Role: Creative Director & Photographer
Client: Agony Massive
Year: 2025
Project Overview:
Agony Massive are a music duo made up of two brothers, whose sound and storytelling draw from the satellite towns of North West England. I was brought on to develop a visual language that reflected the mythic, local context, and emotionally raw environments their music comes from. Football dreams and folklore, a northern gothic tragedy.
Concept:
The direction was rooted in a desire to blur fantasy and reality, evoking the surreal texture of local myths. Central to one of their songs was a story about a man who bets everything on a racehorse named Skenny, only to hang the horse after its first loss as he falls into poverty. Themes of ruin, low-income neighbourhoods, crazy schools and the quiet dramas of overlooked towns run through the work.
Having g rown up in Bolton myself, I felt I knew this feeling instinctively. I remembered exploring abandoned buildings as a kid, trespassing where I shouldn’t and trying to chase that relief from boredom and dissilusionment through rebellion, and wonder. There’s a kind of bittersweet yearning in these places, a push against the boundaries of what is possible. That interpretation of their music guided my approach.
Result:
The outcome is a series of images that mirror the music. It places Agony Massive not just as musicians, but as regional storytellers shaping their own lore. The imagery feels grounded in the places they’re from, yet heightened enough to become something a little strange. A mix of guitars and decks, broken glass and delapidated classic cars.
Agony Massive
By Anthony Namba