What Do I Know?

What I know about heavy metal you could snort up one nostril in a single, fleeting bog session. So why I am writing about my experiences and observations of attending a heavy rock festival? Well, I take photographs, special photographs; music photographs. And I’m a bit fussy because to take a decent picture you have to have a special empathy for the subject.

My mates tell me that there’s some excellent shit at this festival so I went armed with a photo pass for the secondary Scuzz stage, but with secret (and illicit) plans to catch some of the action on the Main stage. I have very eclectic musical tastes and have experienced some heavy rock shows by the likes of bands like Amen and Symposium. I of course love bands like Led Zep, Crows, Creed, Bizkit et al, but have listened and never seen. I also admire Metallica. Hero For A Day and Master Of Puppets are still two of my favourite rock anthems ever. My plans translate into a laden weight of around two tons because I’m carrying some long and very heavy lenses, and three tank-like cameras. So with bags slung over both shoulders to balance the burden a bit (well that’s the theory), I’m off through the tunnel heading for the battle lines.

Madness - McKenzies Style

I arrive at the Scuzz stage tent and head straight for the pit as the first band is about to start. As I stand with guns at the ready onto the stage bounce kilted and tatty The Real McKenzies - complete with bagpipes! A Scottish metal band? Wrong! Try Vancouver, Canada withjust a sniff of Scots plasma.

The audience looks a bit thin but this band looks full-on. They proceeded to impress me with their enthusiasm, gymnastics and loose musicianship. They also rocked like fuck and my lense was pulled like a magnet to the guitarist Dirty Kurt Robertson whose facial grimaces would divert the most evil vampire to easier pastures. Wonderful.

Introduction - Again!

Next up was a young and respectable looking young band from the States called Introduction. I looked at my menu and times for the day and I notice that, so far, the schedule has been arsed. These guys are not even listed.

Leadman Arty Shepherd then explains that they are in fact doing a second gig after having appeared on the Main stage earlier. BUT WHY? No explanations (although heavily veiled hints that I’m too stupid to comprehend) just a great set from a band who are as tight as a duck’s blow-hole, loud and lithe. Unlike the previous kiltkins, these guys have a taste for melody and I’m impressed. Picture wise though, faintly interesting.

Brand New?

Another band I don’t know from Adam is up next. Brand New are young, hungry Yanks who exhibit a strong punk rock streak. The lead singer gives a stonking display and I’m having trouble following these guys around the stage to try and get a decent shot. But the thing that really hits me is that these relative unknowns are so confident and frankly beat the shit out of our local bands.

In the break that followed a guy walked up to the central mic wearing only underpants complete with large, frontal yellow stain. He then turns and bears his arse to the audience. Two security men eventually appear and shuffle him off the stage. It all looks a little too staged for comfort, and within seconds he turns up at the pit barrier to sign autographs. Is he an impressario? Groupie? Underpaid (and underworked) Kerrang! hack about to lose his job? Or perhaps it was a Fred Durst secret gig?

Eighties B-Line Matchbox - Disaster!

Now it’s time for a highly hyped Brit band with a very long name…. and a middle-aged manager who sports a tan ten gallon hat and looks feckin’ ridiculous. The leadman slowly stalk eventually standing stage-front and staring out into the audience. To me, it seems choreographed and superficial, like a play with the vocalist playing lead role. Then Hank appears in the pit and before the first rather ordinary song is finished the leadman jumps into the pit and goes up to the crowd.

The security squad look concerned and it becomes obvious that this has been planned with no prior warning. As I skip to avoid snagging the dragged mic chord, I catch the guy trying to clamber back on the stage (laughingly) with heap big difficulty. He eventually makes it and then during the next song retreats to the drums and looks as though he’s going to vomit. Frankly I didn’t even wait for the completion of the statutory third song (photo rule 1 - three songs and out). Not good, not good at all.

Apocalyptica - NOW?

I wonder outside in the sunshine and sus out the VIP/Guest refreshments area and then decide to do a recky on the route to the Main stage. Okay, I’m happy…it’s roughly a quarter of a mile and I seem to be managing my truckload of gear reasonably well, i.e. I’m still standing…woh, woh, woh… I head back to the Scuzz tent and find it has become the Buzz tent. Security has been heightened substantially and fans are craining over the barrier to the back stage area for some reason. Guys are pointing to equipment and turning around to their friends with faint smiles but questioning looks. I then inspect the menu and see that Apocalyptica is the next band up and it’s yet another band I’ve never heard of. Now I begin to really wonder what’s going on. The security supervisor is placing bodies in the way of people entering the tent from the side, and fans are being directed to enter at the opposite end - a fair hike away. I sneak back in as one of the security bodies becomes deeply involved in explaining something to a punter. I head for the barrier entry point and then really start to worry. Another security head is looking over at the waiting photographers and is looking nervous. It looks very much to me as though the guy who he is in deep conversation with has just given him an instruction that affects us snappers. It also seems as though the backstage area is being cleared of personnel and there’s an ingress of more security people.

Oh Shit!

Picture, Where Art Thou?

As I wait to enter the pit area, I look around and the tent is suddenly full to the rafters and I notice people on their mobile phones. What the feck is going on? My worst fears are then confirmed. No photographers! The tall black security supervisor gives no reason and you just know he’s deadly serious. It’s got to be Metallica!. Immediately I look for possible locations for trying to take pictures while scrambling for my long lens and attaching it to the camera body. Every spot, every inch, every route, everything has been closed. I wander around the side to find a way in. There is no hope of getting close to the stage, not even within 50 feet of it; it’s fecking curtains. The tent suddenly errupts in cheers as (I found out later) the covers are lifted from the amps and the new Metallica logo is revealed. It’s true, they are here! And I’m well and truly fucked! I inch into the melee with extreme difficulty and I’m now cursing the two bags I chose to drag around with me. My kit is now hampering my progress big time, and I’m sure someone is going to bop me.

Metallica strike up and I’m stranded in a spot miles away from the stage hidden behind the tallest audience in history. I desperately hand my camera to a very tall fan but on viewing the results through the camera’s LCD know that I have to get closer with a clearer view to the action. What the heck do I do? By song three, a few members of the audience begin to retreat looking worse for wear. I take my chance and inch further forward through the tiny gaps left. I’m getting closer but more importantly, there are slightly clearer views to the stage appearing. I can’t progress any further and am still a long distance from the stage. It’s now or never, I think to myself. I lift Big Bertha and wait for moments when arms are lowered and heads sway sideways. I hold the ton of glass and metal as steady as I can and fire, again, again and again. The LCD shows an improvement but not much. I keep my finger on the trigger. Better! I then go for max picture size in the hope that I can close up on band faces and manipulate these digital pictures to give me something worth using. A fraction more view becomes available and things are looking a tad brighter. I thank the guy next to me for providing a little more space to manoeuvre, and an even better view. BINGO! I turn up the speed dial and shit! Real and useable pictures. My arms now are like lead weights and I just cannot hold them up any more but I think I have enough. I need to get out or something bad is going to happen - like collapse. I eventually get out into fresh air and bright sunlight. But it’s too bright to see anything on the camera’s LCD and then realize that my first good view of what I’ve taken won’t be seen until I get home. I’m quietly confident though. Imagine winning the Lotto, imagine your wildest dream coming true. That’s what I’m feeling now. I believe I have just photographed a rock happening of historic proportions. I then remember that I have more work to do, much more work to do……

Plan B

Right, it’s time to put Plan B into operation and try to get some pictures on the Main stage. It turns out to be a quite long hike but the adrenalin’s up and I arrive to find what seems to be a rather thin crowd. But it’s the break and the stage is being readied for the next band so it’s fill and piss time (plus of course many punters had migrated to the ’secret gig’). I find a good spot on a photo-friendly slope and wait. I need to check my gear after recent struggles and everything seems okay. Big Bertha is attached and I’m going to need it if I’m to catch some of the quality action about to happen. I flop down and for the first time that day I’m able to relax for a few minutes. I’m tired but happy.

Bang, Bang, Bang!

As I nearly doze off, the people in front of me stand up and it signals the start of one of the best gigs at the fest. Stone Sour are magnificent. Corey Taylor? looks fetching in his Union Jack T-shirt and he leads his ’side-project’ with distinction. Awesome stuff and the fans respond to a tight but flamboyant performance.

Then Disturbed take on the mantle and it fits like a glove. A little more melodic and manicured but great although frontman Draiman seemed a little detached.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more confident and authoratative band, and if I was gay David would be mine. But I’m not, and he ain’t.

I think to myself that the next bands will have to go some to beat this. It’s nearly time to get back to the Scuzz stage but not before I catch the ska antics of crazy men Less Than Jake.

They bounce onto the stage and just don’t seem to stand still for even a a moment. Well, they did have their stand and stare moments which I think I took full advantage of. A quick check on my picture LCD. I’m content and ready to travel.

Back To Earth

I had to pinch myself. I had just seen three of the very best heavy metal bands perform in the space of an hour and a half - including Metallica! I went legal again and entered the Scuzz pit to shoot Spunge, Strung Out and Thrice.

A good cross section of talented Brit and Yank bands who are definitely on the up and offer a diverse range of styles and songs. But as time flew by it was time to embark on my travels again and hit the big time. As I trundled back to the Main stage and eventually arrive, I reckoned that my elicit picture taking spot was actually better than the Main stage pit - especially with Big Bertha on board.

Strange But True

Keith Flint from Prodigy has decided on a side project to while away his time in between long rest periods in the day job. The result is heavy rock group Flint. The outcome? Well… Keithy looked splendid in his cream skirt, in fact the word ‘immaculate’ would not be out of place here. The music or pure rant left me and an unusually quiet audience just a bit underwhelmed (save for a blond-headed couple in the audience who couldn’t stop jumping up and down, and a girl at the side of the stage who obviously found something to dance about).

But I also wondered why this level of music had been elevated above the brilliance and expression of bands like Stone Sour and Disturbed. Just couldn’t work it out. Don’t get me wrong, Tony Howlett, Keiron Pepper and Jim Davies gave a fantastic instrumental performance while Flint was Flint. But the music held nothing for me; I was unmoved and uninspired. The crowd impressed me with their enthusiasm and good-naturedness (although I had to threaten two groups of kids with Big Bertha for turbo-water-pistolling and threatened bombing with urine-filled bottles - Evian, of course).

Billy Corgan’s Zwan has received rave reviews for the new album but I was a bit mystified why the band was here at all. I thought this was a heavy rock fest, and yet here is Zwan opening with some quiet guitar rock. As missiles rained down, the band huddled together on the massive stage as if to protect each other. It was just a bit comical and from the look of it, Corgan thought so too… A case of right band, wrong place? I thinks so. The audience remained very quiet and as if a sign from the Almighty, it started to rain and I just had to get to shelter to protect my gear. Time to retreat to the Scuzz tent.

Fire And Water

The closer I got to my destination, the more it rained. As I arrived the heavens seemed to empty the lot in one go! The sloping sides to the tent deposited torrents of water which had begin to resemble Niagara Falls. The resulting rivers began to ingress the tent and as I watched the USA band Bouncing Souls, water began to seep through and dribble down the spot lights onto the stage.

Bouncing Souls just carried on regardless and gave a brilliant exhibition of controlled musical chaos, to a capacity crowd. I managed to squeeze off some shots from the depths of the audience before venturing back outside when the rain had eased. A quick Fanta and then back to Scuzz and eventually into the backstage area which by this time had become a mass of squelching mud.

Boysetsfire from the UK proved themselves to be closest to the quality of up and coming USA metal bands. I was impressed

Just One More Mile

As darkness fell it was difficult to establish whether rain clouds were threatening again. So I took the chance and legged it back to the Main stage. On the final leg of the journey there’s this steep hill to negotiate and an open flat area just before it. Only by now it was a deep fresh water lake. I skirted it and met with much shallower water before climbing the hill and arriving at the Main stage. As I waited for the my final performance of the day, some guys from London starting telling me how good Audioslave were.

This amalgam of major league players includes the brilliant guitarist Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine) and one of the finest rock singers around, Chris Cornell (Soundgarden), and have produced arguably the best rock record of the year. Judging by the size of the crowd, it’s an astute choice for headlining the Main stage on the closing day.

For me, this performance was second only to Metallica and Stone Sour and through some incredible guitar work from Morello. Cornell also sounded great and the crowd loved every second of it (at one point he help up a recorder to catch the response for his family back home in the USA).

Home And Hosed

The trek back to the car seemed to take forever with the necessary diversions around flooded areas. When I arrived my two mates were still talking about the the gig of the day. Most of what I’d witnessed had impressed me greatly and I never realized that heavy metal could be so expressive, emotional and musical. I had managed to photograph sixteen bands and was totally and utterly shagged. As I tried to remove the thick mud from my shoes I pondered on why I put myself through difficult tasks like this at my age. The answer came as I quickly scanned the many photos I’d taken, including the Metallica shots. Music photography is not about technical perfection, it’s about catching those special moments provided by the very best talent, performing in front of real and enthusiastic people.

And today I was blessed with many special moments provided by both artists and audience. As I turned off my cameras for a well-earned rest, I smiled to myself and immediately fell asleep for the whole of the rest of the two hour journey - Hero For A Day

Footnote 1

I subsequently found out that Kerrang! got the exclusive on Metallica photos, but more than that they got an exclusive on one of history’s great rock events. God knows why. Anyway, I picked up the magazine today and thought that the coverage of the band was shockingly bad, and the pictures below par. JUST AS WELL THEN THAT WE AT SHAKENSTIR WERE 48 HOURS IN FRONT OF THEM IN PUBLISHING GREAT PICTURES AND THE STORY OF THIS WONDERFUL AND VERY SPECIAL GIG TO THE WORLD (Kerrang! were not best pleased…)

Footnote 2

As my associate was going through the festival photos on screen, he noticed the group Apocalyptica who actually played on the Main stage. The group specialise in performing classical string interpretations of Metallica songs. He then noticed a face looking on from the side of the stage and recognised it immediately. It was Lars from Metallica…