Our old pals Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts returned for another round…

They’re an imaginative, colourful & unfairly talented folk duet about to tour on a new album.

Jamie’s lap guitar has to be seen…

…and Katriona’s fiddling while singing, to be believed. She’s told me how hard it was to learn to do that.

If you wanna hear what these images sound like, get your ears round their myspace here.

Next up we somehow managed to convince the insanely talented Paul Liddell down.

This guy had fantastic taste in footwear.

And was immense on guitar.  He was one of many who plays the box of tricks that is a loop station, but man does this guy do it well.

I quite like this image, which I shot without looking.  A reach-and-squeeze, as I call em.

Sometimes you get a fresh creative co

mposition not bound by the rules.  But more often than not you get junk.

I’m liking the faded 70s grading too. A bit summer of 69.

Perhaps a bit dark in the processing in retrospect, I rather like the composition and moment caught here.

You really should check out Pauls myspace here, cos his stuff is, as the kids say, sick.

I caught the next band, The Moody Gowns, when I was photographing the Leeds ‘Battle of Plumpton’ gig.  The won that battle of the bands heat, with a frenetic, energetic set, and went on to win the final too.

They’re a terribly decent bunch of nutcases, who I seem to keep bumping into around Leeds, and agreed to come down and play the Sunday Service, on the condition that they ‘toned things back a bit’.

It turned out that the basist learned the accordion especially for our gig. How very good of the man.

Plus, not only was there a horn & cowbell in the rig…

… but a uke too!  Happy days.  I like these guys style.

I’m not sure I could say their set was as toned back as they promised, but it went down a storm and a grand time was had by all…

on and off the stage.

Seb, working above the 12th fret.

I quite like these details of Nathan’s choice kicks

….and his collection of festival bands.

If you’ve not been checking these kiddies myspaces, you’re very naughty.  I especially endorse the viewing of The Moody Gowns MS (here), cos it’s rather silly.

Anyhoos – just through I’d share a few pix from the last Sunday Service.  The next one, coincidentally, is on Sunday!  We’ve more ace acts lined up, so if you’re near Leeds, come on down! It’s free, so the price is clearly right. For more details visit the facebook group here or myspace here.

Last week Phil Barber, Rob Booker & I joined our pals Hope & Social at the Crypt where they’re in the process of recording their second album.

They’ve done various creative gigs and events at the Crypt before and for some reason had a feeling it was in a romantic hamlet on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales.  It turns out it’s nestled in the urban sprawl in Liversage, on the way out to Bradford.  But the church itself is a beautiful old thing, and for a good few years, Hope & Social have hired the underground ‘crypt’ and converted it into their studio.

They have a great philosophy in their approach and are all about getting their fanbase involved as much as possible. They’re brewing ideas to get fans down to dine at the crypt while they play, are toying with inviting other bands in to record a cover track in a day (nominated by their twitter follwers), and are currently asking fans to twitter them names of towns which they are then going to work into the lyrics of one of  their new songs “Marching on through” Check their twitter if you want in – #hopeandsocial #crowdsourcing

Saturday night I was asked to pop down and cover the first anniversary of the Spanish Harlem nights at The Wardrobe. To celebrate this fact they had an amazing line up.  The New Mastersounds were accompanied by some awesome guests performers Cleve Freckleton and the Haggis Horns Brass. The opening band was Freckles, the Mastersounds guitarist Eddie Roberts’ new collaboration with singer Rhianna Kenny!

The UK’s finest funk band The New Mastersounds are very rarely heard live in the UK never mind their hometown of Leeds! Overseas most of the year in the USA, mainland Europe or Japan. To celebrate the Mastersounds first gig at the venue in eight years, the whole night will be dedicated to the band….the current line-up showcasing tracks from the new CD “Ten Years On”, some former band members making guest appearances on early New Mastersounds classics.

Check out some images from the night and watch the video of more images from a great night

I like the above shot, cos it just looks like it’s gonna be a sweet night when our little stage is packed with all those crazy instruments.

One special act we had down a while back was Paul Thomas Saunders.  This guy & his band ‘The Fever Dreams’ were amazing. They produced a bright, etheral soundscape, briming with gifted songwriting and grade 8 musicianship.

I quite liked his old cons too.

This shot shows Paul singing into a baked bean can for an unusual vocal, while the guitarist plays his Jaguar with a bow.

Back at the most excellent Christmas Sunday Service we had a whole bunch of past faves drop back in for an Xmas cover & 2 tracks of their own.  Here’s the excellent catchy Richie Bower of Palooka. Check his myspace for some amazing newly recorded tracks.

Richies acoustic.

And as usual, it’s only fair to drop another shoe shot in the collection.

Old-time regular contributor to the Sunday Service, Mr Gary Stewart dropped in for a fantastic acoustic xmas cover.

Those skinny jeans and hobbit-scale legs can only belong to the G-spot.

A whole bunch of bands played the Sunday Service Xmas special, and it was a top night.  I thought it only fair to snap the faithful SS congregation

In January, Gavin Mart dropped by to try out some new solo tracks he’d been working on.

It was cool of him to think of the Service as a sounding board for new material.

January also hosted the Plumpton Presents Battle of the Bands ace contestants Germain.

The singer was sporting an old-school pair of docs.  I remember walking many miles in various shades of these badboys.

January’s SS also sported the excellent finger picker Troy Fade.

He’d created an impressive stomp box out of an old case & a mic.  Looks like he may have had to sell his laces to do so…

Ben Pike dropped in in November for a wicked set of his more finger picking, slidey, slappy guitar skills.

In support were the amazing Adam ‘in at least 10 different bands’ Richards on double-bass and Kieran ‘also in at least 10 bands’ O’Malley.  I love it when bands drop in and sort of make it up as they go.  Especially when that sounds good too.

Mr Richards, no doubt skifflin on his Bass.

Mr O’Malley, spouting horsehair.

Another act we had a while back was the Leeds Acoustic singer songwriter Sam Airey.

Who also sported a fine pair of kicks.

I thought I’d wrap up with a pic that caught my eye that sums up the Sunday Service for us…

An old battered lamp, red walls and an acoustic guitar. Happy days.

If you’d like to hear more about upcoming Sunday Services, keep your eyes on our myspace here.

We joined James (above) for this leg at the Leeds Metropolitan University.

As well as being a charming & witty fellow, he’s a terribly good musician and might just be the next big thing waiting in the wings.

Check his myspace here.

One act that night was my good man Gavin Mart. Generally a more acoustified act, he & the Saturday Vandals let loose with a rare full kit set.

He worked that usual G-Mart shabby chic.

Phil Barber & myself (Barnaby Aldrick) both attended this one, and it’s always shooting a gig from 2 angles.  There’s less pressure to get the standard shots and more scope to try new things. Here’s of Phil’s.

One of Phil’s snaps of Rob, the Saturday Vandal’s drummer.  Only 16, Rob’s one of the top 10 young drummers in the UK. He’s got some skills.

Dan Norton’s also what I’ve always described as a ‘lead basist’ and has a gift & years of experience behind him.

The following act were Dododeaddead, an instrumental post-rock act.

I’m liking Phil’s detail of the Fender Bass.

…and this wide one of the stage

The guitarist liked his ebow.  Those post-rock bands normally do.

A detail of the basists foot, poised to break into distorted fuzz

The dododeaddeadrummer

And a sweet, colourful shoe shot

I quite like this one of everyone lost in the rock.

The final act that night were Dead Sea Colour. They had a beautiful singer, who occasionally looked right into the lens like so.

Their guitarist, up on the 12th fret of his Telecaster.

The basist sang some tracks too. They were pretty cool actually these guys.

The singer Natalie drummed her way through some tracks on her own snare.

I liked this catch of her resting while the rock flowed around her.

Anyhoos – enough flowery chat! It was another night of stellar bands, and big thanks to James for asking us along.  Sadly Gavin Mart didn’t win this heat.  That honour went to Dododeaddead.

A night or so later, the finals were held at Oporto’s bar.  Dododeaddead went up against Moody Gowns, Charlie Bath & The Luminaries and the Moody Gowns walked out victorious!

They were ace at the Wardrobe leg, and really looked like they had a wicked time on stage. Congrats to them.

They’ll be joining us to play a marginally paired back set at the next Sunday Service on Feb 28th if you’re in the area & fancy a listen.

It was a whistle stop bash, with only having an hour, and George & Rich hadn’t been photographed a great deal.

So we had to quickly put them at ease and work against the clock with the fading daylight.

We started with a few shots of them playing on the steps.

Then I cracked out the mobile studio heads and softbox, and Phil & I worked together to get some creative lighting.

They asked us for some promo images in both casual and smart clothes, so we shot a mixture.

I love the new Quadra flash-heads, especially through a softbox. Though must remember the sandbags next time, cos the flash stands took two nosedives during the shoot and are developing some impressive war-wounds!

We popped another head behind the guys to rim light them a little to help lift them from the background.

I like this shot of them, with the backlighting, shadows across their faces & relaxed expressions.

The shoot went really well and, working fast, it was great to see what we could get done in the hour!

If you’re a local musician, from around the Leeds, Yorkshire or beyond and are looking for some promo images, drop us a line to discuss prices!

The Battle kicked off to a roaring start at the Wardrobe in Leeds, with the Leeds College of Music heat.  Those kids generally require a grade 8 in something to get in, so musical tightness & mad skills were pretty much guaranteed.

Here are a few of my faves from that night.

Its all about the Vox & Gibson partnership…

…and the rocking out.

It’s also all about the feets…

…and the depth of field…

…and the selective motion blur…

…and the tasty bass chicks!

These guys, the Moody Gowns, won this heat, for good reason.

They’re genred under myspace as Alternative / Reggae / Tango.  Bunch of nutters to be honest.

The also excellent Germain, an interesting mix of great song writing, tidy drumming, metaly guitar shreddies & funky bass.

It’s all about that strat head.

Working an excellently tormented “I don’t know why I’m so sad” expression

The next band, working a completely different, and possibly constipated expression.

I believe these guys were called Zeon, and sounded a lot like Muse.

Foot + pedal = fuzz

A final detail, after the drummer threw his sticks on the final track.

There are 3 more heats and a final, 2 local Leeds band heats at Oporto on Tuesday (26th) Wednesday (27th) and the Leeds Met heat on Thursday (28th).  I’ll defo be down for the Leeds Met leg, and there are some superb acts rocking the town, so if you can, get yourselves down and check the myspace here for info!

We found ourselves covering a charity concert on Friday night. Called ‘Singing in the Rain’ it was in aid of the victims of the Cumbrian floods and they had got together some great local bands from Leeds.
Kinch
Birdman Rallies
Hannah Trigwell and
The Moves

We didn’t manage to stay for all the gig but caught the set by Hannah Trigwell & The Moves. These guys both put on some great sets.

The show was done in association with BBC Raw Talent show. This is a  three hour showcase for all the best musical talent in the region on BBC Radio Leeds. West Yorkshire’s Raw Talent is part of the BBC Introducing strand that brings new and unsigned talent to the fore. Presenter Alan Raw plays  all the best tracks from the region’s best acts, as well as bringing you all the latest gig news and gossip.So check it out on Wednesdays between 7pm -10pm. It is can be found on the BBC iPlayer.

]]> http://www.tsgblog.com/?feed=rss2&p=662 0 http://www.tsgblog.com/?p=655 http://www.tsgblog.com/?p=655#comments Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:33:36 +0000 admin http://www.tsgblog.com/?p=655 My buddy and all round skill musician Gavin Mart asked me along to photograph his ‘New Leads’ gig at ‘Left Bank’ arts space in Leeds in December. While I was photographing Dan Wilde (who’s played my Sunday Service night several times) Gav asked if I could shoot a little video and this is what I shot off the hoof (hence no stable tripod shots and some pretty ropey panning shots…)

I know Dan well and love this cover he does of Richard Thompson’s ‘Beeswing’. It’s off his recently recorded ‘Live at the Voodoo Rooms’ EP (available through his myspace here), and it’s testament to his timing that the footage I caught pretty much matches the tempo of his live recording! Nothin’ like luck in this game.

For the techies: Video shot on a Canon 5DmkII with 16-35mm + 70-200mm lenses & edited in iMovie

It was an inspiring gig & we may host some great gigs there in future.  I photographed a wedding there once and it’s unheated, so summer might be an idea…

Here are a couple of stills from the night, including this one showing the awesome arts space that was a derelict church in Hyde Park, Leeds

Our host and rising musical star, Mr Gavin Mart.

Gav playing with an audience of about 80.  The red glow is from portable heaters.

Ancient candlestick on stage

Dan Wilde, workin his finger pickin flex

The crowd.

MC Testement from Homecut, a beatbox legend & gifted soul singer, who’s got an ace album out featuring Corinne Bailey-Rae (available here).

Gav was sound checking Andy and they found an old keyboard, so Andy used it in his set.  You’ve gotta hate these talented damn musicians.

So that was lots of fun. Thought I’d share.

Hope and Social  -  ‘ Be the Architect’

The Set includes:

Be The Architect live CD recorded on the night

68 minutes of the Hope and Social live crypt show

80-page Be the Architect hardback book

We asked all who came to the Be The Architect show to help us record the evening. We asked them to write a wish/poem/prayer/hope and submit it to us for inclusion in the Be The Architect box set. The result is an incredible 80 page insight into people’s lives in 2009. It’s a beautiful and inspiring artifact.

Hope and Social début album Architect of This Church

Prayer Song (Bonus Track)

Excerpts of people’s “prayers” will be made into a new work by Hope and Social. This will be included in the download, i.e. not on the physical CD (NB, anyone purchasing this before 1st January 2010 will be sent a link to this track by email)

…all in a beautiful leatherette (yes, leatherette) box with silver H&S logo. Wow.

Also includes:

Immediate download of the 10 track live album recording of the show and

Immediate download of a photo- slideshow, a beautiful visual record of the evening.