Archive for January, 2009



Black cabs and bandstands, unusual venues in London

by ian

Wanted to let y’all know about a couple of great live music projects I’ve been enjoying in London recently:

1. Black cab sessions

Conceived by Just So Films, the Black Cab sessions are as simple as they sound – gigs in the back of London black cabs. They’ve had a host of high profile artist grace random cabbie’s doors including Martha Wainwright, Bon Iver and Okkervil River. I particularly love the cabbie’s intros and the way artists make use of the space and acoustics. Check out the Cool Kids session for example. You can sign up for their newsletter here.

2. Bandstand Busking

Another project based in London, hosting gigs on park bandstands. I had no idea there were so many great bandstands around London before this – check out the map here. Their next Session is Feb 2, and I’m hoping to make it down (newsletter here). Here’s a great one with Of Montreal:


Live on 35mm – inspiring gig photography blog

by ian

I just stumbled across a really awesome blog dedicated to gig photography: Live on 35mm.

This guy Valerio has been blogging his gig photos since October 2007, with a twist: all the photos are taken on 35mm black and white film. In his words:

Well, to differentiate and complicate my life, in this digital world, I am photographing artists using a couple of heavy, old, manual cameras loaded with rolls of 35mm black & white film. Yes, those silver halide emulsions posed on acetate that allow only 36 frames; that need to be carefully handled, developed, fixed, printed in a lightproof darkroom using smelly eco-unfriendly chemicals. All of this to get to a monochrome image, in an era where on digital cameras the same can be seen instantaneously, sent wireless and printed in seconds, eventually in splendid colours.

He’s also got a section with tips for other concert photographers with some great advice on strategies for different venues, lighting schemes, shooting backstage etc.

I’m a lame photographer and found this really inspiring. Thought I’d share it with you. Things like this inspire me to try a bit harder with my concert photos which often end up blurry/forgettable.

Hope you enjoy.


Songkick on the TV!

by ian

Sorry we’ve not been blogging much recently. We’re very hard at work on some big new features. Really can’t wait to share with you all.

For now here’s a snippet of news – ABC featured us in their On the Net feature along with Seesmic and Twitter Grader. I think it’s the first time we’ve been featured on the TV so was pretty exciting! Was cool to see the reaction it generated in some local Philly folks.

Thanks to Erin O’Hearn at ABC.

Back to those features…