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Monday, March 31st
.6:24pm.. Lupe Fiasco Again
I have been getting a strangely large number of emails requesting the Lupe Fiasco photos from the show at CiRCA and I just want to let everyone know that they are totally coming. In the meantime you can check out The National Post website for a review of the show as well as a few new photos from it. Click HERE to check that out.
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Friday, March 28th
.11:28pm.. Lupe Fiasco
Last night I photographed the Lupe Fiasco show at CiRCA and it was so good. He went on just before 10 and finished at 1am, which is three solid hours of amazing performance. The show also featured Matthew Santos, as well as a whole band including two keyboardists, drums, bass, guitar, and a DJ.
Here are a few photos I took during the soundcheck with Lupe and Matthew Santos earlier in the day. One thing that can be said about Lupe's love of performing is that including myself, the sound guy, and the bartenders, there were probably only 7 people watching the soundcheck and he was still running around the stage and going all out as if the place was packed, which I thought was really cool to see. He also had to stop himself at one point because they were going to be opening the doors right away. Im pretty sure if that didnt happen he would have just kept on going.
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Wednesday, March 26th
.1:44am.. Ladyhawk
I shot the Ladyhawk show this past Saturday at The Horseshoe Tavern. Ladyhawk are amazing to watch play, and the crowd participation was amazing. A few guys were splashing beer all over everyone near the front and no one was complaining at all. Check out a few photos below.
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Tuesday, March 25th
.7:37pm.. atticusclothing.com.
I was asked recently if I would like to be added to the Atticus Clothing website as one of their sponsored artists and I was just told this morning that the page is up and running. Click on the screenshot below to go and check it out. Its pretty sweet.
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Monday, March 24th
.11:24pm.. Said The Whale/Black Lungs
Here are a few photos I took at The Horseshoe during Canadian Music Week of a band called Said The Whale, as well as some of Black Lungs. I have a few other things to post over the next few days/weeks including a birthday party I shot for Chris Bosh from the Toronto Raptors, and a Kidrobot fashion show.
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Friday, March 21st
.4:58pm.. Greta Constantine
Well, it is Fashion Week here in Toronto and this past Thursday I photographed the Greta Constantine fashion show at CiRCA. It went really well with a much larger turnout than expected. They built a huge mirrored runway which looked amazing. Check out a few shots below.
Last night was David Guetta and the place was packed. Tonight there is a Kid Robot fashion show which is looking pretty sweet from what I have seen so far.
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Tuesday, March 18th
.4:58pm.. Fuze Issue #9
A few days ago I posted an update about this cool magazine in Germany called Fuze and how they used one of my This Is Hell photos for this months cover but that I wouldnt be able to post shots of the mag until I got it in the mail. Well today they sent me the PDF version of the magazine so now I can post the pages with my photos in them. They used a second This Is Hell photo for the feature on the band, as well as one of City and Colour, The Reason, and Every Time I Die. Check those out below.
Something else worth mentioning is a photo I took of Jose Gonzalez is Chart Magazine's photo of the week. Check that out HERE
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Tuesday, March 18th
.1:03am.. Justice
Last night I was fortunate enough to photograph Justice at The Sounds Academy. Check out some of the photos below.
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Monday, March 17th
.10:56am.. Fuze Magazine Issue #9
This is just a quick note for anyone who happens to be checking my site from Germany. You should check out Issue #9 of Fuze Magazine which I believe is out now. The cover is a photo I took of This Is Hell which is pretty cool. I believe there are also some photos in there that I took of City & Colour, Every Time I Die, and The Reason. I wish I had photos of the magazine to post right now but since it is from Germany it usually takes a while for me to get copies of it. When those arrive I will be sure to post something about it though.
This is my second cover photo for Fuze and my third time having a photo used. Its pretty awesome to have your photo published on the cover of a magazine, even if you cant read a single word in the thing. I should take up German just so I can know what the hell they are talking about.
Now on a totally different note, while I am mentioning This Is Hell, they are playing here in Toronto at The Kathedral this Friday. I am definitely going to try to check that show out since This Is Hell totally rule, and I havent seen them in a while now because they ended up having to drop off the Gallows/Cancer Bats tour back in February. Tonight I am going to be shooting Justice for Chart Magazine, which I imagine will be a good time. I will try to post some photos from that right away.
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Saturday, March 15th
.4:45pm.. moreproof.com.
Last night I photographed the More Proof party at the Drake Hotel for my friend Johnny. Red Fox was there and the place was pretty packed. Click the photo below to check out the set on the More Proof website.
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Wednesday, March 12th
.9:26pm.. Johnny Truant/CMW.
Here are some photos of Johnny Truant from the CMW show at The Reverb. It was a pretty insane show which reached capacity really early on in the evening. I was really excited to see Johnny Truant play since they have been back home in England for the last year writing and recording their new album and I really missed them a lot. I will point out once again that their new album is coming out early May and it is totally mind blowing how good it is.
Check back over the next few days because I will be posting some more photos of the other bands from the show as well. Friday I am shooting the More Proof dance party at The Drake Hotel for my friend Johnny Hockin which should be pretty fun.
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Monday, March 10th
.11:48pm.. Truant/Holly Springs on Much Music.
I will probably be posting a lot of Johnny Truant and Holly Springs Disaster photos in the coming week because I have been processing them since the show this past thursday and they are looking so sweet. I cant wait to get them all finished up. For now here are a few photos I took backstage while Much Music interviewed members of both bands.
Funny story to go along with this. In between the Truant and Holly Springs interviews, they did one with some of the dudes in The End. While they were doing that interview, myself, Paul and Allen from Johnny Truant had discovered that there was a big pile of unopened cases of what looked like an energy drink of some sort, so we tried to sneakily open one of the cases and try them out while no one was looking. Right after we opened the cans and started drinking what turned out to be the worst energy drink ever (Definitely had Jimi Hendrix on it) we all looked back and realized that we were right in the background of the interview... So basically if you see it on TV, you may very well see us stealing in the background. It turned out that they were for the bands anyway though, so we didnt really steal.
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Sunday, March 9th
.10:59pm.. No Fucking Tears.
Canadian Music Week is over as of yesterday. Last night I braved the storms here in Toronto to make my way to The Horseshoe Tavern to see my good friends in Said The Whale, Black Lungs, and The Saint Alvia Cartel play at the Chart Magazine showcase. The turnout started out a little less than expected earlier in the evening due to the snow but right around the time when The Saint Alvia Cartel went on the place really filled up.
I am still processing all of the photos from the weekend but I wanted to share this one I took at the Johnny Truant show on Thursday. Ollie was so excited about these amp covers they made for the tour. They look pretty awesome.
Johnny Truant have a new album called "No Tears For The Creatures" which is coming out near the beginning of May. I heard the album and it is so crazy good so look forward to that.
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Friday, March 7th
.11:56pm.. Hey Ocean!.
It seems as though I am photographing a lot of Vancouver bands this week. Wednesday was Black Mountain, and tonight I was fortunate enough to check out a band called Hey Ocean!. Im terrible at describing a bands musical style in words, but their myspace says they are indie/pop/funk which sounds about right. Combine that with a little bit of totally awesome and it sums it right up.
Tomorrow I will be heading to the Horseshoe Tavern to take photos of another band from Vancouver called Said The Whale. Also playing tomorrow at The Horseshoe will be The Saint Alvia Cartel who are amazing, as well as Black Lungs who I am pretty excited to see. Black Lungs are Wade MacNeil from Alexisonfire's "side project". It will be my first time seeing Wade perform outside of Alexisonfire and it should be a good time. Good things to come.
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Thursday, March 6th
.8:38pm.. Black Mountain.
As I mentioned in my last post, I had a shoot with Black Mountain yesterday here in Toronto. I was with the band for a few hours leading up to the show. We did a photo shoot after their soundcheck and then I just did some candid photos in the time leading up to the show. All of the band members were extremely shy and didnt really like getting their photo taken at all which made for an interesting time for sure. I think I managed to relax them enough to get some good photos out of the whole ordeal.
I also shot the show which aside from the total lack of lighting in Lee's Palace, was really awsome to watch. Black Mountain have an amazingly full, heavy rock sound especially considering they only have one guitar, one bass, and a keyboard. I said it before and I will say it again, go check out their music at myspace.com/blackmountain. Here are a photos I took before the show during soundcheck and backstage while the band was visiting with their families and friends. I will post more photos when the magazine I shot them for comes out in the next month or so.
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Tuesday, March 4th
.11:55pm.. The Hour.
Dallas Green was on The Hour tonight and they used a photo I took of him for the bio as well as in the background during the interview. I think this is the first time I have had a photo on TV so thats kinda cool.
Here are a few screenshots from the show. Vanessa was there so go check out her blog for some real photos from that.
Tomorrow I am doing a photoshoot with Black Mountain from Vancouver. It should be really fun.
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Sunday, March 2nd
.4:27pm.. A few random updates.
I just got word the other day that I am being flown out to Calgary Alberta during the Juno Awards in April to photograph the Rockstar Hotel party the night before. I will be there the whole weekend so it should be a good time and I am sure I will end up with many a fun photo to share.
I have been trying to shoot less concerts lately so I can spend more time focusing on a few other opportunities that have been coming my way lately including a few portrait and band photoshoots, as well as a website for an amazing painter named Rob Baytor which is going to look so awesome when its done. I am also redoing my own website which will finally include an actual portfolio gallery. Keep checking back and I will post lots of new things as they continue to happen. Its going to be a fun and exciting next few months.
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Sunday, March 2nd
.3:32pm.. Bob Sinclar.
Last night I was back at CiRCA to photograph French DJ Bob Sinclar and I have to say, I have never seen a DJ get as huge an entrance as this guy had. The number of people in that club for him was insane. The maximum capacity for the venue is just under 3000 people, and at one point I was told that they had to turn people away because they had reached that limit. Thats one wild and crazy dance party, and all for him. I met him briefly before he went on and he was a really nice guy.
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