Regular AnOther contributor and London-based photographer Niall O'Brien is renowned for his gritty and spontaneous imagery and intimate portraits of unusual subjects who O'Brien develops a close working relationship with. Here, O'Brien talks
Regular AnOther contributor and London-based photographer Niall O'Brien is renowned for his gritty and spontaneous imagery and intimate portraits of unusual subjects who O'Brien develops a close working relationship with. Here, O'Brien talks candidly to AnOther about seeing hardcore punk Gallows play in late December, an exhilarating experience which provided plenty of photographic opportunities and lasting memories.
Niall O'Brien: "Gallows decided to end their massive UK tour by playing two gigs in one day. The idea being to play Orchestra of Wolves [debut album, 2006] in Dingwalls as a matinée show, then move on the Electric Ballroom in Camden to play Grey Britain [2009 album].
A few us were invited by Frank [Carter, vocals in the band]. Being there took me straight back to being a reckless sixteen-year-old. After a couple pints of Snakebite and Black, Joe Duffy and I ran into the 700-deep mosh pit and fought to stay alive. The show was insane and the energy was epic. We both gave it our all and, even after dropping my can of Red Stripe we bought to keep us hydrated, I battled on. It was only after I got headbutted and chipped a tooth that I decided to hang back and witness the rest of the best live show I've seen to date. I’ve been to a lot of gigs over the year but never experienced anything like the performance they put on for their fans.
Another highlight was meeting a kid called Michael. Before the show, I spotted him at the back fighting with his mates. I asked if I could hang out for a bit before the gig started and photograph him messing about. Hyper as hell and a good laugh, he warned me to look out for him up front as he would be back flipping off the speakers. I'm pretty sure he was crowd surfing for the duration of the show. Michael was one of a thousand dedicated people there making it happen; Gallows fans do not do things by halves.
I love Frank and the lads. Their attitude to music is perfect, they don’t care about anything else and make it for themselves. Falling into success, they still consider it a secondary job and don’t take it seriously. This is the recipe, I think. Frank is a great tattoo artist and painter, which is his true love, the music to him is a fortunate blessing that blew up massively. Love them or hate them, hats off to them. I woke up the next day with bruises all over, a chipped tooth and a massive smile on my face. Job done."
