Vans Warped Tour // Auburn, WA [Pt. II]

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Welcome back, everyone!  For those who missed the first part of this blog, you can find it here.

Picking up where we left off, Attila came on next.  They are probably the most controversial in the metalcore scene right now, either you love them and their DGAF attitude, or you absolutely despite them and hate everything they stand for.  Regardless of where you stand, their stage presence and setup is a spectacle in itself (hell, it included beer pong).  Fronz, may have missed a few notes here and there but the crowd sang at the top of their lungs, never missing a lyric, which is pretty admirable.  The performances for all the songs off of About That Life were probably their strongest.  (E.g. see the fan picture of Middle Fingers Up below!)

The 7th band for the day was Canada's own Silverstein, a post-hardcore act from Burlington, Ontario.  Although I'm not too familiar with them, their fan-base has been known as loyal, contributing to their excess of a million records sold worldwide.  The performance was solid but not the best I had seen for the day (wait for Blessthefall...).

Holy fucking shit.  Those are all the words I have for Beau Bokan of Blessthefall.  They easily stole the show for me out of the 20 bands that I had run into for the day.  One second he's here, the next he's jumping off stuff, and then he's jumped into the crowd.  Oh, and the rest of the band was on point too!  Moreover, the setlist was pretty neat, incorporating both old and new tunes.  They even brought out Craig Mabbitt, the former lead vocalist (he's not in Escape the Fate) for a performance of Guys Like You Make Us Look Bad, a song off their first record!

After the awesomeness that was BTF, we had a quick break and I caught up with my friend, Jessica Dawn, who mind you also models.  We ended up catching Our Last Night while waiting for our next big band.  OTL is a post-hardcore act forming in 2004, with their newer releases becoming more melodic and containing less of a focus on unclean vocals.  The show was mediocre in the grand scheme of things, and felt a bit generic for me.

The last band for this post goes to Being As An Ocean, a fairly new act forming in 2011 specializing in melodic hardcore.  Their sound is extremely unique, jumping from spoken-word, poetic verses and then into unclean choruses.  The fusion and lyricism is profound, and in-fact, quite beautiful.  Joel Quartuccio absolutely nails what they were set out to do and their live performance is an excellent rendition of their studio recordings.

Setlists

Attila

  1. Prison Riot (Lil Jon intro)
  2. Middle Fingers Up
  3. Rage
  4. Shots for the Boys
  5. Party With the Devil
  6. About that Life
  7. Payback
  8. Proving Grounds

Silverstein

  1. Vices
  2. Smile in Your Sleep
  3. A Midwestern State of Emergency
  4. Broken Stars
  5. Massachusetts
  6. Heaven, Hell and Purgatory
  7. My Heroine

Blessthefall

  1. You Wear a Crown But You're No King
  2. Youngbloods
  3. Guys Like You Make Us Look Bad
  4. 2.0
  5. What's Left of Me
  6. See You on the Outside
  7. Up in Flames
  8. Hollow Bodies

Our Last Night

  1. Same Old War
  2. A World Divided
  3. I've Never Felt This Way
  4. Road to the Throne
  5. Home
  6. Sunrise

Being As An Ocean

  1. Sleeping Sicarii
  2. Mediocre Shakespeare
  3. Little Richie
  4. Death's Great Black Wing Scrapes the Air
  5. The Hardest Part is Forgetting Those You Swore You Would Never Forget

Vans Warped Tour // Auburn, WA [Pt. I]

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August 8, 2015 - Dreams really do come true!  I got the opportunity to shoot the Vans Warped Tour at the White River Amphitheater, special thanks to friend in the photo community, Tyler Wenzel.  Along with two of his friends and the talented Carmin Edwards, we embarked on our trip to the final date of 2015's Warped Tour.  Although we had some resistance at the border (and getting pulled over for having 'too much professional equipment' and being accused of working illegally) we made it through!

For less-clutter reasons, I'm going to divide this blog post up in to four parts, with approximately five bands each which will include my synopses and the band's setlists.  Most of the bands will fall into either post-hardcore, hardcore or metalcore genres.

Although arriving a bit last minute to the venue, Tyler and I rushed to the media tent and realized that Crossfaith were first to start the day.  Tyler recommended them as he had seen them in years prior, and boy did they live up to his hype.  For those who don't know, they're a Japanese metalcore band from Osaka incorporating some electronic and industrial elements.  All five members were constantly headbanging and all over the stage.  They definitely made the start of my day all-the-more exciting and I would love for them to have a tour in North America.

Next up came Hundredth, a melodic hardcore act hailing from South Carolina.  Known for their work with Hope Into Humanity, the boys tore up the stage with aggression, energy and gave me opportunities for awesome photos ;).  Although I couldn't stay for the whole set, from what I saw, they definitely made their last day worth it and weren't hungover unlike some of the other bands on tour.

...and the reason I couldn't finish Hundredth's set was because I was running back to see Senses Fail, the post-hardcore act that every emo kid at my high school would listen to.  Although I would say the peak of their popularity was in the mid-2000s, we saw a massive crowd consisting of both new and old fans.  Buddy Neilsen, the vocalist and front-man announced his fight against discrimination towards "sexual deviants" and noted that he himself identified as queer.  This brought on massive cheers by both myself and the crowd.  Oh!  And the man sure knows how to dress to impress!

Rushing back to the Unicorn stage, We Came as Romans were next - a metalcore act from Troy, Michigan.  Although I'm not particularly fond of their sound (mainly the clean vocals) they can definitely put on a show as I've seen before when they opened for other bands in Vancouver.  They fed off the crowd's energy and just slayed it.  Also they have an Asian drummer which I think is hella rad :).

The last band for this post goes to Fit For a King, the Christian metalcore act from Dallas, Texas.  Although the band featured lots of chugging, I feel that their sound hasn't really matured or changed at all since the release of their first record, Creation/Destruction in 2013.  The performance itself wasn't very fun or upbeat unlike the earlier acts of today but the matching uniforms were fun!

Stay tuned for the other 14 bands coming up over the next few days!

Setlists

Crossfaith

  1. Monolith
  2. Jagerbomb
  3. Ghost in the Mirror
  4. Countdown to Hell
  5. Xeno

Hundredth

  1. Break Free
  2. Inside Out
  3. Free Mind / Open Spirit
  4. Unravel
  5. Remain & Sustain
  6. Weathered Town
  7. Soul

Senses Fail

  1. Canine
  2. Can't Be Saved
  3. Take Refuse
  4. Buried a Lie
  5. The Importance of the Moment of Death
  6. Calling All Cars
  7. Bite to Break Skin

We Came As Romans

  1. Tracing Back Roots
  2. Ghsots
  3. Fade Away
  4. The World I Used to Know
  5. Regenerate
  6. Broken Statues
  7. To Plant a Seed
  8. Hope

Fit for a King

  1. Hooked
  2. Hollow King (Sound of the End)
  3. Ancient Waters
  4. Slave to Nothing
  5. The Resistance
  6. Warpath


Northlane & Guests // Rickshaw Theatre

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August 5, 2015 - Well the Rickshaw is seeming more and more like home.  As much as I hate the horrible lighting, most of my favourite bands seem to roll on through and the small hall turns into a rowdy scene of circle pits and crowd surfing every single time.  Stay tuned for the full review over at Beatroute written by my dear friend, Brendan Lee.  The following will be my synopsis of the show.  Everything was shot with a D610 and a 24-70 2.8.

First on the docket were local act ev0lution, a djent/EDM fusion band featuring members from Galactic Pegasus.  Although extremely catchy, I felt the energy was lacking as it seemed more atmospheric as opposed to throw-down, head-banging heavy.  I look forward to seeing them open for more local metal shows and upon the release of their EP.

Up next we had the British act Oceans Ate Alaska, specializing in progressive metalcore.  Although I didn't have too much time to check them out prior to the tour date, their live performance was HEAVY and so technically sound.  Fans were jumping around hardcore and headbanging (somehow) to the irregular time signatures and breakdowns of the band.  OAA is definitely an act I'm looking forward to see grow as they've only released one album, Lost Isles.  

Following the (tough to beat) performance by OAA, one of my favourite bands (and fellow UNFD labelmates) at the moment rolls on through.  In Hearts Wake fucking killed it.  Although the sound mixing wasn't on point, the crowd bounced at the breakdowns, sang along for the choruses and yelled at the top of their lungs with Jake Taylor.  Although they played a short set, IHW is a force to be reckoned with and has a very dedicated and quickly expanding fanbase.  I'm more than sure they will be headlining their own international tours sooner than later, especially with the positive reception of their latest record, Skydancer.

Following two incredible acts comes along Like Moths to Flames hailing from Columbus, Ohio.  I'm usually open to most acts of metal, but I felt like (alongside much of the metalcore community) that LMTF seems like the "stereotype" of what metalcore should be.  Most of their songs seemed generic to my ears and the breakdowns and crowd involvement seemed forced.  This point aside, however, frontman Chris Roetter had so much energy on stage and was constantly running back and forth, back and forth.  I wish I could say I loved the set but I would also be lying.

Lastly came headliners, Northlane, embarking on their first tour for the release of their album Node which had come out only two weeks prior.  This tour also features their newest vocalist, Marcus Bridge in place of former vocalist, Adrian Fitipaldes.  With this introduction comes a completely new sound that is mature but still so obviously Northlane.  Node debuted at #1 on the ARIA (Australia Recording Industry Association) charts overtaking metal veterans Lamb of God and pop-indie act Tame Impala.  It seems remarkable to me that metal has become so popular down under that it can overtake pop acts such as Meghan Trainor and Taylor Swift, even though their albums have been out for longer.  Northlane's performance; however, was remarkable consisting of songs across all three of their albums and Bridge did not fail to deliver.  Although missing a few high notes, their energy synergized so well with the crowd's and I found myself leaving my camera gear quickly to go mosh with my dear friends and sing along to singles such as Quantum Flux, Dream Awake, Dispossession and Rot. 

Setlists

Oceans Ate Alaska

  1. Blood Brothers
  2. Vultures & Sharks
  3. Floorboards
  4. To Catch a Flame
  5. X-Ray Eyes
  6. Clocks

In Hearts Wake

  1. Aether (Intro)
  2. Skydancer
  3. Badlands
  4. Survival (The Chariot)
  5. Healer
  6. Divine
  7. Breakaway

Like Moths to Flames

  1. You Won't Be Missed
  2. A Feast for Crows
  3. I Solemnly Swear
  4. The Worst in Me
  5. Bury Your Pain
  6. Learn Your Place
  7. What's Done is Done
  8. Something to Live For
  9. GNF

Northlane

  1. Obelisk
  2. Quantum Flux
  3. Scarab
  4. Leech
  5. Ohm
  6. Rot
  7. Soma
  8. Node
  9. Impulse
  10. Dream Awake
  11. Dispossession
  12. Weightless
  13. Masquerade (Encore)

 

Vancouver Pride Parade

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For years, I have yearned to support and attend the annual pride parades in Vancouver ever since I jumped on board with politics and issues in the local, national and international communities.  This year I was able to free my schedule and attend my first pride parade - and here I will document my experience and some background information about both the issue at hand and the parade itself.

The fight for the LGBTQ2+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer & Two-Spirit) community through the help of friends, allies and supporters have become progressively more intense over the last few century, starting with the homophile movement post WWII to the sexual revolution of the 60s.  Opponents, often consisting of the political right and more traditional religious groups have found themselves clashing on the streets, online and in politics over the issue.  

Discrimination against the community has been traced back to Ancient Greece, and intolerance accelerated with the spread of Islam and Christianity.  However, as with technology advancing at an extremely exponential rate, I believe that LGBTQ2+ rights have accelerated as well; challenging the cultural constructs of gender roles, bi/homo/trans-phobia, and the concept of a "nuclear" family consisting of one man and one woman as a parental basis.  Victories for the community has boosted in the 21st century with the Netherlands starting the trend of legalizing same-sex marriage in 2001, Canada in 2005 and although late to the party, the United States in 2015.

Sexuality itself is very confusing and is often referred to as a wide spectrum, as opposed to having defined sexual preferences.  Much of the progressive West, myself included, believe that education must be the start to change cultural norms.  In many parts of the world, those associated with the LGBTQ2+ can have restricted rights, imprisoned (up to life) or even punished by death.  Furthermore, the amount of publicized suicides over those being bullied for being in a same-sex relationship have skyrocketed, particularly in the 21st century.  However, with major corporations (even if for their own economic advancement) and influential NGOs, political parties, celebrities and musicians jumping on board, things are getting better.

The parade itself was a marvel of spectacle.  In the past, the parade had been more "raunchy" and "in-your-face" as some media outlets have described it.  Fast forward to today, with the support of many corporate partners such as Stolichnaya Vodka, Palm Bay, Trojan Condoms, TD Bank, Bud Light & Nordstrom, the parade has been toned-down to cater a family-setting and both include and intrigue a wider audience.  This has attracted those that have either been confused, scared or perhaps even angered by those of the community; which is a good thing to show that respect and acceptance of those outside your lifestyle goes a long way.  Some lovely guest appearances were made by Justin Trudeau of the Liberal Party, Elizabeth May of the Greens and Libby Davies of the NDP (who has contributed for decades into my local constituency).  Unfortunately, Mulcair was unable to attend due to his campaign in the East and obviously the Conservatives didn't bother showing up (which I'm okay with!)

Below are the photos from the parade.  I hope you all enjoy and I hope to see many of you next year!