First Quarter 2011 Gigs, Part 1: The Shocking Details, et al

There was The Deftones post, and another one about Mishka Adams, but not much else on the rest of the gigs I’ve attended this year. So far, so good.

Arigato Hato, MEIDAY! MEIDAY!, February 5, 2011; Super Takumar 55m f1.8 adapted to digital EOS

This wasn’t a gig I had any intent to watch, but I found myself in the area with a friend. I’ve always wanted to see Arigato Hato after seeing a couple of their performance videos online, and their set that time did not disappoint.

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“Wicked Temptress” was a pre-Valentine’s Day gig with bands, all female-fronted. That said, there’s a big chance I’ll show up. It was my first time to shoot at Sazi’s, a place I’ve only been to once, back when it was still the semi-legendary Mayric’s.

Fuseboxx, February 11, 2011

The Shocking Details, February 11, 2011

Nyctinasty, February 11, 2011

Faintlight, February 11, 2011

I was with the girls of The Shocking Details, and Nariese, my shoot collaborator/stylist, for the rest of the night. The settings for the camera here was still on manual and custom-set for gig-lighting, so I had to do something I’d usually abhor: I HDR’d it. No matter, I do think it’s good post-gig documentation.

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B-Side is a place I still don’t how to clearly place in the current gig scene, except that it doesn’t look like you’d enjoy if you went alone. I was with Pao, Grace, Jian, and Nariese again. I did take photos of the other bands, but like I said, the venue had a mandatory social vibe to it, so shooting wasn’t really a priority when I was there.

Grace

Jian

Pao

B-Side, Makati City, February 18, 2011

I was honest enough to Jian to tell her that I didn’t feel much for the band when I first saw them last year. These two gigs changed that impression. The Shocking Details needed to be in that raw collective of unsigned bands, the good ones, the sort that any of the more prominent production groups should heap with their line-up sellers. Grace’s garage-tone guitar-control is refreshing to hear, Jian’s drumming pensive but potent, and Pao onstage is a hot singing-and-dancing machine. The songs are short and familiar, but then, I don’t see many bands do this. I didn’t have the music they listen to in my music library, but two bands came to mind, not necessarily because of similarity of sound: Best Coast and Land of Talk.

Part 2 of this post-series covers a sexy girl-group, and college band-battle.