Dan Deacon for City Paper.

Dan Deacon City Paper cover

I shot Dan Deacon for last week’s City Paper cover story, which highlighted his new album, America. We shot on his roof, and in his studio, with one of his flags behind him (the flags are the cover of the record and he is having them made to be included with the album!). I’m scared of heights, so the roof shoot was harrowing, but I think it came out pretty well.

Here are all the shots from this shoot, including many which didn’t make the story: Continue reading

Diamond Dustin 4/20 Cover Band Show 2012 @ Sonar

Dustin's Cover Show @ Sonar
Dustin's Cover Show @ Sonar   Dustin's Cover Show @ Sonar

Every year local neer-do-well Dustin Diamond has a cover band show at the Talking Head… well, next year it will have to be somewhere else, sadly, but it’s historically a great time. Different Baltimore bands or mixtures of Baltimore bands get together and do cover sets. This year among the bands were Fairies Wear Beards, which featured most of The Pilgrim doing Black Sabbath songs, and PISS, which featured most of Murder + Josh Seipp (formerly of Triac and Maudlin of the Well) and Matt Gabs from the Biters doing KISS covers… in full make-up! Continue reading

The Last Night At Sonar.

War on Women.
Simon, looking out of the former bathroom.  Tim.

Sadly, Sonar is no more. Sonar was a very special place, and had a great staff. Thanks to the club and staff for all the wonderful memories! The last night, in traditional Sonar fashion, was two very different shows, one a Millionaire$ show in the Club room, the other an Unregistered Nurse punk show featuring War On Women, Tacocat, Slutever & Guantanamo Baywatch in the lounge aka the Talking Head Club.

You can read the Baltimore Sun’s story on this here, read about #SonarMemories on Twitter, and see all my photos that are fit to print here.
Continue reading

Insubordinaton Fest 2012 @ the Ottobar.

House Boat crowd surfing @ Insubordination Fest 2012

This was a lot of fun – an annual pop-punk/punk fest from local punk label Insubordination records, I was sent out by the Baltimore Sun to cover this, but was excited to see the Mean Jeans, who I have covered before, as well as Night Birds & the Dopamines (who were playing with Mikey from the Ergs), both of whom I have always managed to miss. House Boat, who I’d never heard of before, was a good discovery – they played until they literally fell down from exhaustion. What a fun show and crowd… crazy crowd-surfing and dancing, lots of fun bands. And the organizers, including the legendary Larry Livermore, were very easy to talk to and chill. Read on for more photos or click here for the whole Flickr set from Insub festContinue reading

Little Richard at the historic Howard Theater, DC.

Little Richard @ Howard Theater, DC
I went into this show not sure what to expect – I knew Little Richard was old, I hadn’t heard about him playing any shows in recent years… but was pleasantly surprised overall by what I saw and heard. Sure, it was a little sad that he was brought out on a bench, unable to walk on his own, and he certainly seemed a little fragile – but his charisma and voice were still there, and he cracked jokes with the audience and told anecdotes, and with a iconic artist like this, that’s half of what you hope to see at their show. Backed by a great (and large) band, the music sounded great, too. See more of my Little Richard photos from the Howard Theater here.
Continue reading

Omar Souleyman at the 9:30 Club.

Omar Souleyman @ 9:30 Club

This was a fun assignment. I have to admit, I knew nothing about Omar Souleyman going in… he is a Syrian singer who performs what sound like traditional songs (to my unknowledgeable ears) with a more modern style drone-y synth music background. Pretty interesting and a charismatic performer, to boot. Apparently he has released more than 500 albums! See more photos from Omar Souleyman’s performance at the 9:30 Club.
Continue reading

Hunx & His Punx & Natural Child @ the Wind Up Space.

Hunx & His Punx @ Windup
Natural Child @ Windup

I screwed up and forgot my camera battery (violated the “always take a picture before you leave the house” rule) and had to go home, thus missing Nobunny, who opened this show. Always check your gear before you leave the house! Even with that misstep, this was a fun show, with a great set by Natural Child (even with a few technical difficulties) and a crazy, chaotic set by Hunx & His Punx, with the kids in the crowd going crazy the whole time. Click here to see more photos from the show and the inevitable after party.

Baltimore’s own SPRAYER.

SPRAYER.

Taken on the street in Hampden, outside of the Golden West. Sprayer is Rjyan Kidwell, perhaps better known as CEX + Jeremy Hyman (formerly of Ponytail). Since it’s Rjyan, it’s not quite a “rock band”, exactly, but still a live experience with instruments, and one that I think is pretty interesting. Click here to see more of my photos of SPRAYER.

Pig Destroyer in the studio with new drummer Adam Jarvis

Adam Jarvis of Pig Destroyer

A few weeks back, I was lucky enough to sit in the studio with my friends, grindcore band Pig Destroyer as they were recording their new album, their first with new drummer Adam Jarvis. It was, as expected, AWESOME! And Adam sounds great… everything I heard is making me really look forward to the new record, whatever it may be called. See more shots of Adam (and others from Pig Destroyer history) here.

Maryland Death Fest – a look back in photos.

EYEHATEGOD crowd @ MDF2010
Eyehategod crowd shot from 2010.
reunited
Reunited in 2011, with City Paper cover.

For the last near-decade, Maryland Death Fest has been a Baltimore Institution, bringing the best current and historic extreme metal bands to Sonar in Baltimore to play for thousands of fans. It’s literally the best and most interesting metal related event in the US. Spanning over several days (4 this year), dozens of bands play to a crowd of thousands, who travel from all over the world to be there. Because of it’s prominence, many bands choose to reunite to play it, or have their last show there, or play for the first/last/only time in the US there. Basically, it’s an amazing event. And this year’s, the TENTH Annual, starts thursday and last til sunday. For a list of bands and set times, click here. Here are some of my favorite shots from the last several years: Continue reading

Sweetlife Fest @ MPP w/ Kid Cudi, Zola Jesus, the Shins, more…

Kid Cudi @ Sweetlife Fest
Zola Jesus @ Sweetlife Fest
The Shins @ Sweetlife Fest
Kid Cudi @ Sweetlife Fest   @ Sweet Life Fest

Last weekend, checked out the Sweetlife Fest at Merriweather Post Pavilion for the Baltimore Sun… a rainy, dreary day but the kids in attendance could not be deterred… lots of smiling youths who were partying HARD. Also, some pretty great food courtesy of local vendors (I had a Toki Underground pho dog, myself… yum!) Weird to see Kid Cudi rocking a huge stage at an arena, last time I saw him was a little more intimate

Check all my photos from Sweetlife! (there are alot more than above, including other bands like Delta Spirit & Explosions In The Sky).