Tonight I headed along to Bar Bloc, to see fellow Glaswegian noise-mongers Ex Wives. We’ve been playing gigs together for near enough two decades at this point, which is horrifying to think of. What’s more horrifying is that in a city with a reputation for having such a great ‘music scene’, there are very few bands that we actually know and like.
I don’t really take pictures at gigs any more. I did it for so long that I got bored – bored of the process and the crappy light. Bored of feeling self conscious about getting in people’s way, or being yet another prick with a camera. So I stopped. Tonight I thought that I may as well take a few though. When you play in a band it can sometimes be the only evidence you have from the night, and we all know that if you don’t post pictures on Instagram then you aren’t a real band.
The light in Bloc was horrendous, so I went with the tried and true method of de-saturating all of the pictures. For some reason, presenting a whole set in black and white seems less offensive than a whole set with a single pink shade. I wonder why that is.
The other band playing was Mannequin Death Squad, a two-piece that seemed to have come all the way from Australia. That’s a long way for what seemed like a DIY tour. Respect.
I even managed to get a single decent colour picture…
I shot all of these with the Sony ZV-E10, and a Sigma 16mm f1.4 lens. I’ve mostly used that for video so far, and it wasn’t the most natural thing in the world to use for gigs – mostly because it’s been a long time since I shot auto-focus for gigs on anything other than a Canon DSLR.
Man, I sound old.
LED stage lights are the worst.
I don’t mind LED lights… so long as there is a variety of colours. The old single colour bath is always a nightmare.