That Golden Moment... I hope you feel it too

PART ONE of what could possibly be the last FNM concert coverage ever *tear*

A lot happened on Sunday and I didn't even go to bed Sunday night or even Monday due to travel and insane amounts of unrestrainable awesome. I think I had the most surreal, amazing night of my life. I thought the Warfield was friggin' fantastic but the intimacy and intensity of what happened at the Ilosaarirock Festival in Joensuu, Finland will forever be unmeasurable.

If that all seems really dark and dramatic... it is. Also, do note the whole not sleeping for 36 hours thing.

I will be talking more about the festival and the other bands later (all very good, fantastic place) but this for now is just about Faith No More. Part... ONE.

So there was some sort of mix-up with my pass. Security at the fest was extremely tight. The sun was wavering in the sky, I was sitting in the VIP tent and feeling utterly broken hearted. My media pass was not enough for backstage access, no matter what I said. No one could talk to the band directly due to security reasons so it was a lot of telephone. Telephone game in Finnish to English and visa versa. NOT a fun game to play.

I told myself that things happen for a reason and that my media pass would at least grant me close shots for the first three or four songs of their set... but after that, I would be on my own. I would have to exit out to the side of the crowd and would never get a good vantage point again. Disappointed but trying to stay positive. Who knows. C'est la vie.

But with almost an hour till go time, I knew that there was no chance of anything.

Until I spotted a fellow journalist wearing an all access pass that said Faith No More and had my name on it. UM, WHAT?

He was the plus one of a lovely Russian girl S, who memorably made those insanely cool Simpson's Russian wooden dolls of the band (pictured on their official site).

Turns out I guess he was given my pass instead of a guest pass. Now, I told everyone in the media center about my predicament "I should have two passes, etc" but though they tried hard, there was nothing they could do... again, language barriers, really insane security, confusion.

But it doesn't matter at all because that was my pass and ten minutes later I was quickly being ushered behind the mainstage. I saw the two Russians there talking to Bill, they all looked at me like "yaaay!"

Mega freaking yay.

"Sorry, I don't know what happened with the passes," Bill said. I didn't care, it didn't matter. What mattered I was suddenly THERE and that was that.

I looked around the area, taking it all in. I saw Jon wandering past, Tour Manager Tim was making the rounds.

"Where is everyone else?" S asked.

Bill shrugged, smiled "Mike and Roddy have been at the sauna for the last five hours."

"My goodness, they are going to turn into prunes."

"Can I get you guys some beer?" asked Bill. Um, sure... Rockstar goes and get's US beer. We should be getting him beer. Goes without saying that Bill Gould is one of the most unpretentious musicians out there.

Well, he soon came back with our Stella Artois and then Roddy and Mike arrived, staggering past in all their over-relaxed sauna glory. Roddy seemed excited to see S again, knowing she had awesome presents for them. Mike looked wasted... whether from the sauna or drinking but knowing the Finnish way, it was probably a combo of the two of them.

S laughed, "Wasted before the show!"

This was going to be epic.



Too cool?

Anyway, Bill went to get ready and came back out in that wonderful lime green suit which was just a bit too big for him. He reminded me of a kid in his dad's suit jacket.

"Think that's a bit to big for you," I pointed at his sleeves.

He smiled, shrugged "Yeah, no one will notice."

Which is true... who notices the suits when FNM are rocking your faces off.

Anyway soon it was go time, so we made our way to the back of the stage.



I was still confused as how I was going to watch the show after I was done in the photo pit but luckily I saw Tim...

"Hey Tim, remember me? In San Fran I showed you my boots..."

Pause. Eyebrow raise. "Your...boobs?"

LOL anyway I explained the situation and suddenly he was slapping on the afterhours sidestage access pass into our hands.

"Just don't take too many photos of Mike from the side... he gets weird about that."

Noted.



Definitely not too cool.

So we made our way to the front. The crowd was massive, waiting a little bit longer than normal for FNM to come on... then finally, it was go time.

This was my first time in the pit shooting FNM but since I had seen them 3x before, I didn't feel like I would be missing out too much by being behind the lens. And I didn't... we only get three songs (and in this case, four) to get the shots done, which means you can enjoy the show afterwards. And what a great three songs they were... sure Mike sounded a bit shakey on the Melodica for Midnight Cowboy and his voice was a bit rough on From Out of Nowhere... but things settled in for Be Aggressive and Caffeine.

Not without him taking his anger out out on the poor microphone stand which he chucked off of the stage, and also kicking the cameraman in the chest. You know, the usual.



























Then it was time for me to go backstage. Course there was some jerk-off Finnish security guy on power trip who thought he could push me around even though I clearly had all the bells and whistles. Luckily some other guy yelled at him and he let me through. Fucktard.

But anyhoo, back I went. Sidestage action. Fucking brilliant. True you couldn't see everything... Puffy was just faceless drums and Patton was running around like a mad dog half the time but I felt like I might never have this chance again. I'd seen them from the front before, I could watch this show on Youtube maybe... the side was where I needed to be. It was close, intimate, secretive. And a good place to gauge the band's reactions.






Roddy taking a break from the Gentle Art of Making Enemies

"How are we doing Joensuu, are you guys awake? Do you like us?" Mike asked to a semi-rousing response. Of course that just gave Mike an excuse to swear at and berate the crowd.

They got him back though. A few songs later, I believe it was after Epic which prompted a giant sing-a-long, he asked if the crowd was having fun yet.

The response was SO loud that Mike staggered back a bit (even I felt it) and exclaimed, "Wow, I think I just came in my pants."

I think everyone did.



Just before the encore, they gave shout-outs to the festival, to the fans, and said that they were honoured to end their last show there.

"This is our last show," said Bill.

"FOREVER" Mike scowled dramatically.

I've heard rumours that this was perhaps the last time they would ever do this reunion tour. That could mean many things and I do think anything could happen. But at that moment my heart just sank... it broke. It's silly how a band, how music, can effect you like a relationship but I honestly felt like I had been dumped and there was nothing left to do but enjoy the sweet last moments.

So when Mike beautifully sung This Guys In Love With You... it really meant something.

"My hands are shaking, don't let my heart keep breaking..."

Ugh. It was devastating.

And then came the final song, The Real Thing. The energy in their performance, the lights, Mike's voice, the lyrics... it was so fitting and poignant. What an amazing way to end the show, and possibly the whole reunion. I get choked up thinking about it... but I managed to capture it on my camera. Hell, why not?



When it was all done, they posed for a group photo on stage and cracked open a bottle of champagne, after giving shout-outs to Randy, Des, Tim and everyone else in their hardworking crew. Was this it? Was this the end?



The fivesome walked off-stage and up the ramp, disappearing into the shadows of the hazy Northern Finland night.



Fans were left screaming and chanting Faith No More's name, their voices echoing against the stage area. It was sad that to some people, this was the end of their weekend, end of the festival and maybe the last time they would see the band.

But for me... well, my night was just starting.

Part Two to follow...

Best Trip Ever

For realz.



As I said before, I am blessed and fortunate to LOVE such an amazing band. As someone once told me... you don't pick them, they pick YOU.



Kippis, FNM!

My first tattoo

A few months ago, my friends and I were talking about tattoos. I never had one and never wanted one but suddenly the idea about having the Star of Lakshimi (used by FNM as their symbol) became very appealing. Then I found out the eight-sided star represents the eight sides of wealth.... and we could all use more wealth in love, happiness, money, etc.

One friend gave me the idea of having it blue and on the back of the neck. Though I knew that location was painful, I liked that I could easily hide it in ten years if I hated it.

Then I said, well I'll get it... but only the next time I see FNM and only if it's in a foreign country. I might have been drunk when I said it.

So... I figured I wouldn't have to think about it. That time would come one day.

OR NOT. I'm in Finland and I'm seeing FNM on Sunday so the time has come, hasn't it?

My cousin and I checked out a tattoo place last week, and satisfied with the service and the price we made an appointment for yesterday.

I was a freakin' train wreck. I get nervous over EVERYTHING so you can imagine how nervous I was over this tattoo. It wasn't about the permanence, it wasn't REALLY about the pain... but that I would have a panic attack and keel over. Or vomit. Or something else really embarassing.

Anyway, I was just about to chicken out when my cousin showed up to see me through.

There was a bit of back and forth with the tattoo artist over the colour and size (I wanted it smaller but then detail and colour would be lost) and then it was GO TIME.

Here I am looking extremely nervous (didn't help that Helsinki has been in an EPIC heatwave... the nighttime "lows" here are 25C (77F!) and the daytime highs are over 80F! And no one has air con, so I was sweating like a pig to begin with....



I thought I would have flinched when the needle (and boy, it's loud when it's near your head)first touched me, but I didn't. It kind of eased it's way in and didn't hurt all that much.... just felt like a hot knife carving into your neck.

That was just the black outline though... when it came to colour it in, especially at the top of the star, it really, really hurt. Like OWWWWW OMG! Kind of pain.



But in the end it only took a half hour (thank God) and the pain was soon forgotten.



Here it is right after... still scabby and bloody.



Few hours later, it's much clearer.



Then my cousins and I met up with their family at a very old bar (1865!) below their flat. Five pints of cider went down beautifully!


Adrenaline still in my veins!






Cousin beating the heat


Their mom had a tattoo as well... finally, I am REALLY Finnish! :P


We all have the same grandma :) Can you tell?




Good times!


I made it back home at midnight, it was still light enough outside to read... a great end to a memorable day :)

by the way, you like the bag and belt? 12Euros at UFF, their famous second-hand shop. The bag is unbelievably gorgeous, hand-tooled leather from North Africa... I can't wait to show you close-up photographs of it, it was a real lucky find!



Tank: F1; Sandals: GoJane; Belt and Bag: UFF thrift store; hat: Target; Skirt: thrifted

The best tattoo machine you'll ever find at EikonDevice.com

The Perfect Festival Outfit

I wore this on our drive down to Seaside, Oregon. We stopped in nearby Astoria for some photographs by the water.

It was stinkin' hot that day yet incredibly windy which made my dress flip up at every given gust. Thankfully I had the foresight to wear a skirt underneath the dress for added protection.

It wasn't until after I had gotten dressed though that I thought, damn, this would have made a great outfit to wear to a music festival... maybe the jacket and boots would be a bit much for Coachella, but something in the Fall might be more appropriate.

















Dress: ASOS, Belt: Vintage, Boots: Vintage, Jacket: Target, Bag: Mango, Necklace: ASOS

Adventures in the Photo Pit - Melvins

Since this has sort of become my (non-paying) job, I thought I should start blogging about my Adventures in the Photo Pit... told from the point-of-view of someone who has NO IDEA WHAT THE HELL SHE IS DOING.

Yep. I mean, sure, I know how to write. I did glean something from Journalism school.

But writing about music? I could wax on and on about films, or fashion or traveling but... music? I mean, I love music (A LOT) but I'm also pretty stubborn when it comes to the music that I like. I dislike 90% of the new music out there, therefore I don't listen to the radio. There just isn't that much good songwriting anymore (seriously).

Yet here I am, reviewing albums with a fresh ear, which isn't such a bad thing. I'm learning to articulate why I like and don't like certain things and exposing myself to music I perhaps might have scoffed for being too "hipster" or "indie" (OK, I will continue to scoff at both of those things).

And I'm interviewing artists, which is eye-opening in it's own right. I have interviewed people like Anna Paquin (you can read here), local producer Kirk Shaw and William B. Davis (you can read here) but as you can see that was AGES AGO. Luckily, Kid Koala was a total sweetie... I just wish they'd hurry up and publish the article.

And covering The Slew at the Commodore was fun and challenging too.

Monday night I covered the Melvins concert at The Rickshaw Theatre.

You can get the gist of the show from the review, hopefully, but here's the "behind the scenes."

So, a few days before my boss gets an email from a woman and says I am on the guest list, with a +1 and a photo pass. Sweeeeeet! I have several of the Melvins latest albums (they do have 18 in total, so it'll take me a while to build up the collection) and have heard nothing but good things about their live performances. Plus, the record label that was granting me the pass was Ipecac and, well, you know how I feel about them.

My boyfriend and I were running late and by the time we showed up to the Rickshaw Theatre in the skeeziest part of town (um, Main and Hastings), there was already quite a line-up going into the venue.




We were meeting our friends B and C... I had originally bought tix to see the Melvins before I knew I got a pass, so I now had tickets to give away. Little did I know that the show was sold-out - I coulda scalped those bitches!

Anyway, I made my way up to the security guy at the door and asked where I should go if I'm on the guest list. He lifted up the rope for me - I then threw my friends a "HA!" look - and I walked right in.

Of course, inside was a different story. Turns out I was NOT on the guest list at all. I ended up talking to the promoter (I think), who was in charge of that sort of thing and convinced him that I should be there. I mean, I should have. I showed him the email from the original person and blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, thank god for having internet on your phone and all that because I got my photo pass from him, I got myself and my bf in for free and all was good. (I emailed my boss straight after to tell him what happened but he said "that happens sometimes").

Then came the scary part... acting like a photographer. I could see the rail at the front and then where the photo pit was set up between that and the stage. I gingerly approached one of the security guys, making sure he could see my pass.

"Is this where I take photos?"

He gave me that wry 'first day on the job?' look and said "First three songs only."

That was the same deal for the concert in Finland that I'm covering... makes sense. That way I get don't block the view of the crowd for that long and I can also enjoy the show.

Anyway, I knew what I had to do, so I settled back with my friends and waited for the opening band Totimoshi to come on. The Rickshaw is a very skeezy throwback to a makeshift venue from the 1990's. There's a balcony up top, the ground is concrete (perfect for washing away blood... and, er, beer), the bars are a do-it-yourself type deal... and they didn't even serve beer since the beer truck never came. Yup, highballs for everyone. Is hard liquor the smartest bet to have at a rock show? Probably not. Also, is it smart to have the bar adjacent to the mosh pit? Probably not.



Also, there was no merch because most of it was seized at the border or something, and half of the venue has crooked, stained theatre chairs. Which is actually kind of good if you don't feel like standing.



Anyhoo, I was standing in line, talking with my friend B about covering festivals in the future for the website, and all that, and I could see some guy was watching me out of the corner of my mind. He looked like most of the people in the place - maybe 40, faded band tee-shirt, jeans and a long mane of hair that he's probably had since the Melvins began (in the 80's).

He eyed the photo pass I stuck on my boob (at least I think he was eyeing the pass).

"Heeeey man, do you like, KNOW the Melvins?"

"Uh no, I'm just here to take pictures"

"But like are you going to see them later backstage?"

"No, probably not."

"Can you give them this photo?"

He passes me a picture of him posing with the Melvins. I smile the half-dead expression on Buzzo's face. I hand it back to him.

"That's cool. But I don't think I'll be seeing them."

He nods, finally getting that I am NOT with the band.

Two seconds later, Coady (one of the drummers... there are two drummers) comes out of the backstage area anyway and the guy was able to stop him and personally hand him the photograph anyway. I could see Coady took it, humouring him obviously, but it was neat to see how relaxed the whole set-up of this show was.

Anyway, show starts with the opener's Totimoshi. I've never heard of this San Fran trio before but their bassist is female which is pretty cool. And they did sound very sludgy grungey and melvin's esque. Not exactly my cup of tea though - Melvins do it better.

And do it better they did. And for a loooong time. Felt like they played for at least two hours, with an intermission too. And I didn't realize until afterwards how stupid I was for NOT bringing earplugs.

I digress though... the scary part was when they first started and I was like, OK GO TIME. I nodded at the security guy who gave me the "three songs" gesture, the walked into the photo pit.



I totally felt like a fraud. There were two other guys in the pit with much better cameras than I. Though my pass said I could be there, close enough to lick the drums, resting my arms on the actual stage, I didn't feel like I should be.



I also felt bad for blocking the view of some of the people in the audience but they didn't seem to mind. One guy, who resembled Drew Carrey, took off his hat and placed it on my head as I was taking photos... I guess he was hitting on me? Luckily I took it in stride... I probably did look out of place. A few times I caught Buzzo staring down at me with a "interesting..." look on his face. I think I got that in one of the photos.



Unfortunately the show was very dark save for red lights and red lights are murder to film... it didn't even matter how good your camera was. It might be crisper and clearer with a faster lens but even then, your photos will turn out red. As a result, I couldn't use a lot of my shots and the ones I could use I had to turn to Black and White.











My BEST PHOTOS are on the review, so remember to check it out HERE - and PLEASE DEAR READERS... if you like it, re-tweet it or Facebook "like" it or leave a comment. Keep me working!!!!


After the show, the promoter of the concert came up to me and gave me his business card and told me to send him some pics (i should get on that!).

Then I made my way to the stage where other eager beavers were trying to get drumsticks, set lists, pics, etc.

Even the security guy got Coady's broken pair but all i wanted was the set list. Luckily a guy there took a picture of it with his cell phone and said he'd email it to me.

I gave him my business card and somehow we got to talk about Faith No More. With his long hair and charming demeanor, this guy actually totally reminded me of Mike Patton.. circa The Real Thing...



But not in spandex. Anyway, turns out he went to the Warfield too to see them (just the Monday show) and when Patton stage dived, the dude got his butt to his face. I got his foot so we swapped stories and I think we high-fived each other everytime we had a "ME TOO!" moment. That's the thing with Faith No More fans... there aren't many of us (least where I'm from) so when we meet each other it's like instant friend.

But I also realized that people seem very interested in the blonde camerawoman at rock shows... it's a fantastic place to meet people if you äre single. But alas my boyfriend was waiting patiently in the seats for me to stop schmoozing.



Well, that's the story with that. Figured I might as well write about these experiences so I don't forget down the road.

Hope you are all having a great day. I'm in Helsinki, Finland as I type this and it's a gorgeous heat wave here as it seems to be everywhere else in the world.

Even my fair city Vancouver is experiencing very hot conditions... check out the sunset photos from my roof just before I left!





I guess it's good that I am here and my bf is back in Vancouver... our apartment gets extremely hot in the summer, and the bed is probably a lot cooler :P