It’s not often I get the chance to shoot events so when the opportunity came up to go see a band called Jollyboat, I headed off in company with a friend, with a single camera in tow. The venue was the Firebug in Leicester, which is a good place to hold a small gig. It would be great if they sanded the floors, my angles were restricted by the noise boots made walking on the sticky wooden boards upstairs!
As for the band, Jollyboat are two brothers, Tommy on lead vocals; All vocals on the night in question as brother and guitarist Ed had lost his voice and instead of sounding a smooth baritone was doing an epic impression of Darth Vader after twenty Gauloise. The show was at times controversial, risque and nerdy. Throughout it was side-splitingly funny.
Part of the reason for the low number of shots taken was the lighting and conditions in the venue, with a projector refresh rate casting lines over every shot. But mainly it was down to the fact its very hard to take low light shots when you are shaking with laughter all the time!
Two nicer performers it’s hard to find. The event came at the end of a bad week for me, and I was greeted at the door by a hug from Ed! Come the end of the show it was Tommy on the door, when I offered my hand, another hug!
I would heartily recommend Jollyboat to anyone with a sci-fi/fantasy/geeky side, or anyone who likes Pirates. See below for a selection of images from the night.
