take their art very seriously, with the vocalist turning his mic cable against himself in an act of auto-asphyxiation during their final song. It was a bit surreal but I think I’ve out-grown that kind of musical darkness.

The not-so-secret headliners seemed very out of place in this line-up of generally depressing music – I don’t say depressing as a criticism, but rather a style or genre. So the crowd was fairly glum by the time We Are Scientists took to the stage. It was such a great contrast to be treated to some energetic sing-along songs broken up by hilarious stage banter. It was great to see the band in such an intimate venue. I even managed to get a few photos by shooting over people’s heads or squeezing in between those kind enough to let me.

Charly Coombes & the New Breed live at the Monto Water Rats (London, United Kingdom). Supported by John McKeown, Nicole Fermie, Dixie and Radio Riot.
19 January 2010.

Head over to www.nativenoisecollection.com/desktop-wallpapers to download your favourites.

Go to the download page to get your copy of the Native Noise Collection Seether screensaver.
http://www.nativenoisecollection.com/screensaver/

I used Adobe Flash to create an animated swf file and then two great pieces of free software to convert the animation into screensavers.
Instant Storm Screensaver Creator for Windows
SWF Screensaver for Mac

During my recent holiday visiting friends and family in South Africa I had one night to go out in Jozi. Fortunately two of my favourite bands (Heroes Wear Red and New Academics) were both playing at the same venue.

Heroes Wear Red, New Academics and Broadway Screamer live at the launch of HWR’s music video for ‘Am I’.
Back 2 Basix (Johannesburg, South Africa).
27 November 2009.

This show had some very odd lighting. The entire stage was lit up by bright blue lights that created a very difficult environment to shoot photos. I Photoshopped the hell out of these pictures to try and compensate for the blue haze that covered them all. I always process my RAW image files in Photoshop, but I don’t like to mess with them too much. This was an interesting experiment for me.

Plush / Rory Eliot
Plush Website
Plush on Myspace
Rory Eliot on Myspace
Plush Facebook Fan Page

Stuart Dooley
Stuart Dooley on Myspace
Stuart Dooley Facebook Fan Page

Mike Dignam Myspace
Gabrielle Aplin Myspace
John McKeown Myspace
John McKeown Official Website

The Shotguns performing at The Halfmoon in Putney (London). Supported by Craig Moore.

A South African friend was over here on holiday and decided to play a solo acoustic show. Gareth Allison from Gravity Wins Again joined a few up and coming acts at a pub in Stockwell. It was a small venue but really cool and personal.

On Monday ‘Things Worth Fighting For’ took on a whole new life as John McKeown and co. met to start rehearsals for the album’s showcase. If the first rehearsal is anything to go by then the 10th September is destined to be a very significant day in the rock ‘n’ roll history books.

John called on his friends and colleagues Elliott Randall and Reverend Basil Meade to assemble the finest musicians capable of bringing this album to the stage. During this first rehearsal the calibre of the team shone through vividly.

‘Things Worth Fighting For’ may be one man’s album but he is a man with an epic vision; a vision that will see 25 stellar musicians teaming up to recreate an ambitious and excellently crafted album.

I was invited to take photos of the first rehearsal. Take a look at the photos below to see what went on.

‘Fade Away’, the first single from ‘Things Worth Fighting For’, is a powerful song about love and loss. We would spend the day witnessing director Martin Pickering’s vision for the song come to life.

We arrived at the first location in Hertfordshire to find the crew hard at work preparing the set. It was instantly clear that this would be a top-class video. Everyone was incredibly professional and knew precisely what they wanted from every second of film. It’s amazing how much time was spent simply setting up shots but once the cameras started rolling it was easy to see why the details are so important.

All the performance scenes in the video were filmed in an old barn. The lighting was perfectly placed and highlighted with strategically wafted smoke setting the mood. The legendary producer & guitarist, Elliot Randall even made a guest appearance playing his guitar-part in the song.

The lighting on the set was really nice and moody, so I got some photos I’m really proud of. I can’t wait to see the final video at the end of the month.

A few of my photos are below. To find out more about John McKeown visit JohnMcKeown.net or myspace.com/johnmckeownandco.

I was invited to take photographs for a Hed Kandi event at Pacha. The opportunity to expand my portfolio was really exciting, and I looked forward to exploring an unfamiliar side of London’s nightlife. I felt like an old man when I was asked to “get there early, around 11pm”. It was great to get looked after with free drinks and VIP access, but I really was out of my element. I focussed on the job I was there to do and spent most of the night wrestling with great lighting that wasn’t directed at any of the subjects I was shooting. The highlight of the event was definitely the live musicians Pav (percussion) and Laura (sax).

I was disappointed with my photos yet they instantly had more views than any of my other images on Flickr. It just goes to show that tagging images as “sexy”, “dancer” and “bikini” gets a lot more attention than “rock”, “concert” and “band”.

Here’s a quick run-down of the bands that played.

The Sea

You don’t see two piece bands all that often; one drummer and one guitarist/singer/keyboardist. Keeping it simple makes The Sea incredibly good at what they do. The guitar driven songs were almost psychedelic, yet focussed. When the front-man moved to the keyboard I found that we were listening to an entirely different band. They played a new song which was a real piano-pop tune with plenty of hook and radio-friendly appeal. Although I preferred their rocking tunes more, the lone pop-song really stood out, it could be the huge hit they hate playing in years to come.

Telegraphs

Telegraphs look like a band, it’s like someone cut them out of the “being a rock band handbook” and dropped them off at the borderline. They had a great stage presence and played a very tight set. I didn’t feel like I’d rush out and buy an album after the show but but having listened to their recorded stuff since then, they’ve definitely grown on me.

Hunting the Minotaur

You can’t blame me for being skeptical when a band gets on stage with a keytar and plays cheesy pop songs to tune up. Hunting the Minotaur blew me away! They were really really really good. The singer’s on-stage banter was awkward but it seemed more like intentional sarcasm than nerves. This is a young group of guys who don’t take themselves too seriously, but they don’t need to when their music is that good. After their set Ian Camfield from XFM asked for a copy of their new EP, so they asked him for £3… I still think Ian should have paid them. I’m really looking forward to the future of this band.

Swound!

The headline act gave the impression that they’ve been doing this for some time. I’m not sure how long Swound! has been around, but they are very professional. The band clearly has some heavy influences and I’m sure they’d like to be a hardcore punk band, but they’re actually very polished and borderline pop-punk. They’re great entertainers and certainly know how to put on a show. They were playing the Radio One’s Big Weekend the following day, so everything they do is obviously paying off. Swound! (I was told the exclamation mark is important)  are a great bunch of guys so I hope they’ll have plenty of success.

The two days I spent taking photos for City Showcase was really exhausting but so rewarding. I didn’t make any life-changing contacts but after 3 months in London I finally felt like I was contributing to the local music scene.

Several weeks ago I stumbled onto a website for a local music industry conference/festival called City Showcase. The three day festival takes place in Central London with free entrance to workshops, in-store performances and gigs throughout the days and evenings. I figured it

would be an opportunity to learn more about the UK music industry, potentially make some contacts, take more photos and (most importantly) get to see some cool new bands.

So on Thursday the 7th May I caught a bus to Regent Street (loving the fact that I live close enough to catch busses into town). I was assigned a number of events to photograph including the day’s workshops at The Apple Store on Regent Street. The workshops were really interesting and I expected to learn a whole lot about the UK music industry. It was surprisingly reassuring that I didn’t learn anything new… clearly the knowledge and experience I gained in the South African music industry is relevant and transferable.

I also took a wander through Carnaby Street where various new bands and solo artists were doing in-store performances in shops, cafes and restaurants. There was a really cool vibe in the area with oblivious tourists and shoppers looking very confused to find live music in most of the stores around the area.

In-store performances are not the best way to hear a band. They’re generally watered down with terrible acoustics, the awkwardness of retail lighting and floor-space that is hardly conducive to watching bands. Although they certainly have their merits in allowing artists to reach people who wouldn’t normally venture into a live music venue. Here are a few words on the artists I saw.

Dan Raza @ The Apple Store
Dan had a very good voice and strong songs. His stage presence was a bit dull but I’m assuming he’d be much better if the audience was holding beers rather than checking their email on iMacs.

Scott Raba @ Fornarina
The thing that impressed me most about Scott Raba’s performance was the way he managed the awkwardness of dodgy sound issues. I’ve seen far too many artists freak out about sound issues or broken guitar strings. Scott was clearly upset when his guitar kept going dead, but rather than quit he simply stepped away from the mic and sang to the small crowd in the store. To be perfectly honest I think he really excelled when playing his songs on such an intimate level (campfire style).

Andy Stedman @ Henri Lloyd
Andy was joined by another guitarist and a backing vocalist, so this was the most band members I saw in a shop. His songs were generally acoustic pop but I picked up this odd hint of country in a few of them, I think that was mainly from the female backing vocalist’s style. This was over a week ago, so my evaluation is a little hazy.

Ashley Hicklin @ Sacred Café
I had very mixed feelings about Ashley Hicklin. I was so impressed by his energy and pure commitment to each note. It was clear that every song he sang came from a very influential place in his life. He also had a very peculiar voice, so it was refreshingly different. Normally I’m a sucker for whiney singers but I couldn’t help thinking that if I heard Ashley Hicklin on the radio he would sound a lot like James Blunt and that would surely drive me to shoot myself. He has just signed a record deal so I’m curious to hear that album when it becomes available.

At the end of the day I was back in the Apple Store for a public A&R session. Artists were invited to submit their demos for feedback from industry professionals. It was a bit disappointing that they didn’t have a label representative there, because they could have offered real feedback on why those artists won’t get signed. Instead they had Ross Gautreau (ASCAP), Simon Price (The Independent) and Eringa (Producer). While they may have valuable advice, they can say that they like experimental music that a label would never touch because it’s not commercially viable. I was impressed with most of the demos and it was a real testament to the high class of bedroom recordings. The highlight of the listening session was a song by Chocolate Blonde. It is absolutely terrible in a way that could make it a #1 hit with synchronised dance moves and everything.

I didn’t get to make any valuable business contacts, but it was a good day in the city with some good music and a chance for me to offer the UK music industry something with my photos. The karma paid off because the very next day London returned the favour by offering me a job at an independent label.

I suppose it is part of a South African inferiority complex in the global music scene, but suddenly bands I’ve loved for years have become accessible through intimate shows similar to the random gigs I went to back home. I was fairly jaded by the time I left Johannesburg so now I find myself as excited about gigs as I was in my early student years in Cape Town.

When I first landed in London I made a conscious effort to avoid the gig listings, thinking that ignorance would be my best money-saver. One gig managed to break through my media blackout within the first week… I’m so glad it did.

Back in 2006 my fellow Musketeer, English Dave, was researching international labels and new artists for us to license for South Africa. He discovered one of the best albums I‘d heard in years. Nightmare of You has incredibly infectious melodies over clean guitars and cleverly constructed lyrics. Our request to release the album was denied because a local major label had the rights but refused to do anything about it. So I had to import the album and it remained a gem in my personal collection ever since.

I realise this is a very lengthily introduction to a gig review but it is important for you to understand that I absolutely fucking love this band and it is a crime that no-one in my home country has heard of them.

I’d convinced my lady and some good friends to trust my better judgment on this one so we took off to The Monto Water Rats on Tuesday night. The club was very cool and is currently my favourite gig venue thanks to their awesome lights. Interestingly Skunk Anansie played their first two reunion shows there a few weeks ago, so it clearly has a lot of clout for a relatively small venue.

We walked in as Dexy was on the stage. Sadly we missed most of his set so it’s hard to make a fair judgment of his music. The songs we heard were good acoustic tunes, he had a friendly stage presence and was stoked to be opening for Nightmare of You.

The second band was an awesome new discovery. Jukebox the Ghost played really feel-good-upbeat-piano-indie-pop. They were incredibly entertaining and each song had hilarious introductions like, “This song has two parts, the first part is about falling in love and the second is about setting yourself on fire.”

As Nightmare of You prepared to take the stage I got that nervous feeling I wouldn’t be able to reach the front of the tightly packed crowd to take photos. The first song kicked off and as much as I enjoyed singing along, the band seemed a bit boring on stage. Although by the time I’d squeezed my way to the front things changed completely and they really got into it. The show featured songs off their debut album and more recent EP as well as showcasing a few new songs. The new songs weren’t as catchy as their earlier work, but I’m sure I’ll get into them by the time the new album drops in July.

All in all it was a superb gigging experience. I got to watch a band I love, discover great new bands and take some photos I can be proud of. Plus my friends are still willing to trust my judgment.