Two fun, light-hearted vaguely internet-oriented bands at the Kennedy Center to celebrate a decade of the Millenium Stage, which showcases free bands EVERY DAY, which is crazy when you think about it. Pamplamoose was full of fun stage banter, while Ok Go!’s show was lots of bombast, with a big video screen that didn’t quite work, 3D glasses, confetti cannons firing every few minutes… quite a spectacle!
Two shows I shot recently for the Washington Post. Sade was interesting… totally packed, yet very chill, a very grown-up crowd (obviously). Beautiful voice and very professional, yet you got the impression that she didn’t really like being on stage, which makes sense considering her famous reticence at being in the spotlight.
A Night In Treme, which closed out the DC Jazz Fest, on the other hand was an unabashed party. Total abandon and fun from all the musicians (and famous actors, and Louisiana Congressmen) on stage. They even did a second line, right through the crowd!
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Tearsheets for the first half of July. You can see a selection of my favorites on my Tearsheets page, here. Click any of the above to see some of my Tearsheets from the last week or two. Animal Collective/Black Dice show coverage, the Big Music Issue of the City Paper cover, a few shots of mine that were used on an IFC show, and more…
Also, there was a City Paper Low Budget Photo Show downtown, where various City Paper photogs sold work. Here is a picture of my stuff on the wall:
I shot Big Freedia at DC9 for the Washington Post, one of the first shows after their re-opening, I believe. I was worried at first that it might be a low turnout, but DC crowds are expert at showing up JUSSSSST before the artist they want to see plays, and suddenly it was packed! Great show, one of the funniest I have been to this year. So much ass-shaking, which is to be expected. Freedia was really nice too, I managed to get a quick portrait before the show. I’ll always shoot a bounce show if I get a chance!
Three shows I shot for the Washington Post. Adele was the most packed I have -ever- seen the 930 Club, but all of these were sol out.
Monday night’s Ice Age show with Give and Death Domain at the Golden West (brought to you by Unregistered Nurse Booking)was a lot of fun… cool to see such a buzzed about new band play Baltimore as their 3rd show of their first US tour! Give was also a band I’d heard alot about and really enjoyed… they seem to be part of this current movement of looking back to hardcore and punk’s earlier days, but I like that! They were fun to see. Ice Age (or is it iceage? I’m unsure.) were fun and somber and Danish and VERY YOUNG. They seemed a little awkward at first, but got into it after a few songs… and the crowd certainly responded, there was lots of slamming and dancing going on, at least at the front. Good times.
Dillinger Escape Plan played a not-quite-secret-but-unpromoted show at the Talking Head, a very small venue behind Sonar after their recent two days opening at Sonar for the Deftones. It was pretty crazy! Everyone that showed up was a devout fan and there was alot of diving, surfing, moshing and other shenanigans. By the end of the show, the ceiling air duct was destroyed and the guitarist’s face was covered in blood. Wild times.
Finally! The last MDF 2011 post… so many photos to dig through! This final day was pretty fun, though I was dead tired. The surprise of the day for me was probably Skinless’ last show, which was ridiculous, with the singer stagediving and jumping into the crowd constantly. Malignent Tumor, who I’d never heard before, had a circle pit like no other, full of inflatable penises and other assorted insanity. Most fun crowd experience of the fest. Also, Nuclear Assault invited the crowd on stage with them, which was really really fun.
Other notable things were the dude from Exhumed playing in ANOTHER band (Gravehill), Cthulhu showing up for a visit, me saying I’d believe that Ted Leo was going to be playing with Citizens Arrest when I saw it… then realizing I was standing next to Ted Leo.
Another big deal for me was managing to make (with the help of my friend Dustin) this happen:
Yes, that’s Marel, the woman from the Deathfest City Paper cover, posing with Jason, the security guy in the photo, both standing in the same spot that picture was taken last year. I had tried to connect with her for several days, we finally managed to make it happen on Sunday. She was really nice, and said that she started getting texts about the City Paper cover as soon as her plane landed at BWI and thought people were joking! Too funny. Glad we could get this shot.
Over the halfway mark with my MDF photos! Day 3 was a little more relaxing for me, the highlight was getting to see Exhorder, a New Orleans thrash metal band that I grew up on and hearing about, but never was able to see live (a little before my time), as well as seeing Voivod again… they were excellent and the crowd seemed super stoked. Many people told me their set was their high point of the whole show. My favorite discovery of this day was Acid Witch, who I had never heard before but who I thought were excellent live. Cretin was also good live, playing with Matt Harvey from Exhumed (he seemed to be guesting in at least one band a day at this MDF).
Day 2 was pretty epic. I saw several bands that I had never seen before, the standout of which was Exhumed… amazing live, totally over the top, with chainsaws and severed heads and fake blood… just really fun. Marduk were great live, too… but seeing Corrosion of Conformity with the classic line-up was really great, as was meeting Woody from CoC and Steve Von Till of Neurosis. Right before Neurosis played, an epic rain storm loomed which threatened to end or severely delay their show… but hundreds of fans stood in the rain to wait it out, and they cheered and pumped their fists every time there was a flash of lightning. Pretty awesome and totally metal. When they finally came on, they were great and played a barely abridged set. It was slightly less epic on an outdoor stage than the last time I saw them, at the Masonic Temple in Brooklyn, but they were still great live and actually played some older songs (Souls At Zero and Through Silver In Blood), which surprised me. This was a great second night of the fest.
MDF this year was a great success… so many amazing bands, so many good times. Pretty much every aspect was incredible and it went off with only a few small bumps, at least as far as I could tell. I am gonna be posting photos from it over the next few days, with a big megapost scheduled to go out on monday. Click on the link below to see more photos from the first day!
The other week, I shot Tune-Yards (or tUne-YaRdS, or some strange capitalization) and Buke and Bass at the Red Palace. The Red Palace is becoming a favorite place of mine to see shows in DC, decent lighting (LEDs, though), nice beer selection, small room but you can see the artist pretty well regardless… I had never heard Tune-Yards before, which was basically a one-person band with some back-up on some songs from a bassist and a horn section, but it was an interesting show. She makes loops with her voice, right on the spot, and then plays over them… she creates a sound that is reminiscent of African traditional music (to my ears, anyway), mixed with drone/ambient. Pretty interesting stuff.
The other week, I shot the Arctic Monkeys and the Vaccines for SPIN… I am not super knowledgeable about either band, but fun show, good lighting, good sound… the Arctic Monkeys were lively, more so than I had been led to believe, and the Vaccines were fun and energetic. I hear they are a band to watch… Read the review, linked below for more details!
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 Ninth Annual, starts today and last til sunday. For a list of bands and set times, click here. Chris from DC HeavyMetal posted a great Death Fest Survival Guide here.
Below are some of the favorite photos I have taken at previous Death Fests:
Bobby Liebling of a reunited Pentagram.
Bolt Thrower, who played two sets in 2009, one a surprise.
Pig Destroyer.
Dan Lillker playing with Autopsy.
Wolves In The Throne Room.
Entombed.
Converge.
Napalm Death.
Deceased.
Jimmy Bowers of EYEHATEGOD.
The other monday I tackled not one, not two, but THREE shows in one evening. First I shot Ramblin Jack Elliott for the Washington Post in Rockville, MD. He played a church to a music preservation society crowd. Nice people, and a cool setting. The last time I saw him was at a huge political event in San Francisco, years ago… it was cool to check him out, even for a little bit, in a more intimate space.
Next up was Dirty Beaches at the Black Cat in DC. My girlfriend has been telling me to check out his music for quite awhile, but I must admit I had never heard Dirty Beaches until I stepped into the show. The lights were almost totally down, he was light by what looked like a single light… a white-tshirt clad 50s greaser-looking guy freaking out on a guitar, unaccompanied, playing crazy, fuzzy music out of Blue Velvet or something similar. It was pretty great. I’ve since gone back and gotten several of his records and downloads of his earlier tape only releases, and his music is great! Really recommended.
Finally, I limped back to Baltimore, dead tired, to Cullen Stalin’s No Rule party at Metro Gallery, to see DJ Ayres of the Rub and T&A Records. Ayres is an awesome guy, and a great DJ. I usually only see him at big events like SXSW or My Crew Be Unruly, so I really wanted to make it, say hi, shoot a few shots. Glad I did.
Sunday, after a looong weekend, I saw Lykke Li and Grimes play at the 9:30 Club. I had never heard of Grimes before this show was announced, but I have been a pretty large Lykke Li fan for years, since before her debut album Youth Novels came out. Grimes turned out to be a one woman band, who played an odd, eclectic mix of pop/noise/danse music. I’d have to listen to her stuff recorded to really pass judgement, but live it was interesting, if really distorted.
Lykke Li, who I’ve seen before, has upgraded her sound and more than upgraded her stage show. The set was almost like an arena rock performance, with blasting strobes, synchronized lighting, tons of fog, weird cloth strips that hung from the ceiling and swirled around the stage… The new material is also bigger and more bombastic (even as the song thematic material is darker and somber at times), so it’s quite a spectacle. For me, it left me a little unsure if I preferred this new Lykke Li to the one from Youth Novels and before. She got her start with small, intimate songs with a stripped down sound. Part of the reason I loved those early singles and her first album (and her earlier stage show) was how it felt like she was really putting herself out there with little artifice. While this new record and show are way, way more pro and accomplished, I think it loses a little of that feel. Still, it was a super impressive show and she is certainly flexing as an artist.
Last week, Cheap Time played at the Golden West along with new Baltimore band MURDER (members of Vincent Black Shadow, Triac, Fishnet Stalkers)… it was pretty awesome (as is the norm for Unregistered Nurse shows), though I was dead on my feet from a busy week, I still had a good time. Cheap Time is on tour, check em out. Also, I took some promo photos of MURDER, they will be up in a day or two…
A few weeks back, Rye Rye and Say Whut did a video shoot at Metro Gallery in Baltimore for the Baltimore Sun. It was streamed live on the internet by a huge camera crew, as part of the promotions for Rye Rye’s debut full-length, which should be out soon (We’ve been waiting for it to drop for like a year or so!)… it was a great time, and while at first it felt a little weird, with all the lights and cameras, as soon as Rye Rye got going, the crowd loosened up and enjoyed the show… really getting into it and even taking the stage. It’s great to see her career taking off lately, and I am excited to see what happens when the album comes out! Click below to see the rest of the shots!
First show back at the newly reopened (thank god!) Sonar, and, minus booze, it was still a great time. I will admit to being extremely skeptical of the idea of Steve Ignorant doing a “reunion” tour of Crass, but after seeing it and experiencing how genuine Steve seemed about the whole thing, my opinion softened. While I don’t think it was the same as actually seeing Crass play (how could it be), it was still a cool show, the band was extremely tight (perhaps too pro at times), and the crowd was extremely into it. My one issue was that it was weird that they even attempted to do the Eve Libertine and Joy De Vivre songs, since they were not on the tour. The singer who did them NAILED it, and was very good, but it was just odd to me (no reflection on her performance at all). I would have felt more “okay” about it had they just done Steve’s songs, since it’s ostensibly his tour.
That said, glad I went, and glad it managed to happen in Baltimore… and very glad Sonar is back!
