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.
As per the tradition, here are my personal favorite photos from 2014, posted in no particular order. I even managed to get them up in January this time! Prints of many of these are available here, contact me if there’s one you would like that is absent.
BEST LIVE MUSIC
Pentagram @ Soundstage
Downtown Boys @ U+NFest 3 / Ottobar
FKA Twigs @ 9:30 Club
Gwar crowd @ Soundstage
Putrisect @ Metro Gallery
The Arcade Fire @ Verizon Center
The Soft Pink Truth @ Club Mnenomic / Paradox
Haim crowd @ 9:30 Club
Kevin Gates @ the Fillmore
Future Islands @ Floristree
Chain & the Gang @ Comet Ping Pong
Big Mouth @ Gold Bar
Betty Who @ Rock N Roll Hotel
BROS Concertus Maximus
Post Pink @ U+NFeast 3 / under a bridge
BEST EVERYTHING ELSE
Chase Lisbon.
Satan’s Satyrs.
Old Lines & friends.
John Waters.
Blacksage.
Drew Daniel/Soft Pink Truth.
Last Gold Bar show.
North Dakota.
Ottobar Staff, Tom Malenski memorial.
The other day I had an extra twenty minutes (literally) between a photo shoot and a train I needed to catch so I shot these photos of my old friends Dave Nada & Matt Nordstrom, who make dance music together as Nadastrom. We shot these close to U Street Music Hall before their monthly residency.
Check out more photos of Nadastrom from over the years here.
Shot some promo photos for Virginia doom/stoner/70s influenced rock band Satan’s Satyrs. Fun group of guys and I think we came up with some cool stuff. Check them out here.
Last week I shot a few quick promo photos for electronic artist Pentamon down in DC. See all the Pentamon shots here.
I did a couple of photo sessions with Baltimore band Arboretum to help promote their record on Thrill Jockey. Great guys, we had a lot of fun. See all the photos (or most of them) here on flickr!
The other night after their show at the Golden West in Hampden, I shot some quick promo photos for my friends in the new band MURDER. They are pretty awesome, and are members of other bands like Triac, Vincent Black Shadow, and the Fishnet Stalkers. Check them out.
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.
