A couple of weeks back, I went on the road with Machine Head – a dream of mine since I started this photography lark ten years ago. When they announced their ‘Evening with…’ shows, we spoke about me going out with them for a chunk of the UK tour as their photographer. It was a privilege and honour to be a part of such an achievement in their career; playing between two and half hours up to a record three hour set, with no support bands – and the majority of the shows completely sold out. It was something I cannot put into words. Some fans had been to at least forty shows in the 25 years of Machine Head, while for others, it was their first. Some raged until they bled and couldn’t move anymore, some cried tears, and others lost their voices. The mutual love between them and their fans is something to be aspired to; whether it be an interaction during a meet and greet, the bunch that become a familiar face at front barrier for countless shows, or the guys and gals that wait in all weather conditions at the end of the night to meet them. […]
I had the incredible honour of photographing 3 of Machine Head‘s UK shows at the end of the ‘Killers & Kings Tour’ Euro leg . It was definitely one of the best moments of 2014 for me, both as a photographer and a fan. As you can imagine, there were quite a lot of pictures to go through. But I’ve managed to get them down to these favourite moments to share with you…. “Don’t ever stop being a fan. Some folks think it’s uncool to be one. They look at me like i’m an idiot when I wait for autographs, tweet to a band or look out for guitar picks after a gig. These people can go suck eggs. The longer i’m around music, the more I realize the importance of staying a fan. If you lose passion for artists you love, you’re forgetting why you got involved with music in the first place” Lou Brutus. Hell fucking Yeah. Mx
Last night, Machine Head played the last venue of their intimate UK tour at the Concorde 2 in Brighton – a 600 capacity venue on the sea front. This show had completely sold-out in just 3 minutes. To say it was an incredible and memorable show wouldn’t even cover the experience. It’s very rare for an arena selling band to play such tiny venues like this – they stripped everything right back to the bare bones. The only ‘frills’ was an awesome lighting rig, probaby the best the Concorde 2 has ever seen. And the ceiling? Literally dripping with sweat! It was hotter than hell in there. They played a variety of songs from the back catalogue and included new song ‘Killers & Kings’ (setlist at the bottom of the photos). Here’s a few pics from last night. (yes, that is sweat flying!) Setlist: Imperium Beautiful Mourning Unto the Locust Blood, Sweat, Tears Bite the Bullet Ten Ton Hammer Darkness Within Bulldozer Killers & Kings Davidian Aesthetics of Hate Old Halo — Mind. Blown! Mx
Around 60 lucky people got holed up for a few hours with Machine Head‘s guitarist – Phil Demmel – at the GAK store in Brighton; to talk gear, influences, and hear him play through some tracks. Before everyone arrived, I had a quick promo shoot with Phil – above is a teaser. Chris Cannella – the product specialist for Jackson (and Vocalist/Guitarist for the band Autumn’s End) gave a great introduction into the history of Jackson as a brand and the longest running custom guitar shop in the world, which was really engaging even if you didn’t know too much about guitars. His upbeat American attitude made everyone in the room feel involved from the get -go and shouting ‘FUCK YEAH!’ at any given opportunity. Which was a lot! Phil took to the stage and explained the workings of his own custom guitar, along with some humorous stories about his journey so far – with early beginnings listening to AC/DC, Ted Nugent and KISS, to starting out on the guitar with Randy Rhoads as a major influence. Then being involved in the Bay Area thrash scene, as guitarist in band Vio-Lence, through to joining Machine Head. He played through all […]
