Commissions | 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

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.

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…

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.

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.

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.

This year it’s all about the people.

By: Matt

09-02-2012

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