Honestly, I hadn’t heard too much of Combichrist’s catalogue but what I had heard, I did like. Add to the fact that they were a highly visual act, which would hopefully make for some cool shots, that left me in high anticipatory mode for the show! Oh yeah, I’m easily excitable!

A few days before the gig I prepared somewhat, looking over some YouTube videos of the band just to see exactly where they all stood and what sort of choreography I could expect. As far at YouTube clips go – yeah, they looked totally cool so I got a feel for what I would expect tonight.

Arriving at the Hifi Bar relatively early I was immediately plagued with thoughts of how much I hate shooting here. You’ve probably read countless of rants here on this blog about my disdain for the place as it is almost always woefully lit so I hoped with all my might that tonight might have been an exception.

After a couple of hours(!) of having one’s head mashed by DJ’s A+D+A+M and then a set by Angelspit – it was now time for Combichrist to take the stage.

As if on cue, the lighting became non-existent. No front lights to speak of and with a maniacal lead singer taking ownership of every part of the stage – it was proving to be so hard to get a decent shot. I was working the camera over-time but shooting tonight with a woeful f/4.0 proved to be a huge, huge mistake. Of course my killer prime f/1.2 was in the other bag. Sometimes, one just does not prepare enough hey? Shoulda been packing my gear instead of looking over YouTube clips methinks!

Industrial/Electronica bands always sound so amazing live. Yes there are a lot of keys and samples and the like, but without fail, live, these bands sound fucking pristine! Combichrist were phenomenally good! Thoroughly enjoyed their performance tonight… I wish I could say the same for the shoot.

Read HEAVY Magazine’s review of the show here which also features one of my photos from the night.

It was with great excitement and anticipation that I got the call up to shoot The Misfits. Whoa dude! The Misfits! The band hasn’t toured these shores for the better part of 5 years and they were always a band whose name I had hastily scribbled onto a natty piece of paper and ceremoniously dumped into the old bucket list of bands I’d love to shoot!

With or without the mighty Evil Elvis Glenn Danzig, the Misfits still are a classic legendary punk band and I for one, was super excited about the opportunity to be in their photo-pit tonight.

Around the corner from the Hifi Bar I noticed one of the regular local roadies I see at nearly every gig escorting a couple of young-looking dolled up goth/punk girls to the alley behind the venue. It was as if he was leading two victims to the sacrificial pyre of lead Misfit Jerry Only and I overheard him saying to them “Oh Jerry is one of the nicest guys in the biz…” Like lambs to the fucking slaughter!

So I found myself at the venue about 30 minutes before the band were to hit the stage and proceeded to spend a nervous five minutes or so as the door gal couldn’t find my name on the guest-list. Great! Just my luck I thought to myself. It’s gonna pan out to be one of those nights, the tingle in my bones said so from the outset! Fuck it! I wasn’t gonna let negative energy get the better of me. I was here to shoot the Misfits and just that thought soon brought a smile to my face.

The photo-pit was packed to the brim with a bunch of shooters I hadn’t rubbed shoulders with before. A couple of familiar faces who I did have a brief chinwag with, were in attendance and we patiently waited for the show to kick into gear.

The three song limit we had to shoot in came and went in the blink of an eye but mercifully, we were allowed to stick around for one more song. Those first few songs felt like only five minutes had gone by! That’s usually the case with Punk bands. I mean, the Ramones could probably do an entire album in about 10 minutes or so!

The band sounded amazing stomping through some classic Misfits tunes but the majority of the first three songs were incredibly dimly lit and I could hear the frustration and groans from my fellow photogs above the music.

The band kicked things off with a couple of new tunes from the latest album and man, they sounded so much better live. ‘The Devil’s Rain’ grooved along at such bombastic pace even if it was barely lit. You could hardly see the band at all such was the ‘moody’ lighting and it was half-way through the song before you could even attempt to take any photos. Quickly followed by ‘Vivid Red’ – the stage turned a sickly red as every gell in the place was red and red alone. I let out a frustrating *sigh* as I quickly realised there were gonna be a ton of black & white post-processing later on.

It was a tough, tough shoot and of course, as if on cue, the minute we were escorted out of the pit… on came the lights. I looked down onto the stage after I had climbed the stairs to the first level and there before me, the stage was lit and looking fantastic. I felt like punching the wall. Why the fuck can’t it be like this when we’re all down in the front, there to take photos?

A frustrating night. An awesome band. But a photo opportunity wasted.

Arriving at the Hifi Bar a good hour before headliners Morbid Angel were to hit the stage, I noticed a couple of things almost immediately. One, the venue was absolutely packed to the rafters and two, the light show bathing openers The Amenta looked fucking phenomenal. I turned to my fellow photog Anwar and said, “Dude, check out the lights tonight! I think we’re in for a ripper!”

Now I say this because for the most part, I really hate shooting at the Hifi Bar. Reason being, the lighting is mostly woeful on the many occasions I have had to photograph here and subsequently, that makes it darn hard work to get a decent shot.

But on seeing the lights at this early stage of proceedings, you couldn’t wipe the grin off my face.

I decided to capitalise on that and made my way through the throng as I wanted to fire off a couple of shots of opening band The Amenta.

I’ve seen these guys a couple of times before and I haven’t really paid too much attention to them. Standing in the pit before them, with the crowd behind me firing all sorts of obscenities and spit in the band’s general direction. Couldn’t understand the hostility to be honest, I thought the band played real well and they kinda reminded me of Cradle of Filth in places.

Once their set was over the obligatory change-over began. The photogs (four or five of us tonight) chatted amongst ourselves and/or the fans behind the barricade.

One wild looking studded to the brim lass tapped me on the shoulder and informed me she would be “slamming her fucking brains out tonight” and would I mind “getting out of her way” lest I get hurt.

Yeah love. Slam away.

It wasn’t too long before Morbid Angel were ready and as the roadie uttered “kill the lights” and the house lights went off – armageddon began!

I let out a huge sigh that you could probably overhear even from the extraneously loud music – gone were the magnificent lights that openers The Amenta enjoyed and for the vast majority of the three song shooting limit, the band was bathed in that woeful Hifi Bar red.

The fuck! I could not believe our luck and what promised to be a kick ass shoot, turned so fucking sour.

“There’s gonna be a helluva lot of black and white stuff happening in Photoshop tonight” I thought to myself.