The Goo 1
CORMAC FIGGIS : SHOT FROM ALL SIDES PAUL MCDERMOT
T I was at some of the gigs featured in this debut photography collection, but having spent time with Cormac’s incredible book I just wish I had attended more. Cormac’s got an eye, he can take a photo, he lives and breathes music and performance and he has an innate ability to know when to press the shutter. “Cormac understands the power of performance and is deeply immersed in the sound and fury,” writes John Robb in the forward. “Without that understanding you have snapshots, but with it you have art and danger.” Shot From All Sides features more than 180 photographs covering 150 gigs. We picked a few of our favourite photographs from the collection and Cormac kindly talks us through them: Gavin Friday – Voodoo Lounge 2007 I've been a Virgin Prunes disciple since I was thirteen (Twenty Tens… still my number one single), to my mind one of the most important bands Ireland has produced. I never got to see them unfortunately, but I did get to see Gavin a couple of times in the 90s. His somewhat theatrical performances struck me as concise and studied, very rehearsed I imagine, so to see him guest in a more spontaneous punk context with The Radiators I thought was quite a unique setting. His movements on stage were measured, making him very easy to PAGE 30 photograph. It was like he was going through a sequence of poses that he knew looked good (I'll assume he was, like Bowie did), so for me it was a rare case of just point and shoot. Gary Numan – Olympia 2019 Maybe with the exception of Iggy, Gary Numan is the one I respect most in music. The opportunity to shoot him for the first time in the Olympia was exciting to say the least. I'd just acquired a 24mm wide lens, and the shot in the book was taken by leaning across the front of the stage as close as I could get to the base of his mic stand without actually climbing onto the stage. And then out of nowhere, he strikes this insane Elvis Presley pose. Long live the Electronic King. It's one of my favourite shots of mine. Grian Chatten – Forbidden Fruit 2019 I hadn't heard of the Fontaines before I moved home from abroad in early 2019. A Fontaines-obsessive friend introduced me to the couple of singles they'd released, so the Forbidden Fruit gig was my first time seeing and really hearing them properly. I was struck by Grian's command of the stage, especially for someone so young.