A Perfect Circle - The Greek Theater. Berkeley, CA.

If Maynard James Keenan ever spends time on the internet, I hope he finds this blog and reads through it as I laugh in his face.

Why?

Because A Perfect Circle likes to make it almost impossibly difficult to take decent photos of them.

I'm serious. It was ridiculous. The stage was taller than I am, so I brought a stool. We only got 2 songs to shoot (instead of 3), one of which was like a two-minute intro. The lighting was all dim blue and purple. And last, but certainly most complaint-worthy: Maynard (the singer) is still in his phase of sticking to the back of the stage on a platform... with NO DIRECT LIGHTS hitting him.

So... Maynard James Keenan, Billy Howerdel, James Iha, Matt McJunkins, and Josh Freese... if you're reading this, I got some pretty decent shots despite your best efforts. You rocked for sure, but I was more impressed with myself tonight.

A Perfect Circle at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

A Perfect Circle at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

A Perfect Circle at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

A Perfect Circle at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

A Perfect Circle at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

A Perfect Circle at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

A Perfect Circle at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Soundgarden - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (San Francisco)

You may have been aware that Soundgarden has reunited and started to tour after about a 15-year absence. You may have also been aware that they held a contest through Talenthouse a month or two ago to select photographers for each of their upcoming shows.

The contest, as I feared, was sort of a popularity contest... meaning: some people who were chosen as winners had very "meh" work, but 400 of their friends voted for them.

Anyway, I didn't win. I made my peace with it and moved on with life.

But last week I spent an afternoon at the pool with Mike, Danny, and Angela... and as I hopped out to dry off, I received a voicemail from Soundgarden management asking me to shoot their show on the 21st. The winner for that date had to back out, and I came "highly recommended" from Talenthouse. Go figure.

The show rocked, and was everything I hoped it would be. I never got to see them perform before they broke up in 1997, so the shoot was a big deal for me on that level as well. Not to mention the opener was the Mars Volta.

Because I shot for the band directly, my images are technically their property. I will post some killer photos here very soon, but I made an agreement that I would wait until they have a chance to post my photos on their websites first.

So... check back here in less than 24 hours!

UPDATE: After 4 days, Soundgarden finally posted my images online. So, now it's my turn!

Photos:

Chris Cornell of Soundgarden performs at Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster. 

Matt Cameron of Soundgarden performs at Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster. 

Kim Thayil of Soundgarden performs at Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster. 

Chris Cornell of Soundgarden performs at Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster. 

Chris Cornell of Soundgarden performs at Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster. 

Ben Shepherd of Soundgarden performs at Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster. 

Soundgarden performs at Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster. 

Chris Cornell of Soundgarden performs at Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster. 

Happy Body Slow Brain - San Francisco Promo Photos

You'll notice a number of posts lately. It's been a crazy few weeks, and my camera is probably close to melting from all the shutter snaps.

Ending their tour supporting RX Bandits, the ex-Taking Back Sunday boys of Happy Body Slow Brain came home to San Francisco and played to a packed house at Bottom of the Hill.

Straight in from San Diego, I let them have enough time to upload their gear at the venue before we headed out to do some new promo photos. This time around the group includes Matt Fazzi (guitars/keys/vocals), Isaac Bolivar (guitars/keys/vocals), Jason Holthauser (bass), and Javier Torres (drums).

A little piece of trivia: Javier's brother, Eduardo, is the drummer on Happy Body Slow Brain's debut record, Dreams of Water.

Here's a couple of photos from our session:

Happy Body Slow Brain. Photo by Clay Lancaster (2011)

Happy Body Slow Brain. Photo by Clay Lancaster (2011)

Eddie Vedder and Glen Hansard - The Paramount - Oakland, CA.

To end a crazy string of concert shooting over the last month, I found myself at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, CA to snap some photos of Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder as he tours for his new solo record Ukelele Songs. I won't lie, I'd rather be shooting Pearl Jam. However, Vedder sounded great and put on a really nice performance.

Perhaps the thing that excited me most was seeing and shooting opener/collaborator Glen Hansard. I hadn't even realized that Hansard would be there until the day before the show.

If you don't know his work, you might remember an award-winnning independent film called Once. Not only did Glen star in this movie, he wrote all the music as well... which included the Grammy-nominated and Oscar-winning song "Falling Slowly".

His previous band, The Frames, are actually super super cool. I recommend looking into their 1996 album Fitzcarraldo. It reminds me of a more rockin', more intense version of older David Gray music. The drumming in particular has an awesome presence.

Technically, this shoot was a pain in the ass. The room was dim... and I mean dim. Not to mention I was told it was a soundboard shoot (brought equipment to prepare) when in fact we ended up on the front/side of the stage. Fighting digital noise was fun, and bracing the camera so I could shoot at a shutter speed of 1/30 without blurring the image was always welcome (sarcasm).

Here's a few!

Glen Hansard performs at the Paramount in Oakland. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Glen Hansard performs at the Paramount in Oakland. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Eddie Vedder performs at the Paramount in Oakland. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Eddie Vedder performs at the Paramount in Oakland. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Eddie Vedder performs at the Paramount in Oakland. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Rockstar Mayhem Festival - Mountain View (Shoreline)

Relatively last-minute, I was granted press access to the Rockstar Mayhem Festival at Shoreline in Mountain View, CA. Similarly to Warped Tour, I only really cared about one particular act: Megadeth.

If you've known me for a while, you know that I have a soft spot for some good, heavy, melodic metal. I learned to play guitar when I was 12, and a big part of my education came from sitting down and playing along with Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction in my bedroom for hours on end. We even jammed some of those tracks in our band rehearsals.

So, although I've largely moved on to different musical preferences, Megadeth has and will always hold a special place in my heart... and I was thrilled to finally get to snap photos of them.

Not only was I in the pit, staring at Dave Mustaine and Chris Broderick shred away on the guitar from 7 feet away, but I also had access to the press area backstage. I found myself sitting at a table by Megadeth guitarist Chris Broderick and his family, with bassist David Ellefson pacing back and forth next to me on the phone, Sully (from Godsmack) about 12 feet to my left doing an interview with radio station The Bone, the guys from Testament eating dinner, and David Draiman of the band Disturbed coming in and out of the area. It was interesting.


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To get my bearings and learn the press process (each venue is different in policy), I decided to shoot Machinehead as well. As always, here are some of my favorite shots:

Dave Mustaine of Megadeth performs at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival in Mountain View

Chris Broderick of Megadeth performs at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival in Mountain View

Dave Mustaine of Megadeth performs at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival in Mountain View

David Ellefson of Megadeth performs at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival in Mountain View

Dave Mustaine of Megadeth performs at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival in Mountain View

Machinehead performs at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival in Mountain View

Machinehead performs at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival in Mountain View

Machinehead performs at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival in Mountain View

Jeff Campbell (Pine & Battery) Promo Photos - Sonoma

This was an interesting shoot. I've done work in the past for the San Francisco-based band Pine & Battery (a KFOG artist), and was commissioned this time around to do work for singer Jeff Campbell's upcoming solo release. When he said "hey, let's meet early" I was thinking like, 9am or 10am.

Nope, we settled on sunrise (5:30am) up close to Sonoma and wine country. Fortunately I had a good 2.5 hours of sleep under my belt, so i was good to go.

Sense the sarcasm...

We had a blast, and it was by far the earliest I've ever had to show up to "work".  Here's a few shots from Wednesday, and keep an eye on jeffcampbellmusic.com for upcoming shows and his new release.

Jeff Campbell (of Pine and Battery). Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Jeff Campbell (of Pine and Battery). Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Jeff Campbell (of Pine and Battery). Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Vans Warped Tour 2011 - Shoreline (Mountain View)

For the San Francisco area leg of Warped Tour this year, we at theFIVE10 Radio headed out to Shoreline in Mountain View to cover the event. I was joined by my SF Weekly lens-wielding pal Jen Cash as we jumped in and out of the pits all day long, leaving our host JC and web-ninja Long backstage to talk with the bands all day.

Was hot, but a lot of fun. I'd have to say my highlight was finally getting to hang with Fred Mascherino of the band Terrible Things (formerly of Taking Back Sunday), as we have similar friends and acquaintances.

Black Veil Brides sure put on an entertaining set, as did 3OH!3. JC managed to sit and interview a number of groups on our show, including: Simple Plan, hellogoodbye, Sharks, Passafire, MC Lars, and Less Than Jake.

Here are some photos from the day!

Unwritten Law performs at Warped Tour. Mountain View, CA.

Skating at Warped Tour 2011. Mountain View, CA.

3OH!3 performs at Warped Tour. Mountain View, CA.

Shut Up and Deal performs at Warped Tour. Mountain View, CA.

Crazy dry ice drinks. Warped Tour 2011 at Shoreline.

JC interviews Simple Plan at Warped Tour. Mountain View, CA.

Warped Tour. Mountain View, CA at Shoreline.

Less Than Jake performs at Warped Tour. Mountain View, CA.

Warped Tour 2011. Mountain View, CA at Shoreline.

Fred Mascherino of Terrible Things performs at Warped Tour. Mountain View, CA.

Clay Lancaster getting a doctor checkup at Warped Tour. Photo by Jen Cash.

Clay Lancaster at Warped Tour for theFIVE10 Radio. Photo by Jen Cash.

theFIVE10 - Long Vo, JC, and Clay Lancaster. Photo by Jen Cash.

Clay Lancaster and Fred Mascherino (Terrible Things, Taking Back Sunday). Warped Tour 2011.

Getting Ready: Vans Warped Tour 2011

Ok, three guesses as to where I will be tomorrow with my crew at theFIVE10 Radio...

If you're gonna be there, come say hi! Get a sticker.

If you're playing, come chat with us on the show!

theFIVE10 Radio at Warped Tour 2011. Shoreline.