deafheaven & Tribulation // Rickshaw Theatre

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October 20, 2015 - Alas, another shoot for Beatroute BC - I haven't shot for these guys since early August for Northlane!  I had to dig up some research for these bands as I haven't really heard of them too much, just seen their names here and there on editorials and online.

To begin, Tribulation, a metal band from the small city of Arvika, Sweden was up first.  Their style of music combines death, black and gothic elements, and they've released three albums to date.  Originally a death-revivalist act, they've evolved to incorporate more progressive elements such as psychedelia and atmospheric tones.

The show itself was very theatrical, expressive and to put it quite frankly, dark.  Face makeup?  Check.  Incense?  Check.  Bone props?  Check.  Black on black?  Check.  The musicians moved around quite a bit which made for some dramatic images, which was nice!  All-in-all, a very fun show which had a very different kind of energy compared to what I'm used to.  It was almost like watching a dance instead of a show, a serenade, if you will. 

Their latest album, Children of the Night, was released this year.

A quick and easy two bands tonight!  Deafheaven (often stylized as deafheaven) are a black metal band from San Francisco, USA, known for infusing post-metal and shoegaze as well.  
Their first demo was released by founding members, George Clarke and Kerry McKoy and was met with warm reception.  Upon recruiting more band members, they set off on tour, and released Sunbather in 2013, which was met with critical acclaim and was one of the most praised albums of the year in the US (outside of the top 40 genre, that is.)

The show itself was extremely hard to shoot as they had decided not to use any front-lighting (it was ALL back-lighting) and of course, I had forgot to pack my prime lenses...With EXIF looking something like f/2.8, 1/60 @ ISO 6400, it was inevitable to get a billion blurry pictures before getting a single one that was relatively in focus, even at 24mm.  And at that, it was hard to find one with decent lighting.

Regardless, because of this, the lighting added to the atmosphere, much like earlier act Tribulation's.  The band themselves, as per shoegaze fashion, were pretty low-key, often looking at their pedals for modulating and distorting their sounds.  George Clarke, the front-man, however was extremely high energy, almost spastic but in a very controlled fashion that matched the rhythm of their music.  As my editor, Joshua Erickson said, he was also extremely photographic haha.  Although I couldn't stay for the whole act, it was a lot of fun and Clarke found himself in the audience at several points of the night!

Their latest album, New Bermuda, was released earlier this year.

Setlists

Tribulation

  1. Strange Gateways Beckon
  2. Melancholia
  3. In The Dreams of the Dead
  4. Randa
  5. Ultra Silvam
  6. Cauda Pavonis
  7. The Motherhood of God
  8. When the Sky Is Black With Devils

deafheaven

  1. Brought to the Water
  2. Luna
  3. Baby Blue
  4. From the Kettle Onto the Coil
  5. Come Back
  6. Gifts for the Earth
  7. Sunbather (Encore)
  8. Dream House (Encore)

JOVIAN // Season ZERO by Michael Loder

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October 9, 2015 - So one of my closest friends growing up (and now), Michael Loder, has always had an appreciation for fashion, particularly street fashion.  He's currently now attending Kwantlen Polytechnic University for Fashion Design & Technology where he is looking to make contacts, learn the business aspect as well as the technical parts of fashion and design.

When he was unable to schedule a shoot with one of his photographers, he obviously asked his photographer friend if they could help (that's me!)  I'm sure most of you know I don't really shoot fashion but I figured I'd help a friend out until they could get what they wanted/needed.  

Anyway, we set off to Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver near the ferry terminal to get some of the shots.  Here are some of them:

Mike also brought along a friend who also attended high school with us: Anna-Angela Shishmanov.  I'm usually preparing myself to direct people for posing due to my lack of shooting models, and more of the general populous for portrait work but my god, was she a natural!  It's always such a breath of fresh air when you get a surprise like that!  

I figured since it was a relatively lax shoot that I would try playing with different editing styles that I took note from popular "natural-light" photographer extraordinaire, Dani Diamond.  This means shooting only to have the highlights properly exposed and then dodging and burning the rest accordingly, making sure that you have particularly your facial lighting on point before continuing.  Although I'm by no means near his calibre, I found this to be quite useful as you can see in the images of Anna and Mike below:

All-in-all, the shoot was a lot of fun - obviously with a few beers and mountaineering through rocky terrain!  It made me come to realize that I do miss shooting people which I hope you all won't mind as I hope to eventually hone in on people and music photography.  I look forward to working with him again in the future and of course, getting some sick threads!

In the mean time, if you're interested, you can check out Jovian here, and Mike's instagram here.

 

The Black Dahlia Murder & Guests // Rickshaw Theatre

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October 13, 2015 - Oh nothing can stop the metal!  (I swear I listen to more than just metal!  Stay tuned for Florence & The Machine, where I will be shooting for Beatroute this Sunday :) )

Getting straight to it, the first opener is grindcore act Maruta coming all the way from Florida.  Now I have never seen grind live (nor have I really ACTUALLY listened to the genre) but for all you non-metal heads out there, it's probably what you would imagine all of metal is.  The specific genre itself is often labelled as abrasive, contains rather graphic lyrics (their name comes from the experimentation on humans by the Japanese in WWII) and is a relatively underground scene.  This really proved for Maruta as most of the audience decided to flood in for the later acts of the night.  Regardless, the band had fun with it and although not super interactive with the crowd, were immensely in their music.

PS apologizing ahead of time for the poor setlist - grindcore for those who don't know, often have "micro-songs" which can be roughly a few seconds to a minute or so in duration.  I will only include the songs that are known, but there was a total of 16 songs.

Second on the docket are hardcore band Harm's Way from Chicago, Illinois.  Originally a joke/side-project for the boys in straight-edge band Few and the Proud, Harm's Way developed from their powerviolence roots (with hilarity in their lyricism including beating up frat boys) to a more serious, refined hardcore sound that draws influence from bands such as Sepultura to Trapped Under Ice.  As one would expect from a hXc show, the boys were stomping, spinning and slamming themselves across the stage - the red lighting only furthering the atmosphere of intensity.

Their third studio album, Rust, released in early 2015 received much praise from critics.

Crossover thrash megagroup Iron Reagan heralded the stage next - with its members consisting formerly or currently of Municipal Waste, Cannibal Corpse and Darkest Hour.  Their imagery obviously is a satire and a mockery of former US president Ronald Reagan, his Reaganomics and obviously his administration's anti-communist, interventionist foreign policy.  Which of course, can be applied to today's society.

The show in itself was a fucking blast - as the genre itself is a mix between thrash metal and hardcore punk, AKA a total shitfest of bruisery and camaraderie.  They definitely were the rowdiest act of the night and easily the most fun, with the audience begging for more at the end of their act.  

You can check out their bandcamp here.

And finally, one of the most popular contemporary American metal bands, The Black Dahlia Murder. With six out of seven records charting in the Billboard 200, the melo-death act from Waterford, Michigan have established themselves in the metal realm.  

Their name comes from the 1947 unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short, also referred to as the Black Dahlia.  (If you value your eyes, please don't look up the crime scene images!)  

Their performance was representative of the genre: high energy exuding from blast beats, fast tempos and growled vocals.  The lighting definitely added to the atmosphere and frontman Brian Eschbach got the crowd riled up into a frenzy.  Unfortunately I couldn't stay due to an early shift the next morning but it was a music to my ears (sorry, bad joke haha) - a fine blend of rhythm and leads, technicality and groove.

Their latest record, Abysmal, was released mid-September.

Setlists

Maurta

  1. Protocol for Self-Immolation
  2. Hope Smasher
  3. Genocide Interval
  4. Minimal Progress
  5. March Forward (Into Regression)
  6. Stride Endlessly Through Scorched Earth
  7. Stand in Defeat
  8. Submergence
  9. In Perpetual Narcolepsy

Harm's Way

  1. Infestation
  2. Law of the Land
  3. Cancerous Ways
  4. Mind Control
  5. Amongst the Rust
  6. Ease My Mind

Iron Reagan

  1. Tyranny of Will (1st half of the song)
  2. I Won't Go
  3. Insanity Plea(se)?
  4. Close to Toast
  5. Cycles of Violence
  6. Obsolete Man
  7. Government Surveillance
  8. Tongue Tied
  9. The Living Skull
  10. Bet On Black
  11. Spoiled Identity
  12. Zero Gain
  13. Miserable Failure
  14. Broken Bottles
  15. Your Kid's an Asshole
  16. In Greed We Trust
  17. I Ripped That Testament A New Asshope
  18. Eyeball Gore
  19. A Skull Full of Maggots (Cannibal Corpse cover)
  20. U Lock the Bike Cop
  21. Paycheck
  22. Eat Shit and Live

The Black Dahlia Murder

  1. A Shrine to Madness
  2. Moonlight Equilibrium
  3. What A Horrible Night to Have a Curse
  4. Elder Misanthropy
  5. Receipt
  6. Vlad, Son of the Dragon
  7. On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood
  8. Threat Level No. 3
  9. Unhallowed
  10. Funeral Thirst
  11. Everything Went Black
  12. A Vulgar Picture
  13. I'm Charming
  14. Raped in Hatred by Vines of Thorn
  15. Miasma
  16. Statutory Ape
  17. Deathmask Divine
  18. I Will Return

 

We Sold Our Souls to Metal 2015 Tour // Rickshaw Theatre

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October 4, 2015 - Ah, more metal at the Rickshaw!  I thought I had learned my lesson from the Vogue but we had some more mishaps with the press list again and I was unable to photograph local act Pyramidion so I apologize ahead of time.  Furthermore, Polish tech-death act Decapitated, was unable to arrive - most likely due to border issues.

Despite this, we had four more bands for the night.  The first being Dead Asylum, a local melo-death/thrash metal band.  Although I felt some of the stage presence was lacking, the technical skill and musicianship definitely made up for it.  I can imagine it'd be hard to move around when your fingers are flying up and down your fretboard!

You can sample some of their music on their facebook page here.

Shattered Sun took the stage next, coming all the way from Alice, Texas with their thrash infused metalcore.  Although different in terms of their style of metal, Shattered Sun held their own making use of their small stage and crowd interaction.  Frontman Marcos Leal constantly got the crowd to form walls of death, circle pits and slamdances.   

Their latest record, Hope Within Hatred, was released earlier this year.

Soilwork, originally Inferior Breed, a melo-death band from Helsingborg, Sweden was next on the roster.  News from another photographer revealed that the normal lighting guy had been shafted and replaced by the band manager which means the set was blacker than the blackest black times infinity (a metalocalypse reference, for those who didn't get the joke.)  Despite this, the energy was high and what you'd expect for a smaller show, nothing outstanding but always with the die-hard fans racing to the front to shout their favourite lines.

Soilwork's tenth studio album, The Ride Majestic, was released in August.

And up next came Soulfly, formed by ex-Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera.  Coming from Phoenix, Arizona, the boys from Soulfly not only integrate elements of groove, thrash and death metal but also Brazilian tribal and world music as well.  It was an understatement to say that the fans lost their shit within seconds of them arriving on stage. To further this statement, although we were able to shoot throughout the prior bands' sets, we were escorted out by the venue security within the first three songs due to the amount of crowdsurfers that had whizzed by our heads!

Their tenth and latest record, Archangel, was also release in August.

Setlists

Unfortunately there are no setlists for Pyramidion and Dead Asylum.

Shattered Sun

  1. Reign
  2. Awaken
  3. Ultimatum
  4. No Sympathy
  5. Waging War
  6. Dead Set
  7. Hope

Soilwork

  1. The Ride Majestic
  2. Nerve
  3. The Crestfallen
  4. Death in General
  5. Petrichor in Sulphur
  6. Alight in the Aftermath
  7. Late for the Kill, Early for the Slaughter
  8. Stabbing the Drama
  9. Spectrum of Eternity

Soulfly

  1. We Sold Our Souls to Metal
  2. Archangel
  3. Ishtar Rising
  4. Blood Fire War Hate
  5. Carved Inside
  6. Refuse/Resist (Sepultura cover)
  7. Sodomites
  8. Prophecy
  9. Seek 'N' Strike
  10. Bethlehem's Blood
  11. Titans
  12. Tribe
  13. Arise/Dead Embryonic Cells (Sepultura cover)
  14. Frontlines
  15. Back to the Primitive
  16. Jumpdafuckup/Eye for an Eye