Episode Phive: The Supervillains @ Flamingo Cantina (Austin, TX) 6.11.09

There's nothing more I hate than going to a show where the attendance isn't where it should be. Especially when it's one of my favorite bands. Last Thurday night the Supervillains played at Flamingo Cantina in Austin, TX. Unfortunately their show was competing with the fear that "confirmed tornadoes" in the area inflicted on Austinites. Shit, on the way to the show (with my brother and father in-law) I almost said "Fuck it" too! But....the fact that my camera had been in the shop for over a month and I was going through concert withdrawals kept me on the straight and narrow. It was an ugly 16 mile drive but we did it!

When we arrived downtown it was still raining cats and dogs. We sat in the van smoking cigarettes waiting for the rain to die down. With a $1900 camera and a few lenses I wasn't going to risk the short (but super rainy) walk to Flamingo Cantina. I meant to find a trash bag (before I left the house) to wrap my gear in because my backpack isn't waterproof.

Fuck! Wait...wait...wait!

Smoke...smoke...smoke...

Finally we got a break in the weather and we broke for the venue.

When we got to the door I was pleasantly surprised that Jonathan "Smally" Cestero (sax player for The Supervillains) hooked me up with a +2 so we didn't have to pay cover! Werd! Thanks Smally!

I felt a little bad because I completely missed Fayuca due to the horrible drive into Austin...sorry guys. I'll catch you on the flipside! After drying off and grabbing a beer we sat down to listen to Doco (Raleigh, NC) rocking the "smaller than normal" crowd. Their sound was kind of like a reggae-rock-funk fusion. I am glad I caught their set. They are definitely one of those bands you have to catch live otherwise you aren't getting the full experience. To top it off they are cool with one of my favorite local bands here in Austin, Full Service. As a matter of fact, Twinky-P (of Full Service) was there to show his support for Doco.

My hats off to those that braved the storm to get there. Stupid? Maybe we are. Music lovers? Definitely!

Rook (Austin, TX) pleasantly surprised me. These guys were awesome! Were have they been hiding? Or where have I been hiding. I shoot Flamingo Cantina quite often and hadn't seen these guys play until this evening. If you get a chance check these guys out! I hate comparing bands to other bands, unless they are a cover band. To me it is insulting so I just don't do it.

The Supervillains put on a hell of a show! I could tell the SV's were a bit bummed about the weather fucking up the numbers, but the people who showed up had a good time! The last time I saw them was at Stubb's BBQ in 2008 with Passafire and Pepper (Here Comes the LAW Tour). Seeing them in a smaller venue was kind of cool. I almost didn't care about the photography (for a minute or two) because catching a show at Flamingo Cantina is an experience. It's an intimate, quaint little venue in an alley (converted and upgraded obviously) with a cool balcony. Any seat in the house givesyou a great view of the band. On top of that they sell the BIG bottles of Red Stripe! Reeeeeeddddddddd Striiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipppppe <-----insert your Jamaican accent here!

I am not a writer so you will probably catch me using a lot of slang, cussing, making grammatical errors (both ignorantly and on purpose) and just telling it how I see it. This is supposed to be more of a behind the scenes blog of a live music photographer. I can't describe songs or bands as vividly as Spin writers do, so I will just let my pictures do the talking in that department. I just thought it would be cool to document my outings from start to finish. Most people think you just walk in and shoot and a lot of times it isn't that simple, especially at the larger venues.

Shooting (photography) at Flamingo Cantina is never an easy task...we are talking ISO around 1600-2000 (almost guaranteed grain)...shutter speeds around 50-120 and the lowest f-stop you can come with. I happen to rock a f/1.4 and an f/2.8 everytime I go there but I usually leave on the f/1.4 because I can use the extra stoppage. For those of you who aren't familiar with these terms it just means the shoot is going to be a pain in the ass, especially if the band moves around at all. Oh yeah...it would help to add that I rarely use flash and I almost always shoot in Manual mode. It's a challenge and at Flamingo Cantina it's even more of a challenge, unless you have a D700 or a D3 (in my dreams). I shoot with a D300 and it is a fairly good low-light camera but it is still hard at Flamingo. Purple and red lights...yay!

I didn't have a crazy crowd to contend with on this night so there isn't anything to document in that department.

Ok...now that I have the technicalities out of the way (and a scapegoat in place) here are some shots from that night: