Monday 30 July 2012

Art concepts & Aaron Bennet Photography


This is a dedication to the work of Aaron Bennett

A close friend of mine who I have known for many years whom I've watched become an incredibly respected photographer locally, nationally and within the media. He does most of my concept work and has helped me create a visual style for every release. We have a huge archive of photos of me for the releases over the years but heres a few as one day I'm going to compile them to show them off properly.

Click on them to make them large


The Media Ghost session in the dis-used chalk factory is possibly my favorite shoot. The colours.. the premise behind the artwork and the finished article were perfect for the tone of the album. Aaron drove past this location one day by accident and clocked it as a great place for a shoot. When i described to him what i wanted, the two married perfectly. I could go into the concept behind the image all day, but for now just look at his work ;-)


The Butterflymind EP concept was something which Aaron devised and ran with. Shot in a field near to Buds Farm and the Immunity Tip in Havant (where we used to prowl the industrial state at night whilst it was being built), It was the perfect setting for the desolate isolated piece of work that was the EP itself. He wanted me to wear the Tee-shirt and to keep the hat on, and the strange effect he put over the final piece made it look as though it was slightly not of this world. Venerability and isolation where the themes but what i like about the pics is that however clever the effects or coloring, they still capture disconnection.


One of Aarons faves this one....I needed some promo shots done for my new sponsorship deal at the time with Adam Black guitar company to show off the S8 Dreadnought acoustic id just received. Aaron led the way again and led me to the old garages where i used to live growing up in Havant...Juniper Square. The whole concept was his idea. This was in one of the old garages next to where i used to live.
Adam Black loved it and used it in there sales catalog which I believe its still in.

The main promo shot i used for The Garden as it reflected the music on the album perfectly.. dark, slightly Tim Burton. The dark jagged trees reference the track "Evil Tree" but it is in fact the wall outside the flat in Southsea where i was at the time! Although quite psychedelic in places we wanted shots that lept between fantasy and realism, like the lyric Old Traditions...New Fabrications that was in one of the tracks. Around this time his shots of me were always a little strange like he was shooting The Gardens lyrical content from his lens!



Panic Moon and the Watchmen gig that came at the end of the year were an opportunity to get some Dr Who references in there and to have a little fun. The shoots were portraying less darkness and more optimism... apart from the watchmen photo which I got lots of messages about saying how creepy it was! I like these photos because he directed them throughout yet managed to get the style i was after. A visual aspect for the music is really important to me, always has been so its important to work with someone who is complimentary and understands the vision of the artist...no-matter how pretentious we can be as songwriters/bands etc he understands that its important to have a look.

Russells Teapot was a new start and outlook but keeping with older ideas. In fact...it reminds me of the Media Ghost shoot as nothing was a mistake, everything in the picture had its place and a meaning behind why it was there. Again I loosely gabbled a concept at him he brought it to life, and the picture perfectly encapsulated the music, lyrics and feel of the EP. This was actually an old friends of ours Dad's shed at the bottom of his garden. He was a little bit of a mad scientist himself....a hippy scientist ;-).
Perfect shot, perfect location...another win for Bennett :-)



I love this shot ;-)

This is the back of the new EP.....
The front is Aarons best shot of me and that will be up soon

 info of the new EP including release date and tracks will be up soon
currently devising a video....

Andyx
Stay Safe


check out his wide range of work it really is exceptional





Sunday 8 July 2012

Peterborough Blues

So off we go to another festival....
Peterborough Festival was put on by their council to showcase art and crafts with entertainment from the main stage and the acoustic stage. It looked great with all kinds of visual treats for kids and a professional setup with a great main stage audio rig. I was looking forward to seeing Hard Fi later on.

When we got there after battling through the intermittent rain downpours on the motorway we were told that the acoustic stage had a 65db sound restriction on it....now anyone that knows sound understands that ambient noise can get louder than that! After fiddling for levels in the soundcheck, I started playing to no one but half way through the set a few people took refuge from the rain in the acoustic tent, so i was playing to a extremely small crowd (obviously being careful not to annoy the surrounding residents as coughing or sneezing may just break the 65db sound limit, the sound from the main stage across the field was louder than us!) ...anyways....as you can imagine I'd put this gig down as a loss and you just get on with it....until fellow Portsmouth acoustic troubadour Luke Ferre did his thing....

Luke's set was okay, he had the same problem as me.. his sound was pretty bad and a small amount of people were listening, so it was what it was, not really the right environment for our songs to thrive.... Then we get the message from Mr Hi Viz that the whole festival is now cancelled because someone fell  over.....yes......someone fell over so the whole festival got cancelled. So Luke decided to announce he was going to carry on his set on a bench nearby completely unplugged! 
Guerrilla gig stylee!


Now i don't know what it is about the British spirit but as soon as they think they are part of something naughty they engage with it so much more! People followed Luke round the field like the Pied Piper and he performed songs standing on a bench with grace and style. This is where it all got a bit weird.....after he got me up to play a blues (in G) with some guy who was carrying a Harmonica!....we then got told we should stop playing by Mr Hi Viz again... but if we wanted to we could play in the nearby cafe as the owner was in the crowd!....so off we went Luke leading the way again!....and played at the cafe.

As luke was playing unplugged outside the cafe, a PA was being set-up around him and bewildered looking people (not knowing what to do after the festival cancellation) were congregating around us now excited by this apparent disregard for the rules..."the show must go on!". Luke broke a string so i got up to do a version of Amy Watches The Stars.... and then we got shut down again!! They quite literally pulled the plug!

This prompted the crowd to shout for us to carry on, the Police turning up, BBC introducing to get our numbers and a comedic scene developing out of two blokes from Portsmouth with acoustic guitars....!!

Funny thing was the Police were telling us we were allowed to play and that the festival organiser has no right to pull the plug!!!

It was strange, and wet, and weird

Gigs are being booked for September - October so keep checking back and the last EP recording session is next week. Im planning a video too.......it may even be a funny video..

Stay Safe
Andy
The Legend Stevie Pitt!

Monday 2 July 2012

Festival chocolate teapot russell boots

Isle Of Wight Festival - The Kashmir Tent 

Terry Reid & Myself after the Jazz Cafe gig: night 2 

Peterborough Festival
Hard Fi
Saturday 7th - 8th July 2012
Acoustic Tent

Southsea Food Festival
Portsmouth
Sunday 15th July 2012

Nick Drake Gathering
Tanworth-In-Arden
Friday 20th July 2012

Terry Reid
Half Moon Putney London
1st August 2012

Mychoon Festival
Derbyshire
26th August 2012
Sunday 2pm Acoustic Tent


Southseafest Line-up

................................................


The New EP is looking for an Early September release keep checking back for some related goodies here soon....

Stay Safe
Andy


This week I've been listening to
"The Infinite Monkey Cage" with Brian Cox & Robin Ince