Ellie Rowsell, the punky girl from Wolf Alice and the cool chilled Father John Misty were my sitters for this cover shoot. An unlikely duo to shoot you may say, as they have never actually performed together, and when we met they had never even met. Their music is too different to be confused, but the thing they do have in common is that they are two Indy acts that rocked the music world in 2015.
Ellie turned up first. She was great to shoot, attitude in appearance with a soft and shy centre. (A bit like a Rolo.) Hard to imagine her ‘ripping it all apart’ on stage but having seen her and heard the music, I know that she has a lot to give.
Father John Misty turned up 20 minutes later, again a quiet man but with a more nonchalant appearance. (More of a Galaxy if we are to make chocolate comparisons.)
After a fast introduction the two of them had to appear as best friends, heads together, Ellie in FJM’s arms and so on. A second of uncomfortable body positions as they intrude each others personal space, (stand no closer than 8 inches I was told when I was first introduced to the cultural laws of the UK during International Student Week 20 years ago this year). They both adjusted to the close proximity of each other by treating the shoot as an act. After 15 minutes of the two of them together Ellie had to rush off to prepare for a gig later that day and I had the charismatic FJM on my own.
I was unsure how the shoot with FJM would go. I have seen him being interviewed and giving the interviewer a very hard time. Especially one where an excited German journalist asked FJM if he liked the German festival he was at. His answer was ‘No! I hate festivals.’ He continued to argue those points with very valid reasons, and although there was a feeling that this was humorous, deadpan at its best, there was no way the journalist could take this for granted. The Journalist was dumb struck. I am usually not worried about the questions I ask my sitters, but in this case I was aware that I could be left to ridicule when asking normal banter questions. 20 minutes later, the shoot was over and my dignity was still in tact. Phew!!!
