The Little Black Dress(best kept secret)

Standing with my camera at the Habitat for humanity gig at the Steam Whistle brewery I finish shoot the 2 bands I was commissioned to shoot and a humble dude asked me to shoot his band The Little black dress. Im like sure. The band was up and in 1 song I was Very Interested by the time they played ‘Call the paparazzi’ I was hooked For life. With the Jazzy sazzel and hints of this and that with intelligent and sassy lyrics did not feel like you were chewing through POP gruel. This little band had a distinct sound and polished showcase early on. Maybe all good bands do, have a hook and a feel of cohesion from the folks playing their part of the TEAM and playing exactly the right amount. I have seen even big bands where the guitar player or the drummer or whoever want to show off what they can do, or worse yet are just mailing it in lackluster effort to collect BEER money. One of the best little Secrets in this town this city(Toronto), The little Black dress delivers is really tasty and instantly loveable songs. They had a following that night of about 6 girls screaming admiration and buying the simple printed T shirts. I flexed my photographic muscle that time and got the images to them in a few days. The Singer and one of the main members of The Little Black dress, Dan Sadowski is a fun and genuine guy. They were very happy with the photos and it was an easy friendship with great guys. Next time was at the Rancho Relaxo on college street and another stellar show and nice rip though some songs in the downtime i had grown to love and desired to hear live again. Songs like “4 on the floor” and are definitely an instantly love type thing instead of just another song. They pour their heart and soul into the songs and I hope and know The little black dress will be around for a good long time to come! The band is ever evolving and with Dan(guitar/vocals) and Lewis(Drums/BkVocals) and the addition of keyboards softened and brightened the tones a bit with a broader soundscape it is seeming there is nothing this Little band cannot do, world domination through sexy sweet swinging tunes , I think so. If you get a chance check out the little black dress live or or worst case Online. See you soon guys, can’t wait!

Motörhead : Another Tube of Super Glue

With 40 years of music and playing and being a revered GOD of metal Lemmy ‘Ian Fraser’ Kilmiester has surely done it all. He and his band make my top experiences in music and thrill me to no end to have been with these guys for a short time in feb 2011. Motorhead rolled into Kitchener Feb 26th 2011 looking to deafen the new blood waiting to see them for the first time. After a resistance by a doorman on who we were and what we were doing we got in and set up in the venue checking gear and seeing what was available for angles to shoot from same for any show really. Opening the show was Valiant Thor and then Clutch before Motorhead themselves. The shows were identical set list and organization between Kitchener and the next show Toronto on Feb 27th 2011. Toronto offered a bigger venue and larger crowd, and you could just feel their anticipation for GOD himself to take the stage. I was shooting the crown on high and some energetic guy made an incredible leap for my camera strap which was hanging down, just missing it like a wild dog for food. We both looked at each other and chuckled but i was not in the mood to play tug of war with a fan over my camera during a rowdy rock and roll show. Refocusing myself I turned around and got ready for Lemmy to take the stage, I was testing wide angles and seeing how close I could get my lens to the man himself. I put my camera on a pole and fired it remotely which proved to be hit and miss due to the distance i needed and the trigger not working how I had hoped but I was fortunate enough just to get it firing but just hitting a slow burst mode and letting it grabe frames whilst I raised it. over my head and close to lemmy. I got a few good frames and began to go back to shooting by hand when i feel a tap tap on my shoulder, I get a stage manager giving me a s hand wavy motion, assuming no more close shots(camera was about 4’ from lemmy). I was told later on backstage by my friend and who worked for motorhead that lemmy stopped a show when he was hit by a water bottle from the audience, not the same thing but I get while they would be protective of anything that would interfere with the talent. Our 3 songs over the pit photographers were ushered out of the pit then I was free to roam around backstage/side stage me and JohnPaul from Clutch were chatting about motor head and micky “D’s” juggernaut approach, John Paul of Clutch being no slouch himself on the skins. Waiting for Some more photo work backstage I seen some interesting but regular things and some young forty year old female who had to be shown the door. Moving right along Lemmy came out to see me and the friend I was with and we had a long chat about where we grew up and how he said be we were happy we moved away from there in jest. Talked about his custom boots and his love of militaria and his knights cross. At that point a friend grabbed my camera and and took a off the hip picture , Lemmy said he’s getting away and that set us roaring. We did not want to keep our host too long a few more jokes and we took our leave and packed up and left. Having been treated to a few days with people that it is usually a bit harder to meet day to day, you have to come back down off that high and hunt for the next tube of superglue, hoping to see this great group again some day, until next time.