Cultural Research
Jimmy Ness
Flow states, Ethnography and Skateboarding As ...
Flow states, Ethnography and Skateboarding As Therapy
Photography, Interview
Jimmy Ness
Finding Zen in Mastery: A Conversation with ...
Finding Zen in Mastery: A Conversation with Photographer Adam Marelli
basketball, Interview, Photography, Sports writing
Jimmy Ness
NBA Photographer Nat. S Butler

Another interview for the books! I spoke to NBA photographer Nat Butler while he was in hotel lockdown at the league’s playoff facility. Nat was generous enough to share some beautiful HD images and had so many good stories. It’s not often you get to have an hour long conversation with a guy who went to Shaq’s college graduation, knows Michael Jordan and has been to Lebron’s house. Nat’s been around so long that he shot the first basketball magazine I ever bought.

Feature, Newspaper Article
Jimmy Ness
Writing about Colour Theory and Masters of Tone
Writing about Colour Theory and Masters of Tone
fashion, Copywriting
Jimmy Ness
North Face Advertorial

Anathallo interview

Anathallo’s latest album Floating World is one of my most treasured albums and being the nice guys (and gal) they are, they decided to let me interview multi-talented band member Andrew Dost.

Currently touring the U.S and Canada, Anathallo have been very busy, so I count myself lucky for the opportunity. Thanks man! 

Thank you for interviewing me!

You guys have a very “pretty” sound going on, I can often imagine you all holding hands and sitting around a family dinner whilst singing haha. 

That actually isn’t too far from the truth sometimes. Most of the band just moved to Chicago, and they’ve been having lots of pot-lucks and themed parties, so I think that’s pretty accurate. We definitely have our disagreements like any band, but things are the most fun, and creatively stimulating, when it feels like we’re a big family, so we try to nurture that atmosphere.

Ha, actually in all seriousness you have such a unique sound on the newest album. For a group with eight core members the creative process must be somewhat hectic, tell us about how you guys operate as a band. How does everything work as far as songwriting and coming up with such creative ideas?

It’s a pretty complex process, and one that I’d say is based more on relationships than on musical ideas. With so many people, with so many different ideas about where a song should go, a lot of the process is communication. We talk about everything, even ridiculous tiny details that we probably shouldn’t waste time with. But that’s the fun of it - everyone shares, we all throw ideas in, then we weed through and edit until we have something we can all agree on, something we all believe in and want to play night after night.

Novembre interview

Novembre has always been a special band. From arctic landscapes to scorching deserts, the Italian four piece manage to convey an amazing sense of atmosphere without resorting to any of the dramatic cheesiness of a cliche metal band.

Firstly Carmelo, congratulations on another quality release.

Thanks a lot mate!

Was there a specific concept or idea you guys had in mind when writing songs for The Blue?

Not really. But thinking again, this blue/cobalt picture was always in my mind. Who knows how these things work.

Recently Novembre have been booked for a tour across the UK in support of Paradise Lost, what expectations do you have from the tour and most importantly are you excited!!!?

Absolutely. We are supporting the most important band of the post-Death Metal age, the founders of the Gothic-Doom scene. It’s such an honour for us. They’re A class people, really kind, down to Earth and helpful guys. Killer tour indeed!

Orphaned Land interview

 

Israeli progressive metal band Orphaned Land released their first concept album Mabool, in 2004. After receiving rave reviews for their unique style of Oriental and Middle Eastern music, they are now working on a follow-up with prog legend Steven Wilson.  

Guitarist Matti Svatizky spoke to me about Orphaned Land’s seventeen year history, beards and the Israeli metal scene. 

Hi Matti, it’s a pleasure to interview one of the creative minds from such a great band! Before we start, I must know what happened to your beard? I thought it was pretty glorious haha.

Hey man, what’s up? Thanks for the compliments, they’ll get you everywhere! Now for the more serious business, my beard! The truth is, in band photos it may have looked cool, but in real life it turned out to be a disaster, so I really had to let it go.

For those who are new to the band, can you describe what Orphaned Land is all about?

Well, visiting our website (orphaned-land.com) is a very good idea. You can really learn a lot from there, hear sample music, see my ex-beard, see the rest of the guys etc. But to sum up what we’re about, I’d say that we play metal with ethnic touch. The metal we play is influenced by the whole metal genre and has aspects such as thrash metal, heavy metal, death metal, doom metal, black metal, progressive metal and so on. However, our music is not inspired by metal only, but from other genres as well. We consider ourselves to be open-minded music lovers.