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Into Second Death

The less said about this debacle the better. In short, no photopit. No room to move. No fuckn lights (at least for the headliner who may as well have been lit by candlelight).

A total waste of time and effort.

Don’t laugh too hard at the ‘photos’.

Are You Ready For Some Darkness?

When Turbonegro are in town, you know from the outset it is going to be a big night. A big fuckn night! With the Hifi Bar long sold out for this gig, a classic night of bonafide hard and fast Punk Rock was set to be delivered to Melbourne’s branch of the Turbojugend.

The denim jackets and sailor hats were plentiful at the Hifi Bar long before Turbonegro hit the stage.

A Story Of Death And Survival

Quite simply put, one of the most disturbing exhibitions I have ever witnessed. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to fully enjoy it, as the stench from the rotting carcass’ of dead animals drove me out. I thought I had seen it all, experienced it all, but I couldn’t last more than 10 minutes without coming so close to losing my lunch… twice.

Hailing from Ghent, Belgium, Roa is quickly establishing himself as one of the premiere street artists in the world. His paintings depict wild animals and can be seen all over the world and now in Australia.

The Secrets Of The Black Arts

I first photographed Dark Funeral on their last Australian tour back in early 2010. Now they were back with some new blood in the band and ready to render the Corner Hotel into utter smithereens!

Again, I always find it an absolute treat when the band has gone to some effort to produce a show. Rock N Roll should always be about theatre as well and on the visual front, Dark Funeral deliver in spades.

Up The Irons!

Back in my musical formative years, Iron Maiden (along with Judas Priest & Black Sabbath) were one of the first Metal acts I truly got into. And I’m talking 1980/81 here when Paul Di’Anno was at the helm and Maiden delivered a couple of their finest moments – the debut album and the classic ‘Killers’ a year later. Albums which to this day, get plenty of rotation and are probably, along with ‘Number of the Beast’, Iron Maiden’s definitive work.

So it was a little on the surreal side getting to see the frontman of those two albums, Paul Di’Anno, live for the very first time – even if he had been on these shores several times before.

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.

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.

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.