Apr 22

Soundwave & Rock-It

Category: Live Photography

I’m still yet to gain proper internet access (thanks Telstra), and I’m falling behind in posts, so these two are getting a bit of a ‘token’ coverage (plus they were so long ago now I don’t know if I can remember the details to do a proper writeup!).

Click on Nine Inch Nails to check out the Soundwave 09 gallery at Fasterlouder, and click on The Music to do the same for Rock-It.

Nine Inch Nails at Soundwave 2009

The Music at Rock-It 2009

The WAMi Festival is coming up in two weeks, so to make up for the lack of Sunday Night Music Club action, there will be an EVERY NIGHT Music Club during WAMi week. More Perth music than you’ll be able to poke a stick at, along with photos from the festival as it happens.

No comments

Apr 4

BRB, k?

Category: Live Photography

Official adios for a little while, am moving house on Monday and will be without the internet for at least a week. So no Sunday Night Music Club or photos for this weekend or next, but we will resume normal programming as soon as possible.

In the meantime, Eskimo Joe released the first single off their upcoming album ‘Inshalla’ officially on Friday, and even though I’d heard the song enough previously to know almost all the words, it’s always nice to hear it all mixed and mastered and on the radio. So as a nod to Foreign Land finally being out, here’s a video of the song I recorded just under a year ago. Rumour is that the song was written about Heath Ledger’s death, but don’t quote me on that. You can hear the proper version on their Myspace, and the album will be out in May. I’ve heard a fair few of the songs over the last year, and it’s shaping up to be their best yet.

1 comment

Mar 29

Sunday Night Music Club #5

Category: Music Club
If You Come Back - Blue
If You Come Back – Blue

 

I’ve never had any problem admitting my love for late 90s pop music. Even after I reached the point where I was too old to actually enjoy the music, I was still fascinated by the process of using the same formula to churn out band after band after band, knowing that as long as you had cute boys or sassy girls (or both), you were on to a winner. I also liked the fact that grunge and post-grunge bands were existing in a market alongside New Kids On The Block, Take That, and Nsync. Apples and oranges indeed.

I’m moving house next weekend, and as part of the packing I came across a stack of old VHS tapes containing performances, video clips, interviews etc of a whole bunch of bands spanning from approximately 1997 to 2001/02.  There were a million and one music shows on free to air telly during those years, these days it’s only video clip shows if you don’t have Pay TV. The tape that I popped in the VCR had a few songs from these guys, Blue. After all these years, I still knew the words.

This particular song encompasses pretty much everything I like about pop music. Plaintive love theme? Check. Multiple-part harmonies? Check. Easy to learn lyrics? Check. Simple melody? Check. Larynx-bursting emotion at some point in the song? Check. I dare say growing up with this sort of music still has an influence on my tastes today. I’m still drawn to the ‘clean’ sounding tracks, clear vocals, and I always prefer the classic (formulaic?) melodies before anything else.

And of course, being a teenage girl at the time, I did have a favourite. The one on the left with the major league fake tan and frosted tips.

Enjoy

-VIDEO UNDER THE CUT-

3 comments

Mar 22

Sunday Night Music Club #4

Category: Music Club
Rough Diamonds - End of Fashion
Rough Diamonds (Demo) – End of Fashion

 

There are very few songs out there where I can specifically remember the very first time I heard it. On Sunday nights in late 2004, Nova had a ‘local’ music show, hosted by Chris and Kev from Jebediah. To be fair, they played the more accessible radio friendly stuff that was out there, but it was all the bands and acts I loved, like Eskimo Joe, Autopilot, Carus, Nathan Gaunt and Fourth Floor Collapse. One night they played a song by a band I hadn’t heard of before, and I stopped whatever it was I was doing, and I listened. It was like the clear chime of a bell through the fog. I was hooked.

Rough Diamonds as a song has been tinkered with a fair bit since I heard this demo on the radio, but I still find I much prefer this version over the EP and album versions, as I guess it’s more about the memory of discovery than it is about anything else.

The first time I saw them live was when this photo was taken, back in 2005. I caught them again on Friday night, and it was funny how much had changed. I took the photo with a little point and shoot camera from my seat, which is a far cry from the brute gear I have now. They had only just released their debut album a matter of days before this show, and since then have won ARIAs, had a top 5 album, toured nationally by themselves and as part of the country’s biggest festivals, and last year released their follow-up album ‘Book of Lies’. What once was a band with a couple of EP’s and a bit of hype, has now become one of Perth’s best-known.

Music is a true tranportation device, and every time I hear this song, it’s 2005 all over again.

Enjoy.

-VIDEO AND LYRICS UNDER THE CUT-

2 comments

Mar 15

Sunday Night Music Club #3

Category: Music Club

mclub03
Elephant – Damien Rice

Damien Rice will change your life. There. I’ve said it.

You think you’ve heard emotion in songs before, you’ve think you’ve heard ‘love’ songs sung from every perspective, but you ain’t heard nothing til you’ve heard Damien Rice. His still remains the only concert where I’ve welled up. The pain in his face as he sings every song, like he’s re-living every shitty relationship he’s ever had, would be hard to watch if it wasn’t so enthralling.

This particular song is an early version of a song that appeared on the ‘9’ album, called ‘Elephant’. The MP3 was titled ‘The Blower’s Daughter Pt2’, and other than that, I don’t know much else about it. It’s live, but I don’t know where or when (apart from the fact I obtained it long before ‘9’ came out). It’s like being stroked with a feather, punched in the face, and then stroked with a feather again. But you’re much more wary of the feather the second time round. Just makes you realise the power of song, when you let out the breath you’ve been holding for the last five minutes.

Enjoy

-LYRICS UNDER THE CUT-

No comments

Mar 10

Preview: Rock-It

Category: Live Photography

phoblog277

phoblog278

phoblog279

These preview posts are more or less just a reminder to myself not to slack off and to actually get these writeups done. So you’ve got full license to tut-tut me if I take too long.

Music Club is taking a break this week, I was at Rock-It all day Sunday and couldn’t be bothered once I got home. I know you’re all waiting with baited breath. Really. After the decidedly emo flavour of the last two, I promise the next one will be something completely different.

2 comments

Mar 4

Preview: Soundwave

Category: Live Photography

phoblog272
Jack’s Mannequin

I’m pretty chockers for the forseeable future, so it might be a little while before I get a chance to get the full writeup for this one done. So, in the meantime, here’s a little sample of what I got up to. The thing I love about Soundwave is that I turn up knowing hardly any bands, but walk away with a whole bunch that I want to listen to further.

phoblog273

phoblog274
Forever The Sickest Kids

phoblog275

phoblog276
Nine Inch Nails

No comments

Mar 1

Sunday Night Music Club #2

Category: Music Club

As Tall As Lions
Milk and Honey – As Tall As Lions

I’m off to the Soundwave Festival tomorrow, to experience the best that the emo, screamo, pop punk, alternative, hardcore, and metal genres have to offer, so this week’s MP3 is from a band I would never have discovered if not for Soundwave.

As Tall As Lions formed sometime in 2001, somewhere in New York, and have four rather excellent releases to their collective name. Fast forward to 2007, when I was at Soundwave to photograph a friends band while battling a raging headcold. They were one of the first bands of the day, my job was essentially done, so I took a lazy wander around the showgrounds while I decided to stay or go. On an out-of-the-way stage, playing to a handful of people, were As Tall As Lions. I’d never heard of them, but they were very different to the ‘yelling bands’ on all the other stages, and much easier to listen to. I stayed to watch them for a little while, but the cold got the better of me, so I cut it short.

A year later ATAL returned to Soundwave, albeit in acoustic form with just Dan Nigro and Julio Tavarez. I was so determined to experience them properly that I didn’t even take any photos (thus the stock-standard press photo up there). Again on an out-of-the-way stage, again to a handful of people, but again simply hypnotic and beautiful. They opened with a stunning cover of ‘Hallelujah’. If I wasn’t 100% sold before, I was after that point.

It was hard to pick one song to define As Tall As Lions, but the song I chose has a similar vibe to the songs of an Australian band which I absolutely love, Epicure. They’re very much an ‘album’ band as opposed to a single band, so if you like this one, please check out their self-titled LP.

Unfortunately they’re not on the lineup for Soundwave tomorrow, it seems to be a much heavier vibe this year, but I’m looking forward to their return to Perth.

Enjoy.

-LYRICS UNDER THE CUT-

No comments

Feb 22

Sunday Night Music Club #1

Category: Music Club

One of the most obvious side-effects of cutting down my photo workload, is the fact that now I have time to blog…but I have no photos to post! So to combat that, I’ve decided to go back to where it all began: music.

Most music photographers start out through their overwhelming love of music, the photography itself is just a recording medium. With that in mind, I thought I’d start up a regular series of ‘music appreciation’ posts, with songs I love, bands I love, songs with a funny story attached, whatever. The idea (and yes, the title as well) was ripped off William Beckett’s ‘Saturday Night Music Club’, so to pay due respect, he gets to kick off the series.

mclub01.jpg
Bulls In Brooklyn – The Academy Is… (Santi)

 

It was hard picking one Academy song, but I went with one of my favourites off ‘Santi’, Bulls in Brooklyn. I hadn’t really heard of these guys before last year, they were due to support Panic at the Disco, so I thought I’d check them out and see if they were worth turning up early for. Were they ever. I clicked immediately with their infectious pop/rock/emo/whatever style, and was looking forward to seeing them live. The Academy Is… in the flesh totally lived up to all my expectations, due in no small part to charismatic frontman William Beckett who had the crowd eating out of his hand. I walked past him backstage after my three songs for Panic, tucked against a wall in the hallway, headphones in and laptop on knees. I’d wanted to tell him how much I enjoyed the band, but once he glanced up and we made brief eye contact, I knew that avoiding an inevitably stammering conversation on my part might be the better option.

Enjoy

(PS. If anyone has dramas with the music player, let me know. It works fine for me, but I can’t test it on EVERY browser. And yeah, I know there’s no volume control, I’m still on the hunt for a ridiculously simple streaming MP3 player that doesn’t start the volume at 11)

-LYRICS UNDER THE CUT-

3 comments

Feb 17

Fall Out Boy @ Challenge Stadium 150209

Category: Live Photography

phoblog260.jpg

It might’ve been the day after Valentine’s Day, but Challenge Stadium was packed with declarations of love on signs, tshirts and skin as Fall Out Boy came to town for the second time, bringing with them All American Rejects, and Decaydance stablemates Hey Monday. I’m fairly confident that apart from the parents waiting out in the cafeteria, I was one of the oldest people there, at the grand old age of 24.

-MORE UNDER THE CUT-

10 comments

« Previous PageNext Page »