I started this thought process by writing a list of this years highlights, and yes there's 2 pages of 'em. That was when I realized how immersed I have become in what I do, because everything on that list was about music, and capturing it with a camera.
So 2012 started with deliberating about my choice of weapon, I'd been using a Nikon D300S for most of 2011 and really felt that my pics would benefit from a full frame camera, not cheap. Then I got sensible and decided no, stick with what you've got for now, do sensible things like decorating and buying new curtains etc etc. Right. Yeah?. No actually Anyone who knows me can testify just how long sensible lasts with me, so by 1st January 2012 I had a full frame Nikon and couldn't wait to get out and stick it in the faces of any poor unsuspecting bands or musicians who just happened to cross my path.
I'm not going to give a resume of everything I've done or photographed in 2012, that would be a book, not a blog.
From late 2011 I had been really looking forward to something. Nope, not Christmas. It was late in 2011 that the spring tour was announced for a band which is as anyone who hasn't spent the last 5 years on the dark side of Mars knows only too well is a very big favourite of mine. Yes, the "B....." word. 3 dates in Feb and March, Leopard, Doncaster, Puzzle Hall, Sowerby Bridge, Milo, Leeds, these are the ones I can get to, or more accurately get back from. I'm not gonna rant on about how good this band is, only to say they are back on the road early 2013 so go see 'em. They're called Bleech, they're from London and they are the hardest working little band I know.. They're ace.
I love how things you do in life lead to other things, like going to a venue to see your favourite band. Like I did to see Bleech at The Leopard, I hadn't thought it was still there. Oh it is and looking at their posters had some really cool bands booked. It's close to the station, the last trains back to Wakey are late. This is doable so by going to a Bleech gig I found another home from home venue to point my camera at.
My last blog was oh about 9 months ago about the 5th birthday of Rhubarb Bomb, so no real need to do a blow by blow account of this excellent event and yeah one of the highlights of 2012. I took loads of photos, some of Wakefield.s finest bands played and The Orangery was full of friends and good people. Not just a gig or a party, there was something else, I'd call it just a bloody good vibe, the kind you don't get all that often.
Can't say I really enjoyed Live at Leeds all that much. This was the first festy of the year for me and was a bit disappointing. All the venues are just so far apart you run yourself to a standstill just trying to see a small part of it. Couldn't get a photopass for it so had to blag my way round with varying degrees of success. Hardly got to see any of the bands I wanted to see, couldn't get anywhere near Howler or The Subways at The Cockpit so I spent the evening listening to acoustic people upstairs. Not the best.
May turns into June and Long Division is just around the corner! Whoops, rewind, remember that band, erm the B..... word. Told you they work hard, they're still on the road storming round the UK, not to mention a tour of Germany etc etc in a cool yellow VW van called Beryl. 18th May Beryl is parked across from The Hop where they are headlining. Top performance as Bleech tried hard to take the roof off the Hop with a non stop relentless performance of all their core songs, it would have been nice to see them play a longer set and take an encore which includes some beautiful slower songs that really show off those gorgeous harmonies but there were 4 bands performing and not enough time.
Long Division 2012 the second such event gets underway, I get there very early picks up me press pass. Unlike Live at Leeds I got a pass to photograph stuff. Also unlike Live at Leeds L/D is doable, all the venues are a few minutes walk from each other, although looking at the schedule for the day I can see that most of what I want to see is at The Town Hall or The Theatre Royal. With Hoffmans butchers in the middle, (ace meat pies) Perfect. I kicked off at The Hop though with Piskie Sits, no better way of rattling your ears out of any belief they are going to have an easy day. It felt a bit weird though seeing 'em in Broad daylight. From there on though it's new discoveries. When people ask who is my favourite band My answer is, (ok apart from B... yeah them) the next band I haven't yet seen that's gonna totally blow me away is my favourite. Festys are by far the best place to find new stuff and that's what I have always done. I'm not really mainstream, I like really edgy alternative stuff if I can find it. With this in mind I avoid all the local bands I have seen many times and look for new stuff to get excited about. Highlights, Wet Nuns, Hookworms, Soulmates Never Die, Post War Glamour Girls, and ooooooh Aidan Moffat & Bill Wells, how good was that. Breaking my rule about finding new stuff though, there is always an exception to the rule. St Gregory Orange at The Theatre Royal.
My next big festy then will be Clarence. 2 or 3 gigs a week till then though the truly outstanding ones being new to me discoveries. Remember I mentioned the Leopard, well I've been back a few times and discovered a few awesome bands, to name a couple, The Coopers from Leeds and Famous Villains from Doncaster. I love to do that, just take a punt on a gig where I've never heard of the bands playing and you discover some gems. That's how I first came across B..., yes them.
High summer loads of gigs, one of which stood out more than any, one of the best. Milloy's last gig ever at The Hop in Wakefield. I'd never seen Milloy before and if tonight was anything to go by, that fact was my loss. A capacity crowd at The Hop was treated to one of the best gigs of the year, it had everything, whipped up by an awesome onstage performance the 200 strong crowd of fans went wild, bodies and beer flying everywhere as the raw power of this band cranked up higher and higher. Just one event that will stay with me for a long time.
I am an incurable music nut involved in all sorts of stuff. As well as photographing music events I am a big supporter of Rhubarb Bomb and pretty much everything it stands for, especially it's DIY ethos about doing stuff and making things happen, so quite naturally I also support Long Division and the wonderful festivals it's promoted here in 2011 & 12, I am I suppose very indie leaning in my personal taste to the point of being distinctly alternative. Certainly not mainstream. However I get alot of fun and see enormous value in the efforts of many other dedicated individuals and groups who support and promote a wide variety of interesting and enjoyable music events mainstream and otherwise all over Wakefield and beyond. For the past 3 years I have been a member of The Wakefield Music Collective who's main event is the Clarence Park Music Festival. I have to say that the selection process for Clarence is not easy. I think 4 meetings took place to get the final lineup, these meetings are passionate events and often involves great self control to avoid us killing each other. However dispite the obvious lack of a headline act I think with one or two exceptions we got it right, the best one that I have been involved in. Highlights for me were Benjamin Bloom and Boomin' Both in the Hop beer tent, I think we all agreed both these two should have been on the main stage. Like a lot of things, easy to say with hindsight.
As well as my home venue at The Hop I am spending more and more time in Donny at some cool gigs promoted by The Leopard, I am making friends there and I like taking photos there. And so I was asked if I'd like to come and photograph Charlotte Church. Ok, not my kind of thing, (me not mainstream) but it seemed like a good photographic challenge, someone of that level in a small venue. Yeah it was a challenge too, If I'm togging a big act I like to get in early, if possible before the doors open, get my position and not bloody move for anyone. It's the only way in a small venue where you know it's gonna be a very challenging shoot. Support by Famous Villains, never heard of 'em. As I said, my favourite band is the band I've never heard of that's about to blow my mind and Famous Villains did all of that, and some! Incredibly good songs delivered by this terrific band from Doncaster fronted by Anthony Lindley, they stole the whole show for me. As the stage got changed round for Charlotte Church I was having problems of my own. The spot I'd been anchored to to the right front of stage was required by the front of stage security people for Charlotte Church, the room now packed I had nowhere to go. I ended up in an elevated ledge on one of the barriers but this meant I was blocking the view of people behind me. I have to say I'd built a good rapport with all the people round me over the previous hour and a half so I was able to suggest gimmie one song to get what I can and I'm out of your way, and that's how I got the shots I did.
Eclectic. That's the best way of describing the next few weeks gigs, pick of the bunch, H. Hawkline, Emma Pollock and RM Hubbert at The Hop, mostly acoustic solo performances of the highest quality. It's gigs like this that make you really appreciate the cool venues that provide a stage for these people and the promoters who bring them here, not to get rich or even make money, but for the love. I get a real sense of being very alive to be around these people and it inspires me to be as good as I possibly can at what I do in my own limited way to document these wonderful musical events so they won't be just lost in the mists of time like so many past such things are faded memories.
Retarded Fish is not a name I was all that familiar with and like Milloy it took until they played their final gig at The Hop that I got to see them for the first time. Retarded Fish had recently by request supported The Cribs at The Theatre Royal for their homecoming gig at the end of their 2012 tour so I kind of expected them to be good and judging by yet another capacity crowd at The Hop so did alot more people. All fans who certainly were not seeing this band for the first and last time. Which highlights the sad fact that I had been out of touch with the Wakefield music scene for too many years due to earning a living, paying bills and leading a fairly dull existance. However what I find reconnecting with it is that it healthier than it ever was! This city has so many bands and musicians writing and performing original music it's amazing. Every week I am running into bands from Wakey I've not heard before that turn out to be really good. As for Retarded Fish, well the rhythm section from this band have gone on to become part of a new revelation which was to blow my mind a month or two later, Michael Ainsley's new band.
Something of a departure for me was being asked to photograph the Wakefield Lit Fest 2012 which I agreed to do albeit a little nervously as this was new stuff. All these clever people who knew big words. I was at more or less every event, everything from poetry workshops to to Yew Tree Youth Theatre performance and like any festy there's bits you like and bits that you don't. I think my highlights were Simon Armitage at Westgate Chapel, Dean Freeman's bit on DIY publishing, a concept that is rapidly growing on me, and towards the end an informal "meet the authors" What no gigs?? Don't be silly, I sneaked out early on the Saturday to catch Wet Nuns at The Hop. As if.
Time to discover another venue I'd not been to before, The Empire in Leeds to see my 5th and final Bleech gig of the year. They're on tour again, kicking off in Germany and now back terrorising all corners of The U.K. The Empire is a rather nice city centre bar at ground level, however to get to the music venue you are downstairs in what resembles some kind of Soviet military bunker, concrete and clammy. I don't care though coz I'd be happy to go see Bleech play anywhere. Tonight is a little sad though coz the previous night at a gig in Leicester Jen's beautiful red Gibson had been badly damaged and I think she was still in the "can it be repaired and how much will it cost thought process". She was upset as anyone of us would be if something as close to what we do was damaged. So that night she played with her back up white strat and as always this little band from London was just great. I'm Looking forward to Feb 2013 already.
Two outstanding gigs back at The Hop were for me other highlights of October, not just coz they were good but something else. First Long Division Super Gig, lineup, Spills, Wot Gorilla, Playlounge, PAWS and Johnny Foreigner. An ambitious lineup that indicates a love of the music rather than an attempt to make money. It was one of those nights in an old building, down a backstreet that if you didn't know it was there you'd never find or know about. That room on 13th October was full of people who knew it was there, and know what Long Division is. The Hop in my opinion is not a pub that puts on live music, it's a music venue that is also a pub. What makes it a great venue is the bands who play there week in week out, local bands and national touring bands, diverse promoters adding a different flavour to the gig lineups not just from The UK but much farther afield. And most important to any venue the crowds of people in front of that stage here to see really good live music. Tonight as always I'm taking photos, for fun, coz I can? Yes, but there's another thing. I suppose the biggest news in Wakefield at the moment is the proposed renovation of The Unity Hall which all those years ago had been a major music venue, I've had a few great nights there my self, some great memories of a by gone era. How great if there had been photos of what happened there and many other great venues going back to the 50's. How many photos can you find of Bill Nelson's Wakefield band Global Village who we saw at Sandal Rugby Club or College Grove every other weekend. A few blurry faded snaps. Not important then, but wow would they be interesting today. St Greg need never worry about that, coz whether it be Harry and Tim playing acoustic or the full electric lineup we have photos, and that goes for all the bands.
If you asked me to name two events that I've been at that showed Wakefield's music scene at it's very best, one would be Rhubarb Bomb's 5th birthday party and this one, The Do's EP launch, at The Hop.
The Mike Ainsley Band kicked off, A bit of a supergroup really. Dan and Greg from Retarded Fish, Rob Burnell, Runaround Kids, Harry Rhodes, Piskie Sits and St Greg. Mike himself, Piskie Sits and Imp. This was their second gig and while Mike belted his songs out the rest of the band just created merry hell behind him. It was an OMG, how good was that moment. It was one of those nights, Buen Chico played out of their skins, best performance I've seen from them. The Wakey band I've seen probably more than any other this year was St Gregory Orange. I like this band very much, seen 'em play as a 2 piece acoustic and with bass and guitar as an electric unit, tonight I think for the first time live Dan Hayes sat in with them on drums. Yes another OMG moment. Drums took something that was already good to another level. In the back of my mind I'm thinking, The Do's are going to have to be at their very best to follow that lot. And they were, they make a hell of a din for two people that's for sure. It's industrial strength rock, stripped down no frills honest music which played by two very good musicians makes them a big favourite of mine, they played a non stop high intensity set that had us all throwing money at them for their EP called Slide. Another memorable evening, yes and we got photos.
November turns into December and it's been raining since March. I'm in Liverpool off to photograph a big charity gig at The Cavern live lounge. In 2011 I'd done this trip by request of a fellow Bleech fan and front man of a band called The Radi8tors. Enjoyed it so much I didn't need asking a second time. It's always good to see them, they're great people and a very good band. Another band on stage that night were Nuclear Safari a young band who had impressed me in 2011 and to see them again a year on and see how they'd matured as a band and gained confidence and stage presence was just great, they played a very intelligent set, it was a very mixed audience so alongside their own songs they threw in a few excellent covers. The MC a guy who as far as I can make out has been around Merseyside music since the year dot. An amazingly interesting guy who you just knew had been there, done that and knew them all. He said, only once in my whole life have I allowed anyone to play an extra song. Till tonight, Nuclear Safari was the second. What a tribute to this great young band from Stoke On Trent.
As I said on facebook, fish & chips at 2am, and three trains home, one which went a very weird way round coz of a landslide. Saturday cancelled due to sleep issues.
Sunday Dec 2. Gig of the year for me. Leopard, Doncaster. Foals.
Foals are a band who would normally only be seen in much larger venues than The Leopard have a new album launch in 2013 and a tour to promote it. They haven't played together for over a year and wanted three or four small gigs to kind of get match fit. This one sold out within 10 minutes of being announced, The Leopard would be packed with fanatical fans of this band. Foals had specified that they wanted to play small intimate local venues where they were close to their fans. Well they certainly got that. I got there early as always, I'm pretty streetwise now with these sort of gigs, I'm looking for the security guys, band management people who can make my life as a photographer difficult. I don't want any nasty surprises later. Usual thing for a band like this, you have three songs, and no flash. Cool that's what I expected. The security guys were great, they told me where they needed to be, which was a nightmare for me giving me very little field on view, we just talked it through and got a plan that worked for both of us. Ace. People can work together. Just get there early and find out what the ground rules are, unlike the guy from NME who appeared at the last minute and was allowed only one song. I am a big fan of Foals I have both their albums and was really excited about seeing them.
I don't really review gigs or albums, that's for clever people to do, what struck me in a big way though was this. As I said normally a band if the stature of Foals you would normally only see in a big arena, an O2 or somewhere like that. You'd be about half a mile away from the stage, even if you were near the front, which would be lit to look more like a bloody air raid than a music event. A cooporate banal sterile forgetable space. The music would be great but somehow distant, impersonal, a bit like watching it on dvd. Well that's my opinion for what it's worth, and yeah been there done that too. Foals at The Leopard however WAS personal, where the fans could reach up and touch Yannis, and he could get close to them, one foot on the barriers, one foot on a ledge on the PA stack at the edge of the stage and reach out to them, crowd surf still playing guitar not missing a note. At the end of the gig Yannis thanks their fans for making the effort to come and see them on such a rainy evening, thanks the support band and The Leopard for having them, almost like it was a young band being allowed to play a proper venue for the first time. Were they good? Ooh yes, ooh yes very very good.
Looks like I'm running out of year and Chrimbo is coming. Last look at events calender, what's gonna be fun. One of my favourite discoveries of 2012 Cry Baby played the Hop, it was mad Friday, (drunken carnage in Wakefield) A band fronted by Jonny Firth and Rosie Doonan and Nici Todd on drums. This really works, some great songs, well delivered with a great stage performance. Christmas Eve was made for MiMye, at least after this year I can't imagine Christmas without a MiMye gig, the stage has a christmas tree and tinsel draped everywhere including the drum kit. Just two very good bands, first up Mike Ainsley's Band. Don't think I've ever seen Mike without a huge smile on his face just what you need for Christmas, and the songs and the band are just so good. Then MiMye. Jamie, Rob and Chad. The set was just Christmas songs sung by Jamie, big smile on his face obviously really enjoying himself as was everyone else.
2012 has seen some favourite bands call it a day. Doyle and The Fourfathers, Milloy, Retarded Fish, Zoey Van Goey, Obvious Pseudonym, The Tracks to name a few who will really be missed. Some new ones to get really excited about, 2013, Cry Baby, The Michael Ainsley Band, and The State Of Georgia, are just 3 new projects which are already showing loads of promise, and a name I deliberately left till last. Candy Says. Candy Says is going to be the new vehicle for Ben and Juju. The very same Ben and Juju who were heart and soul of Little Fish. Juju was the song writer, guitarist and vocalist and as someone else said. That voice, you really do need to hear that voice. I agree, you do need to hear that voice. The story of Little Fish and how this band came to be and how it ended with a whole new thing called Candy Says is well documented in a really good well written book by Miranda Ward called F..k The Radio We Got Apple Juice. If you're in an unsigned band hoping to make it to the "mountain top" I recommend you read it. It also gives some well informed insight on how to do DIY music and create communities of fans without big label support and thus maintaining your freedom to do what makes you happy.
Resolutions for 2013, Keep on doing what I believe in and what makes me happy.
Yes and get better at it. A lot better.
So there we are, 2012 is over, I've had a ball and I'd just like to thank a few bands and musicians I've seen and photographed in 2012 some of them on many occasions, in no particular order, it's been ace. Let's do it all again in 2013.
Penguin
Freeze The Atlantic
Runaround Kids
Tiny Planets
The Do’s
The Spills
Lorenza Woods
Antonio Lulic
Chew Lips
The 48K’s
Famous Villains
Obvious Pseudonym
Piskie Sits
The Grand
Retarded Fish
MBT
Hamerex
Wet Nuns
Twilight Sad
Buen Chico
Fur Blend
Ellen & The Escapades
The Tracks
Bleech
The Protectors
The Coopers
Passing Fancy
One Day After School
St Gregory Orange
Nina Nesbit
Ryan Keen
Hannah Trigwell
Steeling Sheep
H. Hawkline
Vice Squad
Louise Distras
Martin Waterhouse
Red Riding Quartet
Gentlemen’s Pistols
Blacklisters
Johnny Foreigner
PAWS
Ultrazine
Dan Hayes
Michael Ainsley
Chris Helme
Jonnythe firth
The Bastards
Berlyn Trilogy
Missing Andy
Charlotte Church
Ryan Spendlove
Swiss Lips
Benson
Mummy Short Arms
Boomin’
By Polaroid
Benjamin Bloom
Esper Scout
Freshard
Stanley Brinks
Morain
Boxing Club
Mental Block
The Vibrators
The Krayons
Post War Glamour Girls
Imp
Fran Smith
Freedom Of The City
Slow Club
Buffalo Skinners
Three Sheets T’ Wind
Wot Gorilla
Playlounge
All We Know
Wussy
Mi Mye
Ruby Macintosh
Emma Pollock
R.M. Hubbert
That Fucking Tank
Incredible Magpie Band
Josh Fowley
Allo Darlin’
This Many Boyfriends
The Bazaars
Nesta
My Mate Dave
See My Sillouette
Harry Johns
Dyl McPrice
Pan Iopan
Soul Circle Gang
Pegging Leaves
Jery AT Controls
Brompton Mix
Scott Wainwright
The Jar Family
Blind Dead McJones Band
Ran Tan Waltz
Sam Forrest
Matt Abbott
Rhombus
Anne Marie Hurst
Milloy
Beverley Kills
King Of Spain
The Arcane
Fire In The Fishbowl
Jim Bob
Brown hound James
The Reacharounds
Your New Antique
Propane Penny
Herman Dune
Napoleon lllrd
Treecreeper
Hookworms
Soulmates Never Die
Mammal Club
Advances In Mathematics
Aidan Moffat & Bill
Wells
IR Hero
Saving Saturday
Josh Kumra
Lulu James
Talkin’ Strangers
Munich
Thomas J. Speight
Michelle Stodart
Ace Bushy Striptease
Skiprat
Toy Horses
Strange & Partners
The Rocketeers
The Sinners
Jilly Riley
Arthur Rigby & The
Baskervilles
Jack’s Attic
Misty’s Little adventure
Minny Pops
Fourth Time Believers
Tom Attah
The State Of Georgia
Slow Show
UK Subs
King Crows
Nigel Clark
Terra Naomi
Sam Harrison
Osprey
Gutterdub
The Hexmen
Tom Killner Band
The Lief Ericcson
All Eyes West
King Twit
Schande
Don Ross
Brooke Miller
Neesh
Loncuts
Redwire
The
Image
The
Sherlocks
Hospital
Food
Ed
Tudor- Pole
Andrew
James O’Brien
The
Radi8tors
Nuclear
Safari
Vision
Thing
The
Pressure Points
Petite
Noir
Foals
Big
Sixes
Harbour
More
Than You’ll Ever Know
The
Sunbeams
Chloella Belle
Piney
Girl
Correatown
American
Werewolf Academy
The
Darlingtons
Dead
Vixens
Nine
Black Alps
Towns
Cry
Baby
Secret
Society
William
Booth
Dr
Blue
This
Is The Kit
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