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Behind the Scenes at Liverpool Sound City with Music Photographer Matt Thomas. Some unique angles on the Headliners that shaped our events in 2010.TRANSCRIPT
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Behind The Scenes At Liverpool Sound City With Music Photographer Matt Thomas
ADDED JUN 4, 2010, UNDER: BEHIND THE SCENES, INDUSTRY INSIDER
Liverpool Sound City is an annual 4-day music, conference and
exhibition festival spread across Liverpool City Centre, UK. It s
in its 3rd year now and has grown and grown and now features
over 400 bands across 35 stages to approximately 30,000
people.
Wednesday is day one of the festival, after a big launch two
weeks prior by Gil-Scott Heron and a pre-opening bash last
night with Afrika Bambaataa. After meeting with my client and
accompanying reviewer Amy Roberts, I pick up the pass from
the brand spanking new Hilton on the Dock road where many of
the conferences are being held.
Inside the Hilton some of the other photographers are around
and we sit and have a chat about what s good to shoot, where we re shooting and arrange the all
important pre-gig pints. Incidentally it s at this point that I m introduced to one of the godfathers of Hip-
Hop, New York based photographer Ernie Panicioli. He s casually walking through the registration,
camera slung over shoulder, fingers covered in tasteful bling. We then talk about the exhibition he has
uptown as part of Sound city and I vow to see him later.
Feeling a little starstruck I hit a coffee shop and draw up a battle plan on what to shoot, a mixture of
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client requests and my own decisions.
Next up its over to the Screenadelica Exhibition which is taking place in the now empty but still
Liverpool famed, Rapid Hardware store. It features concert poster artwork from some local and
international artists. It s pretty amazing stuff and I see some of the posters from gigs I ve shot or
attended which makes it a bit more special. One being the Daniel Johnston show (probably my
favourite show of 2009).
Also featured is photography from fellow photographer Mark McNulty alongside Ernie Pannicioli s Hip
Hop photographs. They re displayed in the shop windows and are already gathering quite a crowd.
Ernie is outside too, talking people through the photos with visitors. It s brilliant being able to hear the
stories behind the shots. Ernie has a big presence and great humour too. I ask him for his portrait and
he gladly agrees suggesting that he poses like the chap on his shirt. Brilliant.
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It s now time to shoot a gig. In the O2 Academy are two shows in different rooms tonight. Headlining
are post-punk legends The Fall and alternate dance band Delphic. Starting off in the smaller room I
manage to see The Temps and Pete Bentham & The Dinner Ladies. Its a good start, the lights are
OK, way too red, but isn t that always a problem!
I shoot a lot of live photography in black and white, so I shoot in monochrome picture style on the
Canon 5D. This isn t massive act stadium photography, so its shooting right open on a Canon 35mm
f2 and a Canon 50mm f1.8 for most of the night. I shoot with prime lenses pretty much all the time. I
love lightweight, quick gear and these lenses are both really excellent both in quality and value for
money.
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Following Pete Bentham & The Dinner ladies I dash upstairs and shoot Everything Everything who are
playing in the big O2 Academy 1 room. They re up and coming and a request from the client. The
usual 3 songs, no flash applies and there s a good few of us in the pit for it. I get bashed on the head a
few times by someone with a big ol Nikon D3, but otherwise its pretty good and I get what I want.
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I watch the rest of Everything Everything and then hang out at the bar waiting for Delphic to come on. I
hope that I ll be able to shoot two songs of Delphic and run downstairs to catch The Fall. Unfortunately
it doesn t quite work out. Delphic were great, well lit and I had a relatively easy time shooting them.
The Fall however, I couldn t get near. The room was completely rammed and a lot of elbows and
shoulders in my face from angry punks stopped me getting near to the photopit. Gutted. It looks like
singer Mark-E Smith is sitting at the back of the stage in the dark so I m not too displeased. I ll catch
them again soon.
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I head home and process through the shots selecting between 3 and 6 from each band and then send
them off to the clients. I get a request for some shots to go to The Liberator which is a daily
newspaper produced each day of Sound City, so off they go in time for their 1am deadline.
Day two starts with blogging the previous nights work. There s not a lot I need to cover today apart
from Canadian electricians Holy F**k who are playing the Stanley Theatre in the evening. I spend most
of the day working on commercial work and playing with my daughter.
I meet up with Liberator journo Peter Guy and photographer Mark McNulty for dinner and we discuss
who we ve seen, who we enjoyed and who we didn t. I have a master plan for tonight that involves
venue hopping around to catch different bands of my choice around the appearance of Holy F**k on
the far side of town.
This rapidly all goes wrong as up at the Stanley Theatre all the stage times have changed, not once,
but twice. Tied to the venue (which is like shooting in a primary school gymnasium) I shoot support
band Shadow Cabinet. They re great, but they re playing in pitch black. The other bands I want to
shoot are across town and I can t get there and back in time, so I stick around until Holy F**k come
on. The lightings not bad, colourful, but with next to no front light. Still I enjoy them and get some good
results, so I m happy. Shots go off to client. Client happy. Job done.
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After the quietness of Day 2, I m determined to photograph as much as possible. After meeting with
some of the festival delegates, photographers and journalists, I see some of the previous nights work
in the daily mag. Scottish Hip Hop to start (?!) followed by a blast of metal and rock over at The
Masque with Leeds based Chickenhawk.
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I then catch the Canadian showcase in Ink next door. The Pack AD play with a single red light in the
corner of a room. I choose to not use flash, I m not a big fan of using it at gigs I much prefer capturing
atmosphere and lighting as they are. (I m not against flash before all the strobists fire up!) A few more
bands get photographed in and around The Masque before heading down to The Kazimier to
photograph Esben and the Witch. Along the way I stumble across Shoshin who are playing a guerilla
gig in the street. People gather round and I grab a few shots. I love the vibe they create, it would be
nice to see more of this type of gig on the streets next year!
Arriving at the Kazimier, Flashguns are just finishing their set. They look particularly energetic and I
get a few frames off before they finish. Esben and the Witch warm up and sound check, the audience
is getting restless and there are a few louts who want their picture taken at the front of the stage. It s
best to keep them happy since in a few minutes I m going to be ducking down in front of them! The
lights are very dark, but there s a smoke machine which makes the background look nice and
atmospheric.
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Day four arrives and I shoot two commercial jobs during the day and hit Soundcity in the afternoon.
There are two matinee shows that are repeated in the evening so I figure it d be nice to shoot the
afternoon shows and then get onto editing in the evening. Los Campesinos! are a big band, a 7 piece
and are supporting The Maccabees at the O2 Academy 1. They look great and are having fun so the
vibe is brilliant. The lights are pretty excellent too. I shoot the whole show again with prime lenses on
the 5D. It s nice to get a few more crowd shots too, something I wish I d done more of over the festival.
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Posted by: Matt Thomas Matt Thomas is an editorial, commercial and music photographer based on the Wirral and working throughout the UK.
VISIT MATT'S WEBSITE. VIEW OTHER POSTS BY MATT THOMAS
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The Maccabees are the final band I shoot, the crowd goes bonkers for them and they ve got a great
background and lights. They re easy to shoot compared to some of the lower lit venues.
It s been a fun 4 days and I have escaped unscathed but my 35mm f2 has taken a big ole bash and
stopped focusing. This probably happened pushing through the crowd. The highlights of the event for
me were Ernie Pannicioli, Chickenhawk and The Pack AD. The shots are edited up and delivered that
day and I kick back with a beer or two with a few local bands. Good times.
Thanks Matt for sharing this awesome behind the scenes look at shooting Liverpool Sound
City!
Check out Matt s site at http://mattthomas.co.uk and on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/m4tt_thomas.
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CATHERINE says: June 4, 2010 a t 9:04 am
Love the behind the scenes concept and seeing other styles of photography . Wonderful im ages too!
MAZ HAWES says: June 6, 2010 a t 5:28 pm
Fascinating insight in to a very d if ferent k in d of work place (for m e , anyway!) Love the shot of Ernie
BEHIND THE SCENES AT LIVERPOOL SOUNDCITY | LIVERPOOL PHOTOGRAPHER MATT THOMAS says: June 4, 2010 a t 7:44 am
[...] Parsons over at The Photography Parlour invited m e to write a Behind the Scenesdiary whilst covering Soun dcity . [...]
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