Julian Baird 10/04/2016 Julian Baird 10/04/2016

Ferocious Dog with The Leylines and Gaz Brookfield at Exeter Phoenix - 08/04/16

Anyone looking at the line up for this gig would have been fairly certain it was going to be a great night at the Exeter Phoenix. With three top bands, Ferocious Dog, The Leylines and Gaz Brookfield playing, you could understand why.

As usual I met up with Steve from MusicMuso (expect a full review up there soon), and prepared for a raucous gig. I knew there would be lots of energy and action coming from these artists and while there wasn't a barrier / pit, I shuffled my way to the front of the crowd and got to work.

Gaz Brookfield

Up first was Gaz Brookfield and after photographing him last year at Chagstock I knew he would put on a crowd pleasing show.

The Leylines

Folk-rock band The Leylines really turned things up a notch with their fantastic set.

Ferocious Dog

When Ferocious Dog took to the stage things really kicked off with a high energy performance that the crowd just went mad for.

It was a cracking night and these types of band always make my life a little easier as there is plenty to shoot.

I'll be shooting Record Store Day next Saturday so my next blog post's images will be a little bit different but hopefully still as interesting. So bye for now and see you next time on The Unplugged Blog!

Julian Baird 31/12/2015 Julian Baird 31/12/2015

My Top 5 Bands of 2015

Every year I get the chance to photograph a stack load of bands. It's hard work but it can also be great way to discover new music. Most of the time I'll be familiar with the band, especially the headliners, but every now and again a band I haven't heard of blows me away.

This special blog post celebrates those bands. These are the artists that I remember the most from 2015 either through their music, stage presence or combination of both!

First up in my list is The Worried Men who were supporting Jefferson Starship at the Exeter Phoenix back in February. Lead singer Jamie really owned the stage and put on a great show! See my blog post of the gig here.

Jumping forward to June and I was back at the Exeter Phoenix to shoot The Sherpas. Cornish band Auction for the Promise Club were first on and their music really hit a note with me (excuse the pun!). You can also see my blog post of the gig here.

Covering festivals is a lot of work but when I shot Moriaty at Glas-Denbury in July I was blown away by the shear energy of the band. Talk about putting on a show! You can see lots more images from this festival by clicking here.

About a week later I was at another festival, Chagstock. You can see all my images from Chagstock here, but the standout act for me was Gaz Brookfield. I loved the lyrics of his songs and as soon as I got home picked up his live album.

Finally, and more recently, I saw Beardyman perform at the Exeter Phoenix in November. To say that Beardyman is a talent would be an understatement. His ability to mix up comedy with all sorts of music genres was just a pleasure to experience. You can see my blog post of the gig here.

If 2015 was anything to go by, 2016 should be a bumper year of discovering new music!

Finally, be sure to check out My Top 10 Images of 2015 blog post.

Julian Baird 31/12/2015 Julian Baird 31/12/2015

My Top 10 Images of 2015

As the end of 2015 approaches I like to take some time to look at all the images I took over the year. Looking at my 2015 collection I realise that I've had a very productive year. At the end of 2014 I wrote about my Favourite Images of 2014, a collection of my 5 personal favourites. I soon came to the conclusion that narrowing 2015 down to 5 images would be impossible.

So to celebrate 2015 I've selected 10 of my personal favourites. This gallery of images are the photographs that I'm either very pleased with (artistically speaking) or strike some sort of personal chord. An image should spark an emotional response and for me these images do just that.

I really hope you enjoyed my selection but if you want to know what my favourite bands were, please check out My Top 5 Bands of 2015 blog post.

See you all in 2016!

Julian Baird 20/07/2015 Julian Baird 20/07/2015

Chagstock 2015

It had been a busy week for me and my energy levels were low. Well, that was until I arrived at Chagstock last Friday evening! As soon as I picked up my photo pass and got through the gate I could tell it was going to be great weekend full of festival fun.

I spent a lot of time wondering around the site and there was a really positive vibe about the place. From the young to the old, everyone was just on a mission to have a good time. Hopefully you can see this from this selection of some of my favourite people and crowd shots:

As with my last festival post I'm going to keep this post light on words and let the pictures do the talking when it comes to the music. However, expect a full review from my friends over at MusicMuso really soon, so keep an eye out for it. In the mean time, here are some images of the bands and artists that made it such a great festival:

Chagstock was amazing. No doubt. It was hard work (believe it or not), but very satisfying. A great mix of amazing musicians and festival folk really made it a pleasure to shoot. I've still got lots more photos to process so keep an eye on my Twitter feed and I'll let you know when I've posted them.

I'm away to catch up on some sleep but see you next time on the Unplugged Blog!