Elleni Toumpas » the zoo

Alpine – The Zoo, Brisbane

Elleni Toumpas — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:23:24 +0000

Things have been quiet on the gig front for the past few months as the end of my 2011 saw me shooting a tonne of band portraits, corporate events and weddings. This hasn’t left much time for shooting live music. However my 2012 kicked off a little differently with my first shoot back for the work year covering Alpine at The Zoo. Alpine are a band I had heard small snippets from during the year, but had fallen heavily for during the summer break. Their live show was going to make or break my appreciation for the band as their sound on record works but on stage could easily fall apart with bad mixes or a lackluster ’shoe gazing’ performance. Luckily, the show was anything but lackluster with both Lou and Phoebe combining an amazing, sultry and energetic energy with almost perfect renditions of their loved and lesser known tracks.

Of course I am not a writer, so just take a look at some of the photos from the night. More photos after the jump…

Dead Letter Circus @ The Zoo

Elleni Toumpas — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 00:31:37 +0000

Last week I went along to The Zoo to photograph Dead Letter Cirucs for Everguide. The day before the Ekka public holiday, the show sold out earlier that day, so getting in early to get prime spot was mandatory.

Dead Letter Circus were supported by Closure in Moscow.

Rave magazine BrisBand Experience cover

Elleni Toumpas — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:39:48 +0000

So Rave magazine is turning 1000. Their next issue is their 1000th issue in 20 years. On Friday 15th July they are having a mega birthday party and ONE of the headliner acts is a Brisbane megaband that has been appropriately named the BrisBand Experience. The band consists of a melting pot of members from current and past local bands including Katie Noonan (george), Steve Pope (drummer with Kate Miller-Heidke, transport), Thomas Murphy (Bloodpoets), Dan James (Drawn from Bees), Caleb James (Rhubarb), Tony Garret (The Boat People) and Ben Dalton (Hungry Kids of Hungary).

As Rave wanted to feature this band on the cover of their 999th issue, and as this band being a one off effort did not have any press shots, I was given the task to shoot the cover and inlay shots for the issue. This was one of those sessions that I had to bring the studio to the band. With all the band members currently doing other projects we had only ONE 2 hour period where the whole band could be in the once place at the one time….in the rehearsal studio TWO days before the issue hit the newstands.

So with a portable studio in tow and armed with concepts, plans and back up plans I was able to shoot the cover shot and inlay shots PLUS back up shots in the rehearsal room next door to the space the band were rehearsing in.

With the cover Aaron Sammut did the post production. The concept also came from Aaron (Rave magazine graphic designer and layout guy). Thanks also to Tony Vollmerhause (Rave magazine advertising guy) who has been organising the Rave party and playing negotiator with the band members.

Rave’s “Thousand in Twenty” party is on this Friday at The Zoo with tickets available online ($20.00) or on the door ($25.00). The gig faetures a special mystery headliner band (a mid 90′s Brisbane band), the BrisBand Experience, Dave McCormack and the Polaroids, Velociraptor and Inland Sea with Sarah Howells (TRIPLE J) djing between sets.

Also, go over to Rave’s facebook page and LIKE them. They are aiming for 1000 likes before their 1000th issue (next week)

Brisbane Sounds Christmas Party

Elleni Toumpas — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 00:01:56 +0000

So this year I have been helping out a bit with Blair Hughes and his Brsbane Sounds project. For those who know Blair you know how passionate he is about the local music scene and how proactive he is about getting shit done. I like that. On Saturday he hosted a little Xmas shindig at the Zoo with a tonne of bands that have been associated with Brisbane Sounds during the year. A lot of booze was drunk. A lot of merriment was shared. Congrats to Blair on a stellar 2010. I can’t wait to see where the project grows to in 2011.

Pics from the Christmas party are below. Along with quite a few of trashed Santa.

Teenage Wolves

The Mercy Beat

The Winnie Coopers

Blonde on Blonde

My Fiction

A full gallery from the night can be seen below.

Eddy Current Suppression Ring

Elleni Toumpas — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 23:24:30 +0000

Last night I photographed Eddy Current Suppression Ring at the Zoo. Ive been meaning to check out their performance for a while. And they surely did not disappoint.

More photos below.

Amanda Palmer at the Zoo

Elleni Toumpas — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:57:54 +0000

After photographing Amanda Palmer’s impromptu ninja gig this afternoon, I headed down to the Zoo for Amanda’s more ‘promptu’ gig (as stated by support act Mikelangelo).

Amanda was supported by Mikelangelo, a guest also who was along for the ride on her Ninja show. Mikelangelo sang an interesting early Tex Perkin’s cover with lyrics along the lines of “I like men with erections”. Entertaining.

Montpelier EP Launch

Elleni Toumpas — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:09:03 +0000

Montpelier launched their new self-titled EP on Friday night to a virtually sold out show. The energy was high, people were singing along, the boys looked humble and blown away on stage.

More photos after the jump…

Montpelier Single Launch

Elleni Toumpas — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:25:49 +0000

Montpelier is a band I have worked with recently in shooting some promo shots. They had their single launch on Thursday at the Zoo and I went along and took some snaps.

PUBLISHED: Rave #898 – 7th July 2009

Elleni Toumpas — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:57:47 +0000

Ive been published in this week’s issue of Rave magazine with my Wolf and Cub photos.

It was a typical Zoo night, with difficult lighting, but still I managed to get a couple of street press shots out.