Posts Tagged ‘concert’

Porno For Pryos

Tuesday, July 12th, 2022

….Washington, DC ….July 1997… During July 1997, I was hired to photograph a Greenpeace protest across the street from the White House in Lafayette Park. Greenpeace wanted to halt the launch of the Cassini spacecraft, which many years later delivered spectacular photographs of Saturn and its moons. Greenpeace feared that if Cassini exploded, the radioactive material used to power it would spread throughout the atmosphere. 

To attract publicity Greenpeace had Porno For Pyros play an acoustic set. I graduated university a year earlier, and was freelancing while assisting photographers in Washington, DC and NY. Assisting meant sweeping the darkroom, holding bags, and mixing chemicals. It wasn’t a glamorous start for a 22-year-old with a degree in Political Science.  Greenpeace didn’t pay me, but I was thrilled to photograph Porno For Pyros. That steamy afternoon I put on my Good God’s Urge! t-shirt, the band’s second album, and took a metro towards the White House. 

They played 4 songs in front of a hundred people. I was so close to the band that I shot some photos with a fish-eye lens.I had never photographed a famous band before.    

After they played, Stephen Perkins (drummer/percussionist) walked over to the food vendor that I was getting a hot dog from. He autographed my t-shirt. I still have it, unwashed 25-years-later to make sure the signature doesn’t fade. We spoke for a couple of minutes, he corrected me after I mistakenly referred to the bass player as “Martin” instead of “Martyn.” Stephen then asked me to send the photos to their manager, Roger Leonard. 

When I got my prints back from the lab, I sent some to Venice Beach with a thank you note. Weeks later, Roger left a message on my answering machine. Jane’s Addiction was reuniting for the “Relapse Tour.” On the night before Halloween, I photographed Jane’s Addiction.  That was the start of my career photographing bands. I photographed their tour, then tours with the Cure, Verve, Radiohead, and Smashing Pumpkins. I was on the road for a year, before returning to NY to become a portrait and editorial photographer. It started with a conversation while I was buying a hot dog in front of the White House.

Dave Navarro, Jane’s Addiction

Wednesday, February 9th, 2022

…Dave Navarro, Jane’s Addiction…The night before Halloween 1997, Hammerstein Ballroom…Jane’s Addiction was the first band I photographed.  They were the Best and the most fun band to photograph. They always gave an intense performance with a lot going on visually. 

It was the beginning of my career and I had no idea what I was doing.  I really didn’t deserve to be there with my camera.  At that point I just reacted to what I saw.  They were energetic and the crowds were overzealous even before the band went on the stage.  The air was drenched with adrenaline.  Sweat dripped down my hair into the camera while I frantically loaded the next roll of film.  It was 36 shots, then I got the next roll of film out of my pocket while the exposed film was rewinding.  Pop the back of the camera open and load the film in seconds without looking while there was chaos on stage, and a surging crowd pushing against the barrier at my back.  I never looked back at the hundreds of people because if that wave broke through only the instinct of running underneath the stage would spare me from being trampled.   I was always soaked in sweat after I photographed. 

I haven’t photographed bands in a long time because my work has progressed to documenting more serious subjects.  But when I’m lost, I try to think back to the beginning, when I was in over my head but found solace in not knowing much about the world and living in the moment. 

Rancid

Friday, June 1st, 2018

Tim Armstrong of Rancid playing at the Van’s Warped Tour.

The Cure

Monday, November 20th, 2017


Jane’s Addiction

Monday, October 30th, 2017

..October 1997.. ..Hammerstein Ballroom, New York..

On October 30th, 1997 I photographed Jane’s Addiction at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. I have a large photograph from the concert hanging in my living room. A symbol of the start of my career.

I remember the exact moment when I snapped the photo and the lyric Perry was singing during Ocean Size. He put his leg over the monitor leaned towards the crowd. I snapped away.

I was about a foot away in the photo pit. A nervous sweat poured out of me all over my camera. My finger was on the shutter button all concert. The energy from the band and crowd made me feel like I was on a hard charging wave.

At the end of the second song Dave leaned down from the stage with a rose sticking in his hair. I heard his soft voice over the anarchic crowd and shreeking teenage girls. “Is everything ok?’ I nodded. I can’t say it was surreal. It was unrealistic.

I drove to Washington, DC the day after. Worrying all night if that shot came out. Back then everything had to be shot on slide film for magazines. 320 Tungsten pushed 2 stops. I picked up my film, immediately looked for that series of shoots. Walking down a cobblestone street in Georgetown and looking at the film simultaneously. I got the shot. I remember the walk like it was yesterday. 23 and the beginning of something. Of what?

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Pete Townshend, The Who

Friday, March 4th, 2016

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Rancid

Monday, September 8th, 2014

..August 2004 Rancid, Van’s Warped Tour, Asbury Park..

Tim Armstrong of Rancid at the Van’s Warped Tour.


AC/DC

Thursday, July 10th, 2014

..December 2008 New York..

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Donita Sparks

Thursday, June 12th, 2014

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Marilyn Manson

Saturday, March 16th, 2013