Yesterday I was booked to shoot at Guns ‘n’ Roses’ 2nd London show at the O2 Arena. I really had to keep my professional hat on as I was a diehard G’n’R (original line-up) fan in my early teens.

Arriving on the Jubilee Line I discover notices of warning to attendees of the night’s show that Guns ‘n’ Roses are notorious for running over time for many years and with that the notice of the last tubes running to get home – meaning fans would actually miss over half an hour of the set to get their transport. Yikes!

I called my contact who met me and my lighting gear at the entrance and escorted me to the backstage area and we discussed the shoot which would happen after sound check. Timing being key here, I had a funny feeling things wouldn’t go according to plan. Haha. Sound check was then cancelled as they already had the levels set from the previous night at the same venue. The shoot would be later. Much later than originally planned. 3 hours later in fact.

The crew however were amazing to me, they gave me catering and made sure I was OK giving me regular updates on the band’s progress to the venue. Sebastian Bach was support and he wandered past a couple of times and said “Hey” (probably wondering what I was waiting for); his leopard print wheeled luggage in tow – like he was guarding it with his life! Funny guy. I had a good laugh also with the O2 security guys, especially about the big pot of ear plugs with this random sign on -

Richard finally walked in – very apologetic – with his most amazing Gibson guitar. It had a Bigsby too which made me happy. I love talking guitars, I’m a little bit of a closet geek actually – so immediately we hit it off. He was feeling a little worse for wear from partying the previous night – not even being able to keep water down. Axl’s advice to him was simply “you know tonight’s gonna hurt don’t you”. Richard was extremely professional despite feeling a little delicate. He wanted me to shoot him live too which wasn’t the original plan as Axl has strict rules that only his 2 Official photographers shoot their headline shows. They gave me access to the pit along with a security guy that made sure I didn’t take any pictures of Axl. Richard looked out for me knowing this and stayed right in front of me for the first 3 songs pulling various shapes for me to get some good shots.

I was offered to watch the rest of the show from side stage, which was SUCH a tempting offer but had to get home for some deadlines. The sound was immense and what I saw of the show was incredible. The wait was definitely worth it, and proof that being patient has its rewards.

I was shooting at Sonisphere for Rotosound, I arrived on the 2nd day around midday and the festival was already in full swing. I was camping again which didn’t appeal too much, but acquired the coolest and most recognisable tent I could find as I’m quite lousy at remembering where I set up camp in a sea of predominantly black tents! This one, I was sure would stick out a mile!

Outside my little zebra print tent you can see a white step stool. I called this my “special” stool. I’m a petite person and experience has taught me that at these big festivals you need height to shoot the main stages. Something which I lack unless in heels, which I’m not about to break an ankle over – especially in unpredictable festival weather! So this stool serves me well. I could have put a few band stickers on it though right? Nevermind.

This festival I didn’t have a huge amount of running around to do from stage to stage so was networking, photographing interviews with journalist friend Tazz Stander and some live shots for Rotosound.

Fear Factory were first on my list, having photographed them at their London show a little less than a week before it was great to see them on a huge stage. I shot them for an interview on the Gibson Bus which was full of so many cool things, guitar stair rails, TV screens etc…cool bus, really cool guys.

Anthrax were being interviewed in the press area shortly after. Scott Ian was there with his girlfriend Pearl who was promoting her new album. I was sitting next to her for a few interviews and felt really sorry for her as people’s questions seemed to be more geared at what her favourite shops are when she visits the UK and what her dad (Meatloaf) was like when she brought her first boyfriend home, rather than talk about her music. She looked kind of frustrated.
I had to grab a picture with Scott Ian. The guy is high on my “dude” list after seeing his patience with Seb Bach on the “Supergroup” TV series. You can see I’m sporting a Motley Crue photo pass. It was very exciting for me as I’ve never taken their pictures before and only 50 passes were issued for their set.

Before Motley Crue I would have to shoot Gallows for Rotosound. There was a slight stage time clash but thankfully both stages were right next to each other rather than opposite sides of the festival grounds (phew). I managed to arrange with one of the “runners” to come and get me and escort into the stage area when I had finished. A big load off my mind as I couldn’t miss either! That’s one of the annoying things at festivals; if there’s not a couple of photographers working together you have to prioritise. Mind you, I guess it’s the same for festival go-ers and bands they want to see. I was just happy it worked out.

Sooo Motley Crue. Here’s my fave shots from their set. I planted myself firmly on my “special” stool in between Nikki Sixx and Vince Neal to make sure I got good shots. I even managed a quick pic of Tommy Lee taking a picture of the crowd before he sat at his drum riser. Sweet!

Saturday was shaping up to be the busiest day press wise. The area was buzzing with Lacuna Coil, Evile (whose performance I sadly missed), CKY, Skunk Anansie, Papa Roach..loads more! I shot for Tazz during her interviews with Chad from CKY – who couldn’t keep his tongue from poking out even when on stage he did it at me….

…see!

Skunk Anansie – My favourite female fronted band, I love their energy and used to watch many interviews of them as a teenager. They have been one of the few bands that have lasted and not gone out of the loop despite music style changing so much over the years. I was very much looking forward to see them live and take their pictures, both for the first time.

After their set, press was winding down. Time to get dinner – a burger, pint of beer and freshly cooked mini donuts. Festival food isn’t the healthiest at all. I watched the sun set to Rammstein with some friends. A good day.

I headed back to the zebra tent, which I found very easily and I’m sure many others used that as a landmark to find their tents too! The day was so warm so getting into my sleeping bag was really nice; the nights however were SO SO cold. Any chance of getting to sleep when people were chatting outside my tent and singing was impossible, especially when it felt like it lasted all night. I also forgot my pillow so had to bunch up some clothes to rest my head. Ugh.
Sunday required coffee. Immediately. Thankfully the busy day was Saturday and the press area was somewhat deserted for most of the day. I bumped into Ol from Evile, and was happy about that as I missed them on Saturday. Not that I would be taking my sunglasses off any time soon.

Today would have been a huge day for me, as I was to take Iron Maiden’s pictures for Rotosound as Steve Harris is an endorsee, and also Terrorizer needed some snaps too. That would make me wake up for sure. Pendulum was also on my list to shoot for Rotosound. Other than that, I was only interested in Alice in Chains live. Great set and I loved taking their pictures.

A buzz was going about the press area mid afternoon when Iron Maiden’s management issued a cut list of photographers they had approved. My name wasn’t on the list! I was going nuts, and with it obviously being the weekend, I couldn’t call any company up to sort the issue. So was left with disappointment and frustration. Still, I had to shoot Gareth, the bassist from Pendulum so went along to my “now” final shoot of the festival and rocked it.

I packed down my zebra tent and waited for Glen to pick me up earlier than I had hoped and double checked the list to see if I was missed. A bit of an anti climax to the festival really.

I got home to find out that there was a mistake on the list and they were looking for me to shoot Maiden about half hour after I left! I don’t know if I was angrier that I should have stayed or that there was a mistake. ARGH!! There will be another time hopefully.

A scorcher of a weekend in many ways! It was hot, hot, HOT! The first High Voltage and it certainly rocked. A line up that made my mouth water with bands that I really dig and some I haven’t photographed before, I was stoked.

After collecting my passes and finding my way around the festival I started shooting at Main Stage with The Answer and Gary Moore. I wouldn’t be shooting the Prog stage at all as Planet Loud weren’t too interested in that side of things for their audience. I also shot Orange Gobin, Hammerfall, Cathedral and Saxon.

Mid afternoon, I grabbed some lunch and the 100th bottle of water as the heat was immense. I sat backstage to find the Black Label Society crew preparing the area for the show with fire, confetti and large beach balls with the BLS logo on.

The highlights of Saturday for me were Black Label Society and ZZ Top. I unfortunately missed photographing Heaven & Hell with their tribute to Ronnie James Dio as I was queuing for the photo pit for Black Label Society. I had a bad experience a few years back at their only UK appearance that whole year was at Hard Rock Hell in Wales. I was in the photo pit queue for Terrorizer Magazine – there were press from all over Europe for this one appearance (must have been at least 50 photographers) I was photographer number 6 of the “5 in, 5 out” rule they had. As I was let in the pit I took my camera out and stood in front of Zakk and went to take a picture and got pulled out of the photo pit by security saying that their tour manager at the time had the hump and cancelled all pictures. I was furious. So after that, I wasn’t going to miss their set and waited at the expense of Heaven & Hell.
ZZ Top were great too. The photographers got messed around a bit as we usually get the first 3 songs, but with these we got something random like song 1, 3 and 5. I couldn’t stop grinning while snapping away; I love everything about the sound and image of this band. I went home on my long journey on a high.

There wasn’t any camping at this festival, so it was travelling backwards and forwards both days. That along with the transport system being ruined as they decided to do engineering works that weekend too. Haha! But I still had a smile. Oh and I got given a BLS beach ball to take home with me. I did deflate it, after rolling around the press area with it acting like a loon as I finally took BLS’s pictures. Everyone in the press area nicknamed me the “ball girl” after that.

After a good night’s sleep and charging up my camera I set on my journey again to Victoria Park in London, looking forward to snapping Joe Bonamassa, Clutch, Opeth and Down!

Again another scorching day and by the time I had walked through the park to the first stage which was the Metal Hammer Stage I had already drunk 2 bottles
of water. I hung with Paul & Debs from Ed Stone Rockwear and Merl had worked on a previous Terrorizer interview with me. I think there was an after show in Central the night before so everyone that lived that way was nursing hangovers.

Sunday was more chilled out and quite quiet until mid afternoon when people started filtering in. Clutch got everyone awake and moving about – especially when they played “Mob Goes Wild” I love that song, you can’t help but dance. Opeth chilled everyone out again for the lazy Sunday afternoon, but Down wasn’t having any of it. Phil had almost lost his voice after an impromptu slot on stage with Heaven & Hell the night before. He felt compelled to get up on stage and do his bit for RJD. Down were still on fire though and singing could be heard all the way out of the park when I had to leave to get my train on a Sunday service WITH engineering works.

It was a well attended festival but didn’t feel rammed with bodies, more chilled out than say Download or Sonisphere, which I really liked as they had some real high calibre bands. I would deffo go to and shoot this festival again.

I’ve just been on an exciting journey with Godsized who played to the largest amount of people in their career so far, opening the 2nd Stage for the Saturday – a tent capacity of 5,000 people. Exhausted, still slightly damp from the torrential rain on the way home I write this.

We arrived and set up camp on Friday early afternoon and wandered around the festival to check out the stage that they would be playing, got some drinks and had a very chilled out afternoon while the boys prepared themselves for the morning. We enjoyed AC/DC’s set and got a relatively early night. We did wonder exactly how many people would grace the 2nd stage hung-over at 11am the morning, especially after the show that AC/DC put on!

Everyone woke to alarms (yes alarms at a festival) at about 7:30am as the guys had to showered and be at the stage for 9am to get their gear set up and sound checked. I followed shortly after and took a walk to the tent. This is what it looked like at 10am.

Deserted!

As the noise started emanating while they were sound checking, people started appearing from nowhere…The delay in the schedule for some reason of about 15 minutes worked in their favour as the tent filled up loads more in that small amount of time. People were chanting! It was incredible. I think they had a half hour (maybe a little more) set. I took pics in the pit and then from side stage. Just look at this!

That’s only half of the tent as I had to hide behind a speaker stack

The boys were very happy indeed

Lots of interviews and meeting people followed. As well as great catering. Where I bumped into good friend Phil Demmel from Machine Head, he wasn’t feeling too good from a dodgy burger after AC/DC, poor guy.

While in the press area, I was grabbed to take some pictures for Dean Guitars of the new design that they had just created; Dimebag Darrell had drawn it on a napkin a week before his death. Vinnie Paul was there to present it to Five Finger Death Punch guitarist Jason Hook. It was a real honour to be asked to take pictures for them.

We watched Lamb of God from side of the stage and generally celebrated the night away. I’m not sure how much alcohol got consumed, but it’s safe to say the boys had maybe a litre of spirits each. And rightly so with a job superbly done!

The morning after….

And Effon has his victory porridge

Camp Godsized – The morning after. The hangover. The victory.

I must admit, on being booked to shoot with Guthrie and Alex I had no idea who either of them were. I was told that Alex was known around the world and Guthrie was “Britain’s best kept secret” and had toured with Dizzee Rascal among others. I looked on the internet for some more information to be prepared and get inspired for the photo shoot.

I was impressed. Very impressed, and was looking forward to the shoot.

We met up in Hackney at a photo studio I use often. Guthrie arrived first and we spoke a little while I set up my lights. Alex arrived shortly after, suitcase of clothing and suggested that they have a jam as he had all his live gear in the car from a show the night before. Guthrie was well up for the idea and I was of course eager to hear them both play. It would bring a natural approach to the shoot as I could tell neither of them was ecstatic to be posing for shots, but know it’s a necessary evil for promotion.

They jammed for about 3 hours. At times I had to remember I was there to be taking pictures as it was like a performance but just for me! Once our time was up at the studio, Alex suggested that we all grab a bite to eat together. I had bought some sandwiches to munch on the train home at the end of the shoot, but tossed them aside for this opportunity.

None of us knew Hackney at all, so we got as far as the nearest pub that looked like it had a food menu of some sort. We walked in and tumbleweed went past. It was dead in there. Our bellies spotted a hand written food menu which didn’t look all too appealing but we were there and the beer was there so we sat down.

Guthrie ordered a beer and beef burger meal, as did I. Alex ordered a chicken burger meal and was told by the chef after he umm-ed and ahh-ed that he had in fact never cooked that before but assured Alex it would taste nice. Our eyes popped out of our heads and we tried to hide our sniggers. You can tell it’s only going to get worse.

As the “chef” wandered off I noticed that he was holding one hand out of sight and when he opened the swing door to the kitchen his hand was covered in a blue plastic bag! I told Alex and Guthrie of this and we waited eagerly. Our meals appeared in quick succession, but only one at a time. It was clear there was a problem with the chef’s hand. Mine arrived first, and then Guthrie’s which almost landed in his lap from the clumsy chef. Finally the elusive chicken burger arrived, with an apology that he couldn’t be faster as he had a “gammy hand”. We turned as he went to the kitchen, minus the blue bag this time and what looked like a sock covering his “gammy hand”.

We didn’t know what to do, so being the polite English that we are (?!) bravely ate the food hoping the beer would kill any germs or even numb the pain if the food was bad. Guthrie pointed out we should all let each other know that we got home ok and give updates of any suspicious stomach incidents that may occur in the following days.

The pub incidentally was The Crooked Billet, and thankfully sock hand man didn’t poison us either.

Every time Machine Head are in London we always hang out. Today I had a shoot with Phil for Ed Stone Rockwear. I went earlier in the day after they had sound checked to see them all. Last week I had quite a bad fall and bruised my fibula bone – thankfully it wasn’t broken. Hobbling with my camera gear I wasn’t going to miss seeing the guys!

Phil had some press interviews with Jackson guitars just before his shoot with me so I had plenty of time to set up. I spotted a small figure of Rocky Balboa resting on his guitar rack which sparked a debate as to which of the movies was the best. I personally love Rocky IV, but Phil’s favourite is Rocky. We had a picture together including Rocky to commemorate, both clearly doing impressions of Stallone.

He then wore a couple of new Ed Stone designs and I got him to pose with his Randy Rhoads guitar as it’s one of my favourites that he plays.

I went to catch up with Dave in the dressing room after I had packed down. He was loading the new Ratt and Rob Zombie CD’s onto his laptop and we talked about random stuff as always including his nice artwork on the steps to his drum riser.

He said that gets him siked for the show. Robb walks in with a white tray with marker pen scrawled over it, looking very pleased with himself as he had just written the set list for the show that night.

A lot of the Machine Head regulars (Frontliners) like to meet up before the show and catch up, so we went for drinks at the bar – Machine Head fans are incredibly loyal to each other and it was so nice to see many people. Robb somehow snuck past the queues of people outside the sold out show at Brixton to come over to the bar and have his photo with the fans. A really nice touch I thought.

The show was immense as always. This time I focussed on getting some shots of Adam as the others I had killer shots from all their other shows. By the end of the night my leg was slightly sore from all the standing and walking around, but it was worth it. I wouldn’t have missed catching up with the guys, that’s for damn sure!!

A double-whammy booking I had for Ed Stone Rockwear with Mike Portnoy AND Mikael Alerfeldt at their Wembley show.

I had worked with Mikael before, but not Mike, and I’ve always liked him when watching behind the scenes footage on Dream Theater DVD’s.

Arriving at Wembley I was to meet the Tour Manager in the underground parking lot and be taken to where the shoot is. I was hoping for a really cool area to do the shoot as usually I have to make so with a pokey dressing room corner or a paint peeling corridor. At Wembley they should have some nice areas for pics.

There was a photo shoot actually going on with Big Elf, Opeth and Dream Theater in the parking lot when I got there, I thought maybe this is where it will end up being. Press had over run, photo shoots had overrun too so I was in for a wait.

Plenty of time to find a section to do the shoot in with the Tour Manager Steve. I ended up setting my gear up in front of the rolling doors. They had these large plastic curtains – like the kind you would find in a meat locker or something. I quite liked it as it looked industrial yet theatrical at the same time. Perfect for the shoot. It’s nice when things work out like that.

About an hour later Mike and Mikael came down for the shoot. Very down to earth guys; full of conversation and confident in their poses. You would expect that from their experience.

After the shoot they both said thank you to me and they hoped I enjoy the show. Steve the tour manager had meanwhile sorted me with a stage pass for Opeth’s set and some catering for my long wait. It was freezing in the parking lot so soup was seriously appealing!

There was a really cool moment during the show where during Dream Theater’s set, Mike called the drummers up from all the bands on the bill that night where they all jammed.

Shortly after the shoot I found out that Dream Theater had filmed a portion of my photo shoot for their music video ‘Wither’ (at 2mins 15secs)

What an incredible honour, I had no idea it was being filmed! The part they filmed was one of my favourite pictures from the shoot where Mike wanted to kick his foot at the camera. It didn’t quite work the first time and he almost fell over. So he asked Mikael to hold him up for the 2nd shot (that’s why Mikael is laughing)

Last time I was at Bloodstock was in 2007 and it was an absolute blast so I was excited to be going again this year. Working for Devolution & Terrorizer Magazine and also Ed Stone Rockwear…

I travelled up with Godsized – due to open 2nd stage – the Sophie Lancaster Stage on the Friday evening. Arriving slightly later into the Friday due to a Steak pit stop – if you have to know anything about Godsized they really love their Steak!

Finally arriving at the venue, it’s an absolute nightmare to find where to go. We end up camping with the caterers behind the 2nd stage tent. Thinking a 1:30am curfew on that stage would be totally fine for us and karaoke can’t be that bad. WRONG! hahaha. We heard System of a Down and Guns and Roses being absolutely murdered! 




I started work by photographing the Godsized boys on the 2nd stage and did a little filming for them too. The tent was full and it was such a good start to the festival. Backstage I found this random sign where the bands kit is supposed to go. I did wonder whether it was a failed piece of artwork meant for the festival goers on their way in…Hmmm.





As soon as Godsized played their last note I had to run across the field with my suitcase holding my studio lights to do a promo shoot with Swedish band Katationa for Terrorizer Magazine and then also for Ed Stone Rockwear. They were good fun to work with and easy to photograph. Look out for the Promo pictures soon! I also managed to get a couple of pictures for Devolution Magazine too. Nickie gave me the latest issue with my feature/interview on my current pin up project. I showed the guys in Katatonia the feature and they were totally into the whole idea. They asked for some Playing Cards for when they’re on tour, which was awesome. We did a silly picture at the end of the shoot – something I always like to do with people I work with.





The rest of the day involved taking pictures of Interviews for Godsized and photographing Pythia on 2nd stage. The evening we hit the fairground rides. Seb – the drummer from Mantra was drum teching for Effon and they went on the scary catapult ride.

I woke sore all over on the Saturday from camping. Typically English I love my tea in the mornings and went on the hunt for the Tea shop and bought a burger for breakfast. I felt vaguely human again.

More photographing of interviews, a Terrorizer ‘bar rant’ with Wolf and my Editor Louise. Drinking Pimms and talking about Metal. Pictures available when the magazine comes out…


Photographed: Internal Conflict, Sanctorum, Inner Eden and Solsikk. 

The festival was relatively dry with just a few showers. There wasn’t really any mud – only in the backstage area where the main stage artists are, how ironic! I found a weird van with Bloodstock 2010 emblazoned all over it. A bit early huh?





Being in the press area at festivals usually involves lots of waiting around. Thankfully there’s plenty to entertain you. Cheaper booze than the festival punters – I’m a Jack Daniels girl but Bulleit Bourbon was slightly cheaper and just as nice. So that was me sorted for the occasional drinkie in between shoots. There were also many people walking around dressed up. I got grossed out by some guys walking around in Borat mankinis. But found the Star Wars people quite fun and very small. So much so I had to get Godsized to kneel down so they weren’t towering over the Storm Troopers etc.. in the photo. haha. We also had fun with the bumper cars.



There was a small Jagermeister stage in between all the other stages and stalls. Some of the bands who played 2nd stage were approached to play an acoustic version of their songs. Godsized played a really awesome set to about 200 people who just stopped and watched as the sun set. It was super cool.




Just before packing up to go home, I had a shoot with Evile. We went on the Ghost Train and some rides for the photos. It was the most silliest and fun shoot I’ve ever done. I won’t put the pictures up until Terrorizer Mag comes out. We did have a picture taken together earlier by Talita (thank you Talita). Gill was in the picture also and just before that was taken he was telling the funniest story about being a kid and dancing in his mums mirror to Bon Jovi while wearing her pixie boots. Gill needs to be a stand up comedian and have his own show. Seriously he was too funny.




In all I had a FAB time networking, seeing some new bands, meeting new people. I hated the camping. But it was worth it. All live and promo pictures will be up once the magazines and companies have published them.

Firstly I was very fortunate to even make Hellfest. I had my ears syringed and unfortunately the doctor didn’t do it correctly resulting in a perforation in my left ear drum. An infection got in which left me with a swollen face, couldn’t eat or anything and some hearing impairment which I’m hoping will heal. I was on codeine and paracetamol and 3 lots of strong antibiotics. Still, me being a stubborn me bought some pro earplugs and went on my way to France – after all I had it all booked and wasn’t going to miss out.

I initially was to write a diary-like entry on here but didn’t want to bore you all with my drivel. So here’s the festival trip in brief:

THURSDAY/FRIDAY….

• Killer of a journey – 11 hours all told from London – Lille – Kortrijk – Clisson.

• Glorious sunshine and very impressive visuals at the festival. Arrived slightly later into the Friday – Buckcherry were on and playing ‘Crazy Bitch’. What a nice welcome

• Friday I shot – Voivod, W.A.S.P., Anthrax, Papa Roach and Down

• Hung with Parkway Drive who are awesome dudes. I think they used their meal tickets which resulted in a farting competition, initially looking really embarrassed at me when I heard the first one but I then told them it was all cool so they continued…They went on stage at 1am…yes. Thankfully they weren’t silent and deadly.

• DOWN were immense. I enjoyed taking their pictures again and sang ‘Bury me in Smoke’ to Cindy and Fanny (lovely to meet you finally Fanny, you’re ace.)

• Went up to Pepper from Down and informed him his beard was looking awesome. We then had some pictures taken together to celebrate his beardy goodness and pulled funny faces. He remembered me from last year’s promo shoot where I took MegaBeth and he told me he was excited to be having a baby boy soon. Kirk also remembered me and we had a weird chat about eyebrows. I guess they’re beards for the eyes?

Pepper + I = Funny Faces

• Anthrax were awesome. Scott Ian is a dude, since seeing Supergroup he proved how cool he is to have that much patience with Seb Bach. I like his stage moves a lot, the stage this year wasn’t so high like before (about 7ft) so I was actually able to take good pictures this year without the need to wear really high heels.

• Roy Mayorga arrived with his band Amebix late afternoon; they were excited to be supporting Killing Joke on the Saturday.

• Motley Crue headlined and didn’t allow any photographers. This was a regular occurrence on their festival trip in Europe. That really sucked as they were one of the bands I really wanted to photograph. I didn’t watch their set but heard groans from people saying it sounded awful. I wandered outside and heard Mick Mars playing ‘Little Wing’ by Hendrix. Well, not playing it, actually murdering it. I told Glen when I got back home about it; we had many whiskeys and a take away. I was telling him all about my trip and said “ahhh man, Motley Crue covered Hendrix’s ‘Chicken Wing’.” HAHAH, it may well have been chicken wing they were playing. It was bad.

SATURDAY….

• I shot – Devildriver, Amebix, The Misfits, Killing Joke, Cradle of Filth, Soulfly, Gojira, Machine Head

• I arrive at the festival and immediately go to see if my good friends Machine Head have arrived. They were crazy busy with press but we managed to have a quick catch up. Robb is sporting a beard too. I start to think that beards are the thing to have in rock bands at the moment!

• Devildriver were insane as always, I saw them at download 2007 last when they attempted the world record for the biggest ever circle pit. You can look it up on youtube. The sun had dried up the field where the crowd were, the pit started and all you could see was brown dust rising. People weren’t bothered and made themselves masks from their t-shirts, some had bought gas masks and others with them – it was such a funny sight! One guy crowd surfed in a butchers apron covered with fake blood and put it all over his face too. He neared the French security at the front and they panicked thinking it was real! The French are funny people. You would never see naked people running around at a festival in the UK. Right by the press pit there was this drunken French hunchback. He kept talking to me and I had no idea what he was on about. Maybe he wanted a picture, I should have taken one for you all to see – it was rather random.

Dust-pit during Devildriver

• After their set I had a shoot with Dez. He likes red wine so we go to the VIP bar and i get some red wine and we do the shoot for Terrorizer magazine (keep your eyes open for the feature) We hung out and had a really cool chat, he is a super cool dude and I hope to work with them again soon. Dez and I joked about making DD gasmasks for their merch. Karine from Roadrunner took this picture for me – thank you Karine!!

Dez – Devildriver likes Red Wine

• I shoot Soulfly and the bassist looks down at me and pokes his tongue out. Later I’m walking to the next stage looking through my pictures and I hear this voice “you better have made me look tall and skinny!” I look up and it’s him! I say of course, you aren’t remotely small or fat

Bobby Burns – Soulfly

• Clutch replace KMFDM on the 2nd stage – such a nice surprise. I try to watch them from side stage with Mudbilly but the French security guy wouldn’t let me as he didn’t understand what i was saying. Quel idiot!! I still find a way to dance to ‘Mob Goes Wild’

• After that I went to the VIP area where I hear saxophones and trumpets, not the usual sounds from a metal festival. I walk in and laugh. There’s a band called Pastors of the Muppets playing Fuel by Metallica on brass instruments dressed as rock stars. It was very amusing!

• I went and hung out with Al and Fiaz from Machine Head’s crew for a bit. Fiaz is their photographer. He is a complete dude and he showed me some pics he took of them on his travels. They are amazing and I’m sure you will see them somewhere soon.

Fiaz & I

• Machine Head’s set was amazing as always and the crowd went crazy. I stood on the barrier to take some crowd pics and ended up laughing at this guy with a camcorder trying to get footage of the circle pit while on his friend’s shoulders running around in the pit. Proper comedy! Straight from the set Dave McClain goes to the other stage to jam with his old band Sacred Reich. Awesome!

• Killing Joke take 2nd stage after Machine Head and in my opinion it was a big mistake! Talk about Fucking Joke! I was talking to the Gitter on blackberry and said Killing Joke just played. The guy looks like what Marilyn Manson will look like in a few years time. Funny shit. I’m horrible I know.

• Tim from Bloodsimple was with his other band Vision of Disorder in the Terrorizer tent. He got changed after the set into an Ed Stone shirt. I saw him and asked to take some pics of him in the shirt as I work for them. Paul and Debs will be happy!

Tim – Bloodsimple

• Marilyn Manson didn’t allow photographers either. I’m beginning to not understand why these headline bands aren’t allowing photographers. Stupid huh.

The final day of the festival – SUNDAY….

• I shot – Mastodon, Dragonforce, Epica, Suicidal Tendencies, Europe, Hatebreed.

• Arriving on site again from the hotel and grabbing breakfast – more melon!!

• Bumped into Mark from Death Angel who was on a day off from on tour. He was mainly spending time at the buffet table. He’s a good laugh.

• Steve from Suicidal Tendencies was also by the buffet table. No surprise really as they were playing at 9:55pm. They arrived mid morning and were given only 1 meal ticket each to last them the whole day. Oops. Steve also had a beard too, last time I saw him was at download 2007 sans beard. It really is the festival of beardyness. Or maybe I just miss Glen.

• Dragonforce and their usual antics on stage result in customised microphone stands with beer holders avec pink straws. Only they could do that.

• Simone gets ready for the stage and looks beautiful as always. I did a quick shoot with her just before Epica went on stage.

• Europe takes the stage and everyone waits for The Final Countdown. The rest of their set was actually pretty fucking good. They save that track for last and it leaves everyone backstage going around singing or humming it for the rest of the evening.

• Last days of festivals are always crazy fun. A very merry Brent from Mastodon walked around with half a bottle of red wine in one hand and his dinner in a Tupperware container in the other, telling everyone “here, hold this; this is my dinner – heavy isn’t it.” Haha.

Napalm Death had a poodle party

We all had a good laugh; Brent then tried to trash Hatebreed’s dressing room resulting in Steve from Suicidal getting hit on the head with a metal support beam and Jamey just laughing his ass off at the whole thing – Hatebreed had a stressful journey and didn’t think they were going to make it to the festival, so I think they were happy of some laughs before stage. Steve then found a really big bogie up his nose and asked me to photograph it (I won’t put that picture up). There was comparing of beer bellies, group hugs, and Cindy and I were asked to be pretend band members of Suicidal and do a pretend promo shoot.

Suicidal Tendencies & Marie

• Manowar headlined and of course there were no photographers again. Unless you were contracted this time. But they forgot to tell people about the contracts. I will forget about that though, and end on the high of Hatebreed. They headlined for me.

• Stole a pillow from Mastodon’s dressing room so I could sleep on the 8 hour car ride back to Kortrijk overnight. Sorry Hellfest. It was a nice pillow though There wasn’t too much room in the car so Cindy slept in the trunk

Mega thanks to Uxjx for driving his car for so long and being an absolute star!!!

Here are my favourite photos from the 3 day festival, hope you like them

Hellfest – France Day 1. 
Top-Bottom: Anthrax, Papa Roach, Voivod, DOWN, W.A.S.P, Anthrax.

Hellfest – France Day 2.
Top-Bottom: Amebix, Gojira, Soulfly, Misfits, Soulfly, Killing Joke, Cradle of Filth, DevilDriver, Cradle of Filth

Hellfest – France Day 3.
Top-Bottom: Dragonforce, Epica, Europe, Suicidal Tendencies, Mastodon, Dragonforce, Europe, Suicidal Tendencies

I was majorly excited about this show, and the first time I shot at the O2 Arena.

Everything was a major rush as the transport to the O2 had issues as the tubes were closed, so it was replacement bus services and the ferry if you booked in time. I managed to make it to the venue with moments to spare before Machine Head took the stage. Annoyingly the venue wasn’t full at the sold out show for their set because I think everyone else had the same problems getting there.
My pass was slapped on me by the Production Manager and off I went into the pit. A little unsure of where I was allowed to go as the stage was literally in the middle of the venue like a circle with the sound desk to one side. A lot of gesturing and nodding went on while taking pictures and running around. Talk about an adrenaline rush!

Once I finished shooting the 3 songs I didn’t see where everyone got escorted to, so I checked with security that I would be able to watch the rest of the set from inside the pit as long as I didn’t take more pictures. They were cool with that, so I sat on one of the barrier benches. The sound and show was phenomenal. What an achievement for Machine Head!

When they finished on stage they all came past me and gave sweaty hugs and said “hey” on their way to the dressing room. Dave said he would come out in a bit to see me.

Just as Metallica took the stage Dave came out with a beer and watched some of the set with me, then escorted me backstage to the dressing room for a drinky and chat with the crew. I get on really well with Mud – Dave’s drum tech. We talked about motorbikes, drinking and life for a bit, and then decided to take some random pictures.

I met Fiaz at a couple of shows – he was taken on as their Official Tour photographer. Adam I think got a bit left out with all the photography talk so he decided to steal Fiaz’s camera and take it upon himself to play photographer for a bit.

We found Dave was a natural in front of the camera and he considers a modelling career over the drums

Everyone was in very high spirits and pleased with the show. It turns out that it was also Joseph – Machine Head manager’s birthday. They had a running theme on the tour to make cock shaped birthday cakes. I guess that’s what happens when a bunch of guys have been away from home too long. Usually you will find various scrawling of cocks drawn backstage at venues, in tour buses, on set lists, wherever! I don’t understand it personally, but it was quite hilarious.

Especially as the cake was decorated with the 100’s and 1000’s on the balls and everything!

It was sad to say “bye” to the guys, and annoying as I had to embark on my journey home. I thought to get a cab, but i think everyone else had the same idea so the queue wasn’t going anywhere for at least a few hours. Replacement bus and rail all the way home it was then.
The Machine Head boys – looking like they’re loving it!