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)

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.

Happy Body Slow Brain - Dreams of Water

Today is September 21st, and marks the release of Happy Body Slow Brain's debut record, "Dreams of Water". These ex- Taking Back Sunday fellows have created an incredible disc, and I am certainly proud to have contributed (promo photos, video teasers, and a "making the record" documentary).

Head on over to www.happybodyslowbrain.com to purchase a copy, complete with all sorts of extras.

Congrats guys!

Happy Body Slow Brain: Post-Taking Back Sunday

Now that Matt Fazzi (as well as Matt Rubano and Isaac Bolivar) have left Taking Back Sunday, Fazzi & Isaac have assembled with Gavin Castleton drummer Eduardo Torres to push Happy Body Slow Brain into full motion.

They begin recording their debut record in a few days in Michigan with producer Marc Hudson (Taking Back Sunday, Saves the Day), but not before taking time with me to shoot some more promo stuff (both stills and video).

Check out www.happybodyslowbrain.com to see the work I've done for them.

Live105: BFD 2009

Each year, Live 105.3 (the San Francisco Bay Area's biggest rock station) hosts a concert festival called BFD. This year's lineup was so-so, but still held two highlights for me:

1. Mute Math (one of my favorite bands) was scheduled to play on the Festival Stage, and
2. Taking Back Sunday was also scheduled to play the same stage.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of TBS, but this show was special because a friend of mine has recently been added to the band's roster. I know Isaac from his work in a Bay Area band called Weslester, whom I have photographed a number of times. In the last few months, he has gone from playing in bars/clubs around San Francisco, to touring the country (and soon, the globe) in a giant bus, playing for thousands of people a night.

I was fortunate to get a hold of him before they came to California, and he got me in backstage for the whole show, which also allowed me to shoot Taking Back Sunday from onstage:

It was a blast! And it was a lot of fun to see Isaac enjoying himself so much with his new gig, not to mention watch as singer Adam Lazzara climbed the scaffolding during the last song, hooked his legs into the metal, and dangled upside down while he sang the final chorus to "Makedamnsure".

The other opportunity that came my way was meeting all the guys in Mute Math.

Upon further contact with their record label the next day, it looks as though I will most likely be shooting for Mute Math when they come to San Francisco in September! Very, very excited about that.

Me (center) with Roy Mitchell-Cardenas and Paul Meany of Mute Math