"So what did you do Valentine's Day?" "Oh, I went to a metal gig with my girlfriend". Not the usual response you'd expect but that's what I did. Well we did go for a nice meal first so the romance bit did happen don't worry.
Two Tales of Woe, easily my favourite Irish metal band were in Fibber Magees on Valentine's Day to launch their new album "A Conversation with Death". I've shot them before and seen them a handful of times so I made plans to shoot them again for their launch. My 40D was back in hospital, hopefully getting fixed at last!! So I had to bring out his little brother, the 350D. I decided to use my new Sigma 30mm F1.4. Cue groans from all the pros with their fancy L lenses. But it's actually a fantastic lens and surprisingly sharp wide open.
Anyway on with the show.
Fibbers Magees or Fibbers or even Fibs if you want to shorten it even further is Dublin's main metal bar/club and i've been a regular for a good six or seven years now, it's my most visited location after my house and my workplace. Two Tales of Woe are regulars too having played there many times before. It was in Fibbers I first saw them myself and I was an instant fan.
After the Lamb of God gig it was a pleasant surprise to be greeted at the door by the band, handing out promotional flyers for said launch. Lar Bowler (Guitarist) asked me if I was coming along to take a few pics, and after a supportive nod from the missus I heartily accepted.
The gig itself went really well with great support from Dyslucsic and Devil Makes Three getting the crowd in the party spirit. I picked up both the album and a lovely T-shirt before the show and put them away safely (Not like after Judas Priest where I lost a t-shirt 2 minutes after buying it).
Fibbers unfortunately is not like the Academy or the 02, that is to say the lighting is a little....basic. There's some nice green and yellow gels but there's also the dreaded and cursed red gel, the bane of a music photographer's life. I wasn't going to pull out the flashgun but then I saw everyone else was snapping away with their pop-up flashes, so I decided I could bounce mine off the ceiling to brighten things up a bit. And it worked a treat, the extra little blip of light helped freeze the band nicely and capture them in all their detail (Whether that's glorious or not i'll let you decide).
I usually fly through my memory cards at gigs but I managed to use just the one 2GB card and still got plenty of usable shots. As I said the flash really helped brighten up the gloomy and dark interior, and although i'm totally against using flash at gigs, it was a necessary evil. I've seen quite a few shots in the larger publications recently with blatant flash use, in well lit arenas. It seems to be "trendy" at the moment and if done right, can provide great results. I think it's distracting for the band and I'm gonna stick with my available light purist philosophy unless it's absolutely necessary.
So another fun gig in Fibbers, and hopefully Two Tales of Woe are on the road to making it big. They're a really great band and a lovely bunch of lads and I wish them all the best in the future.
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