Tag Archives: punk

SXSW 2012 Day 2: Sleepytime Trio Reunion.

by

Sleepytime Trio Reunion @ SXSW 2012
Sleepytime Trio Reunion @ SXSW 2012
Sleepytime Trio Reunion @ SXSW 2012
Sleepytime Trio Reunion @ SXSW 2012
Sleepytime Trio Reunion @ SXSW 2012

See many more photos from this show HERE.

This was fucking awesome. One of the few things I said going into this SXSW that I had to be there for and, I think, the only one of those things I made it to (besides the always-amazing bridge party, which was shut down by the cops). Sleepytime Trio was a band I loved in my younger years, but never got to see, not sure if they ever even played Baton Rouge or not.

The show was great, completly chaotic and spastic… in the backyard of a dingy blues bar on the eastside of Austin. So fun. Jason Hamacher threw people around and did wrestling moves, so it felt like old times. Brian Lowit even got on the mic…. One of the most fun times I had this year at SXSW.

SXSW 2012: Day 1 – Mean Jeans, Night Beats, White Mystery.

by

Mean Jeans @ Trailer Space - SXSW 2012
Mean Jeans @ Trailer Space - SXSW 2012
Mean Jeans @ Trailer Space - SXSW 2012
Mean Jeans @ Trailer Space - SXSW 2012
The Mean Jeans

The Night Beats @ Trailer Space - SXSW 2012
The Night Beats

White Mystery @ Trailer Space - SXSW 2012
White Mystery

See more photos of these bands and more here!

Three fun bands at one of my favorite places to see shows in Austin, Trailer Space Records. Trailer Space is my FAVORITE place to see shows at SXSW – always unofficial, always cool bands, always a chill/fun vibe, always no bullshit. This year I was there for the Burger Records Fest on Wednesday and it was great – flying beer (at one point a store worker/owner/person came up to the mic to declare “we sell records, so do not pour beer on the records”), fireworks, a dancing dog, tons of kids having fun and great music. So awesome.

A sad note is that I spoke to someone from Trailer Space over email and it seems as though they are in some hard times… so buy records there if you are in Austin! I asked if maybe they would have shirts for sale on their site again and they said they would let me know, I’ll post about it if they do… great place, I hope I can go again next year!

Washington Post Mean Jeans tearsheet Washington Post White Mystery tearsheet

Daybreak reunion @ Golden West

by

Daybreak reunion
Daybreak reunion   Daybreak reunion
Daybreak reunion

Saturday was something I thought I would never see… the reunion of Baltimore band Daybreak. They were a late 90s/early 2000s power violence band who put out records on Reptilian Records and Robodog Records (now Robotic Empire). I never saw them, but their records made their way to Baton Rouge by way of Page 99’s distro table and the Robodog’s Geocities-era website. Me and my friends appreciated the music, extreme but approachable and with musicianship, and even more, we appreciated the humorous piss-takes at “the scene” and the feeling of a crew of punks that we got from their record art and inserts… I thought it was cool that there was enough people who liked this music there to even HAVE a crew!

Anyway, somehow, someway, 10+ years later and I am friends with alot of the people involved with the making of these records, and they are all great and I am thankful they decided to do this reunion show so me and others had the chance to finally see this band! It was a fun night, and for a good cause – to help pay for a friend of the band’s cancer-related medical bills.

Total Control & Thee Oh Sees @ Sonar

by

Thee Oh Sees

Total Control   Total Control

Total Control

Great show the other day at Sonar, courtesy of Unregistered Nurse. Australia’s Total Control (featuring at least one member of Eddy Current Suppression Ring) and California’s Thee Oh Sees.

One night, two shows: Thou, Tremors 2, Natural Child.

by

Tremors 2 @ Golden West
Thou @ Talking Head
Natural Child @ Golden West   Natural Child @ Golden West

Caught one of my favorite metal bands, Thou, the other day at the Talking Head Club. They played later than I thought, but always great and they ended with a cover of Black Sabbath’s Sabotage Into The Void, which was really, really awesome. Great to see some old friends too.

I got out of there as fast as possible and made my way to the Unregistered Nurse show at the Golden West, just in time to catch the last couple of songs by new baltimore band Tremors 2. Amazingly bad/good/bad/unsure name, but they were really good and lively to watch. I managed to get a few snaps. Then Natural Child played, who are a slowed down southern garage/punk band who are really catchy and fun, most of their songs have more than a hint of humor about them and the dudes in the band are really chill as well. Go check them out, they seem to always be on tour.

Davila 666 @ Golden West

by

Davila 666 @ Golden West

Davila 666 @ Golden West   Davila 666 @ Golden West

Davila 666 @ Golden West

Unregistered Nurse brought Puerto Rican band Davila 666 to the Golden West on Halloween weekend… I am not sure if I had seen them before, but they were really fun live, full of energy, multi-person singing/yelling parts… they put on a good show!

THOU : a retrospective.

by

THOU.

thou @ southern lord show sxsw 2009   THOU.

thou @ southern lord show sxsw 2009
THOU @ Golden West

Tonight Baton Rouge doom metal band THOU is playing at Sonar/the Talking Head, along with Black Tusk and (members of Torche) Monstro. You should go, if you even have a passing interest in metal. Thou is one of the most interesting underground metal bands right now – their music is really dark yet not theatrically so, and they are very accomplished musicians that manage to make doom metal seem very fresh without adding disparate elements into it… they have consistently toured (at generally very affordable prices), made most (all?) of their music available for free on their web site, and strive to make sure all of their physical media is up to high standards of audio quality and visual fidelity. They have released albums both diy and on larger labels like Southern Lord. And tonight, they are in Baltimore! Come out!

I have been a fan for some time, above are some photos I have taken of them over the years…

Pissed Jeans & drag queens @ Golden West

by

Pissed Jeans @ Dana's BD

Pissed Jeans @ Dana's BD   Pissed Jeans @ Dana's BD

Dana, that dude from pissed jeans & drag queens @ Dana's BD

Last month to celebrate the birthday of local booker extraordinaire Dana Murphy (of Unregistered Nurse Booking), Pissed Jeans played a crazy show at the Golden West… complete with bottles of champagne, drag queens handing out cupcakes and shots, and plenty of other craziness.

Double Dagger’s Last Show.

by

Double Dagger's last show.
Double Dagger's last show.
Double Dagger's last show.
Double Dagger's last show.
Double Dagger's last show.

Great show, best night. I stage dove, in fact all the photographers stage dove… wait, EVERYONE stage dove. Denny’s dad held it down at the front for the whole show! So much fun, what a good send off for one of the best bands the city has ever seen. Thanks for the memories, guys.

If you are interested, you can also:

Double Dagger’s last show in NYC.

by

Double Dagger @ DBA

Double Dagger @ DBA   Double Dagger @ DBA

Double Dagger @ DBA

Continuing the Double Dagger last shows train, last Thursday I went to see them at Death By Audio in Brooklyn… the kids there love DD, apparently, and the show was so full of singalongs and stagediving and crowdsurfing, I was nervous the Baltimore true finale might find it hard to top this…

Double Dagger’s last DC show @ the Black Cat

by

Double Dagger @ Black Cat

Double Dagger @ Black Cat   Double Dagger @ Black Cat

Double Dagger @ Black Cat  Double Dagger @ Black Cat

This was a fun show, and pretty packed, in the Backstage of the Black Cat. The popular belief is that DC kids do not dance at shows, but that was proven untrue here… while it was not as wild as Baltimore or NYC, Double Dagger fans got moving and the band worked up a sweat. It was a great time, and a great start to 3 days in a row of me seeing this band.

Ty Segall @ Golden West

by

Ty Segall @ Golden West

Ty Segall @ Golden West   Ty Segall @ Golden West

This was a fun little show, put on by Unregistered Nurse booking. Highlight – when the singer/guitarist grabbed an excited girl from the crowd and taught her how to play his guitar part for the current song! (pictured above).

Double Dagger’s last show at CCAS.

by

Double Dagger @ CCAS
Double Dagger @ CCAS
Double Dagger @ CCAS
Double Dagger @ CCAS
Double Dagger @ CCAS

Last week marked the beginning of Double Dagger’s last shows. The first was at Baltimore’s Charm City Art Space, a totally DIY-run venue that has existed for the better part of a decade (or maybe more? i lose track). I first met Nolan as a result of this venue, actually I probably met a lot of my friends as a result of this venue, and it’s incredible it is still going strong.

This show was GREAT, the space is small, but with higher ceilings than the old CCAS, so kids were free to crowdsurf, dance like crazy, and basically go wild. Tonight is Double Dagger’s last show in DC, at the Black Cat, so don’t miss out!

Double Dagger : a photo retrospective.

by

nolen of double dagger

As most readers of this site probably know, this week ends with the last 3 Double Dagger shows ever. The band is calling it a day… one of the best punk bands, the best bands in general to ever come out of Baltimore, and all friends of mine as well. I have been seeing their shows for years, photographing them for years. In fact, Double Dagger was one of the first bands I shot after deciding I wanted to pursue concert photography seriously, and the above close-up of Nolen with the microphone was from that very show. It was taken while he was precariously standing on my chair (why were there chairs at Hampden Fest? I’ll never know… obviously they were expecting a different kind of band), singing down at me the words to “Camera Chimera”, their song about the over-whelming presence of the camera eye in our lives. Sorry, Nolen! Right after I took it, the guy next to me turned to me and said “That’ll never come out.” A week later, it made Explore (the top 200 photos on Flickr).

double dagger @ whartscape 2009.

One of the best things about Double Dagger is their sense of humor; their smart/punk sensibility. After a “drums in the crowd” issue the previous year’s Whartscape festival, Dan Deacon told the guys specifically “don’t throw any drums in the crowd this year”. So of course, that was the first thing they did in 2010 – throw plastic inflatable drums! There are about a hundred more examples, too.

double dagger @ lofi.

They also are a band who managed to write songs about important topics in out lives, and within our communities, but at the same time kept them fun & catchy… something so few punk bands have managed to do. So many of their songs resonate to Baltimoreans (but I imagine, everyone also) as reflecting aspects of the city and community we live in. It’s great to see so many younger kids at their shows… inspired not just by the wild stage hijinx (though there is plenty of that), but by the thoughtful content of the songs.

They are going to be missed. Come out to the last shows, I’ll be there.

Wed, October 19 – Washington, DC – Black Cat – w/ Imperial China, Holy Ghost Party
Thu, Oct. 20 – Brooklyn, NY – Death By Audio – w/ AIDS Wolf, Zomes
Fri Oct. 21 – Baltimore, MD – Ottobar – w/ awesome secret guests!!!

See more of my photos of Double Dagger below, or click here to see all of the ones I have up on Flickr.

Continue reading →

THOU & Full Of Hell @ Golden West.

by

THOU @ Golden West
THOU @ Golden West
THOU @ Golden West

This weekend, I saw one of my favorite metal bands, THOU, who are on Southern Lord and a myriad of other labels, and who hail from my hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana (minus the singer Bryan Funck, who is from New Orleans). I have known Bryan for years and he is a stellar dude in the world of diy booking, touring, and all around everything… and the band is pretty incredible. Challenging modern doom that doesn’t fall into the familiar cliches of the genre… recommended. You can find out more about them, and download songs and whatnot, at their website.