Eleanor Jane

Brian Ray – 1957 Goldtop

Eleanor — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 20:33:35 +0000

Is there a better aesthetic pairing than the glow of a Les Paul Goldtop and a hot pink case interior? This very special 1957 Goldtop belongs to Brian Ray and together they have famously shared the stage with both Etta James and Sir Paul McCartney. Brian very kindly invited me to his Palm Springs home to photograph the guitar and with a backdrop of the hazy pink desert sunset and a Les Paul shaped swimming pool, I happily obliged! Check out the feature ‘Desert Gold’ from Guitar magazine at the bottom of the page.

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Scott Holiday – Rival Sons

Eleanor — Thu, 28 May 2020 14:05:21 +0000

The Fuzz Lord himself, Scott Holiday of Rival Sons, recently welcomed me into his sunny Huntington Beach home for an enjoyable afternoon exploring his guitar collection for an extensive piece in Guitar Magazine. Scott’s tastes are interesting and unique and pretty much everything goes out on the road. There’s no creaking open of dusty cases to reveal an untouched collectible here. After a cup of tea (a pretty decent one at that!), Scott pops some old soul classics on the record player and we head out to the garage to pull guitars straight from the flight cases. What a treat! As the hot Californian sun bounces off the 1956 Pontiac Chieftain on the drive, we carry in a steady stream of custom builds (a Stephen Stern Gretsch Penguin being a particular highlight), vintage guitars (I challenge you not to fall for the ’62 Jazzmaster) and quirky boutique instruments from independent builders such as super photogenic metal-bodied Meloduendes and plenty of Kauers (we’re not worthy!). Scroll to the bottom to see the massive 16-page published article.

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Aerosmith – Las Vegas – Guitar magazine

Eleanor — Wed, 13 May 2020 16:06:56 +0000

I had the honour of spending Valentine’s Day in Las Vegas, photographing these fine gentlemen – Joe Perry & Brad Whitford of Aerosmith – along with the full guitar rig behind their Deuces Are Wild residency at the Park MGM. The band and crew were more than accommodating, allowing me up close & personal access to the guitars which I shot on stage in front of Joe Perry’s military-grade arsenal of amps, cabs, oscilloscopes, reel-to-reel tape recorders and what appeared to be a bleeping radar monitor! Check out the feature, including a twelve-page gear rundown with the techs, in the May issue of Guitar Magazine.

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Rival Sons at Camden Roundhouse

Eleanor — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 10:00:04 +0000

Dirty rock & roll to get your bones moving – that’s what it’s all about! Back in 2017 I had no idea who Rival Sons were but they came onstage at Download Festival and I was utterly hypnotised by their big fuzzy riffs and the raw emotion that soared through Jay’s vocals. I didn’t even take photos for the first half a song, I just stood in the pit soaking it up! After meeting the guys for a Guitar.com shoot over a year later I was invited to their upcoming gig at the Camden Roundhouse. I made it back to the UK just in time and with a JD & Coke to fight the jet lag, hit the photo pit. You MUST see this band on their Feral Roots tour!

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Jonathan Wilson – Guitar Magazine

Eleanor — Mon, 04 Feb 2019 08:00:40 +0000

That rare creative bird, Jonathan Wilson, and I met for the second time amid the paint-peeling, sublimely decrepit Victorian railway arches of Omeara London. I’d come to photograph Jonathan and his gear for a Guitar Magazine feature, but this prolific tourer travels light and I found myself with only a beaten up Strat (a partscaster he built with his dad), a battered & bruised 1947 Gibson acoustic and a Jackson Brown Gibson that I believe he said functioned as the communal band guitar. Is touring with only one electric guitar risky? I asked. What if it dies? “Then I play the piano!”

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Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats

Eleanor — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 08:00:11 +0000

Five minutes with Nathaniel Rateliff (& the Night Sweats) in a service corridor at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Sometimes that’s all you need when someone is this photogenic and the guitar tech is rapid with the gear! Bang bang bang! Check out Guitar.com for a rig rundown and interview with Nathaniel. If you somehow haven’t come across this band yet, check out their appearance on Jimmy Fallon playing S.O.B – the performance that prompted Paul McCartney himself to call Fallon and ask, “Who was that guy?!”

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Taylor Guitars Factory – Tecate, Mexico

Eleanor — Mon, 14 Jan 2019 08:00:26 +0000

It was an uncharacteristically wet month in California when I was invited to visit Taylor Guitars HQ in El Cajon, San Diego and cross the border to their Tecate, Mexico factory. The state’s long drought ended with more rainfall in one weekend than the whole of the previous year, and most of it seemed to fall while I sloshed my way down Harbour Boulevard towards the car rental. Walking was a terrible idea, but by the time this became apparent I was already ankle deep in rainwater and it pounded down so hard I could barely lift my head. I arrived soaked through and stood dripping in the doorway!

There was little more sun to be had in Mexico, but the trip was thoroughly enjoyable all the same – as you may know, I love a factory tour! Master luthier Andy Powers took us around the enormous facility and we got to see each stage in the build process of Taylor’s Academy Series guitars. Taylor are big on ethical responsibilities – they are both socially and environmentally conscious as a company and quite unique in that they produce almost every part of the guitar, even the case.

I love to see craftsmen in smaller scale workshops but have to admit I did enjoy watching the shavings fly as the automated machinery cut away at the wood. There was also something extremely appealing about the gloopy, treacle-like glue that the ladies were using to fix the red crushed-velvet linings to the cases. Even in this most modern and high-tech facility, there’s still no substitute for doing some things the old-fashioned way!

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Steven Van Zandt

Eleanor — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 20:40:23 +0000

Don’t go into the forest with Silvio!

Whether you know him best as Silvio Dante from the Sopranos, Little Steven of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, Frank Tagliano from Lilyhammer, or the inmate that accompanies Kurt Russell’s Santa cellblock band in my new favourite festive film, The Christmas Chronicles, Steven Van Zandt has had a long and varied career for sure.

I didn’t know what to expect when I went up to Manchester to photograph Steven on tour with his own band, The Disciples of Soul, but was happy to be greeted by a rock & roll gypsy! The band put on an amazing show with a huge sound – the walls were shaking!

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At Home With Steve Lamacq

Eleanor — Wed, 05 Dec 2018 15:11:03 +0000

Here’s a fun feature I shot at home with Steve Lamacq for Long Live Vinyl magazine. What a lovely, down-to-earth chap! We had a good chat and he showed me around some of his collection including his rare Manic Street Preachers goodies (which was an unexpected treat for this Blackwood girl) and the ever growing pile of album demos that get sent to him daily. I wonder if he’s reached the bottom of the pile yet…

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Nalle Colt – Vintage Trouble

Eleanor — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 12:36:45 +0000

Rolling my camera bag along the clanging metal walkways of the dark, half underground service entrance to a Bristol superclub, I thought this was such an unusual venue for an LA based rhythm and blues band. Inside the floor was sticky, the air was hazy and Vintage Trouble were on stage sound checking something dirty & soulful. I knew this would be a good shoot! Nalle Colt was so gracious with his time – take a look at the full interview in Guitar Magazine. It’s a really interesting piece about how he approached his songwriting while quite literally stranded on an island with only two guitars and amps. Thankfully he’s able to bring a bit more gear on tour so we also shot his Gretsch Duo Jet custom built by Stephen Stern – that was fun to see having not long visited Stephen in the Gretsch Custom Shop myself. The gig was amazing, the band’s energy is intense! Nalle was an absolute professional and a pleasure to photograph… of course, those Scandinavian cheekbones are so easy to light!

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