James McCartney

I met up with James McCartney to day for a coffee in North London. It was really nice to see him and his manager Adrian.

Status Quo - Glasgow

I am sitting in my hotel room in Glasgow. Tomorrow is the first gig here in the city. Its been a long time since I first came here with Quo. I cant be absolutely sure, but, I think it was Nov 1977. It was cold and foggy here. We were staying at the Albany Hotel and the gig was at the legendary Glasgow Apollo. Tomorrow's gig will be at the 02 Academy. It's going to be a brilliant gig!

Status Quo - Wolverhampton

Another fantastic show with the Frantic Four. Everyone was in good spirits. Here are a few shots from the Civic Hall, Wolverhampton. Now, on to Glasgow Academy!

Status Quo "The Frantic Four"

Last night was the first show with the original Status Quo lineup since 1984. The 02 Apollo Manchester was rammed full. It was quite an amazing gig and to be honest, quite amazing to see all 4 of hem together again on stage after all the years of legal madness and bitterness. So, a great gig and now I we are in Wolverhampton getting ready for gig no.2 here tonight.

Carl Frampton - European Champion!

Well, what a great night! Last night Carl did it. He beat Kiko Martinez in round 9. So, Carl is now the new European Champion.. Soon to be a world champ!

Wow he was excited and so was Shane McGuigan his trainer. 
It was sooo exciting for everyone involved, truly brilliant!

Carl 'The Jackal' Frampton - Belfast

I am now in Belfast with Team McGuigan. I am photographing the preparation to the big fight tonight in at The Odyssey Arena here in Belfast. Car Frampton is fighting the European champion, Kiko Matinez from Spain and hopefully Carl will will spank him. I have been spending lots of tie with Carl, his trainer, Shane McGuigan and my friend Barry McGuigan and his family. Its all quite relaxed in the camp. We all had dinner last night and this morning we met early for an official weigh in again. Obviously different from the one yesterday that kicked off so to speak. I was on a plane as that happened yesterday. Anyway, this morning we have all had breakfast together. Carl had some wonderful power food. Carl then went and had a rub down and stretch. I photographed all of this. We then went for a walk around Belfast,which was nice. 












We are now back at the hotel and Carl is having a sleep. Then its lunch time! All i know then is that later we are all going to the Odyssey Arena together and its the BIG FIGHT.. I will be shooting it all from ringside. Its going to be epic. COME ON CARL!

Labrinth in London

I raced into Camden after a long day out in the suburbs. I was up at 6am today and tonight's shoot was going to be hard work. Anyway, when I got to Koko in Camden, London, I went to the box office to get my pass. Well, my name wasn't on the list. So, I called the PR people handling Labrinth and they sorted it for me within a few mins, which was nice. I then made my way to the front of Koko and aimed at getting into the photo pit. When I got to the front, Dot Rotten was still performing as support. I wish I had got there earlier and photographed him. Hopefully, I will get to shoot him soon. Anyway, into the small, crowded photo pit I went. There were a couple of friendly faces of photographers that I know. As well as as plenty that I didn't know. Steve Gillet showed up in customary last min style and offered me a sweet. That was a first. Well done Steve! Next time I will stop on my way to a gig and buy some sweets so that I can reciprocate. Anyway, Labrinth came on and was rather good. His second song was, as he said, "Old School" and it was. He performed 'Respect Yourself' which I think was done by the Staple Singers in the very early 70's.. I could easily be wrong though. Anyway, Mr Labrinth was rather good and I was very impressed. I got some rather nice photos and then squeezed my way out of the building. I am now home and have edited the photos and syndicated them to all newspapers and magazines worldwide. So, with a bit of luck, they may be seen in a publication near you soon..

James McCartney London

I was asked to do a shoot with James McCartney, son of yes, one of the greatest musicians ever! James needed some new live photos and some studio type location shots. I arrived late afternoon in Camden to meet up with James and his manager Adrian. James was sound checking when I got there. I was introduced as soon as he had finished. What a lovely guy he is. We went up to the dressing room and had a chat for a while. I set up some studio lights and we did some set up shots. James was very easy to work with. We were also discussing his musical influences amongst other things. After we had taken quiet a few photos I said we had enough at that point. James said he wanted to Meditate for a while. He asked if I wanted to stay whilst he did. Whilst I appreciated the offer, I thought it would be better if me and my mate Paul Carey went next door and had a bite to eat. When we got back we did a shoot with James and his whole band. Then it was show time..

The Barfly venue is very intimate, however it was rammed... It was also being filmed as well. So, on came James and his brilliant band.. The crowd loved him, many people obviously knew his music already as many people were singing along word for word. He is a brilliant songwriter, singer and guitarist! After about the 2nd song I turned around to have little look into the crowd and yes, Sir Paul was there with Stella and Mary. They were shouting and dancing along and supporting James throughout. It was a wonderful gig and at one point, James introduced a song from his EP called 'Wings of a Lightest Weight' and said "I wrote this about my Dad & my Mum".. When he was singing the song, I was watching him looking straight at his dad, Paul and there eyes were meeting and it was really a moment between father and son. Everyone could see it was quite an emotional moment.. The gig was fantastic, music, band, everything, brilliant.. There were serious security milling about in the crowd during the whole set. Then as the show ended, James and his band went straight off stage and upstairs to the dressing room. The band were followed by Paul, Stella & Mary. I was escorted by his management and security straight upstairs as well. So, James, Paul, Stella, Mary, Paul Carey and I were in the dressing room. It was so nice to see, James and his dad being so lovely together.. Mind you, I didn't expect anything else, but as a father myself, it was really nice to see the love between them and Stella and Mary as well. They are a lovely family and true Rock n Roll Royalty.

We took some nice photos of James and Paul together and then we did a family shot with Stella & Mary. I was very happy with the photos as they all looked so happy together. After taking the photos, Paul and I had a brief chat about the past. Although we both agreed it was hard to remember lots of it. We were chatting about the late 70's when I was often at his and Linda's house in London. One of my best friends and great photographer, the late Matthew Taylor had a brother called Barny. He was going out with Linda's daughter from her first marriage, her name was Heather. So, due to the fact that Barny & Heather were an item, Mathew and I would be round there at the McCartney residence frequently. I have very happy memories of those days and evenings. Paul also used to come into The Who's management office in Wardour St, London. This is where I had an office myself. So, we used to see each other in there. Then of course was the time I spent with him and Wings, which must have been around 1976.. Blimey, where does the time go!! Anyway, Paul asked for my details and said he wants to get in touch and we can go through my photos from those days.

Paul was saing that he was in Moscow the night before and what an amazing gig it was there.. I bet it was. He joked about a particular song that they like in Russia that he wrote, Back in the USSR.. I asked him how it went. He lent back and gave me a slightly old fashioned look! I thought for a second I was going to get hims to sing it to me.Now that would have been special!

All in all it was a lovely evening with his talented son James and lovely daughters. James McCartney EP I believe is out and its called The Complete EP Collection Double CD- Close at Hand and the other CD is called Available Light. Well worth getting!

I think the family photos of them all and the shots of James and his dad will appear in most newspapers around the world in the next 24 hours..