Photographer: Phil Maier
Site: goutroy.blogspot.com, Flickr
Based in: New York
ONE
Caroliner @ California College of the Arts, San Francisco
This was the first show that I ever photographed. Caroliner is a band that has existed for over 25 years on the fringes of the San Francisco avant-garde scene. Their music is a bewildering puree of industrial, folk, bluegrass and punk. Their live shows are surreal experiences that fall somewhere between a Dr. Seuss book come to life and a Muppet’s acid flashback. At this show at the CCA in SF, every inch of the stage was covered in day-glo painted paper and cardboard – sometimes in patterns, sometimes haphazardly strewn about, sometimes in vaguely organic papier mache forms. Each member of the band donned psychedelic full-body costumes and instruments which blended seamlessly with the vivid colors on the stage. The room was illuminated with blacklights and the band attacked their instruments, resulting in complete disorientation and absolute visual and audio cacophony. At any given moment, band and stage were as one; the only way to tell the two apart was that the band were the ones thrashing around. It was an interesting introduction to my hobby of band photography, as the colorful chaos often rendered it impossible for my camera to actually focus – but then, my naked eye could barely focus on any one thing either.
TWO
Spectrum @ Hemlock Tavern, San Francisco
This was Spectrum’s first show as a proper band in about 15 years. While Sonic Boom would perform solo under the Spectrum moniker, those shows were spacey electronic affairs which were great for creating tripped-out atmosphere, but lacked the punch and the noise that a full band could provide. The Hemlock show was a warm-up for their gig two days later, opening for My Bloody Valentine at the SF Concourse Center. It was an intimate affair (or at least as intimate as heavy guitar feedback, effects pedals, and electronic noise could accommodate). The band performed several Spacemen 3 songs (I think this particular photo was taken during Transparent Radiation). It was a pretty intense but blissful experience, as I was lucky enough to secure a place at the very front, right next to Sonic Boom’s synthesizer. I was able to take dozens of decent close-up photos, making the subsequent two days of tinnitus well worth it.
THREE
Jay Reatard @ The Independent, San Francisco
This show was the first time I saw Jay Reatard perform his solo material. I had seen his previous band, Lost Sounds, several times, and their lo-fi, unrefined garage-synth-punk solidified them as one of my all-time favorite bands. Reatard’s solo material is more stripped-down but every bit as raucous, and this show highlighted his ability as a frontman. He held the audience captive, and we scarcely had time to breathe as he would tear relentlessly into one song after another. He stopped only briefly between songs to state the next one’s title before it started in an explosion of guitars and angst-ridden vocals. Some tracks were performed at a breakneck speed almost twice the tempo of their recorded counterparts. It was a bit hard to get good photos without a flash (this was pretty much the only decent one I was able to take), because the music controlled Reatard, demanding that he thrash around the stage in a constant blur of gangly limbs and rust-orange hair.
FOUR
Cult of Youth @ Wierd, NYC
If Death In June decided to write sea shanties, they would probably sound like Cult of Youth. The band use acoustic guitars, synths, and a violin atop an intense rhythm section to forge a unique blend of punk, neofolk, and darkwave. Their live shows are particularly powerful; frontman Sean Ragon’s is truly at home on the stage as he thrashes about, vocals piercing through the music with tribal shrieks one moment and guttural howls the next and. Their recent LP – their debut as a full band – is among the best albums so far this year. This photograph of Ragon as he attacks his guitar is from the release show for that album at the Wierd party in New York.
FIVE
Sixteens @ The Knockout, San Francisco
The Sixteens are one of the last remaining vestiges of the amazingly fertile and sadly short-lived San Francisco darkwave and deathrock scene of the early 2000s. Having long outlasted contemporaries such as The Vanishing, Spector Protector, Black Ice and Crack (We Are Rock), the reclusive duo still records and quietly releases albums and plays a few shows a year. The band’s presence on stage is one of focus and determination and unbridled artistry, with abstract videos projected on them as they perform. Every instrument – from guitars to synths to old drum machines and tape players – is played through effects pedals. Their sound is electronic and abstract and noisy, and is about as dense as a duo can sound. At this show at the Knockout in San Francisco, the band managed to engage the crowd while pretending they didn’t exist. I particularly like the intensity of singer/guitarist/synth player Kristen Louise in this photo, as she stares with delirious intensity over and past the audience, directly into the lights of the unseen video projector.
SIX
Frank (Just Frank) @ Wierd, NYC
The weekly Wierd party in Manhattan’s Lower East Side books some pretty excellent local and international bands that rarely, if ever, make their way across the United States. Frank (Just Frank) is one such band. Initially based in France, the group now calls Brooklyn home after singer/guitarist Anthem moved to the states. The band’s authentic style of coldwave – heavy on the electronic drums and jagged guitars, and dripping with atmosphere – has garnered them a wide variety of fans. At this particular show there was a large black metal contingent, as well as punks, goths, hipsters and new wavers. This was the band’s first show since relocating to the US, and even though the new lineup was a bit loose at times, it worked in their favor by making the show urgent and visceral.
SEVEN
Xeno and Oaklander @ Public Assembly, Brooklyn
Xeno and Oaklander’s first official show in nearly a year was part of the Northside Festival in Williamsburg and Greenpoint in Brooklyn. They debuted about half a dozen new songs they’d been working on during that hiatus. Few bands are able to build their sound almost exclusively on a foundation of vintage electronic instruments without sounding contrived. Xeno and Oaklander avoid that trapping by being excellent songwriters. They are analog synthesizer purists, but allow their musical style to be equally informed by synthpop, goth, punk, and even early Detroit techno. The combination of Liz Wendelbo’s ethereal voice and Sean McBride’s gruff, vaguely European vocal affectation makes for one of the best vocal duos in all darkwave music. Like all their performances, this show provoked the crowd to transform into an ocean of moving bodies, proving that goths, nerds, and hipsters are all equally capable of dancing like fools if disarmed by the right music. Because of the sheer amount of vintage equipment they bring to their shows, photos of their performances practically serve as synthesizer porn. I only wish this photo showed a bit more of Sean’s synths, which were connected by an impenetrable mess of wires and cables.
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