Mr. November Photography | James Berry

Death From Above 1979 / The Computers @ Brixton Academy
Andy Burrows @ The Underbelly, London

So summer was, for various reasons, a bit quiet. I barely set foot in a venue, for the first time in years and years I didn’t set foot on festival turf, and yet somehow I’m already behind on my blogging. Things are getting busier now, so let’s rattle through my first couple of shows of the autumn.

Andy Burrows
One off-single launch show in a tiny basement in Hoxton (nice place, actually) from the ex-Razorlight, current We Are Scientists drummer and I Am Arrows man Andy Burrows. Though pleasantly surprised by the I Am Arrows album I remain pretty indifferent to him, but I was just pleased to be out shooting again. As with any venue of this size you are at the mercy of whatever static clash of coloured lights are stuck to the ceiling and this was a typically unhelpful collection. But with no other restrictions it was nice to spend a bit of time getting back into the swing of things…

The Computers
Supporting Death From Above 1979 at Brixton Academy, The Computers (kind of like a good The Hives support band 8 years too late) had a ton of crisp white light flooding the stage. And then patently refused to stand in it. Or at least their hyperactive frontman doggedly avoided it, only occasionally relenting. Which was annoying. They were a lot of fun to shoot though, active and interesting with the Big Book of Rock Poses learnt more or less by heart. I enjoyed them.

Death From Above 1979
On the comeback trail and still fairly celebrated even if nobody really knows why (I mean, they clearly meet a standard, but how far can they get with just one measly album and still nothing more on the horizon?!), on this second visit to the UK this year they’re struggling to keep the momentum up judging by the half empty venue, but as performers they’re as intense as a sudden headbutt. The lights did somewhat get in the way of trying to capture that though. A higher shutter speed would have been better to capture the action, but even wide open that wasn’t possible most of the time. Add to that the putrid, humid green, yellow and blue glows flooding the stage and things were less than ideal. Came away with a few I was happy with though, considering.