Seven Stories…Justina Villanueva

Photographer: Justina Villanueva
Site: justinav.info
Based in: Weehawken, NJ

ONE

Spring, 2008. It’s my very first experience touring. We’re only a couple days in and I’ve already experienced what happens when a van breaks down in the middle of Ohio. I can vaguely remember the drive to Romeo, Michigan. Well, I remember then-Psyopus vocalist Harrison Christie losing his phone … in his shoe (to be fair, the boy practically wears clown shoes).

The single most important event of the day, however, was eating Caesar’s Pizza ($5 for a pie ain’t no joke). In the small city of Romeo, Fall Out Boy played earlier in the day. To Psyopus’ luck, a bunch of kids from that show came to see what was happening on their main street. As you can imagine, people who like Fall Out Boy don’t like music and really don’t give a shit about noodly avant-garde metal. Harrison wore the head to some kid’s chicken costume for a couple minutes, which wasn’t very funny in 2008 but is somehow hilarious today. To me, this photo really sums up that day and my initial experience with touring: passing time in small cities and living on cheap food.

——

TWO

Summer, 2008. This was just a couple months after my first tour with Psyopus. This time I went for the long haul, a full month circling the country. Towards the end of the tour everyone was best friends and most of the guys lost total control of their heterosexuality. No matter how dead the shows were though, the night always turned out alright. Most nights Fuck the Fact’s bassist Hibbs (left) and a couple of the guys in War from a Harlots Mouth would get sloshed on O’Douls (seriously) and party their asses off. The last show in Allentown, PA invited absolute debauchery, including breaking strings on purpose, flipping each other over and giving each other neck rubs (during sets). The last night of any tour for me has been a mix of “fuck yeah I’m finally going home” and “shit I’m gonna miss these weirdos”. This night ended with 10 people sleeping on the floor of my parents’ tiny two bedroom apartment (there was no walking space).

I had a hard time picking which photo to use from that night. There’s a lot of really silly moments to choose from. I choose this one because I recently learned that bass strings are expensive. That night Hibbs just handed his bass out for everyone to play with and when he got it back, the strings were shredded. It looked like spaghetti on a piece of bass-shaped wood.

THREE

April, 2008. Meet my heroes: Harold and Morris. At 89 and 91 these two WWII veterans found friendship at Montclair State University. Harold is a bit more hyper than Morris. He always found time to say nice things to pretty girls and hand out peppermint mints to people in the hallway on his way to class. I followed these guys for a semester just before I graduated. Looking at pictures of them absolutely breaks my heart because I remember how much fun we all had. Some of the best times I had in my last semester was talking with Harold and Morris about life and watching them interact. They would help each other put their bookbags on and call each other “old fart”. They talked about their wives, doctors appointments, the awful parking lots at school, current events, their teachers, but never the war.

FOUR

Summer 2009. On tour with Mayhem, Cephalic Carnage, Cattle Decapitation and Withered. The Seattle show was probably hands down the best time of the entire tour (and this was a 24/7 party tour). I don’t remember much of the show or the later part of the night. I spent the afternoon with Lenzig (Cephalic Carnage) and his son in downtown Seattle. Some of the more fun of touring for me is meeting people’s families. We spent what felt like a couple hours getting to and from the space needle. Once we got back to the show, I really forgot I was on tour. I reached a point where I didn’t want to watch music. So back on the bus I went, where there was a surplus of craft beer (someone’s friend just opened a brewery and brought them for the bands). Now I remember the ol’ tale of how everyone got so drunk that day.

At some point in the night or late afternoon I found myself in a van with Withered and Joe from Book of Black Earth. From there was all purple vodka shots, Seattle club scene, a 40 of PBR and a box of cereal. There was a lot of bizarre and funny, but really its all a blur. This photo doesn’t seem like much of a story (a long line to a show), but it marks the mid-point of an extremely long day.

FIVE

Summer 2010. Watching Gorguts and Portal three times in one week ruined music for me. Shows have not been the same since. I was blown away in a way I haven’t felt in a long time. It was an experience. In the words of Ammo, many of us were straight up “giddy”. Portal play death metal in a way that is absurd and stunning at the same time.

This photo was taken at the first Gorguts show of that short tour in Boston. Seeing Colin and Kevin play with Luc felt triumphant. I’m really happy those dudes get to play in one of their favorite bands. For me, it’s like if National Geographic called me up and was like “Hey, wanna be on staff?” Fuck yeah. And to top it off, Luc Lemay is one of the coolest people in the world. He’s one of the most brutal guys in ALL death metal, yet he was on stage wearing a fucking fanny pack and mandals.

SIX

My absolute favorite part of MDF 2011 was Voivod. Yeah sure: Aura Noir, Wormed, Inquisition, etc etc. For me it was all about Voivod. They sounded killer and probably had more fun on stage than any other band did in the history of deathfest. They weren’t the youngest people playing deathfest this year. But geez. I don’t think anyone could have outrun Blackie. Not only did he stage dive from the main stage (and nearly give all the security guards heart attacks in the process), right after their set he handed out water to everyone who would take one. What a sweetie pie, right?

SEVEN

Meeting Black Anvil has been one of the better perks of my idiotic band photography career. They are really genuine, funny and inspiring. This photo was taken at Sonar in Baltimore. Black Anvil was playing with Withered and Marduk as part of a 3 day string of shows. I overheard them talking about ‘Stepbrothers’ and how it was the best movie in the world. I knew from that point on they were solid dudes. A day or two later I started talking to them about how they started Black Anvil. Gary talked about how some hardcores get older and start playing acoustic sets. He said that with age he just wanted to play harder and harder, he didn’t want “to mellow out”. As bleak as it sounds, that made me incredibly happy. I’m with you dude.

Runner-ups: Incantation at MDF 2010, The Austerity Program at the Knitting Factory, The Binary Code at Brighton Beach, Psyopus in Russia, Meek is Murder at Lit …