Whoa, what a week. I just got back from Baltimore, Maryland a couple of days ago from Maryland Deathfest, and my head is still reeling.
Where to start?
For the second year in a row, I drove down with my friend David Hall, who runs Handshake Inc., a film company that produces the Maryland Deathfest: The Movie. For the third year in a row, Dave and his crew went down to film the 45+ bands that performed during the 4-day festival.
This year, there were only six bands on the bill in which I was familiar with their music, but just like last year, I was looking forward to hearing some great music from unfamiliar bands, and thank goodness I did. Here are some of the bands that I fell in love with, and ones that if you haven't already, should check out:
Neurosis: I first saw Neurosis headline a great show with Mastodon and U.S. Christmas a few years ago in Brooklyn, and they blew me away - partly because it was really, REALLY loud. I also realized during their outdoor set, that I had achieved something that I have wanted to do since I was about 12 years-old - be in the photo pit of a band that I absolutely admire. I have been doing photos for a couple of years, now so this isn't something new, but to see Scott Kelly, Steve Von Till, Dave Edwardson, Jason Roeder and Noah Landis perform live, especially "Locust Star" and "Through Silver and Blood" was beyond amazing. The intensity and the passion was surreal. It had started to thunder and rain about 15 minutes before they went onstage, and I was really not looking forward to standing in the rain, but it stopped, and they played. One of the best things was to stand on the side of the stage with my homie Joe Mack from Complete Failure and totally lose our shit.
Voivod: Again, I'd seen Voivod perform before, but what made this set amazing was the audience who went totally nuts, and rightly so. These guys were on their "A" game, and what was really cool was to be in the photo pit and realizing that I was standing beside three members of Neurosis, who were obviously huge fans. I wanted to puke, I was so excited. And they were actually grinning, which was strange. Voivod ended with "Astronomy Domine" which was fantastic. My friend Rebecca, a costume designer who runs Nekrotic got a picture with the singer, Snake, the next day.
Cathedral: I was looking forward to this show, as I'd never seen the band before (I don't even know when the last time - if any - they played in Canada), and also because this show is supposedly their last in North America. Will this happen? Who knows, but I don't think so - there was a lot of rabid fans there. The setlist was a bit of a disappointment, primarily because (for me) there was some stuff that I really liked that they didn't play, like "Mourning of a New Day," which is an oldie and they played a lot of newer stuff, which is way more Top 40 - sounding. Lee Dorrian wore a long-sleeved purple turtleneck and a cross.....and it must have been like 40 degrees in the venue. The crew that I was with met him the next evening and he was very chatty and pretty cool, so that was interesting. (Note: I just read a review of the show on Hellbound and their set actually consisted of material from their second and third albums.)
Buzzov*en: This was great! Great show, great pictures (see above), as "Dixie" Dave Collins is a showman.....very odd, but interesting. I'll post more pics later, as I sent all of mine away to NPR for a MDF recap they are doing............
Other great sets included Corrosion of Conformity, Hail of Bullets, In Solitude, Ghost (I'm not a huge fan of their music but their stage show was good - but frustrating to shoot), Orange Goblin (!), Acid Witch, Hooded Menace, Cretin, Coroner, Aura Noir, Lack of Interest, Noisear, Bastard Noise (!) and Nuclear Assault.
As you can see from the above ( bad) picture, Lilker gave me the finger when I was shooting the show. At first I was like, "WTF?" but apparently that is what he does. I was using an external flash for the second time in my life, and I thought he might be pissed that it was going off in his face.
Other great things about this year's MDF was meeting producer/engineer Billy Anderson, who has produced albums for a shitload of bands, including Neurosis, High on Fire, Orange Goblin, Melvins, Zoroaster, Mr. Bungle and Cathedral. Handshake Inc. is doing a documentary on his career, so he and his girlfriend, Erica, stayed with us in the house Dave rented for the duration of the festival. It was great to ask him questions and listen to his stories. Great guy and the documentary should be very interesting and informative for those who want to get into the music industry.
(Addition - 6:15pm) I wanted to add some observations. First, I want to thank Dave for inviting me along and getting me a photo gig, something I wouldn't have gotten without him. Secondly, the crowd was mad cool - cooler than the crowds I have to endure in Toronto, for some reason. The crowds were quite multicultural, lots of Latino, a East and South Asian folks and a number of young brothers and sisters, which makes me feel really great that POC's are getting out there. These types of situations can be very intimidating, especially with the racial climate in North America. Honestly? I was hustling like a motherfucker the whole time, and didn't spend time really thinking about the environment, but I do know that I was pleasantly zoned out from my 'real life,' chilling with some fine folks that I only see at these types of things, and meeting new ones.
One of the other coolest experiences involved chatting with Aaron from Return to the Pit and Black Bubblegum from Brooklyn Vegan, both whom I am not afraid to admit I am extremely jealous of. These dudes are fantastic photographers, and I learned a lot about how to properly shoot concerts. At times, the lighting was awful and other times, glorious, and while not perfect, I'm quite satisfied with what I did. Also a bit shout out to Evan and Ryan who run MDF - it was amazing to get the access that the Handshake crew was able to get.
I'll post some pics sometime next week.
Already counting down the days til next year!
Posted by: Kim Kelly | June 22, 2011 at 03:13 AM
Vincent I was like, ' if I were to die right now, I'd be happy.' For "Through Silver and Blood," Von Till and Kelly brought out the extra percussion and it was amazing.
Posted by: Lainad | June 04, 2011 at 08:02 AM
oh man you went for the same bands I was going to go for (I had to chicken out last minute :( :( :( )
So sad I missed fucking Locust Star live. When I saw them in Brooklyn (the Storm of Light show before the one you saw), they played all new stuff and The Doorway, which really isn't a problem, because I love all Neurosis, but I would have killed for Locust Star or anything from Through Silver in Blood.
Sounds like you had a great time!
Posted by: Vincent | June 04, 2011 at 01:40 AM