Another shameless plug for my work. Get in touch on 07710 055318
Simon provided a fantastic photoshoot for my promo purposes… he used fantastic location and the shoot went very well. But best of all – I was completely OVER THE MOON at the photos that arrived just 4 days later. Absolute genius.. I certainly recommend and will use again.thanks Simon xx
Sahara C
Another shoot up and coming with this bunch of lads. Great guys!
Outside Asylum is a 4 piece hard rock band from Leeds. Fuelled by life threatening doses of Captain Morgan and the soundtrack of Snakepit, Sixx AM and Buckcherry, the band and their inimitable brand of sleaze pop launched onto the scene in April 2011 and can now be seen gigging around the UK with Britains finest unsigned hard rock acts.
Dreamcatcher, originally uploaded by simonmurray66.
Fusing the most powerful genre’s of extreme metal, DREAMCATCHER form an earth-shattering amalgamation of melodic, progressive and symphonic metal unlike anything ever heard before.
Playing together since early 2008, this northern british metal band has kept and cultivated a dedicated and commited fan base, and this is reflected in both their awe-inspiring stage presence and the fan reaction to everything released by them. Melding face melting guitar, ably played by dual guitar masters Alexei Green and Ben Scott, with soaring, power house vocals from commanding frontman Lukas Jackson and balancing everything with awe-inspiring keyboards performed by one of the few female instrumentalists in metal; Adele Pease, and a stomach shaking rhythm section delivered flawlessly by Ross Lavery and bassist; Matt Hudson, this sextet of metal possess a sound which is completely unique.
If I’m honest I would have thought that a band like Goldfrapp would have done a similar thing to other bands of this size and genre and just skipped Leeds, instead visiting Bristol, Birmingham, Milton Keynes,Sheffield and Manchester, so good on them. Leeds awaits the much needed arena so that the more succesful bands have no excuse but to visit this great city.
What was really surprising was that the O2 Academy was only half full when Goldfrapp, who I believe to be the most outstanding genre busting yet succesfull band in the land visted us.
Alison was really on form when she took to the stage with ‘Crystalline Green’ in a black metallic boa like outfit. her voice is truly outstanding, my wife who can be critical of voices (who isn’t these days with X-factor and all) was really impressed. Everyone in the band performed as if they were making a live CD, and it turns out this is what they did in Bristol and its available now in the Goldfrapp store.
Not all the favourites are there, the singles, ‘Happiness’ and ‘Rocket’ were fairly conspicuous by their absence but maybe this was something to do with the band not wanting too many singles on the live recording.
The crowd didn’t really get going till they played ‘Number 1’ – not really one of my faves, and of course ‘Ooh La La’ was there and about 6 tracks from ‘Head First’, their latest album which while a bit different from Seventh Tree (their best album), still see’s them stamp their mark and their songwriting has gone to a new level, especially with Alive and Head First. Only a pity they didn’t play ‘A&E’ and ‘Pilots’ but otherwise it was a blast of fresh air.
So thank you Goldfrapp for visiting Leeds for one night, even though you may have got a better audience in Bristol or Manchester, I for one had a fantastic night, as did everyone else, astute enough to come and see you.
Album number 5 - Head First
When I get asked to do gig photography, I think, great. No need to bring lights, I get to have fun and hopefully some animated photographs as well.
I did have fun at this gig and met some great people. It was at Salvos restaurant, well the Salumeria to be exact. Great food is to be had there. An intimate atmosphere but not really geared up for gig photography. When i get asked to do a gig shoot, I do expect to be cramped and jostled, and i do expect to also see huge 2KW gelled lights pointing at the artists.
Unfortunately, at Salvos, cramped, meant being surrounded by other people at tables trying to enjoy a fantastic meal while listening to the talented and broad of repertoir duo that is William and Naomi.
And as far as lighting goes, no large spots, fresnels etc but just low lighting ambience that you would get in a place like this. In fact I think i was lucky to avoid candles only. At least there was one 60watt bulb pointing at William at the keyboard. Unfortunately again, Naomi, singer, saxaphonist and flutist, all too often strayed out of this beam of light entirely.
So it was up to the ability of the D90 and my skills at capturing that magic moment. This was no occasion for an iPhone. Camera speed was set to 3200, avoided as much as possible the use of flash, therefore not disturbing people trying to eat their Neopolitan. Gratuitous use of Adobe Lightroom too which seemed to give the images the lift they needed.
The band were outside asylum and we all had a bit of a laugh in the studio creating these shots, it was a pleasure to meet them all, even if motley crüe aren’t my scene.
To all my friends, customers and colleagues, hope you are having a great new year.
Just done my first band shoot of the year, great bunch of guys, who came from Leeds, Huddersfield and London.
Pity i had to endure their taste of Motley Crue, David Lee Roth etc all day – oh well, cant have it all my way.
Photos to follow.
Pop on over to the gallery page to see one of my more recent shots of a band from manchester called the audio pimps – you’d never guess from that name that they are a covers band would you.
Theres 5 of them and my studio just aint big enough so i shot them individually against white and stitched them all together which made for an interesting shot where they are all at their best but not really interacting with each other. A bit like when 2 musicians on either side of the preverbial pond do a duet but never meet.
Excellent bunch of guys to be around and I wish them loads of gigs.
