Liverpool Photographer, Matt Thomas

Liverpool Soundcity 2012 – Day 3

By: Matt

22-05-2012

Well that’s another Soundcity over with for another year. I’m pretty certain this was the best yet. I took a schedule of what I needed to shoot out across Day 1 and part of Day 2, but I never stick to them. It’s actually way more fun not going with anyone in mind, because you stumble across so much brilliant stuff. Personal fav’s were Jordan Cook aka Reignwolf, Ben Caplan, Ironside, Revere, Wet Nuns and Avenging Force. The other massive highlight was listening to the awesome Gered Mankowitz and then meeting him after his conversation with Bido Lito! editor Craig Pennington. Sakura grabbed a pic of me with him, thanks Sak!

Who wins ‘Matts most mega amazing band of the festival” award? Jazzhands again (they were the find of the festival last year). Mentalists. Photographers dream. They’ve got a few extra shots at the end…

Practically speaking the festival was way better laid out, with everything pretty much hovering around the Seel Street area, the Wolstenholme square was a hive of activity and it meant you could easily jump from venue to venue. Great use of old spaces too, the Red Bull garage (a car park by day) was fantastic, great stage, great sound, great lights. Screenadelica however pulled off the best line up and an awesome gig poster exhibition too. Rapidly becoming the best place to be at the festival, guaranteed good bands.

The John Peel World Cup was fun too. A mixture of press, bands and local supporters played 4 a side football together over in Chavasse Park. Ghostpoet, The Kill Van Kulls and Kids in Glass Houses all appeared and took on the mighty Bido Lito and Spiel. Good fun and no holds barred!

Anyhow, thanks to all the other shooters and journo’s – great hanging out with you guys again and I can’t wait for next year. Look out for a full Wet Nuns set on Thrash Hits soon. ;)

M x

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Liverpool Soundcity 2012 – Day 2

By: Matt

19-05-2012

Commissions, Music, On My Doorstep

What a day, meeting Gered Mankovitz, shooting Dear Prudence, Wet Nuns (amazing), Revere, Avenging Force, Clock Opera, Hot Panda amongst others. Then shooting the Candlelit Labrinth at The Metropolitan Cathedral as part of Light Night.

TIRED.

Ozzie BBQ, John Peel Football Tournie (with Cast, Space, Ghost Poet and many others) today. Soundcity you’ve been awesome so far.

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Liverpool Soundcity 2012 – Day 1

By: Matt

18-05-2012

Music

Soundcity kicked off yesterday. Ill do a full blog post afterward, in the meantime here’s some shots from yesterday. Oh yea. The Queen drove past too. :)

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GITs, Ian Rush and a Sabre Tooth tiger.

By: Matt

09-05-2012

Commissions, On My Doorstep

Things have been busier than ever here this year. I can’t believe it’s May already, this year is FLYING by. I’ve been a bit slack on the blogs – once you get a bit behind with it, you keep putting it off and the more you put it off, the bigger the blog gets. So this is a quick recap of whats been going on. Image heavy post incoming!

Liverpool held it’s inaugural GIT Award (brought to life by Get Into This blogger Peter Guy) – held at the awesome upstairs venue in Leaf on Bold Street, 10 acts performed. Loved Ones won, which was a brill surprise. I share a studio with them and shot their video for ‘Are you hiding out in Hell?’ so it was great to see them get some recognition, they’re pretty special, go check ‘em out. Well done folks! Some other fantastic people nominated, Liverpool’s music scene is probably one of the few in the country that could pull off their own awards. Big ‘grats to Mugstar, Outfit, Stealing Sheep, Esco Williams too. Awesome seeing John Robb compere too.

I spent an hour with the Financial Director of Hill Dickinson in Liverpool for a story on his role and his climb to becoming a successful FD. Some folks made my images in nice little video. Colin was ace and the view from his building is fantastic. I got to shoot in B/W too! :O

I normally don’t post the press bits that I shoot from time to time, but Ian Rush is a personal hero from my childhood and the chance to meet him was awesome. He was supporting Sport Relief with a signing in Speke.

I’ve had some portraits at LJMU, these are for external marketing and profiling, some great folk always mega friendly.

The lady at the bottom was heavily involved in analysing the skeletal system of the ancient Sabre Tooth tiger. She was so so so into it, I love shooting people who really love what they do. Mega interesting and lots of fun.

More blogs coming today…

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Conan in Bido Lito!

By: Matt

26-04-2012

Commissions, Music

Shortly before Conan went off on their European tour, I shot a little piece for Liverpool mag Bido Lito! There’s a great little interview with the guys worth reading too here.

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Sea Odyssey

By: Matt

23-04-2012

Commissions, On My Doorstep

Sea Odyssey a Giant Spectacular came to Liverpool this weekend courtesy of the amazing French theatre company Royal De Luxe. 3 huge giant marionettes roaming through the streets of the city. Beginning on Friday and ending yesterday, they told the tale of a little girl reuniting with her uncle who has retrieved a letter from the sunken wreck of the Titanic on which her father sadly died. I managed to break out of the studio and spend the final day with them as they awoke on the waterfront and walked around Liverpools centre before heading off down the Mersey.

It’s hard to put into words what this event was like. The scale, the skill, the amount of people, the unity the city shared and the connection it made to the giants was totally overwhelming and often pretty emotional. People were openly crying at the sight of this huge piece of wonderful theatre. There were moments that the camera came down and I just stood in awe and with a lump in my throat. I’m over the moon that Liverpool has become a city that can not only practically host events like this, but completely thrives and demands them and its reputation for culture grows by the second.

I took my daughter on the first day to watch the giants wake up and I know this is an event that she’ll keep with her, she’ll be able to tell her kids one day ‘about the time the giants came to Liverpool’.

There’s a big full gallery of shots here but if you want a little taste, then here you go…

Big thanks to all the other photographers on the trail, there is some truly exceptional work around of the whole weekend (Check out the Liverpool Echo, Mark McNulty and Pete Carr’s coverage). It was big fun blasting along the Mersey in a rib with everyone. What a day.

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Nazareth and Bowden Williamson Band – Live at Liverpool O2 Academy

By: Matt

20-03-2012

Commissions, Music

I’ve got a lot of work under lock and key at the moment before it goes to print etc. So it’s on with the music again. I’ve loved the recent stint of gigs – covering them for both Liverpool O2 Academy and also for New York based archive Retna.com. I caught Nazareth and Bowden Williamson Band the other night, both bands were pretty ace. Bowden started the ol’ toe tapping which eventually ended with full on dancing from the audience and Nazareth, well, they played a hit filled set of kick ass rock n roll. 60 million records they’ve sold apparently, immense.

And for people saying that Liverpool isn’t really a rock city, you only have to look at the past few sold out shows. Look out Manchester, we’re level now.

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Black Stone Cherry + Rival Sons at Liverpool O2 Academy

By: Matt

16-03-2012

Music

What a show! Rival Sons ripped through a brilliant set, which looked difficult to top but Black Stone Cherry came out all guns blazing, hair whips, big kicks and great lights. Two superbly excellent rock bands gracing Liverpool.

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The Stranglers, The Popes and Mike Marlin at Liverpool O2 Academy

By: Matt

07-03-2012

Music

The Stranglers rolled into town 2 nights ago. I’ve not really listened to much of their stuff, but knew of their history. Delighted to say I’m a fan now. John Robb’s done a great review over at Louder Than War.

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Cosmic Symbol

By: Matt

03-03-2012

On My Doorstep

I took an old car boot find out last week to test it. First roll of film through it and it works! It’s a lovely old Cosmic Symbol from 1970 and born in the USSR. Super simple to use, I was surprised how clear the prints came out.

The car boot season starts again tomorrow :D

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Labrinth, Dot Rotten and Jay Ell Dee at Liverpool O2 Academy

By: Matt

26-02-2012

Music

A mad week again, Ill do a big blog post tomorrow with a few snaps of everything, ended with shooting Labrinth, Dot Rotten (why that name hadn’t been snapped up by a black metal band I have no idea!) and Jay Ell Dee (who was great) performing live at O2 Academy, Liverpool.

White front lights, ISO 100 during Jay Ell Dee set too. Bliss.

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Back to the Noise – Threshold 2012

By: Matt

13-02-2012

Music

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. ;)

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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.