I Shot the Band - Bain Mattox & Shot from Guns
When I first moved to Atlanta my friend Chris was playing guitar with Bain, so I tagged along at some shows to meet new folks in the scene and occasionally help roadie for the band on some of the bigger shows they played in the area. It was always a blast to be on stage at the Tabernacle, Center Stage, or Variety Playhouse handing out guitars and keeping an eye on things from the wings, and oh yeah, I got to hear all those great songs a hundred times and hang with some great guys.
This Sunday, Robyn and I headed over to Athens to see the Bain Mattox & Shot from Guns reunion show. It was supposed to happen at Bain's new club, The World Famous, but it was going to take a few extra days to get the doors open, so the Highwire Lounge graciously stepped up and agreed to host the show.
It's hard to believe it's been 5 quick years since these guys have played a show together. In that time everyone's gotten married, babies have been born, and they've scattered to places as far away as San Francisco and Maine.
They had a great crowd out on a chilly Sunday night from near and far (Baltimore represent!), standing on chars, sitting at the foot of the stage and poking their head around every corner to enjoy the show. They rocked it out. They sounded great. 5 years vanished in a blink of an eye and you could just feel the connection these guys have with each other radiating off the stage, and just like in the old days, the accordion and the banjo got the biggest applause, even before being played. That always makes me smile. If you're not familiar with his music his album Prizefighter is a good place to start, and you can sample all of his tunes on Amazon.com.
The Highwire Lounge is about as dark a room to shoot in as you can get. There was no direct lighting on stage at all, this is after all a cozy bar space with a small stage, where I'm guessing the musical acts that play there aren't featured performers per se, but background music. Needless to say the 50mm 1.8 didn't come off the Nikon D90 all night and the ISO was cranked beyond where I like to be. I didn't want to shoot with a flash tonight and ruin the vibe so I keep the shooting to a minimum, hoping to catch folks when they were frozen in a moment or interacting with each other and the audience.
