The Gift.

The Gift
The Gift

Last month I took some photos for the Washington DC band The Gift. They are a great band, and comprised of three old friends. Henry was in Exosus, who I put out a record for in some mist-shrouded past, Beck was in Turboslut, and Mikey was in one of my favorite hardcore/punk bands from Maryland, Tradition Dies Here (among many other pursuits they’ve all been a part of). It was fun doing these shoots, even though making a “band photo” can sometimes be really ridiculous.

Speaking of which, we shot the group photos in the Black Cat before they opened, and while there, the most amazing thing happened. Apparently, Henry had told Mikey previously that “nothing he did could shock him”… so Mikey thought about it, came up with something, and revealed it to Henry during the shoot. And that is how I came to be present when Mikey showed Henry that he had gotten a HUGE photo realistic tattoo of Henry’s face on his upper thigh. Wow.

PS – Their debut record “Mostly In Sickness” comes out in January.

See the whole The Gift photo set here.

Government Issue & The Goons reunions @ Black Cat

Government Issue.
Government Issue.   Government Issue.
Government Issue crowd.   The Goons.

Maff Moffat, co-owner of DC record store SMASH organized a benefit show for Stereofaith, a DC scene stalwart (former hardcore band member, longtime DJ and promoter, all-around cool dude) who had to have some pretty serious surgery. Seminal DC band Government Issue played a reunion show, along with the classic DC-suburbs punk band The Goons. It was a really fun show, sold out but not too crazy, probably because most of the people in attendance were a little older, so it was still fun to be in that room. The Goons set was rowdy, with some circle pitting and stagediving, but things kicked up alot when Government Issue took the stage. John Stabb is a crazy guy, I’d seen YouTubes but it was awesome to see him still getting wild, 30 years later. J Robbins, Tom Lyle, and Pete Moffett got pretty wild themselves… I saw Robbins and Moffett grinning and goofing with Stabb many times, Lyle seemed to remain more serious but was definitely playing hard. All in all, a good show…

View the whole set here | Read the BrightestYoungThings story

Ruiner, the Spark, Double Dagger, Never Enough @ CCAS.

the Spark @ CCAS
Double Dagger @ CCAS    Never Enough @ CCAS

I dunno why I didn’t post this before! Last month was a great reunion/last show at CCAS – the Spark and Never Enough, two early-2000s hardcore bands from Baltimore played a reunion show with Ruiner, who is breaking up. Double Dagger played too. It was great, though I got moshed HARD and hurt my neck. I’m better now. Jesse Morgan got stitches too!

I also took official “last band pic” shots of The Spark and Never Enough:

The Spark.    Never Enough.

View the whole photo set | Read the BYT post

the Jesus Lizard @ Sonar, Baltimore.

jesus lizard.
jesus lizard crowd.
jesus lizard. jesus lizard.

This was one of the best shows I went to all year – I was nervous, I sort of generally expect reunions to be underwhelming, but this was way more than I could have expected. David Yow was frenetic, full of energy, jumping into the crowd constantly, whipping his dick out (see above), yelling at the lighting crew to turn the lights up all the way. The band was incredibly tight, the sound was great – all in all, a great show.

click here to see all the Jesus Lizard shots

Tradition Dies Here final show @ the Black Cat

Tradition Dies Here.

Last week I went down to DC to catch one of my favorite bands from the “old days” of Maryland Hardcore (the early 00s), Tradition Dies Here. Mikey is leaving town for a year or two to travel the world so they had this show in case it is the last one. Good times, old friends. Good luck Mikey!

Click here for the full Tradition Dies Here set.

The Chase reunion show @ the Corpse Fortress.

the Chase.    the Chase.
the Chase.    Wall of Death imminent.

Saturday night I trucked down to Silver Spring to venerable punk house/venue the Corpse Fortress to catch the reunion show(s) of The Chase, Breathe In Breath Out, At Best & Timber. It was awesome, I hadn’t been to a punk basement show in so long. I got moshed a bit, and was slightly nervous about having my gear in the “pit”, but it went well and was a lot of fun.

Highlights included the girl who lived there loudly hinting that everyone should get the fuck out of her house and no one listening, all the sing-a-longs, AFP from the Chase demanding that the Chase replay parts of songs over and over, the wall of death, and me convincing Ari Goldman that the box of free records was actually a donation box, then realizing I just conned Ari!

Click here to view the whole the Chase reunion show set!