Jason & Misa’s wedding

Jason is a very tall, talented musician with a real enthusiasm for life.  And he doesn’t drink! What’s that all about? Never mind, he’s still an awesome guy.

Misa is a sweet and beautiful, outgoing Sushi Chef from Osaka, Japan, with part Korean lineage.

While Jason was spending an extended period of time in Japan in 2002 he met Misa on a train near Osaka.  Six years later they married at Queens Park in Moonee Ponds.

The weather was perfect, after nearly a week of sporadic rain and overcast days.  Misa looked absolutely stunning, and was a joy to photograph throughout the day.  With the combination of water, greenery and a very attractive guest list, particularly Misa’s family and friends who travelled from Japan for the occasion, it was difficult not to take wonderful photos.

There was a real musical bent to the day, beginning with the cello and two opera singers in the park, and ending with a rock show at the reception, performed by Jason and his large collection of musician friends.

I’m not a huge fan of photographing weddings for a number of reasons.  To begin with, I photograph in more of a documentary style, so I prefer very laid-back, relaxed weddings.  Secondly, I’m not really a fan of the institution itself, so if I accept a wedding job it is usually because I relate very well to the couple getting married.  This job was easy as I really enjoyed everyone’s company, and had a great day myself.  The third reason is due to the pressure of getting wedding photos right.  You only have one chance, and if you screw it up you can potentially ruin the happy day for the couple.  I can’t imagine what it must feel like to get home after shooting a very expensive, formal church wedding only to find your storage cards fail to be read, or have been lost or stolen.  I think I’d move to another country if that happened to me!

Misa’s Dad is an amazing man – humble, incredibly polite, and absolutely single-minded on ensuing his daughters are happy.  He seemed to be very proud, but did not betray too much emotion.  I only wish I could have spoken with him during the day.  I’m limited to about ten Japanese words and phrases, and there’s only so many ways one can string them together into meaningful conversation.

The best part of a wedding should be the reception. And this was one of the best.  With the band rocking out on hair metal hits of the 80s, the crowd was very quickly on their feet dancing.  And as you can tell from their smiles, everyone was having a great time.

After such an enjoyable wedding shoot as this one, who knows, I might just do some more!

Rock Gods II

December 13th, 2008 – Rock Gods II, live at the Gershwin Room, Espy Hotel, St Kilda.

The lineup was enticing – tributes to AC/DC, Kiss, Def Leppard, Van Halen & Skid Row. And with a Sammy Hagar tribute joining the expected David Lee Roth show I was genuinely chomping at the bit to see what quality would be paraded on stage.

I wasn’t disappointed. This was a fantastic night of showmanship, musicianship, and outright 80′s nostalgia, and I loved it!  With only one or two small issues – Def Repplica had an off night, possibly initiated by the fact that their opening track (Let It Go – my favourite!) was marred with no guitars in the house PA – I went home with a smile and 500-odd shots.

Thanks especially to Jason for his professionalism in not only performing with Van Hagar, but also stage managing the entire night and keeping every band to a very strict schedule. I know how difficult that task is.  Kudos to Enzo and Jim for their immense workload.  Jim drummed with X-Halen and played bass with Van Hagar.  Enzo seemed to be everywhere! He played the perfect Eddie Van Halen for both VH tributes, as well as pulling off a most credible Bruce Kulick in the Kiss “all-star” tribute.  The Kiss band was lead by “Paul” from Kisstroyer (well, I’m not sure if he’s still in the band or not) who seemed to be much more comfortable off the leash and without having to think about moves, makeup and a costume that must have been the largest Paul Stanley costume ever made.

After watching Enzo most of the night, I decided he looks more like Brian May on stage. I was also amazed at how far he has come since I first saw him jamming with In-Halen years ago when I was fooling around providing keys for those guys.  The guy plays like a freak, and looks so cool whilst doing it.

Following are a few of my choice images to wet your appetite for the rest of the gallery.

Skid Row Tribute – The lead singer was a female, which was more of a curiosity than anything else. She did a great job and entertained us well, but you can’t replace Sebastian Bach.

AC/DShe – The incomparable Josie Jason, my favourite Australian rock artist, was a surprise guest vocalist, stepping in for their regular female lead for the night.  As always Josie stole the show and had the crowd combining head-banging with hysterics for the entire set.   I knew she was struggling to remember all the lyrics so made sure she could read my lips throughout all my favourites.  Josie told me the following week she actually did just that at times.

Van Hagar - I was most interested in whether “Sammy” could really match the man himself. He could! From the opening electric drill of Poundcake, Enzo powered through the more polished era of VH and “Sammy” effortlessly covered the vocals.  When they finally played Dreams the crowd was in raptures, and I was truly impressed.  I’ll be seeing these guys again!
 
 
  
  

X-Halen – With Enzo still at the Eddie helm, and Jim back on drums, in strutted “Diamond Dave”.  Now that Enzo has mastered the VH chops, this was the best performance from these guys to date. It’s hard not to enjoy music this good when it’s played and performed this well.
 
 

Kiss Tribute – Enzo now shone as Bruce Kulick, and the crowd continued to grow and be satiated with many of the Kiss standards. Not a life-changing performance from these guys, but a helluva lot of fun all the same.
 
 
  

Def Repplica – The final act, and unlike their last gig which went very smoothly, this one was not so good. You win some, you lose some.
 
 

Go straight to the full Rock Gods II gallery here.

AITP at the Brunswick Hotel

I’m back in Melbourne, and taking a look at my online photo galleries I’ve realised I haven’t posted any band shots since early this year! Time to change that.

Wednesday night presented an opportunity to go see my friends in Asleep In The Park at the Brunswick Hotel.

Max in her trademark colour

Not known for it’s stage or lighting setup, I wasn’t expecting to shoot much, but of course I brought my camera just in case. Well, the lighting was well improved, and although the place was completely red I still managed to shoot some images I like.

The band rocked the house – they’ve improved out of sight since I last saw them. Very tight, new drummer, better song arrangements and production. Thanks guys for trimming down on the chaotic madness your music was getting lost in, and getting back to showing how good your song-writing is.

Rotation of duties

Marty goes without

Nomes in the engine room

KL – 24 hour neon

Kuala Lumpur went by in almost a total blur. So much to do, so many people to catch up with (where did they all come from, and why are they all in KL?), and so much food to eat.

There are a few things that really stand out for me in KL. One is that every time I have been at the airport (3 times now, soon to be 4), it has been raining. It’s the only time it has been raining for me in Malaysia. Therefore I still don’t really know what the airport looks like.

KL seems to be a city of contradictions. It is very modern, yet has much old charm, early 1900s British architecture, and Bangkok-style people-chaos. I stayed on Jalan Pudu, between Bukit Bintang and Chinatown, in an area known as the Golden Triangle. (Jalan means “street”). This seemed to be the busiest road in KL, and it didn’t help that it is also the home to the largest and oldest bus terminal in KL. All day, hundreds of buses would constantly crawl down this two lane road on their way to the terminal. At night this would turn into hundreds parked for a kilometre or so as they can’t get into the terminal itself. It seems that everybody wants to travel by bus to Singapore, Penang, Bangkok and more, 24/7. I can only assume it is because the television selections are almost non-existent here.

So to get anywhere I usually walked to the Imbi monorail station and travelled to a better place from which to source a taxi or walk further. Coming back to the hotel, I had to direct the driver to keep him out of traffic jams. A few things I have learned about Malaysians:

• They don’t like to walk – even very short distances. They think I am mad because I walk everywhere.
• They are scared of the rain. They seem to think it is acidic (I think it is refreshing)
• They are not very good at finding their way around their own city
• They don’t know terribly much about their own city.

This may seem like a short list of negatives, but in fact it worked to my benefit. It meant I got to show some of them sights they hadn’t seen, and it made me feel better about knowing where I was going and that I can handle finding my way around strange cities.

KL also uses a massive amount of electricity. I am told that this is because it generates too much, and has to have an outlet (???). All I will say is that they are obsessed with pretty lights and neon. I am not complaining because it makes for a beautiful skyline and attractive street-scapes (assuming you like that sort of thing).

So much of my time in KL was spent lunching and having dinner with friends and acquaintances. People love to entertain and look after you here. A really big thanks goes out to all my new friends who took such good care of me, especially to Natasha and Tania who did everything and more to ensure I enjoyed the local food, treated me at Royal Selangor Club and were better than perfect hosts.  Tania, you are going to love that Nikon (too bad it’s not a Canon).   See you back in Melbourne.

As I spent a lot more time being entertained, and a lot less time being a tourist, I’ve a lot less photos to share from KL.  Here’s a brief selection.

I’ve asked a lot of people, and I still don’t know what “chicks” are in this context.

Bukit Bintang and Chinatown are the closest things I could find to Bangkok. Bukit Bintang is much more accessible, but has some unusual sights.  This kid was supposedly selling bubble guns, but judging by his appearance and demeanor I got the feeling that his job was to attract  and distract tourists whilst his mates surreptitiously lightened the load of said unsuspecting tourist.

Every weekend there is a free concert right in the middle of the very wide Bukit Bintang walkway.  Tonight was some modern Indian pop.  I was watching them set the stage up earlier in the afternoon, and they pull out all stops.  This show was very well lit, with all the effects and a great sound system.  Not bad for free.

Neon nights.  Apparently you avoid the karaoke bars in KL. The brighter the lights, the more dodgy the venue.  This sign was the size of a small building.

Jen and Dee introduced me to Vincenzo and his fantastic Italian restaurant.  This is where I received a taste from home in a magnificent Black Angus steak. It was so tender you could cut it with a spoon.   He’s a great guy and I hope I’ll meet up with him again when he decides to visit Melbourne.

After dinner we tried to find a decent bar with a band. Closest thing to rock apparently was this band at “Backyard”. They played unusual versions of Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix tunes.  This guy could really solo, but like most Asian bands I’ve seen so far, was struggling quite a bit with the English lyrics and phrasing.  It didn’t matter because he was so into the music.

OK, I still have some KL nightlife, Chinatown and Batu Caves shots to post but I’m out of time and have another 5am start tomorrow.  I won’t have internet for a few days as I’m being Tarzan of Borneo right now, so my next post is not likely until at least Friday.  Maybe…

Rock City Patong – it truly rocks

In the middle of Thailand I never expected to run into a rock club that puts anything like this back in Melbourne to shame. Rock City Patong (www.rockcity.cc) was built after the tsunami, and now has two venues in Phuket. I plan to spend every night whilst here rocking out at this club.

The stage is huge, there is a snarling King Kong complete with fists in broken chains above it, the sound is perfect, the drum kit is huge and has a gong, and there’s a huge Ace Frehley neon Gibson out the front. The place is perfect except for the price of the beer.

To top it all off, the musicians are awesome. What seems to happen is that locals are recruited to form the basis of most of the bands, with a bit of a rotating thing happening. Every now and then a genuine tribute band plays there, but otherwise it’s the “house” band playing hard rock and metal covers, or pop/dance songs in a hard rock style. Every singer has been incredibly good, and there are two girls in particular who are just amazingly good. One is tiny (see the pics) and is not unlike Janis Joplin and Vanessa Amorosi’s love child, with an awesome level of power for such a tiny frame.  Postscript: You can check out Zea’s profile at http://www.myspace.com/Zealasa. I think she may have moved on from Rock City since I was there.
The other I thought was a guy wanting to be a girl, but it turns out she is definitely female and a lesbian. Her voice is stunning! I’m hoping to film some over the next few nights.

Forgive the less than ideal shots. This camera is no good for live stage work.

Singing “Daddy Cool”

Apparently this guy is “direct from America!”

I was so close to jumping up and joining in once I saw those keyboards. I’m looking for a band that plays Mr Crowley or Jump so I can guest. Hey, even SOS or Mumma Mia will do if I get the chance.

For a minute I thought this guy might have been the bass player from Hush. Maybe he was? I should ask him tonight.

The club is owned and run by a mysterious European ex-rock star. Apparently he’s played with a few very successful bands, but he wouldn’t tell me who. I’ll work on it this week.

If only the rest of the War Pigs boys were motivated enough to play here. Wouldn’t be any money in it, but it would be an amazing experience.
OK – I’ve got 30 minutes to get some food and get back to the club for a KISS tribute band plus more.  Got to go…

Postscript: I’ve now made the entire Rock City set available online.  I hope to be going back in June 09 with my pro photography gear to capture it all as it should be.

Taste – Toorak Lion, 4th Jan 2008

Does anybody remember Taste?

It was the mid-70s, and Aussie rock was exciting! Taste was dubbed Australia’s answer to Queen, and after two albums really looked like taking the next step. Their sound was sophisticated with big harmonies, and they didn’t present banal lyrics about parties & girls like so many others did at the time. Something went wrong, and after “Tickle Your Fancy” and “A Little Romance” coloured the radio waves, Taste disappeared. Their drummer, Virgil Donati, went on to be one of rock’s most respected and well-known drummers, whilst the other three band members continued their own musical paths separately, but quite successfully in their own right.

Today, 30 years on, Taste has reformed with a young gun on drums to replace Virgil, and an awesome album that blows away much of what we are fed on rock radio these days. “Rock Is Dead” is a must-own, and Taste as a live band today more than lives up to the legacy of their history.

Click to view the rest of Taste’s photo gallery

Published on Juke Kartel site

I’m very excited. The reason? I shot for Juke Kartel late last year when they opened for Noiseworks. They loved my shots enough to use them on their new website, and what great timing! Juke Kartel has just been signed by Emporium Records, and is about to relocate to the US to continue their already exploding career.

You may know Juke Kartel as the band in which Toby Rand plies his trade. Toby reached the final three in Rock Star Supernova (Fox last year, and impressed Tommy Lee and the boys so much that Juke Kartel was invited to tour the world with them. I saw the Melbourne gig, and have to say that JK rocked the pants off the headliners. Similar reports have been coming out of the US. The Ferntree Gully gig with Noiseworks was one of the all time great pub gigs – hot, sweaty, heavy, tight, loud, rockin’. I’m really looking forward to seeing where these guys take it, and let’s hope they continue to take me on their ride!

Check out the Juke Kartel web site for more.