Dan Deacon Live @ the Metro !!!

Dan Deacon live at Metro 05.07.09 from Darkroom Demons on Vimeo.

Dan Deacon live at Metro 05.07.09 from Darkroom Demons on Vimeo.

The Human Experience: (PR)eview - Dan Deacon @ The Metro

If you're a photographer, Dan Deacon is gold. If you're security at any venue he plays at, he is the devil's brother-in-law. I have never seen so many strangers be willing to touch each other and follow The Deacon's every command to the T. The crowd was like a sea of wavering lemmings- just wondering what to do next. He could invade a small country and conquer it with his fans.
Last night he brought back the chapel parade which he noted he had not done since the Hideout bloc party 2 years ago, which Sir Reeves shot below....

Wait until you see the VIDEOS. I'm sweating just thinking about it.

-Tyler

Upcoming Events for the Darkroom Demons

Next Thursday, Justin from Semi-Precious Weapons (Reeves other family) will be performing at Manor for the Bonnie & Clyde's Uncensored Summer fashion show. A must see.

This Friday, after the Plain White T's Show @ the Metro, we join Derek Berry and party into the night in the Mainstage @ the Metro. This will be a wild little experiment so if you feel like a change of pace or can drag your ass out of Smartbar, come play with us. Sir Reeves will also be at AK that evening for the Plain White T's Afterparty.

Also, we are at the Metro ALL weekend with Dan Deacon, Plain White T's, The Horrors, The Kills and we'll be at some afterparty with some guy named Wentz.

P(R)eview: Booka Shade @ Metro Chicago

No words can possibly describe the energy that pulsated with every beat thrown down by the German electronica wunderband, Booka Shade at the Metro on Thursday night. In an effort to remain completely irrelevant, I only discovered them three weeks ago when I was combing through the Metro's amazing-as-always spring lineup. Once I gave the Mp3 a listen, I was transported to a world that Moby only wish he could create.

It was a strange night. I had just come from the fashion mixer at Bonnie and Clyde. Dressed in my standard Ben Sherman/ H&M hybrid hippie suit, I reckon I must have looked like a clockwork Victorian rockstar with all those cameras hanging off my dapper vest driven ensemble. Upon my emergence on to the venue floor, just past the sign warning "Tonight's Performance will contain Intense Strobe Lights", people looked at me like I was Darth Vader boarding their trip. Its been a long time since I was at a rave, and I soon realized that I had become the old man/ police officer/ voyage destroyer I so desperately tried to avoid back in my dumber days. Fuck it. At least I had a Kamera! My shoot probably would have gone smoother had Booka begun on time and not 40 minutes late. By the time they went on, I was surrounded by the sweet smell of exxed-out peaking frat boys and a few unruly Germans. I actually became concerned for my recently reconstructed elbow and fled to the balcony like a little girl with a scraped knee after getting thrashed by some douches with light hoops around their necks. Luckily, the kind gentleman Aaron and his buddies gave me a prime spot at the balcony where I got the best of the photos for the night. Cheers to them!

Granted that an act like this attracts a "water drinking "crowd, but the fact is that the sinister dance party that ensued rivaled those found at a Tiesto, Chemical Brothers or Crystal Method show. And with a siezure inducing light show, I sincerely thought the roof was going to blow off the Metro during "Charolette." Electronica groups can be hit or miss, especially if the performers lose themselves behind keyboards, Macbooks, and mixing boards. Fortunately, Booka Shade is not that group. The incoroporation of psychadelic video mixing, strobes, and rockstar energy reminded me how great those kids on the floor must have felt. Next time at a show like this, I might have to leave my battle scars and Sith outfit at the door.

Nah...Fuck it. I have a Kamera.
I need to give thanks to the anonymous tatooed bar maven upstairs for keeping me stocked with ice for my elbow. It was my port in the storm.

The Importance of Dark Wave Disco, Kuroma, and Primal Scream: An Essay

Over at le chateau de darkroom demons, we are in full recovery mode. It seems that every day it gets warmer, we are getting busier and more squirrels are terrorizing little old ladies. As Sir Reeves coddles his body back from the supernova rockstar shock that was SXSW, I have begun to re-learn how to shoot with these infernal contraptions known as "Kameras". I have been in the warm lull of my wife's delightful pampering and a heavy pharmaceutical hum for four months now and need to break the habit of doing nothing. I figured its time for a little introspection about the importance of three bands that were at the Metro last Sunday.

Darkwave Disco

DJs Greg Corner, Mark Gertz and Trancid have been part of our blood lines for as long as we've taken pictures in Chicago. Kill Hannah took me on the road when I didn't even know how to shoot. (The only thing that has changed is now I have bigger cameras that I don't know how to use.) I knew the night at The Metro was going to be mentally misappropriated by all parties involved when the first words upon Darkwave's arrival were "What are you drinking?" and "We're going to go out on the roof next to the marquee and shoot a picture."

'Wonderful.' I thought. 'I haven't taken a picture in 3 months and now my boys are gonna hang me over a ledge 16 feet off the ground." Friends like these, indeed!

In fact, if it wasn't for an off-hand remark from Greg years ago, I would still be shooting douchebags in Ed Hardy and Affliction for some small local nightlife pamphlet.

On a dark and stormy night outside Crobar in 2006, Mat Devine, Greg and I met up and he said "You just missed The Cobrasnake. You need to do something like that." (Until then, I had always thought a Cobra was just a fairly lethal reptile in India or Sylvester Stallone character lost in time.) Obviously, I didn't follow his advice directly , but I heeded his words and soon went on to blackmail Sir Reeves into becoming the better-dressed half of our demonic endeavors and embarking on this indulgent photographic sojourn.

KUROMA

Reeves called me from Austin to tell me about this amazing group fronted by former Whigs founder Hank Sullivant. Widely considered the brother of MGMT, this alternate universe 1960's pyschedelia scorcher quickly has become my remedy for the Kings of Leon fever from last year. Their appearance at the Metro was preluded by a deafening silence and muddled confusion from the audience waiting for Bobby Gillespie and his sonic screamadelica. So I took it upon myself to walk over while they we greeted by the silence to tell them I heard they lit Austin on Fire. Hank looked at me and a nostalgic "pfffft" came out. behind a smirk of satisfaction. They looked at each other and began whispering "Austin was just sick." "Man, you have no idea." By the end of the set, the crowd had shifted from mild appreciation to full blown frenzy, screaming their heads off for a band that is proving to be the one to watch in Rock and Roll this year. Not since the late great Wolfmother's only album have I been so intrigued by Kuroma's first effort "Paris". (Fact: Hank Sullivant had recorded the album before putting the band together. Wow.)

Primal Scream

On July 2nd, 1994 my parents threw a lavish dinner party for myself and my college mate in honor of his first trip to Chicago. After the yorkshire puddings, rare roast beef, beet salad and sorbet, my buddy quietly slipped me a hit of the year's best LSD, "Jesus Christ". It would be an evening of unforgettable firsts: It would be the first time I would attend a concert at the Metro in Chicago; It was the first time I had taken acid; It was the first time I would see my then favorite band, Primal Scream; and most importantly, it would be the first time I would see a T-rex in my rearview mirror. While I could wax on how Bobby Gillespie turned into a 6 -foot reptile and the crown moldings of the Metro are actually living and breathing creatures, its more important to know that I will never forget the day I fell in love with the Metro. And to be invited to shoot Primal Scream 15 years later is a feeling of such serendipity that I can finally ignore all the terrifying Jacob's Ladder moments that have haunted me ever since.

Thanks to the Metro, Dark Wave Disco, Oliver Thomas, and SmartBar for a seriously amazing night.

Sneak Preview: SXSW and Tokyo Police Club

Little Boots

Flosstradamus

Ellei J. "ShadowScene.com"

Tokyo Police Club

Tokyo Bath House

Andrew & Andrew

Kid Sister

The Fader Fort aka Megaton from "Fallout 3"