Live Survives Photo Show Opening

by Mike Borchardt | Jan 26, 2023 | Features

FTA recently sponsored a group photography show, Live Survives, which was curated by local photographer/booker, Jeff Schaer-Moses. What better way to demonstrate the persistence of the arts than to bring photography and live music together under one roof to celebrate the NYC community? The photographers were in the trenches these past few years alongside the musicians documenting the ever-changing conditions and challenges faced during the pandemic.

To quote our EIC, Kate Hoos (who also had work in the show):

“Music photography is many things—a window into the dark and subterranean world of live music and the various scenes that surround it, an obsession for those partake in it, and even more than that, it was a living archive and a lifeline when we were all sidelined during the early days of the pandemic and all shows were shut down.”

A lot of photographers whose work I love and respect and who’ve shot my bands over the years before and during the pandemic were on display. And many bands I love and respect were showcased with many of them there to support too. There of course was live music at the event too, with performances by noise punk band Red Tank! and singer songwriter Juan Soria. There was a cool moments while I was watching Soria perform and to my right was Brad Wagner of Paste Magazine in the flesh with his wife and to my left was a video screen of mixed media art with Brad Wagner interviewing musicians.

Soria, who hails from Argentina and who has traveled the world playing music, shared that he had spent the last 30 hours traveling from Argentina to Chile to the US only to catch a couple hours sleep in NJ before performing at the show. That truly represents the spirit of live survives to a “t.” Red Tank! was supremely woven into the fabric of the show as a performer and also as a photo subject in the show, and their singer, Clipper, designed the poster for the event.

As for some of my favorite photographers, Pete Perry and Aleksei Postinov were both huge huge documenters of the scene throughout the pandemic and I worked with them both separately on various events related to the war in Ukraine. I met both of them from them shooting my band, Nihiloceros, at many many outdoor, backyard, rooftop, street corner, public park spaces and they eventually followed us back into the venues when music came back to the stages. I believe it was the first time for both of them showing their work in a physical way at an event. And both of them graciously went out of their way to find me and individually thank us for coming out and supporting.

Photos by Pete Perry

Photos by Aleksei Postinov

Live music returning to the BIG stages was definitely a thing too and to document that, our very own EIC, Kate Hoos, had a collection of photos from artists such as IDLES, Bikini Kill, Otoboke Beaver, Julien Baker and more, all of whom hit the road post pandemic; she blended this work with coverage of the local scene as well. Jeanette D. Moses (of Frida Kill) also did a piece on bigger stages that focused on her time touring with hometown heroes, Thick. And for me, that really reinforced the “underdog success story,” since the pandemic hit right as they were about to make good on signing to Epitaph. They released their first album with the label, 5 Years Behind, on March 6, 2020 and right as their biggest dreams came true, it was all torn away…almost forever. But…fortunately, Live Survives, it always does.

Photos by Kate Hoos

Photos by Jeanette D. Moses

At the end of of the night, we kept talking in the back of the room as BandNada and Full Time Aesthetic came together to brainstorm ideas to sustainably support each other and be a resource for the music scene. If that’s not the epitome of the spirit of the night, I don’t know what is.

Scroll down for pics of the show (photos by Kate Hoos)