Oct 01
My mate Zia’s latest thang. Do the decent thing and buy it eh!
Sep 26
One of the downsides of self-employment is going stir-crazy from spending all day in the office at home. That’s why getting out once is a while is essential for my sanity, even if it’s just to pop into town to chat with a mate. Going out for a proper grown-up night out is a rare treat that I’m really starting to miss these days.
I’m proper gutted tonight because it was the first night out I’d been really looking forward to in ages, well actually the first night out we had planned in just about as long as I can remember and Kel gets a stinkger of a head cold and has to bale. It’s not like we can just go some other time as it’s a friend’s band’s gig tonight and so that’s me doing billy-no-mates (as usual) then.
Getting to feel like a bit of a habit this is 
Jun 17
Click through because there are another 100 or so in the set 
The gig was awesome, and it was great to catch up with Huw & Gabs as I don’t get to see those guys nearly as often as I’d like to.
Jun 17
Off oop north to see Queensryche tonight with Huw.
Operation Mindcrime 20th Anniversary show innit
Proper excited about this one, I’ve not seen Queensryche for years
May 31
Saturday 30th May
A few more musical ones from Wychwood last night then.
\
Bit of a shame that the guys were playing in a small tent a little bit out on a limb, and scheduled to play at the same time as Dreadzone were on the main stage too! Unfortunately that meant a distinct lack of people until about the last 15 minutes of the set (presumably just after Dreadzone finished). Not the best night for the band but I enjoyed myself all the same.
It’s been a while since I’ve been to a festival, and to be honest I’m not really into the camping and crappy loos any more (tbh I never really was even when I used to go to them) but Wychwood was cool. Firstly it’s only just up the road in Cheltenham and it’s still small enough to have that nice chilled atmosphere without the crap that accompanies the huge commercialised festivals these days.
Top tip - if you’re ever at a festival and you come across a little stall called Kookaburra Coffee go see Grant and get a cup because it was genuinely the nicest coffee I’ve ever had. in fact it turned out to be a top day for scoff all round. I had a cracking Nasi Goreng from a little Indonesian stall too. All in all quite a pleasant way to spend a Friday evening
May 30
Friday 30th May
Had a very pleasant afternoon / evening at Wychwood festival in Cheltenham today and I’ve got a load today to choose from but not had a chance to sift through them all yet so I’ll upload a few tomorrow. In the mean time, here’s one from last Friday at the 2 pigs.
May 24
Most impressed to note that John Wesley (who should be no stranger to Marillion and Porcupine Tree fans) has released all his old CDs as free downloads from his downloads page. I’ve got most of the CDs already, and indeed they are still available for sale, but I still think that’s it’s worth spreading the love
Recommended starting point would be “Under the Red and White Sky”
May 23
Friday 23rd May
More pics of my mate Stu’s band Which Way Up, this time playing at the 2 Pigs in Cheltenham.
As my standard lens isn’t really quick enough for this kind of lighting, and I’ve not got the spare dosh to invest in posh new lenses yet I though I’d just take a punt and get the really cheapie little ‘nifty fifty’ - the Canon EF 50mm F1.8. Yes, it’s plastic, it’s cheap as chips at just £60, and it’s really a bit long when you take into consideration the 1.6x multiplier but I was well happy with the results for a first attempt.
May 17
Gig of the year (!) tonight down at Cam Memorial Hall. A bunch of local bands, mainly teenagers, with the headlining band being my mate Stu’s band Which Way Up . Bit of a shame there were only a couple of dozen kids there really as they were actually pretty good. Got a few snaps but the lighting was crap and so I was struggling a bit with a standard lens.
Stu
Russ
I’m planning to get myself some faster glass in the near future, including the Sigma 30mm F1.4 which would be ideal for this sort of thing. In the meantime though I’ve ordered myself one of the little cheapy ‘nifty fifty’ Canon 50mm f1.8 prime’s which should open up a few more creative possibilities in the short term, though at an effective 80mm it’s going to be a bit too long for gig shots I suspect.
Jul 27
Score.
Not quite sure how it had slipped through the net but I’ve just finished watching the DVD of ‘Score’ by Dream Theater, which is one of their long ‘And evening with..’ shows from last year’s Octavarium tour.
Holy fuck it’s good.
Suffice to say this has further gone to reinforce DT’s position at the top of my all-time favourite bands list. It’s fair to say that I do actually have a number of such notional lists because it would be silly to compare DT with for example GMS as the two are entirely different genres
De-Classified
New Eat Static CD is finally out. It’s a proper return to old-school static aceness.
Buy it. Today. You won’t regret it.
(And I’m really not just saying that because they are mates of mine, it’s aces)
Music: “Brassneck” from the album “De-Classified” by Eat Static