Ever eaten dinner at IKEA?

I have!!

Catch up

The game that was played today! Still so many things to finish off but managed to deal with the most urgent things and finally return a few emails. Most of the day was on the enjoyable p-shop. Tomorrow will more than likely be the same again...

Did watch this today which was a great documentary. I highly recommend it and all I wanted to do was buy the 17 year old a mobile phone!!

How about a pic of the work I would rather be doing from this past weekend!!

Take a look...

Made it back in one piece after the longest flight I've ever done! 5 hours from Tokyo to Hong Kong and then 13 and a half hours from Hong Kong to London... At least the movies worked this time.

Very tired but here's the cover of this week's Kerrang!

Another day in Tokyo

Woke up really early and continued on with the day. Had a quick, quiet, and tired breakfast with Dani and Dan and then did part 2 of the Answer in the Shibuya crossing! Went over to the venue with them for a bit of reportage and then a walk around with Dani. Even stopped in for sushi at the only place I knew and ended up at the hotel for a quick nap.

Got back to the venue and did a bit more with the band including another shoot in the middle of a square where loads of fans stood around and watched. One of them had travelled 5000 km for the show!! Chilled out until showtime which was worth the wait. Amazing show on every aspect from the sound to the light.

For the after show it was off to the Hard Rock Cafe where we went through some helpful roadworks (pictured!) and stayed there until they kicked us out at 1am. Got to meet a great photographer, William Hames who was out shooting for the label. Back to pack up the gear as we must get to the airport for 8am tomorrow!!! Good thing I didn't blink as I might has missed this trip!

Mad Mad world

Finally arrived in Tokyo! Slept on most of the second flight and the cab to the hotel. Feeling tired after almost a full day of travelling. Had a quick shower, took a pic of the Tokyo skyline, and then it was off to dinner and drinks with the Answer and the Japanese promoter.

Had a great dinner which was more of a Japanese barbecue rather than sushi. Even had the deadly blow fish and I am still around to type about it!

After dinner did a quick shoot with the Answer around the Shibuya Crossing and then over to the Hobgoblin which was such a cheat! Going to a British pub in Tokyo?!?!? Can't be doing that again... Capped the night off with a raid of James' mini bar in his penthouse suite. Why do journalists get the best rooms?

Long travel day and night...

Took off this morning and sitting in Hong Kong as I write this waiting to catch the connecting flight to Tokyo. An 11 hour flight and conveniently the airplane's in flight entertainment wasn't working!! Tried sleeping but that didn't work either as there was a German crossword conference going on the seat ahead me!!

Until tomorrow over and out from the land of the rising sun and all that...

Happy B-Day,

Scarlet Page! Had a nice evening out at the Swan pub for Scarlet's birthday. Only annoying thing was losing my keys!!! No idea where they dropped out.

Off early to Japan tomorrow which should be a fun trip, but very tiring as we aren't flying direct. It's with the Answer who are definitely worth listening too!!

Here's a sneak peak from the Enter Shikari shoot... Must make a note not to ask for one more shot!!

Balls Of Ice...

The old school and one of the first songs I remember from 3 Inches Of Blood! Spent most of the day waiting for trains, riding on trains, and sleeping on trains! Left Birmingham early and headed back to pick up lighting gear to do a shoot with 3 Inches Of Blood.

Had a great quick shoot with the fellow Vancouverites. I remember hearing them for the first time in 2001 when they were practising at Renegade on Hastings Street! Went and dropped all the gear back and then over to Camden again to shoot the show. A very enjoyable show and loved the fact the crowd were armed with plastic swords!

Does this mean if you crowd surf too much you get a mic up the ass??

Won't You Take Me To,

Brummie Town! Caught a train up to Birmingham with Emma to do a live review of the My Chemical Romance show. (Or My Chemical Spongepants which I am quoting from an unnamed prehistoric source!)

There were loads of songs that I wasn't allowed to shoot and hopefully Phoebe didn't get in too much trouble... For the record the band look better on stage in their street clothes than they do in the Michael Jackson outfits! (All they need to do is sort out the parade part lighting so it's a little more flattering!!)

Oh and had a go on the bank machine from the documentary but I couldn't get it to work!

Check your statement

Very carefully!

Saw a great hidden camera documentary on BBC 1 tonight that showed what a bunch of lying cheats the banks can be! It absolutely confirms what I always thought about them. Unbelievable the shit they try and pull. Usually the kind of documentaries I've been watching of late are on channel 4... (World's Fattest boy, 80 year old children, Britain's Strangest Hotel! You know the classics!)

Back up to Birmingham tomorrow for some live shots of the Black Parade. The band is in Kerrang somehow every week so I have to do my part to keep the streak alive... Too bad about the Deftones show being postponed last night. Was really looking forward to it and I feel the same as Stef above!

And why is this so funny?

Testimonials

Why do people have these on their websites?? I don't understand the point of these apart from the comedy value that comes attached with them! The creativity of this person shines beautifully in their artist outlook! Wouldn't it be better if they posted the hate mail as well??

A shot of Enter Shikari to preview the cover shoot that's running in Kerrang next week. Umm it has absolutely nothing to do with the feature...

Productive?

Had a shoot today with Buckcherry. They were tired but know how to have there photo taken. So after about 10 mins it looked like I had stretched them as far as they were going to go! On my way out the handle of my rolling bag packed it in so started the luggage search around town.

Went and looked at a few places to live today and decided on a great place in Finsbury Park. Joining all the crowds of North London in 2 weeks time which should be fun.

Capped the night off with a few glasses of wine and the cheesy Hollywood Bruckheimer hit that is known as Gone In Sixty Seconds...

Umm not quite...

Mother's Day... Although it is here so maybe I should give my mum a call. My birthday usually falls on Mother's Day much to her disappointment!

Went to the Komedia for a bit of comedy this evening. Stephen Grant has to be one of the best MC's I've ever seen. He knows just how to push the crowd without starting a fight! The other comics were good too especially Ian Stone who has some great lines about many different politically incorrect topics! (My favorite!)

Heading off to Japan this time next week... Must find more sushi and less of the other!!!

Happy 17 March Day

Something about snakes. Not sure got hammered... Can't remember!

Had a fantastic dinner at Scarlet's house tonight! She really knows how to do a great curry, and she even introduced me to the best post dinner activity... The Wii!! Hilarious game console and I was out of breath by the end of it!!!! Good thing I don't have one as it would be very addictive...

Here's a pic I came across from the "meating" room at Face Party!!

Why is this dangerous?

But why?

mastodon AGAIN!

And I would see them again! Another great show from Mastodon at the Forum this evening. The only complaint might have been trying to find a cab at the end of the evening...

A foot reunion

Dawned the fruit boots today for the first time in months!! Was great to go for a blade and get some exercise! But I must say one thing about the pavement in the UK… VERY HARD WORK, as it’s not smooth at all! Too much brick...

Was at a news agents today and saw the Total Guitar Shred Special. Cover turned out pretty good and the Steve Vai feature from 2 years ago is reprinted inside!

Warm!

Beautiful Day! Could summer be around the corner? I hope so!

Mellow chilling!

Caught the train back from Heathrow and luckily nothing was the order of the day today which was great. Did a tiny bit of work, had a glass of wine and watched almost the entire first season of Entourage! It was a great way to wind down from a shitty trip back to Canaduh. Like I said if the people I was travelling with weren't so cool I would have lost it 3 days ago!!

Slow week ahead, which is nice as I can catch up on loads of things and look for a place to live!! Here’s a pic running in this week’s Kerrang shot a while ago of Lost Alone. Felt like doing this to a few people this weekend!!

Can't wait...

To get back to England! The call centre isn't sure but said my bag should be at the airport. I mean that is really reassuring from a security standpoint not actually knowing what bags are on what flights...

Went for a very nice lunch at Jane and Joel's before Chris, Emma, and I headed off to the airport where more fun began!

Before check-in headed directly to the lost and found where some unhelpful guy in a suit said my bag was in the claims holding area. The only helpful employee in the company “Mike” took me around the entire baggage claim area of the airport with no luck of finding it. The unhelpful suit could have cared less but “Mike” and I scoured the claims area again to find it sitting with a pile of random bags!! Out of the 15 people I dealt with only one was helpful…

Finally got on the plane on our way back to London… But it’s a small world as this pic proves! Jon who looks like he is going to take a knee in the head from Liam (Cancer Bats) grew up in my old stomping grounds of Vernon!!!

The tour of Toronto...

Still no sign of my bag. Crappy airline with a shit call service. Maybe if the call centre was in the country something would get sorted out. Oddly enough the airline was having job interviews in the hotel. Couldn't resist borrowing a pen from Emma and making an addition to the sign in the lobby. I went up the one floor and said I was there for an interview but as soon as I came in the door and asked how to get my bag back security showed me the exit...

Luckily Vistek was open on a Saturday so went and rented some gear with the Chris (label saviour and great guy!) Made it back in time to the hotel for the shoot and tour of Toronto with the Cancer Bats who are probably the nicest band I've ever met. (They're Canadian of course!) After a few hours of hilarious stories and many locations we had lunch at Sneaky Dee's. Dropped the gear back at the hotel and went for a wander with Emma which was fun and even watched her go broke at the record store!! All this and still no sign of the bag.

Hooked up with Greg and Chris for dinner and then went to the show. Now the Cancer Bats are well worth checking out. A fantastic mix of music and know how to put on a show! After the gig
headed back to the hotel to drop off the camera gear but on the way back no cabbies would take me back to where I needed to go. So after walking all the way back to the venue (narrowly missing getting beat up by a few spitting, drunken, testosterone filled beefcakes) and now with 2 more reasons to hate Toronto finally reached Sneaky Dee's. Luckily Scott from the Cancer Bats offered a ride back to the hotel so left right away as I wouldn't have been very good company... Apart from the people we were hanging out with this weekend Toronto really is not a very nice place! Glad I grew up in the nice part of Canada... Oh yeah still no sign of the bag I needed today!!

AIR CANADA = AIR INCOMPETENCE

No idea how they can call themselves an airline! Losing the bags that I need for a shoot tomorrow and saying it will be on the next flight only to never phone... Fucking call centres that are no where near the airport. Excuses and just plain bad service. Help a friend and don't fly with them!

Once finally at the hotel went a block and a half to Healey's for the Bodog Music showcase. Saw Troy and Neurosonic and a few other bands who were terrible and names I can't remember! Was great to see Troy again and we put back a few too many Corona bottles. Stuck around as John Lydon was in the crowd and rumored to jump onstage but it didn't happen in the end. Still a good night even after the shitty service from the airline.

hey hey HEY!

Well it took five months and eight days but I finally saw her. The Queen was out for the day blocking stations and getting in people's way. Still had to wave at her though!

Met up with Scoot beforehand and added Paul Brannigan, Fishy, Nick, and Nina upon arrival to our posse at the Face Party housewarming event which was amazing! Basically their offices are put together by former film-set designers. So there were all these different themed rooms and caverns to play in. A back bar that looked dirty and rougher than anything you'd ever want to go near but I did make a quick deposit in the bins!! (Pic:Fishy) Saw Tom (from Face Party) who was at Gallows and he gave the tour of all the fantastic finished rooms.

We then hopped in a car and went over to the Brixton Academy for sold night number 2 of NIN. Great show but they could have done with a little less dry ice for the first few songs! Ending with "Head Like A Hole" to the entire venue singing can't be wrong. Up early tomorrow as it's back to Canada. At least I get to see Toronto for the first time! No laptop coming along so it'll be back to posts on Tuesday...

Rogue Shopping

Ever heard of it? Well Jo Kendall introduced it to me so I thought I would take a pic to demonstrate...

It's when someone has something they are going to buy at a supermarket and then decide to get something else. Instead of returning that item they leave it where they picked up the new item! So what would make someone realize they need kitchen towel instead of Cheerios?? Hilarious, trust me you'll look and laugh next time you go grocery shopping! To top it off I bought the Cheerios!

Alex Shellim RAWKS!

So thought I was going to Gallows this evening until I got the call saying the guest list was cut so a no go. Same happened to Alex Shellim until he emailed me to say found two tickets on eBay and did I want to go?? HELL YEAH! Glad I did as it was a killer show!

Bumped into Tom who is going to Mastodon with me on the 15th. He had never seen Gallows before and was blown away!

Drank a bit too much and thank god Mr.Hughes helped me to the tube with my garbage bag...

Wolverhampton?!

A live shot from the Mastodon show that was VERY good!

Took the train up to Wolverhampton which was a very friendly place. Most cabbie's usually have something to complain about but in Wolverhampton I got a tour of the place, a little history, and one describing what a good dancer he is!!

Went to the Wulfrun Hall and met up with Em, and Tom. Had a quick tasty curry (never had cinammon chicken before!) and then over to the show which was even better than the one in New Jersey...

sunday mellow sunday

Headed down to Shoreham-by-Sea for a visit with the G-Ma. Back to London and watched what I think is a comedy classic before finishing a few things on the computer.

Travelling up to Wolverhampton tomorrow to shoot a few live photos of Mastodon. They were great when I last saw them a few weeks ago in NJ!

Here's a pic of Madina Lake that is in Kerrang! this week...

you want to start a revolution?

Met up with Carly and Rachel at a restaurant by Waterloo station. Organic dishes that were actually not bad for England standards. The Pirate came along and we spawned a new revolution that will take the world by storm... Too bad we are going to be all hush hush about it, FOREVER! If you hang out with us enough you may discover it, or if you look closely at this pic go to the website and check out the first few victims!

Off early to Shoreham-by-sea to visit the G-Ma tomorrow. I'd better brush up on her favorite reading material before I go!!!

evilution.

Today's shoot was at a top secret location... These offices were hands down the best I've ever been to in London or anywhere for that matter. They made the decked out Sony Playstation apartment look like daycare! All shall be revealed at a later date this month. Other than that just went back to the video games which I am slowly becoming addicted too!!

Heading up to Wolverhampton on Monday for Mastodon which should be another amazing show. Here's the opening spread I photographed for Kerrang! It seemed appropriate with their name...

pre-prod

Not much but a load of pre-production and research today for a last minute shoot tomorrow. If the idea comes together it will look great.

Other than that just mucked around on video games all day. What a "very nice" idea. Try it sometime! Here's one you've all played before...

Just realized it's been 5 months since I left Vancouver! Miss the people and the food but other than that I couldn't have made a better choice to leave. I'll be stepping back onto Canadian soil next weekend but only for a few days in Toronto which should be fun. Never been to the centre of the universe before!

Here's a shot from yesterday's shoot with Lost Alone. (Pic:Bloody Fish?!) Clean up can be so much fun after a shoot!!