The Shrinking Violets

My work is pretty varied – which I love. I am rarely happier than when music meets photography and I get to photograph bands either live or cocking about for promotional images. The latest band I have had the pleasure of photographing are The Shrinking Violets – a band that contain a few familiar face from the Harrogate music scene. I’m always interested by group dynamics within a photograph and it’s always interesting to put a group of alpha males in front of a camera with little or no direction – there is always a leader that emerges from the pack!!

Straywords is coming…hear our roar!!

So what is missing from Harrogate that two chaps the wrong side of 21 can find? Well, after realising that the majority of online content relating to the town is aimed at the tourist, the day tripper, the man at the conference we have decided to start a blog/online magazine/not quite sure yet dedicated, in part, to what goes on in the town. What qualifies us for such a task I hear you ask? Well we are both longstanding residents of the town – in fact we were both born here in the old Harrogate General – and both love it. We genuinely think Harrogate is a great place to live for people of all ages and not just because Location, Location, Location tells us so.

 

So why now and what purpose will it serve? Firstly because we genuinely believe in this project and know that we can make it a success – I for one am bored of existing publications in the town. The Advertiser is fantastic and serves its purpose as a local paper but it seems to be lacking in the content aimed at anyone under 45. I know one of the only reasons many of my peers flick through their parents copy is to see if they know anyone in the court round-up. And then there is Plush – the glossy full of advertising and little else. There is a whole to be filled. Now seems to be the right time – the idea has been mooted in the past but no action taken – work always seems to have got in the way and time is a precious commodity. I think myself and my co-conspirator feel the time is right, the inclination is there.

 

Armed with a reasonable understanding of the web, a couple of laptops and passionate views on anything and everything from music to local pork pies we intend to talk about the things we love. The things that we hope other people will love too. Personal blogs are fine to air your rants and express your interests but this gives what we would normally do individually a collective purpose.

 

So what can the reader expect? Hopefully insight into what is going on in the area – the bars, the coffee shops, the galleries, the dales. There is an absolute wealth of culture in the area that seems to get overlooked by the masses. On a wider scale we hope to review albums, films and indulge in idle tittle tattle too!

 

Essentially we are doing this because we want to and for no other purpose other than to see where it takes us and hopefully find those like minded people who don’t spend their weekends drinking pinot grigio in Pitcher and Piano.

 

So what can I tell you about my partner in crime? We have been friends pretty much all our lives and expect we will be supping pints in The Old Bell for many years to come. He also has a fantastic way with words which I suppose will help in the cause! On a slightly negative note, he introduced me to golf for which I shall never be able to forgive him. James is a wise man, a raconteur and a wit to boot.

 

Here is a recent portrait of James looking as smug as a fat girl with a fiver to spend in Greggs.

 

Growers

It has dawned on me that the albums which mean the most to me – the ones that under no circumstances could I part with or live without or leave in a burning building or sinking ship – are the ones which offered little or no instant gratification.

There are albums that I have been so excited about buying I have literally run back to the car for fear the excitement would get the better of me and I would make a mess of my corduroys. The feeling of putting on new music, the thrill, the expectation but ultimately the disappointment several weeks down the line when the novelty has worn off and it becomes apparent that Razorlight aren’t that good anyway ( incidentally I read earlier that their drummer has quit and I think it is worth mentioning that he wasn’t an original member yet wrote ‘America’ – their biggest (s)hit. It is also worth mentioning that Johnny Borell is a cocksmith and I dislike him on a parr with Bono).

There is nothing wrong with the instant gratification of say The Gossip, or a Kanye West release but for me, it’s not enough. The albums I love have often been a labour to love. Take for example ‘I am Bird Now’ – the Mercury winning offering from Antony and The Johnsons. I couldn’t listen to it – it worried me and made me feel supremely uncomfortable…I think that some records are just too personal and make for painful listening and this certainly fell into that catgory. Fast forward nearly 4years and scarcely a week goes by when I don’t listen to some of that album.

 

It took me years to love Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds but I’m glad that I invested the time and the effort because The Lyre of Orpheus/Abbatoir Blues holds a very special place in my heart. I don’t know how I nearly made it to 30 without Nick Cave. The same could be said of Bjork – I have bought her albums for years and often found them impossible, but then that is surely part of the charm – the album as unfathomable puzzle? I don’t want things spelling out for me, I want them dirty and duplicitous. I want to return to an album time and time without feeling I know it inside out. I want the mystery and mayhem to hold my interest. I want to revisit their private pain to see if it gets any easier with time.

 

So thank you to The Enemy for the 3weeks that your album held my attention but thank you to those that I expect to return to and still love in 3 decades.

The most sensuous word in the english language!

 

What can I say about Elbow that hasn’t already been said? Probably not much but that won’t stop me.

 

I have been a fan for some years now never really understanding how they had not managed commercial success akin to say, Coldplay who have clearly stolen ideas from them over the years…allegedly. It was with huge pride and happiness that I have seen them rise in stature this last 12months as a result of their hyper-successful fourth studio album – ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’. Often when I like a band I don’t tell many people about them for fear they will become huge and noone will believe me when I say that I liked them from the start. With Elbow it has been entirely different. They haven’t deviated from the path along which they have organically grown. There has been no huge deviation from the poetry of Garvey in an attempt to sell more records and get more radio air time. The poetry in those big anthems is still there – the lyrical beauty, the softness of tone, the intelligence – it’s still there in all it’s glory to be celebrated. To lift you up when ‘One day like this’ reaches it’s climax only to bring you back down to earth with a beautiful bump with ‘Friend of ours’ – their ode to a deceased friend…there are few songs that deal with the love between two male friends, let alone do it with ease, understatement and above all honesty.

 

Elbow deserve every success they get – critical acclaim doesn’t put bread and jam on the table after all. Theyare not the band they are today despite being dropped by their record label early on in their career rather because of it. Setbacks, whether professional or personal, are the basis of any great music and Elbow have succeeded in making their heartbreaks accessible to those who care to listen. I saw them play in Sheffield the other night and was overwhelmed by the warmth they exude towards their audience – a band that genuinely care that their audience enjoy their evening and get their moneys worth – rare to say the least. I would say that it’s not just the music that make Guy Garvey the charismatic frontman that he is but the way he reacts to the crowd in such a humble and approachable way. On several occasions he singled out individuals to give them a wave of recognition and a smile. When the crowd sang along he morphed into the cheshire cat.

Garvey engages. He told a beautiful story about how when they first started out Craig Potters parents (Craig is keyboard player) gave the band the money they had set aside for his Craig’s university education. When he told them he wasn’t going to university the money was used to buy amps and guitars. I would wager that their are a hundred or more stories about the people who have helped out along the way because of the faith they had that, one day, Elbow would make that breakthrough, award winning album that is a must have for any collection.

One other thing that I love about Elbow is that they are unashamedly northern and that aspect seems to shine through in everything they do. Elbow are supreme for all the reasons that Coldplay are not.

Service with a SMILE!!

Is good service such a big ask? I hate being British in this respect – because we are inherently unable to ask for what we are rightly owed or deserve.

I have now been waiting 3 weeks for my broadband to be connected at my new address and yet I am no nearer to it happening than that first hopeful day. This is a service which I am paying for and through no fault of my own am completely unable to use. I suppose my service providers have kindly given me something to occupy my time and idle digits whilst I have no access to humanity – endless tedious phone calls with surly call centre workers who will ‘try’ to connect me to a relevant department. How kind.

I want to scream at them that I am currently wasting hours of my life to sort this issue out but I fear I will be shunted to the bottom of a list somewhere with notes attached to my account accusing me of being ‘problematic’. So, essentially, I accept terrible service and lack of definitive cause/solution. My British reserve is not helping me overcome British service.

Car Trouble!

There is possibly nothing quite like a mechanics sharp intake of breath to ruin a Monday afternoon. A Monday afternoon where you have already stood on a grassy verge off the M1 watching helplessly as 20tonne HG V’s motor toward your motionless car seemingly unaware of it’s stationary position on the inside lane. That breath, however, is small fry compared to the fear when your car flashes up ‘engine fault’ in orange as you are happily going on with your journey – the realisation that you need to get across to the other side of a busy motorway as your car is slowly grinding to a halt for no apparent reason…then the horror when you realise that the safety of the hard shoulder has been cruelly snatched away from you leaving you with very few options other than abandonment and hope.

 

The whole process of breaking down is incovenient to say the least. The cost, the feeling of helplessness, the waiting, the look of derision from the breakdown mechanic as he realises that you know nothing about the workings of the car you drive, the rain, the poor service station coffee and overpriced sandwiches.

 

I had actually set off in good time to reach my destination – a corporate dinner at a hotel which I was due to photograph – and was only 20minutes away when disaster struck. It took me 4hours…and that was only because of a friend helping me out and the fact I was willing to abandon my car at the services until I had the time to sort it out. So I arrived 2 hours late for the job flustered, annoyed and sincerely embarrassed and apologetic. Fortunately I was greeted with a sympathetic ear, a cup of coffee and an after dinner speech by none other than Roy Walker.

 

So all in all a pretty horrible day!

Golf

The most frustrating game on the planet bar none! I only started playing in the middle of summer last year despite protestations that it really wasn’t for me. However, as my lack of fitness means I am unable to compete at the sports I grew up loving – and I have neither the time or serious application to rectify the situation at the moment – an alternative was required. When I say ‘unable to compete’ I think what I really mean is ‘unable to win’. I am hugely competitive and a pretty poor loser at everything from football to badminton to Trivial Pursuits. And if I think I am incapable of winning then I struggle to see why I should participate. It is not the taking part that counts for me…it’s the winning or, at the very least, pushing the winner. I do not like one sided contests. I am not a fan of losing.

 

I am, therefore, thrilled to report ( with good grace, obviously ) that I have scored my first victory out on the course. I surprised myself but shall not gloat. I think I was fortunate, lucky even. This episode, however, has sparked off my thirst for competition – I have sorely missed things like this for a very long time.

Lily Allen – I’m not a fan.

 

It’s not that I dislike Lily Allen strongly – it’s just that she states the obvious a little too obviously. Where I find Kate Nash endearing with her simple songs about the ordinary – I find that Allen grates on me. At the moment it is impossible to avoid hearing Allens latest offering as it has saturated the airwaves on every major radio station. It’s almost as if Allen has become the Radio1 special envoy for dumbing down.

 

Her subject matter is nothing new either, which in itself isn’t an issue . But it’s been done better. I’m not a huge Just Jack fan either but I think his take on celebrity culture is infinitely more entertaining than Allens effort and only makes her seem dated already in an industry that thrives on what’s new.

 

 

 

Will this have any lasting effects on her career – undoubtedly not….unfortunately not. It just means that in the short term whilst she is on her promotional tour we have to listen to her spouting endless rubbish.

 

If Allen is the best we have to offer as the poster girl of British pop then we are in trouble. Take my advice and listen to VV Browne instead.

My First Blog!

A recent image of mine

So….here goes. Finding myself in a situation with, perhaps, more time on my hands than I would usually be comfortable with, I have decided to dip my toe in the murky waters of blogging. Maybe ill-advised but possibly not. This could be the most cathartic experience of my life, alternatively it could be the most frustrating and tedious. Time will tell I suppose, as I air my rants, views, opinions and observations with little hope or interest if anyone reads them. I suppose it would be nice to think of people stumbling across this blog and finding something of interest or merit.

I will mostly be using this blog – like countless others no doubt – to discuss my likes and dislikes. What gets me going and what gets my goat.

A little about me then – I am a 28 year old photographer living in Harrogate in glorious North Yorkshire, England. ( more of being a northerner will surely follow at regular intervals). I am about to move in with my glorious other half in the coming weeks which should allow scope for plenty of material for on here (who enjoys moving house?!). I love anything that makes me sit up and think, anything that really grabs my attention and makes me want to tell people about it. This could be anything from a great record to a comment Blanche has made on Coronation Street.