First Aid Kit, originally uploaded by Ben Grubb.

A while back, I went to see a pretty cool Swedish folk-y type duo called First Aid Kit play at the (cringe enducingly named) “Relentless Garage” in Islington. It’s a really nice venue, despite the name, and the show was really fun. I also shot some photos and wrote a short review for Call Upon The Author. I hope you enjoy them both. I have plenty more bloggy goodness to come soon. I’m up to my eyes at the moment, but loving every minute…

Mikey, originally uploaded by Ben Grubb.

Over the last couple of months I’ve had the joy and privilege of being able to see Intraverse play in London. It’s always a great night out, not only because they are an amazing band of hugely talented musicians, but they’re also all really good friends of mine and have been for over 10 years (which is is a statistic which is equally warming and worrying). It’s been really great to catch up with them again, and I’m fortunate that they’re all the sort of friends that even when you haven’t seen them for a long while (as was the case when I moved to London) when you finally do meet up it feels like it was only last week when you last saw each other.

Since the last time I wrote about them on here, they have become a five piece with original guitarist Wayne, back in the band (it’s a long story). I was concerned that with two incredible guitarists on stage together, it could all get a bit ‘duelling banjos’ but both Wayne and Andy seem mature and talented enough to realise that they’re better off trying to compliment each other than gunning for the spotlight. It seems to be working really well. Anyway, check out their Myspace page and see what you think. In the mean time, here are some photos from the recent shows…

The Purple Turtle, Camden:

Dublin Castle, Camden:

Edit (22/08/2010): Intraverse played another show at The Purple Turtle, which had past me by until a few days before it happened. Here are the shots from the night though. The lighting was loads better which was really nice…

The Purple Turtle, Camden:

Bury Tomorrow, originally uploaded by Ben Grubb.

Again, if I’d been to see The Hip recently, that would have a been a great pun. I haven’t though, sadly, so we’ll just have to make do for now.

Hello. It’s been a while since I posted anything on here. My life seems to be one perpetual game of catch up at the moment. I’ve been incredibly busy with various things, but that is the way I like it so it’s all good. So, one of things I’ve been doing a lot more in 2010 (which is nearly HALF WAY THROUGH, scarily) is concert photography. Matt at Call Upon the Author and Katy from Creative Boom have been fixing me up with a variety of shows across London which has been hugely enjoyable. One of my high points for the year was definitely finding myself in the photo pit at one of my favourite venues, Brixton Academy. That’s a small, but important career goal I can tick off.

So anyway, I’ve been busy writing and shooting and having a throughly good time. I have also discovered the importance of earplugs. Below are a selection of shots from the shows I’ve been to recently (with corresponding reviews where possible). Enjoy!

A Skylit Drive: Review

Alesana

Bury Tomorrow

Idlewild (again): Review

Sparrow and the Workshop (again)

I’ve also been to see Wintersleep again (shocking, I know). I went to a couple of shows on their recent tour, but here’s just one set of photos from their show at The Lexington in London.


Wintersleep

I have also updated my concert photography gallery with a selection of my favourite shots. So yeah, all in all, pretty busy. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little catch up on the last month or so in (part of) my photographic life. There’s more stuff to come soon, but for now, I’m off to enjoy a lazy bank holiday Sunday evening with my girlfriend. See ya soon!

Roddy, originally uploaded by Ben Grubb.

I’m proud of that one. I think it’s my best punny-blog-title thing yet; and it almost works. Y’know, it’s like that Oasis song. Man, I’m so damn funny.

Anyway, a couple of Fridays ago, I went all the way to the depths of South Wimbledon to see a gig. I was there to shoot and review a trio call Sparrow and the Workshop. The were supporting Idlewild at some bizarre, yet actually quite cool little place called The Watershed. The gig went was good, albeit short and rather early (SATW were onstage at about 6:30, and that was with things running behind schedule!). I bring this up now, as my review is now live on Call Upon the Author. I suggest you have a quick glance over it. It’s good. Honest.

I thought that while I was there, I might as well make the most of the situation buy hanging around and photographing Idlewild too. I was glad I did, as I got some great shots (of both acts, which you can see below…)

I was pretty limited for space. The venue was really small, and what I could only assume was the photo pit (i.e. the space between the barrier and the stage) was far too tight to get along, especially without ruining people’s views. It was too bad during SATW as I could move about amongst the crowd, however, once Idlewild came on, it was a different story. I was pretty much stuck to one spot, but I think I did pretty well considering. I was definitely glad I’d rented the 85mm lens again. Also, the lighting wasn’t great where I was stood, so I used a bit of fill in flash to try and help things along, and relied on Roddy turning to face me from time to time (see top of post). I don’t particularly like using flash at gigs, but I think it would have be a lot less successful if I hadn’t. Desperate times and all that. I hopefully have a few more things coming up over the next few weeks, and with any luck I’ll be able to update and relaunch the concert photography section of the site. Hurray for that.

I hope you all have a nice Monday…

Bertie Blackman, originally uploaded by Ben Grubb.

Last week I went to see a rather splendid gig by Australian songstress Bertie Blackman. I hadn’t really heard of her before until Katy from Creative Boom asked me to go along and write a review and take some photos. It turns out I actually really like Bertie’s music. I listened to her latest album ‘Secrets and Lies’ which is out in May and it’s rather splendid. The show was hugely enjoyable as well. For a petite little thing she certainly has a really powerful set of lungs, and really belt the tunes out. You can read the review now on Creative Boom; and there’s a selection of shots from the night up on Flickr. I also did a video interview(!!) with her which should be up on Creative Boom some point soon. Hopefully. It went pretty, and was a largely enjoyable (yet nerve wracking) experience. Michael Parkinson I am not.

I also caught the band on before Bertie who weren’t bad either: Sheffield based act The Little Million, who I also managed to get some decent photos of. Result! I’m also, through the power of the internetz, seeing them again tonight to take some more shots. It’s been a busy time. And the sun’s out which is nice. Here’s to a decent Spring and Summer I say!

Hello all. Sorry it’s been a while. A lot’s been going on with me recently which is good! Also, I was computer-less for a while. My PC picked up a rather nasty virus which it is still recovering from, and had to undergo some particularly nerve wracking open hard drive surgery! Luckily, we found a suitable 1TB donor and the operation seemed to be a success. There’s still some way to go until full recovery though. Huge thanks to master surgeon Dr. Ben Sales for all the help. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it without him and would be a jibbering wreck on the floor by now. More than normal I mean, obviously.

Also, my MacBook had to go in to the Apple Store to have it’s fan and top case replaced (which they did for free, bless ‘em) and is now back to it’s full glory and looks all cleaned up and handsome again. Wonderful. It’s good to be able to actually do work and things again.

Anyway, techno geekery aside, I have some exciting news: I have started to write and photography shows for my friend Matt’s music review site Call Upon The Author. The very same site which I designed a banner for last year. I’m working towards getting together a decent portfolio of concert shots, and Matt’s the man with the contacts, so I thought we could help each other out. So far, so good. I went to my first show as a “reviewer” last week, and to start things off, I was lucky enough to see Paul Murphy’s (of Wintersleep fame) side project Postdata at The Borderline. He (or rather they, as he was joined by fellow Wintersleep band mate Tim D’eon on keyboards) are doing a short European tour opening for David Bazan (of Pedro The Lion). Both were rather enjoyable, and I certainly enjoyed Postdata! The review is done and up on Call Upon The Author now is you want to have a look. There’s also a small selection of photos on Flickr. Definitely check out the album as well – it’s marvelous. I have a few more shows lined up over the next few months which I’m looking forward to, and I hope you’ll check out my post gig ramblings. I’ve got a few other exciting things in the pipeline as well which I’ll no doubt talk about on here in due course. As the weather starts to brighten, so to does my year! Good times.

Last week I had the honor and privilege of seeing The Tragically Hip live in the UK. I managed to make it to two shows, one in London and one in Manchester. Throughout their nine month 2009 tour across Canada, America and Europe they have been playing what are known as ‘Evening with…’ style shows, which consist of two sets, and around two and a half hours of fantastic live music! I was fortunate enough to see them in San Francisco earlier in the year when they performed an extended show, and I was worried that they might have ditched this format when they returned to the UK. Luckily that wasn’t the case – and what’s more they seemed to be on fire! Gord Downie especially was at his theatrical best with lots of trademark mimes, dance moves and rants being pulled out of the bag. It was a true site to behold!

I recorded both nights, and recently released them for fans to download on The Hip Tracker. Both shows came out really well which I’m happy with. I’ve also designed some accompanying artwork to go with them. I wanted something in keeping with what I designed for the SF show, but still different. I was pleased with what I produced, especially as it seems to sit quite nicely with the artwork from the latest album which they’ve been promoting – We Are The Same:

One of the highlights from the shows was the duet that the band did with special guest Kelly Jones from the Stereophonics. It was a real shock, and something pretty special to witness. Kelly joined them on stage at the Forum to do a version of the really beautiful track Fiddler’s Green. There were sadly no special guests in Manchester, but possibly this superb version of the classic track At The Hundredth Meridian with Gord ranting away made up for it. I’ve been pretty much listening to them non stop since, and I really can’t wait until the next round of live shows – Whenever that may be…

Tim, Mike & Paul, originally uploaded by Ben Grubb.

Last week I went along to a couple of Wintersleep shows – one of my favourite past times! The first was in the biggest venue I’ve seen them in to date: Hammersmith Apollo. They have been opening for Editors on their UK tour along with a band called Airship. It was a really great, albeit short show and they played a new track called ‘Black Camera’ from their forth coming album. It sounds great. I can’t wait to hear the rest of it! I didn’t take my camera to that show as I didn’t have a photo pass and I couldn’t really be bothered with the hassle for trying to get my gear past security for a seven song set. Besides, I had a golden opportunity to shoot them again on the Saturday night at The Tabernacle in Notting Hill.

Snoo and I were heading along to the show on the Saturday night in West London, and as a nice surprise, a few days before our friend Gill got in touch and asked if she could join us as she was over in London from France with her daughter. Of course! The more the merrier! We’d never been to The Tabernacle before, and we were very pleasantly surprised. There was a really nice bar/restaurant thing downstairs where we had some food before heading up to the stage.

The main room was really well lit and the stage was pretty low which was great for getting different angles during the show. The good, bright lighting was really nice as it meant that I could break away from just using my prime lens and get some nice wide angle shots for a change. Airship were also acting as the support band for this show as well, so I shot a few photos of them before Wintersleep took the stage.

Wintersleep put on a great show as usual, and I was totally in my element shooting hundreds of photos! I had a pretty intense editing session over the next couple of days, and even after being pretty ruthless I still ended up with 100+ photos being uploaded to Flickr. I was

very pleased. I managed to have a quick chat with Loel, Mike and Tim from the band and gave them some business cards etc. I can’t wait for them to come back over again, and I can see them again – maybe as their official photographer. Good times!

Also, last week my Dad and I went to the Canon Pro Photo Solutions exhibition in Islington. It was a really great show full of interesting exhibits and seminars. We were there for about six hours playing with new gear and chatting to people. We also attended some interesting talks, mainly about software and things. My favourite talk of the day was on Adobe Lightroom 2 by a guy called Dave Mallows. It was a fairly basic introduction to Lightroom (which is what I needed) but it really helped and taught me some really useful stuff. Because of that talk, I now have new look flash galleries on my website which I didn’t realise you could produce in Lightroom. They are live now, and you can see them in the Photography section of the site. Let me know what you think!

I think that’s all for now. Hopefully I’ll have more stuff to add soon. Oh, and it’s November now which means this new look version of the site has been running for a year already! Hurrah! Here’s to many more…

While we were away following the Manics in America, I was (naturally) on taping duty. We went to three shows in total (including an instore appearance that James did at Newbury Comics in Boston. I spent the week or so after I was back editing the recordings, sifting through photos and making artwork. I kind of had something in mind, artwork wise, of what I wanted to do for these recordings. I wanted to use tints of one colour for each show. I kept a lot of my trademark elements in the images but tried to go in a slightly different direction and push my use of type a bit further than normal. Here are the results…

I turned them round pretty quickly and I’m really pleased with what I produced. Huge thanks to my mate As who supplied me with the quality photos of James to work with which made my life a hell of a lot easier.

The recordings sound really great too, especially the songs from the new album! Here’s Peeled Apples from the show at Webster Hall in New York. Good times!

Hello. I’m in Boston. In America. Again. My girlfriend and I, plus two of our friends decided that trekking around the UK to watch some Welshmen sing some songs wasn’t quite enough, so we upped the ante by flying thousands of miles to see them on their first US tour in ten years. We went to two shows, one in New York and one a short (four hours) bus ride away in Boston. Both were really great, and I’m really glad we did it! I took a few shots in Boston but now many. My friend Ash took lots though and they’re really good. Every time I think that I’m starting to go off the band a bit, something like this happens and I’m right back into the fan-boy world. But I love it so it’s all good.

We fly home today, so we’re off to enjoy the chilly Boston sunshine. See ya back home!