Tag Archive for 'Hifi Bar'

H.I.M Live @ The Hifi Bar, Melbourne, Australia

Published on February 26, 2010 in Gigs, Music, My Photography and Photography. 0 Comments Tags: Australia, H.I.M., Hifi Bar, His Infernal Majesty, Melbourne, Ville Valo.

H.I.M Live @ The Hifi Bar, Melbourne, Australia

It’s always a treat getting to shoot a band you absolutely adore! Having been a huge H.I.M fan for quite a few years now, I was greatly anticipating the opportunity to photograph these guys.

Which is saying something. Earlier in the day I won a pass to go and see the incredible Faith No More but I surrendered that ticket to my cousin. Couple that with the fact that also, Meshuggah were doing a show elsewhere – I decided to stick with Ville and the boys and finally get to photograph this truly incredible band.

From the outset, The Hifi Bar was packed to the rafters. I was there about an hour early, made my way to the photo-pit and just could not believe the heat inside this place.

A hot night for rock and roll!

I shot tonight totally with my new 70-200mm – wanting to put it through the ringer and see what I could achieve with it. Granted, I am missing the hell out of my 24-105mm lens which is still getting repaired – but I thought it would be a good challenge to see what this new baby could do. I was pleased with the results. Even without the IS (Image Stablization) I managed to get some good, crisp, sharp results. I also fiddled around with my White Balance tonight and was trying for a more warm, ambient atmosphere.

I didn’t stay past my allotted three song limit in the photo-pit but as far as I could tell, it was proving to be a pretty raucous and fun gig. I’m sure the packed Hifi Bar had themselves a great night tonight.

And as much as I love the band, I was more concerned with my photos to worry about anything else…

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Five Finger Death Punch Live @ The Hifi Bar, Melbourne Australia

Published on August 16, 2009 in Gigs, Music and My Photography. 1 Comment Tags: Five Finger Death Punch, Hifi Bar.

Five Finger Death Punch Live @ The Hifi Bar, Melbourne Australia

As has been previously discussed right here, the quest for a photopass can be a monumental procedure at best of times. If you are not working for a major publication, be it print or online – most of the major concert promoters completely and utterly ignore your request.

Of course, there are exceptions to that rule – and you can view my gratitude and thanks to those people in the credits section of this website.

Even if at this point in time I am strictly a freelancer when it comes to Rock N Roll photography – that does not mean that my work will not be helping the act in question on some capacity. The show will always be heavily promoted either here or on my blog Dogmatic which receives some serious traffic on a daily basis. Traffic which targets the key audience these promoters are trying to reach. Hello?

Having said that, I decided several months ago to prepare and present a professional looking website. The website would promote my work and be used as a marketing tool for me to be taken seriously and to show the promoter that I am not dicking them around.

This hasn’t always worked so in the perennial quest for the holiest of the hol’ – I go directly to the band. Fuck the middleman. Fuck all the bullshit and hoops you have to jump through to help promote the gig and the band. If you come across a promoter that just won’t budge – go directly to the source.

And that’s exactly what I did when I found out several months ago that Los Angeles Metal act, Five Finger Death Punch were about to tour these shores. I contacted the band directly through their management – presented my case and showed them my work via my website. Within an hour I had received confirmation that my pass had been granted.

No hoops. No trials and tribulations. No bullshit.

The shoot itself? Well, I hate shooting at the HiFi Bar. The lighting sucked (again) and was constantly red for the duration of the band’s set. *sigh*.

There were quite a few photogs present last night. At least 7 of us in the pit for the first 3 songs which was graciously extended to 4 songs as for the majority of song 3, the bouncers had their hands full with a couple of thugs who decided to fight in the crowd.

And as always, found it very hard to shoot anything decent with the first song. The band was highly energetic and frenetically moving around the stage. I don’t think I got a shot worth keeping at this point in time. By the time your alloted timeframe is about to end – is the point where you are taking some cool shots and have had time to acclimatize to the band, the lights and your camera.

View more pics after the jump, or head on over to the Visceral Industry for all the action.

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Cult Of Luna Live @ The Hifi Bar

Published on February 15, 2009 in Gigs, Music and My Photography. 1 Comment Tags: Cult Of Luna, Hifi Bar.

Cult Of Luna Live @ The Hifi Bar

I’ve only ever had a passing interest in the music of Cult Of Luna. Never a fan and about the only time I ever really listened to them is when my colleague at work would play them on heavy rotation. I couldn’t get into their Prog Metal/Doom/Sludge histrionics but let me say this, coming home from the gig tonight – I’m converted.

This was a truly magical performance of epic proportions. For a band to play such complex moody soundscapes and to pull it all off without a single friggn bum note anywhere is quite an achievement. With a sublime sound-mix that was as intense as it was loud and crystal clear, the band pulled off a monolith performance that left me with my mouth agape for most of the band’s intricate and highly entertaining set. I guess what I am trying to say is that I was blown away!

Cult of Luna are truly a unique act. Hailing from Sweden and featuring 8 members- (two drummers, keyboards, lead vocalist, 3 guitars and bass) – they sound like a cross between old-school Black Sabbath with hints of Pink Floyd at their esoteric best and a splash of Mogwai thrown in for good measure. What astounded me the most was the intense ferocity and precision these guys delivered their blistering set to a welcoming audience. Such dynamic power and force interspersed with beautiful melodies and songs. Its all as close to classical music as you can get.

I was given the job to photograph the band’s performance by the crew over at Fasterlouder and photographically speaking, it was a chance to put the Canon 5D MkII through its paces. I always find live concert photography to be the most challenging and I gotta say here and now… this is a damn, fine camera. It handled the low light with ease and the sharpness in the pictures was a joy to behold. I ditched the 50mm tonight and just stayed with the 24-105mm all night. Man what a fab lens. Superfast and responsive. I took close to 400 shots and not many were throwaways I can assure you.

An amazing gig and one that has left me clamoring to get a hold of the band’s complete discography. Brilliant!

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Bleeding Through Live @ The Hifi Bar

Published on January 24, 2009 in Gigs, Music and My Photography. 0 Comments Tags: Bleeding Through, Hifi Bar.

Bleeding Through @ The Hifi Bar

Well, it turned out to be a pretty exciting night. I had never been to the Hifi Bar before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was lucky enough to be granted a photo-pass for the night’s show but it can be a little hard to prepare for something like that when you don’t really know the venue.

When it comes to live music photography, I’m pretty wet behind the ears. I have been practicing by going to the local Route 66 gigs and have only had a genuine photo-pass once before when I shot the Angels live a couple of months ago. Other times, I have had to sneak a camera in and get a lucky couple of shots from the balcony or something like I did for DJ Shadow, Tori Amos or PJ Harvey.

Once I was granted access into the venue the usher told me I had three songs to shoot, no flash and no climbing on the stage. No problemo. The problem tho – there was no designated photo area at all. I wasn’t really sure how I was gonna pull this off and my editor needed these shots so I had to make do.

I shot some of the opening acts to get a feel for the place. I just wasn’t getting the results I wanted and the 17-85 lens just wasn’t cutting it at all. I switched to the 50mm and now we were cooking!

Just before Bleeding Through’s set I found the opportunity to mingle to the second or third row of peeps and I was in a pretty nice position. I basically stuck with the 50mm for most of the set. The crowd was incredibly wild and I found myself dodging the obligatory stage jumper every so often.

It really was an insane gig. I had basically worked up a sweat by the second or third song and I shot the entire gig. No bouncer or usher could get anywhere near to where I was so their 3 song policy was shot to hell.

Anyway, I’m really happy with the results.

Look for a full on gig review soon…

Check ‘em out at Fasterlouder and over at my Flickr page.