May 10, 2008, 13:29
I'm the photographer for a Perth band competition called Amp Fest (www.ampfest.com.au) that's being held during May. It's aimed at young unsigned original bands (the majority of members must be 25 or under). They accept 12 bands for entry and then run a number of sponsored workshops followed by a 4-week competition between the bands to fight it out. The winner gets recording time plus entry into a larger state-wide competition called The Next Big Thing (www.nextbigthing.net.au) which has been the launching pad for a number of successful W.A. musicians (John Butler Trio and Fourth Floor Collapse to name but two).
I had my first shoot last night when 4 of the bands competed in Heat 2 (I was unavailable to shoot Heat 1 last week). Here is a small selection....
1. The first band, Panama, setting up for their set. These guys were clearly the youngest of the bands. While their lack of confidence showed a bit in their performance, I really enjoyed their music. Once they've got a bit more experience under their belt they'll be fantastic.
2. Sound-check.
3. The second band, Artillery Road. These guys got the headbangers in the crowd to their feet.
4. While their music wasn't really my thing, the crowd loved it and the lead singer had a fantastic stage presence and sense of humour. The band was really entertaining and great to shoot.
5. In their set of four songs, Artillery Road did play one slightly more mellow song which I thought was excellent.
6. Myles Vincent are a band with a unique indie sound and some great material.
7. They had clearly been around the traps for a while too.
8. The 6-piece We Are The Emergency was probably the most aptly-named band of the night. These guys were pure chaos (in a good way).
9. With a huge wall of sound occassionally broken up by some quiet piano, there was a Mr Bungle feel to their music I thought.
10. While I generally don't like thrashy headbanger music, these guys (and girl) managed to pull it off! I was loving it. They were great to photograph too.
11. But there can only be one winner. And the winner for the night was Myles Vincent. They move on to the finals held in a fortnight.
I had my first shoot last night when 4 of the bands competed in Heat 2 (I was unavailable to shoot Heat 1 last week). Here is a small selection....
1. The first band, Panama, setting up for their set. These guys were clearly the youngest of the bands. While their lack of confidence showed a bit in their performance, I really enjoyed their music. Once they've got a bit more experience under their belt they'll be fantastic.
2. Sound-check.
3. The second band, Artillery Road. These guys got the headbangers in the crowd to their feet.
4. While their music wasn't really my thing, the crowd loved it and the lead singer had a fantastic stage presence and sense of humour. The band was really entertaining and great to shoot.
5. In their set of four songs, Artillery Road did play one slightly more mellow song which I thought was excellent.
6. Myles Vincent are a band with a unique indie sound and some great material.
7. They had clearly been around the traps for a while too.
8. The 6-piece We Are The Emergency was probably the most aptly-named band of the night. These guys were pure chaos (in a good way).
9. With a huge wall of sound occassionally broken up by some quiet piano, there was a Mr Bungle feel to their music I thought.
10. While I generally don't like thrashy headbanger music, these guys (and girl) managed to pull it off! I was loving it. They were great to photograph too.
11. But there can only be one winner. And the winner for the night was Myles Vincent. They move on to the finals held in a fortnight.
Adrian Broughton
My Website: www.BroughtonPhoto.com.au
My Blog: blog.BroughtonPhoto.com.au
You can also visit me on Facebook!
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." - Einstein.