1
The Dame: Bang Camaro & Leslie
This past Tuesday, March 31, I was lucky enough to shoot Bang Camaro and Leslie at The Dame. After contacting Bang Camaro’s GM I was put in contact with their lead guitarist, and one of the founders, Alex Necochea who gave me the go-ahead to shoot both of the bands however much I wanted. Working at an Arena, one of my jobs is to work with photographers at concerts and make sure they stick to their restrictions (which is usually the first three songs of each band). Having free reign to shoot whatever sort of felt like more than I deserved, and definitely more than I expected. Nevertheless, I was stoked about it. Opening for Band Camaro was the band Leslie, which is an alternative rock band from Charleston, SC. The band consists of Sadler Vaden on guitar and vocals, Jason Fox on bass, and Jonathan Carman on drums.
I got in early to the show and saw Leslie doing soundchecks which included them playing one of their songs. The sound of the band immediately caught my attention and left me in anticipation for their whole set when the show started. The thing I noticed the most about Leslie is that each of their songs has a very unique tempo and sound, yet still fits an overall sound that is truly their own. From a photographer’s standpoint, the lighting provided some interesting shots. Concert lighting is always the harshest and most challenging to shoot in, and this proved to be no different. That being said, once I found my groove and made my adjustments on my camera, then I was able to get some photos that I am really pleased with. Below is a sample of three shots from Leslie’s set.
You can view the rest of the photos I took in the Leslie set on my Flickr. Be warned, most are very red, since the lighting was very red. I chose to keep much of the natural light instead of removing it post-process since I think it gives the image a lot of personality that you don’t get with more neutral colors.
Following Leslie was the headliner for the night, Band Camaro. The band consisted of nine members, which amazingly enough is actually less than usual. I would best describe their music as late 70s to early 80s rock, although they can’t really be bottled into something quite that specific.
The stage was quickly filled with numerous band members when Band Camaro’s set began. The band consists of founders and lead guitarists Alex Necochea and Bryn Bennett, Dave ‘Doz’ Riley on bass, Peter McCarthy on drums, and five singers that make up the chorus. All of their vocals are sung by a chorus, which is rather unique, and lends a raw yet harmonious sound to each of their songs. Going into the show I was already a big Bang Camaro fan and owned both of their albums. I first found out about them through the game Rock Band, where I absolutely could not stop playing their song “Pleasure (Pleasure).” From a shooting point of view, these guys knew how to strike some great poses which set up for some cool photos. Guitars were in the air, heads were being banged, and the intensely colored lights provided some deeply saturated photo ops for me to capture. Below is a small sampling of some of the photos I took.
You can view the rest of the photos I took in the appropriately named Band Camaro set on my Flickr. I was happy with the shots I was able to get, and really enjoyed the whole experience more than anything. Not only was it good photography experience, but it was great being able to shoot a band that I am a fan of.
In closing, I must mention how down-to-earth and cool the members of both bands are. I met up with a few of them after the show and was able to chat with them some. Again, back to my day job working at an arena, too often do I see musical artists that have become incredibly conceded and take off their performer mask when they leave the stage to become a jerk. This was not at all the case with Bang Camaro or Leslie. They seemed to all be having a blast performing on stage and enjoying the whole tour experience, and were happy to talk about it with any fans. Special thanks to Alex of Bang Camaro for letting me photograph both bands, checking to make sure to I was able to get in the venue, and for putting on a great show.
Bang Camaro 03-31-09: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulmhooper/collections/72157616286728232/
Paul M. Hooper is an internationally published photographer living in Lexington, Kentucky. He shoots shows at various venues in Kentucky and neighboring states, as well as traveling around the country shooting models portraits. Mostly though, he's just an average dude with a passion for music, art and clicking the shutter of his camera.
April 14th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Awesome!