Which bands are on your list of past/present clients?
Oh jeez that list is WAY too long. I have a list of clients on my Myspace that goes on forever, as this would too. Pretty much every big ska band still around and then some! Last year I did a lot of album art work / promo for Big D, Westbound Train, & Royal City Riot. I shot both the "Harvest of Hope" Fest and "The Fest" in Florida, Warped Tour, Ska is Dead & Stomp Records showcase in Canada. I took photos for JuiceBox Clothes too, that was a lot of fun! I shot numerous promo and live band photos in addition to that, but there's too many to list.
Which bands have you toured with?
I went on the Big D / Set Your Goals / Against All Authority / Anti-flag tour in 2006. I went on the first Streetlight Manifesto tour with ASOB in 2003. I went on a mini tour with The Flaming Tsunamis last January... and another with them, The Fad, Stuck Lucky & High School Football Heroes in 2006. Then High School Football Heroes / Bum Ruckus / Suburban Legends. I've actually done many tours with High School Football Heroes and Too Short Notice back in the day. Touring is definitely a lot of fun, and I recommend it to anyone who gets the opportunity! It's like camping in a new place every night and you meet a lot of amazing people!
You shoot a lot of ska bands, would you say that's your favourite genre? What types of music do you mainly enjoy listening to?
I guess ska is my favorite genre by default. I have a lot of friends in the scene, and I always enjoy being able to go watch them play when they come to town. In general I enjoy most music, which is pretty vague, but it's true. I like a lot of top 40's pop songs, a little emo, some rap, rock, swing, doowop, jazz... and the list goes on!
How did the Ska Calendar 2009 come about and how did the fans and bands react to it?
I wanted to do a calendar for many years. As I became more and more friendly with bands it became very real. Then one day I was at a Big D show and I was telling them my idea, and they encouraged me to follow through with it. Later that week I took the first photo for the calendar, of them at the old NYC Knitting Factory for the month of October. It came out great and motivated me to keep pushing the project.The bands were all really excited to be a part of it, especially because it sold internationally. I even started a section on TheSkaCalendar.com called "WTSM" which stands for "What the Scene Means". I was able to get a lot of people from the ska community to talk about the scene, which also received a lot of positive feedback. I also got a TON of emails, Myspace comments, and Facebook messages from kids also who bought it and loved it, which was really awesome.
Did you make a ska calendar for this year?
I decided not to print another one for this year because it was extremely time consuming and costly. I had a bigger workload last year than in previous years and couldn't keep up with it. I might try and do one again in the future, but no definite plans as of yet!
Who has been your favourite band to work with?
That's a tough one. I'm probably going to have to say Big D, because they have been the most instrumental in my career. My first black and white photos of a band photos that I took for my high school class were of Big D. The very first time I met them in Boston they gave me my first photo pass, which I thought was so cool. They took me on tour, have always used me for their promotional photos, and have recommended me to other clients. They even remember to call me on my birthday! They're some of the greatest people I've met doing photography, and when I do get to work with them it's always a treat. They also always have creative ideas of their own, which is great for collaboration.
And which 'new' bands on the scene would you recommend we check out?
For 2009, I had 3 favorite albums that I couldn't stop listening to were newer bands. Definitely check out The Expos from Toronto, Royal City Riot from Long Island, the both put out their second albums last year that are phenomoinal! Also Fun.'s album "Aim & Ignition" was one of my favorites. They aren't a ska band, but have members of the Format, Steel Train & Anathallo, so you can't go wrong!
Tell us which shoot was the most challenging?
I don't know if anyone has had a chance to pick up David McWane's book, The Gypsy Mile, but there's a series of photos in it where we both almost died. Dave had me set up between two sets of train tracks, and said there was a good distance that we could cover without the train coming near us. He was very wrong to say the least, and in the last possible moment we were both diving out of the way! There are a series of photos of the train quickly approaching that I made as a joke, and he ended up putting them, and the story of our adventure, in his book!
And which one has been the most fun?
That's a difficult question. There's been many times when doing a shoot I stopped and looked around, and realized how lucky I was to be doing what I was doing at that moment. I definitely feel very fortunate to have the experiences and memories that I do. The memory that most sticks out in my head might be The Pietasters Booze Cruise, 2008 in particular because it was my first year on the cruise. The Pietasters are rowdy to begin with, and their fans are worse! They make the band look like light drinkers! Picture being on a tiny 80 person capacity boat with booze flying, the boat tossing, and everyone everywhere falling all over! It was like a movie, whenever the boat swayed, people fell and started sliding across the floor. I was on there with all of my equipment, trying my best to avoid flying booze, and being knocked over by falling people. It was well worth it in the end, nothing broke and I had one of the best nights of my life!
