Liverpool Photographer, Matt Thomas

Back to the Noise – Threshold 2012

By: Matt

13-02-2012

I haven’t shot a show since December with the Marmozets, but yesterday I managed to catch the last day of Liverpool’s grass roots festival Threshold in the Baltic Triangle. A festival very much in its infancy but growing year upon year, it’s a great addition to the city’s festival rosta. I caught the massive We The Undersigned, who I lost count of how many musicians they had on stage but pulled a big ol’ dancing crowd. Also The Fifth Movement were clinically tight over at The Picket and Organ Freeman managed to pull off the most memorable, fun and unique performance of the night. Well done Threshold, Ill be back next year for the whole thing for sure.

Oh and how cool is Camp and Furnace? First time I’ve been there, sure to be a solid rock in the Liverpool music and arts scene.

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This year it’s all about the people.

By: Matt

09-02-2012

Commissions

Already this year we must have shot 2 dozen portraits of staff, students at LJMU for a variety of domestic and international marketing materials and it’s been a real joy and I don’t mean that in a sucking up manner, it really has been a great chance to kick the new year off and dust off last years cobwebs and begin to put new things into practice. A great batch of genuinely interesting and diverse people. If the year carries on like that I’d be a happy happy man.

This month we’re shooting post graduates…

In other news make sure you check out the previous post with the rally candid’s in. I blogged it in the dead of night and you may have missed it. I haven’t travelled anywhere since then, but that looks like it’s going to change with a trip to Oslo with doomsters Conan is on the cards. I’ve never been anywhere that way before so I’m extremely excited about it, as are the Conan guys who are flying in especially to support the mighty Sleep!

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The Catch Up and Break Down

By: Matt

08-02-2012

Commissions

A little round up through Dec and January.

Fashion/Editorial piece for Issue 2 of Spiel. Super shoot with the lovely Kerryn Grady (who has her new website online at last) and the excellent Manachain from Boss. Shot in Brookhouse Studio in West Kirby (their site is going live next week apparently). Super special thanks to Hollie Edwards for assisting too! (More news with Hollie in the coming months too!)

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Snaps from the Steppes

By: Matt

07-02-2012

Personal

Goodwood, UK – Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – 10,000 miles all for Breakthrough Breast Cancer. Here are a collection of the more candid snaps from the trip. The gallery at the bottom of the post contains a small narrative to what we did, what was good, what was bad.

Click ‘Read More’ at the end of the images for the full gallery and wordy words.

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Liverpool Chinese Arch

By: Matt

07-02-2012

On My Doorstep

You forget how amazing this structure is. Very lucky to have it in Liverpool. Read a bit more about it over at Wikipedia.

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Backstage with the Marmozets.

By: Matt

18-12-2011

Commissions, Music

So much for doing my blogs! Time has disappeared this month, with work and the Christmas run up. I’ll get them up though, eventually.

I had the pleasure of shooting new breakthrough act Marmozets this week, we had a bit of time for some backstage antics at their last show of the year supporting The Blackout at Liverpool’s O2 Academy. I also got to check their much talked about live show out. It was pretty nuts, I’ve never seen so much energy in a band and they’ve probably sneaked in and just pipped letlive/entershikari show to the most chaotic on stage performance of the year. I loved every second.

Their Passive Aggressive EP is FREE at the moment, well worth a download and they’re back out on tour in February with Hyra Da Hero. Great tunes and great people and a mental live show. Brilliant.

Two jobs left of the year. A wedding with 4 people (inc Bride and Groom) that I’m so excited about and an editorial piece for a London publisher. Then CHRISTMAS…

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Loved Ones – Are You Hiding Out In Hell?

By: Matt

29-11-2011

Music, Video

Last month I shot and directed my first music video alongside writer David Surridge. Loved Ones hail from the Wirral/Liverpool and feature members of the The Laze and The SCCC. They’ve received a ton of great press recently with appearances in major music press (a photo of mine popped up in the NME) and the premiere of the video featured on the super cool blog, The 405.

You can go buy the track here. Even after a gazillion listens I’m still loving it.

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November November

By: Matt

16-11-2011

Commissions

It’s been a busy 2 weeks here with Retna keeping me busy in the evenings with gigs and some great new commercial client commissions.

I’ve had a chance to shoot and direct my first music video alongside director David Surridge. The video is for Wirral/Liverpool newcomers ‘Loved Ones‘ and it’ll be released shortly for the song ‘Hell’. Ill post up here once the single is released. It was a ton of fun to shoot and gave me my first insight into the world of video (i.e. it was a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be!). I shot a portrait of Loved Ones Nik Glover for the NME’s radar feature last week (so last minute and tight deadline we ended up 5 mins from my house at 8pm at night and delivered at 9pm!

I’ve also shot a series for a new salon opening in Liverpool soon which ended up taking place in the old Probe Records store (I bought my first Kyuss record in that place) a lot of fun, they’ll be coming up on here once they’re published. There’s also a bunch of fashion shots I did with Kerryn Grady in this months Spiel Magazine (which is available throughout Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool (next up on the blog).

This on top of my work at LJMU has been a brilliantly diverse period and I’m beginning to look forward to a Christmas break. It’s OK, we can say the ‘C’ word now its halfway through November ;) I spent a few hours with Paul Barber (Only Fools and Horses) at the Uni as he gave a fantastic informal talk on care homes and the care system in general. I also just shot a bunch of new student profiles for their external communications of which you can check out below. Click ‘Read More!’.

Exciting run up to Christmas ahead too. More soon.

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The Darkness and Foxy Shazam | LGoS – Liverpool – 09.11.11

By: Matt

09-11-2011

Music

First night of the The Darkness tour in Liverpool last night. Delighted to have caught Foxy Shazam, because they’re probably one of the best live acts I’ve seen all year. The Darkness look fit, well and tight, ploughing through a hit filled set with some new stuff chucked in too (which by all accounts sounds amazing). I love The Darkness. Fun factor 10. Brill show. Go see the tour it’s immense. Still tickets for some shows left but most have sold out.

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Motorhead, Anti Nowhere League, UK Subs | LGoS, Liverpool – 06.11.11

By: Matt

08-11-2011

Music

No introduction needed. Motorhead, Anti Nowhere League and UK Subs.

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Patricia Routledge and Edward Seckerson

By: Matt

04-11-2011

Commissions

I had a few minutes with TV and theatre star Patricia Routledge and writer / broadcaster Edward Seckerson on Wednesday. Patricia was in conversation with Edward talking about her stage and screen roles that have included the unforgettable Hyacinth Bucket and the indomitable Hetty Wainthropp, and the full extent of Patricia’s musical theatre career on both sides of the Atlantic.

Edward Seckerson is the chief classical music and opera critic for The Independent and a founder member of The Arts Desk.com. He wrote and presented the long-running Stage & Screen for BBC Radio 3, during which he has interviewed many stellar names such as Leonard Bernstein, Liza Minelli, Pavarotti and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The highlight of my week being told by her that I was “a brilliant photographer”. *looks smug*

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Laura Marling – Liverpool Anglican Cathedral | 28.10.11

By: Matt

29-10-2011

Music

Pretty damn special show last night in Liverpool. The awesome Laura Marling performed one of her last shows of her current tour of cathedrals at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. This cathedral is my favourite building in Liverpool it truly is magnificent and to shoot a show in there was pretty exciting. I had my suspicions about how well a gig like this would sound in the cathedral but it was just fantastic. Crisp and clear there is no room to hide in a venue like this and she nailed it. Considering I’d spent most of the day prior to it listening to the new Mastodon record this was a welcome diverse delight. Go check her out in Birmingham today (2 shows) if you can get hold of a ticket.

Laura Marling – Liverpool Anglican Cathedral | 28.10.11 – Images by Matt Thomas

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John Foxx – Liverpool Stanley Theatre | 22.10.11

By: Matt

24-10-2011

Music

Last Saturday I checked out John Foxx and the Maths perform live at Stanley Theatre, Liverpool. Killer show from the Ultravox legend. His solo work is super synth heavy with ACTUAL synths (take note Apple Macbook Pro users) which visually looks awesome. Go John. Numan and Foxx in the same month. Go Liverpool.

John Foxx – Liverpool | 22.10.11 – Images by Matt Thomas

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International Students

By: Matt

21-10-2011

Commissions

October brings about series of portraits with the university, this year I’ve been shooting some of the international students that attend JMU alongside some of the UK folk too. I love shooting these portraits, the people you meet are fantastic and it’s been great learning about how the international students feel about studying abroad and particularly in Liverpool. One thing they all agreed on was that Liverpool is an awesome city, which it most definitely is.

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Katy B | Liverpool – 16.10.11

By: Matt

17-10-2011

Music

P-Money and Katy B play to a sold out O2 Academy in Liverpool on the 16th October, 2011.

Click ‘Read More’ for full gallery and licensing. Go on. Go on. Go on. ;)

Comments

Robert King

By: Matt

13-10-2011

Commissions

Last week I got contacted to photograph Robert King. Robert King was a member of the Black Panther party and spent 32 years in prison and 29 of them in solitary confinement for a murder he didn’t commit. He gave a seminar last night (hosted by Liverpool John Moores University) to tell his personal story of injustice, to expose the cruelty of the prison-industrial complex and call for the release of fellow inmates Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, both of whom are still incarcerated in Angola Prison.

I’d planned to have a good 15/20 mins with Robert, prior to his lecture but things change a lot last minute in the photography world and instead I had 30 seconds to photograph him and 30 seconds was enough to get 5 frames (1 test). A pleasure to photograph.

I think there’s a video recording of his lecture coming, so as soon as its up, Ill post it up on here and on twitter. (@m4tt_thomas)

Please read more about Robert and his story, it’s incredible.

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letlive, Your Demise and Enter Shikari | Liverpool – 08.10.11

By: Matt

10-10-2011

Music

I caught the Enter Shikari show 2 nights ago. Heard tons about these folks, but never seen them live. The two other bands on the bill were Your Demise and the much much talked about letlive. Ill be honest letlive blew me away. For a band onstage at 7.30, the crowd was pretty much full and everyone going nuts for these folk. Leaping, bounding, swinging, jumping, sweating they set the stage for the rest of the night. Officially the hottest gig in the Academy I’ve ever been too. So much so that all the people shooting the show had problems with steaming lenses. Bare in mind that my camera didn’t steam up in the hottest desert in Kazakhstan 2 months ago. Shikari’s light show is pretty awesome / nightmare to shoot in the sweat with crowd surfers coming over every 30 seconds. Awesome nevertheless.

You can check out full galleries below and check out the review of their recent show in Paris over at Thrash Hits.

Full galleries for license/prints below…

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LaFaro – Liverpool | 28.09.11

By: Matt

08-10-2011

Music

LaFaro – Liverpool | 28.09.11 – Images by Matt Thomas

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Error

By: Matt

23-09-2011

Commissions

Error Creative Studio launched their new website recently. They make lovely things with websites, identities, campaigns and all sorts of other lovely bits and bobs. Here’s a bunch of photos from the website shoot and a couple of behind the scenes ditties.

Check out their website. It’s super.

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Gary Numan – 02 Academy, Liverpool | 21.09.11

By: Matt

22-09-2011

Music

Last night saw Gary Numan play Liverpool’s O2 Academy on the last night of his ‘Dead Son Rising’ tour. Support came from Jayce Lewis. Super show, love a bit of industrial/synth loveliness in Liverpool.

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New Goings On at LJMU

By: Matt

22-09-2011

Commissions

I’ve shot a lot of bits and bobs for LJMU recently, here’s a brief summary to catch up on what I’ve been doing. Paralympian Chris Holmes visited, the university welcomes new Vice-Chancellor Professor Nigel Weatherill, LJMU aquired the massive Royal Mail building on Copperas Hill and I visited the Graduation Development Centre to photograph some of the foreign students working there. Last week I was also invited to photograph some of the new buildings, new theatres and fresh student zones that have appeared over the summer. Super smart.

This is a bit of a bumper post so make sure you scroll down. ;)

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Taste Northwest @ London Carriage Works

By: Matt

22-09-2011

Commissions

Last week I was invited to the new Taste North-West evening held this month at The London Carriage Works, Liverpool. The night is used to show some of the brilliantly talented chefs and hosts from around the area. This night was hosted by Jennifer Cusack and Merseyside’s Young Chef of the Year, Rikki Vidamour cooking in the kitchen. The shooting a night like this… I got to eat! Hurrah. The food was superb and I was genuinely impressed with the whole evening. Super food and super people. There’s a full report over at Taste NW website.

You can sign up and eat an incredible dinner for a knock down price through the website. Definitely going to take the other half next time!

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Graduation 2011

By: Matt

21-09-2011

Commissions

I’m onto the backlog of blogs from before I went away. The week before I set off for Mongolia I shot my second graduation for LJMU. 1 week, 2 ceremonies a day, a megaton of students who are a million times more clever than I am picking up their degree’s is a great thing to be a part of. I met so many ace people throughout the week. Honorary fellows Matthew Kelly and Paul Barber were particular highlights for me, both super fun and great characters. I also shot some of the students who I’ve followed through their academic progression, its been good fun documenting their rise each step of the way. Another highlight was being able to photograph the Chancellor of the university perform.

Big thanks to a great team down at LJMU who manage to pull of such a massive series of events, great to work alongside them again.

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Oh Hello!

By: Matt

26-08-2011

Personal

Wow, it’s been a while. For one reason, UK to Mongolia in an ambulance. Yep, we made it. Through deserts, mountains, meeting amazing people, meeting horrible people, scary driving, even scarier driving and a hell of a lot of rice and ragu we managed to get the ambulance into Mongolia where it’s going to be used by an amazing charity.

This is just a quickie, I’ve tons and tons to blog from before the rally and already a bunch of cool stuff after the rally along with a big special post on the actual rally itself.

In the meantime, I hope you’re all well and looking forward to catching up with everyone.

M x

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The Final Countdown to Mongolia

By: Matt

29-06-2011

Personal

Well as most of you know, on Saturday the 23rd July I set off on a 10,000 mile road trip from Goodwood Race Track, UK to Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia in a decommissioned ambulance all in aid of the awesome Breakthrough Breast Cancer. It’s been nearly 2 years in planning this trip and suddenly everything is coming together (nearly!).

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Deicide + Belphegor | Masque, Liverpool | 27.06.11

By: Matt

28-06-2011

Music

Brutal old school show last night. Dark, smokey and monstrously loud. Liverpool’s Masque is a nice arena for these guys. Filled to the brim with metallers, Liverpool got another great metal show. No photo pit, crowd surfers, stage divers and smoke machines made it pretty tough to shoot in. Received a couple of kicks to the head and tried to push my way through to the middle but with no joy. Still, I wouldn’t want a photographer standing in front of me either if I was in there. Bleh to no photopits and yay to a legendary band making it to Liverpool.

For the camera geeks. ISO 6400 all the way in here ;)

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St. Johns College, Cambridge University

By: Matt

22-06-2011

Commissions

I spent a few days in Cambridge last week shooting some new marketing and promotional material for St. Johns College. Cambridge is a stunning place, I was really taken aback by its friendliness, calmness and stunning architecture. Walking round at night checking out a few locations before the shoot days felt so safe it really is remarkable. I also shot some video tests with Martin of Error Studio, interviewing students and graduates, great meeting so many people from around the world. One of the best things I love about shooting universities is that diversity. I’ve met so many amazing individuals in Liverpool too, makes me feel kinda jealous to not still be a student.

Comments

Conan

By: Matt

17-06-2011

Commissions, Music

Shot for a piece in Terrorizer Magazine at Vulcan rehearsal rooms, Liverpool. Again with the last minute dash for a shot to goto press. Conan have just been signed and are due to release a new recording next year. They performed live at The Kazimier a couple of weeks back with Aethanor, Mugstar and Ex-Easter Island Head. (Click ‘Read More’ for live shots) Great show, probably the loudest I’ve seen in a long time.

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Ladytron + Outfit | St. Georges Hall, Liverpool | 10.06.11

By: Matt

13-06-2011

Music

It’s weird that despite Ladytron forming in Liverpool many years ago, it wasn’t until 2007 that they really caught my eye after being invited by Trent Reznor to open for Nine Inch Nails on their European tour (later they actually ended up remixing NIN for their Year Zero Remixed album). A great show in the magnificent St. Georges Hall Concert Room. Originally seated, most people had kicked the chairs away by the 4th song and were forced against the stage dancing. Good times. In support were the awesome Outfit, with a single red lamp lighting the stage it was pretty nightmarish to shoot, but that band keep getting better and better. One to watch.

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