Thursday morning was another morning off from photographing the conference, when I again got to sit in and listen to the talks, with my stint starting in the afternoon session.  Again, the Keynote Interviews were the highlight, particularly Everett True’s interview with Danny Goldberg.

Photographing the sessions was generally quite straightforward; a combination of wide-angle shots and changing to the zoom lens to get some more close up shots of the parcipitants.  The hardest sessions to photograph were the small Master Classes, where everyone was sat around a large table, with the smallness of the room making your presence a lot more noticeable and where a very wide-angle lens would have been very useful.

After one of  sessions, when there was a break for coffee I saw Van Dyke Parks and Robert Schneider chatting to each other and took a quick candid photo.  Having been caught in the process by one of the conference’s PR people, she asks  me if I can get a proper photo of the two of them together, with Van Dyke Parks then suggesting that I go up the stairs so that I’m above them and can get an overview shot of the two of them in the foreground with everyone else milling about in the back ground.  Being given creative direction by Van Dyke Parks is definitely one of highlights of my photographic ‘career’.  In retrospect I should have gotten the flash out and done a much better job, but for speed just decided to bump up the ISO, which wasn’t the cleverest of ideas given how dark it was where they were stood but how light it was behind them, thanks to the huge windows.  Still, there’s always next time, right?

Later on in the day I also get a request to take a couple of quick photo of Robert Schneider with Mike Haydon, the drummer from The Middle East, one of which later gets printed in Rolling Stone Australia.

Thursday night follows a similar pattern to Wednesday;  there’s a conference showcase at Artisan for soundslikebrisbane.com, featuring sets by Giants of Science (with Robert Schneider in front checking them out), Vegas Kings, My Fiction and Steve Grady and then another twelve bands across three venues over the evening.  Again it was a case of only staying to see each band for about 10 or so minutes, but the evening’s definite highlight was Hunz (whose excellent second album you can download for free from his website, with Emma-Louise also putting on a really good performance at X&Y.  Final band of the night was [Me], who were very perplexing and who I couldn’t work out if were really good or really terrible.

A selection of the best photos on Flickr and all the conference photos are on the Big Sound website.

[Me]

Belles Will Ring

Tomas Ford

Super Massive

Grand Atlantic

Elke

The Devoted Few

Hunz

We All Want To

Dan Parsons

Cloud Control

Emma-Louise

Giants of Science

Vegas Kings

My Fiction

Steve Grady

For a few days back in September I got to play at being a proper bona fide photographer for a few days when I was commissioned by the organisers to be part of a three-person team of photographers covering the Big Sound conference in Brisbane.  The work involved covering the panel discussions and also all the live music in the evenings.  The sessions were divided up between the photographers, meaning that we each had to cover two half-days at the conference.  The live music was roughly split up so that each photographer covered two of the six venues being used, with a bit of fine tuning to allow photographers to also choose some specific bands that they really wanted to photograph.  I wasn’t needed to photograph the conference on the first day, so instead got to relax and listen to some really interesting sessions, particularly Noel Mengel’s Keynote Interview with the very inspiring and very legendary Van Dyke Parks and the very lively ‘Blogging, Twittering & Online Publishing: Time Wasting or Tastemaking?’ panel discussion, obviously a subject very close to my heart.

The live music started early with the invite-only Dew Process/Universal Music Showcase at Alhambra Lounge, with sets by Matt Walters, Washington, Dew Process’s latest local signings Last Dinosaurs and Yves Klein Blue, who replaced the late-cancelling Bluejuice.  The showcase was the calm before the storm, with another ten acts photographed in three venues over the course of the evening.  It was very much a case of turning up a venue, photographing the first few songs and then moving on to shoot the next band, allowing a bit of time in the military precision planning to move between and to also get into the venues.  As such it was hard to properly check the bands out.  Based on sheer numbers, The Middle East at Family was the show to be at, although sadly, and in typical Brisbane fashion, most of the crowd disappeared before Robert Schneider played.

A selection of photos is on Flickr, with all the conference photos on Big Sound’s website.

Robert Schneider

The Middle East

Sola Rosa

Rocketsmiths

Ladi6

Philadelphia Grand Jury

The Optimen

Hungry Kids of Hungary

Romy

DZ

Yves Klein Blue

Washington

Last Dinosaurs

Matt Walters

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. 

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.

The Tyde
 

The Membranes

Sun Ra Arkestra

Harmony Rockets

The Pastels

That Petrol Emotion

J Mascis & The Fog

The Horrors

Spectrum

Sonic Youth

Robin Guthrie

My Bloody Valentine

No Age

Fucked Up

Sunday doesn’t exactly go to plan, with the slow editing and general Sunday morning sluggishness meaning I manage to miss both Danananananakroyd and Jack Ladder and despite aiming to get onto site to photograph White Lies, the traffic means I miss half of their set. So the day starts at a more leisurely starting time than planned of 3:15pm, with Friendly Fires’ set in the Mix Up Tent.

Flaming Lips

Hilltop Hoods

MGMT
 

Gutter Twins

Doves

Bob Evans

Friendly Fires

Technology-wise, things didn’t go quite to plan, with the house we were staying in having no mobile reception for me to use my phone as a modem and upload some photos yesterday morning.  Saturday morning’s blog post was made by parking my car on the top of the nearest big hill and uploading from the front seat, but I didn’t have time to do that again yesterday, with editing going really slowly (despite my 6am alarm) and I didn’t have the time to go in search of an internet cafe either.  Onsite there were more technology glitches, with mobile connection being unreliable so tweeting was in fits and starts when I could get connected, meaning I had to revert to the old ways and use a pen and paper to jot some notes down.

So here, somewhat belatedly, are a few photos from Saturday.  More on Flickr, more on their way

Bloc Party
 

Happy Mondays

Sarah Blasko
 

The Living End

The Specials

Little Birdy
 

Birds Of Tokyo
 

You Am I
 

Bluejuice
 

Dappled Cities
 

Bridezilla

Yves Klein Blue
 

Leader Cheetah

Manchester Orchestra

The closing hours of Thursday bring with them rumours that Jane’s Addiction – of all the bands on the 2009 Splendour bill, the one that I most what to see and the one that I most want to photograph – have cancelled their whole Australian tour. Friday morning brings confirmation of this, with Stephen Perkins hospitalised in LA with an elbow infection. The misery is further compounded almost instantly with news that the organisers have drafted in The Living End to replace them. Of all Australian bands, The Living End.

In theory you would think that it just couldn’t get any worse and yet there’s a nagging feeling that this isn’t rock bottom. There are a number of occurrences that would make the current situation even worse than they already are: Firstly, The Living End will inevitably either include a Jane’s Addiction cover or at the very least segue one or two of their own songs into JA songs for a few bars. And this will more than likely want me to start throwing things at the band. Heavy inanimate objects, small sharp implements, anything close to hand; the choice is endless. Secondly, if JA reschedule their shows it will either be when I’m out of the country or I’ll be put forward to photograph them and they’ll whip out their current rights-grabbing contract five minutes before they’re due on stage and I’ll have to walk away. It just doesn’t feel that this story that has a happy ending.

I’m not sure how the news has been taken by Splendour’s paying punters. Part of me can’t help but think that the majority of Splendour’s main demographic will be delighted at the changes to the line-up, especially as I’ve experienced similar Jane’s Addiction ambivalence before. At the Leeds Festival in 2002 Jane’s Addiction played on the main stage at the same time The Vines were playing one of the smaller tent stages. You could have walked straight up to the barrier without many problems and watched Perry Farrell etc from the very front if you wanted, whereas you couldn’t even get anywhere near getting into the tent to watch The Vines. Oh, how we laughed. And a similar thing happened a year later at an MTV2 gig at Brixton Academy when The Darkness, at the height of their fame, supported Jane’s Addiction. Half the audience left after The Darkness. What is wrong with these people?

The rest of Friday doesn’t really improve; despite being a day off I end up going to work to try and clear the backlog of overdue reports and proposals, which means I don’t leave Brisbane until 3:45pm, hit the Friday afternoon rush hour and take almost 3 hours to get down to New Brighton, just north of Brunswick Heads, where I’m staying for the weekend. And just as I leave the motorway, the heavens open to an extent that I can hardly see where I’m going, even with the windscreen wipers on their highest speed. It’s some sort of navigation miracle that I manage to find the house.

But here now and enjoying good company, good food and a few drinks. And it’s suddenly 12:30am and it all starts in less than 12 hours.

It was only when I started processing these photos that the significance struck home; as a photographer you wait years, a lifetime perhaps, for that one perfect split second moment to create an icon, construct the legend or fuel the myth. 

I know that every few blog posts I end up including a link to this photo; as a music photographer it’s inescapable.  Let’s call it ‘The Pennie Smith Moment’.  As music photographers will forever be posting in Flickr forums, historically the great music photos were not hindered by stupid music industry rules and conditions that are inescapable in the modern age.  ‘The Pennie Smith Moment’ happened because she was on tour with The Clash, had access all areas and was free to photograph for as long as she wanted, from wherever she wanted.

When opportunity presents itself you need to read the situation, anticipate what is going to happen next and be ready for when it does happen.

“I remember thinking something was wrong, realising Paul was going to crack – and waited. The shot is out of focus because I ducked – he was closer than it looks” – Pennie Smith

With the generously suppplied AAA pass from The Zoo, I find myself side of stage at the end of the Vegas Kings‘ set.  The band are building to an end of set noisy climax, Pete and Ben swinging their guitars around and holding them aloft as the end of the last song builds up to a crescendo. And then Ben has the guitar above his head and without warning  hurls it guitar neck-wards towards the stage.  Being the main guitar I’ve seen him over the last few years and with Vegas Kings also being in the studio recording a new album I just wasn’t expecting it to happen, expecting him to feign a throw and just swing it around.

So with the combination of not anticipating it, being a single shot photographer as opposed to a machine-gunner and the darkness of the Zoo I end up with a close-but-no-cigar single shot – an underexposed, not-quite-in-focus, noisy, red light lit photo that could only really be saved by making it monochrome, with Pete’s guitar lead dangling down the middle – and a yearning for another once in a lifetime photo opportunity, another ‘Pennie Smith Moment’ to come my way sometime soon.

More photos on Flickr.

Screamfeeder

Gentle Ben & His Sensitive Side

Vegas Kings

The Blackwater Fever

New Jack Rubys

The Mercy Beat