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.
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.
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.
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!
I’ve known the Roomrunner fellows since they became a band and I’ve known Denny Bowen since he was in high school, back when his early bands Yukon and Economist used to play shows in my basement, usually at the request of Sean Gray, another old friend who runs Accidental Guest, the label that is putting out the new Roomrunner record. I think I have taken almost all of their promo photos, but this was the first time we did it not after a show and a lot of beers. It was still fun. Great fun, actually- rambling around the Copycat building, petting Dan’s cute cat, climbing up on the roof and dodging weird moss and horsecrab corpses (no joke).
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.
I shot the Arcade Fire Reflektor Tour at Verizon Center for the Washington Post. Was a little skeptical at first, having not kept up with them in years, but I thought the show was fun, and fun to shoot. The reviewer didn’t seem to like it much, but I had a good time.
See all the Arcade Fire : Reflektor Tour photos here!
See the Dan Deacon photos from Reflektor tour 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!
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.
<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
Continuing to catch up with posts of things from the year I neglected this site. Last summer, Dana and I took a trip to Luray Caverns. It was my first time – a really amazing place. I recommend anyone go at least once. If you can manage to go in with a smaller group it’s very much a peaceful experience. They have weddings down there, too, apparently, which would be pretty amazing and unique.
Sharon Needles, winner of Ru Paul’s Drag Race and noted drag performer, did two pieces at Baltimore’s Deep In The Game party at the Hippo. The second, pictured above was a tribute to Baltimore’s own Edith Massey, perhaps better known as “the Egg Lady”, who was one of John Waters’ Dreamlanders.
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
Fun night! Sprayer are one of my favorite local groups to see right now, and Balaclavas were really good as well. Unregistered Nurse continues to kill it! See all the photos from this show here!
Eyehategod crowd shot from 2010.
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
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).
Another fun Unregistered Nurse show at the Golden West! i didn’t take too many of Quintron though, it was too crazy during his set… him and Miss Pussycat are always so fun to see!
This was a great show… to celebrate the release of Ed Schrader’s Music Beat’s new album JAZZ MIND, out now on Load Records (it is great, you should get it!).
Black Pus is Brian Chippendale (Lightning Bolt, Mindflayer, drawing comic books)’s one man drums+electronics band, and it was really fun… the crowd went crazy for him and his wall of sound, constantly stage-diving and dancing. One girl next to me went up easily 12 times in a row… pretty fun. Even Chester got into the action!
Ed and Devin’s set was energetic and awesome… everyone singing along, dancing, the crowd spill forward onto the stage over and over… there was an amazing moment when the power died and Ed led the crowd in a capella version of Air Show, which was just awesome to have happen.
See all the Black Pus & Ed Schrader photos from Floristree here!