The 3-year anniversary of the most rock 'n' roll thing I have witnessed thus far

Ah, old memories and the lanes which they create. Let us take a walk (or rather, blog) down said memory lane. (I will be pulling out some especially old photography in this, so please bear with me...)

It happened on a Friday night all the way back in the summer of '06. Though it would be another 8 months before I finally purchased my first "real" SLR camera, I was still snap snap snapping away at shows with my comparably crappy little Olympus 8 megapixel point-and-shoot camera.

I found myself at The Varsity on June 9th, 2006 for The Alarmists debut EP release show for A Detail of Soldiers. I had only seen the band once before (at The Varsity about a month prior when they played with This World Fair at The TV Sound CD release show also at The Varsity) but I already knew I had found something special in them.

Supporting The Alarmists at their debut EP release was Low Lustre, a band that would soon move to New York, and White Light Riot, their BBFF's (best band friends forever). WLR had first caught my ear and my eye two months earlier when they played with TWF at some fashion show at Myth Nightclub, so they too were new on my list of bands worth checking out more often.

(Side note: That first encounter with WLR in April 2006 involved frontman Mike Schwandt telling me they sounded kinda like Fall Out Boy. Bullcrap. They're way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way wayyyyyyyyyyy better and sound nothing like them in my opinion, in that WLR is actually good.)

Getting back on track, I witnessed something so incredible at The Varsity that night that it may never be repeated the same way without someone intentionally doing it themselves. But I don't think anyone is really crazy enough to tempt fate in such a way that they also cheat death itself...

I'm speaking, of course, of what Mike Schwandt from White Light Riot did during about the 3rd song of their set. During the solo, the band rocked out all over the stage, with Mike swerving back and forth between guitarist Joe Christenson and bassist Dan Larsen on either side of him with drummer Mark Schwandt keeping it all together in-time in the background.

At one point, Mike did some kind of spinning swing with his guitar, thrusting it upwards as he was leaning forwards and inadvertently whacking himself in the forehead with the head of his guitar. But he didn't go down or even really miss a beat. I'm told that when he stumbled over towards Dan, Mike said something along the lines of "Am I alright?" before heading back towards to the mic at the end of the solo.



But when Mike turned around to finally face the crowd and get back on the mic though, I heard some in the crowd let out a collective "Gasp!" in utter shock of what they were seeing.


(Click image for bigger version)

Mike was gushing a huge stream of blood from right above his eye! Luckily for me, I was in the right place at the right time with the flash turned on, which resulted me in capturing that photo. The band finished the song and then briefly stopped their set as a few people from The Varsity came around the stage with towels and began tending to the self-wounded WLR frontman.

Nobody knew if WLR would be able to keep playing with how incredible the injury was to Mike. But in true rock 'n' roll fashion, the band carried on and finished their set with Mike continuing to bleed all over himself. Sure he'd towel off after songs, but the wound would quickly re-grow into another big stream of blood that would run down the side of his face. Joe Kuefler from The Alarmists even made a cameo on stage on tambourine, which was later reciprocated by Mark from WLR during the headlining set.



Mike actually had to go to the hospital and get stitches after WLR's set. He missed the headlining performance from The Alarmists (which proved to be even more incredible if that was even possible at this point) but not the afterparty, which was probably the stuff of legend as well. I wasn't there, but then again, I (and 3/4 of WLR) wasn't even 21 at the time. Amazing to think that that's how long ago it was now...

So yes, that is what happened 3 years ago on this very day. Mike's clumsiness and penchant for self-injury created one of the most insanely awesome moments I've witnessed thus far. And even though WLR is not on the bill for the latest CD release show by The Alarmists for The Overhead Left this Friday at The Varsity, you can bet your bottom dollar that the band will be there. Heck, you're already guaranteed to see at least one member of WLR anyway, cause Mark is also drumming for The Alarmists now as well.

But know this: On what is only a few days after the 3-year anniversary of that memorable moment in Minneapolis rock history, The Alarmists will bring it all full-circle for their second full-length release. Between the band bringing original keyboardist Joe Kuefler back into the mix and playing at my favorite venue, I'd say this show will inevitably be one of the biggest and best of the year for the local scene. So be there, and be ready to rock. You know I will be.



The Alarmists CD Release Show for The Overhead Left
Friday, June 12th at The Varsity Theater
With The 757's, The Championship, and Coach Said Not To
8 PM doors, $8 advance/$10 at the door, 21+

Coming eventually: The Mike Minehart: Rock Photographer US Tour

Preemptive summary for those who don't like reading a lot:

I want to put together a photography "tour" from MN to Los Angeles and back. My goal is to shoot shows, bands, and any other interested persons in many new locations en route to a brief stay in LA before returning home and shooting some more while on the way back.

I wouldn't mind discovering some sweet new music while on the road, and I think great out-of-town bands trading shows with awesome Minneapolis bands that I know would be a pretty nice thing to see more of. Plus you'd obviously be getting some great photos from one of the best concert photographers in the Twin Cities.

So if you live anywhere west of the Mississippi River or know any bands or persons who may be interested in hiring me for around the cost of gas, food, and a place for me to crash in your town, I'm down for it if it all links up into a tour!

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And now, story time for those of you who like to read:

I spent much of my Sunday during Memorial Day weekend at a grad party for Pony from The Melismatics. She had just finished up school for massage therapy, and there were plenty of her family and friends over at the relatively chill but enjoyable party.

In the evening, Charles and Christy from Ouija Radio arrived, and eventually Christy and I struck up a conversation about her time spent with The Von Bondies on their recent European tour. She joined the band a little over a year ago as a full-time member and they had just recently released their new album, so The Von Bondies have been out pushing hard with touring and such.

There were many highs and lows for The Von Bondies on the month-long European tour, one that left the band exhausted from a constant schedule of appearances and shows with little to no sleep. But one of the things that really struck me was how Christy approached her occasional free time after shows and during visits to cities in Europe.

Christy made a point of it to have the locals guide her to some of the best local shows around town, and then soaked in all of the atmosphere of the scene that she could. Basically, she discovered some great bands that may have otherwise never crossed paths with her or The Von Bondies.

It may not seem like that complicated of an idea, but making a point of it to get out and see bands is what got me to where I am today. In 3 1/2+ years of capturing the Minneapolis/St. Paul music scene, I have shot hundreds of bands and developed a portfolio the likes of which makes me probably one of the best concert photographers around town. And I've discovered a plethora of great Twin Cities bands and other people I'm proud to call friends of mine.

But that's just here in the Twin Cities. Though I constantly tout our local music scene and its wide array of awesome bands, Christy made me realize that there's probably hundreds of great local bands scattered throughout dozens of music scenes waiting to be discovered by people outside of their town.

I have seen my fair share of smaller out-of-town acts, but that's usually because they're playing here in the Twin Cities. What about the bands who are still floating under the radar and haven't gone more than 100 (or even 10) miles beyond their city limits yet? I'm almost wondering if those are actually the really good rock and roll acts too, because — for example — even though probably a majority of the bands I've seen from Chicago were pretty lame, all of them were touring acts. So there's clearly potential to find untapped, unknown bands in new places.

You might ask, "Why not just read some stuff online and learn about music that way?" Because that's not how I approach discovering new music. I'm a see-it-to-believe-it kind of guy, and more often than not I like to be completely oblivious to a band's sound and style before I see them for the first time so I can get a "pure" first exposure. If you have a bad night, tough luck, but you should know that the best bands can still make their off nights look and sound pretty damn good.

This is the photographer in me speaking, but I want overt emotion, excitement, and awesomeness in any band I see. Subtlety and a reserved attitude is fine in small doses, but if you're putting me to sleep by your third song you're probably not the right band for me to begin with. That's not to say that bands like that are bad, but if you know my top 16 favorite Twin Cities acts (in alphabetical order)...

Ari Herstand
Catchpenny
Charlz Newman
Lynhurst
MC/VL
ReadyGoes
Roster McCabe
Sick of Sarah
So It Goes
The Alarmists
The Debut
The Invincible Kids
The Melismatics
The Wannabe Hasbeens
This World Fair
White Light Riot

...you'll realize that they all know how to completely rock your face off when necessary. Awesome bands make for awesome photography, and when the music and lighting is good, I'll shoot at a break-neck pace all night.

Anyways, what I'm getting at here is, I want to see and shoot some new music. New faces in new places. I want a taste of the local music scenes elsewhere so that I can bring that knowledge back to Minneapolis and spread it around. I want to find bands that might be perfect to have trade shows with a band like The Debut or ReadyGoes, for example. And I want to capture some kickass photography in great out-of-town local venues that I've never even heard of.

Money's not my motivation with this, cause all I'd need to get from doing this is traveling money and a place to crash at to cover my costs. Rather, I want to create mutual benefits in that I'll gain exposure in your town and vice versa. After all, if great bands can tour, then why not a great photographer?

My route would ideally follow a logical path from MN to LA and back. Whether it involves hitting up the Pacific northwest, heading down into the southern states, or just cutting straight through the Plains and the Rockies, I'm fine with taking any reasonable path in or out. Heck, if I really want to make my dad jealous, the route to LA could involve a significant amount of time on good ol' Route 66 if that'd work out for it.

I have no time frame on this yet, as I'm still waiting to hear any offers obviously. But spread the word around: Mike Minehart wants to go on a photography tour. I've even made a poster for you to show to people. How convenient!



If that isn't one of the cheesiest things I've ever created, then I don't know what is. Then again, strange things do tend to happen at... 5 AM?! Wow, I guess I really lost track of time while working on that...

The Unveiling

Tonight (5/23) at England Swings at The Fineline. No hints, spoilers, or details whatsoever. You gotta see it to believe it.

What's a Borangutan?

Today I'm glad to announce to the world that I've joined a brand-new Twin Cities music blog called Borangutan. I'll be contributing photography to the site for a new weekly series called Seein' The Scene and might even throw a few other things up there from time to time. My first entry just went up a little bit ago, so check it out and be sure to keep reading about music on one of the best new websites in the Twin Cities!

Coming soon: The new and improved mikeminehart.com

These past few weeks, I've been digging through my archive of photography unrelated to live shows with the goal of creating a brand-new section for my website. Obviously everyone knows me for my concert photography, but when I think about it, the very essence of what I love doing is people photography.

It's always been that way for me ever since I first started shooting back in high school. The office had a digital camera to check out, and I found myself regularly bringing it to sporting events and whatnot. I liked capturing the atmosphere of life in high school, and funny/candid photo opportunities were plentiful. I didn't shoot as much right after high school, but when I finally discovered the Twin Cities music scene during my sophomore year of college, that reignited my love for people photography and subsequently propelled me to where I am today.

Though since 2007 I've averaged seeing over 200 shows per year, I've still found time to be creative and shoot things other than just music on occasion. And that's a side of me you're going to get to see soon when I eventually unveil a new "People" section (featuring band promos and other portraits) on www.mikeminehart.com.

Here's a little sample of what's to come with the new People section, for which I also have a new logo to accompany those photos with. These past two weekends I had shoots with my friends Lindsay and Kristin, and we definitely captured some pretty great photos. I'm not nearly as good yet at shooting portraits as I am at shooting live music, but with time and experience, who knows? I was a no-clue nobody when I first started shooting music, but I now feel that having that experience and being able to apply that style of shooting to portraits makes my work more than just your run-of-the-mill kind of photography.













P.S. - Yes, I am available for hire for shoots starting at $50. You can reach me via FaceSpace, E-mail, cellphone, face-to-face conversation, or even the Bat-signal if you work it right.

The newest Trifecta of rock in Minneapolis

As you may already know, I am a bit of a statistics geek. So after these first four months of 2009, I decided to look back over the list of shows I've seen so far this year again. I was intrigued to realize that there are three bands in particular that are leading the way in terms of the number of shows I've seen from them compared to everyone else.

So far this year, I've seen 9 shows by ReadyGoes, 8 by The Invincible Kids, and 7 by The Wannabe Hasbeens. (Plus after this weekend is finished I'll be able to tally on another 1 for WBHB and 2 for TIK.) Nobody else is above 4 (Joey Ryan & The Inks, Sick of Sarah, The Soviet Machines) and everyone else I've ever seen is at 3 or less so far in 2009.

The most intriguing thing I noticed is that there have literally been only two weeks, as in Sunday-to-Saturday, in which I did not see a show by any of those three bands so far this year. Observe:

Dec 28-Jan 3: TIK
Jan 4-10: TIK
Jan 11-17: RG
Jan 18-24:
Jan 25-31: RG+TIK
Feb 1-7: TIK+WBHB
Feb 8-14: RG (x2)
Feb 15-21: RG+TIK
Feb 22-28: WBHB
Mar 1-7: TIK
Mar 8-14:
Mar 15-21: WBHB (x2)
Mar 22-28: WBHB, RG
Mar 29-Apr 4: WBHB+TIK
Apr 5-11: TIK
Apr 12-18: RG, WBHB
Apr 19-25: RG
Apr 26-May 2: RG, WBHB+TIK, TIK

So not only are these three bands seeming to play the most often in town these days, they also seem to do it exactly when I'm able to make it to their shows. Even more convenient is when at least two of these bands share a bill with one another, which has happened 4 times (5 after this weekend).

This inter-band unity is the kind of stuff that made 2007-2008 one of the most amazing periods of musical renaissance in the Twin Cities music scene. Unfortunately, some of the bands that helped to make for that amazing time period rarely play in town (or just rarely play period) anymore. Everyone's still friends with everyone obviously, it's just that I don't get to see all of the same great bands as often as I used to.

But ReadyGoes, The Invincible Kids, and The Wannabe Hasbeens — both individually and collectively — offer another shining example of what happens when great music gets together. The bands are all friends with each other obviously, plus Mo plays in both ReadyGoes and The Wannabe Hasbeens anyway. When one of these bands has a show, I know it'll probably be great; but when two or more of them get together, there's serious potential for band crossover insanity as well.

So, just like another great Minneapolis Trifecta before them, (White Light Riot-The Alarmists-The Debut, which played a series of 4 amazing shows all together in 2007) RG-TIK-WBHB is one hell of a show that I would love to see happen more than once this year, or anytime soon. Let's make it happen dudes.

Perennially living under the radar? Perhaps.

But it doesn't have to be that way forever.

I've always felt like what I do doesn't reach the kind of audience that it probably could (or should). I still garner a fairly small number of per-day hits on my website (with occasional spikes like right when the recent Campus Glitter Ball photos went up), and have a Facebook group dedicated to my photography sized only in the lower 100's after 2 years of existence and 800+ photos uploaded to the group.

It's not like my photography goes completely unnoticed outside of my friends and bands I know though. In fact, I would say I get random people who I don't even know coming up to me at shows almost every few weeks. They tend to say something like they've seen my work and like it, and/or they've seen me out at tons of shows. I'm still amazed every time it happens, but I guess it's a good sign because that means that more people are finally starting to see and enjoy my photography.

Experience is a huge factor in what I do. About every six months or so, I'll look back on photos I shot about six months before. And every time I'm blown away by how much better my more recent work is. Whether it's a better camera, a better understanding of my camera, or just plain being better at shooting, I've been consistently improving my craft to the point that it probably should be garnering some more attention these days.

While hanging out at Transmission earlier for the So It Goes EP listening party/video release, a few friends of mine offered suggestions as to how I could go about getting my work out to a larger audience and possibly work towards actually make a living off of it as well. One suggested that I do another gallery show, which is something that I am all for and have always intended on doing again at some point. Though the Give the Gift of Rock benefit show at The Varsity back in December was a great success and raised money for a good cause (The Paul Green School of Rock's scholarship fund), I don't feel like I did as much as I could have for promoting myself as a photographer. Or maybe I did, it's just that I didn't really gain any momentum from it outside of becoming a strong believer in the School of Rock.

So for one, I want to do another gallery showing of my work, and not just as a one-day deal either. Whether it's a restaurant or some other fine establishment(s) around town, I would love to have my work on display where people can enjoy it besides just seeing it online.

Another friend also had the idea of me putting together a book, which is yet another thing I've really been meaning to do. The one thing that's held me back from really pursuing it (besides a lack of funding obviously) is the fact that, compared to national and more prominent local acts, very few people know about the bands I really love to shoot.

Matter of fact, if it wasn't for me shooting amazing-but-unknown-to-most bands like The Debut or Charlz Newman, there would literally be almost no good photos of them. Not because I'm the only good photographer who shoots them regularly, but because I am the only photographer who ever tends to be at their shows regularly. To me they're almost like the "Rodney Dangerfield" bands of the scene, in a sense.

Yet those are just two of the bands I love to shoot in this town. Right now, there are 15 local bands I would say I am completely loyal to, in that if they're playing a show nearby and I can make it, I will almost certainly be there. There are probably another dozen or so bands on top of that I also enjoy and try to see regularly, and I'm constantly discovering new bands through the ones I already like.

Though I've been musically branching out even more lately by seeing more national acts at The Varsity and elsewhere, it's just not my main objective to go out and shoot all the bands that everyone knows, or to try and only shoot the "hip" up-and-coming acts. I believe that when it comes to great photography, it doesn't really matter how prominent a band is or how big the room is that they're playing. What really matters is the material you get, and if your best work comes from bands that people don't really know about, then so be it. I'd much rather see a hundred awesome photos of a hundred unknown bands over a mediocre photo of a huge band any day of the week. And I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels that way either.

If I were to do a book on my photography, it would most likely focus on local bands and probably involve some in-depth interviews and insight from the bands, myself, and other people around town talking about what they've meant to me and the Twin Cities music scene. Or who knows what it might be about? I'm keeping all my options open at this point.

So, long story short:

-I take really good photos.
-I want more people to see them.
-I have ideas on ways to maybe do that, like a gallery showing or a book.
-But I want more than just my own ideas involved in this, because I am not a beacon for creativity.

So I ask you, people of the land of the Internets, what should I do, and who would like to help me out on this? All ideas, suggestions, connections, and offers to fund my pursuits are welcome.