music archive

Favorite show photos – Monotonix

I’ve been going through the archives as of late, setting up some business cards at Moo, and wanted to post some of my favorite photos with a brief explanation of each. So, to begin:

Monotonix guitarist Yonatan Gat

This picture of Yonatan Gat, guitarist for Monotonix, was taken at the High Noon Saloon in Madison, WI, during a concert on October 2nd, 2009. It captures the mass chaos of a Monotonix show quite fully. Members of the band playing in the crowd, separated by fans that are half into the band and half there because of word of mouth of the insanity that had been conveyed to them. Guitarist separated from drummer by what looks to be some old punk rock dude that didn’t expect the noisy garage rock band to have a CBGB’s on a good night style crowd. Young kids surrounding them that wouldn’t even know what CBGB’s was if it hadn’t been for Lane’s band trying to gig there in Gilmore Girls (but is that too old for these kids too? maybe…)

In order to get this photo I had to crank the flash up and still go with 1/250th and a jacked ISO, because there’s no way I am taking the good camera into the middle of the fray. Last time I tried that I found my flash on the floor on the other side of the bar after the show was done (sticky and still working, to my surprise). Then I did post in Lightroom to get the Maximum Rock ‘N’ Roll circa-1985 black and white style of the photo… Perfect for that zine I’m never going to print.

Synesthesia

4838930647 0f9a11e4a2    Synesthesia

The photo above really works well with the song on this page. Almost to the point of confusing them in my mind.

Call Me Lightning poster

CMLPoster 623x1024    Call Me Lightning poster

Just completed the digital version of the poster for the Call Me Lightning / Zebras / The Hussy / The Transgressions show at The Project Lodge on Thursday, August 19. This show should be over the top, with one of the best local lineups of the summer opening for one of Milwaukee’s best bands in a tiny little venue.

In case you missed Call Me Lighting one of the last times they came through town when the opened for Monotonix at the High Noon Saloon, here’s a pic from their set:

CML.monotonixshow    Call Me Lightning poster

If you want to see more of the photos from that show, I’ve got them on flickr, otherwise see you at The Project Lodge!

Raddest Amp Ever!

Best Amplifier Ever

The Unicorn Rainbow amp of the most awesomeness does not actually belong to Wyld Stallyns, it belongs to Worrier, a totally gnarly rock ‘n’ roll band from Milwaukee that will make you feel like you’ve got ants in your pants. The photo is from a show they did on April 19 with All Tiny Creatures at the High Noon Saloon. To see all of the photos, click here.

Time for some grime

Russell of United Sons of Toil

I went to Mickey’s Tavern on Friday night with the intent of enjoying some drinks and rock ‘n’ roll. The PBR went down smooth, and added to my ‘hipster’ cred according to one of the friends there. The bands, on the other hand, were brutal. If you’ve never seen a show at Mickey’s, remember to take earplugs the first time you venture out to. Borr was a brutal two piece from Minneapolis that played second on the bill and filled the room with sound equivalent to that of a six piece post-hardcore band. United Sons of Toil were, well, United Sons. Loud and intense. They put on one of those performances that just reinforces why I’ll be going to check them out most every time they play in town.

Anyhow, the goal wasn’t just to drink and rock out. I had the camera along for the show to experiment a bit. All of the photos I took were with the f1.8 50mm lens, but attached to the end of it was a 0.35x semi-fisheye macro lens. You may see the stupidity in this, since it isn’t going to do much to my 50mm except zoom it out and add extra glass to mess up the f1.8 end of things.

The thing is, that was the exact point of this experiment. Tweak out the camera in ways that most people wouldn’t in order to obtain the most messed up results possible, and then see what I could salvage from those results… That’s why the ISO was set at H2 (12,800 equivalent). The results are a set of really nasty, oversaturated and grimy red and black photos. Well, they were until I converted them to black and white, since, let’s face it, the world doesn’t need any more oversaturated red and black concert photos.

Check out the full set of results.

Far f’ing new album

Yeah, Far does have a new album coming out. At Night We Live will be available on May 25th. But, I think I may have to pre-order this one on their website.

Taalbi Brothers photos by Eric Baillies

Taalbi Brothers by Eric Baillies

My buddy Eric Baillies captured some really nice photographs of the Taalbi Brothers at Talula’s a few nights ago. You should check them out on his flickr.

last night’s show

Zebras last song with Shawn

Last night’s Manic Zamboni / Zebras show was hot hot blistering hot. Check out some more photos of the night at my good ol’ flickr page.

Refused’s “The Shape of Punk To Come” deluxe release.

The Shape Of Punk To Come re-release from Refused

Can. Not. Wait. For. This.

Chickety Czech It!

The Hussy playing a surprise late-night set at Mickey

The Hussy played a surprise set after The Honey Slides at Mickey’s Tavern last month. Yeah! Anyhow, this post is to let you know to Chickety Czech out the blog / record label that Bobby (of the Hussy) has going. It’s called Kind Turkey.