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:
Club Mutant was an underground party that Door did at America, with noise/electronic/avant artists, but (as I recall) this night was a collaboration with Mark Brown, Schwarz (who is now known as So Drove) and Cex who had done a variety of dance parties in the past. This was at the Paradox, and apparently I photographed this for Noisey, Vice Media’s music vertical which no longer exists. The article doesn’t seem to be online anymore, sadly. Hopefully I got paid!
This was a fun night that I remember pretty well because it was such a cool mix of artists and genres – the kind of genre mixing event that Baltimore has always done so well. Soft Pink Truth (aka Drew Daniel) had just released the Why Do The Heathen Rage? album, which was a Black Metal re-interpolation, so he was in full SPT/Black Metal regalia and some metal friends were here for that. Baltimore Club innovator Blaqstarr DJed along with Shawn Smallwood and some others. Shams performed. Gabber Blood Rave artist Kilbourne DJed along with the Schwarz.
This night was also funny because one of my friends disappeared and we thought he had just caught a taxi home, but then it turns out he fell asleep in the Paradox and woke up when the janitors were cleaning up – at like 9am!
If anyone reading this has any memories, details, flyers, etc to add to this, feel free to comment below, or @ me and I’ll add them. I’m “joshsisk” at IG/Twitter/BlueSky/Threads/whatever dozen other new social media sites have been created in the time it took me to type this.
ALMS
MURDER
Wow, this is my first photo post since the pandemic. And at the first show at the newly opened Metro Gallery. Felt really good to be here. At some point, maybe, I’ll write some sort of bloggy post reflecting on the last year or so, but for now, it’s just cool to post these photos.
SEE ALL THE MURDER / ALMS PHOTOS 2021/11/12 METRO GALLERY PHOTOS HERE
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:
A little while back, I photographed Baltimore musician and artist TRNSGNDR/VHS at a special performance at the Walters Art Museum. It was part of the Art/Sound/Now series, which brings in artists to do site-specific performances in the Walters’ space. Quite an experience, it was interesting to see the crowd move in and out of the space full of classical works, while listening to Alexandra’s very contemporary piece.
READ THE ARTICLE ON BANDCAMP | SEE ALL THE PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT
We also did a quick portrait session before the show, and I like how some of the shots turned out…
I recently got a chance to tag along to Baltimore’s annual Free Ball – a vogue dancing event that supports HIV awareness and testing among the city’s LGBT community. It’s a fun event that engages the Vogue community by hosting a free contest, but to enter you have to get tested, and there are a lot of various health resources on site, seems like a great and surprisingly “with it” city-funded event. For more information on Vogue dancing and this event, you can read this article about last year’s event.
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.
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.
Gabriel Deloach‘s documentary about Double Dagger, one of the all-time great Baltimore punk bands, is finally streaming on Amazon. I am biased since I am friends with everyone involved in this project, and contributed photography which appears in the film (and was even interviewed, though I unsurprisingly did not make the cut), but I truly think this is a great music doc and worth watching even if you are somehow going in not knowing who Double Dagger was. It’s full of insightful moments and plenty of great live footage from the band’s last tour, a tour I also documented:
“An inside look at the Baltimore underground music scene through one of its most pivotal bands, Double Dagger, this intimate and entertaining portrait follows the band as they complete their final tour and album, tracing the history and growth of the band and of Baltimore’s underground music scene.”
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
Digging through the stacks on this Thanksgiving eve and finding lots of old gems I haven’t posted. Here are some photos of my pals PURE JUNK from last year, playing a show at the Ottobar. Perhaps opening for Fred & Toody of Dead Moon? This was a fun night. Look for more posts soon (I always say that, but for real this time).
Managed to escape from the recent Green Day show I shot for the Washington Post and make it back to Baltimore to catch one of my favorite bands, Thou, at the Sidebar. Bryan Funck, Thou’s vocalist, is an old friend and one of the best people in punk & diy. Thou’s work ethic is really inspiring, they’ve released so many great records and toured consistently without any sort of compromises. Love seeing bands who still do it right.
Baltimore band Dope Body played their last show this past Saturday. I’ve been following their creative output for years, having met Andrew, the vocalist years ago at Sonar and quickly became a fan of their wild live performances, as well as their sound which developed from album to album. A great group of guys who managed to capture a specific and primal sound with their band and also build a devoted following in the area. Sad to see them go, excited to see what they all come up with next. Here are some of my favorite photos of the band I’ve taken over the years, both live shots as well as band photos. UPDATE: City Paper published these as a gallery!
The end of an era. RIP to one of Baltimore’s longest running bands. This was a great show at one of the city’s best DIY venues. Lots of feelings about this, but it was a really nice way for four awesome people to put a cap on eight years of creativity and musical expression. Wonderful to see so many old heads come out for this, what a good night. Go start your own band.
Also: I was going to add them to this post, but it’d be too much so check back tomorrow, when I’ll be posting a retrospective assortment of photos I’ve take over the band over the years.
I shot Integrity (featuring Dom Romeo from A389 Records/Pulling Teeth/etc on guitar) awhile back. Great show, as always. Integrity is one of the bands from my youth that have stuck with me. I wouldn’t have guessed in then, but I find myself listening to them just as much or more now as I did when I had first heard them. Dwid also is always a fun frontman, and obviously really gets his audience. Good show!
THE SNAILS
FROGMAN
The other day I was at this packed show at the Ottobar. The Snails is a Baltimore supergroup, and Frogman has to be seen to be believed/understood. I was just there for fun, but I snapped a few pics anyway… CLICK HERE TO SEE THE WHOLE PHOTOSET
