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Blog Music Photo Friday Photography Photos

Photo Friday: NARC. Fest – Blacklisters, Rivals and Martha at the Tyne Bar

Martha at the Tyne Bar, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, 5th July 2014.
Martha at the Tyne Bar, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, 5th July 2014.

Time for a proper #PhotoFriday. If you’re not aware of NARC. Fest, it’s (surprise!) NARC magazine‘s annual event, taking place at venues across Newcastle’s artistic hub, the Ouseburn valley. While the fest also includes comedy and other things, this is often a great excuse to go check out a bunch of local buzz bands of all genres, with music way into the night.While the 30 minute gaps between bands do allow some travel between spots, frankly, it’s easier just to pick a place and stick to it. Thankfully this year’s line-up made that very easy to do, and I rocked up at the Tyne Bar’s (mercifully) outdoor stage in time for the last three bands. Highlights, maestro…

  • Catching Martha again for the first time in years – that’s ONSIND‘s other, slightly less politically motivated and somewhat poppier band.
  • A storming final ever set from Rivals (who include Ross Millard from The Futureheads), doing their legacy proud before London jobs claim yet another local band.
  • Billy from Blacklisters staggering through the crowd, heckling strangers in hats, and generally making a nuisance of himself all over the outside bar area.
  • Getting to use my daylight lenses for a change during the first couple of bands – nerdy, I know, but I didn’t realise how much I’d missed shooting daylight gigs.

Talking of which, here’s some photos from all three sets:

Categories
Blog Music Photo Friday Photography Photos Reviews

Photo Friday Thursday: Möngöl Hörde w/ Palehorse & Oxygen Thief

Möngöl Hörde at the O2 Academy 2, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne - 20th June 2014
Möngöl Hörde at the O2 Academy 2, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne – 20th June 2014

Continuing the tradition of Photo Any-Day-But-Friday, this week I’ve got some bonus shots for you. You might have heard of Frank Turner – he was the one playing folk guitar on the hill during Danny Boyle’s Olympics Opening Ceremony last year. You might not have heard of his other band, Möngöl Hörde. Completed by Matt Nasir (from Turner’s backing band The Sleeping Souls) and Ben Dawson (Turner’s former bandmate in Million Dead), they hit the road earlier this Summer with Oxygen Thief and Dawson’s other band Palehorse – including a date at Newcastle’s Academy 2.

I could tell you what a brilliant night it was, but you can actually find all my thoughts in the Thrash Hits review that I, err, didn’t actually realise was online. You can read it here:

http://www.thrashhits.com/2014/07/live-mongol-horde-newcastle-o2-academy-2-20-june-2014/


However, I also took some shots that night that didn’t end up making the final review. So I thought you lot might like a look. Enjoy!

Categories
Blog Conventions Loncon worldcon

Worldcon: Loncon 3 schedule

LONCON3_logo_270w

There’s just over a week to go until Worldcon hits the UK – Loncon 3 will be at London’s ExCeL arena over 14th – 18th August. More than 5,000 people will be descending on London for the first UK Worldcon since 1965. So I’m ridiculously excited to announce I’ll be joining a couple of panels in the music stream over the weekend.

Here’s what my Loncon schedule looks like so far:

FRIDAY 15th AUG – “Massively Multiplayer” The Music of Genre Video-games
Capital Suite 5 (ExCeL), 4:30pm – 6pm
w/ Melinda Snodgrass, Jeremy Zerfoss, Isabella van Elferen and Helena Nash.
“Now a larger industry than films worldwide, with the biggest titles inspired by SF&F themes, video games are driving a lot of successful music composition, both classical and modern. Panellists discuss the landscape so far and look to future trends.”

MONDAY 18TH AUG – Worldbuilding to Music
Capital Suite 9 (ExCeL), 11am – 12pm
w/ Bill Sutton, Nicolle Lamerichs and, once again, the amazing Melinda Snodgrass.
“Panellists explore how music inspires imagination and worldbuilding, with examples from current professional and fan works and from classics such as the works of Marianne L’Engle, H. Beam Piper, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien and others.”

The full schedule for the con can be found at this link on Loncon 3 website.

If you can’t make those, I should be floating around the con all weekend – so come say hi. Hope to see you there!
Categories
Blog Music New Story Photography Photos Reviews

Bits & Bobs: *UPDATED* The Lake Poets, Girl At The End Of The World, and Monuments

And SHAZAM – August! How did that happen? Things have been a bit quiet on the blog front, but that’s because things have been so busy on the work front. Hopefully more on that soon…

First, though, here’s a wee update on a couple few things published in the last few weeks.

NEW FICTION

THE GIRL AT THE END OF THE WORLD, Vol. 1 & 2
Fox Spirit Books
Feat. ‘Blueprint for Red Wings’

The Girl At The End Of The World, Vol. 1 - Girl variant cover
The Girl At The End Of The World, Vol. 1 – Girl variant cover


Out now. Spread across two volumes, this collection of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction includes stories from Adrian Tchaikovsky, James Oswald, Margret Helgadottir and many more. You’ll find my story ‘Blueprint for Red Wings’ amongst them.

There’s also two variant covers for each one – the one above is my favourite for volume 1. Available from the usual outlets…

NEW PHOTOS

The Lake Poets w/ Daniel Laidler
(EP launch night at the Mining Institute. A beautiful wee venue.)
http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4147992-in-photos–the-lake-poets-the-mining-institute-newcastle

The Lake Poets - The Mining Institute, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne,  June 2014
The Lake Poets – The Mining Institute, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, June 2014


Still to come… Photos of Blacklisters, Martha, General Sherman, the last ever Rivals set, Eliza Carthy, Fran Muriel, and rare By Toutatis shots.

Which reminds me, I’ve got a little question for you… You’ve been reading this blog for a while. Are there any bands, particularly in the North-East, that you reckon I should photograph? Give me a nudge on here or on twitter if you’ve got any thoughts.

*UPDATE* NEW REVIEW

Monuments – The Amanuensis
http://www.thrashhits.com/2014/07/album-monuments-the-amanuensis/

Monuments - The Amanuensis reviewed for Thrash Hits
Monuments – The Amanuensis reviewed for Thrash Hits


I knew I’d forget something.

That’s it. Now I reckon it’s time for a blog on what’s coming up… See you soon!