March 2008..

Hiya Chums!  It’s a lovely Spring morning here up North, just grabbing a few minutes to blog before we all dive out to the pictures!

My first bit of news is that I have an exhibition on at The Oakengates Theatre in Telford, it’s open until Friday the 25^th of April (Mon/Sat 10-6 and Wednesdays 12-6). The show came about because the county arts officer saw my show for the National Trust last year and invited me to put together a small exhibition of some of my favourite portraits. Usually my shows are curated to include a certain number of classic pictures from the last 14 or so years but this was ’my pick’ from work produced since 2003 and as a result many of the shots are newly printed and exhibited which I have found a genuinely refreshing experience. Much care was placed in both hanging and lighting the exhibition (thanks Helen & Carolyn!) and I’m really chuffed with the result. The show went up on Saturday 1^st March and I had a call from the Council the following Wednesday saying that both the Theatre & Council were so delighted with the show that they would like to buy the whole set of prints bar the huge Doddy. Yipee! The prints are all in an edition of 50 so if you are interested in buying further copies get in touch with Helen Chesters on 01952 382 367. The list of portraits includes: Merchant & Gervais, Ken Dodd, Bill Bailey, Norman Wisdom, Alan Carr, Eddie Izzard, Mickey Rooney, Sally Philips, Mitchell & Webb and Ashley Jensen – something for everyone!

I’ve been out and about at a few gigs since January and there are new shots of Carrie Quinlan, Robin Ince, Gary Delaney, Silky, Marcus Birdman and Alun Cochrane in the gallery as well as a chunk of never seen before stuff from the archive. As usual Edinburgh Fringe shoots are flying in but I’ll wait a couple of months before posting anything.

My next piece of news involves my favourite band ’Merz’ – when I was 16 I set up a tape label for local bands with my brother and came across an amazing musician, Conrad Lambert who was a year younger than me at high school. The shots I did with a borrowed camera for that cassette sleeve  were among the first I ever did. Conrad & I  have remained friends for over 25 years and I’ve followed his career closely. The day that I visited the National Portrait Gallery for advice and the curator bought an early shot of Alexei Sayle was the day that Con signed to Sony publishing, I stayed in his dingy flat in King’s Cross that night and we celebrated with the Ketts, the drummer for his school band. A great day!

His first album ’Merz’ received rave reviews and although he guested on Jools Holland and did sessions for Radio 1 & XFM, his record company weren’t happy with the lack of major chart success so Con decided to cut his losses and walk away from his contract, a brave move indeed! Eight years later Merz are about to release their 3^rd album ’Moi et Mon Camion’ and yet again are getting rave reviews (single of the week on i-tunes, 5 stars album of the week in the Independent, Q recommended , 4 stars in Mojo, Uncut etc and a fantastic live session on Dermott O’Leary’s Radio 2 show a couple of weeks ago) but this time it’s on Con’s terms. It has been a huge thrill to have been involved in shooting the sleeve and working with the fantastic artist Leemun Smith. I would urge you to have a listen to Con’s work on http://www.myspace.com/merzuk . Give ’Silver Moon Ladders’ a go – you won’t be disappointed!

While I’m in a congratulating mood – well done to Danny McLoughlin – a genuinely exciting and fresh talent who I’ve been lucky enough to have seen gigging several times now – he’s in the final of the Chortle student competition – go and see him now and you can say you were there before he was headlining at the Comedy Store!

Thanks again for your interest in my work and if anybody does make it to Telford, I’d love to see any reviews – good, bad or indifferent! Ta!

Andy

Happy New Year chums!

Lots and lots has happened since I last blogged! The project that I'm most pleased with was a couple of shoots for Marcus Brigstocke's 'Planet Corduroy' DVD. The sleeve pics (featuring huge pieces of..well…corduroy!) were done at Marcus' house, we also managed to get some great trampoline shots (one was in 'The Times' last week) and some daft 'anti scratch dog collar' pictures. A couple of days later I did a series of live stills at the 'Shaw Theatre' for the sleeve.

As well as being a great document of Marcus' tour (directed by the legendary Geoff Posner), the DVD has an interactive gallery of about 20 pics taken over the past 5 years at a wide variety of places – there are live shots from London, Leeds and Latitude as well as atmospheric ones shot on the Roman walls in Chester at midnight and at Erdigg house when Marcus and Carrie Quinlan came to see my exhibition there in 2007.

It was lovely to work with Dave Spikey again, I did some work for him years ago when he was doing his first Comedy Store solo headlining gigs. I know I'm not the only person that feels that when Peter Kay made the transition from 'Phoenix Nights' (co-written by Dave and Neil Fitzmaurice) to 'Max & Paddy'; that his material lost a lot of its subtlety and charm, Dave's other shows like 'Dead Man Weds' (cruelly pitched against 'Desperate Housewives' by pesky programmers) and 'Magnolia' have been made with the same level of care and I've remained a big fan. Dave's next tour is 'The Best Medicine' (see www.davespikey.co.uk for dates) and we managed to include a range of daft medical props as well as some strange hand puppets. I'll post up some of the other pictures over the next few months.

Dara O'Briain has just announced a massive UK tour starting in March (see www.offthekerb.co.uk )and the promo shots for this were done a couple of months ago. As well as some pictures done with boxing gloves and a South American skeleton, as the sun came around the back of Dara's house I managed to grab some beautifully lit pictures (see this month's gallery).

The DVD of Tony Robinson's 'Cunning Night Out' tour has finally been released and features a couple of shots taken during 2006.

I was lucky enough to be given unlimited access on Bill Bailey's 'Tinselworm' tour in Manchester. I've had a couple of e-mails from other people in the audience and the feeling is unanimous – it was best stadium comedy tour we've seen. Through a combination of fantastic material and use of brilliant sound and visuals, we punters felt as if we were in an intimate venue rather than the cavernous MEN Arena. This is a rare thing indeed! I shot over 1000 pictures and will pin up some of the best during the next few months, my favourite is the 'Pete Townsend' shot in this months gallery, Bill did a jump for me and then turned to give a journalist one on my right, I knew that the second one would give a better angle and just managed to grab it. It's one of my best live pictures yet – hope you like it!

I'm well pleased that Dylan Moran has used my work again on the cover of his 'Live Collection' DVD. I've not been able to get a copy yet but am assuming that the cover shot I did for 'Monster' will also be included. The shot in the trees was done at Latitude in the Summer and a variant of it is still in the main gallery.

I've been going regularly to Silky's gig at Theatr Clwyd and the last couple have been crackers, I'd really recommend them but – no kidding- book early as I've got a couple of mates who were turned away in November. Recent bills have included folk like Andre Vincent and Rhys Darby (Flight Of The Conchords' manager from both the radio & TV shows) – for 6 quid!

I haven't seen a copy as yet (has anyone out there got it?!) that Carrie Quinlan's 'flower camouflage' shot was used in Time Out in the Autumn - officially my favourite picture of 2007!

Ben Norris' 'Live At The Comedy Store' CD is just out and features the 'wall of tyres' pictures I did a couple of years ago, it's brilliant stuff as you'd expect from any man who can father triplets (!) and is available from the Comedy Store website...

The triptych of Andy Watson was made at Chester Uni a few weeks ago. The gig is organised by a mate of mine Danny and I'm very pleased by the way that Andy's energetic persona came out in the pics…

My latest shoot was for Jeff Green who is touring Australia in the next couple of months. When we'd finished doing the studio pictures, I dragged the poor guy into his garden and made him pull silly faces against a beautiful tree and sky, I've included one of these in the gallery.

We are all most chuffed in our house that Alan Carr won both a British Comedy Award and was at the top of the charts for the Christmas Comedy DVDs. I've worked with him on many occasions – including his very first publicity shots for 'Alan Carr's Ice Cream Sundays' at the Comedy Store in Manchester -  featuring the most risky '99' munching I've ever seen! He's a top lad and thoroughly deserves his success, well done mate!

Keep warm people & thanks for all of your kind comments…

PS A gallery of pictures of our 2006 trip to Japan will be on the site for couple of months – hope you enjoy em!

Andy

XX

Where were we? Oh Yeah...Edinburgh in August! No luck with finding a Pro photo shop on a Sunday, Jason Cook comes over to the hotel for some quick shots, had to use available light but found some great little locations around the place. The poor lad was in a daze as he'd been given a stunning review the night before for his show 'My Confessions'.

Mrs.H returns with more tooth cement and we meet Jason Manford for nosh at Pizza Express and then dive off to see Laurence Clarke's "12% Evil" gig. I've known Laurence for a couple of years (shot him the previous year for the Liverpool exhibition). The premise of Lol's show was how disabled characters had been portrayed as baddies in literature and film; from Captain Hook through James Bond's Blowfeld up to Heather Mills-McCartney! I don't want to give too much away as you might catch up with Laurence through the year at a comedy festival but his 'collecting bucket' film gave us the biggest giggles of all the gigs I've seen this year – pure belly-laugh stuff!

We shoot through town to see Adam Bloom in 'Look at Me Anybody'. I've been pals with Adam for years and he remains one of my favourite stand-ups, we always try to see him when he comes through to Liverpool/Manchester. I've seen him a dozen times at least and he's never disappointed me.

 Adam is comedy-obsessed, his writing is honed to perfection and he always walks a fantastic tight-rope of a performance. The highlight of tonight's show was a live phone call to Omid Djalili as a member of the audience recognised his voice-over as part of Adam's gig. We meet Adam for a quick 'hello' and race back to the Pleasance to catch Justin Moorhouse in 'Who's The Daddy?' Justin has had good ticket sales all week and was beginning to get a really good buzz going for his show. It was a lovely set & seemingly like the best ones this year, genuinely personal… His thoughts on becoming a Dad for the first and second time (with a different partner) formed real heart-tugging stuff and were peppered with great little stories and one-liners. His Eiffel Tower tourist tale was a cracker! Spent time chatting with Justin and then he gave us a lift back to the hotel.

The top woman on reception manages to get Mrs.H an appointment at the dentist first thing Monday morning and I zip across to KJP to get a replacement flash lead. Pete Gold comes over for a pre-arranged session and we use most of the hotel's public spaces and outside in the road to get some lovely shots. Pete is using them for a new CD sleeve over the next couple of months.

With Mrs.H still at the dentist I go back  back into town to meet Okse and we sit in the Pleasance Courtyard drinking coffee. With the flash unit restored I set up a temporary studio in a metal box dressing room at the back of Pleasance 2 and shoot Adam Bloom and the wonderful John Hegley. I've been harassing poor John for years and today is no exception, he sketches a dog for Mrs.H who has a real soft spot for him and I shelter from the rain.

The missis returns with her restored teeth and we join the queue for Paul Merton's Improv chums. If you've been following my work for a while you'll know that one of my first big commissions was from Don Ward at The Store to produce huge-scale portraits of the Players for the Manchester club. Thus I spent almost a whole Summer shooting them and their various guests and loved every minute of it. Paul, Jim Sweeney (in his last planned Edinburgh run), Richard Vranch, Suki Webster and Lee Simpson are firing on all cylinders and the hour flies by! The Players used to do a weekly Manchester gig a couple of years ago but just come up for the odd visit nowadays so it's a big thrill to see them again.

We meet Jim and Richard afterwards and I set up a light in the back of the Pleasance Bar. Carrie Quinlan (whose 'flower camouflage' shot is STILL one of my favourites of the year) comes by with Punt & Dennis who had arranged to do some pictures the previous day. Carrie comes with us for tea and we try and get in at the brilliant 'Monster Mash' café' but it's fully booked (with Rob Deering at the front of the queue!) so we go a couple of doors down and catch up. I see Jason Byrne and tell him that his 'snake' Edinburgh shot is one of my favourites in the Fringe brochure. We walk back over to the Pleasance courtyard to our final gig – Nina Conti. Nina has written a complex show here, of course the monkey is here and plays a starring role but there is so much depth to the characters and routines here. Afterwards as Nina poses for pictures she explains that the show is still a 'work in progress' and she hopes to tour it next year, should be a cracker!

So another Edinburgh is over, this year was my most successful in terms of shooting big name campaigns and even though we only manage to see under a third of the shows that I'd done posters for, it was still a blast and lovely to meet up with old pals.

I'd had my eye on the 'Latitude' Festival website for a couple of months after hearing some whispers that the Comedy Tent was looking rather tasty. In the end the 3 day sideshow had a line-up that rivalled both the Edinburgh & Montreal festivals!

I wasn't able to make it to Suffolk until early Saturday morning so missed acts like Bill Bailey, Mark Steel and Rob Deering that were appearing on Friday. Left the house at 4am and rolled up at my mate Alan's house in Ipswich just before 9 on Saturday. I hadn't seen Alan for over 10 years - he was one of the first people to encourage me to take photographs whilst at college and used to sneak me into the art department darkrooms to play. I'd been lucky enough to get weekend AAA passes so was in comedy heaven for the next two days! Managed to shoot over 2000 shots featuring over 30 comedians in the next 48 hours! These included folk like Alan Carr, Jeremy Hardy, Stewart Lee, Dylan Moran, Lee Mack, Marcus Brigstocke & Phill Jupitus. It was lovely to catch up with comedians who I hadn't seen for a couple of years and as well as seeing a lot of new faces.

As usual Steve Gribbin had the tricky final slot on Saturday night; the tent is usually just over half full by this point as the headline music acts are warming up; but he had a stormer and really seemed to enjoy himself. Of the new faces that I'd not seen before Jarred Christmas and Russell Kane were full of energy and really impressed me. Great also to see Josie Long, Sarah Millican & Carrie Quinlan – I'm convinced that these 3 women will play a major role in comedy in the future – watch 'em fly!

Highlights of the weekend musically were 'Jarvis Cocker', the bonkers 'CSS' and one of my all-time faves 'Arcade Fire'. Also managed to catch some of the Book Club, poetry and late-night cabaret tents that were fantastically varied in both content and quality. A great festival overall – I'd really recommend it for next year…

Alfie Joey and his lovely girlfriend Kati tied the knot last weekend and Mrs.H and I were delighted to attend – as usual, the Shrigley Hotel was crawling with comedians and after spending a bit of time trying to find a decent patch of light' I managed to grab some lovely shots of folk like Justin Moorhouse, Paul Sinha & Andy Zaltmann. Highlights of the day were the boyband 'Take Fat' (featuring Jason Manford & Justin Moorhouse among others!) serenading the new bride Kati and Jimmy Crickett cutting a brilliant rug on the dance floor!

MySpace and Chortle were full of news about Des Sharples last week. The poor lad was set upon by a pair of thugs whilst trying to defend his missis in a bar on holiday in Tenerife. Des sustained some nasty head injuries and as it became obvious that he wasn't able to work for an extended period, Rob Riley and Pascal (the owner of the Iguana bar in Chorlton where Des hold his regular 'Mirth ob Monday' gig) organised a benefit. The final line-up included Jason Manford, Justin Moorhouse, Toby Hadoke, Mundo Jazz & Seymour Mace. The lads raised a great amount of cash and deserve much credit. In an industry where there are regular accusations of inflated egos and selfishness; this was a lovely gesture and a great night of comedy was had by all.

I will be in Edinburgh for a few days in the next couple of weeks and am taking some portastudio kit with me, as well as seeing some of the acts that are using my pictures for publicity I hope to meet up with a load of comics for quick portrait sessions – get in touch if you're interested!

The following comedians are using my pictures in some way; either as posters/flyers or publicity shots so look out for the following…Alistair Barrie, John Bishop, Marcus Brigstocke, Keith Carter, Laurence Clark, Rob Deering, the Early Edition, Sean Hughes, Sean Lock, Jason Manford & Justin Moorhouse.

I've had a couple of requests to show the shots from Brendan 'Sausage' Riley's wedding so have pinned up a few in a gallery, I get a lot of wedding requests –photography not matrimony! (including 5 comedians at the last count) – I always turn them down! These shots were just 'quick grabs' for fun and I'm pretty pleased with them – enjoy!

I've made hundreds of new shots over the past few weeks but will wait until after Edinburgh to change the comics gallery, have a terrific Summer!

So much for the Edinburgh deadline! With just under a month to go until the start of the Fringe, I think the last of the campaign shoots has just been completed!
Mundo Jazz's crazy World Music pastiche was a real challenge! - Juan (or is it Dan?!) wanted somthing close to  the knuckles of Santana and Spinal Tap but just on the edge of mickey-take for his new tour and album 'For Whom The Bell Ends'. After an initial meeting at the Seal Club in Nantwich to see Mundo compere (and produce an amazing re-write of the theme from Quincy!) we met a week later over at Beeston Castle in Cheshire. I'll be posting the tour details and terrific poster on the site in due course.
Hitched a ride with Bren to visit 'The Limelight' club in Crewe and saw good old Toby Hadoke controlling a rowdy crowd with his usual verve and on the same night saw an act I hadn't seen before..look out for Mike Newall, he's got a great relaxed and steady style.
Next, up from the South was Rob Deering (the man of a thousand T-shirts - Cheers Rob!). Did a load of nice studio shots of both Rob and his beautiful customised guitar then decamped to the Duke of Westminster's drive for some moody pics by the fantastically gothic gates and railings. Rob has put a selection of these images on his website - look out for more around Edinburgh.
Liverpool Comedy Festival provided some great opportunities for new pieces, both Stewart Lee & Richard Herring (separately!) produced great gigs. Bad weather and time limitations meant quick backstage grabs for both guys but I'm pleased with the intimacy of these portraits and hope to show them both in an exhibition I've been invited to do next year.
Silky and others have been nagging at me to see Sarah Millican for ages. I finally caught up with her and Josie Long at the Unity Theatre. Both were trying out new material - I must admit I've never been a fan of these sort of nights! I am fascinated by the process but usually prefer to see the finished product. The relaxed atmosphere and fact that they were giggling at each other's efforts from the front row made it a lovely night however, both are charming and disarming, instantly likeable and most of all funny! Sarah is now using a couple of the shots as her publicity pictures and we plan to meet again for a full studio session early next year.
I followed up Danny James' studio shots of a couple of months ago with some live images at Comedy Central in Albert Dock. Danny has posted a bunch of these on his website and blog and I was pleased with the Rock'n'Roll style that we managed to achieve despite the comedy club lighting.
This year's 'Best Of Liverpool' gig and party was at the Royal Court and was the usual mad mix of 'alternative', 'mainstream' & 'vintage' comedians - where else would you get Keith Carter, Brendan Riley and John Bishop on the same stage as Willy Miller and Pete Price?! The festival run an annual competition whereby teenagers are coached in Stand-up by Chris Cairns and Stef Davis and then produce several minutes of material that are judges in a series of gigs. The winners get a short slot in the 'Best Of Liverpool' show. Both lads seemed confident and unphased by the whole things and produced great short slots - look out for Peter Harris and Conor McKenna in future...
Last up was Laurence Clark on Friday, e-mails had been flying backwards and forwards on this. Lol's Edinburgh show is entitled "12% Evil" and examines the role of disabled villains in popular culture - "you know the ones...Captain Hook, Doctor Evil...Heather Mills-McCartney!" Laurence is dressed as a Bondish-type villain and as usual with Laurence, more time was spent laughing than actually taking pictures but we got some great images after Laurence and his mate Graham finally mastered the mystery of the monocle!
Had a lot of reaction to the Bernard Manning blog last month (there were so many 'for' and 'againsts' all over the internet and interesting bits from Okse and Carl Donnelly) - thanks to all. I've taken off the Vegas pics and replaced them with some bird pictures shot here and there - hope you enjoy them!
Details of Edinburgh campaigns and new shots in a few weeks....

Bernard Manning 1931 - 2007

I met Bernard Manning twice. The first time was way back in 1995, the day I shot my first comedian. As I've said a hundred times before, the whole reason for me starting in photography was my Grandad. As a 5 year old kid, he didn't seem like the World's cheeriest bloke to me – thinking back I probably misjudged him; he was just an aged Yorkshireman who worked hard and wanted his tea on the table when he got home.
The only time I ever saw my Grandad laugh was at the telly – specifically at Charlie Williams on 'The Golden Shot' & 'The Comedians'. For this reason I can remember thinking that Charlie was a comedy God – this cheeky black broad Yorkshire rascal was a true wizard – the sole giggle master with the key to my Grandad's sense of humour. Twenty years later these memories were stuck fast in my psyche and I had to meet Charlie to thank him. I went along with my mate Marcus and photographed him with a 35mm and a crazy half-plate antique camera – I didn't have a clue what I was doing! Later that day we drove over to the Embassy club to photograph Bernard, I'd arranged to shoot him several weeks before and confirmed it but he'd clearly forgotten. The whole session lasted less than 3 minutes, as I got to frame 11 on my borrowed RB67 he proclaimed "What you doing – a f******* album?"
We thanked Bernard, declined his offer of a meal at the Embassy and slipped away.

Fast forward to 2001. I had been championing Charlie Williams during press interviews and on the internet and for this reason was invited by Johnnie Hamp to cover 'The Comedians' re-union gig at the Opera House in Blackpool. Charlie Williams was there again - ''Eeeh lad! I thought tha was dead!" he proclaimed and we slapped each others backs. Charlie was due to go on stage to do a short set but he clearly wasn't up to it, he was wracked with Parkinson's and shaking too much to do himself justice. It was decided that he should be introduced on stage and presented with a framed playbill from the Comedians run at the London Palladium.
The curtain was parted and Charlie shuffled on with Duggy Brown, the joint erupted and Charlie received a unanimous standing ovation, I clicked away like mad and got a terrific shot of Charlie in silhouette against the stage lights.
 As Williams returned to the backstage area Bernard Manning turned around from his plastic chair and puffed away on a cigarette….
"Listen to that Charlie…they love ya, they ALL love ya" Charlie turned his head towards the voice and lifted his chin – sensing there was a punch line to come "yeah, everybody loves ya, everybody except me – I think you're a ****" Charlie Williams turned his head back and looked at me, but said nothing. It was such a small moment but said so much about the pair of them. Manning, full of his own importance (did he really conquer Vegas as he'd bragged to me 6 years previously?) and Williams just accepting the obvious love of the public and maintaining his dignity throughout. During the day I'd shot all of the comics in a cellar dressing room and took the opportunity to chat to them all. I'd met Roy Walker previously on the North Pier in Blackpool, probably the most balanced and surely the most successful of all of Johnnie Hamp's finds – the conversation turned to the legacy that the Comedians had left. I gave them my opinion that they had been tarnished by racism and mother-in-law material and that although the majority of their generation had rightly moved - there was one exception - one lone figure... Roy reluctantly agreed "he's tarred us all with the same brush".

This notorious bunch of frilly shirted heroes will not be remembered as they should be for shifting tv formats, breaking attendance records at the London Palladium and providing kids all over the land with killer lines at school on a Monday morning. They'll be remembered for Bernard Manning refusing to move with the times or acknowledge that his material was fuel for hate mongers everywhere. We all know he was a funny man, a comedian's comedian; but as Caroline Aherne so deliciously put it "Bernard…who are you going to vote for now that Hitler's dead?"

Here's an idea...instead of getting angry about Bernard Manning -  let's remember the cheeky  little fellar instead – here's to Charlie Williams  – alright flowers?