General Music Chat

Almost every band photo has a bunch of guys that look as if they are pissed at the world. If so unhappy why not find other musicians? And most musicians try to put on their baddest look when they pose with their instruments. Does that really impress anyone?

When I look through CD's I notice that Christian bands are no exception. I thought Christians were suppose to be happy. Instead of the joy of the Lord it looks like the scowl of the Lord. My kids Christian band.... samey samey. Everyone wants to be a bad ass. A couple of guys on here look happy. But only a very few of them. (Like jw123.) He looks happy to be pickin.

When I get the Musicians Friend catalog there is always some asshole on the cover standing next to or holding a guitar who looks like he's pissed at me for reading the damned thing. And every guitar brand page has someone who looks very unhappy to have made it big time or because they have a guitar named after them? OK. So just quit!! Let someone who would be happy to be in your place take the job.

Like excuse me. I couldn't get the sh*t eatin grin off of my face if some company named a guitar after me. I'd even settle for a pick with my name on it, even though I don't use picks.

Kinda makes you want to grab their collar with one hand, and give them the old double back and forth pimp slap (thwack! thwack! thwack! thwack!!) with the other. For a text book example of the single back and forth pimp slap, see Rod Steiger showing how it's done below...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--NZ4Dykijw

All musicians ,except for me, are a miserable bunch.

You wouldn't like our pics from our photo-shoot very much then.

I will say this though. Typically, musicians aren't models. A lot of times they don't know what to do. In our case, we have 7 band members. Try keeping all 7 on the same page. Anything outside of a serious look was usually a disaster.

We took 200 pictures, and only 7-10 of them were even usable. There's always those guys who just don't know what to do. It actually turned into an argument once the proofs came to us. The photographer would say, "look serious", and there would be that one guy who would do a HUGE smile, or look in an odd direction, or interpret it as "look psychotic". At the time it might seem funny to them, but it just ended up being wasted money.

Say something simple like "smile", and everyone interprets it differently. But there's always someone who wants to be a clown with it, and the pic is wasted. Everyone's smiling nicely, except for someone who is smiling heavily with his eyes bugged halfway out if his head in a joking manner.

One of our guys just had a habit of moving his eyebrows WAY up just before the snap. He wasn't trying to be a clown. But we pointed it out when we viewed the first run (during a break). It was WAY obvious. Even he saw it and didn't like what he was doing. But it was just a natural reaction he didn't know how to control. It still happened throughout the whole rest of the shoot.

The only times it didn't happen was when the photographer would say "relax your face, no reaction, just look into the camera". That kind of shot WILL appear to be like what you're talking about. Everyone will have kind of a pissed-off look. But it's not so much that they ARE pissed at anything. It's just the relaxed facial expression. Something that a group of people can't really misinterpret too much. It's the easiest shot to get, and have everyone turn out ok. But only during those times when everyone's focused on what's going on, and not clowning.

It's amazing how a group of adults find it so hard to go through a simple photo-shoot. Clowning around is a defense mechanism for some people. Sometimes making an odd face is done out of insecurity. Our argument wasn't so much a heated one where people talked sh*t and hated each other. It just ended up being wasted money in the sense that we could have gotten, let's say, 30 good shots if everyone would just follow directions, and be on the same page. There were times when we were asked to clown around a little, then that's ok. But you gotta know when to shut it back off too. Otherwise, it becomes a waste of time and money.

Once all is said and done.. When the band is making the decisions on what to use.. Never fails, serious pic always wins.

If a musician is pissed off at anything... It's the whole process of the photo-shoot. Photo-shoots are a nightmare to me. All of the sudden, you're being asked to be a poser. Something most musicians would rather not do. Just take the freaking pics, Let's get through the process as quick as possible, and get me the f**k out of here so I can go work on some music. It's no different than going to the doctor or DVM for me.

I know where Slacker is coming from. Some of these pics are obvious. Funny thing is, these guys don't look mean, in fact, a lot of the ones I've seen lately look like GQ smooth pretty boys who don't even know what a nosebleed is...unless they got it from picking it too much.

We did not smile in our band pictures because it is easier to get a consensus of looks into a photo with the straight face.
Otherwise you have two guys cheesin, one half smile and the fourth with his eyes closed.
The look should be serious in my opinion. That does not necessary equate with being a "badass".
Professional photography time is expensive. When dealing with six personalities (five for the band plus the photographer) for 6 -8 hours it just makes sense.

I will agree one one point however. It does seem that every lardass in East Texas thinks he is a MMA hero or a freakin nascar driver.

Too much TV and doughnuts.

Mental I tell ya.

Pro photography would be a cinch if the whole band was just chomping on biscuits or drinking sodas. Hmmm...good idea!

Great idea

Perhaps a photo doobie would be a good way to remove the scowls.

No Good,,, Doobies are against the law unless you have a script in CA.

Guilty as charged...

Just about every decent picture I've been able to get of me onstage I'm wearing a serious look. It's not intentional, I'm just usually concentrating on playing some decent guitar, and for some reason whoever is holding the camera never happens to catch me smiling at the audience, which I actually have to consciously remember to do. I'm having a great time, I just always look serious...and sometimes that tends to look like I'm pissed. I even got one shot that looks like I'm totally wasted, and I never touch a drop of booze or a hit on a joint before I play...NEVER...I was totally sober and straight, but if you look at that shot you'll swear I'm blasted out of my mind. I'll see if I have it posted on Photobucket, if not I'll put it up so you can see, it's a great shot but I look wasted.

OK, I'll have to get it from the home computer, just looked and it's not on this laptop or photobucket...

Love the hat.

OK OK so one guy caught a shot of me doing a Gene Simmons impersonation.

I guess that's better than a Richard Simmons impersonation. eeeeww

It's a "B" not begin able to play more than three chords

No Good,,, Doobies are against the law unless you have a script in CA.

Sooo???? Taking over private enterprise is also illegal. Taking over the banking system is also illegal. So is governing against the will of the people. So is the appointment of czars. So is defying the constitution. So is scamming the public to steal trillions of taxpayer dollars. So the gov reaching into your billfold at every whim to steal your hard earned money without your consent.

And sharing a doobie concerns you?

So which do you suppose is worse ?