What do I do? Not a lot Chris, mainly nag them a lot, I'm good at that!

Here's to lots more gigs in the future [CoolYa]

I’ve just discovered this forum so I thought I’d drop in and introduce myself. Sorry if this turns into a bit of a ramble.

I’m Marty, married to Sue, and we live in Swindon which doesn’t have a lot going for it other than it has great road links to virtually anywhere in the country, which is convenient for getting to gigs. I work as an IT project manager by day and as a photographer most evenings and weekends.

Unlike most of you I guess, I’m a fairly new convert to FM – in fact until a couple of years ago I’d never even heard of the band. Let me explain…

I’m 51 now which means I’ve been around a while, and I was a big rock fan in the mid to late 70’s (my teens and then into my twenties). The New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) was a very big part of my life and I saw live and bought albums of lots of the bands of that era – heavy, melodic, classic, progressive, in fact any kind of music as long as it was ROCK.

That continued into the Eighties, although in those days it was much more difficult to follow your favourite bands. There was no internet, and Sounds and Kerrang were the ONLY available means of getting intel on the bands I liked or of finding out about new bands. The radio and TV were full of new wave, new romantic, electronic pop (yuck!). Then along came grunge and that killed any melody in rock music, and with it my interest. It was also about the time my career in IT was getting pretty hectic, so from the late 80’s onwards I listened to very little new music. Apart from my favourite band Rush and a few other selected fav’s, my world of music became very small for several years. My wife Sue still followed a lot of bands, many of whom I hadn’t heard of or knew nothing about, but I rarely went with her to gigs during that time.

Then, into the 2000’s I started to become re-acquainted with bands like Journey and Heart etc, and finding out about new (to me anyway) artists like Jeff Scott Soto and Danny Vaughn.

Sue had helped set up and run the UK Journey fan club and dragged me in, and as I was a budding amateur photographer at the time I managed to blag a photo pass for a side project Journey’s Neal Schon was playing in with JSS – a band called Soul SirkUS. I posted the resulting pics on the Journey forum and was astonished to get a personal email from JSS saying how much he loved the photos. That was in 2004 and there and then I decided I wanted to be a concert photographer. A couple of years later JSS actually joined Journey for a while, and introduced me and my photography to the rest of the band members, with whom I’ve had an ongoing working relation ship ever since. That contact has proven very fruitful as it led to working with Danny Vaughn (who supported Journey) to The Illegal Eagles (who Danny Vaughn and Chris Childs were in) to Thunder (Chris Childs again) to The Union (started by Thunder’s Luke Morley) as well as many others. Along the way I’ve met and befriended many bands and artists, some of whom were idols from my past and some of whom I’ve encountered for the first time.

Now, I’m photographing bands more or less every week, my interest in ALL kinds of rock music has been fully re-awakened and I go to gigs wherever and whenever I can. It does help that my photography has opened lots of doors to meet and become friends with many of the people I photograph. But I always say that if I wasn’t at a gig taking pictures I’d probably still be at the gig but wondering what to do with my hands.

Unfortunately, there is that hole in my rock music experience, of about 10-15 years, from the late 80’s to about 2000, where I was completely oblivious to any new bands starting during that time. That includes FM, as well as Tyketto, Romeo’s Daughter, Airrace and many others – even Thunder – and these are all bands that I have therefore ‘discovered’ for the first time only in recent years. So apologies to all those bands who were around during that time. I wish I’d known about you then, but I’m having great fun discovering you now.

As far as FM are concerned, the first time I saw them, briefly, was in 2007. They were headlining Firefest in Nottingham, and I had a photopass to the festival. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay to the end of the gig due to other commitments, but I’d heard enough to know I liked what I heard. Then they headlined again two years later and this time I was there as the official Firefest photographer so I got to shoot their whole set. I guess the guys must have liked the resulting pics because when they played Download in the Summer they asked me to come along and take more pics. I hope I’ll be able to continue to do so, as they are not only a very photogenic band but a bunch of really nice guys too.

Welcome to the forum Marty! And thanks for joining us in the chatroom last Sunday. I think I need to see some photographic evidence of you in your NWOBHM days [:)s]

Hi Im Karen 46 married with 5 kids from Tamworth Staffs, Back in the day i was a big Genesis fan,and it was through a fellow Genesis fan i was given a cassette tape with FM on.
I went to see Bon jovi at Leicester De Montfort Hall and FM were the support band! they were amazing i sat there and thought my god they are gonna blow Bon Jovi away!! As my kids grew up they listened to the stuff hubby and i listened to...my 25yr old son is now a huge FM fan himself.
The next time i saw Bon Jovi my son supported them in his band..how suureal that was!! just need to see him support FM next!!! [:)s]
Looking forward to the London gig!![:)][:)]

hi my name is alex thomas and im one of david t`s five kids....
YUP WERE TAKING OVER :)
fasination started due to the old man constantly blaring them since i can rememeber....no joke CONSTANTLY!!!!
so far got most of there cds and tour footage and a amazing big poster the guys signed for me for my birthday that i keep proudly hung on the wall ....(i know your all jelouse :P)
so yeah there it is :)

Hi All
I've been with FM from the start, like many of you before me. A friend played me the Frozen Heart single, and I was hooked. First saw them at the Mardi Gras club in Nottingham just around the time the first album came out. Seen then dozens of times over the years. Even been to see Didge as a solo performer in the clubs (Phil James). My prized possesion is still the FM/Romeo's Daughter Kerrang centrefold that both bands autographed for me. Its been on my wall ever since.
Anyway, my name is Chris. Sadly i'm 57 now, and live in Long Eaton. Still go to see the band whenever I can. It will be Nuneaton on the next tour, and maybe Shephards Bush.
Biggest regret was missing the Firefest come back gig, but I was on holiday in America. Still annoys me now.