If you asked me to list my life-changing albums, one would be “Violator” by Depeche Mode. Never before had I heard electronic music that had the same impact on me as all the rock bands I loved. I’ve been a huge fan ever since.
I’ve seen Depeche Mode live a couple of times before but this week I was down in the photographers’ pit to shoot the gig. Such an honour and a privilege. Here are a few faves from the gig…
You can see my review of the gig on the Birmingham Live site.
This week has been a busy week for shooting bands. Placebo, Sunn O))), Your Demise and the amazing Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And on Sunday I’m photographing one of my favourite bands of all time, Depeche Mode.
I always knew Yeah Yeah Yeahs would be a great band to shoot and Karen O and the boys didn’t disappoint. Here’s a few from Wednesday’s gig…
FAVOURITE!!!
See a review of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs Birmingham gig on the Birmingham Live website.
As great as it is to photograph the huge stars on an arena stage, I have to confess that the place where I get the biggest buzz is when I’m shooting a sweaty little gig in some dive bar. The energy and intimacy of these gigs adds an extra element to the event and you get the feeling that anything could happen.
One such gig happened on Monday night at The Rainbow pub just a couple of minutes walk from our studio in Digbeth. Headlined by Brighton hardcore mob The Ghost Of A Thousand, this was such an amazing gig! The bands could hardly stay on the stage, seemingly preferring to mingle with the audience or climb the rafters. My 24-70 lens gave up on me just as I was about to start shooting (I’ve now bought a brand new one) so I shot the whole gig on my 50mm 1.4 lens but I love the results.
This is Sharks, one of the support bands, taken outside the venue just after their set.
And main support, The Computers, who were extremely entertaining.
And the main event… The Ghost Of A Thousand.
Tom Lacey hits the roof (almost)!
I feel that last image captures the essence of the gig. Energy, passion and interaction. Great gig. Great bands.
Dave Matthews Band are probably the biggest band on the planet that most of the UK population have never heard of! Having sold close to 35 million albums they are listed in the Top 100 highest selling music acts of all time.
Last night I was lucky enough to be one of just 3 photographers to shoot their gig in Wolverhampton. I also reviewed the gig for Birmingham Live which you can see HERE
It was my first time seeing the band I I have to say I was exteremely impressed. Here are a few of my fave images from the gig…
I can hardly believe I’m actually getting to post this… Anyway, let’s start with a little history…
When I was 12 years old I used to go to school parties (usually at somebody’s house) and some kids would bring a few records so that the host had a variety of music to play. I remember plenty of Duran Duran, Adam & The Ants, Human League and quite a lot of The Smiths (who I hated at the time but now love). I would usually turn up with two albums – Highway To Hell and If You Want Blood… both by AC/DC.
Two years later when I was 14 I went to my first ever concert – AC/DC at Manchester Apollo. I counted the days up to the concert and it blew my mind! Since then I have been to hundreds of gigs but I still have that ticket in my bedroom as a souvenir.
Roll forward almost 3 decades (!) and last Thursday I was one of just seven photographers invited to photograph AC/DC on their current Black Ice Tour as they hit the LG Arena in Birmingham. To say it was an honour is such an understatement. This was a dream come true! You can see my friend Toni’s review on the Birmingham Live! site but here are just a few shots from the gig. A million thanks to Marina from Sony Music…
With the amount of bands out there in the world of MySpace, it’s more important than ever to have a great collection of images to help your band stand out from the crowd. I’ve been shooting bands for years now and thought it’d be fun to offer unsigned bands the chance of a free photoshoot. The competition has been promoted elsewhere but I wanted to mention it on the blog too just in case.
Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to be an accredited photographer for bands such as Radiohead, Metallica, Kiss, Muse, Nine Inch Nails, Iron Maiden, The Sex Pistols, Bon Jovi and Kings Of Leon. I’ve also shot artists as diverse as Liza Minelli, Slayer and Girls Aloud! My work has been published in magazines including Rolling Stone, Kerrang!, NME, Terrorizer, Metal Hammer and Rock Sound.
So here’s the deal.. If you’re in an unsigned band, or even if you’re an unsigned solo artist, and you’d like a collection of new images for your website/flyers etc, just answer the following question and email me the answer along with the name of your band, location and a contact phone number.
QUESTION – WHAT WAS STEVE’S FAVOURITE ALBUM OF 2008?
Competition ends – March 31st Deadline extended to April 12th (EASTER SUNDAY)
Good Luck!
(Hint: The answer can be found on this very blog)
It’s rarely the big gigs that I enjoy most. In fact, it’s almost always the opposite. Small gigs have an intimacy that’s missing from the larger venues, arenas and festivals. At small gigs you feel connected to the band on stage. And occasionally the band in question makes the audience almost as much a part of the show as the guys with the guitars. One such band is The Bronx. This Californian punk rock five piece are quite simply the best live band I think I have ever seen. I can’t recall another band who can make the entire room feel like the show itself in quite the same way. Hopefully these images have captured something of what makes them so special. Support came from the almost equally impressive Fucked Up and Rolo Tomassi. The tour was named Shred Yr Face and it lived up to its name!
Here’s Rolo Tomassi warming the crowd up in fine style..
And here’s the ladies’ favourite – Fucked Up.
Oh look, it’s my good friend and fellow photographer Lee Allen..
And here, Ladies and Gents, for your viewing pleasure are the almighty BRONX!
As it was the last night of the tour, The Bronx invited Fucked Up back on stage for the end of the show..
Matt from The Bronx likes to get right into the crowd. Watch him go!
Can you spot him?!
This gig was AMAZING! I had a smile on my face the whole time. If they play near you and you enjoy music with energy and passion behind it, do not miss them!
Just before Christmas I received an email from Los Angeles. It was from a band manager looking for a photographer to shoot some portraits of a guitarist called Aydin who is hoping to take the leap into the big time and a potential sponsorship with Fender Guitars.
Aydin came to the studio and, after a quick simple portrait against the white studio wall, we headed out into the streets of Digbeth. In just over an hour we got a great collection of varied images and Aydin was super-cool in front of the camera. Here’s just a few of the finished photos…
FAVOURITE!!!
A little bit of Oasis attitude 
Good luck with everything Aydin. Don’t forget me when you’re famous! 
I’m a big fan of Biffy Clyro, especially their latest album “Puzzle”, so I was pleased to get a call from Rock Sound magazine asking if I could shoot their Birmingham gig on Thursday night at the Academy.
My friend Dave Musson was covering it for Birmingham Live… or so we thought. His pass had been arranged through the support band and, on the night, he was informed he couldn’t shoot the headliners. I felt awful for him but it was lucky that I was there too as it meant we still had some images of Biffy for the review.
The band were spectacularly good and came on all guns blazin’ with some of my favourite tracks played while I was down the front photographing them.
This is almost certainly my last live gig of 2008 and was a great finale. I’ll be posting about my highlights of 2008 here soon but for now here are just some of my pictures of Biffy Clyro…
I’m currently doing a special deal for local unsigned bands who need new press shots. Most of these bands don’t have much money to spend on photo shoots but, in many ways, they are the bands that need great photos the most so that they stand out from the gazillions of bands out there in MySpace-land.
Young Fate are a hip-hop/RnB outfit from near Telford and they came down to Birmingham to take me up on my offer. Over about an hour we went out around the streets of Digbeth and got a great varied collection of images for them to use on websites, flyers, posters, etc.
Here are a few of my favourites..
