Sleep, Live @ Neumo's, Seattle -- photos, etc.

Sleep played two nights in a row at Neumo's in Seattle on June 3 and 4.

I sure as shit went to see them. Monday night, baby.

From the front row, I used my 8MP digital camera with its built-in mic to record lots of half-good video of the show.

Meaning--the audio is really, really bad, but the video is good.

I'm going to contact Matt Pike and Al Cicneros to see if they would be amenable to lending me audio of their show, if anyone happened to record it from the sound board or anything.

If they let me, I'd like it to be an official Sleep-endorsed thing. Not as a DVD release or anything, cause the quality is less than stellar, but just to have something they can use, as archive video, or something to post on any one of any number of electronic social media sites they currently or plan on managing.

Helping this band would give me great personal satisfaction. Since I discovered them in 2007, they've been a big influence on me. Dopesmoker has always been one of my favorite LPs.

During the show Monday, I tried to keep my shots nice and relaxed, keeping lengthy frames, shifting the focus suddenly and with confidence, and sometimes letting the musicians frame themselves within the shot.

It's slow, methodical, unhurried. It works for the feel of the band's music. Sleep doesn't need videos with a lot of quick cuts and an MTV feel. Live is pure. Live is raw.

But live needs to sound good. Which is why I need to fucking get ON to contacting the dudes about this thing I have in mind.

Oh man, I should write about what happened during the show. Well, ... agh, later. Later.

I suppose I should upload the video I have to YouTube just to have it accessible, so I don't look like I'm full of shit.

More to follow.

Breaking News--Animals As Leaders wrongly arrested, abused by police in Boston

A band named Animals as Leaders ... what is that name trying to say? A band name ought to make a statement, you know. It wasn't chosen arbitrarily, to be sure.

It means our leaders are animals! Case in point, via Metal Sucks.

Who knew the band would be so prophetic?

I've had a disagreement with MS before, calling them out on some bullshit.

Now, let me reverse some of that and say, in true MS form: Thank you, Metal Sucks, for not sucking today.

This AAL-Cooley development is an important story, and it shows journalistic integrity from Vince and Axl for following it closely. I especially like how MS readers helped research the story, finding those court documents on Cooley's past shenanigans of illegality.

Band name manifested in attack against band.

Poetic injustice.