Femke shoots the Black Lips at Richards on Richards

Photos by Femke van Delft

(I wasn't at the Black Lips show and I don't know their music, but Femke van Delft, intrepid Nerve photographer - who is still showing pictures alongside Bev Davies and others at the JEM Gallery for a few more days - was there. The following is Femke's account of shooting the concert).

On Thursday I get an email from (Nerve Magazine music editor) Adrian giving me the green light to shoot The Black Lips at Richards on Richards. I need to meet the Live Nations rep at 10:45 pm for a briefing. I am not that happy about it. That means that I will have to battle my way through the already anticipating, fixated legion to get to the front stage. My strategy: compensate with height. I wear my 4 inch platform boots making me 6 foot 4….midable.

The show is running late. I shoot the first two acts for fun and meet the rep to find out that Jared Swilley has been held at the border, a Vancouver bass ringer, Curtis ?, is the replacement. I find out later that Curtis had 15 minutes to prepare and borrow the bass from Vancougar.

The crowd is mostly made up of inebriated 20 somethings in the pit and old guard punk enthusiasts sitting back on the edge of music. I shove my way to the front, stage left. By the second song, Ian Brown rhythmically kicks the monitors from washing up onto his feet as waves of 185 lb drunk young men full on mosh.

Feet flat on the floor, those black leather platforms make my legs 38 inches long. I discover my hips are perfect stage height. OK, maybe I was asking for it. I bend my torso onto the stage, tripod my elbows and shoot. Suddenly, I can feel some young zit-faced puppy dry humping me from behind. I double fist elbow him [hopefully] to the head and yell…."This is incest! I could be your mother." I then hockey board the two guys next to me for good measure [which I actually feel guilty about since they were obviously decent] yelling "I just want to do my fucking job!" Turn back to the stage and catch Cole tossing and catching his own gob (see above). Better move out of the pit to stage right, which apparently is the best position to get Anderson projectile vomiting while never interrupting his guitar riff. [and what's with that no flash rule? These could have been perfect!] Now it's time to go upstairs and get that shot of him drumming like a drunk sister in The White Stripes.

Best comment about Brown's mouthful of gold caps from Dave Chokroun, ex punk rock drummer for WAD. "Hey, what's with Ian Brown's teeth? Doesn't he believe in banks?"
Best comment about Brown's mouthful of gold caps from Dave Chokroun, ex punk rock drummer for WAD. "Hey, what's with Ian Brown's teeth? Doesn't he believe in banks?"

- Femke

Femke van Delft, Bev Davies, and Concert Photography at the JEM Gallery

Animal Collective at the Commodore by Femke van Delft

Gerry Hannah of the Subhumans at Pub 340, by Femke van Delft

Y'all may have noticed a few cool concert pics popping up lately, on my blog and in the Nerve Magazine, from a woman named Femke van Delft. I ran into her at the Eugene Chadbourne show at the Cobalt awhile back, and she's been comin' to a few shows with me; she's got a fantastic eye, and has managed to take some great pictures in some near-impossible situations.

She writes, of trying to capture the spirit of the Animal Collective show:

"So I get to the Commodore a little after 8pm and take up my station center front stage. I know that this is a scene-ster band. I know that my territory needs to be staked out. I look to the left of me and I recognize the young woman. I say, "Hey, didn't you throw up in my van five years ago?" She was my oldest daughter's friend. Two baby Goths first drunk at English Bay. To her credit she says," Hey! that was the best smelling vomit. I only ate jelly beans." The band's is getting ready. I know the rules. No Flash. First three songs. I have nine minutes to get one shot. Geologist sperlunks onto the stage with a caver's headlamp.[It za bad sign] Two more Animals follow. I am poised with my camera. After all, I am a rock stalker. The first song is the longest 2 minutes and 35 seconds of my life. I am not talking low light, or ambient light, or reflected light...no I mean NO F-IN LIGHT. I think to myself, "I am not crawling up on stage and unplugging your speakers." The first 70 shots are a write off. Second song. Avey says "Let there be light." A bank of ass high runway lights at the back of the stage blast on. Between the epileptic inducing computer controlled backlights and absolutely NO front lights. This is all I could manage. When Panda turned on the smoke machine.... my camera could no longer work on automatic focus."

She ended that email with: "Love the fucking challenge." The Subhumans show the other night - see the embarrassing mosh footage of me below - also posed quite the challenge, as the "lights,in an epileptic fit, cycled through red green and white" and the floor provided abundant opportunities to get jostled. While Mike and Brian occasionally made it into the light, Gerry was NEVER lit well, but this is still one of the best photos of him onstage that I've seen. (There's an in-joke in all this for Gerry, but I won't spell it out. Thanks for dedicating "Moving Forward" to me - hell, thanks for playing it!).

Anyhow, Femke will be part of a group show at the JEM Gallery featuring her work, as well as that of Sprout, Adam PW Smith, Morgan Beare and JEM's Carola Goetze. I believe Femke's shots will include images as yet unseen - or seen only as a tiny black and white corner in the Nerve - of Tatsuya Yoshida of Ruins, Mark Berube, Eugene Chadbourne, Black Mountain, and the Pointed Sticks (see her tiny pic of Bill with my single review in the new Nerve). There may be a few surprises, too (ie, stuff I don't know about yet). There will also be some previously unseen pictures taken by the legendary Bev Davies; Bev tells me that she'll have shots of Madonna, the Everly Brothers, Johnny Cash and others - things she took for newspapers that has never been seen since! (She felt like departing from her usual MO). Info here:

1, 2, 3, 4! - a live concert photography show

Opening reception: Friday October 5th @ 7pm
Show runs October 4th – October 25th

the JEM gallery
225 East Broadway
Vancouver BC V5T 1W4
604.879.5366
thejemgallery@yahoo.com
www.myspace.com/thejemgallery

Gallery hours: Sun. & Mon. closed, Tue. – Thu. 1-6 pm and Fri. & Sat. 12-7 pm,
or by appointment.

Those eager to see new punk rock shots from Bev also have cause for excitement: there'll be a new calendar from her for 2008, featuring Death Sentence, No Exit, the Modernettes, DOA, the Dishrags, Rude Norton, Buddy Selfish, Los Popularos, the Young Canadians, East Van Halen, and the Bill of Rights - and others! It's a signed, limited edition, only available through JEM, and - best of all - the photos are removable! I'll be working on a short chat with her for next month's Nerve Magazine, just as soon as I get a chance to talk to Bev. See you all at JEM!