Can you pinch me please, because I’m pretty sure I’m dreaming. Having grown up with their music over the last 20 years, I was excited to say the least to get the opportunity to live out another little teenage dream and shoot their show at the end of October 2023 in Bournemouth for Bring The Noise.
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Back in August I attended and photographed a unique charity concert at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham, put on by Uprawr Mental Health Foundation. The event was called 1000 Lights, and was a tribute to the late Chester Benington of Linkin Park, raising money for Uprawr to put on free counciling sessions for people in the rock and alt community.
Read MoreGemma Edwards has been DJing around the South of the UK for a number of years now. Describing herself as a professional emo, she is heavily influenced by the alternative music of the early 2000’s and 2010s, and shares this with her audiences at club nights and festivals around the UK. Her insights into the industry as a female DJ online and at physical events are on one level shocking, hearing of some experiences she’s encountered, but on another level, unfortunately not all totally surprising. Gemma is very open with her experiences and stands by the importance of sharing these, both good and bad, to help encourage positive change to not only the music world, but filtering over to general society as a whole.
Read MoreWhen I started this project at the beginning of the year, I wasn’t sure how it would go. I wasn’t even sure I’d get anyone interested in being involved, but it’s been such a positive thing for me to do and I’ve loved it all, not only being able to do more of what I love, but it’s enabled me to meet and chat with some incredible humans who have some really important things to say. This week, I’m very pleased to share my conversation with Sam and Rach from Memory Palace, a band hailing from South Wales and Bristol.
Read MoreAt the end of February I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Amy, a truly beautiful soul, from Hampshire. Having lived and worked as a musician in London and now back in Gosport, we discuss the differences between the two places for musicians, and what may be necessary to encourage young women to go into different roles within the music industry.
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If you haven’t already heard of Caity Baser, she’s Southampton’s own pop princess who went viral on TikTok during the pandemic and became a bit of an online sensation with her great vocals, contagious energy and funny videos.
Read MoreFor my second conversation of this project, I spoke with Josie Haskins, a young singer and songwriter from Hampshire in the midst of the startup of her solo music career. We spoke about the importance and power of community, and what beauty there is in those relationships with family and friends that have helped her to become the artist that she is today.
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I’ve got to be honest, I had been waiting for this day to come for a LONG TIME. I’ve been following Enter Shikari for around 17 years. Their music has been with me through the highest of highs and lowest of lows, with Take To The Skies being a pinnacle album for me, and then finally, there I was, in Cardiff Utilita Arena, ready to shoot the band that had instantly got me hooked all those years ago.
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© Alia Thomas
A look back at Bring Me The Horizon’s Bournemouth show on the Nex Gen tour.
Read MoreThe music industry has been incredibly male-dominated for so long now. Slowly, we’re starting to see more and more female, trans, and non-binary artists on lineups, but there’s still a noticeable unbalance. A big topic of conversation in the news currently is looking also at the sexism and misogyny in the industry that is so harmful to women. So why is all of this still happening? As a female in the industry on the other side of it all, I wonder how it can be that we’re still not getting it right, so I’m creating a series where I speak to (and celebrate!) some incredible women in the music industry, from all varying genres, ranging from singers to guitarists, to drummers, from solo artists, girl bands, and the only female in the band, to get an insight into their experiences within music. To get insights and perspectives that may not be realised by a lot of us. To give them a voice. This is the first. So grab a cuppa and your favourite snack, and have a read.
Read MoreEarlier in the month I spent a few hours with some of the staff and members of People First Dorset, a charity organisation to support people with learning disabilities, helping them connect with others and focus on creating friendships and a further support network. Here’s how it went.
Read MorePunk Rock Factory. A band that’s only been around for 4 years but has picked up quite the following! With support from the brilliant Adam And The Metal Hawks.
Read MoreAnyone who really knows me will tell you that I’m a big animal lover. I’ve had pets throughout most of my life, and just before the initial lockdown of 2020, we adopted a little rabbit from our local animal rescue, Stubbington Ark, who made the perfect pair with the rabbit we already had. To this day they are still the best of friends. Fast forward 3 years later and I am pleased to be volunteering my photo and video skills in the hope of helping some of the beautiful little animals at the Ark find a forever home.
Read MoreSaturday saw the genre-crushing sounds of the mighty Skindred take to Southampton’s O2 Guildhall, and what a show it was.
Read MoreOne of the reasons I love shooting live music is that it’s an easy way to get introduced to bands you’ve not listened to before. I’ve been aware of both The Xcerts and Snake Eyes for a while now, but shamefully I had never really listened to their music before, so to cover this gig for Punktastic was a great opportunity for me to get a good introduction to both.
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2020 saw the last Black Foxxes album, which helped many of us get through a tough year or two. During the last 3 years social media has shown us there’s been the odd show, lots of travels, and an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign for the band which will bring us the eagerly awaited new album, ‘The Haar’. Friday night kicked off a set of three 2-hour set shows by the band, with the first being in the town of Newport, Wales. No supports. Just 2 straight hours of those good old Black Foxxes riffs and melodies we all love (with a quick interval/wine break, in the middle.)
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