Had a quick run up the road to San Antonio today.  Only a couple of hours drive, grateful for no flights this time.   Am shooting Mike Dirnt, bassist for Green Day for Fender Guitars.   Being that the heat index is 110 degrees today I am also grateful that the AT&T Center is an indoor venue and that I don't have to fart around outside with myself and an artist dying in the blistering Texas heat. 

Get to the backstage gate and am directed underground and into the belly of the venue which proves extremely convenient as I park the Jeep right behind the backstage load in area.  Meet up with the production manager who has already kindly sorted out a large room backstage for me to do the shoot.   Get the lighting gear loaded in and set up, Mike stops in to introduce himself and we chat a little. Turns out he's a big fan of The Who so he's alright with me for sure.  Go out and watch the sound check, the music isn't really my kind of thing but they certainly know what they're doing.

The photo shoot goes well, Mike turns up in a bright red blazer and brings his Squier and Fender basses.  He's very easy to work with and most cooperative and knows the drill giving me the look that's needed.  Shoot him bursting through a white paper backdrop with his bass first of all and then some high contrast shots of him backed up into the corner of the room.  I got the impression that he knows something about photography as he seemed to know what he was talking about when it came to cameras and various lenses.  It certainly made my job easier that he had an interest in what we were doing and the fact that he picked out all of his favorites for me right there and then saved me a lot of time in the editing process.

Grabbed some dinner in catering and then went out to shoot the show.  Saw my photographer mates Gary and Jay down in the pit, good guys and real hard workers who are at all the shows.   From where I was it looked as though all of the 15,000 seats were taken in the place and it certainly sounded that way.   Mike hammed it up for me and stayed pretty much on my side of the stage getting low to the camera.  Got some great shots of him jumping and caught him mid air as well which I was pretty pleased with considering that the stage lights weren't really burning that bright so early in the show.  Stayed a little while longer and got what I needed and then bailed out of the gig before the masses all piled out and gridlocked the area.   Treated myself to a caffeine laced smoothie on the way home so I could stay awake for the tediously long drive back home through the back country.  Late at night here you've got to watch the road for Coyotes, Wild Pigs (I kid you not) and Deer or you could end up with a rather messy additional hood ornament on your vehicle.  Made it back home and crashed into the ether.

Ladies and Gentlemen.....Mike Dirnt.

   

    

Well, well, well…..see what happens…I go to bed and the next thing I know it’s a new year! Yes, after a short hibernation over the holiday period I decided to start my babblings here on the site again. I’ve been called all kinds of names over the holidays, Grinch, Miserable Git, Party Pooper……ugh whatever, I’m just glad they’re passed now. It’s a difficult time of the year as it is for many others…I miss my Father and my best friend Spencer even more at that time of year and my Mom wasn’t here this year so that made me sad as well.

On December 12^th my mate Bill Miller lost his battle with cancer and retired to the great drum solo out in the ether. Bill was the Editor in Chief at Modern Drummer Magazine. A great guy who I’d only known a couple of years but one whose passion for music and drumming was profoundly evident from the first time I met him. Two years ago at the NAMM show in LA I introduced Bill to my friend Daniel Adair, drummer for Nickelback. We all met one day, sat down and talked and Bill told Daniel that he wanted to do a cover feature on Daniel when the next Nickelback album was made and he then told me that I was the one he wanted to do the shoot. Modern Drummer is the gospel of drumming magazines for professional and amateur drummers alike and just being inside the magazine is an honor within that community so as you can imagine Daniel was stoked at this prospect. Cut forward to summer ‘08 and I’m calling Bill saying “hey, new album, what about this cover we’re supposed to do?” So we set it up, I went up to Canada into the Rockies for a couple of days to become Bear bait with Daniel whilst we made the pics that you’re seeing below.

Daniel Adair & Bill Miller

Dear Bill loved the photos and to my knowledge, this was his last full Modern Drummer issue. It’s a bitter sweet endeavor. Bitter because a great guy lost his life prematurely but sweet also because we got such a great feature and photos from this project, one that Bill was most pleased with.

I’m truly happy for that.

Enjoy….

ASH

So the shoot in Connecticut went great with Taylor and her band.. Great people to work with, full of energy. The driver picked me up on time at the Rhode Island airport and took me to the casino resort. Got a great room on the 27th floor overlooking miles of woods in all directions. The fall colors are amazing, all shades of reds, oranges, yellows and browns...just beautiful. I make a mental note to do a shoot outside with Taylor before I go back, the foliage is too good to miss.

Spend the next two days shooting backstage reportage, sound check and of course live. The first night it's Halloween so the guys in the band decide they're going to dress up in costume. Paul and Grant have authentic Kiss outfits and do a great job pulling off the act. Spend most of the show up front and out in the audience of teenage girls. Man! I felt old that first night!! Got some great shots, one I really love is one of Taylor spot lit from above and cell phone lights in the audience just glowing everywhere...

 

Day two and Taylor is in the hotel suite next to me. Head next door and shoot some casual portraits of Taylor alone, backlit by the huge window and then as the band arrive we do a group shot. We all head on out into the frigid outdoors to do some portraits with the fall colors. Uncle Al who is Taylors most accommodating drummer assists me in my duties by holding the reflectors.... The pics end up being stunning and Taylor and her Mom seem quite pleased. To be perfectly honest, it's hard to not make her look good. Later at the venue I set up lights backstage and shoot Taylor who's wearing a sparkly blue dress. Get some great shots of here with her guitar and then holding a bright yellow flower. I wish it was this easy making everyone else I shoot look this good.......HA! Get a couple of shots of her with Mom and then it's time for the show. Decide this time to shoot most of the show from the safety of the stage.... The young girls in the audience shove too much... yeah, I know I'm a wimp.. Hehehe.. Get some great shots from the stage perspective, especially during Picture to Burn where Taylor and Caitlin attack the trash cans with drumsticks...

Overall a great trip and some of the best pics I've done. The trip back was a bit of a pain in the posterior due to the connections I had to make but it was all minimal fuss really in the bigger scheme of things. Now the wonderful selection and editing process begins. Hours on end of numb bum syndrome. Break out the hot tea and chocolate Hob Nobs, it's gonna be a long one.

ASH

 

Wake up early after a surprisingly good nights sleep. Head on down and grab a hearty breakfast that a Lumberjack would be proud of. The gift shop to the hotel is open..... HA! Run in and ask the lady in there if she sells Mars Bars. I realize then that I must have looked like an excited five year old asking her. She kindly points to the Holy Grail of chocolate and I buy five of them. One is gone already by the time the elevator reaches the 11th floor and a second is opened by the time my room door closes. Grab my gear and head downstairs and Daniel meets me and helps load the gear into his truck. Stop off for a Starbucks and then he tells me we're heading off up the road to Whistler and towards the Rockies. Vancouver seems like a nice place. It certainly has a nice vibe and the Canucks seem a lot more laid back than their uptight city dwelling American counterparts. I think it's the fresh air that does it.

As we get up in elevation the views get more spectacular along highway 99 along Horseshoe Bay and Howe Sound. Anvil Island sits out in the middle of the water looking beautiful. As we go along we start looking out for good locations to shoot Daniel in the great outdoors. He stops the truck at a place called Furry Creek and looks at me waiting for the filthy comments to start....... The bugger knows me! Hehehe... Of course I don't want to be a bad guest and disappoint my most generous host so I start the mucky commentary about Furry Creek and he does his best to join in. A little further up the mountains we get to a place name "Squamish" which I predictably rename "Squeamish". We see a big river running alongside the road and decide to take a side country road and see if we can find a turn off and trail to the river. Further down we're on a trail road and are thinking of getting out when we see a bloody great Black Bear run across the trail in front of us... It was an adolescent bear which meant that Mama was around. This means that you stand a very good chance of being gnawed on by Mama so we let our asses stop twitching and decide to move on to safer locales.
 


We eventually find a trail down to a beautiful section of clear and very cold river that's fed from glacial flow. We grab the gear. Danny boy helps me carry a big heavy box of lights down the trail to the waters edge and has a whine about his hands hurting......... if he had to play drums and really use his hands he'd really be in trouble....hehehe..... As we're going down the trail there are several old male and female fogeys in front of us heading down to a bend in the river hidden by a bunch of reeds and shrubs.. One is carrying booze, one food, and the others firewood.... We both have a chuckle about the old dudes getting trashed by the rivers edge, think nothing of it and head downstream and set up and proceed to do the photo session. Shoot Daniel sitting on a rock at the waters edge, with a beautiful orange Drum Workshop snare drum and then his Regal Tip sticks. I set up a little rock platform to squat on whilst I shoot him and his wonderous soul patch in various poses etc. It's not until I get the shots up on the laptop later that realize just how beautiful the scenery is. You kind of get caught in the moment of the shoot and have tunnel vision of a sort when you're focusing on the job at hand. I have to go back and do some landscapes there though...



Get done with the shoot and we fart around and take some silly pics and video then we pack up and head back to the truck. The wind has gotten up and we walk right by the bushy area the old folks are behind. Their fire is putting out some great smoke we notice and we hear them laughing etc. Not until we walk right by and see through the gaps in the foliage do we notice that they're all completely frickin' naked! It's a veritable drunk pink wrinkle fest behind the bushes!!! We have a good chuckle about the nudists and head on up the road further into the mountains. Stop at an absolutely amazing scenic overlook with snow capped mountains in the background. Set up a light and get Daniel up standing on a stone wall with the amazing backdrop. A couple of girls come over to see what's going on and they recognize Daniel so I grab a shot of them together then we finish up the shoot and head back down the road.

By this time we're feeling rather esurient. Daniel pulls off at a place called Tim Hortons and tells me I have to try their great coffee and sandwiches. We go inside and Daniel order me a coffee called a "Double Double" and a BLT sandwich that beats the ass off any Subway sandwich I've had. What's hilarious is that there can't be a single member of staff over about 15 years old in the whole place. Daniel laughs and says he has a creepy oomph Loompah feeling but what's even scarier is that they have their crap together and are running the place like clockwork! You ask an American kid of 14 to do that and they'd be LOST! Too funny!

We head back nearer into Vancouver and nearer to Daniels home and find a railway track that runs between a forest. Shoot him in between the tracks running and doing his kung fu moves in mid air. The pics come out really good and we have a great laugh in the process not to mention the laughs we have singing alternative and filthy lyrics to Nickelback songs. I have video that I'll post when I can but don't expect to hear those "special lyrics"...hehehehehe.....

We get back to the house and set up and shoot him in his home studio in the basement. A really neat drum room that has free floating insulated walls to soundproof everything. Anyway, we get a load of playing shots on the drums etc and head out to dinner along with his lovely missus Britney. A few Guinness later and I'm previewing the pics on my laptop at dinner..... Can't wait to show you the pics when the magazine hit's the shelves!!