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)
The iconic feminist electro trio, Le Tigre, which features Kathleen Hanna, JD Samson and Johanna Fateman, have just announced a full tour, their first in 18 years. They returned to the stage in 2022 at This Ain’t No Picnic after an eleven year absence and had already announced some festival dates this year including Primavera Sound in June and The Mosswood Meltdown in July. Now fans in many more cities can enjoy their post riot grrrl electro clash sounds of the “party after the protest” with dates in the US and Europe coming this spring into the summer.
The tour will commence with one date in Philadelphia on 5/27 that will serve as a warm-up before the European leg kicks off. They will return to North America in July, concluding in Brooklyn on 7/28 at Brooklyn Steel. Tickets go on sale at 9am on Friday 1/27. See below for all dates.
The band members have hardly stayed still in their time away from the project though, and tell us via a press release “Recently, Kathleen has been touring with Bikini Kill (see pics), running Tees 4 Togo (which sells artist-designed T-shirts to fund the non-profit organization Peace Sisters), and writing a book. JD has a full-time teaching position (as Assistant Arts Professor and Area Head of Performance at The Clive Davis Institute at NYU/Tisch), performs with CRICKETS, and tours with the original live score for the film 32 Sounds, directed by Sam Green. Johanna is an author and art critic who writes regularly for the “Goings on About Town” section of the New Yorker and for 4Columns; she is a contributing editor of Artforum.” They also released the song “I’m With Her” in 2016 to support of then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Le Tigre 2023 tour dates:
5/27- Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
6/1- Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound Barcelona 2023
6/3- London, UK @ Troxy
6/5- Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
6/6- Glasgow, Scotland @ Barrowland Ballroom
6/8- Madrid, Spain @ Primavera Sound Madrid 2023
6/9- Porto, Portugal @ Nos Primavera Sound Porto 2023
There’s so much going on in any given week in the music press/world of pop culture/the world at large that I can’t possibly keep up with it all. That being said, there are definitely things I see that I want to comment on and that being the case, I thought it would be fun to share some thoughts/anecdotes/snarky observations on a few things and get a little cheeky each week on things that I either liked or scoffed at that happened in the world of music/pop culture. I always love a chance to be sassy, sarcastic, and a bit over-the-top-gay, so here we are! Welcome to me serving up my aging punk nerd thoughts—not all of them polite—on some pop culture moments and music news from the preceding week. A little Sunday Brunch if you will.
You couldn’t go anywhere this week in terms of the music press corners of the internet without seeing the news that the holy trinity of indie rock, aka boygenius, had finally announced their debut full length. Indeed we, among probably 500 other outlets, offered our take on it too (read here). And while I’m certainly chuffed at the news, me being a teen of the 90s meant I was arguably even more excited by their re-interpretation of two iconic Nirvana photo shoots of the 90s, which they very accurately nailed right down to the posture and inflection of the poses. Kudos not only to the band but to the photographer, Ryan Pfluger, and particularly the art directors and the team behind it who made it look so good. I haven’t purchased a print copy of Rolling Stone in years but I may just have to get a copy of this one.
I am also cackling with glee at the thought of the crusty old gatekeeping white men who you just know are losing their minds over three queer women replicating this classic photo of their grunge rock heroes. I’ve stayed away from Twitter/Reddit commentary on this, because it is surely a cesspool of toxic masculine chest beating that I don’t need in my life, but I also don’t even need to go there to know the trolls have most definitely emerged from underneath their rocks to comment. And to that I say oh well, fuck ’em, who is on the cover of Rolling Stone and who is bitching about it on the internet, amirite?
Also, I fully believe that if Kurt Cobain were alive today, he’d be one of the loudest voices cheering this on. He was always vocal in support of women and queers (for example, read the liner notes to Incesticide) decades before it was fashionable for men to be. He said shit/spoke up about inequality when so many of his contemporaries kept their mouths shut and/or looked the other way. I also do not believe it was some empty statement or lip service on his part like so often is the case from men in his position, it was his ethos. So really, the troll dudes can keep their mouths shut because anything else would just be these bros playing themselves.
[Update: I did crack and go look the day after I posted this and wow was I right! Loooots of triggered men flapping their gums in the wind. Refer back to my last sentence of paragraph two.]
If you wanted to take a peek at the pics that inspired the current colorful skirt/sweater shots, click the link here to see 20 photos from the original Nirvana shoot which appeared in a 1993 issue of Mademoiselle. (I’m still deciding if I love or hate the original headline from 1993, or the one that appears on the linked article, which in the context of 2023, both feel a little cringey.)
Okay this one was last week but since I didn’t decide to think up and launch this column til this week, here it is! A few different people sent this to me because well, I’m me, and they know that and know that this is exactly the type of shit I fucking live for. I have seen (and played) shows in all kinds of wild places (including on top of more than one skate ramp and one on the Williamsburg Bridge at sunrise), unfortunately never on a moving train though, so I’m pretty bummed I wasn’t able to see this in person. I also really hope someone pulls this off in NYC soon. (And while tempting to go for it myself, I’m not currently in an active band or booking shows much these days so it will not be me, but I would be happy to attend if someone else went for it.)
I looked up the two bands, False Flag and Surprise Privilege, and they’re pretty good, both playing crusty d-beatish hardcore which I always dig. The members are pretty young so not sure if or when they’ll be touring out this way, but I’d go to a show if they did. Read the full article from the San Francisco Chronicle and check the bands out below:
Ah conservatives! Is there anything a right wing nut bag won’t lose their mind at? When they aren’t busy raging at cartoon pieces of candy not being sexy enough or trying to strip more marginalized communities of their basic human rights, they find time to be angry at classic rock bands celebrating the anniversary of landmark albums. Such was the case this week when people of a right leaning persuasion (aka mostly men) lost their damn minds over Pink Floyd unveiling a new logo with a rainbow on it to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their legendary album, Dark Side of the Moon.
You would think any fan of the band would be fully aware of what the album cover looks like and know what the logo is referring to already, since they are ahem, fans and all, but as we already know, this is the internet in the age of idiocy and extreme/immediate reactionary takes, so the comment section was quite the experience in the theater of the absurd. Read more about this on NME (or The Music) and be ready to roll your eyes a lot.
One of my favorite queer Instagram personalities, Matt Bernstein, who routinely roasts these clowns and beats them at their own game made an incredible post on this. I highly recommend following the account to see more hilarious takedowns.
Can we talk about Fat Mike for a second? Just a second though because I don’t really want to give him any more thought than that. He’s long been someone revered in the punk world and I have never understood why (though it’s mostly been by white men who are safe inside their bubbles of unrecognized privilege so consider the source). Sure, I listened to NOFX a lot as a teenager, it was the 90s and that’s just what you did if you liked punk. And he could get away with a lot more of his shit back then. But now, thankfully, not so much. Also thankfully, NOFX will be calling it quits this year. 40 years of doing the same thing over and over and Fat Mike saying/getting away with stupid edge-lord shit, I think it’s well past time.
While I can’t comment on the “emo nostalgia” aspect of this or much about it in general considering I was never a fan of emo or part of that scene, I think it’s great Hayley Williams called a spade a spade and pointed out some of the toxic attitudes and behavior of the past while specifically calling Fat Mike on his BS. In a Billboard interview (which the cited Loudwire article summarizes), Williams talked about how things weren’t always so great in the punk/emo scenes “if you were different, if you were a young woman, if you were a person of color, if you were queer. And that’s really fucked up if you think about it, because this was supposed to be the safe place, wasn’t it?” She further elaborated that “Fat Mike used to tell people that I gave good rim jobs onstage when I was 19 years old. I do not think that that’s punk. I don’t think that’s the essence of punk. And I feel strongly that without young women, people of color and also the queer community, I just think we would still be where we were then.” She said it best and I one million per cent agree. And as I said in the Facebook group I first saw this article in, “that guy ain’t it, never has been.”
There are innumerable other instances I could call upon for this that stem to way before he ran his mouth off about mass murder victims, but again, this is meant to be brief. Suffice it to say, I was pretty much done with him after he released a dis track about Kathleen Hanna on 1997’s So Long & Thanks For All The Shoes. I bought that album when it first came out and even saw them play on that tour as a tiny baby punk, but I wised up not long after that (probably in reaction to being at that show) that I was not in a place where it was going to be safe or affirming for me as a woman or queer person to be among their fanbase. I haven’t spent a dime on anything else they have done in the 26 years since.
And yes, I did recently review one of their new singles because I figured at the time oh why not, nostalgia factor and all (and in my admittedly weak defense, I was also on a bus from London to Cardiff with three hours to kill) but it will be the first and last time they receive anything remotely akin to positive press from me.
To bring it full circle for this article, I think this 2020 tweet from Phoebe Bridgers sums it up nicely!
society has progressed past the need for dudes in bands
The holy trinity of indie rock, boygenius, aka the super group of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus, have just announced their official return and are set to release their debut full length, the record, on 3/31 via Interscope. It’s been a long time coming, arriving over four years after their lauded and much loved first self titled EP was released at the end of 2018. In that time, busy individual careers and acclaimed albums by each of the three followed and there was that whole pandemic thing to navigate too, so the wait is understandable.
The announcement was understated, with each band member’s individual account and the band’s main account simply stating “‘the record’ is out march 31st and three songs are out now.” It comes amid much speculation and online talk that more was coming from the group after they were mentioned on several “anticipated albums of 2023 lists” and which only intensified when their name appeared on the recently announced Coachella lineup. And while no other live dates have been announced at this moment, it seems very likely a full tour will be in the cards for 2023. If the very active comment sections on social media and scores of articles already out are any indication, people are more than excited about all of this, the album in particular, with Rolling Stone declaring “Boygenius Are Back in Town to Save 2023” (I see what you did there. I love what you did there.)
the record artwork
In fitting fashion, the album announcement comes with the release of not one, but three songs, one by each member of the trio taking songwriting/lead vocal duty. Each song bears the distinct hallmarks of the individual woman behind it, but allows the space for her band mates to have strong supporting roles, holding her up in the spotlight before their chance to shuffle the chairs and take the lead. The album will contain 12 songs in all (see below for tracklist) so it’s safe to assume we will get four songs from each creative force for an intriguing blend of their styles much like the EP was in 2018.
The harder edged “$20” of course comes courtesy of Baker, the more delicate “Emily I’m Sorry” was penned by Bridgers and “True Blue” is very much a true blue Dacus song. While there is sure to be much debate among fans online which is “best” (and likely what to expect/who wrote each of the as-of-yet-unreleased remaining tracks) that hardly seems the point. Each song absolutely is distinctly that of its main songwriter and could have appeared on one of their solo records, but were saved for this purpose because there is no room for ego in a project like this (something the band spoke about in past interviews after their 2018 debut EP). It is frankly refreshing to see in the world of today with so much noise and competition for “likes” and “streams” and “whatever” permeating our daily lives. boygenius may just indeed be back in town to save 2023.
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.
FTA is proud to be sponsoring a group photography show, Live Survives, curated by Jeff Schaer-Moses, that celebrates all of these things and more. The show will take place on Wednesday 1/18 at Ridgewood dive spot, Bar Freda, home to many local bands who share their music, love and talents with the NYC music community. The show will feature work from FTA’s editor-in-chief, Kate Hoos, as well as FTA contributing photographer, Jeanette D. Moses, along with a myriad of other photographers and visual artists from the NYC area and beyond who will be sharing their unique visions of what live music is to them. These artists include Pete Perry (aka Papa Ukraine), Doug Glass, Aleksei Postnikov, Cirsty Burton, Jeff Schaer-Moses and many more.
On why he wanted to put this event together, Schaer-Moses shares:
“Sometimes I feel like photography doesn’t mean anything and I’m just some fan with a camera. But then I see some of the photos and videos I took of the house shows and dirt lot parties we threw back in Phoenix and I realize an entire culture would have been lost to the Arizona dust if I wasn’t on the scene shooting. This DIY culture exists and we are a part of it, and the only way it will survive is if we keep documenting it and carrying on the tradition. ‘Live Survives’ is a reminder to everyone who was scared in 2020 that we may never get live music back that nothing can stop this train. People will gather, people will play music, and people will as my OG Big Homie Eugene Hutz says “dance around the fire.” Live Survives is dedicated to the memories of Andy Warpigs, Jack Terricloth, Rick Hill, Eddie Detroit, Jordan Groggs, Joe Sawinski and every other musician, road manager, venue staffer, videographer, and photographer who didn’t get to see one more show.”
The evening will feature live music from Red Tank! and Soria, $10 suggested donation, no one turned away for lack of funds.
The UK based Black feminist punk trio, Big Joanie, (who put out one of FTA’s favorite records of 2022) have just announced their first tour of North America. The tour will see the band hitting cities in the US and Canada on both coasts split into two legs, making stops at Treefort Fest on the first leg and two stops in NYC during the second leg on 5/25 at Union Pool (now sold out) and a just added show at Baby’s All Right the following day. These shows by the critically acclaimed band are highly anticipated and come as very welcome news to start the year off.
Along with the announcement they also shared a live video for their song “Cactus Tree.” Watch the video and see all tour dates below.
