RIDE THE LIGHTING

FROM THE ARCHIVE: Muse, Resistance Tour rehearsal, Elstree, 2009...

Fri, 11 May 2012 12:18:00 +0100

FROM THE ARCHIVE: Muse, Resistance Tour rehearsal, Elstree, 2009 by Danny (photo © Danny North 2009)

Being asked to spend a day with Muse in the room where they built the Deathstar sounded like a dream job. I spent the whole day documenting the crew putting together the live show, the mechanics of it all. And then late afternoon, Muse turned up and ran through five or six songs. I just sat there in awe of my own private Muse show. For a second I thought I spotted the ghost of Obi Wan, but it was just a spotlight on a guitar tech.

To get this shot I climbed up to a viewing platform. There was only one way to shoot this and that was WIDE, one of the few times the Nikon super wide got some use. I think they were running through United States Of Eurasia at this point.

POSTED BY DANNY

INTERVIEW: Todd Owyoung, top music photographer and creator of ishootshows.com

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:47:00 +0000

We were looking for a guy with really cool hair to interview for Ride The Lighting. We found this...

GO SEE: Glen E. Friedman - punk, hip hop, skating, randomness, attitude, genius

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:34:00 +0000

Glen E Friedman was one of the first photographers whose work I fell in love with. I discovered his...

FROM THE ARCHIVE: letlive. at Newcastle Academy, 2012 by Danny...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:30:00 +0000

FROM THE ARCHIVE: letlive. at Newcastle Academy, 2012 by Danny (photo © Danny North 2012)

Letlive. are probably one of the hardest and most exciting bands to photograph on the planet. Hardest because if the lighting is terrible, then at best you’re going to get a blurred image of Jason throwing himself across the stage. Exciting because there is no telling what he will do next. In Southampton, for example, Jason was dangling from the balcony at the back of the Guildhall with one hand, no safety net, just 20 feet of air and a hardwood floor to greet him. Thankfully he didn’t fall! A few days after, shooting for Kerrang!, I caught them in Newcastle. After the one armed dangle, and being banned from ever playing the Guildhall again, Jason contained his anger on stage. It was something to behold. Much like trying to calm an earthquake by offering it a jaffa cake. Out of the three songs I shot there are a number of images I’d love to post here, including a midair shot of a running forwards flip, but I think this shot really shows the intensity of Jason’s performance that night.

POSTED BY DANNY

INTERVIEW: Russ O'Connell - Picture Director at Q magazine

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:28:00 +0000

Hanging out with Lana Del Rey when she’s wearing a tiara and has blood dribbling down her...

INTERVIEW: JAMES SANDOM – international supermanager for Kaiser Chiefs, The Vaccines and many more…

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:47:00 +0000

See that slick looking dude over there, hanging around behind a stage somewhere —> He’s...

FROM THE ARCHIVE: Lady Gaga at Orange RockCorps, Manchester...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:20:00 +0000

FROM THE ARCHIVE: Lady Gaga at Orange RockCorps, Manchester Apollo, 2009 by Ash (photo © Ashley Bird 2009)

This was my first really major concert shoot. I’d recently begun shooting for Orange RockCorps - an organisation which recruits (mostly) young people to do community work in return for tickets to concerts. Lady Gaga was new on the scene but already causing a huge stir with Poker Face and Just Dance. My first job for RockCorps had been to take photos of her visit to one of the community projects - volunteers helping paint and clean up the HQ of Body Positive, an HIV support group in Manchester. She had turned up with her hair woven into a sort of huge button. (At the time this seemed pretty outlandish, but now that seems like a pretty conservative sartorial choice for her.)

Gaga then went on to headline the RockCorps concert at the Apollo, and I was really excited to be in the photo pit. I think she planned the set opening with her now well-known senses of irony and theatre. Most of the photographers were only allowed to shoot the first song… that song was Paparazzi… and she was shrouded in darkness and/or dry ice for much of it. I found it pretty funny, but only because as RockCorps’ official photographer I was allowed to shoot the whole set.

I was really pleased to see I got some decent shots from that first song though (so if I HAD only been allowed to shoot that, I wouldn’t have been screwed). This one was actually right at the beginning, as she emerged from beneath a pulsating mound of these dalek-like panels, and just caught the light in an interesting way. There’s a name for those panels, but I can’t remember what it is. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

The rest of the set was amazing. Being up close to a performance like that - with her four costume changes (in a roughly 30 minute set if I remember correctly), the dance routines and lighting all giving me plenty to shoot - was a real privilege. I could also see from that close just how hard she works on stage. It really puts lazy stool-bound boy bands to shame. And she definitely sings live through all of it.

I do love my rock, metal, indie and folky sorts of music, but sometimes you can’t beat a good pop concert for photography opportunities. And let’s face it, Gaga’s the ultimate pop experience right now…

POSTED BY ASH

GO SEE: James Morgan - stunning and intimate documentary photography

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:43:00 +0000

I discovered James Morgan’s work in a Sunday supplement early last year. It was these...

FROM THE ARCHIVE: Kaiser Chiefs at Glastonbury Festival, 2007,...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:22:00 +0000

FROM THE ARCHIVE: Kaiser Chiefs at Glastonbury Festival, 2007, by Danny (photo © Danny North 2007)

This was the first time I’d ever shot a band on a main stage at a festival, it just so happened to be Kaiser Chiefs on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. Throughout the show I kept getting texts from mates who were watching at home and had seen me shake Simon’s hand when he was walking out on stage. (You can see it one second in here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl86XzmBVZE.) I knew Simon a little back then because he was the bar manager at the pub I spent many hours drinking in and my band had played loads. So funny, I wasn’t really aware that I shouldn’t have done it, I was just so excited to be there and to be shooting it.

I was so high afterwards. Despite the mud – and believe me, there was mud – and despite the rain – oh there was rain – I loved that weekend so much. That moment on Sunday was just so goddamn exciting. That feeling never leaves me, I love and crave for it every festival season, and count the days passing during in winter, waiting to get back out in those fields and on those stages.

POSTED BY DANNY

GO SEE: Leon Neal - amazing views from INSIDE the news

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:19:38 +0000

Ride The Lighting is not just about music photography, we want to share the work of all sorts of...

FROM THE ARCHIVE: Bring Me The Horizon at Download Festival...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:13:00 +0000

2011 was a BIG year for me as a photographer, with Download Festival back in June being my first major UK festival shoot (I shot four more through the year). It was also the first time I’d worked closely with the crack editorial commando unit that is the Rock Sound team, and the experience was amazing. Getting better access to bands at festivals is one of the key elements of taking unique photos, and knowing Bring Me The Horizon’s management well enough to chat them up a bit led me to get a spot on stage with the band. I clocked bassist Matt shaping up to leap off the monitor, in really good light, with singer Oli and a steaming moshpit in the background. Having pre-focussed for Matt, I fired the shutter as he leapt and knew I had a really good frame. It ran as my first poster in Rock Sound. The fact that it also has the word ‘Socks’ in the background is just an extra bonus.

POSTED BY ASH

INTERVIEW: Danny North - music photographer, bass player, proud northerner and co-founder of Ride The Lighting

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:29:00 +0000

How better to kick off the content of our blog than with Ride The Lighting’s co-founder Danny...

Riders ready, pedals ready...

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:52:00 +0000

Music and photography, photography and music, musicians, photographers, musicians who are also...