Black Eyes @ the Dirtfarm, 2002

It’s kind of scary to realize that this was over twenty years ago… anyway, in the dim dark recesses of the past I used to book shows, generally either at the punk house I lived in in Adelphi, MD called THE DIRTFARM, or at Charm City Art Space or Warehouse Next Door.

Since there is an upcoming Black Eyes reunion, I figured I would dig some photos from one Black Eyes show at the Dirtfarm. I want to say they played there twice, but maybe it was just once, and it was a great show as I recall. All these photos are from the basement.

I had moved to the DC suburbs just the year before, and Black Eyes quickly became my favorite local band. I remember buying their seven-inch from them out of the back of a car at Fort Reno and after that, I have no idea how many times I saw them in various basements or group houses around the DC area in those years, and then finally, their last show at the Black Cat. Them breaking up seemed like an end of an era moment for me, along with a few other similar events, and I ended up moving to Baltimore not long after!

In the ensuing years their early 7″ songs and the first album especially have been something I come back to often, they really hold up, as does the second album, and are super evocative and nostalgic for me. Really happy to have booked a show of theirs at my house, and even more excited to be able to see them again soon, again at the Black Cat! Enjoy these photos!

NOTE: If anyone has any other photos from this show, or video, or a flyer, please reach out! I’ll add it here. Would love any other DIRTFARM related ephemera as well.

Photo Galleries: Check out all the BLACK EYES photos from this show on Flickr (remember Flickr?) | Here’s another Flickr gallery from that era that has other show photos from the Dirtfarm

Bonus: Here is a fun article about house shows in the DC suburbs from 2002 where they get my name wrong, lol.

Adam Savage’s bday w/ Pig Destroyer, Magrudergrind, Cemetery Piss & Putrisect

Pig Destroyer @ Metro Gallery
Pig Destroyer @ Metro Gallery
Pig Destroyer @ Metro Gallery
Pig Destroyer @ Metro Gallery
Pig Destroyer @ Metro Gallery
Pig Destroyer @ Metro Gallery
Pig Destroyer @ Metro Gallery
Pig Destroyer

Magrudergrind @ Metro Gallery
Magrudergrind @ Metro Gallery
Pig Destroyer @ Metro Gallery
Magrudergrind

Cemetery Piss @ Metro Gallery
Cemetery Piss (cricketcemetery.bandcamp.com)

Putrisect @ Metro Gallery
Putrisect (putrisect.bandcamp.com)

For his birthday, Baltimore promoter Adam Savage gave us a present – a sick party at the Metro Gallery (a venue that has stepped up it’s game of late with a remodel, new stage as well as way more metal shows). Local newcomers Putrisect are the most promising new band I’ve heard this year- brutal, guttural howling vocals, killer riffs and a “fuck y’all” live performance attitude add up to a band to watch. Black Metal band Cemetery Piss (featuring the birthday boy himself) have been a fave of mine for awhile but they just keep getting better and more consistent. Pick up their new 7″ if you are at all a fan of the genre. I had to slip away at this point to go to LadyFest to see Whore Paint, but Inter Arma’s set was, by all accounts, incredible. Magrudergrind killed, as always – love those guys and the crowd obviously did as well. Finally, it’s great to see Pig Destroyer strutting their stuff as a five-piece – they have been playing a lot of out of town dates, and it shows in how together they are. One of the best times I’ve seen them in awhile (and I’ve seen them a lot). Super secret birthday suprise: A Pig Destroyer Misfits cover set with Adam joining in on vocals!

SEE ALL THE ADAM SAVAGE BIRTHDAY W/ PIG DESTROYER, MAGRUDERGRIND, CEMETERY PISS, PUTRISECT PHOTOS HERE!

Earlier in the day, I shot Pig Destroyer and Magrudergrind band photos, so be on the lookout for those soon…

Pig Destroyer Misfits covers with Adam Savage on Vocals @ Metro Gallery
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM!

Lady Fest 2014 – Days 1 & 2.

Big Mouth @ LadyFest Baltimore
Big Mouth @ LadyFest Baltimore
Big Mouth @ LadyFest Baltimore
Big Mouth (bigmouthsound.bandcamp.com)

Whore Paint @ LadyFest Baltimore
Whore Paint @ LadyFest Baltimore
Whore Paint (whorepaint.bandcamp.com)

Coup Sauvage & the Snips @ LadyFest Baltimore
Coup Sauvage & the Snips (coupsauvage.bandcamp.com)

War on Women @ LadyFest Baltimore
War On Women (waronwomen.bandcamp.com)

Lizz King @ LadyFest Baltimore
Lizz King (www.ehserecords.com/lizzking)

Dasher @ LadyFest Baltimore
Dasher (dasher2.bandcamp.com)

Curse @ LadyFest Baltimore
Curse (cursebaltimore.bandcamp.com)

Trophy Wive @ LadyFest Baltimore
Trophy Wife (trophywifetheband.bandcamp.com)

Crimson Wave @ LadyFest Baltimore
Crimson Wave (crimsonwave.bandcamp.com)

Nervosas @ LadyFest Baltimore
Nervosas (nervosas.bandcamp.com)

Big Mouth @ LadyFest Baltimore

This was such a great event. Two days of bands, workshops and community in Station North. Got to see some of Baltimore’s best bands and discover quite a few out of town acts that I had never heard of – Coup Sauvage and Whore Paint in particular impressed me. Baltimore rules.

VIEW ALL THE LADYFEST 2014 PHOTOS HERE

Black Pus & Ed Schrader’s Music Beat @ Floristree

Black Pus @ Floristree
Black Pus @ Floristree   Black Pus @ Floristree
Ed Schrader's Music Beat @ Floristree
Ed Schrader's Music Beat @ Floristree   Ed Schrader's Music Beat @ Floristree
Ed Schrader's Music Beat @ Floristree

This was a great show… to celebrate the release of Ed Schrader’s Music Beat’s new album JAZZ MIND, out now on Load Records (it is great, you should get it!).

Black Pus is Brian Chippendale (Lightning Bolt, Mindflayer, drawing comic books)’s one man drums+electronics band, and it was really fun… the crowd went crazy for him and his wall of sound, constantly stage-diving and dancing. One girl next to me went up easily 12 times in a row… pretty fun. Even Chester got into the action!

Ed and Devin’s set was energetic and awesome… everyone singing along, dancing, the crowd spill forward onto the stage over and over… there was an amazing moment when the power died and Ed led the crowd in a capella version of Air Show, which was just awesome to have happen.

See all the Black Pus & Ed Schrader photos from Floristree here!

Hot Chelle Rae @ 9:30 Club

Hot Chelle Rae @ 9:30 Club
Hot Chelle Rae @ 9:30 Club   Hot Chelle Rae @ 9:30 Club
Hot Chelle Rae @ 9:30 Club
Hot Chelle Rae @ 9:30 Club

Wow. I had never heard of this band before, though I realized once I was there that I had heard their hit single “Tonight Tonight”, but WOW. This was the first show I have been to where the crowd (comprised mostly of teenage girls) was louder than the music… much louder. A sold out 9:30, all screaming in unison, without much pause! Pretty wild.

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Lower Dens @ SXSW 2012

Lower Dens @ SXSW 2012
Lower Dens @ SXSW 2012
Lower Dens @ SXSW 2012

Trying to get all these SXSW photos out the door… but I keep taking more photos. It’s a never ending cycle… anyway, I saw Lower Dens play a day show at SXSW for the Sun. One of my favorite new Baltimore bands, really looking forward to their next record. The out of crowd town seemed to love them too, based on the response from the large crowd at this early show.

SXSW 2012: Day 1 – Mean Jeans, Night Beats, White Mystery.

Mean Jeans @ Trailer Space - SXSW 2012
Mean Jeans @ Trailer Space - SXSW 2012
Mean Jeans @ Trailer Space - SXSW 2012
Mean Jeans @ Trailer Space - SXSW 2012
The Mean Jeans

The Night Beats @ Trailer Space - SXSW 2012
The Night Beats

White Mystery @ Trailer Space - SXSW 2012
White Mystery

See more photos of these bands and more here!

Three fun bands at one of my favorite places to see shows in Austin, Trailer Space Records. Trailer Space is my FAVORITE place to see shows at SXSW – always unofficial, always cool bands, always a chill/fun vibe, always no bullshit. This year I was there for the Burger Records Fest on Wednesday and it was great – flying beer (at one point a store worker/owner/person came up to the mic to declare “we sell records, so do not pour beer on the records”), fireworks, a dancing dog, tons of kids having fun and great music. So awesome.

A sad note is that I spoke to someone from Trailer Space over email and it seems as though they are in some hard times… so buy records there if you are in Austin! I asked if maybe they would have shirts for sale on their site again and they said they would let me know, I’ll post about it if they do… great place, I hope I can go again next year!

Washington Post Mean Jeans tearsheet Washington Post White Mystery tearsheet

Dan Deacon Ensemble, Celebration, Matmos @ Ottobar.

Dan Deacon Ensemble @ Ottobar
Dan Deacon Ensemble @ Ottobar
Dan Deacon Ensemble @ Ottobar
Dan Deacon Ensemble @ Ottobar   Dan Deacon Ensemble @ Ottobar
Celebration @ Ottobar
Celebration @ Ottobar   Matmos @ Ottobar

Awesome show, from beginning to end. 3 very different, yet complimentary Baltimore music groups, all on one bill! A great weekend for the Ottobar, who also hosted a sold out Wye Oak show the following night… anyway…

I have seen Matmos several times, and they are always different. This night, they chose to create a droning/grooving sort of atmosphere with a Caribbean (to my uninformed ears) feeling type of beat, very noddable and swayable. One of their songs got pretty minimal industrial, again to my uniformed ears, and I would SWEAR that on one song they used the same sample as Ministry does on one of their “Land of Rape And Honey” era records… but maybe I am just a goth.

Celebration remains one of my absolute favorite bands to see live in Baltimore… I love their old material and their newer stuff is growing on me more and more now that I have seen it played live a few times. Their set has morphed into only having one or two songs from the “The Modern Tribe” era, and they are still a treat to watch.

Dan Deacon used this show to introduce his new five piece ensemble (who I have posted about here recently) , and I really enjoyed the additional instrumentation. I think it worked best on the newer songs, ones that I assume were written for this group, but even on the classic Deacon songs, I think they added alot, especially the dual percussion. Live drums really can create a feeling like nothing else. The crowd seemed to agree, they went CRAZY, which is too be expected, and it was a really really fun set. Somehow I managed to stick it out the whole time at the front… a bit of a while since I managed that, but I was having a blast!

See the rest of the photos here!

Art Department, Quiet Hooves, Dave Fell, Other Colors @ Golden West

The Art Department.
Quiet Hooves
Other Colors   Dave Fell

Last week, I went to an (I think) all-local Unregistered Nurse show at Golden West, featuring : The Art Department, Other Colors, Dave Fell, and Quiet Hooves. I had only ever seen The Art Department before, and this was their first show in awhile – perhaps after some sort of hiatus (great journalism, I know). Of the other bands, I though that Quiet Hooves were particularly interesting.

I am at my parents for the holidays, so stay tuned for many updates with photos from the last few months (and perhaps beyond…)

Daybreak reunion @ Golden West

Daybreak reunion
Daybreak reunion   Daybreak reunion
Daybreak reunion

Saturday was something I thought I would never see… the reunion of Baltimore band Daybreak. They were a late 90s/early 2000s power violence band who put out records on Reptilian Records and Robodog Records (now Robotic Empire). I never saw them, but their records made their way to Baton Rouge by way of Page 99’s distro table and the Robodog’s Geocities-era website. Me and my friends appreciated the music, extreme but approachable and with musicianship, and even more, we appreciated the humorous piss-takes at “the scene” and the feeling of a crew of punks that we got from their record art and inserts… I thought it was cool that there was enough people who liked this music there to even HAVE a crew!

Anyway, somehow, someway, 10+ years later and I am friends with alot of the people involved with the making of these records, and they are all great and I am thankful they decided to do this reunion show so me and others had the chance to finally see this band! It was a fun night, and for a good cause – to help pay for a friend of the band’s cancer-related medical bills.

Massive: Moby, Skream & Benga, Tittsworth, Diplo & more.

Moby @ Fall Massive
crowd @ Fall Massive
Tittsworth @ Fall Massive   Moby's lightshow @ Fall Massive
dancer @ Fall Massive
Scott Henry @ Fall Massive   Moby @ Fall Massive
Skream & Benga @ Fall Massive
Armand Van Helden @ Fall Massive   Diplo @ Fall Massive
crowd @ Fall Massive

This was a lot of fun to shoot, 4 stages, 10,000 or so dance music fans, tons of lights and costumes and dancers and booze and everything else! In the full set, you will find photos of: Skream & Benga, Moby, Diplo, Tittsworth, Scott Henry, Armand Van Helden, Zedd, and lots and lots of fans.

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CMA Songwriter’s Series with Patty Loveless, Clint Black.

Patty Loveless @ CMA Songwriters Series
Clint Black @ CMA Songwriters Series
CMA Songwriters Series

I shot the CMA Songwriter’s Series at the Library of Congress. It was an intimate show where some top country songwriters – the guys who write the songs for the stars – got a chance to shine, tell stories about their songs, and have the chance to perform them along side stars like Clint Black and Patty Loveless.

  • See all the CMA Songwriter’s Series @ Library of Congress photos on Flickr.
  • Read the Washington Post review here.
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    Total Control & Thee Oh Sees @ Sonar

    Thee Oh Sees

    Total Control   Total Control

    Total Control

    Great show the other day at Sonar, courtesy of Unregistered Nurse. Australia’s Total Control (featuring at least one member of Eddy Current Suppression Ring) and California’s Thee Oh Sees.