Comment if you'd like specific camera information or venue and gig info for the pictures or how I can make my photos better or any tips, I'm all ears.
Subscribe To
Posts
All Comments
Sunday, 22 March 2015
Amateur Band Photography
As someone who goes to a lot of concerts I like to sometimes take a few photos of the night (without being one of those people who does nothing but film/photograph the night) in order to keep a little personal token of the nights. I invested in a semi good camera, and I thought I'd share some of the results so far. They're not great but they're not awful, especially as this is amateur band photography. All of these plus any new photos that I take can be found on my tumblr blog dedicated to my musical adventures: http://10pointstogryffinwhore.tumblr.com
Monday, 16 March 2015
NATIONS EP RELEASE @ CAMDEN // REVIEW
Friday the thirteenth, unlucky for some but not for me as I got to attend the launch of Nations' EP having sat waiting for it with open arms for what feels like forever. I was introduced to Nations on twitter by a mate and fell in love with them instantly. Lead singer Oli Ellis has one of the most amazing voices I have ever heard, being simultaneously powerful and able to melt your heart. And that's how I came to find myself at the Nations EP release gig in Camden.
They played at The Black Heart in Camden, a super hidden away venue. Scary at first but still a really unique little venue with its own character. Shows like this at venues like this are swiftly becoming more and more my favourite kind of show to attend. The music seems more real, there's nowhere for a band to hide, and in my opinion it's at this stage where real talent can be seen. The risk with gigs like this is that, opposite to what you might think, it can seem really empty at times and there isn't always a lot of energy been driven back towards the stage. Apparently not an issue for Nations. By the time they hit the stage the small room was full of people who all seemed to be equally as up for a good and sweaty time as the band.
Having already seen them play an acoustic set I knew that they could perform live as a band, however an acoustic set up is obviously a lot different to a full force instruments one. The thing I love about Nations is the fact that their music is so full of sounds and layers. You can never get bored of it, each time you listen there's a new guitar part of little bit of vocals you haven't heard or payed attention to before. This isn't lost in their live performance either. The balance was spot on between all the parts, with each member shining through when it was needed. The energy being radiated from the stage was visible in the form of what the audience were throwing back, with people singing and clapping along as the lads utilised every inch of the stage (being led and encouraged by Sam subbing in on bass). The movement around the stage took nothing from the performance, showing that these are established musicians not put off by their dancing around.
Set list wise Nations played their new EP (obviously with it being their EP launch). Im not going to go into the individual songs, you're going to have to listen for yourselves here: Nations UK
They also covered Sia's Chandelier. It worked really well and had everyone singing along. They should put it on YouTube or something, hint hint.
They played at The Black Heart in Camden, a super hidden away venue. Scary at first but still a really unique little venue with its own character. Shows like this at venues like this are swiftly becoming more and more my favourite kind of show to attend. The music seems more real, there's nowhere for a band to hide, and in my opinion it's at this stage where real talent can be seen. The risk with gigs like this is that, opposite to what you might think, it can seem really empty at times and there isn't always a lot of energy been driven back towards the stage. Apparently not an issue for Nations. By the time they hit the stage the small room was full of people who all seemed to be equally as up for a good and sweaty time as the band.
Having already seen them play an acoustic set I knew that they could perform live as a band, however an acoustic set up is obviously a lot different to a full force instruments one. The thing I love about Nations is the fact that their music is so full of sounds and layers. You can never get bored of it, each time you listen there's a new guitar part of little bit of vocals you haven't heard or payed attention to before. This isn't lost in their live performance either. The balance was spot on between all the parts, with each member shining through when it was needed. The energy being radiated from the stage was visible in the form of what the audience were throwing back, with people singing and clapping along as the lads utilised every inch of the stage (being led and encouraged by Sam subbing in on bass). The movement around the stage took nothing from the performance, showing that these are established musicians not put off by their dancing around.
Set list wise Nations played their new EP (obviously with it being their EP launch). Im not going to go into the individual songs, you're going to have to listen for yourselves here: Nations UK
They also covered Sia's Chandelier. It worked really well and had everyone singing along. They should put it on YouTube or something, hint hint.
Find Nations:
Twitter - @NationsUK
Web - http://nationsuk.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/NationsUKTV
Saturday, 14 March 2015
CATO Academy
And so my Gap Year Fun continues and as promised here is my blog post about my first real adventure on this gap year. I'm now on my third week of CATO and so I can officially call myself a Cato Academy Student. Here's a little bit of information on what exactly the Cato Academy is, taken from their website (http://www.catomusic.com/#!education/c1du9)
Ever since I went to my first massive concert at the LG arena when I was about 8 years old I've been madly in love with live music, ranging from the arena tours to the tiny little gigs in venues that are hardly known of. I kept asking my teachers and parents if there was a course I could take in 'bands' to which I was always laughed at and told to not be so stupid, and so I continued with my subjects, took some A Levels, applied for a course I thought would be okay and was academic enough for everyone around me, then inevitably pulled out last minute because it wasn't what I really wanted to do. Then through a bit of searching and by some miracle I discovered the CATO Academy. One interview and a few months waiting over and I finally get to be learning and studying for what I REALLY want to do. The moral of this is, these days there's pretty much a course for everything, don't study something just because you can't find what you really want to do, keep searching until you find it.
SO an update on the course itself. The lecturers are great. Really great. Their work is what they're teaching, they've got plenty of experience and therefore can tell you exactly what you need to know (they're also proving to be pretty entertaining and fun too). I was a little worried before I started that I'd be the odd one out because I have next to no experience already, however I haven't felt that way at all AND I can now properly change a guitar string neat and pretty all by myself. The opportunities that have been offered to us already are high in numbers, and I don't expect that to change at all. That's the great thing about Cato, it's a functioning business, so we get the chance to learn and get all kinds of hands on experience at the same time.
Now I've settled down a bit I'll be able to keep this updated with all my new skills and what I've learnt to give you even more of an insight into this if you're interested. I'm genuinely loving every day of the course so far, and I can't wait to see what the remaining weeks have in store for me.
Ever since I went to my first massive concert at the LG arena when I was about 8 years old I've been madly in love with live music, ranging from the arena tours to the tiny little gigs in venues that are hardly known of. I kept asking my teachers and parents if there was a course I could take in 'bands' to which I was always laughed at and told to not be so stupid, and so I continued with my subjects, took some A Levels, applied for a course I thought would be okay and was academic enough for everyone around me, then inevitably pulled out last minute because it wasn't what I really wanted to do. Then through a bit of searching and by some miracle I discovered the CATO Academy. One interview and a few months waiting over and I finally get to be learning and studying for what I REALLY want to do. The moral of this is, these days there's pretty much a course for everything, don't study something just because you can't find what you really want to do, keep searching until you find it.
SO an update on the course itself. The lecturers are great. Really great. Their work is what they're teaching, they've got plenty of experience and therefore can tell you exactly what you need to know (they're also proving to be pretty entertaining and fun too). I was a little worried before I started that I'd be the odd one out because I have next to no experience already, however I haven't felt that way at all AND I can now properly change a guitar string neat and pretty all by myself. The opportunities that have been offered to us already are high in numbers, and I don't expect that to change at all. That's the great thing about Cato, it's a functioning business, so we get the chance to learn and get all kinds of hands on experience at the same time.
Now I've settled down a bit I'll be able to keep this updated with all my new skills and what I've learnt to give you even more of an insight into this if you're interested. I'm genuinely loving every day of the course so far, and I can't wait to see what the remaining weeks have in store for me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)