Incubus & The Duke Spirit @ Austin Music Hall 8.19.2009 (Austin, TX)
Little did I know this would be the last show with my gear…this show had doom written all over it…I ended up selling my camera and all of my lenses shortly after this show to pay fucking bills…bah…
Out of all of the shows I was going to shoot…this was the one my wife was anticipating the most…all year..enter the pocket book of a live music photographer…the show sold out before I even found out I was approved for a photo pass…
What’s worse? We were broke…broke as fuck! So searching craigslist for a ticket that had a price equivalent to trading a kidney on the black market was out of the picutre! Fuck! I was trying to get creative but all failed. I went and shot one of my wifes favorite bands w/o her! This is where shooting shows gets hard on a personal level…her last words to me were “You better kick ass tonight!”
No pressure!
So..all that was on my mind on the way to shoot Incubus was guilt…a little excitement…but a whole lot of guilt. When you get approved for a big show you can’t just back out…well…you can…but it is political suicide. You don’t get approved and then back out unless someone is dying…otherwise you make a name for yourself…something like “Donottrustmewithbigshowswhatsoever.” It takes a lot of work to get a photographer approved for a show like this so when a photographer backs out it can really sour the relationship with whomever they are shooting for. Just don’t do it…period!
So yeah…stoked to be there…but feeling guilty as fuck!
The rules on this shoot were kind of crazy…songs 4, 5 & 6 for Incubus ONLY…meet inside the venue…upstairs…get escorted side stage and then shoot away! Cool!
On my way to the Austin Music Hall…walking from Butler Park…I received a call from C3…they told me the deal with Incubus…I asked if we were able to shoot The Duke Spirit and the voice on the other end of the phone said “No…well we didn’t even ask.” I explained that a lot of photogs like to shoot the opening act so she gracefully tracked down the tour manager for The Duke Spirit and got all of the photogs approved. Just like that…
When I arrived my photo pass wasn’t at the box office…well nobody’s was…so it was hurry up and wait…once they arrived I waited upstairs for like 30 minutes and then was escorted sidestage for songs 1,2 & 3 for The Duke Spirit set…wow! This band kicked a lot of ass! I really hadn’t heard much of their work aside from MySpace but I was impressed…it was like the Doors meet Arctic Monkeys…except with a frontwoman (Liela Moss)…nice…to boot she had so much energy that photographing this set was a treat! It is always nice to shoot an opening act you haven’t seen before and they go on to kill it!
The Duke Spirit:
Next up…Incubus…whoa! I hadn’t seen them since the Summer of 2000 in Virginia Beach, VA! I was a little stoked that I was going to be in the pit this go around. I am WAY new to this whole photography gig…especially live music…I started shooting music in March of 2008…so yeah…this was surreal!
The anticipation for songs 4,5 & 6 was so strong for me that I can’t even tell you what songs they played while I was shooting. Seriously! All I have to show for this concert is my photography. Yeah! Ask me what songs they played while I was in the pit and I will draw a blank. All I remember is trying to dodge security and bodies being crowd surfed right into the pit (while trying to get shots). I was in a zone so I probably wouldn’t have felt it if I got kicked in the back of the head. The only thing that stopped me in my tracks was seeing one of my security friends hit the deck…HARD! That broke my focus for sure.
I really don’t have many words for Incubus…
Three songs were up in a flash and I found myself DONE!!
Incubus:
All the Best,
Phive.
Eyedea & Abilities/Atmosphere @ Stubb’s BBQ (Austin, TX) 9.5.09
I was so amped about shooting this show. Last year at Fun Fun Fun Fest I missed shooting Atmosphere so here was my second chance. To top it off I was able to catch Eyedea & Abilities as well. Talk about a great hip-hop show…dang! There were no issues with access or anything like that. The Stubb’s box office had computer problems but they were handling their business for sure. The line was a little longer than normal due to this but no biggie.
My brother-in-law and I arrived in time to catch the end of Attracted to Gods set and grab a cold one. I didn’t arrive in time to shoot those guys but they were real good. Their music wasn’t something you would expect to hear bellowing out of the Waller Creek Ampitheatre as you are in the line (waiting for a press pass) for a hip-hop show…but I liked their sound. I hope next time they roll through Austin I will be able to shoot their set. My bad fellas…
So I was anxiously awaiting the Eyedea & Abilities set because I have NEVER seen these guys live but I have listened to their music for quite some time. They brought it RAW. I was stoked to be in the pit for this one. As an emcee Eyedea is so verstaile it makes your head spin. His flow is like cadence over the beats Abilities was throwing down. At some points his rhymes sounded like they were even matching the tempo of the scratching as well. Whoa! He sings too and pretty damn good! Fitting for a guy sporting a shirt that says “I Freestyle Life.” If you haven’t seen Eyedea freestyle look it up on youtube or something. He is sick!
The lighting was really good (as Stubb’s almost always is) and the only annoyance was when the lights would drop and flood my lens. Sometimes it can make for some dramatic flares on my images but I usually try to avoid it. Eyedea moves around quite a bit so I was able to get some different angles. Fun shoot!
Next up, Atmosphere! Slug has a great band behind him giving his songs depth which is seldom heard in popular rap…..speaking of which….
(tangent time)….it kind of pisses me off that somewhere, somehow, the rap they now play on the radio is being called hip-hop. No! That is not the hip-hop I grew up listening to. I just call it rap…I know there are many different styles of rap…but I refuse to give popular rap the legendary status of “hip-hop.” There I said it…..
(back to Atmosphere)…so yeah! I remember when The Roots first hit the scene…waaaay back in the day…I was blown away by the fact that they were a band. Cool stuff. I still love the hell out of my emcee/DJ combos but hip-hop bands are just a different twist on an old classic…
I have been listening to Slug for a long time too…so for me Atmosphere is like Slug on steroids…good shit! They had the crowd pumped and I must say I was a little surprised how pumped for a Wednesday night. Halfway through their set Atmosphere said, “If you would have told me 10 years ago that I would be playing at Stubb’s I would have told you that you were full of shit…no…no..no…I would have punched you in the face!” This just shows how far he’s come since his first SXSW set…it also shows that he’s a humble dude.
Lighting was about the same with the exception of the extremes. At one point the stage was completely blue and in my shots made everyone in Atmosphere look smurfish…shit! At another point there was a flood of red…which wasn’t as bad but equally frustrating…but like I said…all in all I couldn’t really complaing about the lighting because whatever quirks happened to come up it was momentary. Toward the end of the third song I was able to lean back on the stage, hold my camera high (balancing it with the strap like a bow and arrow) and used my wide angle to catch Slug rhyming to the crowd (below).
Here are some shots from the show…I hope you dig….
Eyedea & Abilities:
Atmosphere:
for more shots from this show check out: http://phivephotography.com
The Supervillains/The English Beat/Reel Big Fish @ La Zona Rosa 7.28.09
Late…late..late. Damn! That’s just how you roll when you have kids (three of them) at home. You can’t exactly drop everything you’re doing and rush out the door…you gotta make sure the odds & ends are tied up. Also late on publishing this here post because my dumb ass forgot to hit the publish button…it auto saved but I didn’t publish it…wow! What a great blogger I am right?
Excuses…excuses…well we showed up maybe 1 minute into The Supervillains first song…whew! Those are my boys and that was who I was there to shoot after all. My boy Smally (a.k.a. Jonathan Cestero…sax player for the SV’s) hooked me up with a +2 for the show. Thanks again Smally…you are the shizzle!
There was one other photographer in the pit with me that night, Scott Moore. I was kind of surprised there weren’t more photogs in the pit but this show was doing hand-to-hand combat with Snoop and Stephen Marley over at Stubbs. There was a nice crowd though which was really good to see!
Ok…so back to the details…I arrived 10 minutes early but had to stand in line and wait for my photo pass and tickets. That kind of sucked…I was stressing I was going to miss The Supervillains but as I said I got into the bit about a minute into the first song. BAM!
The lighting was nice and like I said I wasn’t bumping shoulders with a bunch of photographers (their loss). I managed to get some good shots but next time I would love to shoot an entire set for them. That would make my day! I have seen other photographers do it on occasion (friends of the band or what not). As you get told to leave after the first three songs they stay in and get primo shots for the next 30 minutes. Maybe the first time I saw this I was jealous…but now it is inspiration. I want to be that dude that sits in the pit and takes his time after everyone else leaves. He/she has it made and like every concert photographer knows; the lighting and the band is completely warmed up AFTER the pit is cleared. That’s why I don’t just shoot…I try to make real connections too! I shoot for hobby (yes…I have a day job) so I maintain the mentality that I am lucky to be doing this. Do what you LOVE and the money will follow…my father always said this to me when I was young. It is the motto I am trying to live by. I hope this shows because I love shooting live music!
The Supervillains were on-point and did not disappoint the crowd. The last song they played was called ”St. Thomas” which started with Dom and Skart breaking out into a melodical duo. This was the perfect closing song and got the crowd pumped for the next act; The English Beat.
The English Beat used to just be called The Beat. They are a UK based band that has since moved to LA to be a part of the ska revival! These guys have had songs on movies like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Kingpin. I was stoked to hear some of these songs, because as a kid I liked them but had no idea who the band was. It was crazy to see them live. Whoa! So they played a good portion of their 80’s pop hits but their ska sound was amazing. For whatever reason LZR turned out all of the nice white lights they had on for The Supervillains so it made shooting semi-difficult. Whatareyagonnado?
After catching their set my wife and I went outside so I burn a cancer stick (I know…shame on me). We were able to kick it with my homie Smally for a bit. He told me their next show was in Las Vegas at the House of Blues. This would officially complete his “House of Blues” collection. After playing the Vegas show he will have played at every HOB at least once. Niiiice!! I got to talk to Dom (vocals/drums) for a couple of seconds before he was taken over by some fans. I was stoked to get to talk to these dudes outside of the e-mail/MySpace realm. While social media is great for hooking up with friends or bands, I don’t ever want it to replace the human aspect of my social life. Nothing beats a handshake and a conversation. I fear that social media might someday make us less social in the flesh…I think it already is…
So the last band to play was Reel Big Fish. They cranked out some familiar and not-so-familiar tunes. They were fun though, always keeping the crowd entertained and never missing an opportunity for a “situation driven joke.” At one point Aaron (lead vocals) said Dan (trombone) smelled like a dead man’s vagina…then he totally made fun of himself for the poor combination of words. If you haven’t seen these guys live (which I hadn’t until tonight) then you gotta check them out! Fun! That’s all I will say. The lighting for their set was about the same as The English Beat, so nothing to write home about. That’s how it is most of the time at these venues that aren’t “stadium size.” The lighting is hit or miss depending on the band or the lighting guy…and NONE of the venues let you use flash.
I think live music is one of the hardest types of photography (unless you shoot the ampitheatre shows all of the time) due to the variables and lack of available light. From dive bars to Stubbs type venues the lighting can be night and day. It definitely keeps you on your toes. Sometimes you just completely strike out and there is nothing you can do about it. I thought I did ok on this show…here are some shots…..
The Supervillains:
The English Beat:
Reel Big Fish:
for more pics from this show check me out @ http://phivephotography.com
Phive.
The Secret (davidjr.com stylee)
I say this all of the time..I am not a writer and I don’t claim to be a writer…especially in this blog…what you will get from me is a Bourdain’ish take on live music and what it takes to shoot it here in the Live Music Capital of the World…that’s it…I want to give it to you RAW…if you are looking for over-inflated reviews on bands (like SoCal real estate) look elsewhere….I am not that guy…for me it is about the experience in shooting shows and everything it involves…
I am a plugger though…plugging is what I do best…if I love you…I will plug you…on every social media network I am part of…so please…plug me back…ha ha…
Ok…so this blog is supposed to be “behind the scenes” from a live music photographer…well I think this counts…and not just in the “technical manner”…but that’s cool…
About a month ago my good friend davidjr.com (a.k.a. David Bates Jr.) hit me with an e-mail to let me know he was picked for a kickass contest that Billboard was putting together. Ten people were selected to rock phones equipped with LiveCast (from AT&T) to promote their “Music on the Move” campaign which involves capturing the best live music moments with streaming video from a cell phone. Yeah…a cell phone….but fuck it…you have to work with what you have…and “work it” is just what davidjr.com is doing (check out his Billboard page here). This cat knows shotgun interviewing inside and out…he puts together the sickest guerilla red carpet (or otherwise) interviews I have seen to-date! He has put in MAD work to get where he’s at and I hope he goes pop soon!
Tom Green doesn’t have shit on davidjr.com for a couple of reasons…
One: davidjr.com is “The Person” he is on video…straight up…
Two: Tom Green doesn’t have balls made of “Klingon Steel” like davidjr.com…this cat says and does whatever is on his mind…PERIOD! Just check his Al Gore stalemate …ba ha ha…funny shit!!
So…let me get back to the plot…
So we know davidjr.com loves him some One-Eyed Doll…what is he going to do with that? I’ll tell you what he is going to do…he is going to LiveCast their performance @ Stubb’s BBQ on Billboard.com…wha? Yeah….Billboard.com!! Now…that…is love! The dilemma was, that he wanted to keep it a TOTAL secret from Kimberly, PJ and their extended family.
As a One-Eyed Doll fan you HAVE to respect that! He only kept me and my wife in the loop so we didn’t leak the news to the OED family. Why…you ask? Well…we have three children (all boys…2, 4 and 12)….who has time to leak THAT SHIT? Not us…lol…just kidding…but we didn’t leak the news to a single soul.
So I picked up davidjr.com from the Austin International Aeropuerto, drove him 19 miles to SoSa and introduced him to my famiglia…why not? My kids loved him…and he was a good trampoline buddy…(see the pics)…what more could we ask for?
We recieved his custom made “Man-tailored-OED-Gloomth” dress the day before he arrived…whew…to close for comfort…but it arrived…Gloomth took care of David for sure making a custom dress in a very short period of time and deilvery was on the money! Shout outs to them for helping to make this happen…
This whole SECRET was planned out by him perfectly…he even had Jonny Flash convinced he was going to be singing “New York, New York” in Times Square on the same night…but he was right under his nose the whole time…muah ha ha ha…twas great…
Needless to say davidjr.com was a wreck before the OED show @ Stubb’s…we literally parked….dropped him off…let him roam the wild Red River scene (where he was almost discovered by Jonny Flash & a friend walking by) if he hadn’t dove under an SUV and crawled into some bushes…lol…close call…
He shot from the crowd (for Billboard.com) for a while and didn’t reveal his idenitity until he was on-stage as the “BOY!” This is when the whole plan unraveled…she said “What’s your name boy?” She didn’t bother to look at her ”normal” subject..but when he said, “davidjr.com” it was all over!! When she realized WTF was going on she lost it on stage!! She couldn’t even bring herself to slap davidjr.com as she muttered “I kind of like you”, so she had Maryann Doll get up and slap him for her. Kimberly was surprised as much as she was touched by “The Secret.”
This was probably one of the most challenging shoots I have done to-date as I was multitaking like crazy. We had to plan it perfectly so I was in touch with davidjr.com via text as to when the perfect moment was to enter. At one point he texted me saying he was entering Stubb’s but the lights in the crowd were still lit. I shot him a text back…”no…no…no!” Once he arrived he maintained a low profile. Since it’s Austin nobody really noticed the crazy masked dude in a dress. I was bouncing back and forth between manual shooting and flash because I was also trying to get shots of him “shooting.” Fun but challenging. I will never forget this evening…
My boy Ajay Miranda from ‘Nites was there getting AMAZING footage of this whole ordeal. If you haven’t checked him out you need to. He covers the local scene the way I try to with my camera and he is a super cool dude. Check him out here…here and here!
Kimberly and PJ put on an amazing performance (as usual)…and it was good to hangout with some people we haven’t seen in a while…good times…
All the Best,
Phive.
photos: chronologically ordered….
Video by ‘Nites (Ajay Miranda):
The Glitch Mob @ Aces Lounge: A Slaying of the Masses
I have been to a lot of shows in Austin, TX since moving here a few years ago. I have been averaging 2 shows a week for the past year due to the music photography. Some weeks are busier than others but I have lost count of total shows. With that said I am not going out on a limb when I say “The Glitch Mob show at Aces Lounge on 7.16.09 was the best/wildest show I have been to to date….BAR NONE!” It was insane….in a good way.
My boy Sascha Stone of Score More told me about this show over a month ago and asked me if I could shoot it. Of course I said yes. No.1 it’s for Sascha….No.2 it’s The Glitch Mob. Fuck yes I am going to shoot this show. To boot I was able to get my wife to shoot the crowd too which meant better coverage.
THE CHALLENGE: The MAIN challenge of the night as a photographer was that there was pretty much a body in every available spot. The place was SOLD the FUCK OUT! Easy! Manuvering in a crowd like that to get the shots you need with $2300 in your hand and another $1200 on your back is a little scary but screw it! I had to squueze myself into every nook and cranny to get every shot I took. The only place I could relax and not worry about being bumped while shooting was the stage. When I descended the stairs that lead to the main stage I was able to camp out for a bit to get stills and video. Cool shit seeing the The Glitch Mob work their magic from a different angle.
THE DJ’s: As soon as we walked in we knew this was going to be off the chain. DJ Pharo (Austin, TX) was already spinning some dub step which instantly attracted my camera. He was at a smaller DJ booth to the right of the main stage where I was able to get close. Pharo was laying it down for the crowd and they were responding…with movement…a lot of movement. G.King (another Austinite) came in shortly after and kept the momentum of the crowd going. Last up before The Glitch Mob was another local…DJ ATRAN (who recently opened for Benny Benassi in San Antonio). He sealed the deal! The crowd was definitely ready to be slayed after these three kept it jumping for the first couple of hours.
I was totally stoked for Sascha & Aces Lounge because the turnout of this show was of EPIC porportions….AND it was a Thurday night!
So it was time for The Glitch Mob (now just a trio consisting of Ooah, edIT and Boreta) to take the stage and I was trying to find a good spot on the floor. I couln’t move through the sea of bodies because it was way too thick. I managed to slip through a break in the crowd to the left of the bar (close to where Ooah was mixing) and I took some shots there. The lighting was a bit low so from where I was standing so I couldn’t get the shots I needed (99% of my work is shot without flash). I looked up at the railing above the stage and saw the stairs that lead down to The Glitch Mob. I ended up right behind them shooting from the back wall of Aces. After getting what I needed I bounced back upstairs to get some shots from above and then got back to the floor near the stage. I realized it would be impossible to get the shots I wanted because the f/stop on my zoom lens wasn’t good enough. I rock a f/1.4 & a couple of f/2.8’s in my regular line-up…so my zoom (f/4.5-5.6) was not going to cut it. It was at that point that I decided to put my camera away until Glitch finished their set.
I promised Sascha I would get some shots of him with Glitch but when they were done everyone was all over the place. Ooah and Boreata slipped away but I was able to get Sascha, edIT and DJ ATRAN together.
Like I said, I was BLOWN away by this show. The turnout was amazing, Aces Lounge is a killer venue and ALL of the DJ’s kept the crowd jumping. What more can you ask for?
Now for the pics and video……….
PHARO:
G.KING:
DJ ATRAN:
Sascha Stone (Score More):
THE GLITCH MOB:
VIDEO (The Glitch Mob):
All the Best,
Phive.
http://phivephotography.com
Rook, Don Chani & Tin Can Phone (@ La Zona Rosa) 7.09.09
The whole deal with blogs is that they are supposed to be posted in a timely matter…so the content is still considered news. I am kind of bad with deadlines and such and sometimes life happens….
I shot Rook awhile back when they opened for he Supervillains @ Flamingo Cantina. I wasn’t real excited with the shots I got that night so I wanted to make up for it. I contacted Rook and told them I would like to shoot another show in the near future. Timmie got back to me and let me know that he had a big show coming up @ La Zona Rosa. I was there for sure!
I always run late. Local show, big touring artist….whatever. I am always late and usually miss the first band. This time I arrived on time (with my wife and brother in-law) probably because he was driving and I wasn’t.
I have shot many bands at La Zona Rosa (main stage) and the lighting can be unpredictable. I had never shot clubside so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Honestly, the fixed lighting (as low as it may have been) was a breath of fresh air. Sometimes the lighting at La Zona Rosa goes from full white to pitch black off and on every 2.5 seconds. It makes metering damn near impossible because your lens is flooded with light….yay! Some nights the lighting on the mainstage is on-point…I guess it just depends who is on the stage…oh and my bad…nobody even thinks about how hard it may be for photographers in the pit….and they shouldn’t really. BUT…it is these sort of variables that make shooting a challenge sometimes. So YES…fixed lighting is cool sometimes…maybe not as dramatic but it gives you a chance to work with angles and take your time getting a good shot.
Soon after I checked out the lighting (first thing I do…ALWAYS) Rook began soundchecking…so we had time to get a refreshment. We bounced back over to the clubside stage and I began shooting their set as they just started playing…I love Rook’s sound…I can’t even explain it but I will say they have the energy of a young Sublime…energy…I am not comparing them sound wise…Timmie has an amazingly strong voice and the band is amazing…positive vibe music for sure…I could see these guys playing alongside Pepper or Slightly Stoopid on Silverback…seriously.
Don Chani was up next. They always put on a great show that makes you want to get out on the floor. For as many moving parts as they have they execute machine like timing. I am an HUGE fan of reggae and dub and these guys have a classic sound that takes me back….way back…the Latin twist gives them a unique sound seldom heard in classic reggae…
Last, but not least was Tin Can Phone. I had never seen these guys live before and after a few songs I was wondering why. Maybe part of it is that I am so new in the scene. I have only been shooting live music for a year and some change. The other part of it (as I see it) is the hipster scene in Austin is large and there isn’t nearly enough support for the reggae/rock scene here! I am confident that this is going to change soon!
Tin Can Phone absolutely tore it up and by the time they took the stage the crowd was good and ready. I am not a writer or anything and this blog is more or less a behind the scenes of what I do…take pictures. So enough blah, blah…here are some shots from the show:
In closing I think the reggae/rock scene here in Austin has a lot of loose wires that need to be spliced together. Timmie Rook and I were chatting about just that after the show. There isn’t any reason Austin can’t produce the next big reggae/rock label with a unique Austin flare. I am confident in that! We just need to find all of the key players!
Need a photog? Ha ha!
Phive.
King Yellowman & The Mau Mau Chaplains @ Flamingo Cantina 6.19.09
So my wife and I had been anxiously waiting for this show since we heard about it. YELLOWMAN! He is a legend and we were going to get to see him at an intimate venue like Flamingo Cantina. Talk about stoked! We both grew up listening to him and we both still do to this day.
We got our pre-flight fade on (McDonalds cup rum and coke) as we slowly walked over to Flamingo Cantina. We have a bad habit about missing the openers almost everytime. This time we missed the Winston’s. Sorry y’all.
When we arrived, The Mau Mau Chaplains were sound checking. Reeeeeeeedddddd Striiiiiiiiipe time!
All I am going to say is that I was blown away by these guys. It’s always a treat when an opener is equally as talented as the headliner. These guys are reggae masters…Austin Stylee. I checked out their MySpace and it says somewhere “Don’t judge a book by its cover”….um exactly! Seeing Moe sporting a cowboy hat/boots while singing sweet reggae music was somewhat of a contrast. It definitely tore down any generalizations that were lingering….but that’s Austin in general…this place is awesome because of that…
So I took some video, popped off a few shots of them (below) and sat back down with my lovely date!
Shooting was a bitch because it was so crowded. I will say this though…reggae shows are the only shows where I don’t mind the crowd. They are usually WAY chill. I have been in similar crowds for punk or metal and as you can imagine it’s a mess. At those shows nobody gives a fuck if you’re a female, if you have a $1900 camera in your hand, if you’re the Pope or if you said you were Jesus Christ. You are fair game. My camera is scared shitless of shows like that. It doesn’t want to be destroyed. I love shots from crazy crowds but my camera always begs me to stay away from shows like that…lol…no such luck…
So the Mau Mau Chaplains finish their set and you could just feel the anticipation in that place. I decided to try to stake a spot early on the left side of the stage right next to the wall. I look up at the lights and they are completely different scheme than what the Mau Mau Chaplains had. Now the stage has a reddish yellow hue going on which sucks ass for low-light (no flash) photography. Awesome!
I kept thinking about what Moe (The Mau Mau Chaplains) said before he started playing. He said they have opened for Yellowman many times over the years. They went on to say how Yellowman is a performer that always delivers even when he was sick he was still giving 110% to the crowd..well I was about to find out how right they are.
When Yellowman hit the stage the crowd went fucking nuts! He’s 53 years old and he is bouncing all around the stage while singing.
I stayed in the corner pocket of the stage for a few songs and then tried to bounce around a bit. The crowd was thick so this wasn’t an easy task. My goal was to get some good shots early so I could sit with my wife and enjoy the show. I managed to get some that I thought were decent so I sat (not for long though) and enjoyed the show. We ended up dancing on the blue carpeted steps near the stage. It was loads of fun. Sure I am there to photograph but I am also there to have fun. Unprofessional? Depends on who you are I guess. I don’t want to be known as the photographer with a stick up his ass…so I try to mix the shooting with the partying.
He burned through some CLASSICS and it took me back to my youth. It was crazy seeing Yellowman perform live after listening to him for the last 16 years. I really enjoyed watching Yellowman interact with the crowd. He is a true MC! He doesn’t control the crowd…he becomes one with it. Like Bruce Lee says “Be the water.” I will never forget this show. Yellowman does not disappoint!!
:::video coming soon:::
To purchase prints or check out more from this show click here!
Phive.
One-Eyed Doll (art class contest)
I know this blog entry isn’t really about a gig…but this is kind of behind the scenes…maybe not at a show but what happens sometimes after the show…when pictures have been posted. I have done a few collabs since I started shooting live music and I think it’s great to see what someone else can do with your work….
I got hit up awhile back by a random art student saying that Kimberly Freeman of One-Eyed Doll is judging an art contest in an art class. The student (Apryl Dickerson) explained the whole situation and asked if she could use a couple of my images for this contest. I figured “Why the hell not?” since it was OED and I have been a fan for over a year now.
I send the images to Apryl on June 8th and she says she’ll get back to me when she’s done…
I almost forgot about it and I received an e-mail today from Apryl and it read:
“I finished up my projects. We had to design 2 posters for the class assignment, but only one will be printed and turned in for the final project. Both of my posters are attached so you can see what I have done with your great images. The PHIVEDOLL.jpg is the one that I am having printed on 11 x 17″ foam core for the class. This is also the poster that Kim will see when she picks her favorite. I hope she picks mine! Thanks again for letting me use your images. They are the cornerstone of my project. I put phivephotography.com at the bottom, citing sources is always important. Kim chooses her favorite to use around mid July. I’ll let you know what she chose as soon as I find out. Take care.”
Here’s a sneak peak at what her posters look like:
Good luck Apryl!
I think they kick ass and I am not just saying that because the photos are mine…I think Apryl did a killer job. The winner of the contest will have their work used as an official poster sometime in July I think….
If you are in need of a graphic artist or design of some sort Apryl can be reached @ http://myspace.com/aprylinparis
Full Service & Spin Alley @ Flamingo Cantina 6.13.09
The only difficulty we (my wife, brother in-law and myself) had getting to this show was due to the extra motorcycle traffic downtown for the Republic of Texas Rally. It took us forever to get to the city parking garage on 4th. When we started walking down 6th Street (toward Flamingo Cantina) there was a sea of motorcycles as far as the eye could see! Crazy! I have never seen and/or heard that many bikes in one spot. The rally is well supported and I can see why Austin supports it as well…there is a whole lot of extra cash being thrown around Austin for three days.
When we arrived Spin Alley was setting up and sound checking! I have read articles in the magazine I shoot for (INsite) about them, heard about them from friends and checked out pics my friend Jeremy took of them at Dirty Dog but I hadn’t seen them live yet. I am glad I finally did. They tore it up! Their style is a cocktail mix of rock/screamo/hip-hop. Wow! I am proud to say these guys are from Austin and now I know why I always hear good things about them!
Flamingo Cantina is a hard shoot (especially no flash shooting). Really chill venue but I think they tone down the lights to keep the heat down for the performers. Makes sense. This show was a bit more challenging than The Supervillains show only because it was packed and getting to certain spots was difficult. Some people don’t want to lose their spot (even if you tell them it’s for a few seconds) so I tend to bounce all over the place. Whatayagonnado?
This was a redemption shoot for me because I was slated to shoot Full Service when they opened for 311 at Austin Music Hall but Murphy had other plans. I showed up to the venue with 20 minutes to burn. I went to the ticket counter to get my photo pass…which was confirmed…and they told me “Sorry…we’re out!” WTF?! Out? How do you run out of photo passes? Anyhow he gave me two tickets and told me to try to get in w/o a photo pass. Door security wasn’t having it! I begged and pleaded as I heard Full Service blaze into their first song. FUCK!! Ok…I tried to argue my case…I even asked the security supervisor to talk to the ticket guy so he could confirm I was on the list for a photo pass (but they ran out). She wasn’t having it! I quickly called a contact at Austin Music Hall and she told me they would run a pass over but it would be awhile.
Song two plays………….then song three…….for those who don’t know, at the bigger venues you only get to shoot the first three songs! So here I stand in front of the doors waiting for a photo pass after arriving 20 minutes early….listening to the first three songs burn away….SHIT! One of my favorite local bands is opening for one of my favorite national bands and I am standing at the door held back my a thin layer of red tape! Dude…it was agonizing…
My photo pass arrives just as song four starts…I watch their set….they kick ass…my camera breaks (while shooting 311)…I drop a favorite lens (and it breaks)…FUCK! What a horrible outing….
This is why this show was BIG to me…not excited about the lighting…but definitely excited about seeing my boys…’
Full Service had a bunch of tricks up their sleeve! I felt bamboozled, but in a good way! First, they handed out free kazoos for the crowd to kzzzzzzzoooo along to “Trumpets.” Niiiiice. Pretty flippin’ cool considering that is what they used on the CD version of “Trumpets” as well. Next, Hoagman plays a drum solo for over 4 minutes which was completely badass! I felt exhausted just watching him shred! As if that wasn’t enough the fellas decide to bust out an acoustic set!
For the only confirmed Full Service show in Austin this summer they hooked up their home crowd! My eyes and ears were Full(y) Service(d)….
Click here for more Full Service shots from that night!
:::video of Hoagman’s drum solo coming soon:::
All the Best,
Phive.
The Supervillains @ Flamingo Cantina (Austin, TX) 6.11.09
There’s nothing more I hate than going to a show where the attendance isn’t where it should be. Especially when it’s one of my favorite bands. Last Thurday night the Supervillains played at Flamingo Cantina in Austin, TX. Unfortunately their show was competing with the fear that “confirmed tornadoes” in the area inflicted on Austinites. Shit, on the way to the show (with my brother and father in-law) I almost said “Fuck it” too! But….the fact that my camera had been in the shop for over a month and I was going through concert withdrawals kept me on the straight and narrow. It was an ugly 16 mile drive but we did it!
When we arrived downtown it was still raining cats and dogs. We sat in the van smoking cigarettes waiting for the rain to die down. With a $1900 camera and a few lenses I wasn’t going to risk the short (but super rainy) walk to Flamingo Cantina. I meant to find a trash bag (before I left the house) to wrap my gear in because my backpack isn’t waterproof.
Fuck! Wait…wait…wait!
Smoke…smoke…smoke…
Finally we got a break in the weather and we broke for the venue.
When we got to the door I was pleasantly surprised that Jonathan “Smally” Cestero (sax player for The Supervillains) hooked me up with a +2 so we didn’t have to pay cover! Werd! Thanks Smally!
I felt a little bad because I completely missed Fayuca due to the horrible drive into Austin…sorry guys. I’ll catch you on the flipside! After drying off and grabbing a beer we sat down to listen to Doco (Raleigh, NC) rocking the “smaller than normal” crowd. Their sound was kind of like a reggae-rock-funk fusion. I am glad I caught their set. They are definitely one of those bands you have to catch live otherwise you aren’t getting the full experience. To top it off they are cool with one of my favorite local bands here in Austin, Full Service. As a matter of fact, Twinky-P (of Full Service) was there to show his support for Doco.
My hats off to those that braved the storm to get there. Stupid? Maybe we are. Music lovers? Definitely!
Rook (Austin, TX) pleasantly surprised me. These guys were awesome! Were have they been hiding? Or where have I been hiding. I shoot Flamingo Cantina quite often and hadn’t seen these guys play until this evening. If you get a chance check these guys out! I hate comparing bands to other bands, unless they are a cover band. To me it is insulting so I just don’t do it.
The Supervillains put on a hell of a show! I could tell the SV’s were a bit bummed about the weather fucking up the numbers, but the people who showed up had a good time! The last time I saw them was at Stubb’s BBQ in 2008 with Passafire and Pepper (Here Comes the LAW Tour). Seeing them in a smaller venue was kind of cool. I almost didn’t care about the photography (for a minute or two) because catching a show at Flamingo Cantina is an experience. It’s an intimate, quaint little venue in an alley (converted and upgraded obviously) with a cool balcony. Any seat in the house givesyou a great view of the band. On top of that they sell the BIG bottles of Red Stripe! Reeeeeeddddddddd Striiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipppppe <—–insert your Jamaican accent here!
I am not a writer so you will probably catch me using a lot of slang, cussing, making grammatical errors (both ignorantly and on purpose) and just telling it how I see it. This is supposed to be more of a behind the scenes blog of a live music photographer. I can’t describe songs or bands as vividly as Spin writers do, so I will just let my pictures do the talking in that department. I just thought it would be cool to document my outings from start to finish. Most people think you just walk in and shoot and a lot of times it isn’t that simple, especially at the larger venues.
Shooting (photography) at Flamingo Cantina is never an easy task…we are talking ISO around 1600-2000 (almost guaranteed grain)…shutter speeds around 50-120 and the lowest f-stop you can come with. I happen to rock a f/1.4 and an f/2.8 everytime I go there but I usually leave on the f/1.4 because I can use the extra stoppage. For those of you who aren’t familiar with these terms it just means the shoot is going to be a pain in the ass, especially if the band moves around at all. Oh yeah…it would help to add that I rarely use flash and I almost always shoot in Manual mode. It’s a challenge and at Flamingo Cantina it’s even more of a challenge, unless you have a D700 or a D3 (in my dreams). I shoot with a D300 and it is a fairly good low-light camera but it is still hard at Flamingo. Purple and red lights…yay!
I didn’t have a crazy crowd to contend with on this night so there isn’t anything to document in that department.
Ok…now that I have the technicalities out of the way (and a scapegoat in place) here are some shots from that night:
Iru Kanji and St. Thomas live @ Flamingo Cantina (video by Brother Kimchee):
Here is a gallery of The Supervillains from last year!
If you want to check out more of my work click here!
