Live Baby Live

March 15, 2009 @ The Phoenix

The first time I caught Mindless Self Indulgence was at Projekt Revolution in 2007. They were playing early in the day on the second stage and had a pretty decent sized crowd watching them, which intrigued me enough to pull the camera out . The singer, Little Jimmy Urine, had me running to keep up with him the entire time. He does not. stand. still. ever.

At least this somewhat prepared me for shooting the Phoenix show. The wild Jimmy chase was on from the second the band hit the stage, except this time I also had the challenge of complete back lighting on top of the ‘wtf is going on here?’ craziness, which meant that I had to pop the flash to get anything.

Two songs in and next thing you know the three of us who were shooting the show are being pulled on stage, with Jimmy shoving his face right in our lenses. It was kind of nuts…I didn’t know where to stand, so I kind of moved into the corner and shot from there for the next few minutes before being escorted from the stage.

Overall, it was a chaotic but fun shoot, and the crowd was great…I’ve never felt the floor of the Phoenix shake so much, to the point where the speaker stacks were swaying.

More photos after the break.

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Canadian metal underdogs Anvil were on hand at the CMW Indie Awards a few weeks back for a special performance of “Metal on Metal” and to accept induction into the Canadian Indies Hall of Fame.

The band has recently gained new found attention with the release of a documentary called Anvil! The Story of Anvil, which chronicles their 30+ year career of relative obscurity and the last ditch effort for revival. The doc has been receiving accolades worldwide and will be in limited release on April 10th. While I’ve had a few opportunities to view this, I’ve managed to miss it each time. Really looking forward to seeing the doc soon. If you are interested, here is the trailer.

From a photography point of view, Anvil are a ton of fun to shoot, particularly Steve “Lips” Kudlow. He makes a lot of eye contact and is incredibly expressive. Unfortunately, because we were forced to stay in one spot, I didn’t get any drum shots of Robb Reiner. Hopefully there will be another opportunity in the near future.

More photos after the jump.

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October 28, 2008 @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre - Toronto, ON

“I am covered in feathers and I’m not sure what I just witnessed”

Those were the first words I tweeted right after this show ended. Nuns, John McCain masks, machine guns, glitter, roller skaters, a hanging, feathers, a coffin full of shaving cream, and a plethora of other random weirdness later, the winner for ‘Most Sensory Overload In A Live Show’ goes to Of Montreal. I still don’t think I’ve fully processed what happened, not to mention the fact that months later I’m still discovering glitter and bits of feather in my camera bag.

Being able to shoot the full show was both a blessing and a curse–so many different scenes to choose from makes it very difficult to edit down. I ended up shooting 7Gb at this show, but sadly, about 3Gb somehow went missing, so much of the debauchery won’t be shown below. If I locate the images, I will update this post.

Full set of photos after the fold.
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December 13, 2008 @ Sound Academy - Toronto, ON

“Help, I’m alive, my heart keeps beating like a hammer…” I have this new Metric song stuck in my head all the time. I’m talking everyday, all day. From the very first time I heard “Help, I’m Alive” I instantly remembered the lyrics and found myself singing along when they opened with this song at the Jingle Bell Rock show at the Sound Academy a few weeks back–after only hearing it twice, ever (I don’t listen to the radio, cut me some slack).

While I didn’t stay for the whole show, I’d dare to say that what I did see was one of the best Metric performances I’d been to in quite some time, and I regret not sticking around. They always put on a great show, but this one had a little extra sumthin’ sumthin. Maybe it was the new songs?

In terms of shooting the show, the light was hit and miss, but I managed and am fairly satisfied with what I got. Can’t say the same for the opening bands (The Dears and Tokyo Police Club), unfortunately.

Full Metric set here.

I thought I’d switch things up a little here, and instead of featuring a band, I’m going to feature the people who keep those bands in business–the fans. I will probably do a few posts on fans in the next few months, but today I thought I’d feature a special breed of them…Warped Tour fans!

I’ve shot the Vans Warped Tour for the past three years and the fans never disappoint. You end up with this mixed bag of (mostly) kids, ranging from punks to emo girls to skaters to your average run of the mill teens, all pressed up against the barrier together. While each year seems to bring out less and less mohawks, there’s still a lot of great fashion (and passion) to catch with the lens. It’s fair to say that Warped fans are my favourite to photograph, and it’s something I look forward to each year.

Full gallery here.