Volume Magazine Blog

ROCKWELL

2013-06-18T17:19:00.001+01:00

BLOODSHAKE

2013-06-18T14:08:00.002+01:00

THE PECKHAM PALAIS

2013-06-17T14:09:00.000+01:00

LEVELS RECORD LABEL LAUNCH PARTY

2013-06-14T16:03:00.001+01:00

STREETS OF BEIGE

2013-06-13T15:25:00.000+01:00

THE NIGHT IV

2013-06-12T10:23:00.000+01:00

Last night The Night VI played an invite-only show at Bush Studios in London and played two thirty-minute sets for the selected few in the audience. It will not be often that The Night VI will play a venue as small as this again. You will also find it very difficult to find a female vocalist as good as Sophie Rose; some reviews mention Fleetwood Mac influences. The Night VI came together three years ago and are now on Parlophone Records. The band of six are about to release their debut EP Thinking Of You out on August 12 and their next London show is at The Old Blue Last Shoreditch on June 25, free entry. Please check them out here and follow their Facebook Page

Words and photos: Robin Pope

BABY BLUE

2013-06-11T16:45:00.002+01:00

BLIND PILGRIM

2013-06-11T12:36:00.002+01:00

AKEEM LEE

2013-06-10T13:19:00.001+01:00

EAST LONDON PRINTMAKERS

2013-06-09T16:06:00.000+01:00

SUPERFOOD

2013-06-08T15:54:00.000+01:00

TROPHY WIFE

2013-06-07T16:00:00.003+01:00

GREG SCHMIGEL & PHOTO BOOTH NIGHT

2013-06-07T13:52:00.000+01:00

Photo Booth Night is the newest project from Washington-based photographer Greg Schmigel who has made a pop-up portrait photo booth and using his iPhone to produce images from it. Volume spoke to Schmigel to find out more. Words: Robin Pope

What made you think of putting on a Photo Booth night using your mobile device? I've got a couple friends who own bars in my area and have often thought that a photo booth or group photo booth would go over well with the crowd. I've seen photographers snapping pictures in bars and nightclubs and offering for people to visit their site to purchase prints. With the iPhone (or any mobile device), it's much more immediate as the photographs are texted or email to the participants on the spot. Within minutes, the subjects have their photo booth portraits on their mobile devices, ready to upload to Facebook, or any other social network their on.

What type of reactions do you get from the party-goers? Usually, the start of the evening can be slow as the bar goers aren't sure as to what's really going on in the "booth". But once the drinks start flying, they start to make their way in. Sometimes alone, but mostly with friends. The reaction to the iPhone varies. The participants see the soft box lights and the backdrop and don't really see the camera until they take a seat in the booth. After that it's usually a resounding, "WOW, what a cool idea, you're just using your iPhone to do this? How cool!" I've yet to have any type of negative reaction to the set up.

Do you have plans for more Photo Booth nights?

I've done three. I'm fortunate to have friends who own bars who are always up for a photo booth night, especially now that we've got a couple under our belt and have worked out the kinks. I have two scheduled for down the road, one at another bar in town, and one at a holiday party at the end of the year.

How do you go about processing the images throughout the night? I don't post process the images during the evening, they are simply emailed directly to the participants immediately after their shoot. Usually, I'll snap between five and ten shots and have them all sent on the spot.

What apps do you use? For the photo booth, I needed a quick shooting app with minimal amount of developing time. I also wanted a simply square format app to hold a consistent look. The images are also immediately projected to a flatscreen television in the bar, or projected to a wall. I landed on the app, 6X6 which gave me everything I needed for the photo booth. 6X6 also allows for separate focus and exposure adjustments. Even though I'm shooting with two soft box lights, there's always an adjustment to make here or there.

HOUNDMOUTH

2013-06-05T16:38:00.000+01:00

Looking around inside this infamous music venue, each wall is covered with iconic bands and artists that have graced the legendary 100 Club stage. They can now add Houndmouth to that list of names. Very humble as they take to the stage, the foursome that consists of Matt Myers, Katie Toupin, Shane Cody and probably the happiest bass player anyone has ever seen, Zak Appleby, open with their latest single On The Road which sets the tempo for a magical night of perfect pitch harmonies, solo guitar riffs from Myers and a bottle of bourbon passed around the crowd from drummer Cody.

Penetentiary follows harking back to The Band's The Weight with Myers' vocals drowned out word for word by the crowd.

Houndmouth are a collective from Indiana and Kentucky and they may be new to our radar but you get the impression that they have been around for some time. They are individually excellent musicians and all four can sing, occasionally taking turns to sing verses.

Houndmouth were certainly here to have a good time and made sure the punters did too playing more crowdpleasers like Krampus, Houston Train and Comin' Round Again. They left us wanting more music and more of the bourbon.

Cody insisted he didn't want the bottle returned until it was empty.

Houndmouth's debut album From The Hills Below The City is out now on Rough Trade Records. Words and photos: Robin Pope

PURE EVIL ART CAR BOOT

2013-06-05T14:52:00.000+01:00

SEAN NICHOLAS SAVAGE

2013-06-05T12:57:00.001+01:00

THE UNDERTONES

2013-06-04T17:38:00.001+01:00

Here Comes The Summer, and here come The Undertones. Thirty eight years on, the five-piece from Northern Ireland are playing iconic music venues around Europe and their show on 24 May at London's Koko was no exception. The five friends that formed the punk rock group in 1975 - which then included Feargal Sharkey on vocals - has changed its line up slightly since the beginning but still carries an enormous and infectious energy that shows no sign of slowing down. Twenty three songs and counting on their impressive set list The Undertones open with Jimmy, Jump Boys and Here Comes The Summer before Michael Bradley asks the crowd if his bass is too loud with Paul McLoone replying that the bass is always too loud - before ripping into a huge greatest hits set.

The Undertones recorded their debut four-song EP Teenage Kicks on a budget of only £200 and released on Terri Hooley’s Good Vibrations record label. The title song became a cult hit with support from John Peel, who considered Teenage Kicks his all-time favourite song, an opinion he held until his death in 2004 - his gravestone bears the inscription 'teenage dreams so hard to beat'. On 5 August this year Blu-ray and DVD release the critically acclaimed film Good Vibrations from Universal. The film looks at Terri Hooley, Belfast’s punk godfather who discovered The Undertones, and captures the heart and soul of one man’s passion for music and vinyl at the height of the sectarian troubles, who opens a record shop on the most bombed half-mile in Europe and calls it Good Vibrations. With an incredible soundtrack, this film is a must see. Visit www.theundertones.com for this summer's tour dates and new release An Introduction to The Undertones, out this week. Words and photos: Robin Pope

EVERYTHING EVERYTHING

2013-06-04T14:08:00.000+01:00

DISCLOSURE

2013-06-03T14:09:00.002+01:00

THE STRYPES

2013-06-03T14:07:00.001+01:00

ATOMICA

2013-06-03T14:06:00.002+01:00

BLOODSHAKE

2013-06-01T14:13:00.000+01:00

BRITISH SEA POWER

2013-05-30T14:05:00.000+01:00

SWIM DEEP

2013-05-29T15:41:00.000+01:00

RYE LANE GROOVE CONTROL

2013-05-29T13:32:00.000+01:00