Leaving the Monster Magnet show mid-way through it’s a race across town to get to the Step Inn for Violent Soho’s last show before relocating to New York. I get there just in time, although having missed all the support acts. Photographing at the Step Inn is challenging at the best of times, as it’s one of the most poorly lit venues in Brisbane, but tonight with a large crowd, some of who might have been drinking heavily and wanting to give the band a proper send-off, it’s an even harder proposition. So I squeeze into a space at the very edge of the stage and try to avoid being squashed in the mosh, whilst taking a few photos. I don’t stay for too long, relocating back to a mush safer vantage point after a few songs. Fun times, rubbish photos. They will be greatly missed from the Brisbane music scene but best of luck to them.

I find out tonight that Monster Magnet have a completely different fan base in Australia than they do in the UK, Whilst the UK fanbase is more what I’d expect, being the typical indie/rock crowd, the audience in the Hi-Fi tonight is possibly the most bogan crowd I’ve ever experienced outside an Australian music festival.

Rollerball, being in a similar musical mould, and an obvious choice of opening act, go down well with the crowd. Playing a support slot plays a lot more to their strengths than the much longer headline set they played at their recent album launch at The Zoo.

Despite the plaudits, Regular John don’t really offer much of anything to me tonight although the sound is less than great. And as with previous visits, I can’t say I’m much impressed with The Hi-Fi’s lighting either.

Monster Magnet are entertaining enough but it always feels like it’s been a really long night by the time headline acts come on at The Hi-Fi. I don’t know if it is, but the time between bands seems to be much longer than at other Brisbane venues and an evening out there just has a mystical ability to make time go by really slowly. Time slips by easily when there’s something to do, something to see, the ability to watch the world going by, which the Hi-Fi just doesn’t have. Even going outside doesn’t really help, as unlike venues in the Valley, like The Zoo or The Troubadour, these isn’t the same potential for people watching on the outer limits of West End.  Moving around the place is an effort; the steps might provide improved views of the stage but with no seats in the venue they become the only place for people to sit down. The queue for the bar always seems to take forever and getting a drink whilst a band is onstage, especially if you’re stood somewhere near the front and have to negotiate the steps, all the people and the people sat on the steps, with a bag full of camera gear, is hard work. 

A late starting Monster Magnet and wanting to see Violent Soho’s last show before they relocate to New York means that I only get to see about half the of the headliner’s set, but sadly, in a way, I can’t wait to escape the Hi-Fi and head back to the Valley.

Some more photos on Flickr.

The cool kids would never contemplate it let alone accept it, but Alice Cooper > Iggy Pop and basically the classic Alice Cooper band (when it was the name of the band, not just the singer) > The Stooges.

Alice Cooper was one of the first things I ever got into and I’ve got more albums by him than anyone else in my collection. There are a lot of them and there’s a lot of good stuff in there (as well as some REALLY bad stuff). In a lot of ways there’s a real ‘Bowie’ approach to his music; he’s a bit of a chameleon and his musical direction changes every few albums. The first couple of albums are very Psychedelic and sound like Love, then there was the classic rock/glam period of Love It To Death (one of my very favourite albums), Killer, School’s Out, Billion Dollar Babies (although the Alice Cooper band period ends with the disappointing Muscle of Love), the classic solo album period with Lou Reed’s backing band, in particular Welcome To My Nightmare and Alice Cooper Goes To Hell, a variable period of good and average albums in the late 1970s/early 1980s, including a brief sojourn into New Wave with Flush The Fashion and Special Forces, the excruciatingly bad/hilariously funny Zipper Catches Skin (featuring the ‘unforgettable I’m Alive (That Was The Day My Dead Pet Returned to Save My Life), the really intriguing Fairlight-based DaDa (which thanks to his alcoholism he sadly has no memory of making), the largely forgettable mid/late 1980’s ‘comeback’ albums of Constrictor and Raise Your Fist and Yell and the mega-successful-but-not-actually-that-good Trash and Hey Stoopid, the less successful but really excellent The Last Temptation, the darker/heavier, industrial sounding Brutal Planet and Dragontown, a attempt to return to a more classic early 1970’s sound with The Eyes of Alice Cooper and Dirty Diamonds and finally a return to the mid-70’s solo period with Along Came A Spider. Even though recent albums could never be classed as true classics, there’s still a handful of songs on each of these albums that hold up well to the best of his work. Despite continuing to make music, and some of it being very good, it’s depressing to see him being interviewed and hearing the same questions about playing golf, getting killed on stage and having his daughter tour with him. Sadly no one seems to want to know about the music.

So getting to photograph him is a really big deal for me, especially after having missed out on the photo op last time he toured, and I also came close to missing out again this time.

Checking out the set list whilst waiting in the photo pit only builds the excitement; so many classic songs, as ever really focussed on the 1970’s golden years, even though he has a new album to promote.

Annoying the photo pit is really narrow and with so many photographers, it’s a case of claiming a space and pretty much having to stay there for the three songs. I end up in a fairly good spot, a few in from the end but in a lot of ways it didn’t really matter much as he works the stage really well, giving all the photographers something to work with. The three songs go by in a flash and everything is so quick that I don’t take any photos of any of the band. Annoyingly the fourth song, played whilst we’re being escorted from the pit and whilst I’m being directed to my seat is ‘The Ballad of Dwight Fry’, one of his best songs and a personal favourite, and I also manage to miss the first of his onstage executions whilst walking towards the back.

My seat is in Row S. It’s not the very back of the Convention Centre but isn’t far off it. It’s a bit of a come-down from being in the very front, with all the onstage madness happening right in front of your face. Disappointingly the show doesn’t really work from this far back. Iron Maiden can play at the considerably larger Entertainment Centre and I can be in the very back row (as I was on their last tour when I bought a last minute cheap ticket on eBay on the day of the gig) but the stage set-up and the show is so huge that it projects to the very back. But the Alice Cooper ‘Theatre of Death’ tour is a lot more intricate and you really need to be close to get the full impact. From back here the subtleties are lost and at some points it’s like watching the audience close to the stage enjoying themselves watching Alice Cooper. Also the sound is less than ideal at the back, booming and echo-ey, even though you couldn’t fault the choice of songs being played.

Still, to get to photograph one of my musical heroes was a real thrill for me and I’d jump at the chance to do it again. Hopefully it won’t be too long before he’s back again and next time I’ll just have to try to get a ticket a lot closer to the stage.

Some more photos on Flickr.

For the non-believers, here’s some classic 1972 Alice Cooper for you; Public Animal #9 from the School’s Out album.

And as this is allegedly a photoblog, heres an excerpt from a David Bailey documentary featuring Alice Cooper photo shoots for Vogue and the images for the 1973 ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ album cover. 

I think my favourite description of Joanna Newsom (maybe from Mess+Noise, maybe from Drowned In Sound, maybe somewhere else, I can’t exactly remember) described her as “singing like a recently smacked child”.  It’s a description that always brings a wry smile as I’ve always thought there is an element of truth in the description and it’s been the main sticking point that stops me really loving her songs; the arrangements are glorious but her voice is very much an acquired taste.

However, it was very much evident straight from the start that voice has changed a lot in the last few years’ it’s undeniably more mature sounding and she sounds a lot more like the teenage Kate Bush when she sings.  There’s still the fragility and emotion but it feels more mellow and restrained, without that slightly awkward timbre.

Tonight’s set is made up almost entirely of new songs from her forthcoming third album, and a triple album none the less, ‘Have One On Me‘.  Whereas this so often a recipe for disaster for so many artists, with crowds baying for the ‘hits’ to be played, tonight it makes it into a much more special event.  The audience is so captivated that you could hear a pin drop during the songs, something that’s more than noticeable every time I take a photo and am more than aware of with the sound of the shutter opening and closing.

The set list from the evening (from a Live Journal review) was:

1. Jack Rabbits
2. Bridges and Balloons
3. Have one on me
4. Ribbon bows
5. In California
6. Easy
7. Inflammatory Writ
8. Soft as chalk
9. Autumn
10. Emily
11. On a good day/81
12. Esme            
13. Colleen          
14. Sadie

Throughout the show she kept apologising for being jet-lagged and not playing well but it was a completely enthralling performance and if she was making mistakes it didn’t show or detract in anyway from the songs, which were just exquisite.  Based on tonight’s show, the album should easily be amongst the best released during the year when the movers and shakers come up with their Best of 2010 lists in December.  A taster of the album has just been released in the form of the song ‘81, with the album due out on 23 February. 

I managed to arrive after she had started and in finding that it was all seated and with no photo pit, ended up photographing crouched in the aisle.  It was nowhere near the best vantage point, with her microphone being across her face at all times but the best I could do given the time restrictions.  Given the position of the microphone, I’m not sure where the best position would have been; maybe from the right hand balcony.

A few more photos on Flickr (although obviously they all look pretty much the same). 

Every time I see Sixfthick I make a conscious decision that I’m not going to photograph Gentle Ben as I’ve got a ridiculous amount of photos of him and would say he’s my most photographed person by a long, long way. By comparison I have hardly any photos of Dan, and even less of Tony and Fred, and always plan to spend my time concentrating on them. However, this decision, like tonight, usually lasts about 30 seconds before I’m adding more shots to the Gentle Ben archive, always aiming for that perfect image of him in full flight.

When you photograph a band a million times, like I have with Sixfthick, you start to wonder how you can get different looking photos and so with I played around with some of tonight’s photos using different actions in Photoshop, moving away from the standard editorial type photos. At first I really liked the effects in some of the finished photos but then on second thoughts decided they were a bit rubbish and not as good as I’d initially thought.

X are a disappointment tonight.  There’s no swagger, despite bassist Kevin McMahon and drummer Cathy Green’s efforts, and they seem very flat and tired, with much of this seeming to emanate from singer Steve Lucas, who, despite the very rock star attire, gives off the air of a man who doesn’t really want to be there.

After finally getting to see them play in Melbourne in 2008, really enjoying it and understanding why they;ve got the reputation they have in Australia, they don’t do justice to themselves tonight in front of a crowd that seems smaller than the one that was watching Sixfthick and which seems to empty the longer the night goes on. It’s a shame as they can do so much better.

A few more photos on Flickr.

X

Sixfthick
 

Another chance to catch up with DZ, this time away from the small stage of The Troubadour, supporting I Heart Hiroshima at The Zoo.  I had hoped that the larger venue, larger stage and better lighting might make it an improved photographic experience but it ends up being almost the opposite, with the band being swallowed up by the much bigger stage and the strobe light having much less of an impact in the smaller confines of The Troubadour.  So I stuck with shorter shutter speeds and didn’t really try to get any of the multiple exposures that I had done before when seeing them at two Troubadour shows, a headline 1am show and supporting Philadelphia Grand Jury.

Tonight’s show is the launch of ‘Shakeytown’, the first single from their second album, ‘The Rip’ and it’s a great little pop song and a really cool and clever video clip. 

However, the video highlights the most annoying thing about photographing the band, with Susie providing all the focus and Matthew and Cameron both shoegazing with their eyes shut most of the time. I did manage to finally get a few of Matthew giving some eye contact at the start of the last song but guess will have to wait for another time to get something from Cameron.

A few more photos on Flickr.

I Heart Hiroshima

DZ

Stemford Hiss

Waiting outside The Riverstage before the gates open you can’t but get a feeling that there’s a heavy cloud of middle-class liberal guilt in the air, watching the white, middle-aged masses gather with their rugs and picnic baskets to celebrate one of modern Australia’s protest singers. But I guess I am sat outside the gate to the expensive front sections of seating closest to the stage.

Crowd segregation is another one of the elements of modern concert-going that we could all do without. Instead of the front of concerts being for those committed enough to buy their tickets as soon as they go on sale and/or queue early and wait in place for hours to hold the best positions, it’s now all about how big your wallet is. It’s no longer about freedom of choice to choose to get the best position possible and all about how much you are willing to pay for the privilege. Cannot Buy My Soul? Maybe. But if you pay more you’ll get a much better view of it.

Photographing tonight is a less than ideal situation, only being allowed to photograph from the mixing desk lest we spoil anyone in the expensive seat’s view, until the finalé (From Little Things Big Things Grow) when we’re escorted to the front to photograph all the evening’s artists on the stage together. However, even then you can hear snide comments from those in the front row. There is no pit to speak of, instead it’s just the small gap between the front row and the stage, so there’s no room to move and wherever you end up is where you stay, whether you’ve got a decent vantage point to shoot from or not.

Reading some of the reviews for tonight’s concert the following week, it’s clear that there was a definite divide between those in the seats and those in the general admin areas. Apparently a lot of people thought that with it being an outside mini-festival, the likes of Bernard Fanning, John Butler and Missy Higgins would be playing some of their own songs and not just singing someone else’s, which probably explains a lot of the background chatter from the back of the place.

Musically it was a really enjoyable night and whoever was doing the sound should be responsible for doing the sound at every outside concert and festival in Brisbane; it was really superb.

The photos are largely forgettable, but there’s a few more on Flickr.

This time last year I blogged that 20o8 had been a hectic photographic year, little knowing that 2009 would be even more extreme, and end up looking as follows:

1. Stars
2. Black Keys
3. All Tomorrow’s Parties - Mt Buller
4. All Tomorrow’s Parties – Brisbane Powerhouse: Fuck Buttons, Dead Meadow & Afrirampo
5. Bon Iver
6. Laughing Clowns
7. Jeff Beck
8. Gareth Liddiard
9. Gary Numan
10. Summer Tones
11. The Stranglers
12. Andrew Morris
13. Duke Spirit
14. The Kills
15. Evan Dando
16. Easy Star All-Stars
17. Giants of Science
18. School of Seven Bells
19. UnderExposed – 25 April
20. The Drones
21. UnderExposed – 1 May
22. UnderExposed – 2 May
23. 4ZZZ Rumble Rock
24. Screamfeeder
25. Violent Soho
26. Brisbane Sounds
27. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead
28. Red Riders
29. DZ
30. The Middle East
31. Ladytron
32. Flipper
33. Deerhunter
34. Wolf & Cub
35. Washington
36. Incremental Records Launch
37. + 1 Records Launch Night
38. Philadelphia Grand Jury
39. Timothy Carroll
40. Splendour In The Grass
41. Cannot Buy My Soul
42. I Heart Hiroshima
43. X
44. Alice Cooper
45. Monster Magnet
46. Violent Soho
47. Big Sound 2009 – Weds
48. Big Sound 2009 – Thurs
49. Frankly Festival
50. Van Dyke Parks
51. DZ
52. Spiral Stairs
53. Vivian Girls
54. Tiny Vipers
55. Butcher Birds
56. Yves Klein Blue
57. All Tomorrow’s Parties – Nightmare Before Xmas
58. All Tomorrow’s Parties – Inbetween Days
59. All Tomorrow’s Parties – 10 Years of ATP

As last year, I managed to meet my target for the year of 52 gigs (i.e. an average of one a week), although in retrospect I’ve really struggled to keep on top of it this year, as can be seen from all the blogs and photos I’ve yet to sort out. I’ve been out of Brisbane for about 5 months during the year, which meant that I’ve never managed to catch up with the backlog.

Counting up the number of acts I’ve photographed during 2009, the total is a somewhat scary 259, with the end of the year’s ATP adventure resulting in 60 bands being photographed in 10 days (although I didn’t shoot many bands at the 10 Years of ATP weekend as didn’t have a photo pass but security were fine with me taking my camera in and no one seemed bothered by me photographing from the crowd).

In terms of venues, The Zoo has again been my second home during the year, with 17 of the gigs being there, with The Troubadour a distant second with eight gigs.  The plan to try and get some bigger gigs has largely been a FAIL, with only three gigs at The Tivoli (and none since March), two gigs at the  BCC (Jeff Beck and Alice Cooper), one at The Riverstage (Kev Carmody: Cannot Buy My Soul, which was a mixing desk shoot apart from the last song) and NONE at the BEC.  The full breakdown for 2009 is shown in the pie chart below.

On top of the gigs I photographed there’s another 12 gigs I went to as a non-photographing punter, including Big Day Out, ATP in Brisbane, Neil Young, The Who (both at the BEC) and Iron Maiden in Christchurch.

Photographic highlights of the year include:

• All things All Tomorrow’s Parties – From the Mt Buller weekend, which was one of the best music festivals I’ve ever attended to getting to photograph a UK festival at the Nightmare Before Xmas weekend to seeing and photographing Dirty Three on a tiny stage in front of about 100 people;
• Getting to show a load of my photos from the last few years at the UnderExposed exhibition;
• The complete insanity of photographing Flaming Lips at Splendour, wondering if being in a photo pit to photograph a band will ever be as good; and
• Being given artistic direction by Van Dyke Parks when taking his and Robert Schneider’s photograph at the Big Sound conference.

Overall gig of the year was probably All Tomorrow’s Parties at Mt Buller, which being at the end of the first week in January set the bar ridiculously high for the rest of the year.  Other exceptional performances were of Flaming Lips, The Specials and Gutter Twins at Splendour, The Who at the BEC (which I was really disappointed at not getting to photograph), Van Dyke Parks’ exquisite show upstairs at The Powerhouse, seeing My Bloody Valentine three times in three days at ATP Nightmare Before Xmas and Dirty Three three times in a week, including an impromptu, unrehearsed run through of ‘Horse Stories’ in front of about 100 people at ATP Inbetween Days.  Best local show I saw was DZ’s 1am show at The Troubadour at the end of May.

Musical lows of the year were again so many mediocre-at-best bands at Splendour, with the weekend largely saved by Flaming Lips’ unforgettable show and another fairly poor bill at the Big Day Out, although not as bad as the 2010 festival line-up. 

Photographic lows? Any gig with rubbish/no lighting, which was probably most of them…as usual.  And missing out on photographing a lot of the big gigs and festivals I really wanted to photograph.

And finally, personal favourite photos from the year include the following images, although there might be a load more in all the photos I’ve still yet to go through:

Back to Brisbane next week, although don’t have any gigs lined up for January yet.  Will hopefully be getting a bit further through catching up on all the photos and blogs from this year in the meantime.

Happy New Year.

As I said at the time, I was very impressed when I first saw Timothy Carroll, when he supported Texas Tea at their album launch last year; a set of really nice songs, with excellent melodies sung beautifully, especially the vocal contributions of The Troubadour’s Corinna Scanlon who I didn’t realise sang up until that point.

Tonight is a launch for Timothy Carroll’s debut album, ‘For Bread & Circuses‘.  There is a strangeness about attending an album launch gig on Sunday, even though there is a very good turnout at The Troubadour, with most people appearing to be on their best behaviour in advance of a return to work the following morning, a change from the more raucous Friday and Saturday night album launches. 

Texas Tea’ Kate Jacobson, playing in solo mode, opens the night and plays a couple of superb new songs which hopefully means that it won’t be too long until their next album.  McKisko also supports and as before her best songs are those where she loops her voice and instruments.

From memory all of ‘For Bread & Circuses‘ gets played over the course of the evening, with Cori Scanlon’s enchanting ‘Forest‘ also played and the night ending with a new song ‘Deepest Dive’.  If there is a weak point during the set, it is the cover of Bonnie Tyler’s ‘It’s A Heartache‘ that opens the encore, a song that was terrible the 1970s and is way past any sort of musical redemption, even with Kate Jacobson singing on it.  But other than that one small point it’s another night of great Brisbane music at The Troubadour.

A few more photos from the night are on Flickr.

Kate Jacobson

McKisko

 Timothy Carroll