I remember some time ago now (2004 approx) seeing the first show by a very young band which had risen from the ashes of London’s Mahumodo. They played in a tiny box room to a small crowd of about 30-50 people and were devastatingly tight.
A few months later (2005) Devil Sold His Soul released their ep, Darkness Prevails to high acclaim with the press, and gig goers nationwide.
30th June 2008. A long time since I first had the opportunity to watch this now behemoth of an act. In that short passage of time, they have released debut album A Fragile Hope, again wowing the press and audiences. It is a strange statement being that DSHS have done nothing but tour since day one, I have clearly not been in the right places.
Photographers Insight
Currently on tour supporting Cult of Luna, Devil Sold His Soul are by far one of the most proficient and intense UK acts around. Ed Gibbs quick fire bursts of energy make him a joy to shoot but not without problems.
Being a rare entity in that he uses the full expanse of any stage to unleash his visceral onslaught, the combination of fast tracking and ever changing light rigs makes focusing and nailing that all important shot almost an impossible task.
That is one of the true joys of the Concorde2 in Brighton, the lighting system in my opinion is by far the best in the city, back lit using traditional cans with gels rather than the new style of LED rigs that simple don’t pump enough out.
Camera Setup
I decided to drop down the ISO to 400 for this show as the lighting was fairly solid. The other factor that came into this was the rather irritating use of a smoke machine (Are we still in the 70′s?), any higher than 400 and although I may have been able to shoot adequately but cleaning out focus and contrast issues with the smoke would have been nearly impossible.
The D80′s aperture was locked, as it always is, at f2.8 and shutter speed between 1/60 and 1/125.
I also had my SB600 flash unit mounted on top of the camera with a two click up angle and dialled down to -2EV. I then crept it up to find where it would illuminate the band but not lose the wonderful venue lighting. This fluttered between -1.7/-1/3EV for the whole set.
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