The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band. Live at Neumos.
Seattle, WA. October 11, 2008

What’s better than free live music? Not much—although getting drunk to help kids might be close. Local bars and spirit makers sponsored a week in Seattle known as “A Drink for the Kids.” On certain nights, participating establishments donated a portion of their sales to The Vera Project, an all ages music venue in Seattle. The week culminated in a music extravaganza at Neumos on Saturday, October 11. New Zealand’s The Ruby Suns opened up with Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band playing second before headliner Tokyo Police Club. Julie won a couple of tickets from The Stranger and took me along. I, of course, invited the Nikon and a few lenses.

Honestly, I know nothing about Tokyo Police Club. I stayed for a few of their tunes—decent stuff, lots of energy. The real reason I was excited about the show was Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band (and getting tanked for the kids). Regrettably, I missed their “debut show” at Neumos late in July. Prior to this coming-out-concert, no one knew much about them. They released a series of peculiar YouTube videos that featured members of the band, but not their music. A few songs eventually appeared on their MySpace page; including the infectious “Who’s Asking?” Whether or not the band deliberately intended to create a buzz, Blogville USA went all “Apple Macbook/iPod/iPhone rumor-like” and started disseminating predictions of what exactly Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band would be. The band even got another blogworthy group, Seattle/Tacoma’s BOAT, to open up for their debut. The verdict? According to the local Seattle music press: overwhelmingly positive. Phew—it would have been a shame if a band this quirky and fun turned out to suck. And thanks to Julie Harmsen and “getting loaded for the kids,” I can confirm that they do indeed f-ing rock.

I was well into “tying one on for the kids” when MSHVB took the stage. All four male members of the group came out in identical vests, which seemed to be culled from the same fabric conspicuously seen in their videos. The lone woman of the group also donned a matching poncho-esque version of the curtain. MSHVB launched into “Who’s Asking?” which along with smoke machines and lights got Neumos rocking.

“Getting crunked out for the kidz” seemed especially appropriate considering that MSHVB has a tween, Marshall, on the drums. He did an excellent job on stage—especially in light of the fact that everyone else in the room had at least 10 years on him. In addition to demonstrating maturity and professional musicianship, it is obvious he possesses a true percussion talent. He is already at the level of many rock drummers in Seattle; and given his youth, he could quite possibly become one of the best.

To photograph this show, I used my standard setup of a Nikon D300 with a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens and a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens. To get meta data on the photos, just click on a picture to go to my Flickr page. There you can read about focal lengths, apertures and ISOs to your heart’s content. I did try something new—I turned the exposure compensation down by a third or two-thirds of a stop for most of these shots. Stage lights seem to produce hot spots, and dialing in a negative EV helps even out the exposure a little more. I like the results and will probably continue to do this for concert photography in the future. Also, all the photos here were made with the “Neutral” picture control setting of the D300. Although I am normally tempted to crank up saturation, stage lighting provides plenty of color.

I am looking forward to hearing more from Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band. Their music is well written and catchy, and there is no lack of energy in their performance (as evidenced by the blond-blurs in the photos). A full length album is in the works, but in the meantime they are touring around the Pacific Northwest and California (according to their MySpace). Go see them in:

• San Fran on December 2
• LA on December 3
• Salem on December 6
• Seattle on December 7
• Portland on December 9

The Ruby Suns.

The Ruby Suns were fantastic. I knew nothing of them before the show, but I quickly got into their music after several songs. They combine several different styles and boil it into their own Auckland inspired, percussion heavy confectionery. If you happen to be in Europe, go see them this November. They are touring with an Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000 favorite, The Dodo’s!

DOUBLE BONUS: Quirky MSHVB Video