"I don't want this ever to be a typical job."

When looking at a photo of your favourite band it’s easy to forget that there’s someone behind the camera who’s captured that moment – letting us see each of the band members and who they really are. “I have never wanted to actually be a musician but I have always wanted to be involved in music in some way.” Graham Smith, Northern Irish music photographer, tells me, “My path into photography came from trying my hand at music journalism, something I neither particularly enjoyed or was very good at. One of the small magazines I was writing for asked me to take some pictures to go along with my live reviews and that is how it all began.” Looking at Graham’s work you wouldn’t think his skill at rock photography had just been discovered accidentally – it looks like the work of someone who has always known this was what they wanted to do. Someone, who from the day they could put two thoughts together, knew they wanted to capture the lives of our favourite musicians in images.

“I prefer to work it as a collaboration, but this is not absolutely essential.” Graham tells me, “Every single shoot is approached in a different way, but usually I like to keep it all relatively relaxed and spontaneous. I am not very keen on making definite plans and coming up with "witty" concepts before shoots. I find this produces very stale and forced results.” It’s true. We’ve all seen photos of bands where they all look bored, angry and just like someone has told them to stand in the same pose for ten different photos. From looking at even one or two of Graham’s photos you can tell that this type of photo is of no interest to him.

Graham Smith is a very well known photographer within Northern Ireland, but is this were all his work is based? “My work with NI musicians only makes up about 30 or 40% of my output. I am determined to stay based in Northern Ireland, mainly because of the undeniably huge pool of talent we currently have, but I am equally determined to not just be an NI photographer. So I currently spend a lot of time working with bands and musicians outside Northern Ireland and this is something which will be increasing even more during 2009 with trips already planned in America and Europe.”

“I don't want this ever to be a typical job so these days I am very selective about who I work with and the type of jobs I take on.” Graham tells me, “At times this can make life difficult and awkward, but overall I am much happier now and I feel it is a very fair way to work as a band knows that if I take them on for a shoot it will be because I like their music and will be passionate about working with them.” And that’s exactly the way it should be. While it makes sense to work as much as possible to make a decent living, in a job like photography if you lose your passion for it there’s not really any point in continuing.

For those of you who are hoping to do photography as job some day, Graham has some advice: “Firstly and most importantly, only shoot what you truly love and are passionate about. If it is music photography you want to do, don't pick it because you think it is "cool" or because of some (usually false) impressions of what the music world is like. A pure and almost child-like love of music must come first. My other piece of advice is to learn how to actually shoot photographs (this does not have to mean take a course or read a book) rather than learning how to fix photographs in Photoshop!” Basically, photography isn’t easy, but the subconscious complexity of Graham Smith’s photos makes it seem that way.



You can check out more of Graham's work at www.grahamsmithphotography.com
All photos by Graham Smith and used with permission.

Blackhole - Breaking Through the British Hardcore Scene

“It’s a good place to be right now,” Nick, guitarist in Blackhole, says of the British hardcore scene, “it seems that there are a lot of bands who are out there making music and playing shows, and that kind of productive environment can only be a good thing for everyone involved, whether that is the bands themselves or the kids who go out to the shows to have fun.” While the British hardcore scene continues to grow and get more recognition, Blackhole are definitely making a name for themselves.

Having just finished a tour supporting the amazing Johnny Truant (“It was a bit of an honour for us to be the main support on their final tour, and we're really grateful to them for that. It was good for us to see the hard work and commitment that they put in over the years to build up a good reputation and maintain it.”) and about to embark on a tour supporting Outcry Collective these guys are working their butts off, and it’s all going pretty well: “We're really looking forward to doing some dates with [Outcry Collective], it's something we've talked about doing together for a while now so it's cool that it got sorted out.”

As well as being busy with touring the guys have also recorded their first album: “We just finished recording the album with Jeff and Ginge at Nott-In-Pill studios in Newport. It's sounding great, and Colin Richardson (As I Lay Dying, Cannibal Corpse, SikTH, Slipknot) is going to be mixing the album which we are really stoked about as he has worked on some amazing records.” Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for the album which should be in stores in early 2009.

With more people giving respect to hardcore music, it’s a good time for bands like Blackhole. Here’s hoping they’re the band that get you into the genre, because let’s be honest, they’re damn good.

You can check out Blackhole at www.myspace.com/blackhole

Photo by Tom Barnes - www.tombarnesphoto.com

New Found Glory - 'Listen to Your Friend' single review

New Found Glory's more recent material (mainly Catalyst and Coming Home) hasn't been bad, but it's been different and has turned a lot of fans away from them. However, 'Listen to Your Friends' could easily bring those fans back. Even though these guys have been together for ten years now and are definitely no longer the youngsters they once were, this song is full of all the teenage-angst that made us love their early material, especially fan-favourite, 'My Friends Over You'. While it is less punk rock than New Found Glory used to be, their pop punk side shines through and makes this one of the most catchy tunes of 2008. 'Listen to Your Friends' gives great hope for their new album, 'Without a Fight', to be released in March 2009 on Epitaph Records, and will hopefully bring back the old fans as well as gaining the band many new ones.


You can check out New Found Glory at www.myspace.com/newfoundglory

"I consider myself to be a dance orientated act."

It's not often that young musicians are taken seriously, but 17-year-old Oli Sabin of Unicorn Kid fame is definitely someone you should check out. Making amazing electronic dance music that instantly catches your attention he's not something to be missed. "I consider myself to be a dance orientated act. When composing I take a lot of influence from house and hardcore dance styles, I try to create those sounds whilst still maintaining the chiptune aspect of my music." According to Wikipedia, chiptune is "music written in sound formats where all the sounds are synthesized in realtime by a computer or video game console sound chip,
instead of using sample-based synthesis." Taking many other styles into account Unicorn Kid is full of blips and bleeps that probably shouldn't work, but that make something completely out of this world.

As good as Oli's music is, does coming from Scotland make it harder for him to get heard? After all, when you think of Scottish music the first bands that come to mind are probably something more like Biffy Clyro and Glasvegas than any dance artists: "Scotland actually has been home to several other chiptune artists before me,most notably Sabrepulse and Firebrand Boy, who I played with in Summer 2008 on the Chiptune Alliance Tour." If Unicorn Kid's version of chiptune is anything to go by, these guys are probably worth checking out aswell;
chiptune seems to be one of the happiest styles (if you can call it that) of music and something worth keeping an eye out for.

Oli has a double B-side single coming out in January called 'Lion Hat': "[It's] my first release through a record label... with 'Lion Hat' and two B sides 'Goodbye' and '8 Bytes'. The tracks were produced entirely at home by myself." A lot of artists are into self-production these days as it means having an extra skill and also making a little more money on the side, so it's always nice to know when someone who makes such good music can do this as well. It is slightly more predictable for electronic artists to do this but it never ceases to amaze, with the amount of time and effort actually put in."The digital release is due out January 8th and the physical CD will be out February 2nd." You can also look forward to a video being released along with the single: "I shot the music video for 'Lion Hat' in East Kilbride at Popmorphic Studios. It was filmed using
polymorphic technology, a groundbreaking new method of filming. It allows the user to edit variables such as the angle you view the video at, which band member you look at, and the graphics shown. You can see examples of this at www.popmorphic.com" Unfortunately, Oli can't tell me any more about the actual video so make sure to keep your eyes peeled for it in January.

Dance music seems to get a bad reputation sometimes, but Unicorn Kid might just be able to change your mind.


You can check out Unicorn Kid at www.myspace.com/unicornkid

You, Me and Everyone We Know - 'So Young, So Insane' EP review

You, Me and Everyone We Know seem to like giving away free stuff, which isn't something that a lot of bands do very much, but this is the second time they've done it so there's no way I was going to turn it down. In traditional You, Me and... style, 'So Young, So Insane' starts with a brilliant opening track that makes you want to get up and dance. "I Can Get Back Up Now" is a
fun-loving track that pulls you into the EP, making sure you won't give up on it any time soon. Second track 'Could It Be Sunstroke?' has almost the same effect, with a great rhythm to ensure your feet start tapping. However, the key change at the end of this song makes me cringe a little - it can only remind me of awful mainstream pop music. Third track, 'A Symptom' is less
up-beat and it's tone seems to bring a negativity to the album and reminds you of a slow night in a metaphorical diner - not really something you want to hear after two very upbeat songs. But the vocals on this are brilliant,very 1950s-esque. Next two tracks, 'Colourful Language' and 'Sometimes We Have Too Much Fun'bring back the fun side of You, Me and... and we see their obvious passion about making great melodies and positive tunes to make you smile. Final track, 'Happy Birthday' starts off slow but, soon enough, we hear those brilliant You, Me and... vocals, amazing melodies and foot-tapping rhythms that we know and love. This EP is brilliant. I would suggest that You, Me and Everyone We Know start selling their EPs, as they could probably make a lot of money out of them, but then we wouldn't be getting epic music for free, would we?


You can check out You, Me and Everyone We Know and download the EP for free at www.myspace.com/youmeandeveryoneweknow

Pop punk at it's best

Paige are a 5-piece pop punk band from Hertfordshire who've been together for about two years. "It started off with just Lewis and Alex as an acoustic band but then they got more members so the band could play shows. So far we've played all over the UK." Paige are definitely a band you should listen to. With influences like Relient K, Jacks Mannequin and Hit the Lights, they make happy pop punk that has great rhythms and awesome melodies.

"[The fact that pop punk is getting a lot bigger] is good. [we've] always loved it and it's never got the respect [we] think it deserves, but people are slowly starting to listen up, which [we] think is amazing." the band tells me. With bands like Paramore and You Me At Six getting more coverage these days it's no wonder pop punk is getting more respect. The bands who play good music are getting heard so, finally, the lesser known ones get a foot in the door. Paige are a good example of these lesser known, epic pop punk bands as the passion they radiate is obvious in all of their songs.

Paige are currently focusing on writing their debut album and will hopefully be
touring the UK in February.


You can check Paige out at www.myspace.com/paigeuk
Photo by James Ellis - www.jamesellisimaging.co.uk

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