HRHBlues

To quote the title of a Ministry album “The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste”” and it really can be so true. Of course everybody is different and depression and mental health problems hit and affect people in widely different ways.For me I started putting this particular post together before Christmas 2022, and never made it to the end. My productivity just stops, disappears and this time around it took many months before I managed to get anything going at all. Unfortunately there is no magic switch, people deal with it in very different ways depending on what type of treatment they are on or if they decide to try and work through it themselves, what I always did myself until it became too much. Now I am on prescribed medication, but I would prefer to not increase the dosage beyond what I am on, so kind of a vicious circle, but in my head if I can’t work through it (even with help from meds) myself in some way it is pointless just numbing everything with meds…….. we will get there 🙂

So let me fill you in on some of the stuff I’ve been doing the last 8 months. Well I decided it was time to leave the day job and take a break, that’s extended quite a bit past what I had planned but at the same time my head hasn’t been in the right place for work anyway, so I’ll get back in shape a little and go find something less stressful to do.

I did manage to get to some festivals/gigs between August and November 2022, which were good, but the work on photo was very slow afterwards for the Festivals. There was HRH Sleaze in Sheffield at the end of August and Indoor Summer 2022 in Hamburg at the start of September, and gig wise I covered both Sepultura and Amorphis in Dublin around November time, which was awesome. Have a lot of plans this year, have started off really badly, but managed to shoot HRH Blues in Sheffield a couple of weeks back and I’m off to Uprising in Leicester next week, fingers crossed.

Photos are always a bit subjective, and for me this is definitely one of them, I both love it and don’t at the same time, I love that I managed to get a jump shot (something oddly I have had problems with over the last couple of years) but at the same time it’s not as clean as I’d like etc…….. anyway, it’s Christmas week (was when I typed this), so we will go with the love side of things 🙂

Was great to get away and catch up with friends and colleagues, and the same was true at Indoor Summer in Hamburg, my first time visiting Germany and loved the Festival and atmosphere.

Lee Aaron closing out the Indoor Summer 2022 Festival.

It’s amazing being able to catch up with friends from all across Europe, including Ireland, when you travel to an event like this one, already looking forward to Sept 2023.

We now have a standing visit to Dublin Zoo on or about the 29th of December each year, it is usually not crazy busy and we seem to have luck with the weather. Also it is certainly one of the places to see if you visit Dublin.

Every time I get the chance to shoot a band that I’m a massive fan of it is a real privilege, and that holds through when shotting them for the 2nd, 3rd or whatever time. I’ve been listening to and going to see Sepultura for more than 30 years, so getting to shot them in my home time was something a bit special for me, similar with Amorphis and I’m forever grateful to Metal Planet Music (or whichever organisation I’m shooting on behalf of) for the opportunity to do so.

2023 for me didn’t start well, I just couldn’t get my head working, so the first 3 months were a bust, nada, nothing missed a lot of gigs. So as April started I was slapping myself saying right lets just do this, and I was determined to get going, and I have at least gotten started. Another trip to Sheffield this time for HRH Blues has helped immensely, ok, didn’t help my bum knee, but that’s a different issue 😉 Two days, 15 bands on a single stage, so not so much running around as usual. But getting to see new bands to me, working with friends and trying to get back into the swing of things was brilliant. Hard work, but brilliant. Tested out some new travel routes and will try that again next week for Uprising in Leicester. will just mean less working around and train time.

The Bad Day – HRH Blues VII, O2 Academy – 09-04-2023

Alongside that we managed to get a break in last week to Donegal, this time Carrickfinn, Donegal. Just beside the Airport, beautiful Beaches, stunning landscapes, all you could want, add to that it’s not too far from a lot of other places to visit and it’s hard to beat, the Wild Atlantic Way really is a stunning Below are a couple of shots from the wonderful Killahoey Beach, Dunfanaghy, Co. Donegal.

Wish me well with getting back on the horse and getting out and about a lot more, Have gotten a couple of album reviews written, but have 2 more to finish today, if possible. Nearly there, but as I have found out the problem now is that last little bot a paragraph or two that become impossible to drag out of the recesses of the mind.

Hope you all have a brilliant Spring/Summer, and whatever helps you with any problems make use of it, life is too short to live on the couch when you can be up and about…..

Well it’s been a while since I posted, so here’s a little update on the oddities of life in 2022. Although many have been saying that the Covid Pandemic is over, and don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait for it to be finished, it’s definitely not and is still affecting life in general.

Over the last couple of weeks a few more gigs or Tours have been cancelled because band members have contracted the virus, have seen the same across Europe and the US, it doesn’t take much for smaller bands to have to cancel or postpone things when a date or two are going to be missed out on. There’s bound to be some issues for venues too with regards to staffing.

This week sees the start for me of getting back on the train with regards to going to and shooting gigs, tomorrow night I have Dark Tranquility making their very long awaited Irish debut. Then at the weekend I have a trip planned to the HRH Blues Festival in Sheffield, all going well, with Bernie Marsden and Wilko Johnson Headlining each night.

Between working from home full time, health issues and the added problem of Depression over the last 10 months it really has been a messy couple of years, and it’s taken a toll psychologically. I did get away to the Uprising Festival in Leicester last year, but that was it, and have struggled to get the motivation to get out to things locally over the last couple of months. Leaving the house isn’t a problem, still walking regularly, and building up the distances again to 10km a walk, so that’s good, but for sanity and the soul I need to get back to gigs. Photographing tomorrow night and at the weekend, so that should be motivation enough, and a lot of additional work to do, but it’s worth it.

Hasn’t just been a lack of motivation with regards to getting out and about, it’s massively affected writing anything, review wise, for so long now. it’s a real struggle to finish things off, and you’d thing that would be the easy bit sometimes. But I’m trying to work on it from a different perspective and we will see how it goes.

This could well be the last year I’ll be able to do multiple UK Festivals, even for individual shows it’s getting more and more expensive to travel and get accommodation in the UK from here. At the moment I think travel anywhere is expensive, but it eventually reaches a line where it becomes just too much. Checking prices for later in the year and it’s much more than usual, when it starts costing as much as a family holiday it really would be too much. The cost of living generally is going to make things more difficult anyway, so when you have additional costs for everything travelling becomes less fun. So I’ll go out with a bang this year and hit as much as I can, along with the Indoor Summer Festival in Hamburg which I’m looking forward to immensely, will hopefully be a very exciting and interesting few months ahead. With gigs still getting announced every week it looks like you won’t be able to walk out of the house without hitting one, and it’s great to see pictures of full venues for shows with small or large capacities.

Not too long now until the outdoor Festival season either, so bring it on. Bloodstock for sure, maybe a day or two here and there aside from that…. would love to get over and bit a farewell to KISS at Download, even if it was just for the Friday night. Aside from all that we will be doing another staycation this year, trying the beautiful South West this time around to cover off another part of the Wild Atlantic Way. There will be day trips here and there and I need to get back to the Botanic Gardens soon.

Wishing you all a very happy, interesting and safe year to come, and Rock it .

Tag: HRHBlues

It is so easy to let the mind wander back into space…….

Why’s it so hard to just get out of the house these days ?