Indie Sleaze 3 was a blast! July 6th at the Ottobar, slotting in right after the legendary Lydia’ Lunch’s band played an early show, was a fun combination of old and new heads. Click here for more photos on Flickr or check my Instagram (joshsisk). Probably will post a few more throughout the week on Insta as well.
The Make-Up played at the Ottobar, and what a great show! I hadn’t seen the Make-Up since they last played Baltimore (at Lith Hall – check out the photos from that show here) in 2013, I don’t believe. Maybe they haven’t even played since then, I don’t know? They sounded even better this time, I think, and the Sassiest Boy In America still has his stage moves down pat as well, which was heartening. Speaking of that infamous article, that is actually probably how I first heard of the Make-Up, and maybe even NoU, as I remember seeing a copy of that Sassy at at a friend’s house when it came out. In ’91 I would have already have gotten into hardcore like Minor Threat and so forth, I think, but Nation of Ulysses would have probably been too weird for me.
No appearance from The Vortex at the show, at least not in costume, but I hope he is okay whoever he is. (Incidentally, I drunkenly accused Jason Hamacher of being the Vortex once and he told me who it was, but now I forget). Incidentally, it’s really hard to Google the Vortex, so if you have any good Vortex pics or stories, please reply.
Anyway, here is A LINK TO ALL THE PHOTOS
LINKS ROUNDUP
Judy @ Holy Frijoles – 6/27/2024
Sleep Inside Its Message @ Ottobar – 3/6/2024
Photos from two cool local Baltimore shows with two cool Baltimore bands, both fairly new. Well, SIIM used to be Near Dark, but some other band sued them, or something, which is funny since it’s the name of a well known (and awesome) vampire movie so how can you sue over that, but whatever. It’s cool to see new bands forming with well seasoned old Baltimore heads and both of these were fun nights – both floor shows, one at Holy Frijoles and one at the Ottobar. Baltimore still rules.
Incidentally, if you are one of the few people subscribing to these updates via email, I plan to send these out more regularly AND post to my site more regularly, though we shall see if I stick to that. Feel free to reach out with any thoughts or suggestions.
Hi! Photos from the Indie Sleaze party on 10/20/2023 @ the Ottobar will be posted here! Probably not for a couple of days.
Sunday Night Update! Working through these, look for more photos Monday! I might break it into a couple posts, since there’s alot of photos! If you post these on IG, please tag @joshsisk and @theottobar
Next batch up! Probably 1 more coming tomorrow! If you post any of these on IG please tag @joshsisk and @theottobar :D
Here are the last of the photo booth photos from the first Indie Sleaze party, above! Thanks so much for being involved in this fun night, and this fun new photo booth spin for me. Instead of doing a booth with normal portrait strobes, I have been wanting to try to take dance/stage lights and light a photo booth that way. It was a fun experiment and I learned quite a bit for next time! (Thanks to one Daniel Deacon for lending me his stage lighting for this experiment.)
And here are some photos of the festivities as well, of course:
This was a fun shoot – Prosthetic Records wanted some photos to commemorate the addition of Adam Clemans to the Skeletonwitch line-up, and they were in town recording with Kevin Bernsten of Developing Nations, so we did a quick session. They ended up needing to shoot a live video of them in the studio as well, so I helped out with that also, so some of my footage ended up in this:
I love this band. One of the brightest spots on the Maryland heavy music scene, and a bunch of really awesome dudes as well. It’s been super cool to watch their careers rise, and it’s totally deserved as their records rip (and each one is better and more nuanced than the last). Always fun to hang out and take photos for a couple of hours with this crew, and I think this set shows it.
Been sitting on some older photos from Hopscotch Music Festival 2015. Hopscotch is one of my favorite music fests, located in Raleigh, North Carolina. The close proximity of all the venues and the great staff and locals make it a super fun time, year after year… here are some photos of Prurient, one of the more famous noise artists. He played in the big opera house venue in downtown Raleigh, an odd setting for this performance, perhaps, but it was cool to see him there. I noticed the various ushers and staff of the venue shaking their heads in confusion – I assume they normally don’t host this kind of show there.
Right after this, at another venue, I got to check out Chelsea Wolfe, who I’d been waiting to see for quite awhile – great performance (with a guest appearance from Mike Sullivan from Russian Circles, pictured above). Her album Apokalypsis is one of my favorites, highly recommended!
CARCASS
CROWBAR
Another catch-up post! Two classic metal bands who have been touring a lot lately, it was good to catch them at Soundstage, though, one of my favorite places to see shows these days. Crowbar really put on a good show this evening, was stoked since there were issues with their MDF set the last time I saw them in Baltimore. Great band. Carcass is a band I never expected to be touring again like this, and each time could be the last time seeing them so I was super stoked to catch them again as well… right now feels like the best time to be seeing heavy bands play since the late 90s or early 00s.
BRUJERIA
CATTLE DECAPITATION
Another catch-up post. This was a great show, two modern classic bands that I hadn’t ever seen before somehow (or, at least I don’t recall seeing them before, anyway!) Brujeria led the crowd in a Fuck Donal Trump chant and brought out a fake Trump on stage, pretty fun antics for the election season. Cattle Decapitation showed off their ever-broadening sound, they really impressed me live, and their newest record backs those live chops up.
SEE ALL THE PHOTOS HERE
LISTEN: Cattle Decapitation | Brujeria
Watain never disappoints. Always a great show, always a terrible smelling show. I had heard they wouldn’t be as vigorous with the blood and animal carcasses on this tour, but that proved to be wrong. The next day at Thanksgiving Dinner, someone asked me if I had spilled food on my jeans and I had to admit that it was congealed pig’s blood.
This week marked the relaunch of a Baltimore institution: the Ed Schrader Show! Long before Ed helmed Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, he was known for hosting the always-unpredictable Ed Schrader Show, a live talk show held at various spots around Baltimore. The show would present various notable (and often unsung) people of Baltimore and sitting them down for a chat with Ed in his unique interview style.
After taking some time to focus on music pursuits, this week Ed brought the show back to Metro Gallery and interviewed artist Dina Kelberman (check out her project I‘m Google) and rapper DDM (who is also in the stellar group Bond Street District), both long-time members of the creative scene here in Baltimore.
It was a great show, full of funny moments as well as heartfelt, insightful ones. I’ll add a podcast link here when it goes up- this is just the first in a monthly series of new shows, so you can come to Metro Gallery in march for next month’s taping.
Constant audio innovators Matmos are releasing a new album, Ultimate Care II, that was completely sound-sourced from their washing machine. For the release, their label Thrill Jockey had me work with them to create a series of promotional portraits. I have worked with Drew and Martin before and they are (of course) extremely creative as well as easy to work with, so I was really excited about this shoot. We played with some of things and tried to create a mix of images that ranged from your normal “band photo” to ones that were a bit more oblique or playful. Pretty happy with how this came out, and can’t wait for the album to be out – it’s really good!
This weekend, I headed out to scenic Sparks, MD for a photoshoot with my friends in Baltimore metal band Putrisect. It was a great time, featuring classic suburban fun like sneaking into an abandoned building, drinking beer next to cars and being harassed by local teens. You can check out all the photos HERE and check out Putrisect’s tunes at their BANDCAMP PAGE. As always, get in touch if you need some band photos or portraits taken.
FUTURE ISLANDS
DAN DEACON
DANNY BROWN
ED SCHRADER’S MUSIC BEAT
VALIENT THORR
Earlier this summer I made the trip down to Carrboro, NC with noted Baltimoreans Kevin Sherry and Mark Brown to watch Future Islands play their celebratory 1000th show. I wrote the following for Noisey:
FUTURE ISLANDS BRING IT ON HOME TO NORTH CAROLINA FOR THEIR 1,000TH SHOW
Future Islands capped off their first 1,000 shows (and a tremendous year) with an all-fam celebration in Carrboro, NC this Sunday, appropriately dubbed FI1000. Not wanting to miss it, I packed into a car with a few other Baltimoreans and road tripped it down there. Though known primarily as a Baltimore band, the boys grew up in North Carolina and started the band there, so it felt right for this party to be down south.
Located at the open air Carrboro Town Commons, the show had kind of a block party or family reunion vibe with a lineup filled with old friends of the band. NC buddies like Valient Thorr and Lonnie Walker, along with Baltimore friend Dan Deacon and Ed Schrader’s Music Beat. Add in Danny Brown and about 4,500 exuberant fans and that’s a recipe for quite a party.
The relaxed atmosphere was pretty perfect for a intimate fest like this, with the artists mingling with the (mostly young) crowd, who seemed appreciative of even the early bands on the bill. But once Danny Brown took the stage, the energy of the crowd spiked sharply, with people dancing exuberantly, grinding, chanting along. The stage fencing almost gave way at more than one point. I don’t think the Carrboro Town Commons security staff had seen a show like this before.
Dan Deacon kept the energy high, performing a set mixed with both new tracks and old classics like Wham City and Crystal Cat. I’ve seen him do his audience participation parts more time than I can count, but it never ceases to amaze me how he can coax a huge crowd into seemingly anything. He also took time to speak about police violence and how it affects us all, the most somber moment of the night but delivered in a classic uplifting and reflective Deacon manner.
All the artists told stories about Future Islands, some dating back to even before they were a band. The anticipation was super high for them to take the stage at dusk. Always charismatic on stage, it was obvious how pleased the guys were to be playing in front of friends and family. Throughout, frontman Sam Herring kept the crowd engaged with anecdotes and stories (told in a Southern accent that grew throughout the night) about their time as a band, growing up in North Carolina, and about the other bands who played. It was a great set, full of both intimate moments and big stage moves – confetti and huge balloons kept the crowd bouncing. They played a packed set which of course included songs like Seasons and Tin Man, but also ranged to older, little heard songs like Pinocchio and New Autobahn, to the obvious pleasure of the crowd. They closed the show out with a promise to return to Town Commons when they hit 2000 shows, though I guess they’ll need a larger venue next time.
Walked around Old Goucher/Charles Village and took some photos of my buddies in Dope Body.
Did a studio session at my Hampden studio with Baltimore recording artist Aldous Huxley aka AHUX, formerly known as Bigg Patch. Hit me up if you need photos for album art, promo, or the like.
ENSLAVED
YOB
Consistently great metal shows at Baltimore Soundstage. I had never seen either of these bands before. Yob was a band I’ve heard alot and enjoy, thought they might have been a “relaxed” band life before I saw them, but the life show was good. Made me want to crank the albums up when I got home. Enslaved is a band I’d always heard a lot about, but wasn’t super familiar with – they were great! Amazing stage presence, with little to no ‘kult’ stuff that can sometimes be a little much with European bands. They loved the crowd and played to the crowd (and the photographers) perfectly, really great performance.
See all the ENSLAVED & YOB photos here | BUY PRINTS of my photos, including some from this show
Two of the most interesting people making experimental music today performed to a packed Metro Gallery last week. Pharmakon’s two full-lengths, Abandon and last year’s Bestial Burden, both made it to close the top of my best of lists in their respective years. She has a way of making challenging music that easily fits into the realm of noise but also is very listenable in a way that most music from that genre is not. “Listenable” is probably not the best way to describe the hellish soundscapes she creates, yet they are extremely captivating records that seems to be able to cross over to metal listeners as well as avant-garde/experimental. I’ve seen her perform three times now and each performance she seems to bring in new elements and work with the crowd aspect more and more – at Metro Gallery, she wound her way through the crowd, getting her microphone snagged on people and furniture, at one point the audience had to struggle and pull on the microphone cable en masse as she ascended back onto the stage – it was pretty interesting to watch.
Drew Daniel (of Matmos fame)’s the Soft Pink Truth project flew under my radar for many years, but when he announced that his most recent record would be a series of Black Metal interpretations entitled Why Do the Heathen Rage?, I took notice. It’s a really odd record, idiosyncratic electronic/dance versions of classic black metal tracks. And, lest you think Daniel is making fun of the genre… well, he is, sort of, but it’s the loving sort of jibe that comes from a true fan who has encyclopedic knowledge of his source material. The record won lots of accolades, including “Best Thing Ever” from the City Paper, and has led to several pretty amazing live performances, the latest of which is the one pictured above. Really unique artist that I recommend you go see if you have a chance.
VIEW ALL PHOTOS FROM PHARMAKON & THE SOFT PINK TRUTH HERE | SEE THE CITY PAPER GALLERY HERE
BUY PRINTS HERE (including a few from this show)
HAYMAKER (look at A389 head honcho Dom’s expression in that last one)
WARXGAMES
MAGRUDERGRIND
IN COLD BLOOD
LIKE RATS
SEX PRISONER
Scaled down a little this year, but still a blast! I was only able to make it to half of the 4 shows that comprised this year’s event but still managed to catch a bunch of great performances, see some homies, and dodge some fireworks at Haymaker. Seeing them in that small, smoke-filled room was really a surreal highlight of my show-going so far this year.
VIEW ALL MY PHOTOS FROM A389 BASH 2015 HERE | Read my preview of the bash in City Paper
