Man, I would make a shitty combat photagrapher. It also shows up really well in movies when you've been holding your arm up for 40 minutes and you are constantly looking away from what you are doing to protect yourself from moshing kids. But hey, the audio came through.
That was for Head Automatica. They had been off for 6 months thanks to their lead singer's bout with Krohn's disease, but they are back, and in incredibly fine form. I taped their show from right up close, and even with some help from a very determined and drugged out girl named Karen, it was still shaky as fuck.
But hey, let's back up some.
The day began late. Woke up about noonish with no real plan or intent. Well, I had a plan for later, but not at that point. Bummed around for a while before getting the call to action, and before you knew it, and 1 parking ticket from campus safety later, I was on the way to SUNY Purchase for a free show to end all free shows.
Adam, Tristan, and Ryan were my compadres on this journey into the other state, the Empire State, and into infamy. Or so I hoped. We didn't quite become the scourge of SUNY, but we did manage to have quite the interesting time. The drive itself was uneventful, full of traffic and wind, but our arrival was not put off for long, and we made good on our intent to have a great time.
You're dropped off in a strange place, where you know no one and not what to do in case of emergency or trouble. Your only contact is a friend of a friend who has been described to you as "fucking crazy". I asked Tristan if Karen, his friend was , "Kitten killing crazy". He said no. He was right. The first thing she asked us was if we wanted any drugs.
WE go to her room. We have a backpack full of beer and a little bottle or raspberry vodka. Converse Allstars abound, being the shoe of choice for the indy crowd that populated this school like roaches in a subway. These kids, my age and younger, were doing cocaine (The Albino Smurf as Ryan dubbed it) off of a blue credit card, or perhaps it was an ATM card. There's an emblematic quality to that, but I'll let you think about it. They snorted, they drank, they smoked.
The strange thing was that I was expecting people on cocaine to act like they do in movies, which is to say, I expected them to get hit with an immense headrush and suddenly act very hyperactive. It may be the fact that these kids seem to do a lot of coke (or smurf), but they seemed remarkably sedated on the powder. It was very surreal indeed.
To digress from drugs for a minute, we were all very hungry. Being manly men (menly men?) we marched over to the local food shed. The concerts we were there to see, Cage and Head Atuomatica, were being held at an ourtdoor stage set in a green surrounded on all sides by dorms. The green was in turn outlined by food stands selling all sorts of unhealthy things. We opted to split a blooming onion 3 ways. it costed something like 5 dollars. Adam gave the man a 10, and he got 15 back. Somehow, we were making money.
Daughters, or Daughter was on the stage when we hit the green. They are noisy. Grindcore is perhaps their genre, but I cannot say for sure. The one thing that I can say is that their lead singer was fucked out of his mind. "You guys want to see my cock?", he shouted to the crowd. "Too bad. This is a free show. I ain't showing you shit!", her replied to the apathy of the indy audience. There was a major moshpit to the noise coming from the stage, and slight looking man in black, with "Maine" on the back of his hoodie was forcefully propelled a great distance in the air and landed awkwardly upon his ankle. We all kind of ignored him for a bit, but then Ryan (a gentle soul) went over to check on him. The kid's ankle had ballooned up to an insanse size in just a minute, suggesting a possible break or sprain. I came over (being an authority on fucked up ankles) and suggested ice. So Ryan and I went to the beer tent to get some ice. A security guard stood in the way. Instead of giving us ice he went to the injured kid and told us to carry him to the tent. I've never seen a man with such a horrific looking ankle injury get up and walk away so quickly in my life. He would slump by the tent later, but that cop scared the shit out of him.
"So who are you a guest of?", he asked us. Thankfully, Tristan was on the phone arranging for us to get guest passes, which we lacked at the time. To be chronologically honest, this part happened before the cocaine, so we had met Karen yet, and could not get our passes. But we would, and we would be fine in the long run.
Things settled down after the coke and cripple. We ended up getting lunch at this vegan place, and I learned that Boca burgers are not only good, but great. Mmmm. While eating there Adam and Ryan get starstruck when the notice that Head Automatica just walked in with Cage in tow. Tristan flips his shit.
Tristan had been given the chance to interview these people, but had pretty much given up hope of them ever getting back to him. Through sheer dumb luck we stumbled upon the gold in the river, and Tristan could perform his interview. Head Automatica was like a huge orgasm waiting to happen to the kid, but Cage, he was another story.
Cage is a white man who raps. He was institutionalized and does many, many drugs. He sings about violence and death and is very graphic with his lyrics. Tristan was convinced that he was going to incur his wrath and leave the show on a stretcher. Reality would defy convention, and it would turn out that Cage was not only a good interview, but really open with our fair lad, in fact giving him the scoop on an unpcoming project that he is working on. Head Automatica was also incredibly cooperative, and Tristan was visibly shaken and smiling after the experience.
More coke, more indy people, more booze, cigs, pot, etc. Orgy of drugs. That card sure got a lot of usage. Mutliple uses. You take the cash out with it, then snort it up. It was time to rock.
Cage went on first. I swear to god he did a line before one of his songs, he was so sedate and contemplative. He was really great. His hype man was kind of a dick, but his name is something akin to "Yak Balls", if not that exact name, so what can you expect?
Head Automatica was just amazing. Their energy and life were stellar, and the crowd just blew up big time for them. My three buddies got to see the show from front and center. I hung back a few rows to film. I went into total self defense mode. I would hold the camera up, then look around, check the picture, look around. I was ready to get hit, but sort of by being so ready to take a hit, my picture suffered. Oh well. It came out pretty well, in fact. The most interesting moment for me had to be when a mosh pit sort of materialized around me, and I had to hold onto the camera for dear life, trying not to hit anyone with it, drop it, or let people hit it. I kept filming, and though you can really only see black forms, you can still hear the music.
The return trip was full of guy talk about the obvious things, and it was very good indeed.
The guitarist from Hatebreed was at the concert too, in the green room with the bands, where we did the interview. He is the scariest man alive.
"I'm gonna burn down your house like a Talking Head" - Cage
-ccm
That was for Head Automatica. They had been off for 6 months thanks to their lead singer's bout with Krohn's disease, but they are back, and in incredibly fine form. I taped their show from right up close, and even with some help from a very determined and drugged out girl named Karen, it was still shaky as fuck.
But hey, let's back up some.
The day began late. Woke up about noonish with no real plan or intent. Well, I had a plan for later, but not at that point. Bummed around for a while before getting the call to action, and before you knew it, and 1 parking ticket from campus safety later, I was on the way to SUNY Purchase for a free show to end all free shows.
Adam, Tristan, and Ryan were my compadres on this journey into the other state, the Empire State, and into infamy. Or so I hoped. We didn't quite become the scourge of SUNY, but we did manage to have quite the interesting time. The drive itself was uneventful, full of traffic and wind, but our arrival was not put off for long, and we made good on our intent to have a great time.
You're dropped off in a strange place, where you know no one and not what to do in case of emergency or trouble. Your only contact is a friend of a friend who has been described to you as "fucking crazy". I asked Tristan if Karen, his friend was , "Kitten killing crazy". He said no. He was right. The first thing she asked us was if we wanted any drugs.
WE go to her room. We have a backpack full of beer and a little bottle or raspberry vodka. Converse Allstars abound, being the shoe of choice for the indy crowd that populated this school like roaches in a subway. These kids, my age and younger, were doing cocaine (The Albino Smurf as Ryan dubbed it) off of a blue credit card, or perhaps it was an ATM card. There's an emblematic quality to that, but I'll let you think about it. They snorted, they drank, they smoked.
The strange thing was that I was expecting people on cocaine to act like they do in movies, which is to say, I expected them to get hit with an immense headrush and suddenly act very hyperactive. It may be the fact that these kids seem to do a lot of coke (or smurf), but they seemed remarkably sedated on the powder. It was very surreal indeed.
To digress from drugs for a minute, we were all very hungry. Being manly men (menly men?) we marched over to the local food shed. The concerts we were there to see, Cage and Head Atuomatica, were being held at an ourtdoor stage set in a green surrounded on all sides by dorms. The green was in turn outlined by food stands selling all sorts of unhealthy things. We opted to split a blooming onion 3 ways. it costed something like 5 dollars. Adam gave the man a 10, and he got 15 back. Somehow, we were making money.
Daughters, or Daughter was on the stage when we hit the green. They are noisy. Grindcore is perhaps their genre, but I cannot say for sure. The one thing that I can say is that their lead singer was fucked out of his mind. "You guys want to see my cock?", he shouted to the crowd. "Too bad. This is a free show. I ain't showing you shit!", her replied to the apathy of the indy audience. There was a major moshpit to the noise coming from the stage, and slight looking man in black, with "Maine" on the back of his hoodie was forcefully propelled a great distance in the air and landed awkwardly upon his ankle. We all kind of ignored him for a bit, but then Ryan (a gentle soul) went over to check on him. The kid's ankle had ballooned up to an insanse size in just a minute, suggesting a possible break or sprain. I came over (being an authority on fucked up ankles) and suggested ice. So Ryan and I went to the beer tent to get some ice. A security guard stood in the way. Instead of giving us ice he went to the injured kid and told us to carry him to the tent. I've never seen a man with such a horrific looking ankle injury get up and walk away so quickly in my life. He would slump by the tent later, but that cop scared the shit out of him.
"So who are you a guest of?", he asked us. Thankfully, Tristan was on the phone arranging for us to get guest passes, which we lacked at the time. To be chronologically honest, this part happened before the cocaine, so we had met Karen yet, and could not get our passes. But we would, and we would be fine in the long run.
Things settled down after the coke and cripple. We ended up getting lunch at this vegan place, and I learned that Boca burgers are not only good, but great. Mmmm. While eating there Adam and Ryan get starstruck when the notice that Head Automatica just walked in with Cage in tow. Tristan flips his shit.
Tristan had been given the chance to interview these people, but had pretty much given up hope of them ever getting back to him. Through sheer dumb luck we stumbled upon the gold in the river, and Tristan could perform his interview. Head Automatica was like a huge orgasm waiting to happen to the kid, but Cage, he was another story.
Cage is a white man who raps. He was institutionalized and does many, many drugs. He sings about violence and death and is very graphic with his lyrics. Tristan was convinced that he was going to incur his wrath and leave the show on a stretcher. Reality would defy convention, and it would turn out that Cage was not only a good interview, but really open with our fair lad, in fact giving him the scoop on an unpcoming project that he is working on. Head Automatica was also incredibly cooperative, and Tristan was visibly shaken and smiling after the experience.
More coke, more indy people, more booze, cigs, pot, etc. Orgy of drugs. That card sure got a lot of usage. Mutliple uses. You take the cash out with it, then snort it up. It was time to rock.
Cage went on first. I swear to god he did a line before one of his songs, he was so sedate and contemplative. He was really great. His hype man was kind of a dick, but his name is something akin to "Yak Balls", if not that exact name, so what can you expect?
Head Automatica was just amazing. Their energy and life were stellar, and the crowd just blew up big time for them. My three buddies got to see the show from front and center. I hung back a few rows to film. I went into total self defense mode. I would hold the camera up, then look around, check the picture, look around. I was ready to get hit, but sort of by being so ready to take a hit, my picture suffered. Oh well. It came out pretty well, in fact. The most interesting moment for me had to be when a mosh pit sort of materialized around me, and I had to hold onto the camera for dear life, trying not to hit anyone with it, drop it, or let people hit it. I kept filming, and though you can really only see black forms, you can still hear the music.
The return trip was full of guy talk about the obvious things, and it was very good indeed.
The guitarist from Hatebreed was at the concert too, in the green room with the bands, where we did the interview. He is the scariest man alive.
"I'm gonna burn down your house like a Talking Head" - Cage
-ccm
posted by CCMAS | 1:23 AM
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