We went to some pub afterwards and had a chat with Michelle and her friends from Virgin. I managed to get a Big Issue card thingy the big issue sellers wear and michelle was up for wearing it and looking like a hobo hehe. All in all a good day for gigging and photo taking! The keyboardist was cute and tiny as ever! and the lead singer was fun with his engrish!

Yo Sushi and a very late stu

Upon arriving fashionable late I met up with Kazzie and got a seat at Yo Sushi! We were still waiting for Stu to arrive so we just sat around and drank some green tea, I ordered some cold dishes so that they were immediately ready when Stu was about and Kazzie ordered a chicken yakisoba to eat. The wait was pretty long as I believe Stu was almost an hour late. We eventually got nice and cosy and ate our food, Kazzie promised Stu that if he came today she would eat a Salmon Nigiri so we ordered just that (I persuaded her to do it so I could have her nigiri if she couldn’t finish the other one off hehe). The dish arrived and kazzie actually kept her promise and ate the thing. Though it’s nothing for us (me, alice, inn, kev and loads others), it was quite remarkable that Kazzie did eat raw salmon when she didn’t like fish in general!

I ordered a salmon skin hand roll, a tamago nigiri and a beef ramen which kept the bill nice and small (should of got a rainbow combo to be honest). I mentioned the gig I was going and Kazzie and Stu were pretty much up for it, we were then contemplating what to do between the gig and after Yo Sushi! After paying the bill and leaving victoria we headed off to the Apple store in Regent Street to have a look at the new ipods as well as perv at the iMacs. Stu did some research and found out that imax were showing Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix in a hour and a bit so we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon watching Harry Potter! The difference was that it was at the imax (one of the biggest screens in the UK) and the last battle scene was in 3D! I think the idea of watching it all in 3D was too much to miss so we went to waterloo to pay imax a visit.

mmm Dumbledore in 3d

We were given large specs at imax and were able to buy decent tickets to the show and all. We were also able to catch a few 3d trailers to really enjoy the 3d experience, it was amazing! Things were popping out right in front of you and stuff, it just made us desperate to see what 3d harry potter had to offer!

The film was amazing, if you exclude hermione’s moving eyebrows, kazzie’s constant giggling about them, the large number of discrepancies from the film and the book and the fact that our seats were slightly to the left. The 3d bit however was flawless, it was amazing watching it all in 3d. The best bit was when Dumbledore was fighting Voldermort. Stu laughed at Dumbledore’s whipping wand technique and I was just gormless when the the glass at the ministry of magic shattered. It was all pretty jaw dropping when it was in 3d.

We are Physics! Did they goto the imax too?

After the film we decided to head off to the buffalo bar at Highbury Islington station. Stu decided that he was tired after watching Dumbledore in 3d so we left us at Euston. Kazzie brought her dslr camera so we were ready to take some lovely photos of the band at it. We met up with Michelle (who was with Caff) and headed to the venue to go check out the band. They were pretty amazing, really reminded me of Polysics as they were really jumpy and fun to watch. Photo taking was slightly tedious since the lighting was inconsistent and all. However with the help of flash I was able to take a few decent shots. The guitarist was wearing 3d specs which led me to believe that they might have went to see Harry Potter too haha.

After the gig there was also another band playing but due to time we had to leave at 11pm, was a shame since I wouldn’t mind watching them myself (they’re headling and all). But yeah, the venue was pretty far away from where I lived so it was best to call it a night instead of risking taking a painful night bus back home!

Meeting Up and getting some grub

People were arriving at weird times and all. Kev was only joining us later on so we were going to meet up with him at some point. I spent most of the morning lounging about at home since Stephie was staying in a hotel near Fulham Broadway, this meant that travelling was awfully easy to her place (since Fulham Broadway and Southfields are pretty close to each other). I eventually leave the house with all my stuff (including several Yo Sushi! Rainbow vouchers and my dslr camera for taking photos of the gig) and went to fulham broadway to meet up with Stephie. I did leave pretty late since I managed to meet up with inn at the station instead of meeting Stephie first. We took the bus to Stephie hotel since Stephie was too lazy to come out and meet us (tut tut). Upon arriving the hotel room we soon discover that Stephie actually had a double bed and single for the room she booked. It was pretty nice since me, Inn and kev were hoping to sleep there (though I’m more there for show since I could easily pop back to my place hehe). We had a quick friendly banter and soon afterwards we were heading off to meet up with kev. Around the time of meeting up with kev I soon discover that I have left my Yo Sushi! vouchers in Stephie’s room so our plan on having Yo Sushi! today was slightly foiled. Trying to be sneaky I persuaded everyone to goto Nando’s in Brixton instead since it’s so close to the venue which makes it a more relaxing experience. Inn complained for a bit since she had her heart set on Yo Sushi that day but we all agreed that Nando’s was more convenient as well as me telling her I’d get her a chicken using my loyalty card.

Once in Nando’s (we’re now in Brixton) we ordered our food (wings for me I believe). Twas quite a lovely meal and Inn didn’t seem to mind having the free chicken (well she hardly paid a penny for her meal haha). Me and Stephie quickly popped round to the venue to pick up her tickets she booked and after having some Tetris battles and bantering we went straight into the venue (slightly late since we weren’t too keen on the support). We found out that Michelle and Caff were actually coming to Silverchair too so I contacted them to see if we could meet up with them inside the venue and all.

The dangerous Wheat Free Soya Sauce

We eventually left Nando’s and headed into the venue to catch Silverchair. I was once again able to smuggle my DSLR camera into the venue, this was however a close one since the guy was able to actually feel the camera in my bag. He was quite determined to find the source of what I was hiding however I told him that it was just padding. He did give the bag a proper search but failed to find the camera. After getting passed the guards we discover that kev was having problems getting in. The guy who was searching for my bag was now pretty pissed and was getting more arsey than ever. He found kev’s Wheat-Free soya sauce he had in his bag and was going to confiscate it since it could be used as a weapon, he demonstrated how it could be used as a weapon by holding it from the neck and pretending to hit kev on the head with it hehe. Eventually they let kev through on the condition that he put the bag in the cloakroom. Was quite an embarrassing moment for kev as he joined us shamefully to watch the gig hehe.

The gig was fun, Silverchair weren’t that bad though I didn’t know many songs from them so it wasn’t as fun as it could have been. We met up with Michelle and Caff during the gig and eventually I also departed the crowd and went to take photos of the band. A lot of squeezing in was involved and eventually I had a lovely spot for photo taking. Quite a nice evening, ended with some glorious Tropicana drinking. We went back to Stephie’s place and enjoyed some Tetris’ing and TV. Stephie got quite addicted to Phoenix Wright as she borrowed kev’s DS Lite to play with it.

Yo Sushi and Somerset House

Though there was a Yo Sushi in Fulham Broadway, we were hoping to have the rainbow combo in Victoria so we could meet up with Wincy as well as Lindsy. I took a quick detour back home before meeting everyone back at Fulham Broadway station! and heading to Victoria. Once there we lounged around at Wetherspoons for a bit to wait for other people arrive, once everyone was there we went straight to Yo Sushi! and got tuck into the Rainbow combo action. Food was lovely once again though I pretty much ordered the same food since I’ve got my combo down to a science. Afterwards we did some lounging about in Leicester Square since Stephie and co needed to do something else whilst I was going to the somerset house to watch 2001 Space Odessy. I eventually left everyone and they went and saw a comedy event which sounded pretty awesome.

Somerset House was pretty amazing. I’ve been there last year to see a double bill and this year I was watching 2001: Space Odessy in the daddio screen! Jason and Rachel were slightly late and I came to the venue slightly unprepared. All I had was some food bought from the newsagent, a towel brought from the venue and a very thin shirt (it got really cold near the end :(). When Jason and Rachel arrived we had a fun time playing a bit of Tetris and Mario Kart. I let them double team me at Tetris DS which was fun but I won most of the time.

The film was pretty amazing, last time I saw it I fell asleep near the beginning since it was far too long and dragged on for a bit. This time I finally got to watch the intense parts of the film involving the computer rebelling against the people. I took the train back to Wimbledon with Jason and Rachel and went back to Fulham to see the rest of the gang. I told inn to buy me some food since I was pretty hungry after that film, she kindly got me a sandwich and some rice cakes, twas pretty yummy. More Tetris action for the rest of the evening and Stephie also completes the second case in Phoenix Wright. Bless her.

Random park strolling and GBK

The final day left and we decided to go to stroll in Hyde Park whilst Stephie went to meet her Uncle for a bit. We went passed some Jewish Festival and lounged around the Princess Dianna Memorial place (was a fancy fountain place) and got our feet wet. More tetris DS’ing involved and eventually we met up with Stephie again and went to GBK in Soho for some burger action. This was the first time kev and inn had tried the burgers at GBK so they were quite excited for it. Kev ordered a bunless burger since he couldn’t eat wheat, I ordered milkshake too and had a classic burger. It was all yummy and nice. Kev eventually left us all to go back to Leeds and we soon left GBK to do some random internet browsing and eventually heading back to the hotel room. That was pretty much it. I packed up and went back home (which was disturbingly quick hehe).

A lovely weekend filled with loads of nice things to eat and all.

The food at Yo Sushi! was mucho nice! I sort of steered away from Tempura today since I knew I’ll be getting some of that soon and all haha. I eventually tried some Tamago nigiri and Crispy Salmon Skin Roll, both of them were £1.50 each and were AMAZING! After finishing our food we managed to bump into Stereophonics, I asked them if I could take photos of them which the bassist replied “what sort of photo do you want? Back photo? Profile? Side” and then one of them flashed their arse at us and said that was their world exclusive shot haha. Was pretty surreal.

After that we headed to Waterloo via Bakerloo line and got to Southbank swiftly. We got our tickets and went in without a hitch, I was scared they’d check my bag but apparently they didn’t care! The gig was so relaxed! Not only did I get through security easily with a bag filled with camera gear, I was also able to just walk up to the barrier and take photos with the other press people like I had a press pass haha.

During one point I stood with a few photographers and had a chat with them, they caught me out as a photo blagger haha! The guy who spoke to me had a daddio L series telezoom lens! It was ungodly looking! He told me that we couldn’t use flash and also gave me some settings tips (which I didn’t really listen to). Afterwards we got snappy snappy crazy! The music was amazing to listen to once again and the photos were lovely!

During the gig, Tom Smith from the Editors came out to do a cover with Jaunita, they played “Wild Roses” together which was fun, Michelle already had a tip about this happening so we weren’t too surprised about it hehe. The end of the show also featured the other support acts playing alongside Jaunita, doing a cool Johnny Cash cover (i think).

Sorting photos was fun haha, I managed to use that as a diversion to the bigger event that was happening today! Results day! More post about that later though ;p

Anyway, we went to Picadilly Circus to visit Yo Sushi! for some sushi action. Michelle was only going to try the veggie yakisoba as well as the inari nigir (tofu nigiri). I literally went all out again with salmon nigiri (softer and meltier than the BBQ weekend sushi experience) and also have some chicken yakisoba, chicken yakitori and prawn tempura. The food was yummy, though the prawn tempura was smaller than the other times I’ve had it, it was still awesome!

Michelle wasn’t too good with chopsticks so I gave her the easier ones hehe, but she said she’ll learn in future, not to mention drink more green tea because she liked it (other time she tried ginseng tea which was a bit more strong and hardcore haha). She enjoyed her inari nigiri and yakisoba which was good, the portions were perfect for her, its all about small bites innit.

We then headed off to Liverpool Street to meet Michelle’s friend from Virgin Megastores Rene.  We then found the Spitz where Polysics were playing and got stamped for guestlist stuff, unfortunately it was a bit stuffy so Michelle decided we should go out for a bit until the band starts, we went to a closeby Tescos and bought drinks before the event. We than sat around for a bit and had a talk, I was being slightly antisocial with my WAP hehe oops.

We then go into the venue to check out the band. There were on by the time we were inside the venue again. They were AMAZING, exactly how Michelle described them, the term pogo in their self categorised genre was the perfect way of describing them, everyone song was pogo headbangable! The gig was intense and exhilerating, they wore their glasses throughout the gig, during the gig the keyboardist did quite a lot of cool and cute things including shaking pom poms (cheerleader style), playing the recorder and doing loads of vocoders stuff.

I was easily able to smuggle my DSLR camera, they weren’t really checking so I could have brought a gun for all I know. Here’s a lovely selection of photos:

The band were really cute since they knew VERY VERY little Engrish (yup Engrish), they sort of get their R’s and L’s wrong so they kept saying “HERRO!” hehe. At one point the singer said “Do you know what Porysics stand for?” “Porysics stands for ROCK AND FUCKING ROWW!” whilst sticking his middle finger in front of the crowd, so yeah, that explains the photo below in case you think they were up themselves and started swearing at the crowd, he simply had no idea haha.

One of the songs was called “I My Me Mine” and featured the keyboardist playing a cute recorder riff, I really liked it hehe.

The bassist was a crazy lady too, she downed a beer in front of everyone and went nuts during a few songs hehe.

It was an amazing gig, I bought myself a wristband and am now listening to their studio stuff, Michelle said Polysics should support Muse and I totally agree with it purely because the band would actually love them, not to mention the fans.

Afterwards I went to Stockwell to meet up with Michelle and co, they were quite late, I had nothing to do so I quickly took random photos of the tube, one in particular was this shot

Arty? Haha, anyway, Michelle and the gang finally arrived and we went to the venue, it was a pub :O haha. Did sound like one to be honest haha. Michelle brought along Caff as well as her friend Shel and Bucjo (from the museboard). Pleasant girls, Shel in particular said how Michelle mentioned me a lot and said I was a cool guy *nods*, that I am Michelle, that I am haha. We missed a few tracks but still managed to catch them at it, was nice. The band after that (Yunioshi) was really good too so I took some photos of them too :D, typically we’d leave after the gig but I stayed a bit longer with the band and had a chat with Kris and Michelle, was a nice evening, got to know them a bit better and all. I left soon after due to last trains etc.

But yeah, some photos.. during the gig I thought my photos werent sharp enough so I started tweaking the shutter speed at like 1/250, was a silly idea, turns out I had alot of light going on and it was sharp. Damn funny eyes haha

Oh and a disco ball came out of nowhere, was random!

Here’s the photos for Yunioshi, they’re really cute hehe

Lounging out in London is fun. I’ve only realised that most of my childhood was spent NOT doing anything fun in London. I’m definitely taking things for granted in London and all. Its only been more apparent after the IBM placement year. Better make the most of my time spent in London and go to places that a tourist would go haha. I paid a visit to Haymarket just to take photos of Her Majesty Theatre. I really want to go see Phantom of the Opera again. Alice said she was really keen in going too so it would definitely be awesome if something was arranged after uni and all for us and inn to go check them out. Inn wants to go somewhere thats not a musical first but frankly you can’t get anything better theatre wise with Phantom. So yeah, fingers crossed that they do some cool promotion and all so we get to go

Anyway, lets fastfoward a bit to the gig, right before the gig I managed to get myself a subway to eat. I had a chat with the guy serving me and asking whether he gets bored eating subway sandwiches, turns out he just brings his own food because he was a veggie and couldnt stand eating the ONE veggie sub that they have to offer hehe. I can understand why too (thats why meat is the way to go haha).

There were 4 bands up tonight, Brontosaurus Chorus, Gggrits (Yup, 3 g’s), Screaming Tea Party and Pink Grease. I’ve only seen Brontosaurus Chorus play once before, the rest are new to me. Was most surprised at how impressive these bands were when I heard them tonight.

Right lets get right into the photography haha.

Brontosaurus Chorus

Started pimping out the prime lens like last time, the problem was that the band was pretty big so I couldnt do a wide shot with everyone in it :(. Nonetheless I did take some cool shots of them

Gggrits

Bless them, they were awesome haha. The singer really knew how to work it with the camera. Quite alot of times she was posing and stuff in front of me whilst I took photos of her. I didnt even get to use my “make love to the camera baby” line :(. Some really good shots here. One thing I found funny was that they had a macbook out. I was thinking “hmm can macbooks run protools or logic already!?!?” only to discover that they were just using itunes to play the backing tracks hehe. The music was very dancey, I did my fair bit of dancing to compensate my lack of moving during gigs.

Screaming Tea Party

I asked Michelle what kind of band they were and she said “theres one italian drummer, and two japanese guys, they’re crazy” or something like that haha. Sounds like a crazy mash up. And yup, they were crazy. The guitarist wore a gasmask on stage and went nuts on effects (in particular the whammy and chorus/flanger). The music was really upbeat and exciting.

Pink Grease

The main act. Was here mainliy to take photos of the “machine”. Some crazy synth that one of the band member used. He uses two toothbrushes to play the thing by tapping some strings at the top of the mammoth. It was pretty exciting, they had a saxamophonist too just to really class things up. I always love it when bands have peculiar instruments at the gig, but yeah, the mammoth was definitely something haha.

The band was great, very charismatic. Though I felt very sorry for the singer, because there was some crazy chick in a blue dress who kept pulling his braces. He wasn’t happy about it. She was very VERY invasive. Totally crossed the line between a normal gigger and a loon. One part of the gig, the singer wrapped the mic cable around his neck for a laugh (rock and roll like :D) and she actually thought it would be clever for her to tug the damn cable. I think everyone during the gig wanted to give her a cunt punch haha. One part of the gig the singer just erupted and just pushed her off the stage (she was trying to get on stage and push the singer about) and I could hear him going “F**k off bitch!” really viciously. I guess singers have a limit to how much harassment you can get from crazy girls haha.

Apart from her, everything was cool. I had to use flash quite a bit for this gig but it definitely worked well with this venue. The guy who played “THE MACHINE” kept getting blinded by other photographers (and me) using their flash haha. During the encore he just wore some sunglasses to avoid getting blinded by us haha bless him.

So yeah, top notch gig, its good to visit some small bands you’ve never heard of, things are far more intimate and all.

We had a quick look around Virgin Megastore since the bands werent starting for a long time. Michelle made me listen to Pink Grease at the listening poles whilst she was texting people. After a bit of badgering around we eventually headed off to the venue. It was fun because I could walk into the venue with my DSLR camera It seems like Metro Club allows professional photography so its all good.

Anyhow, the support bands were boring, we were pretty bored all the way through haha. The second band went all Godspeed You! Black Emperor on us and did some insanely boring instrumental tracks. Two twats at the venue constantly screamed throughout the gig. Michelle was really annoyed at them (so was I but i ONLY just noticed haha) and was ready to smash a glass ash tray into their thin and soft cranium.

Anyhow, there were two other photographers lounging about during the gig. They both had Nikon cameras. One of them kept changing their lens right in front of me, he puts his camera right on the table where I was sitting so I can have a look at it whilst he puts his other lens on. It was pretty sad haha. Apparently they were band photographers and gave out their business cards to the bands to see if they’re interested in purchasing their shots. I’m still in the process and providing free photographs since I’m only getting into this so yeah.

Anyway, Murder in Monochrome comes in and again, its ready to shoot. READY SET SHOOT! Haha

Heres a few photos which I took:

The performance was much better than the previous ones, there were some new songs and things got a bit rockier since Tom used his guitar more now. Definitely enjoyed the gig and all. The photos were amazing too. I really enjoyed using my 50mm f1.8 lens. It was nice and fast, before using it I gave the kit lens a quick go since I wanted to take some wide shots but I had to sacrifice quite alot of stuff in order to take a decent shot, I had to use flash on some occasions, raise the iso to 800 and risk blurry shots with very slow shutter speeds (around the 1/10-1/30 region). As soon as I attached my 50mm lens and took some close up shots, things dramatically changed, the photos were really light and I was able to capture alot more then the previous lens. I got a bit nervous and used some crazy settings (like 1/100 shutter speed when i can easily manage 1/50 and 1/60). But yeah. Really happy and proud of my new lens, top notch.

After the gig I had a quick word with Kris but didnt get round to talking to the other band members, ah well. They were pleased with my shots this time since I’ve really put more composition and style with the photos this time. Hopefully this continues with the other gigs I goto. Including some Michelle have already invited me to goto and all.

You might know GWARif you’ve seen Empire Records, where one of the characters, Mark, is watching GWAR perform on the television, later on he gets trapped inside with them. They are also known as the band that my brother listened to quite a lot back when he was still around (that and Manowar). Bloody crazy shock rock band.

Michelle managed to get guestlists for this show and invited me to come see them with her. I once again decided to bring my DSLR camera using my usual camera smuggling technique. We arrived at the venue and went to the box office to claim the guestlist tickets. Unfortunately, this didn’t go so well since the tour manager didn’t get Michelle’s name written down on the guestlist. There was quite a panic on determining whether we’re genuine guestlisters or not. One of the ladies managed to find the tour manager (who was actually part of the GWAR performance (think he was one/some of the monsters) ) to get a confirmation that we’re valid guestlisters. So yeah, we managed to get our guestlist in the end and go into the venue. It was pretty full already I must say. The seating area was quite packed so we couldn’t see the gig from a far distance, we ended up going near the front (on the side) to view the gig.

Look at the guy’s double metal sign “\mm/” how hardcore is that!

Loads of body fluids

GWAR is amazing, I advice you to check them out the next time they play. They are a bunch of crazy metal monsters rocking out in a small venue spraying all forms of body fluids (you name it, they sprayed it) at the crowd. Of course it was coloured water, but nonetheless, from where they escaped, it did make you feel a bit disgusted at it haha. The crowd really enjoyed the constant sprays of fake bodily fluids.

The music was over the top. They weren’t your typical metal band. They were far more tasteful. If you’re going to do metal, Do it right, wear crazy outfits, spray gallons of blood and of course, wear unflattering gstrings throughout the gig.

We did catch the tour manager (I think) who was constantly at the side of the stage getting changed into the next character to appear in the interludes. The show was filled with them. Between every one they would bring a celebrity of some sort to the stage and you get to hear alot about them. Each satirical interlude was dubbed with rather funny voices as well. There was a hybrid monster consisting of Bono and Hitler, a GWAR fan, the pope, some irish policeman (who gets raped with a stick), some crazy monster, some heroine addict, Osama Bin laden and a few other characters. They would do a 1 minute speech and soon after that, they are interupted by the singer going “WHAT A SECOND! WHY ARE YOU IN HELL!” All characters end up losing a limb or being totally annihilated on stage by the band. Some crazy melodrama one might say.

The show was simply amazing, never have I seen so much water being sprayed at the fans. The security guards werent too happy having to wear parker coats to hide from the water sprays, not to mention photographers being scared shitless that their cameras might get damaged from all the blood and …stuff.

I unfortunately got sprayed a few times and at one time, witness my iriver and camera to be splattered with blood. Thank god the lens didn’t get any. The security guards didnt really notice or care about my camera and all. Near the end I was kneeling on a stool taking photos, was pretty fun (was also taking photos by putting the camera on my head and snapping)

After the gig, everyone came out drenched silly. Some of the fans intentionally wore white jeans and t shirts JUST to really highlight how much they were soaked in blood. It was a bloody exciting gig (no pun intended). After the gig I went back home with blood all over my face, hands at the top of my top. Was quite funny seeing people’s reactions to someone filled with blood, but yeah haha.