Wednesday 8 July 2009

KiD BRiTiSH

So I thought I'd revisit some work I did late last year and a couple of months ago this year with top Manchester band KiD BRiTiSH.

Their first single was released this week, they're currently getting loads of airplay on Radio One, played Glastonbury last week, at all the other big festivals over the summer and are looking to be on a rise to seriously big things!

I first met the band through a friend - they weren't signed and were playing local gigs in Manchester and needed some live shots doing. So I went along to see them play at legendary Manchester venue The Roadhouse and shot them doing their thing.

Now I'm a pretty big music fan and have seen a lot of gigs over the years and been to a lot of small gigs put on by unsigned bands and I have to be honest, most of the time they're not very good! I used to play in bands myself and we DEFINITELY weren't very good! But these boys were something else. I'd gone along with the intent on hanging around for twenty minutes, banging a few shots off and then getting out of there. But they were too good to leave half way through their set - I was absolutely loving them!






Now I'd love to say that from there on in I knew they were going to make it. If I genuinely knew that, I'd be working as head of A&R for Sony Records! But I knew they were good and far better than any unsigned band I'd ever seen before. And their music - awesome! An amazingly eclectic mix of styles!

So the lads and their manager liked the live shots I did from them and asked me to do a few staged shots for them to use to send out with their cd's, etc. to record companies. I was more than happy to oblige and we got some good stuff for them to use.


A few weeks passed and I heard on the grapevine that they had started to get some serious interest from record companies which of course I took with a pinch of salt. Until I heard they'd been signed and Mercury Records got in touch with me and asked me to shoot the boys at the studio and on location so that they had some shots to use for PR and promotional purposes.










KiD BRiTiSH have had a great few months, culminating in the release of their first single 'Our House is Dadless' (buy it now on I-Tunes!) or check it out on YouTube here!

I've really got my fingers crossed for the lads that they chart well on sunday, it's been a pleasure to work with them, they're great fun and secretly love being photographed!

Working with them has also been great for me - my shots have been widely used for a number of months now, on huge amounts of websites, in the music and national press (Q Magazine and The Guardian to name but two!) and has been used again this week by the BBC.


Good luck fellas - keeping my fingers crossed for you!

4 comments:

Crash Taylor said...

Way to go Jonny! Nice one.

Diane x said...

Remember I knew you before you become famous.....I can spot potential..great urban shots.x

Christy said...

Hi Jonny,
Love the shots and i love KiD BRiTiSH too, cant stop listning to their single! x

Anonymous said...

Oh Jonny these are amazing images -I will download from itunes tonight. I'm overwhelmed to think that you will be photographing us next month, Sally xx