Welcome to "Your Story", an exciting series where the spotlight is on you, our vibrant community! In this series, we invite you to share your unique experiences, heartfelt anecdotes, and personal reflections on a variety of compelling topics. This months topic was "With which band you would want to go on tour?" and here are your stories!
For the last 30 years my day job has been photographing bands, festivals and artists / consulting for labels, bands and brands - but my passion is photographing up and coming bands, the stars of tomorrow.
The band I would love to tour with is the Deaf Devils from here in Valencia. Why? Well simply because they are awesome! They have an energy, drive and charisma that is pretty rare today - they really do want it all and are gonna be nice guys on the way to getting it. They are also "Punk As F@ck!"
What do I mean by that? Any band that gets asked to leave the world largest punk festival halfway through their set for being too “punk” rightly deserves that title!
I first photographed them about a year ago in the might 16 Toneladas club (Valencia) - didn’t quite know what to expect and left feeling like I had been brutally assaulted in all my senses. Since then I guess I have photographed them five or six time live, two arranged photoshoots and one drunken shoot outside a club - the resulting photo appearing on billboards across Europe this summer.
They have turned Europe this summer, my diary was full of festival bookings - every photo they posted made me want to jump ship and go on road!
I think touring with them would be epic - I could relive my youth, be like the kid in “Almost Famous” (well, probably his dad - you get the picture), capture iconic images for the future and just make an incredible document of the rise of tomorrows superstars.
Oh, yeah and touring with bands is cool and what goes on tour, stays on tour - when you are touring, reality goes on hold!
I'm Stephanie Heath, but you might also know me as Smiling Eyes Media. If I had to pick, I’d choose Cage The Elephant. Their energy is just incredible—everything from the way they connect with their fans to the unexpected elements in their stage production, and of course, Matt Schulz’s unpredictability. It’s a constant thrill, and I'd always be ready with my camera to capture whatever comes next. What I love most about music photography is that you never really know what’s going to happen; it's all about trusting your gut.
I would love to go on tour with Spite. They act absolutely crazy on stage which is always fun to photograph in my opinion. Lots of movement, weird poses and hair. That's why I've enjoyed the two times I've shot for them! The audience also always seems fun and mostly friendly, which is nice as both being a woman in the industry and carrying an expensive camera into the pit. I enjoy their mysterious character on stage along with the heaviest music my eardrums can handle and dancing along to it hoping the pictures I take are somewhat focused. They also aren't playing in huge venues (yet) which i love because here in The Netherlands that usually means you can easily shoot the whole show and I recognise a bunch of people that also know me so that i can actually shoot from the whole venue. I also just like more intimate shows better than big venues with a full photopit, it makes me feel like im less in the way of others and less rushed. I hope one day it happens, but for now I'm enjoying Olivia Bastone's pictures a lot and I'm having fun shooting for them when they're around (:
The Band I would love to go on tour with is Cage The Elephant. I have been a Cage The Elephant since 2009 when I saw them play Buzzfest in Houston and even though they were an early act that day, they completely blew me away. As a concert photographer now, they have been my absolute favorite band to cover. Their lead singer, Matt Shultz, is such a joy to photograph, as he is high energy, jumping into the crowd and never stays in one place. I was able to photograph them at Bonnaroo this year, where they let photographers stay through their whole set as long as you signed their waiver – which essentially just said, “you can’t sue if you get hurt.” That’s how wild and unpredictable Matt and the rest of Cage The Elephant can be. I highly recommend seeing them if you ever get the chance.
I am Ellie, music photographer based in Madrid and a band I would like to go on tour with is Fontaines D.C. since they are my all time favourite band. I photographed them for the first and last time in 2019. Their album debut just came out and it was album of the year in Rough Trade and other publications. I think they even won some Brits!
It was the most insane concert I have been to, the whole pit was a huge moshpit and it was soo fun. I even met some friends that I still have in my life. I loved having the chance to photograph the band in such a small venue that is Sala Cool in Madrid, and now I am seeing them in a stadium in the same city, just a few years after!
If I could go on tour with any band, it would definitely be Green Day. Their raw energy, legendary performances, and ability to engage massive crowds would be an incredible experience to capture. Being part of a world tour with such an iconic band would be a dream come true, as it would allow me to document not only their shows but also the behind-the-scenes moments across different countries and cultures.
Although I’ve never had the opportunity to photograph Green Day before, I would love the chance to bring their dynamic performances to life through my lens. The opportunity to travel the world and visually tell the story of their tour would be an unforgettable adventure.
A band I’ve love to go on tour with is Human Renegade. They are a local band from Glasgow/Cumbernauld. I’ve been taking photographs of them for around a year now and I’ve been able to see their confidence grow over the year. They’re also really lovely, down to earth people to hang around with! The passion and energy they bring to their performances is just amazing! Taking photos of them has also helped me gain confidence within gig photography. They would be an amazing band to go on tour with.
My dream is to photograph and tour with Djo. I greatly admire the songwriting, layered production, unique vocals, and singular aesthetic he curates. My goal with photography is to transport the viewer into the middle of a show. Capturing the magic of Djo’s live performances is a welcome challenge. Djo’s two albums have been the soundtrack to many years of my life, and conveying that connection back to other fans and attendees of the shows would be an honor. Djo shared in an interview recently that he plans to release his third album and embark on a proper tour next year. I cannot wait to see which direction he goes in and photograph magical moments from the show.
It was October 2005, in New Orleans Louisiana, my home and a city known for it’s resilience, that Voodoo Music Fest decided to carry on the show to keep spirits high after the city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. With a small Saturday line up including mostly local bands, 2 major headliners, Queens of the Stonage and Nine Inch Nails, took the stage in an epic way. With many people out of the city, major coverage was minimal giving the opportunity for small local zines to capture the day. This was my first show as a concert photographer, forever changing my view of photography and the way I experienced live music.
For the last two decades, I sought out and covered countless bands across New Orleans and Los Angeles. Bands like Slayer, Soundgarden, Deftones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Muse, Mastodon, Bring Me The Horizon, Paramore, Billie Eilish and the list goes on. I’ve been insanely lucky to have photographed these bands and truly have vivid memories of each and every pit I’ve been in. Festivals, arenas, small venues doesn’t matter, co-creating alongside these artists has been a dream. I still have many artists I’m planning on adding to my list, like Gojira, Sleep Token, ERRA, and more, so this is me saying I’ll see you in the pit soon.
I’ve gone on to see NIN live eight times in several cities and photographed them two more times, with the most recent on their last tour in 2022 in Santa Barbara, California; I can honestly say there is nothing like seeing them through my lens. I don’t know if it’s because they were my first or if it’s the impact their music has had on me over the years, but I’ve always dreamed of going on tour with them. The connection they have to the crowd, the way they give everything for every show I’ve seen, just witnessing the raw talent and chemistry of Trent and Atticus, it’s a professional respect for artistry at the highest level. Being able to document that experience and collaboratively shape the story they tell through my eyes would simply be unmatched.
Music photography has kept me grounded and connected to the rawness of art in a such a rich and fulfilling way. A rawness that I’d give anything to showcase through the grit, textures, and layers of Nine Inch Nails. They lit a fire in me in 2005 and it’s been “burning bright” ever since. I’ll never give up the pursuit because I still have one dream to fulfill, a tour, where every night I show up, create and deliver with the same intensity as the artist.
That artist is and will always be, Nine Inch Nails.
THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR STORIES!
Stay tuned, the next topic
will be announced later this month!