Never judge a book by its cover
Kehoes Manchester on a bright sunny evening. To be fair from the outside it is not the best looking venue. The reason that I was here was to take shots and offer my support to Sara Smith a great photographer and also promoter. This was her first time putting on a night at this venue.
Once inside the friendly atmosphere and quality of the sound relaxed me. I was soon chatting to other gig goers and awaiting the first act.
What a start little did I realise that the relaxed girl I had chatted to was such a confident and accomplished singer and songwriter. Jess Kemp played a great set of her own material with a great twist on modern songs.
Jess KempSONY DSC
Citizen John Doe raised the tempo and volume with a set that really got things going and was appreciated by the growing crowd.
SONY DSC
Forbidden Lands sounded like they have played together for a long time. They are a tight group with some great original songs. They are due in the studio later this year and I am already requesting an advance copy.
SONY DSC
Black Sonic Revolver are a band I have heard good things about. They are well worth looking out for with a great set of songs. A special mention should go to their new drummer who held it all together well.
Time off for good behaviour
This is the second weekend in a row without a gig. Last weekend I was on call for work and this weekend was my daughters birthday. Spent friday cutting out Grufalo masks and tonight rebuilding the house.
I have a few gigs in the pipeline that I am starting to think about:
Northern Contribution have a good looking line up planned at the Ruby Lounge, Sara Smith is planning to hold a great night very soon and MR Peeps or Slice of Nice always have plans!
All those out this weekend have a great one and have a little jump around for me,
MR Peeps Worth the Work
I have followed a music promoter MR Peeps on twitter for a while. I like his recomendations for bands to listen to and seems an interesting bloke. He put a gig at the Deaf Institute in Manchester and so I got in touch. It looked like a good line up with bands I had heard good things about.
Mr Peeps must be the one of if not the hardest working promoters that I have met. The reason for his hard work showed on the night. He had a real buzz about the gig and by kick off at 7:30 the place was 3/4 full. The place was full was full by the second band and really going for it. The photographs of the final 2 bands may be a bit blurred as the floor was bouncing! I can't remember a gig where the floor seemed to move so much due to the bouncing crowd in perfect time with the acts.
Mr Peeps found time for all and even charmed some of the crowd with his own branded bars of chocolate. He was good to talk to and his knowledge and love for new music was evident.
I don't know if it was due to Mr peeps or the reputation of the bands but all the known and respected photographers descended on the Institute. I had met some before like @Trust a fox and Gary @GBH68 @seagravephoto and met a couple of great photographers for the first time @midi_photos and Sara smith photography.
The music was incredible with each act giving it everything to the appreciate crowd. Im not going to describe the acts as they do it better through their sites and sound cloud. please have a look you won't be disappointed and let them know labrat sent you!
Once again a big thanks to staff at the Deaf institute for their hospitality, Mr Peeps for the invitation, fellow photographers for the lesson in how to do it properly, the crowd for making the atmosphere and the place bounce and the bands for some amazing tracks.
Much appreciated Labrat
Cancercare.org.uk
I was asked if a couple of my shots from the Drumathon could be used by the charity. I was more than happy for them to use them. If anyone else would like to use any of my shots use the contact button to get in touch.
I asked the charity to provide some more details about their work.
CancerCare help local families affected by cancer and other life
limiting conditions living in North Lancashire and South Lakeland.
Delivered by qualified and experienced staff, CancerCare's wide range of
free professional therapy services are designed to help individuals and
their families come to terms with and manage the challenges of a serious
illness and include: Counselling, Hypnotherapy, Alexander Technique,
Aromatherapy Massage, Creative Art Therapies, Support Groups, and a
Children and Young People's Service. CancerCare has two dedicated
centres based in Kendal (The Lakes Centre, Blackhall Road) and in
Lancaster (Slynedales, Slyne Road) and also provide outreach services
in local hospitals. For more information please visit
www.cancercare.org.uk
Faster hav it
Aidan at the Jalapeño stand
I took Aidan to the Manchester Drum show on Sunday. He had a brilliant time playing on huge range of kits and we met some really ice people. his favourite activity was the World Fastest Drumming Uk stand. He had a go with playing using sticks and also double bass pedals. He did really well and was made up with the posters that Sean gave him.
I would like to thank all the exhibitors and fellow drummers who took the time to talk to Aidan and make him feel part of the drumming scene.
Special thanks to WFDuk and Jalapeño Drums for letting him play for so long!
