Tag Archive for "The Globe"
I’ve always had a soft spot for Red Riders. They were amongst the first bands I saw after moving to Sydney, when they supported theredsunband at @Newtown in September 2004, with Matt emailing me after I uploaded the photos to a certain Australian music website to say that he loved the photos and since then our paths have crossed several times over the years; the first Come Together festival at Luna Park in April 2005, supporting Faker at The Zoo in Brisbane in October 2005, and in the process have the dubious honour of the very first band I ever photographed with a digital camera, supporting Louis XIV at The Zoo again in June 2006 and finally at the first/only Pauhaus Festival at the Powerhouse in June 2007.
Supporting redsunband at @Newtown, Sydney – 4 September 2004
The 1st Come Together Festival, Sydney – 23 April 2005
1st band photographed with digital when supporting Faker at The Zoo, Brisbane – 21 Oct 2005
Supporting Louis XIV at The Zoo, Brisbane – 15 June 2006
Pauhaus Festival, Brisbane – 9 June 2007
With the band seemingly disappearing off the face of the planet for the last two years and then seeing that Adrian had gone solo, with him supporting Joan As Police Woman last year, I had assumed they had split up. However, it was nice surprise to read in street press of the announcement of a new tour and new material. There’s something warm and fuzzy in seeing a band over a period of a number of years and watching how they progress, both musically and in terms of popularity.
But having said that, the first new single, ‘You’ve Got A Lot of Nerve‘ was disappointing, although the stop-motion video that accompanies it is pretty good, as is the second single, ‘Ordinary‘, that’s just been released. They’ve both got a lot more of a ‘mature’ sound but are both somewhat underwhelming when compared to instantaneous pop hooks of some of their previous songs. Although Adrian has been replaced by Vines bassist Brad Heald his presence is definitely missed tonight and there’s a noticeable change in the band’s onstage dynamics. Adrian very much acted as a foil to Alex’s school of random bizarreness when it came to taking to the audience between songs, and seeing them live again now it has a feel of ‘The Alex Griggs Show’. That’s not to say that Brad or bassist Matt Chapman or drummer Tom Wallace do anything wrong; it’s just that they seem happy to be in the background whilst leaving the limelight solely to Alex.
Local buzz band, The Cairos, much loved by the Courier Mail’s Brizbands, brought large numbers out to see them, with the room being at its fullest whilst they are onstage. They’re competent enough, but it’s mid-2009 and some bands are still doing early U2/The Cure-lite, photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy of post-punk that’s been done to death over most of this decade. It just seems so unnecessary but audiences still seem to be buying into it.
Ruby Tigers are first band up tonight. Their songs have terrible titles and the songs have some really cringe-worthy clichéd lyrics and awful rhyming couplets. And yet underneath all that the songs have such a huge commercial sheen and are so commercial radio-friendly, with fist-pumping anthemic choruses by the dozen, that you could see someone taking a punt on them and them going on to world domination. They blot their copybook by finishing with a cod-reggae song but you can’t have everything.
More photos on Flickr.
It’s the first time I’ve seen Texas Tea since their album launch back at the end of November. After an all-star cast that night, it’s back to just Kate and Ben tonight. The band sound as good as ever though. Having photographed them on so many occasions, including my very first gig as a Brisbane resident when they supported Gentle Ben & His Sensitive Side along with The Exiles at The Troubadour, I really need to start experimenting with different ways of photographing them, something more than just the standard editorial photo approach, although I’m just not sure what direction to take. Playing sat down makes it hard to really vary the angles, especially when there’s microphone stands and tambourine/hi-hat stands obscuring them, there’s obviously not going to be any action shots, and the only real thing I can think of to play around with is different processes. But having done a lot of this with the band I need to find something new to do; maybe I need to think about a much more abstract approach. Will think about it some more.
Although I’ve seen Andrew Morris‘s name around a lot, on numerous gig bills and in street press interviews and reviews, tonight is the first time I get to see him play. It’s a shame it’s taken me this long to get around to seeing him, as it’s a really enjoyable gig; he’s got a really fantastic voice and an excellent collection of songs. The only disappointment from the night is that there’s a criminally small crowd here to see him launch his latest album; it’s disappointing as it’s a Thursday night, and I was under the impression that Thursday is the new Friday, and even more disappointing as he’s also playing his home patch tonight.
It’s pretty tough trying to photograph him however; there’s a lot of backlighting, with smoke also being blasted out from the venue’s smoke machine, and although he roams the stage, he tends to keep to the shadows. The best photos come during the songs when he plays guitar and is tied to his microphone more than when he’s just singing.
Some more photos on flickr.
All the way back in August 2007 I had the great privilege to spend an evening with Brisbane’s very own Johnny and June, Texas Tea, during the recording of their second album, ’The Junkship Recordings‘, up at Jamie Trevaskis‘ home studio up at The Gap. It was an amazing experience to sit and watch them rehearse and record and to listen back to the early playbacks of the album. A bit strangely I don’t seemed to have written a blog about it, which is a bit of a surprise as I was photographing for Mess+Noise. The photos are on flickr though.
With the album sounding so good back in August 2007, the long 14 month wait for them to finish it off and get it released so that everyone could listen to it has been painful.  They say that good things come to those that wait but Ben and Kate have taken it to a bit of an extreme…
It was another awesome performance from the band, with them playing in full-band mode for some songs. Although the rarity of a full band adds something to the occasion and allowed them to replicate the more layered songs that they had written and recorded for the second album, I still think that there’s something so much more captivating and mesmerising when it’s just the two of them on stage.
Support for the night was from Timothy Carroll, James McCann and Jacob S Harris (whose set, in true street press style, I managed to miss apart from the last song). I was very impressed with Timothy Carroll, a singer that had never seen before and who reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t put my finger on exactly who. Maybe a bit Damien Rice, but I don’t think that was who I was thinking of on the night. I’m sure it’ll come to be randomly at some point when I least expect it…
Some more photos on flickr.
Texas Tea
James McCann
Timothy Carroll
There was a two-song limit in place for photographing Joan As Police Woman. But not something sensible like Songs One and Two or Two and Three; instead it was the slightly bizarre pairing of Songs Two and Five. In retrospect there was some method to this madness, as these songs gave the differing opportunites of photographing Joan at her side-of-stage keyboard (Song One) and photographing her mid-stage whilst playing guitar (Song Five). The main downside to this arrangement was that it meant concentrating on which number song she was up to so as to not miss being able to take some photos.
It was the most full I’ve seen the Globe and it was a very interesting crowd that she pulled in. I never would have expected a middle-age woman in a nasty, very 80s looking, fire-hazard-of- an-all-in-one jumpsuit and pink boots combination to have attracted the audience that she did… It would have made for a good variety of social pics…
The lighting wasn’t up to the usual Globe standards, with lots of red backlighting aimed at the back of her head. And she was another one of those singers who always has their eyes shut. Musically it was probably a bit too jazz-caberet for me, so I only ended up staying for a couple more songs after I had to stop photographing. You can get hold of her performance from the Turn It Up To 10 blog.
theredsunband were one of the first batch of bands I saw when I first moved to Sydney, although I can’t remember the occasion. I know I saw them play at the album launch for their first album at @Newtwon in October 2004 with The Red Riders supporting, and think that my first time of seeing them might have been a combination of going predominantly to see the support band, aided by the fact that the venue was just up the road from where I was living in Enmore at the time.
Almost four years on and they’ve just released their second album and although there’s been a change in drummer, the sound is the same shoegazing, indie pop. On their Wikipeida page, one of their genres as listed as ‘Dream Pop’, which is an apt description. The main obvious drawback to a genre called ‘Dream Pop’ and one that definitively applies to theredsunband’s music is its soporific tendencies. The Globe is the obvious Brisbane venue for them to play, with everyone sat or lying on the floor and whilst there’s nothing wrong musically, there is a definite lack of visual engagement as far as the performance goes (especially with the only light being on singer/guitarist, Sarah Kelly). Even though they’re not an instrumental band, I think they would benefit greatly with some visuals, be it moving images projected onto a backdrop or something less high-tech like a liquid light show.
Sady Butcher Birds couldn’t play, and although The Gin Club were originally mooted as their replacements, in the end Z Rays took up the main support spot. They weren’t particularly exciting, with a Garage/Mersey Beat type sound and a similar rhythm for each song making their short set very monotonous. And not helped much by the centre-stage keyboardist/one drum drummer playing with one hand whilst holding his drink in the other…
The lovely Sienna, ex-Love Outside Andromeda opened the night with a mix of new and old songs and the odd cover. Sounded in really great form, although they probably shouldn’t have played PJ Harvey through the speakers straight after her set…
Some more photos on flickr.
Couple Saturday nights ago went to Scholckfest at The Globe. Schlockfest bills itself as ‘Brisbane’s Best B-Grade Short Film Festival’ and the films I saw didn’t disappoint with tales of killer cans of Spam and giant chickens. As well as the films there was also caberet and music to end the night. The main reason for going was to see Darling Downs (Died Pretty’s Ron Peno and The Scientists’/Beasts of Bourbon’s Kim Salmon) and try to get some good photos of them. Saw them support The Drones last year but it was at The Columbian so it was mostly in the dark and the photos were pretty meh.
Also on the bill were Brisbane bands The Mercy Dolls and the John Steel Singers. First time seen Mercy Dolls in ages (possibly at The Globe with Butcher Birds…) and they were on good form and were more dressy/showy than the other time, which made for some good photos. Had somehow managed not to see John Steel Singers before tonight but can see why they’re so highly rated.
Some photos below and more on flickr.
Shlockfest
The John Steel Singers
The Mercy Dolls
Darling Downs
Last Saturday night was Zombie Ghost Train and The Wrath at The Globe. Was a toss up between that and Vasco Era at The Zoo. Seen TVE a couple times before (supporting Gomez, Falls Festival) and although really impressive live and good to photograph, was a bit disappointed with the album, plus not seen ZGT before. Good night. Took ’til about Tuesday to feel better…. Love photographing bands like The Wrath. Loads of fun, they give you loads to work with. It’s why I like photographing Overcranked so much. ZGT were cool to photograph too, although shooting from the middle of the mosh pit can be a bit problematic. Looking forward to seeing them again, hopefully somewhere with a proper photo pit…
Dumped a load of photos on flickr.
The Wrath
Zombie Ghost Train
Had a great night at the MereNoise Meltdown festival at The Globe at the start of the month (2 June).
Load of photos on Rave’s website and dumped bigger versions on flickr. The flickr shots are as I intended them to be; had to reshape them for Rave after they had initially been done.
The Money
The Shrewms
The Horrortones
The Hymies
The Warm Guns
Texas Tea
Vegas Kings
The Dangermen
Butcher Birds
Photographed Sloan on Thurs night, with The Pictures supporting.
When the Rave Concert Calendar was emailed around it was a blast from the past to see their name on it. A housemate from years ago had some of their stuff, so put in for it despite a Thursday night embarrassment of photo ops (Underoath, Tim Rogers, and Dallas Crane/67 Special all playing Brisbane the same night). Also Intercooler were initially the opening band and I’ve never photographed them, but they pulled out due to going on their own tour with Mary Trembles. But I’m sure that there will be another time for them…
Was a fantastic set of awesome indie power pop but was really tired after a long week at work so had to call it a day at 12:15am, with the band still going, which was a real shame. And, because of the public holiday, Rave’s deadline was midday Friday so had to sort out a few photos when got back and email them off. This meant that I was up until almost 1:30am, followed far too swiftly by the joys of the 6:30am alarm…
Anyway, some photos… and more on flickr.
The Pictures
Sloan
Some photos from a gig at The Globe last month that got missed and have been sat on my hard drive.
Is hard getting photos of pianists/keyboard players; even though they don’t move, they always seem to lean in close on the mic so that you always get it obscuring half their face, and from the photo pit their hands are generally hidden behind the keyboard. Hands = more important than head in my book. I would rather cut off the top of someone’s head from a photo if it meant could get their hands in. And I quite often do…
Got there late and everyone was sat on the floor and remained sat down for the whole gig. So ended up sat down and didn’t move around as would normally, hence why all the photos are from the same place…
A few more photos on flickr.
Emma Dean
Tara Simmons
