It's been a funny old year. Last year I made a decision to cut back on the amount of gigs I was photographing in order to save on the travel money I'd been forking out and instead focus on the field that I really want to be working in... i.e. surreal, infra-red and vintage styles.

Fast forward from the last shoot update which featured my partner Debz, AKA Scissor Doll's low-key vintage/burlesque shoot and Alivya V. Free's infra-red/monochrome shoot and I've scored my first, but hopefully not last, infra-red band shoot.

Once again featuring Liv we were joined by the sharply dressed London progressive death metal band Talanas, who to their credit took to posing for long exposures VERY quickly. The results, I think, are brilliant. Ethereal and spooky, the long exposure time let us play around with motion blur to get some ghostly effects.

I shot with Scissor Doll again for another infra-red and low-fi shoot, this time making use of a zebra print body stocking. We've been talking about this for over a year so it was exciting to finally do it. Despite the ominous looking sky we got some great spooky shoots that yielded some interesting mistakes and blurs as well.

As always you can see the full sets on my flickr page or in the models and band sections of my photography page here.

All photographs © Imago Mortis Photography

Talanas

Scissor Doll

Alivya V. Free

Peter Steele (b. 1962 - d. 2010)
Vocalist/Bassist (Type O Negative)
 

Though it was the band’s most successful period it was one of the hardest in Steele’s personal life. The heights of success inevitably opened the doors to chemical influences taking hold of the front man and personal tragedies sent him into another spiral of depression. At this time, burnt out from two solid years of touring, Steele dreaded the phone calls from the label asking for a more successful record from him. Though an album was finally finished it was evident that Steele was writing to exorcise his demons, not to sell records.




1999’s ‘World Coming Down’ returned to the melancholic dirges of ‘Bloody Kisses’ sans the humour. The album was the darkest since the band’s debut with songs like ‘Everyone I Love is Dead’, Everything Dies’, and ‘World Coming Down’ dominating the track listing. The album wasn’t as well received as previous efforts, but it still fed the hungry waves of fans and the resulting tour led to Steele attempting to clean up his act. An interim best of album called ‘The Least Worst of Type O Negative’ was released while Steele focussed on himself.

“What asshole starts to drink and use drugs every day when they are 36 or 37? It’s a real F**king disgrace. I’m kind of shocked at myself, I’m embarrassed […] That slump of doing too much drinking and cocaine is becoming a thing of the past and I’m starting to get myself back a little bit.” - Terrorizer Magazine [http://www.casketcrew.com/media/terrorizer-interview/]

The band’s next album ‘Life is Killing Me’ showed that Steel was indeed getting back to his old self. Though dark, the album had the most humorous and playful feel than any album since ‘Origin…’ and ‘Bloody Kisses’, even including a cover of ‘Angry Inch’ from the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The supporting video for ‘I Don’t Wanna Be Me’ made a modest impact on radio and TV play lists, but ultimately the band was left to tour to promote the album. This proved to be the last album released by Roadrunner under the contract Steele had signed back in the 80’s with Carnivore. The band parted ways with the label after European competitors SPV signed them to release the bands next album.



But another spell of silence befell Steele and co. With the band’s webpage proclaiming “Peter Steele: 1962-2005” On the interim live DVD ‘Symphony For The Devil’ and other interviews Steele explained that the length between releases was down to his incarceration in Riker's Island and "the psych ward at Kings County Hospital" at the hands of his family for his psychological and drug problems.

“I violated probation because you know due to drugs and alcohol and just having a case of like all I had to do was like show up once a month and put my hand into a fuckin machine […] I didn't show up for like six months and then I'm like so, let them come and get me and you know what? Bang! Bang! Bang! Is Peter there? Housekeeping!" - MK Magazine [http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/Blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=73285]

The album for SPV records followed soon after the DVD release. ‘Dead Again’ saw Steele once again working through his feelings, this time regarding drug addiction and betrayal (‘Tripping a Blind Man’), as well as his conversion to Catholicism (‘Ode to Locksmiths’), and opinions on abortion (‘These Three Things’). Unlike ‘World Coming Down’ however, Steele maintained his sense of humour and the album received a positive run with one of the highest chart positions since ‘October Rust’ as well as good radio and TV coverage of the band’s singles ‘Profit of Doom’ and ‘September Sun’. The subsequent tour received positive reviews for the newly sober Steele, and the band continued on supporting the album, in 2009 signing up for the Jaegermeister tour with fellow New Yorkers Hatebreed and 3 Inches of Blood.

“Apparently, when you’re drunk you don’t realise how badly you’re playing and how badly you’re singing. People have told me that I sound much better and I’m playing much better. I don’t really see it as much as other people do because I was drunk. But I realise that I was primarily responsible for almost destroying this band. The last five years of tours have been full of coke and alcohol and I didn’t think the thing was apparent […] If I’m fucked up, half the band’s fucked up […] So I’m trying to rectify the damage that I’ve done by just doing the best job that I can…” - Hardtimes.ca [http://www.hardtimes.ca/typeoOnegative09]

Steele’s new sense of optimism was unfortunately cut short on the 14th of April this year. The cause was widely reported as heart failure. Rumours of the front man’s death had flooded the internet but been met with scepticism after the infamous 2005 prank. However the news that Stele had died aged 48, was later confirmed by the other members of Type O Negative and soon tributes flooded in from friends, bands and fans.

Peter Steele was buried in Saint Charles Cemetary, Farmingdale alongside his parents.

“Well, that's it, that's all we have. I hope it wasn't too disappointing…” - October Rust 1996

It has been announced that the Teutonic Industrialists will have their album back on display in their nation's record shops. The album Liebe ist fur alle da was banned in Germany after the office for the examination of media harmful to young people (BpjM) declared it (and the song Ich tu de weh) harmful to children and a glorification of violence and unprotected sex. This decision has been reversed by a Cologne court who were convinced by the band's record label Universal, to allow the original album back into shops.

Universal in the meantime had reissued a censored version of the album minus the offensive song and explicit artwork that featured the band in a variety of sadistic scenes. The court ruled in favour of the band stating that the BpjM did not have the right to put the album on the restricted list and that they did not justify their argument sufficiently to show the album would be damaging to the sexual development of children. They also said that the song Ich tu de weh contained surrealistic hint of the actions and not detailed accounts.

The BpjM will prepare an appeal against the decision, meanwhile Rammstein's fans in Germany may enjoy the No 1. selling album in the original and uncensored form.

So atristic freedom has won out in Germany. It's interesting to note that only Ich tu de weh was banned in Germany. Perhaps the English lyrics in Pussy just passed them by. But it is one of those situations where you can't help but think that with an explicit album such as this, why bother? The band's fans are rabid and they can always get an import off ebay, so why fight it?

Either it's all OK, or none of it is...

This is a transferred post from my previous wordpress blog published on: Oct 10, 2008.

It has emerged that former Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids bassist and Unpop artist Gidget Gein has died.

Gidget (real name Brad Stewart) co-wrote many of Marilyn Manson's early songs and played on the 1994 debut album Portrait of an American Family. He is also credited as the main influence behind the early visual aesthetic of the band.

After being forced out of the band on the eve of the release of the album, Brad moved to New York and formed his own art-rock band The Dali Gaggers, and released one album; Confessions of a Spooky Kid. After moving back to his home state of Florida, Gein worked as a 'bag boy' for the coroner's office, which he recorded on his official website http://www.gidgetgein.com/.

 

He mended the bridge with former bandmate Marilyn Manson and appeared in the video for (s)AINT along with a sculpture (later bought by the video's director, Asia Argento) entitled In Case of Emergency Break Heart.

He moved to Los Angeles in order to further persue his Art and Fashion, and became a member of the Unpop art movement (alongside such notoraries as Boyd Rice, and Adam Parfrey). He was exhibited at a number of shows in the Hollywood area, and made his art available through his fashion line Gollywood. Gidget's art dealt with alot of themes common to the unpop movement - degenerate art thematically heavy with aspects of American pop culture now swept under the carpet. In 2006 he appeared as Detective Jeffery Mourir in the film Black Dahlia. In 2007 he released three new albums of music and recently began playing live again as part of the band People.






The one constant in Gidget Gein's varied and artistic life was his battle with drug addiction and on the 9th of October 2008, it was a battle he finally lost.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gidget_Gein






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I had communicated with Gidget numerous times via his personal myspace page and had always found him to be a wonderfully polite, smart, witty, and obviously a very talented person. As a fan and admirer I am deeply saddend by this news and my heart goes out to his friends and loved ones.

RIP GG