Monochrome; it just keeps on hanging in there, After about 1960, the mass market had adopted colour film as the norm and black and white photography was seen as old-fashioned by anyone other than photography enthusiasts. It’s a common thing; the public embraces the new and instantly rejects the old leaving it to claw its way back. Just look at the resurgence of vinyl among music enthusiasts. Even my first attempts at gig photography included quite a few rolls of black and white film. Black and white TV is virtually gone now, with fewer than 5,000 black and white TV licences across the UK, but monochrome lives on in arthouse films and photography, particularly gig photography. Why? The glib answer is that sometimes it just looks better. Maybe the comments on some of these photos will help answer the question.

Cloudy Galvez @ Pizza Express, Holborn

Cloudy’s someone that normally works well in colour, particularly with a bit of interesting lighting but this shot at Pizza Express was lit purely in purple, so it was a monochrome shot before processing it as black and white. One of the things that makes black and white shots work is high contrast, which this shot definitely has. I break two of my photography rules in this shot; there’s a microphone in front of Cloudy’s face and there’s a silhouette from the audience cutting in to the bottom left corner, but Cloudy’s gesture and the eyes looking straight down the lens (which they actually weren’t, Cloudy told me she had no idea I was taking that shot) make the image work.

Jenny Colquitt @Green Note

This is a shot from a few weeks ago. Green Note’s a fabulous venue and, if you know how to work the angles, you can get some really nice shots. If an artist’s wearing something really colourful, you can get some great colour shots. Jenny was wearing neutral colours, so monochrome was always going to be the way to go. This shot was taken from just behind the mixing desk, giving a viewpoint that you can’t always get at this venue and the shadows created by Jenny’s hat add to the contrast of the shot.

James Sayer @St Martin-in-the-Fields

The Crypt is another one of those venues that has fairly monochrome lighting; unless there are strikingly-coloured stage clothes, black and white is going to be the best choice. This shot came towards the end of the gig and it was one of those unique moments. James was joined on stage (and at the same piano) by his brother and his father. It took a few attempts to get the perfect angle for the shot, but the end result really works.

Jana Varga album launch @Sound Lounge

This is a lucky combination of knowing the perfect shooting angles at a venue and having something interesting happen while you’re using one of those angles. There’s a position where you can shoot the artist against a completely black background; if you happen to be there when something interesting happens, then you automatically get a good shot. On this occasion, Jana (who is incredibly photogenic) created a perfect shape and it was just a question of pressing the shutter release.

Martin Harley (Harley Kimbro Lewis) @Landmark Arts Centre

This was my first visit to this venue in a deconsecrated church, where they get everything right. They look after the audience well, the sound is excellent and they pay attention to lighting the stage effectively for the audience and any passing photographers. This shot is one of the rare few that look good in colour and black and white, but the monochrome just edges the contest. It’s always a joy to shoot Martin (and his partners on this night Daniel Kimbro and Sam Lewis) and this shot captures something of the real Martin Harley.

This probably needs a bit of explanation, mainly about the reason why Music Riot exists. What we’re about is promoting music that’s worth listening to but probably isn’t going to get too much mainstream attention. We know that we can’t make a difference for Springsteen or Dylan (not that either of needs any help) but we just might persuade a few people to listen to a Rob Heron album. The five favourites we’ve chosen are all albums that we’ve reviewed this year, so don’t expect to see anything mainstream there. What they have in common is that they’re all good (we don’t believe in negative reviews – there’s enough negativity without us adding to it) and they all deserve to be heard. In no particular order.

St Paul’s Boulevard – Michael McDermott

Michael’s been a big favourite at Riot Towers since The Westies ‘Six on the Out’ in 2016 and with good reason. He’s a great songwriter steeped in the tradition of American popular music, whatever the genre. He can also persuade great players to work with him (Will Kimbrough for example) on his albums. ‘St Paul’s Boulevard’ is an album that looks back with gritty realism at Michael’s difficult past, and forward to a positive with clear-eyed, multi-hued optimism. The title track’s a wonderful piece of work, harking back to Michael’s early Chicago days and describing one of those places we probably all have that were important to us because of the people we met there. And the great lyric: “None of the heroes around here have capes, they’re just talking in taverns and on fire escapes”.

‘Paper Hearts and Broken Arrows’ – Rod Picott

Like Michael McDermott, Rod is another Music Riot favourite. I should also say they’re both great people as well. ‘Paper Hearts and Broken Arrows’ is a potent mixture of songs that range from the very personal through social comment to the historical. ‘Revenuer’ has an interesting history; it’s based on a Taylor Brown novel about moonshine runners, but when Rod mentioned this to Taylor, he fessed up to stealing the idea from Steve Earle’s ‘Copperhead Road’. The other song that really caught our attention was ‘Sonny Liston’, Rod’s exploration of the complicated life of the heavyweight boxer. Let’s finish on a great lyric again: “Two big fists pumping like pistons, nobody punched like Sonny Liston”.

Every Seed we Plant’ – Alice DiMicele

Alice’s sixteenth album is one of the many we reviewed in 2022 that’s influenced by the pandemic that we somehow managed to live through. The songs on the album have a huge emotional range, from raging anger to a heart-warming dog story. ‘Dispatch’ is a very angry song about the killing of a retired black Marine in his own home in White Plains, New York after mistakenly calling in a Life Aid medical alarm – it’s harrowing. ‘Dear Elaine’ is at the opposite end of the spectrum; it’s a tale of the healing relationship built between a woman and her dog. The album takes a journey from historic raw rage to a positive look into our future. Alice’s vocals need a mention as well; she has a huge dynamic range from a sweet whisper to a rock growl. There’s a bit of everything here.

‘Leo’ – Pete Gow

Pete’s a very interesting songwriter. He’s a former member of Case Hardin (with the brilliant Jim Maving) and, as a Scottish songwriter living in and writing about London, there’s an inevitable comparison with the late Gerry Rafferty. ‘Leo’ is a full-blooded production featuring a rock band, string section and a horn section with arrangements by Joe Bennett creating some really interesting textures to back up Pete’s fascinating narratives. If you want two highlights, ‘Side III of London Calling’ paints a post-gig picture of a seedy musician on the pull, while ‘Leonard’s Bar’ is the classic ‘one last job’ petty criminal story. The album hangs together really well and the songs sound great in a live setting. And Pete’s a nice guy as well.

‘The Party’s Over’ – Rob Heron & the Teapad Orchestra

So let’s get this over with first, Rob’s a great guy as well. He read the Music Riot review of this album just before going on stage at the London gig at The Lexington and made a couple of references to it on stage. The album continues Rob’s tradition of eclectic musical influences and even a few political references as well. ‘Snip Snap Snout’ is nonsense zydeco (which is exactly what Rob intended it to be), ‘The Horse That You Rode In On’ channels the Frankie Laine classic ‘Rawhide’ and the light-hearted ‘The Doctor Told Me’ pulls in the House of the Black Gardenia horns to create a New Orleans funeral band feel. I did say it was eclectic. And, like everyone else mentioned here, you really should see Rob & the Teapad Orchestra live – they’re phenomenal.

Ok, I’m taking control of the editorial introduction for this one to give the gaffer a rest and because it’s more personal than most of my pieces. You probably know I like to keep things moving, visit new venues, see new artists and just generally keep things moving along – I have a low boredom threshold. So here’s a few firsts for this year; the title probably has a lot to do with the fact that I’m reading Jarvis Cocker’s latest book ‘Good Pop, Bad Pop’ at the moment and there’s a fairly obvious link there. Neil Sheasby picked the book as one of his High Five selections and I definitely agree with him. If you’re looking for a present for the music geek in your life, then you won’t go far wrong with this one. Time for the firsts.

Three Gigs in One Evening

Why would I want to do that? Well, why wouldn’t I? “Why did you climb the mountain” – “Because it was there.” By a complete coincidence, they were all Talentbanq gigs and not too far apart geographically. The mini-marathon started with Zoe Wren doing the last session in The Courtyard of St Martin-in-the-Fields. She was stunning as always and even introduced some loopstation things to complement her guitar/vocal material. After Zoe, it was a quick walk up to Leicester Square tune station, three stops down to Hyde Park Corner and a five-minute walk up to The Back Door Bar to catch a set and a half from Brooke Law. Brooke’s another one that I’ve photographed a few times. I’m not sure that I know where she’ll finally position herself musically because she’s had a country hit but I like her as a rock singer in the Pat Benatar mould when she’s with the full band; time will tell.

A quick walk up to Green Park, on to the Victoria Line up to Highbury & Islington, then two stops on the Overground to Camden Road. Ten minutes later I’m in The Camden Chapel shooting  a support set from Roisin O’Hagan before the headline set from Tamara Stewart. If I’d been a bit more ambitious, I could have probably picked up a fourth gig in Camden at The Camden Club or Spiritual Bar. Maybe next time, but while we’re talking about Spiritual.

First gig at Spiritual

Sometimes I wonder how I manage to avoid venues. I didn’t shoot in Hope and Anchor until 2021 and I managed to miss out on Spiritual until 2022. I don’t know how I managed that because so many artists I know have been regulars there and the buzz about the place has been going on for years. What makes the place special is that the owner, Rafael, is passionate about music and he looks after the musicians that play there. He’s one of the good guys; he holds the whole thing together and the musicians love him.

The reason I finally shoot a gig there is that Amy Taylor is playing and I can’t resist that. I love Amy’s songs and her live delivery and she’s another one of those artists that photograph really well in a live setting. So, a great night all round – I got to meet the Spiritual team for the first time and got some nice shots of Amy in an intimate setting.

Pete Gow ‘Leo’ album launch

I’ve seen Pete Gow play live a few times, usually alongside his former Case Hardin bandmate Jim Maving; I’ve never seen him play with a full band including a horn section. I love Pete’s songs so when he announced a couple of full band gigs to launch his album ‘Leo’ this year, I got my name at the top of the list. The album’s a collection of songs about human frailties and even criminal behaviour that’s not even borderline and it features one of my favourite songs of this year ‘Side III of London Calling’. You have to listen to that.

On the night, Pete was supported by some old friends of mine, Belle Roscoe (Matty and Julia Gurry) and then appeared on stage resplendent in a white suit and looking incredibly like George Harrison at the ‘Concert for Bangla Desh’. Do I need to say that everyone involved nailed it and it was a great night? Thought not. And The Playground was a new venue for me as well.

Harley Kimbro Lewis at Landmark Arts Centre Teddington

I’ve seen Martin Harley, Daniel Kimbro and Sam Lewis solo and in various combinations over the years, but never in this one. There are a couple of other firsts; I’ve never been to the Landmark Arts Centre before and I’ve actually never been to Teddington, so that’s a triple first. Better than my 2(ii) degree. I knew that Harley Kimbro Lewis would be superb but I was surprised by the quality of the Landmark experience. There are no compromises; this is all about a beautiful sound in a venue with great acoustics and a stage that’s lit perfectly for ambience and photography. Congratulations to all the volunteers who create a perfect live music environment in this deconsecrated church.

Isabella Coulstock T-shirt

I’ve shot a book cover, my photos have been used in print media and on publicity material, but I had a bit of a bonus a few weeks ago when Isabella Coulstock, who I’ve shot many times, gave me my first T-shirt print. It’s one thing to see your work on social media and on posters in the toilets at Green Note, but it’s very different to see people wearing it at gigs. Apparently sales are pretty good, so it’s looking like a bit of a success. The shot was taken at the slightly unlikely venue, The Ned, and my original version was a colour shot, but the monochrome image works really well with Isabella’s signature underneath. Thanks to Graham Jackson for making the image work.

We like to try something different now and again. It’s the challenge. Allan, as we probably know likes a challenge, which gig photography always provides. This year, as new connections have been made with artists and managers, opportunities have come up to try a few other things away from stage performance. And why not? Over to Allan.

Eleni (Echo Wants her Voice Back) Camden Chapel soundcheck

I’ve photographed Eleni a few times over the last few years and she’s a joy to shoot. Her face is always animated and her wardrobe is always striking. And the music – it’s a mixture of pop, r’n’b and Hellenic Noir and it’s very dramatic. Add to that Eleni’s striking and powerful voice and some unusual arrangements and you have a potent mix. When she played the intimate Talentbanq venue The Camden Chapel in January this year, I turned up for the soundcheck to grab a few shots in a fairly relaxed environment. Even at a soundcheck, Eleni’s still a performer.

Nicky (Morganway) 229 Soundcheck

Another Talentbanq gig at a slightly bigger venue than The Chapel. This one was a celebration of Talentbanq’s fifth birthday and Morganway, one of my favourite bands, was playing so it was an opportunity for a catch-up and another chance to shoot an incredibly dynamic band in action. Soundchecks, apart from the full band run-through, can be a bit tedious for band and onlookers alike but there can be some gold there if you keep looking for it. Nicky (Nicole J Terry) is Morganway’s violinist (or fiddle player, however you call it). On stage she’s a bundle of pure energy, playing, singing and dancing as if her life depended on it. After doing a quick line check for her violin and vocals, Nicky took an opportunity to relax as the stage light were being set up. She was completely relaxed, which would have made a nice photo, but I was able to line the shot up with a light shining from directly behind, which really made it ping.

The Slacksons, Hanwell Hootie post-gig

I’ve shot The Slacksons a few times now as well. Their crowd-pleasing blend of samples and live instruments with Mikey and Andy out front pinballing around the stage make them a great live attraction. I first met the band through one of those weird music business coincidences – their manager has the same name as my sister, so obviously when we connected on social media, I thought my sister’s account had been hacked. So I ended up shooting a few of the band’s gigs including their appearance at he Hanwell Hootie this summer. We decided to do some post-gig pictures which involved about two minutes shooting and forty-five minutes rounding up the band. I liked this shot with their manager making an appearance as well.

Kat ‘Liar, Liar’ video shoot

Kat, like Eleni, is a singer-songwriter and actor (also a radio presenter). I’ve shot a few of her gigs and got an invite to do some behind-the-scenes photos at the shoot for the video of her single ‘Liar, Liar’ in April. Not something I’d done before but I’m always ready to take on something new. If I’m honest, it’s a bit like a soundcheck, you just keep your eyes open for anything interesting, keep out of shot and don’t cast any shadows on the shot. Kat’s another person I love to photograph, mainly because the results are always good. You can probably see what I mean.

Lyndon Morgans & Phil Burdett, St Pancras Old Church

Bit of a change of style here. I’ve known Phil for a few years now and he introduced me to Lyndon (Songdog) just before the plague. When I heard about this gig I was really pleased because I haven’t shot Lyndon before. Only one problem, I already had gig that night, shooting Stone Foundation and Graham Parker at Koko. Fortunately the two venues are only a few minutes apart and the Stone Foundation gig had an early curfew so I had a swift walk over to SPOC to catch the end of Lyndon’s set. We went back to The Green Room to speak to Lyndon and the obvious photo opportunity came up. Here’s one of the results.

A couple of bonuses

Here’s a couple that are almost gig photos. After Kat’s launch party for the ‘Liar,Liar’ gig at Piano, the band was so up that I had to try to capture the moment. The Morganway shot, from the same gig as the earlier shot of Nicky was planned in advance because I’d always wanted to take one of those shots at the end of a gig from the drum riser. The lighting wasn’t ideal and there was too much smoke bit I still like the moment the photo captures.

After Allan photographed Frankie Morrow solo earlier this year and with her band just over a week ago at their debut EP launch (‘Blue Parrot Backpackers Hostel’), he was so enthusiastic about the band that we had to ask them to make a contribution to this year’s High Fives. In a truly democratic approach, each of the band has submitted a favourite song from 2022. You definitely need to keep an eye out for Frankie Morrow in 2023; go and see them live if you can.

NEEV (Keys/acoustic guitar)

Martha Hill – ‘Right Out My Head’

I’ve always really liked Martha Hill and the way she picks out vocal melodies that have so much movement and character around her arrangements. Loving this one in particular because the production is so dynamic but keeps a lovely group of acoustic guitars and vocals at its core. Big production inspo for me at the mo, and the lyrics are so intelligent too.

DUNCAN (Drums)

Black Midi – ‘Sugar/Tzu’ Black Midi has always been a band I can’t stay away from for long, and the track ‘Sugar/Tzu’ has totally gripped me. From the surreal nature of the instrumental, to the brutal dynamic shifts between sections, resulting in a song that blurs the lines between jazz and rock. Performances on this track are delivered with pure energy, speed and accuracy, an addictive combination that perfectly complements the intensity of the story being told. The song ‘Sugar/Tzu’, and Black Midi, have opened my eyes to a whole new world of music, fuelling me with inspiration to experiment moving forward.

JAMES (Bass)

Black Country, New Road – ‘Concorde’

I can’t remember who in FM recommended this band but I’m so glad they did. ‘Ants From Up There’ is one of my favourite albums at the moment, and it’s really difficult to pick a track but I really enjoy the songwriting, structure and production on ‘Concorde’. I love the dynamics of the song, how it feels like it keeps building and how they’ve been so careful in the production to find a brilliant balance of all the instruments and vocals. The masterpiece of this song is the lyrics though, they feel so personal and direct, yet you could take your own meaning away from them. My favourite line is “But I’ll know you’ll be there, the Sandman inside.”  

SAM (Guitar)

Julian Lage – ‘Auditorium’

On the several, glorious occasions on which I have had the fortune of hearing Julian Lage live, he has always been accompanied by the audible despair of every aspiring jazz guitarist in the room (myself included). When i first listened to his new record, ‘View from A Room’ (prod Margaret Glaspy), ‘Auditorium’ made me well up with teary joy – the gentle interplay from the legendary Bill Frisell joining his band, Dave King’s stirring momentum (also huge Bad Plus fan!) and Jorge Roeder’s loving groove all make for one of my favourite Julian Lage tracks of all time. I have always loved Jazz for highlighting chemistry of band members and this line up feels like it could be one for the books.

MAZ (Vocals/guitar)

Katy J Pearson – ‘The Hour’

I’ve been loving Katy J Pearson’s new record ‘Sound of the Morning’ and just recently saw her headline the Electric Ballroom with Neev a couple months back. It was brilliant! ‘Howl’ is an absolute tune – the brass, the hook – ‘Willow’s Song’ has a beautiful switch up thanks to drumming by Black Midi’s Morgan Simpson on it, but the standout track for me is ‘The Hour’. It’s a classic folk song – vocal and acoustic guitar, nothing more, nothing less – and it is so powerful. It sounds quite mediaeval actually. It has an eternal and haunting quality to it. We are in the process of writing our next set of tunes and it has really reminded me to come back to the bare bones of a song at its very core. Plus I loved learning the fact that the reason it was so stripped back was because she had fake nails on in the studio that day hahaha. Talk about making a virtue out of necessity!

And while we’re sharing videos, how about ‘White Rocks’ by Frankie Morrow:

Just when you thought it was safe to look at Music Riot again, we’ve allowed the right honourable scribe for the eighteenth century to sharpen his quill, fill his inkpot and unroll a fresh scroll of vellum to share his words of wisdom on the modern world that he takes such great pains not to interact with. Try not to judge; old age and intolerance will come to all of us eventually. Here are the thoughts of Isitjustme:

Apps

Yes, apps; it’s not even a word. It’s an abbreviation of applications. You can’t even park your car without an app these days. The glove box of my Morris Minor is full of change for parking meters that I can’t even use any more. And to use an app, you need a smartphone. Does no-one yearn for the days when you could ring the box office and pay card, or even use a website to buy tickets. You could even be ripped off by the scuzzy scouts and scalpers outside the venue on the night of the gig. Now you need to install an app for every ticket you buy and all of those are harvesting your data to target adverts to you more effectively. I won’t name names, they’re all the same and there are hundreds of them. That’s one clock, I want to turn back. And from ticketing apps to ticket prices.

Gig Tickets

Have you seen the prices you can pay (if you were mad enough to want to sit in an aircraft hangar and watch bands on a video screen) for big gigs these days? Everyone involved in promotion has an easy scapegoat – Brexit, COVID and all its after-effects (cancellations, hesitancy to mix in public places and increased production costs because of technicians lost to the industry after retraining during lockdown) but it’s all a bit too glib when face value tickets can sell for four figures even before the online resale jackals get their hands on them. How did this happen? Two very dirty phrases – “corporate hospitality” and “dynamic pricing”. If you’re at a gig, avoid corporate types at all costs; they don’t care about the music and that’s all you need to know. “Dynamic pricing” is extreme supply and demand and it’s a model the airlines have used for years – convince someone that a product is better or more rare and you can charge more for it. Don’t let them get away with it; don’t support these obscene events – go and watch someone at a small, independent venue instead. Now, venues…

Multi-purpose venues

OK, no-one gets away with blaming COVID for this one; this has being going on for years across the major leisure chains and we know the motivation for it; it’s purely financial and it means that most of the old established gig venues now have early curfews, quick clear-ups and ten o’clock reopening as dance clubs. Another dirty word coming up – compromise; gigs and clubs have very different stage, sound and lighting requirements. For some reason every venue opts for club rather than gig settings. How many gigs have you seen recently in 500-2,000 capacity venues where the band was lit entirely from behind with club lights? You deserve better than that. The only places where you find decent stage lighting now are theatre gigs, for obvious reasons. Anywhere else, the spectacle of the band has been sacrificed because venues can get away with it. You know what I’m saying here; there are loads of great live bands out there so go and watch them in venues that care about live music. And it’s not just big venues that are cutting corners:

Building Regulations and other boring stuff

OK, we all accept that the live music industry needs to recover from the hammer-blow dealt by COVID but is it old-fashioned to expect basic standards to be upheld when venues are opening or re-opening. I’m not naming any venues here, but there are standards of hygiene and health & safety that would never have been accepted by local authorities ten years ago. Unfortunately, years of deregulation seem to have eroded basis standards – venues are now full of trip hazards, toilet doors that don’t lock, no hot water (or sometimes any water) and no way of drying even if you can wash. After years of festivals, there’s always hand sanitiser in my bag at gigs. I hope you’re carrying it too and you keep your eyes open for steps that you can’t see and any other ways of causing you harm. If you’re gonna do it, do it right. Anyone for Radio 2?

Take a few Chances, Radio 2

You reach a certain age and suddenly Radio 1 seems a bit inane – not all the time but you don’t want to listen to it all day. There’s a theme that runs alongside this, that nobody’s making any good music anymore. Sorry about the language, but that’s bollocks; there’s always good music about if you know where to look for it. 6 Music covers some of it but misses huge chunks. There’s a gap there that Radio 2 could fill if it wasn’t to intent on promoting the banality of Sara Cox and her ilk. There are features; ‘Song of the Week’ and ‘Album of the Week’ that could be used to feature work by bands that don’t fit well with the other stations but would appeal to a Radio 2 audience. No, that won’t do; let’s feature work by bands and artists that have had their time in the spotlight and now they’re trying to step out of the twilight – Robbie Williams, Simple Minds, Blondie, One Republic and so on, ad nauseam. It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t so obviously part of a marketing strategy across the media for the artists involved. Go on, show some originality for once.

We set Allan a special challenge this year – shoot five great drummer pics. As a photographer who likes a challenge, he actually produced more than five. What’s even better is that he managed to get cool photographs of four female drummers over the year, which is pretty impressive really. Anyway, let’s hand over to Allan to tell you about those kit-batterers.

It’s always a challenge photographing drummers. They’re generally hidden at the back of the stage and badly lit which is s shame because (might be controversial here), they’re generally the engine room of the band. I’ve never met a drummer who wasn’t a brilliant musician, with an understanding of how all the musical parts fit together. It’s very strange that four of my five favourite drummer shots are of female drummers. They’re all great players and all the images work in different ways, so here are my five favourite batteurs (or maybe four of those should be batteuses, who knows?)

Ritu Arya (Kin) @Brixton Blues Kitchen

I was photographing a day-long event upstairs at Blues Kitchen (where you sometimes have the strange experience of the stage lighting getting worse as the gig progresses) in support of the people of Ukraine when the band Kin appeared on stage. The band’s female drummer was incredibly photogenic and I got some nice shots. Turns out later that her day job is as an actor and she’s actually quite famous. She’s a pretty good drummer as well.

The Paisley Daze @93 Feet East

I was invited to this gig by singer and actress Kat. I’d worked with Kat before on live and behind the scenes shoots and had no hesitation at all; she’s one of the nicest people I know. Let’s be polite and say there were a few problems organisationally with the gig and it was in a room that looked like a work in progress. After struggling with what was effectively club lighting through Kat’s set, there was an improvement for The Paisley Daze. They were great fun with funky, dancey rhythms and some great melodies. The drummer was the secret weapon, hyperactive and providing some vocals as well. I got a few good shots before he did the classic drummer thing and took his top off, which made all the difference even with the slightly odd lighting.

Amanda Dal (About Bunny) @Bread and Roses

I first met Amanda when she was playing in a band with my friends Graeme Wheatley and Iago Banet. We met for the first time in a pub in New Cross over a few lunchtime beers. Ever since then our paths have crossed at many gigs where she wasn’t playing and a few where she was. One of the bands she plays with live is About Bunny, who are melodic, punky and mainly female. I went along to see them at Bread and Roses in Clapham  and my efforts were rewarded by this shot of Amanda giving it loads and grinning for the camera at the same time. Bit of trivia for you; Amanda’s Swedish and she’s a huge Abba fan. Like everyone else here, she’s also a great drummer.

Emma Holbrook @Folk in the Park, Sutton

Emma was one of several musicians on the day, including Holly Carter, Michele Stodart, Keiron Marshall and Hannah White, who appeared in more than one band on the main stage at the very first Folk in the Park this year. As a new event, there were a few lessons to be learned – one of those lessons was that a backdrop for the main stage would have helped the look of the event. I liked the contrasting colours in this shot of Emma and, even though the background’s a bit distracting, I still think the shot works.

Migdalia van der Hoven @Crypt Lates

This shot was taken less than a week ago in The Crypt at St Martin-in-the-Fields. The event was a birthday celebration for one of the Talentbanq directors, Pablo Ettinger. Pablo likes to celebrate his birthday by playing a jazz gig with his group and Migdalia’s his drummer of choice. Migdalia also played a second set with her own band which demonstrated why she’s in such demand – she’s a phenomenal drummer. Besides her own gigs, she’s also touring with the musical ‘Six’ at the moment. The lighting in The Crypt is a challenge, particularly for anyone who isn’t front and centre stage and the best place to photograph a drummer is usually from behind the stage, so that’s what I did. Just as I got the viewfinder to my eye, and before I could check the focus, Migdalia pulled a wonderful smile – I got lucky and the shot was pretty much in focus.

Did I ever mention that I like a drummer photo?

We actually had a summer this year, too much of a summer for some of us but you have to make the most of it, droughts and all. It gave Allan a chance to get out and do something a little bit different with his gig photos. He’s probably the best person to tell you about the differences between his usual work and outdoor gigs during a long hot summer.

You spend the winter in dingy basements trying to wring the maximum out of your camera’s sensor in terrible lighting conditions and then you emerge blinking like a mole into the outdoors in the spring with a whole new set of challenges to contend with, but they’re good challenges. The increase in light levels creates opportunities for much sharper photos with better depth of field and freezing motion. Basically, you have more options to play with. Here are a few shots from this year’s outdoor gigs, including three from the summer sessions in the courtyard at St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Amy Taylor @St Martin-in-the-Fields

This is a really interesting gig; it’s in the courtyard of the church and it’s free admission with artists provided by Talentbanq. You can sit down in the sun and listen to great live artists and you can buy a coffee, a beer or wine and a snack and soak up the atmosphere. It’s fascinating to watch tourists and Londoners wander past, hear the music and decide to come in to hear what it’s all about. On this day, Amy opened up the proceedings  at noon. When she walked on stage the courtyard was empty, twenty minutes later it was half full and in another fifteen minutes it was packed. What was really interesting was that Amy’s original songs had a better reception than the few covers that are obligatory at gigs like this. It was fascinating to watch a gig build up like this.

Ags Connolly @Folk in the Park, Sutton

Folk in the Park was a festival in Sutton, Surrey put together by Sound Lounge owners Hannah White and Keiron Marshall, two very talented people who are totally committed to live music. The music was virtually non-stop throughout the day with two stages alternating to keep the interest high. The night ended with a storming set from The Magic Numbers, but there were lots of great artists performing on both stages during the day. Phil Hooley performed on the Folk/Americana stage and Dan Owens put in a storming show on the main stage, but my favourite photo of the day was of the Ameripolitan artist Ags Connolly, who was also having a belated birthday celebration.

Zoe Wren @St Martin-in-the-Fields

I spent a bit of time here over the summer, mainly because it was a lovely place to be listening to live music on warm summer days. When I first photographed Zoe, she was the archetypal singer-songwriter with an acoustic guitar but she’s added a few more elements to her repertoire now, including a loopstation occasionally, which broadens out her sound a little. She has a great collection of original material including the classic ‘London Town’ and has a few well-chosen covers for gigs like this one.

Hollie Cook @High Tide, Twickenham

High Tide Festival in Twickenham has been steadily building up over the last few years since Phil Penman and Kevin Jones from Eel Pie Records started the event in 2019. It’s a one-day event with a main stage at the end of the High Street and loads of satellite venues running smaller stages. The programming for the festival is always eclectic and even showcases up-and-coming local bands. It’s a fabulous family event and each of year I’ve shot there, the weather has been perfect. This year Hollie Cook was headlining the main stage with her reggae style that was just perfect for a glorious July day. This one was always going to be a colour shot.

Natalie Shay @St Martin-in-the-Fields

I’ve seen Natalie play in a wide variety of indoor and outdoor and watched over the years as her songwriting’s developed. She’s always been a confident performer and she knows how to go onstage and win over an audience. She’s also a very physical performer and seems to be in constant motion. Using a high shutter speed to freeze the action also meant that background distractions were out of focus and minimised.

We’ve reviewed three Pawn Shop Saints albums here on Music Riot and they’ve all been great pieces of work, particularly 2020’s ‘Ride My Galaxy’. When we asked for contributions for this year’s tenth anniversary of the High Fives feature, Jeb Barry was one of the first to submit a contribution covering, in true High Fives tradition, a wide range of his special 2022 moments and experiences. Over to Jeb:

So here are my five favorite things of the past year or so…

Home recording:

 I’m lucky enough to have my own small recording studio where my band, The Pawn Shop Saints, record, mix and master all of our releases. It’s small, but it works for our style of music…laid back acoustic Americana. It’s been an important part of the creative process to simply walk up a flight of stairs and work on music….and it doesn’t cost us a penny. This is important since I fund everything myself and we are 100% indie…we do it all on our own. It may be a little low tech for some, but we are trying to create our own sound our own way. Sometimes it works..other times..well, not so much..but it sure is fun.

The European Americana Scene:

I live in the Berkshires in the state of Massachusetts…not a huge original music scene, but that’s ok since, from the start, we’ve focused on promoting ourselves across the Atlantic instead of at home. Europe seems to have a more focused and concentrated Americana scene, and our last three albums have all charted there, thanks to great support from our promoter, djs, critics, writers, bloggers, etc…It’s still pretty cool to see all the airplay and reviews that we get with every release, which makes all the work worthwhile.

Except for my publisher and a handful of others in Nashville, we are pretty much unknown…even in our own town. It’s simply too hard to compete with groups with money behind them and staff to do the hard work of promotion, publicity, booking, distribution,  and everything else that goes with doing original music.  We play live only a couple of times a year locally since we are not in the local music loop and are picky where we play. My dream is to someday get to play some shows in Europe, even if it’s a solo show.

The Return of Live Music:

Solid Sound, Wilco’s three day festival that occurs at the Mass Moca Museum complex, finally returned this past spring. Since it is held five miles from me, I have gone to every one of them in the past ten years. To be honest, I was a little uncomfortable being in such large crowds with Covid still a factor, but since it was outside it made it a little easier to be in a crowd of 8,000. This festival, along with the Freshgrass Roots festival held every September (I have played six of them) are three days of bands, food, art, and performances. It’s great to see old favorites again and new groups for the first time. It’s a great scene…not too big like some festivals.

Unfortunately some of the music clubs I used to go to pre-Covid have closed or drastically cut their schedules.

The Ongoing vinyl resurgence

Yeah, I’ve been collecting vinyl records for about 12 years. The resurgence in interest is great, but it has had some negative impacts on my hobby. For one, I can’t simply go to the local thrifts or estate sales and find tons of records like I used to do. There is so much more competition, but that’s ok…I just have to try a little harder. The resurgence has also impacted my bands releases, as I planned to press our last two releases on vinyl, just for the hell of it, but due to everyone pressing their releases, the cost and wait time was too much for us, so we’re sticking to CDs and digital.

Calton Guitar Cases:

Eight years ago I finally splurged on an upper level acoustic guitar; a Martin HD-28 with the 1935 sunburst color scheme. Since then, I have always been nervous to fly with that guitar, given how airlines can mistreat musical instruments. So I finally splurged on my dream guitar case (yes, there is such a thing LOL) …a Calton case, handmade in Austin, Texas. This gives me a little more peace of mind when I fly the next time and can take my main guitar, instead of my second guitar (A Martin 000-15). Hopefully this will be next summer when I try to get back overseas. Oh yeah, I got a blue one since it’s easier to find at the airport…or if someone walks off with it.

It’s a bit of a momentous occasion; it’s the tenth birthday of High Fives and it’s also the first year of proper post-COVID gigs. That has to be worth celebrating, so we thought we would celebrate with a look back at some of the artists that Allan has photographed for the first time this year. Some of them are artists that he’s seen for the first time in 2022, but some of them have a story that stretches back a few years (OK, a lot of years). We’ll leave it to Allan to tell you about his photographic selections.

I’ve learnt over the years that you can never predict the way things will play out in the music business. Here’s a good example; the very first proper gig I saw was at Mansfield Civic Theatre in 1974 and the headliners were Brinsley Schwarz. I’ll never forget it because there was a stage invasion by a gang of Hell’s Angels which was beaten away by the road crew and the band (particularly Nick Lowe); it took a while to realise that gigs weren’t always like that. A few years later, I had photographed all of the Brinsleys in various incarnations with Graham Parker and Rockpile, except Brinsley himself. Fast forward four decades and a photo that I shot of Martin Belmont playing with Graham Parker and the Goldtops is used to publicise a Bob Collum gig that features a guest appearance by Brinsley Schwarz trying out new material and I get an invite to the gig and the opportunity to tell Brinsley why the stage invasion happened nearly fifty years ago and also get a chance to grab a backstage candid shot of Brinsley, Martin and Graham.

It’s another Seventies memory. One of the two football teams I grew up supporting was Mansfield Town, because I lived there from 1968 (the other’s East Fife, if you’re interested). In 1975, the DJ at Field Mill played Randy Edelman’s brilliant cover of Unit Four Plus Two’s ‘Concrete and Clay’ before every game; it was a pop classic and perfect football terrace material. It was followed up in 1976 with ‘Uptown, Uptempo Woman’ and I was completely sold. Randy then went on to write scores for incredibly successful movies. Fast forward again to 2022 and live music promoter Tony Moore tells me about a new club he’s booking artists for (The Camden Club) and that Randy Edelman is doing a free gig there. I’m already on it even before I find out that Isabella Coulstock is doing a support set. Anyway, I get to hear a great version of ‘Concrete and Clay’ and grab a few shots of Mr Edelman. Job done.

In June this year, I was shooting a gig at The Camden Chapel. The wonderful Say Anise was headlining and had invited Frankie Morrow along as support. The Chapel’s one of those gigs where I like to grab a few soundcheck shots as insurance because the lighting can be a bit challenging during gigs. During the soundcheck I had a chat with Frankie and, as fellow Scots, we got on pretty well. She turned in a storming solo set as support to Say Anise and I was hooked. Frankie told me about upcoming full-band gigs to promote her new EP and I was all fired up to photograph her with the full band before COVID got in the way and the gig was pushed back to November. It was no surprise that the band gig was stunning when it finally took place at The Sebright Arms a few days ago. Frankie’s definitely one to watch for 2023.

I’d heard lots of good things about Jenny Colquitt this year but, because of gig clashes, I didn’t manage to see her play until November when she played a headline set at Green Note supported by Simon James. Everything I’d heard about her was absolutely right; Jenny has great songs, her guitar and piano backing are both spot on and her voice has tremendous power even though she was recovering from a heavy cold and felt that her voice is only at about seventy per cent. I can’t wait to hear it at a hundred when she does the band tour next year.

Last, but definitely not least, in the list of this year’s discoveries is Amy Taylor. At the end of April, I went to a So Live Sessions showcase at Escape Bar in Dalston, mainly to catch up with Cloudy Galvez who was recovering from long COVID and gradually rebuilding her live career. If you do a lot of showcases, you see a lot of bands and it’s easy to get a bit blasé about supporting artists. Amy Taylor wasn’t about to let that happen and it was her original material that made an instant impact; she’s a gifted songwriter. She’s also a classically-trained pianist who also plays guitar and she’s only been singing publicly since the start of this year. Anyway, I was totally blown away by Amy’s soulful songs and powerful vocals and I’ve been telling people about her ever since that gig. I would love to say that I spotted the reflection of the earring on Amy’s cheekbone that completes the picture, but I didn’t spot that until it was on the 28” monitor.  I’ve seen her several times since then in all sorts of venues and she’s nailed it every time. You should give her a listen; I suspect she’ll be doing a lot of gigs in 2023.