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Fear Is The Mind Killer

You prepare hard for a photo shoot at any given music venue. No two venues are the same and now that I have been doing the Rock photography for several years, you begin to know the intricacies of each venue and pretty much know what you will expect from the get-go.

Having said that, Melbourne’s Hifi Bar is always a venue I have struggled in. The lighting is the worst you will have to deal with so it is a given, it will be a hard, frustrating shoot almost always. In the rare case the ‘lighting’ guy actually uses the front lights and (shock, horror) lights the stage, it can be a fun venue to shoot in. But those instances seem to be few and far between.

Apocalyptic Love

With the tail end of winter hitting us folks in the southern hemisphere, there is absolutely nothing that can warm the cockles of any heart than a night of classic hard rock and roll. On arrival to Melbourne’s Hisense Arena, you could just feel the electricity in the air as the lines of people waiting to get into the venue stretched far and wide.

Fire In The Head

The Tea Party have always been a phenomenally successful act here in Australia with a rabid and loyal following which crosses a variety of musical genres. I found out confirmation I was to be shooting them at the very last minute and that pleased me greatly.

My Name Is Frightful Among the Believers

After a brief respite from the live music photography over the past month or so, it was all systems go shooting New Orleans’ Black Metal finest in Goatwhore tonight at the Corner Hotel. By a long stretch, The Corner is not my favourite place to be shooting such an act as it becomes insurmountably impossible to do so without the safe confines of a barrier and/or photo pit.

Celebrate World Goth Day In Style

I have photographed a number of events for Rachael Black and crew. Most can be seen throughout these pages and most, nay, all – are always a ton of fun.

When I was asked if I would like to be involved in this years World Goth Day celebrations and photograph the fashion show, I jumped at the chance. There are always wonderful photo opportunities and a chance to mingle and mangle with some cool peeps that inhabit the dark side of life. Heck, that makes me feel right at home.

One Way Ticket To Hell… and Back

There aren’t too many bands that one would drag themselves out of their deathbed to go and shoot! Feeling completely and totally under the weather with a head-cold that only Satan himself could have befallen upon me, I was dead to the world and considering my options on whether to go and shoot this gig or not.

But it was The Darkness for fucks sake! The original line-up of the Darkness!

If they can put aside their differences and reform then head cold or not, I was not gonna miss out on this opportunity.

Under Black Flags We March

One begins to lose track of all the international Metal acts that tour our shores. As a photographer, more often than not, one gig just leads into the next and a deep seeded feeling of complacency certainly has a nasty habit of creeping in. One band begins to look and sound exactly like the one before it.

The Living Canvas

I was very keen to attend this year’s Rites Of Passage Tattoo Convention as the event is shaping up to be the definitive tattoo expo on the Australian calendar. I was fortunate enough to photograph last year’s event and the organisers where more than forthcoming to allow me to cover this year’s event as well.

Pursuit of Vikings

I’ve extolled the virtues of shooting gigs at Billboard many, many times over but lately, there have been some very poorly lit shows for us photogs. Tonight’s Amon Amarth gig was probably the worst I have seen Billboard lit for many a show. Which is a shame, because for the most part, Billboard is always a pleasure to shoot at.

Deathwish!

I grew up in the era where Melbourne had a diverse, vibrant and thriving local Metal scene. Heck, I was part of it. If I wasn’t writing articles for Melbourne Uni’s ‘Heavy Duty’ magazine, I was part of my own band that I drummed for and regularly gigged with each week. The mecca for all things Metal was the ‘Metal For Melbourne’ record store which humbly began in a tiny little shop pretty much where Federation Square stands now.

Anguish Of Youth

After the plethora of gigs that hit these shores last month due to the Soundwave Festival and all the off-shoots, it was kinda cool to have some downtime between shows. So much so, I didn’t even feel in the mood to go and shoot tonight’s Iced Earth gig.

The Heretic Anthem

I started shooting live music in 2009. You start off small in dimly lit venues with bands no one has ever heard of – or is likely to ever hear of. But you need to learn and refine your skills and you need to push yourself and your camera to the extreme to get a hang of this beast. It isn’t easy but if there is a burning passion and drive, you’ll learn and you will continue to learn with each and every single shoot you do.