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.
Trucked down to scenic Bristow VA for this show, which was the show where Lil Wayne made some controversial statements about quitting the tour, and his place on it (though I believe it all worked out in the end) and only played a few songs, which disappointed some. The show was pretty sparsely attended when Tunechi went on, but I think a lot of that was just the insane rainstorm keeping people from making it on time, because it looked a lot more crowded by the time Blink-182 played.
I accepted this assignment mainly because I had never seen Lil Wayne, so was a bit disappointed that it seemed like he wasn’t really giving it his all, and the reviewer seemed to agree. However, I thought a bit more of the Blink-182 set (though I only saw the first 3 songs, of course). I am not at all a Blink fan, but was struck by the fact that the band seemed to be having fun – poking fun at each other, and just in general enjoying themselves – which is more than you can expect from a LOT of bands tour after 20+ years.
ENSLAVED
YOB
Consistently great metal shows at Baltimore Soundstage. I had never seen either of these bands before. Yob was a band I’ve heard alot and enjoy, thought they might have been a “relaxed” band life before I saw them, but the life show was good. Made me want to crank the albums up when I got home. Enslaved is a band I’d always heard a lot about, but wasn’t super familiar with – they were great! Amazing stage presence, with little to no ‘kult’ stuff that can sometimes be a little much with European bands. They loved the crowd and played to the crowd (and the photographers) perfectly, really great performance.
See all the ENSLAVED & YOB photos here | BUY PRINTS of my photos, including some from this show
HAYMAKER (look at A389 head honcho Dom’s expression in that last one)
WARXGAMES
MAGRUDERGRIND
IN COLD BLOOD
LIKE RATS
SEX PRISONER
Scaled down a little this year, but still a blast! I was only able to make it to half of the 4 shows that comprised this year’s event but still managed to catch a bunch of great performances, see some homies, and dodge some fireworks at Haymaker. Seeing them in that small, smoke-filled room was really a surreal highlight of my show-going so far this year.
VIEW ALL MY PHOTOS FROM A389 BASH 2015 HERE | Read my preview of the bash in City Paper
Thomas Dolby
Birth (Defects)
Uploaded some odds n’ ends last night, among which were included the above: photos from Thomas Dolby’s (of she blinded me with science fame) first DJ performance, which was at the Paradox in Baltimore, and photos from a Birth (Defects) show at the Wind-up space, among many more. I still post photos on my Flickr, because of ease of use and the fact that I just have such a huge library already there, so if you want the raw feed, follow me there.
A note about the Dolby DJ set- it was pretty disappointing, I must say. Partially because so much effort was spent on presentation, so I was expecting something pretty cool. He had a DJ booth set up like a machine gun emplacement, with sandbags and walls and stuff, and a big projection thing going. But his DJ selections were just standard 80s fare… nothing too bad or anything, but the song selection just didn’t match up to his level of art direction.
Ed Schrader’s Music Beat
Yonatan Gat
Paperhaus
Post Pink
ESMB = best band in Baltimore! It was good to see them with a responsive crowd – there were plenty of people really stoked to see them play a hometown show. When Yonatan Gat started I was like “uh-oh, this is NOT for me” but they managed to win me over, I ended up really liking their set.
I shot and wrote a thing for Noisey about the Marilyn Manson tour opener at the Fillmore… photos above, here is the text:
Yesterday, I got the all-clear to shoot the Marilyn Manson tour opener in scenic Silver Spring, Maryland. After a hiatus of sorts, my generation’s number one shock rocker is back with a comeback album, The Pale Emperor, and this show would be the first chance for live impressions. I’ve never been a Manson fan really; as a teenager, I liked some of the early songs like “Lunchbox,†and once saw him open for Nine Inch Nails, but by the time he hit full superstar mode, I was too busy listening to hardcore and screamo records to care very much about what Brian Warner was getting up to. Still, the guy is an icon—of course I wanted to see his show!
After navigating a line that literally wrapped around the block (later, I was told that concertgoers had started lining up twelve hours before doors), I went in expecting some serious 90s rockstar antics. I wasn’t disappointed. In a set filled with solid hits, Manson’s show also featured multiple costume changes (including four costume changes for the microphone itself), casual cockiness and furious anger at the sound guy, calls for fans to throw drugs on stage (he casually picked up one baggie containing an impressive amount of powder and filed it away in his back pocket for later), a contingent of women with their tops off and Manson lyrics written on their bodies, and of course, calls for the crowd to suck his dick. In true rock star fashion, any time he was done with an object—a microphone, an open bottle of water, a glass of liquor—he just let it drop to the ground, and someone would scurry over there to put it back in its rightful place without the show missing a beat.
After the show—which was entertaining enough to me, a non-fan, to stay until the end—the overall fan reaction seemed pretty ecstatic. One gothy teenager beamed at me and asked if I also thought that it had been the best concert ever. A few people I spoke to did say that they were disappointed with his vocals (though I must say that they sounded generally fine to me). I asked them if they thought that made the concert suck, and one of them replied enthusiastically, “No! Marilyn Manson can’t do a bad show!â€
Read WELCOME BACK TO THE DOPE SHOW: PHOTOS FROM MARILYN MANSON’S ‘THE PALE EMPEROR’ TOUR OPENER on Noisey | SEE ALL THE PHOTOS HERE
NIGHTBIRDS
MUNICIPAL WASTE
WAR ON WOMEN
OLD LINES
TORCHE
STACKED show. Managed to see two of the best local punk bands opening for a pretty great array of touring bands. Fun night. Soundstage continues to kill it, show-wise.
WATAIN
REVENGE
Black metal legends Watain are always so good live. The times I’ve seen them before I was never able to get too close, either because of circumstances, fear of getting actual pig’s blood thrown on me/my equipment, or inebriation, but this time it worked out well. Blood was still there, but less than previous tours and you could still smell the scent of grave dirt as soon as they walked out on stage…
SEE ALL WATAIN & REVENGE PHOTOS HERE | Select images from this show are available as prints
Downtown Boys
Ed Schrader’s Music Beat
Chain and the Gang
Angel Du$t
GIVE
Ausmuteants
Nothing
Screaming Females
Sex Jams
Iron Reagan
Nightbirds
Quitter
Post Pink
Read the Noisey review here | See all the U+N Fest 3 photos here!
The Gories
Pissed Jeans
Peach Kelli Pop
Obnox
Ed Schrader’s Music Beat
Hunters
Roomrunner
Old Lines
Cult Control
Big Christ
UNfest 3 is this weekend, so enjoy the above photos from 2013’s fest! You can buy tickets for this year’s fest here.
Click here for all the photos from UNfest 2.
Click here for day one and here for day two photos from UNfest 1!
(These photos originally ran on Noisey.)
Rat Fist
Ed Schrader’s Music Beat
Saw Baltimore’s Best Band, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat awhile ago at venerable DIY venue Floristree along with Rat Fist, a new band made up of members of No Age and Pissed Jeans. Long time homie Sean McGuiness of PJ (and various back-in-the-day DC bands) drums and sings for Rat Fist, so I couldn’t miss it. Great show. ESMB really deserves all the attention they are getting, what a great band. Seeing shows at Floristree is a really good experience because it feels so home-y (after all, it is a home) and the crowd is generally so respectful and into the music. They even have a better sounding PA now, too!
See all the RAT FIST / ED SCHRADER’S MUSIC BEAT photos here!
The other week, I shot Baton Rouge rapper Kevin Gates at Fillmore. I was expecting to be underwhelmed, as most hip-hop shows I go to lately have been fairly disappointing… a lot of the younger artists haven’t been playing shows that long and seem to lack the showmanship you used to see. Not Gates, though. After a slow start, I was pleasantly surprised as he burst into life, stalking back and forth on stage, calm one moment, barely contained energy the next. The crowd ate it up, too. Good show, fun to shoot too, as he kept interacting with crowd members.
See all my Kevin Gates at Fillmore Silver Spring photos here!
Read the Washington Post review here.
Wham City members Robby Rackleff & April Camlin lead the crowd in interpretive dance.
The other day I shot Dan Deacon and Arcade Fire for the Washington Post at their Verizon Center stop of the Reflektor tour. I initially was a little worried that the show would be a little empty, or that the crowd wouldn’t ‘get’ Dan’s typical group-participation antics. I was wrong – though it took a minute for the large venue to fill in, it eventually got packed in there and it seemed like everyone was super happy to join in with Dan.
Some funny moments of the show for me: at these big shows, photographers always have media handlers who take you where you are supposed to be. However, since Dan set up at front of house to play, they were like “wow, I don’t know what’s going on, just do your thing,” which rarely happens. Also, was surprised to find that grindcore legend Scott Hull was in attendance. He asked me what Dan Deacon was all about, I tried to explain it, and assumed it wouldn’t be to his taste… but he loved his show!
See all the Dan Deacon : Reflektor Tour @ Verizon Center photos here!
See all the Arcade Fire photos from Reflektor Tour here!
Pig Destroyer
Magrudergrind
Cemetery Piss (cricketcemetery.bandcamp.com)
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!
Earlier in the day, I shot Pig Destroyer and Magrudergrind band photos, so be on the lookout for those soon…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM!
Big Mouth (bigmouthsound.bandcamp.com)
Whore Paint (whorepaint.bandcamp.com)
Coup Sauvage & the Snips (coupsauvage.bandcamp.com)
War On Women (waronwomen.bandcamp.com)
Lizz King (www.ehserecords.com/lizzking)
Dasher (dasher2.bandcamp.com)
Curse (cursebaltimore.bandcamp.com)
Trophy Wife (trophywifetheband.bandcamp.com)
Crimson Wave (crimsonwave.bandcamp.com)
Nervosas (nervosas.bandcamp.com)
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.
Saturday night was the last night of The Gold Bar, an amazing local venue started by Dana Murphy of Unregistered Nurse Booking. In the same building as the Crown, it was unfortunately only open for a little less than six months, but in that short time managed to have amazing shows like Skull Defekts, the Death Set, Nothing, Big Mouth, and dozens more that I was too wizened to take pictures at.
A really cool spot and Baltimore is poorer with it gone – but Diarrhea Planet, Cowabunga Pizza Time, Ratboiler and Music Band, along with a packed house of local troublemakers, gave it quite the send-off. Beer, silly string, confetti, champagne and bodies were all flying through the air by the end of the show (sooner, actually), which sold out by 9pm. Everything got a little fuzzy (and messy) there at the end, but it’s safe to say everyone had quite the time.
<a href="https://www.flickr .com/photos/joshsisk/8717977613″ title=”Pig Destroyer @ Black Cat by Josh Sisk, on Flickr”>
3 Floyds Brewery and my friends in Pig Destroyer (primarily Scott Hull, noted craft beer fan) collaborated on a beer, Permanent Funeral, which rated VERY highly on the various beer sites, including Beer Advocate calling it one of the top 40 beers of the world. To celebrate, they threw a release party at the Black Cat in DC. Continuing on my mid-year resolution to get my site up to date, here are the photos I took at the event… Baltimore band Old Lines and (now-defunct, I believe) DC band LTW opened.
VIEW ALL THE PHOTOS FROM THE PIG DESTROYER/3 FLOYDS BEER RELEASE HERE