05.08.13
Things have been super busy so far this year. I'm going to do better about updating this section.
Over the last few months I have photographed Bio Ritmo, No BS Brass Band, DJ Sparr, Dan-O of Snake Oil Records, Snowy Owls, The Residents, The Evens, and many many more bands.
The
Live At Ipanema series has been a wonderful monthly project. Cheats Movement guest curated last month and Allen continues to book amazing bands. A few days ago White Laces played with tiny practice amps. That session should be online in a couple weeks.
My rock band, Hoax Hunters, has been hard at work this year as well. We are booking out of town shows and writing the rest of our future album. We did a Record Store Day split 7" with Snowy Owls that sold out. You can still purchase a digital download from
Cherub Records.
If you haven't already, make sure you sign up for my
email list. I've been sending out infrequent updates with new photos and stories.
11.06.12
VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!
Email me a photo of your "I Voted" sticker and your address and I will mail you a Bob Mould postcard!
info@pjsykes.com
VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!
10.01.12
My photo show at Steady Sounds is now over. If you purchased a photo (thank you!) you can now pick it up at the store. Big thanks to everyone who supported the store and checked out my work.
I've been working hard on my new blog. Now that I've got a few post behind me I'm starting to set up some projects that I've been wanting to do for a long time. I hope to tell you all about it soon.
Fake Fake EyesFake Fake Eyes twitterFake Fake Eyes facebookFake Fake Eyes tumblr
09.09.12
Hopscotch was amazing! I met so many amazing people and saw so many bands.
Soon I will do some sort of post but for now I'm collecting my thoughts, editing photos and catching up on sleep.
More press on my photo show:
What To See: PJ Sykes at Steady Sounds - Cheats Movement
09.03.12
I have two photos in the collaborative
Hopscotch Music Fest /
SPARKcon photo show called "Off The Microphone"
Check it out at September 7th - 30th
The Morning Times
10 East Hargett st.
Raleigh, NC
08.06.12
Announcing my first solo photography show over 5 years!
.
The photo show will be up all of September during regular business hours.
Mon. - Sat. 11-6 / Closed Sundays
Steady Sounds
322 West Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23220
804.308.2692
www.steadysounds.comThese photographs will be framed and ready for purchase.
07.15.12
Last night I performed with The Colloquial Orchestra as part of WRIR Commonwealth Notions benefit show. TCO set up along the walls upstairs at Gallery 5 giving the audience a unique surround sound feel. You can hear a recording a made here:
http://soundcloud.com/pjsykes/Allen Bergendahl and I are mixing the Hoax Hunters EP this week. Our new drummer James O'Neill is wonderful and we will be announcing shows soon.
I'm planning my first solo photo show in about 5 years for September in Richmond. More details on that very soon.
05.25.12
Check out the June issue of SPIN magazine (iPad version) for a HUGE photo of The Snowy Owls. The photo was taken at their Balliceaux show here in Richmond, VA and features amazing projections by Dave Watkins. I hope to post a screen shot in a few weeks.
My band Hoax Hunters started tracking drums last night for our first EP! It has been many years since I've recorded new material. So far it has come pretty natural like riding a bike. Part of the reason it feels comfortable is my good friend Allen Bergendahl is capturing my sound once again. I've worked with them on many projects dating back about ten years now.
I'm also working on a new postcard. I can'te tell you the subject just yet... but I've very excited to be working with one of my heros. I'll leave it at that for now.
05.07.12
Last night I got to see an
amazing show and photograph it for a great cause.
Please take a few minutes and |http://www.protectncfamilies.org|read up on NC's Amendment 1. | Help defeat this by voting or telling your NC friends to go vote!
04.20.12
Last night I saw Phunk Tards, Peace Beat, The Garbers and The Snowy Owls rock Balliceaux here in RVA. We have so many great bands in town right now!
04.16.12
I had a great time in Durham on Saturday. Visited Bull City Records, Fullsteam and the new venue MotorCo. Crooked Fingers were a perfect opener for Lambchop. I prefer their stripped down sets on shows like this vs the full band that they sometimes have. Eric Bachmann's voice is the main attraction and the duo version helps highlight this fact. Lambchop was amazing as always. They pretty much played all of their new album "Mr M" before the hilarious Tony Crow and Kurt Wagner interactions begain. For the most part you could hear a pin drop but later in the show a handful of people in the back were talking at full volume. I was in the front row and could hear almost every word they were saying. Please, please, please, please, please if you want to talk at a show (especially during a quiet band like Lambchop) GO OUTSIDE! No one paid to hear your conversation. It is not rude of me or anyone else to tell you to be quiet or to leave, so please do not get offended when it happens.
On Sunday I swapped/sold records at the Spring Richmond Record Swap. It was a lot of fun and Cous Cous, Tracy and Steady Sounds did a fantastic job! We need more amazing people like them to do more amazing events. Thank you! If you missed out, next time bring something to trade or some spending cash and stop by. The vendors didn't bite.
04.09.12
Going through the archives all week... I've got a nice pile of prints to swap/sell on Sunday 4/15. Mostly 2005-2009. Some prints are from gallery showings. I will trade for vinyl records, food, drinks, cash, or you can use paypal or pay with a credit card.
See you Sunday!
04.02.12
I'm going to sell/trade photo prints at
The Richmond Record Swap-Spring Edition on Sunday 04.15.12
There is always a bunch of great record vendors and collectors swaping vinyl at these things. So grab a handful from your collection and make plans to swap!
12-5pm
Cous Cous
900 W Franklin St
Richmond, VA
03.09.12
THE MEN killed it last night!
Do yourself a favor and get their new album "Open Your Heart"
02.13.12
Last night was a blast! JEFF The Brotherhood are super nice guys that bring the rock.
02.08.12
31.9999999
My new(ish) band Hoax Hunters is about to start hitting the stage again.
02.12.12 - with JEFF The Brotherhood and The Milkstains - Strange Matter - RVA
03.08.12 - with THE MEN and Lost Tribe - Strange Matter - RVA
More shows coming soon!
01.21.12
Here is my DJ setlist from January 19th house show with CJ Boyd, Netherfriends, and Dave Watkins.
01.20.12
Last night I had a blast DJing a house show with
CJ Boyd,
Neitherfriends and
Dave Watkins. I'm going to hopfully post a list of 7"s that I played over the weekend.
Beauty Pill has released a
new song on the internets! While you're there make sure to check out the podcast.
If you're in the DC area
Immersive Ideal is open at Artisphere till 1/22
Version 2.0 of
Hoax Hunters is starting off 2012 with some hot shows!
2/12 with |http://jeffthebrotherhood.eventbrite.com/JEFF The Brotherhood| and The Milkstains - Strange Matter - RVA
3/8 with
THE MEN and Lost Tribe - Strange Matter - RVA
Sedona The Movie will be in select theaters March 16th
01.01.12
Happy New Year!!
12.05.11
Hear the new Beauty Pill album and play with an interactive monome controlled photo installation
Jan 7-22 Artisphere
11.28.11
We hung out in Asheville, NC for the Thanksgiving holiday and found some great coffee, music, beer, and historical tours! Scored lots of interesting finds while thrifting too. I'll post some photos soon.
11.24.11
Happy Thanksgiving!
11.17.11
My NASA tweetup
photos and sound collage are now up on RVAnews.com
A big thank you to RVAnews and NASA Langley for giving me the chance to try something new!
11.12.11
Had a blast seeing the Foo Fighters last night in DC!
11.09.11
Yesterday I was one of the lucky 50 tweeters to visit NASA's oldest facility
Langley Research CenterI had a lot of fun learning the history of the center as well as exploring the research they currently are working on. You could really tell these people love their jobs and loved talking about the projects.
I'm working with www.rvanews.com to bring you some photos and a sound collage from the trip. Check back soon for a link.
09.11.11
WOW Hopscotch was amazing! I saw/missed so many great bands and made a few new friends (hello: John from Chicago / Pat from Boston / Tamara from DC). It was great to see tons of old friends again too and share a fun weekend of music.
A few of my favorites: SWANS, KORT, Netherfriends, The Men, Shit Horse, Rhys Chatham, JEFF The Brotherhood, Toon, Eternal Summers, Superchunk, Hospitality, Whatever Brains, and a few that I'm forgetting...
Bands I wanted to see but missed: Birds of Avalon, Cassis Orange, Cold Cave, Coliseum, Earth, Fight The Big Bull, John Vanderslice, Lost In the Trees, Mount Eerie, Vivian Girls...
09.05.11
It has been one crazy crazy week! Earthquake, aftershocks, hurricane, no power for five plus days, and now Sprout (my favorite local hangout spot) has closed... Last night was one of the wildest shows I've seen in town in long time! Everyone gave it 110% and the bands played like there was no tomorrow. It's sad to say goodbye to such an amazing culture hot spot.
08.29.11
This week in Richmond, VA survived an earthquake, more swamp smoke, and hurricane Irene! HQ has been without power for going on 3 days... since I can't work on photos I've been reading
Bob Mould's "See A Little Light"
08.18.11
I had fun playing in the
Colloquial Orchestra again last night. Normally I'm not out that late on a school night... already feeling sleep deprived. #rocknroll
08.03.11
Please help my friends at Northern! They hung my
first west coast photo show and shipped my work to Seattle for my second. They put on great all ages shows as well.
Read their statement bellow:
Northern is a non-profit, 100% volunteer run, all-ages music/performance venue and art gallery that has played a vital role in Olympia's DIY arts scene since 2009. We have hosted over 350 eclectic events and served as an accessible space for musicians, visual artists, filmmakers and community groups to gather and showcase their work. Our building was recently purchased and we have been asked to relocate. This gives us an opportunity to find a larger and more flexible place to call home.
MAKE A DONATION HERE
08.02.11
When something breaks or falls on stage I tend to help when I can. I've done this for years and it stems from putting on DIY shows growing up. Back then we had to do everything. Rent the PA and light rig - set them up and man the stations - tear them down and return it all to the music store. We ran the door when possible and we fixed things during the show. At the same time some of us (myself included) worked as techs at theaters sometimes even acting. Part of why I started photographing bands was from doing these shows. No one was a photographer. Other guys from that scene still work in the theater tech or run sound or record bands and I stuck with photography.
Saturday night here in Richmond when I saw a cymbal crash to the floor my instinct told me to go help. When I picked it up I noticed that it didn't just fall off the stand it snapped off! I know the drummer and his love for the ride so I decided to hold the nub of the stand still attached to the cymbal so he could still play the rest of the song. I still had a free hand so I took a few shots left handed. As I was doing all of this I really didn't think anything of it... this is just what I do.
Listen to
Snowy Owls
07.28.11
Beauty Pill and Artisphere were both amazing to work with! The other photographers were great as well and I can't wait to see how they captured the same space. It will be interesting to see how each photographer differs and which moments each person thought were important enough to photograph.
As I work my way through my first week back I'm noticing the positive energy from my DC experience is still fueling me.
07.18.11
Starting day 3 here in Manassas, VA at the home of Basla Andolsun (Andalusians, Del Cielo, Beauty Pill). This week there are celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the civil war down the street. I hope they don't realized I'm a yankee...
First couple of days at the studio have been great. Everyone is super talented and professional. I spent the first half of Sunday at the Natural History Museum and Arlington Cemetery. Today I might slip away and do some record shopping.
I'm trying to post a couple of photos each day under the
Beauty Pill gallery. I'm also
tweeting highlights as we go. If you're in the DC area stop by!
07.11.11
My bedroom label (Cherub Records) just turned 10 years old!
We just released a free 30+ track sampler.
Download it here.This weekend I played some music with the Colloquial Orchestra and
RVAplaylist did this blurb.
07.06.11
I'm playing in the
Colloquial Orchestra this weekend!
July 9
Globehopper
2100 East Main Street
Richmond, VA 23223
w/ Lost Trail and Pinetree Line
early show 6 - 8pm (no joke!)
After that I will be in DC from 7/16-7/24.
Contact me if you're interested in having me photograph your DC area band.
Then on 8/4 the return of
Hoax Hunters w/ NYC's
Grandfather and Richmonds
White Laces! The show is at Sprout in Richmond. 10pm / $ donation bucket
06.15.11
Posted a photo from the Arcade Fire show in Charlottesville, VA as my main image. Super hot that night... but a great show!
Just found out that my current band mates played in bands with former AF member Brendan Reed before he left Virginia. It's a small world.
06.09.11
Witnessed The Arcade Fire destroy Charlottesville, VA last night!
Sweaty photos coming soon...
05.26.11
My new band is set to perform for the first time very soon! I haven't played a show in my own band since 04/08
Got confirmation that
SPIN will run one of my Flaming Lips photos in the
iPad edition of an upcoming issue! more details soon...
This July I will spend a week photographing
Beauty Pill just outside of Washington, DC as they record at
Artisphere. The recording session is open for the public to view. The music and photographs will then be displayed at Artisphere this winter.
Sedona the Movie is almost ready. As I find out details I will post them here.
04.25.11
1:11pm ...and you will know me by the Uncle PJ
04.11.11
busy! busy! busy! I've officially moved into a new HQ! Still getting things set up... but I can now edit and work on photos once again. I've got some exciting projects in the works for this summer! More details once I know them.
I'm selling one of my BOREDOMS photos to help Japan. I will donate all the profits directly to the American Red Cross to help the victims. Click the link to buy
http://pjsykes.smugmug.com/Music/boredomsOr donate directly to the
Red Cross
02.11.11
I'm spinning more 7"s tonight at Sprout in Richmond, VA
8-10pm FREE
Music will start promptly at 8pm
Stick around after my set for a FREE show
01.13.11
I'm
DJing 7" singles this Saturday 1/15 and after my set the Blue Rajas play their second show!
Sprout1 N. Morris St.
Richmond, VA
8-10pm
FREE
01.10.11
Sedona: The Motion Picture has started posting some of my photos from the soundtrack recording session. The first one is of
Jaya Love and is one of my favorite photos of 2010.
01.01.11
I just posted my End of Year mix on 8tracks.com listen to it for free:
XMIX2010
12.29.10
My trip to Sedona was a great experience. I shot some of my best photographs this year of the musicians recording the soundtrack to Sedona (the movie). I had the pleasure of working with some fantastic musicians, engineers, and producers. My only complaint was the weather... it rained almost the entire time I was there. I hope to get back there sometime to hike a little and photograph some of the talented musicians outside.
If you're not familiar with Sedona, AZ (I wasn't before I was asked to go there) there are four
vortexes that give off energy. During my stay I was taken to the Sedona
Airport to scout a location for a photo shoot. They were extremely accommodating and let me walk around the runway and even drove me to the edge that overlooks most of the city (also the location of the airport vortex). While standing at the end of the runway shooting photos I felt what thought was a bug bite or a brier or cactus prick in the back of my calf. I went to brush it away but nothing was on my pants. I checked my skin and didn't see any red marks... then I got a tingling sensation similar to when I was stung by bees. The feeling was not isolated to the leg that I felt the initial pain in... but both legs were tingling. The sensation went away as soon as I got in the truck to go back to the gate. I asked one of the local musicians about what I had experienced and he told me that had happen to him a few times near the energy vortexes. I don't know how else to explain what I experienced.
12.15.10
I've been hired to photograph a
soundtrack being recorded in Sedona, AZ.
While I'm out there I plan to post cell phone photos to my
tumblr page and maybe even update this news with any fun stories.
12.01.10
Melissa and I have donated photos to
Cherry Bomb's
Winter RVyAy! (aka awesome art show with DJs) that benefits
ART 180.
The art is priced $25 to $50 and 100% of the money is for charity.
The opening is December 3rd 7-11pm at Gallery 5 during the First Friday Art Walk.
10.21.10
RIP Ari Up of
The Slits 1962-2010
I changed the main photo to Ari Up taken at Toad's Place in Richmond - March of 2008. What a great show! I believe
La Mere Vipere opened and for some reason the show did not sell out. The audience was really into the band though, lots of people were dancing and even getting on stage.
10.12.10
Just found out I might get to visit NYC next week for part of the CMJ festivities! More details soon.
Photographed
The Acme Thunderer launch party last weekend. You should visit their website and download some free tunes.
Still getting over my Hopscotch illness which turned into bronchitis and now a cold thing. Not going to stop me from taking photos as much as possible.
10.04.10
This has been a very busy week!
IN THE BLACK & WHITE #24 on The Harding Street Assembly lab is now up at rvamag.com
Photographed
Lubec for
Acme Thunderer in the rain on a downtown Richmond rooftop. Drove up to the campus of
Mary Washington to photograph
Ebony Tay. And stayed up late for
The Diamond Center show last night at
Ipanema.
This weekend I'll be shooting the Acme Thunderer launch party at Gallery 5. Contact me if you want a free ticket, I've got a few left.
09.12.10
Hopscotch is over and I feel like a puddle of uselessness today...
Scanned in some of the setlists I snagged
here.Bunnycaper and I will be working on a recap this week for rvamag.com I'll post a link here when it's published. Till then I might leak a few photos on my
tumblr just to tease you!
It was a blast meeting so many great people at the festival! The fans, the bands, and the people keeping things running were all just fantastic. One of the best experiences I've had at a big festival. If we talked, or even if we never met, don't be a stranger: info@pjsykes.com or use the contact section to leave a message.
09.09.10
Greetings from Raleigh, NC! I'm here with Melissa to see tons of bands at the
Hopscotch Music Festival. We're hoping to catch sets by Public Enemy, Woods, Akron/Family, Dungen, Broken Social Scene, The Love Language and tons more.We are planing on doing a write up with photos once we get back to Richmond.
Starting today I'm posting a new
Superchunk photo each day on my
tumblr page leading up to the release of
Majesty Shredding. The band was kind enough to include a couple of my photos in the booklet and I couldn't be happier with how they look!
08.30.10
Tonight I got listen to Tesco Vee [singer from The Meatmen] tell stories from his new book
Touch & Go: The complete series 1979–1983 at Chop Suey here in Richmond. The small room was packed with lots of familiar Richmond musicians and DJs.
08.22.10
Some photos of Screaming Females were used for this
RVAmag show review.
I've been digging around the Cherub Records archive for some live shows. Just released a set by KT and on 9/10 I'll release one by A New Dawn Fades. You can listen for free or buy a high quality download for $3 at
www.cherubrecords.bandcamp.com There is also lots of free downloads on the site!
08.11.10
Lots of VERSUS
news! Their new record "
On The Ones and Threes" was released last week on Merge Records. The artwork was designed by illustrator
Tae Won Yu and Teen Beat’s
Mark Robinson and features some of my photographs from XX Merge.
I finally got to see Richmond's
SPLORK!!! play the other night. During the performance they dumped tons of stuffed animals on the floor for people to toss around. Now so far I've been very lucky at shows... photographing a full Jesus Lizard show from the pit where a mic stand almost took me out, surviving two Monotonix shows, getting only a few scrapes at Gogol Bordello, etc... well I only closed my left eye for a second to focus my camera when I took a direct hit! My right eye hurt for about a day and a half. I'll post some SPLORK!!! photos from the show soon.
07.06.10
Talia Miller &
Tracy Wilson have both been featured as "Vinyl Collector of the Day" on www.vinylcollective.com and used photos I took of them with their person collections. Both ladies are part of the all girl DJ collective Cherry Bomb here in Richmond as well as run small record labels.
The promo photos I took of
Cristal are now up on
flingcosounds.com
06.14.10
Just got confirmation that ______ will be using one of my photos in their new album! I wish I could share the sample with you but I just can't at this time. All I can say for now is the record is coming out this September and I will post more about it when I can.
I'm working on some new IN THE BLACK & WHITE posts now that wedding/honeymoon/theshockofregularlife is now over. For now you can listen to some of mixes I've made from the songs used in the blog as well as some other mixes here:
www.8tracks.com/pjsykes
05.31.10
Today I get to photograph the
9:30 Club's 30th Anniversary show!
05.21.10
The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance [aka
SIBA] posted
Get In Bed With A Book Blogger featuring Rebecca and Kelly as the example. The post has the two
color photos that I took of them last week at La Diff.
05.19.10
Rebecca "
Book Lady" Joines Schinsky has her revamped version of
The Book Lady's Blog up now with lots of photos I took of her at
Fountain Book Store.
Last weekend I photographed "Book Lady" and Kelly "
RVABookChik" Justice at the upscale furnature store
La Diff for a future book related post. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to see how the photo will be used.
Melissa and I are traveling to Chapel Hill to see Superchunk this weekend!
Next week I'm photographing the
Homemade Knives reunion show here in RVA!
Check out the new
Horsehead LP for some photos I took of them at the National last year. I'll post some images in the tear sheet section soon.
Just got word that a few of my photos will be in the new
VERSUS album. Download a free track at
Merge Records.
I have just started getting things ready to self publish my first photo book. There is a long road ahead but it is safe to say that the ball is finally rolling on this one. More news on this one soon!
05.12.10
VCU Women's Studies Summer Art Show Opening!
05/13/10 4:00pm - 6:00pm
915 W. Franklin Street, Richmond, VA
Featuring photography by Alexis Hutchinson, Cassandra Mulheron, PJ Sykes, Kaitlynn Slaughter, Seth Chernyak, Stephanie Stapleton, and Jamie Lawyer.
This art show interrogates gender and sexuality, as well as celebrates activism and community. Come check it out and see what we've been up to!
The show is up all summer. So if you miss the opening stop by when you can and check it out.
04.22.10
I'm now on 8tracks.com and my first project is posting some of my favorite Richmond music:
http://www.8tracks.com/pjsykesLots going on as I'm only days away from getting married!
Check out the new RVAmag coming out soon for some unpublished photos of The Low Branches.
Check out the May issue of Richmond Magazine for a photo or two of Suzukitron.
Keep requesting me on tumblr.com I made it to the bottom of the first page the other day:
http://www.tumblr.com/directory/recommend/photographers/pjsykesWorking on
IN THE BLACK & WHITE hoping to post #22 before I leave for the honeymoon.
04.04.10
Back in Richmond from MACRoCk. We had a blast! It was great to see old friends and meet some new ones too. I posted a teaser photo as the main website image. The rest will be posted on the next
IN THE BLACK & WHITE.
04.01.10
No fooling!
Book Lady's Blog has posted some of the photos I took last week. Deanna Danger did the makeup / styling and Melissa Koch assisted with lighting and ANTM coaching.
03.31.10
Check out some photos I took of
WILCO in the review by Shannon Cleary
Gallery 5 here in Richmond is celebrating their 5th birthday! Lots of photos of bands, events and art will be for sale. I donated a ton of photos to the show. Not sure of the prices yet but they start at $10 and all the money goes to keeping G5 alive!
03.23.10
Getting a great response to ITB&W #20! Check out
Lightning's Girl blog with a story about how Cherry Bomb got it's start.
03.22.10
IN THE BLACK & WHITE #20 on Cherry Bomb is up! I photographed each member with their personal record collections.
On April 3rd I'm co-running a photography panel with
Katie Stoops at
MACRoCk in Harrisonburg, VA. Bring lots of questions!
03.11.10
Yesterday I photographed the anti-discrimination rally at VCU. Just eight days after the WBC stopped by to spread their hate... Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli told tax-supported colleges and universities that they have no legal foundation for protecting gay students and employees from discrimination Govenor McDonnell quickly tried to clean up the mess Cuccinelli started by declaring yesterday that as head of the government work force, he will not tolerate bias on the basis of sexual orientation and he threatened to fire offenders. Sadly it's still not in the law and if we let this just slip by soon our state government will brush this under the rug and roll it back.
50 photos from VCU
03.03.10
Yesterday the WBC sent a dozen hate signs, three adults and a child to Richmond. They were met with hundreds maybe even thousands of people in opposition. It would have been best to ignore them... but you can't stop everyone, and the media was already reporting their actions. Though the WBC did not visit the campus... VCU put together a great anti-hate demonstration with a dozen different faith-based community leaders, GLBT groups and many others.
You can see 33 photos from that event here.Last night I also photographed Pretty & Nice and Title Tracks at Gallery 5. Photos for Title Tracks will be in a new
IN THE BLACK & WHITE post next week.
02.27.10
Photographed
The Velvet Marias at the
National then
La Mere Vipere at the
Triple last night. Both bands were celebrating the release of their first full length CD. Because of my late night adventures I over slept and was not able to go shoot Jonathan Vasser and David Shultz recording a new record in Ophelia, VA today. Hopefully there will be time for some photos when they get back to Richmond.
02.15.10
Editing
River City Band photos from Friday night. We totally made a punk rock portrait studio in the living room. Turned out really well though.
Photographed 2/5 of the
Cherry Bomb collective tonight. Can't wait to get this
IN THE BLACK & WHITE post together! Feels good to get some more post going... hope to have a third one started on
Clare and the Reasons live at the 9:30 club this weekend.
02.12.10
Check out the new La Mere Vipere "First Command"
music video by Warped Theory Productions. Members of
Spirit Fingers,
Orgone and myself make an appearance in the video.
02.11.10
The snopocalypse is to blame for lack of updates... Back in December I was scheduled to photograph
Julian Koster for
IN THE BLACK & WHITE, In January I was scheduled to shoot
Of Montreal for RVAmag, I might not get up to DC this month for a couple of new shows I lined up.. I've never been more excited about spring in my life!
In between snow storms I've been shooting
The Low Branches as they record a full length at the Richmond Ballet building. I walked a couple of miles to see the 3rd show by Richmond "super group"
Heks Orkest. This week I start shooting the ladies of Cherry Bomb for a new ITB&W post. I'm very excited to be working with them on this project. They are hands down some of the hardest working people in Richmond right now.
Being couped up in the house gave me time to finally make a new website for
Cherub Records. Right now you can get 30% off by using the code "happybirthday" it's my 30th birthday present to you! The code will expire on 2.18
01.29.10
TIME Magazine has published a couple of my Lady Gaga fan photos!
01.08.09
Finally getting around to building the new
Cherub Records website. Right now you can listen to or download three releases for free! Working on getting the old catalog up before I release some stuff that I've been working on.
12.31.09
Check out the new
RVAmag (print version) for an amazing article on IN THE BLACK & WHITE by Shannon Cleary.
One Way Richmond awarded me with "Best Richmond Music Scene Photographer" in their
2009 Year End Music Awards!
My friends down in Lynchburg, VA just started a new vinyl label called
The Harding Street Assembly Lab the first two 7" are out now and are limited to 300 copies!
2009 has been very good to me... but I can't wait to see what 2010 will bring!
Have a happy and
SAFE new years!
12.24.09
Just heard that
Vic Chesnutt is in a coma... Please send your thoughts and/or prayers to Vic and his friends and family.
12.11.09
Each year I make a mix CD for my friends and family.
This year I thought it might be fun to trade with people I don't know.
If this sounds like fun... send your Mix CD/tape or something creative such as your band's new recording or a drawing/painting/etc to:
PJ Sykes
PO Box 4504
Richmond, VA
Make sure you give me your address so I can mail you my Mix CD.
Each mix will come with some random photo prints!
12.09.09
RVAmag asked me to pick my
top 5 records of 2009. It was tough... but these records were backed up with great live performances.
Might list some of my other favorites soon...
12.06.09
HOLIDAY ROCK & SHOP
presented by
Cherry BombBenefits
Gallery 5 and the
Fan Free Clinic$2 donation to enter
12-6pm
Gallery 5
200 W. Marshall St.
Richmond, VA
I'm selling photos and I've got a box of CDs for $1 or free when you buy a print.
11.19.09
Enter to win a XX Merge T-shirt, an XX Merge button, and a couple of limited edition XX Merge postcards by PJ Sykes. on www.bumpershine.com Contest ends 11/24
11.10.09
I'm sick again... I've got some sort of weak flu bug. Rest, OJ, and X-Files will destroy!
I photographed Jerry Fuchs, drummer of Maserati and !!! in Charlottesville, VA back in 2007. We talked for a few minutes at the show... He was a super nice guy, not to mention an amazing drummer. Sadly a few days ago he was killed in an elevator accident. Please visit
www.jerryfuchs.net for information on his memorial. I scanned in a strip of photos of Jerry, they are posted under "older photography". He also drummed for Juan MacLean and Turing Machine.
PASTE Magazine just posted my Jesus Lizard photos.
10.31.09
Vic Chesnutt was amazing last night! The blog will go up on Monday. For now check out a portrait of Guy Picciotto (
Fugazi,
Rites of Spring) and Vic in the 2009 section. A special thanks to Guy for allowing me to photography their soundcheck.
Tonight Melissa and I are nerding it up with our
Fringe Halloween costumes here in Richmond. (photos coming soon)
I also would like to confess that I will be watching most of the World Series via my iPhone tonight. Apologies to my friends in advance for all my future tweets...
Go! #Phillies
10.16.09
IN THE BLACK & WHITE #15 on Monotonix is now up!
Coming soon to the blog: Vic Chesnutt and maybe the Wrens!
It's looking like
Merge Records will be using some of my photos soon! I can't tell you anymore than that right now... but I'm pretty excited!
10.12.09
A few things coming up for the
IN THE BLACK & WHITE blog:
This week I'm going to risk my camera
again at the
Monotonix show.
Later in the month I'm traveling to
DC for the
Vic Chesnutt show. His back up band is the Silver Mt Zion Band (
Constellation) with Guy Picciotto of Fugazi!
Also... I don't understand why we celebrate
Columbus Day.
10.03.09
We're driving down to Chapel Hill, NC to drop off my new Superchunk and Lambchop postcards! If you place an order with
Merge Records you might just find the pair in the mailer under your new copy of Polvo's "In Prism" or that Imperial Teen record you finally picked up!
09.22.09
Alternative Press links to IN THE BLACK & WHITE for Heks Orkest show photos.
09.21.09
Over the weekend I shot and posted two new blogs, attended a bizarre market, and still found time to see the new movie The Informant! (which was great by the way).
The new
SPIN magazine (Pearl Jam cover) is out now, and inside you can see a two page SUPERCHUNK photo that I took at the XX Merge fest this summer. Check out my tear sheets to see a photo of the magazine.
IN THE BLACK & WHITE 013 - AndalsiansIN THE BLACK & WHITE 014 - Heks Orkest (Sparta, Denali, Engine Down, Avail)
09.16.09
I've finally found some time to scan in some older photos. One of the best things about being a photographer is getting to look back at all the things that have happened. I just found a roll from the
Jonny Z Memorial Show + Bizarre Market that had never been scanned, printed or used in anyway.
I had played a few shows with some of Jonny Z's bands but never got to know him that well. About a month or two before his sudden death Jonny and I had some great conversations about music. He booked my band the Graceland Grave Robbers at his shop and a Bizarre Market that he was running. I was recording a few songs with the Grave Robbers when I got a phone call that Jonny had died. I had only just gotten to know him but he already made such a big impact on me.
Jonny passed away on 05.07.07 and the Bizarre Market he was booking was scheduled for 05.12.07. I decided to to call Ward at
Chop Suey Books and see if we could keep the Bizarre Market going and that GGR would still play. It ended up being fun afternoon of music and art and stories of how Jonny Z touched so many people.
09.09.09
Seattle Weekly blurb about my photo show:
here
09.07.09
WRIR play list:
Avail - "Southbound 95"
Buttercup - "Hellhound Romeo"
The Amoeba Men - "Itcy Trigger Fingers"
Honor Role - "Salty Tears"
Horsehead - "Walk It Off" *
Car Bomb - "Fast Car Girl"
Hex Machine - "Black Skeleton" *
Seven Hearts - "Heart of Swords" *
Ultra Dolphins - "Duck Butter"
Rah-Bras - "No Future" *
Marshall Costan - "I died before I made it home" *
Liza Kate - "Anclote" *
Engine Down - "Second of February" *
[The] K Word - "Grindin' on some Flava" *
Catalyst - "Lar Ulrich's 1986 Funeral"
Timothy Bailey & The Humans - "Sunday Afternoon"
Tulsa Drone - "Huntsman" *
Glows in the Dark - "Through a glass" *
Ultimate Dragons - "Sir Roxelot" *
Fulflej - "Parallel to Gravity" *
Splork - "Applewhite & Nettles"
Orioles - "Try and Fail"
30 Day Warranty - "It's Not You" *
You are the Drum - "Pencil" *
Cinemasophia - "Detailed Night" *
Botox Party - "Scared of Living"
* = stuff I brought in to play
09.03.09
At home with a cold/flu thing... finally watching the Star Wars Clone Wars, Vol. 1 & 2 (the cartoon) on DVD.
I'll be spinning some of my favorite Richmond bands on WRIR this Saturday between 5 and 7pm. You can listen online here:
www.wrir.orgBumpershine has posted more of my Virgin Mobile Fest photos.
Just did a short interview with
Seattle Weekly for a feature on my photo show. Should have a link or scan in a week or so.
09.01.09
First batch of photos are up on
www.bumpershine.comStill exhausted from Sunday... might take me a few more nights of sleep to catch up!
08.09.09
Ghost Gallery Presents:
PJ Sykes: Stories of the Live Musical Experience
August 16th-September 27th.
SOLO Bar
200 Roy St (between 2nd and 3rd on Roy)
Seattle, WA
Opening party during
BUMBERSHOOTFriday, September 4, 2009
7:00pm - 12:00am
07.31.09
I just experienced My Bloody Valentine last night! For about ten minutes near the end of the last song it sounded like a rocket was launching! I used my favorite
Mack's Pillow Soft Silicone Earplugs but still found myself holding my ears at that point. I couldn't tell what was actually vibrating and what wasn't. Listening to MBV live is like eating spicy food.. it hurts so good!
07.11.09
Things are starting to pick up once again!
Got to shoot Sonic Youth for RVAmag this week.
Check out the show review / interview / photos here.I've confirmed with Akron/Family, ILAD, WRIR's Activate, and XX Merge for future
IN THE BLACK & WHITE posts! I'm also working on a few other surprise subjects tba soon...
My split photo show with
Sarah Cass in Olympia, WA just finished up. Next stop will be Seattle! More info on that in the next couple weeks. I have a couple photos in the RVAmag photo issue show located here in Richmond at Main Street Java. Also talking with a
theatre troupe in Pheonix, AZ for a photo show there this fall.
I was asked to be the first presenter in a series of shows called "Starving Artist" here in Richmond. The event is July 17th at
Plaza Bowl on south side. I picked
Laurel Lane,
La Mere Vipere, and
Glows In The Dark. I've known Laurel since I was in High School. She was one of about 8 people at my very first "real" rock band show. Other than the guy she was making out with in the dark back corner... the rest of the people included my Dad and a few close friends. La Mere Vipere are the closest thing to a Seven Hearts reunion. The Seven Hearts used to play with my old band Angels VS Aliens back in the Lynchburg days. I learned a lot from watching them and still give credit for helping me to discover some of my music taste to this day. Glows In The Dark are a recent discovery. I've seen many bands featuring the members like NO BS Brass Band, Fight The Big Bull and ILAD. I wanted to feature bands that I had not seen in the local media and that have different genres from each other. I hope this show will bring some of the smaller divisions of the scene together.
06.20.09
Super busy this week... Pontiak was great! Photos coming soon. Helped put up the RVAmag photo show today at Main Street Java. Can't wait to see the final display of work. Other photographers include Tony Lynch, Melissa Koch, Sonic Laura, Karen Seifert, Ken Howard, Ian Graham, and many more. The opening is tonight at 7pm.
Monday I'll be shooting Ume at The Camel for the next IN THE BLACK & WHITE. Really excited to announce some of the other subjects coming up... but I don't want to jinx it.
06.16.09
Staying really busy these days! So far this month I've photographed Joe Lally, The Decemberists, La Mere Vipere in the studio, and The Coathangers! My photo show in Olympia is still up till the end of the month. Working on details for Seattle and Phoenix shows later this year. On top of that this month RVAmag is putting out the photo issue. We have a photo show going up this weekend to celebrate and interviews on the website. More info here:
www.rvamag.com
05.31.09
Sarah Cass and I have a photo show opening tonight in Olympia, WA!
Unfortunately I will not be attending the opening...
I have 20 photographs in the show, listed bellow are the included bands:
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
Beastie Boys
Brendan Canning
Marshall Costan and the Awesome Few
Daniel Johnston
DD/MM/YYYY
Denali
Edie Sedgwick (live)
Edie Sedgwick (promo)
The Fiery Furnaces
Gull
Hex Machine
Iron & Wine
Jason Loewenstein
Medications
Mogwai
Monotonix
Peelander-Z
Swell Season
The Walkmen
05.26.09
Sarah Cass and I have a photo show opening this Sunday. It's also the grand opening of the new venue/gallery NORTHERN! Unfortunately I can not be there... I hope to have a second show booking in Seattle soon. I'm hoping to fly out to visit both places in July.
05.31.09
NORTHERN
321 4th Avenue
Olympia, WA
5pm / FREE
www.olympiaallages.orgI BIG thanks to
Judy Baumann for asking me to show my work! Also a BIG thanks to everyone who worked on the gallery! The place looks great!
On a side note... thanks to
SP Media Militia for the sweet "Black Sunshine" tee!
05.22.09
The new
RVAmag (Volume 5 Issue 2) has some Enon photos I took back in April. Great show!
Last night I shot
Horsehead for their live record. Not sure when this will be out yet.
On my way hope I stopped to pick up the new
Liza Kate CD from her release show. Can't wait to give it a spin later today.
Paste Magazine has been kind enough to let me
shoot some great
concerts for them over the last year. We have a few more in the works too... but only if we can keep them afloat. Music magazines and record stores are having a terrible time keeping things going right now. Id hate to see Paste slip away too. If you want to help visit
www.pastemagazine.com and donate to win some cool stuff from lots of different artist or just simply subscribe to the magazine.
05.06.09
IN THE BLACK & WHITE: 002 - CJ Boyd is now up!
The new RVAmag is coming out soon. Be on the look out for the Enon interview. I can't wait to share the photos from their set!
The fine folks over at
Richmond Rampage asked me to curate a local music showcase next month. This is going to be a tough pick... more news on this soon.
05.01.09
The first post of my new blog,
IN THE BLACK & WHITE, is now up!
You can see photos and listen to songs by Rapid Cities, Title Tracks, The House Floor, New Rock Church of Fire, The Fordists, Edie Sedgiwck and Fin Fang Foom!
04.25.09
Finally made it to a show at Plaza Bowl, located on the southern side of Richmond. Plaza Bowl is one of the few duckpin bowling venues still around. Located in the center of it all is a stage for bands to perform.
Last night I was there to photograph
Enon for RVAmag. I was able to take them back to where the reset machines are to take some cool group shots. You'll have to wait for the article to see them....
Still working out the kinks with the new RVAmag website. I was hoping to kick start my new blog, IN THE BLACK & WHITE, this week... no word on when the adjustments will be completed.
While that project is on hold... I'm working out the details of a split photo show on the west coast. I can now tell you the other photographer is
Sarah Cass. She has photos in Rolling Stone, SPIN, Paste, Venus, HARP, AP and many more. Take some time and visit Sarah's
website you might even recognize her work!
04.19.09
Dropped off a display of prints at
Speaker Tree Records in Lynchburg, VA on the way to my Grandmother's wedding. Great new record store that has shows too!
My new blog, IN THE BLACK & WHITE, has been pushed back a few days while we tweak the new
RVAmag website. The first post is on my trip to MACRoCk earlier this month. Newer posts will be more timely and subjects will vary, but mostly hover around music and art.
I'm working with my friend
Judith Baumann on a split photo show on the west coast this summer! More details to come very soon. I can tell you the other photographer is amazing, and a good contrast to my work.
Speaking of... it's not cheap to put on a photo show or fly out to the west coast. If you're in need of some photos for any reason... my rates are reasonable and yes I can shoot in color too!
CONTACT
04.14.09
IN THE BLACK & WHITE: a photo blog by PJ Sykes
coming to the new
RVAmag.com soon!
04.12.09
Every Easter I like to listen to Slow Roasted Dog's song
Zombie Jesus
04.08.09
Got my ticket for
XX Merge! Looking forward to sharing photos from the 5 day fest in Chapel Hill.
Just posted a photo of
The House Floor from MACRoCk.
04.07.09
No photos from the Neko Case show... I was suppose to have shot photos to go with an interview/article but was denied a photo pass at the door.
I really enjoyed her set minus the terrible feedback issues. I've never seen a show like this where the sound person couldn't handle a little feedback. It's pretty bad when you have to hold your ears in the balcony!
Despite all that... I've become obsessed with her song
People Got A Lotta Nerve.
I posted a few photos from MACRoCk of Rapid Cities, New Rock Church of Fire, and The Fordists. Still working on Title Tracks, Edie Sedgwick, and Fin Fang Foom.
more photos here
04.05.09
We had a lot of fun at MACRoCk this weekend. I'll be posting some photos very soon.
It was nice to talk with people at the Label Expo... saw some friends I hadn't seen in years!
Just posted a photo of
Cinemasophia and one of the
Medications.
04.03.09
We are packing it up for
MACRoCk!Looking forward to the
Label Expo tomorrow.
Hope to meet lots of great people and hear some great bands.
I posted some photos of
Vic Chesnutt,
DD/MM/YYYY,
Edie Sedgwick, and a few others this week... I hope to upload a bunch more this Monday after the festival.
04.01.09
I'm selling all of my photography equipment and going to
culinary school!
03.27.09
Last night I went to see
Snack Truck and
dd/mm/yyyy I missed Antler's set... Both bands were on tour back from SXSW and it was great to see a band like dd/mm/yyyy without knowing anything about them. I got some great photos and will share in a few days.
Next weekend is
MACRoCk weekend! If you missed SXSW and need your fix, this two day fest is a great way to see a slice of what Virginia has to offer. I'll have a table set up with my photography and some Cherub Records releases at the
label expo.
03.19.09
Well it's good to be home. Not much to speak of, just catching up on stuff. Almost got in to
NME magazine... working on stuff for
MACRoCk, going to have a table a the label expo.
03.14.09
HOME! Vacation was great! The drive was fun; other than the last 250miles in the rain... Thank you for all the comments and emails. I hope you enjoyed reading these posts and checking out the photos.
Now I've got a lot of work to catch up on!
03.12.09
Yesterday we explored Tampa's thrift stores. Found a few LPs but nothing amazing. Later we bowled a few games of real bowling before going to
USF for some Wii bowling on a huge inflatable screen.
Today we had a lot of fun at the
Tampa Aquarium. It's been a long time since I've been to an aquarium, so it was nice to get the chance to go. I posted a few photos over on my
flickr account.
After the aquarium we went back to
Ybor City for some food and walked around a little more. Really neat place, reminds me of the Bottom of Richmond a little.
Tonight we made our way back over the bay to St Pete for the Dali museum! This is the second time I've been there but the first for everyone else. They have one of the best gift shops of any art gallery. Highly recommend stopping there if you're in the area.
After our fill of
surrealist paintings, we visited the
pier to see the sunset. Great way to end our stay in Florida.
03.10.09
The Yuengling tour was ok. The normal tour guide had her daughter do the tour. She was not as knowledgeable and she had on flip flops in a factory! My friend Edwin was our tour guide and even explained a few things to the rest of the group (25 snow birds).
The Phillies game was great! The temperature was about 74-76. Our seats were so close that I used my 50mm lens to capture the batters.
Right before the first pitch of the game, a huge gust of wind hit the 3rd base side of the stadium, lifting up 2 huge picnic-table umbrellas. The first one fell after about 10ft or so. The 2nd one went wwaaaay up into the air then sort of closed up and fell 15 feet then opened up and soared up 20ft and into the field area, then circled around towards the crowd, then up, then down, then up then down nearly hitting people before going way up in the air a few more times. Finally crashing down without harming anyone. I've never seen 7,000 people ohh and ahh in delight/terror like that before.
On the way back we stopped at Taco Bus. I was not expecting the name to literately mean "bus" But, as you can see in my photos.... The food was amazing!
Last night went walked around Ybor City. Mostly bars, tattoo shops, venues, and other entertainment. Cobble stone roads with a trolley. We stopped to take photos of Ybor City Cinemas, which looked really cool with tons of neon lights, when a security guard on a 3 wheeled Segway informed me that I was breaking a rule/law. Apparently they do not like to have their photo taken... I swear I wasn't stealing the Ybor City Cinema's soul.
03.09.09
It's Monday and I'm not at work!
This morning we are touring the
Yuengling Brewery and going to a Phillies spring training game. Photos posted later.
03.07.09
Pie Town was amazing! If you're a pizza fan and in the Charlotte, NC area it's a must.
Time to hit the road to
Athens.
update:
Stopped to see the
Peachoid in Gaffney, GA
Athens is great so far! We ate at
The Grill and shopped at
Wuxtry Records. We also found this cool thrift mall full of vintage clothes, records, furniture and instruments.
also check out
Melissa's photos
03.02.09
Snow day! We actually got enough snow here in Richmond to close schools.
Melissa,
Tim and I walked around for a few hours and snapped photos in
The Fan. It was great to have the day off, but because of the snow I will not get to shoot
Blitzen Trapper tonight in DC.
02.28.09
Just posted a handful of photos from the
Cats Cradle show. If you know who the guy and girl are in the crowd shots, please send me an email.
Also check out
Red Collar and
Funeral Party!
02.27.09
The last two nights were amazing! Trail of Dead have been one of my favorite bands since about 1999. I've only seen them once, just as Source Tags & Codes came out. I had a lot of fun, met lots of great people along the way, and was almost crushed under a 6 foot stack of monitors and amps! I should have a teaser photo up by tomorrow... and the rest you'll have to wait till
Paste posts them online. ...for now it's time of work(s).
update:
I have posted 1 photo from Cats Cradle and 1 photo from Rock and Roll Hotel.
02.23.09
Spoke to a 400 level photography class today here at
VCU. My friend
Hassan teaches the class and asked if I would speak. I've never done something like that before... love to do it again!
I posted a couple of random photos I took in the backstage area of
The National. I shot
Fuck Buttons in the "creepy kids" room a few months ago. The other photo is a light over a pool table. The reason I was there, to shoot The Velvet Marias.
I'm looking forward to seeing
Trail of Dead in a couple of days. They have been one of my favorite bands for about 10 years! Last time I saw them was right as
Source Tags & Codes "dropped".
02.20.09
Dear website blog... I need to write to you with a more personal touch. The last few times I typed to you I've been short and to the point. I promise once things slow down a bit I will try harder to entertain you with some longer stories...
A few things coming up...
The
Velvet Marias have requested my services tonight at
The National.
Next week I travel to Chapel Hill and DC to document
Trail of Dead for
PASTE.
Might see
Blitzen Trapper a week from Monday in DC.
Two weeks from today I leave for
Florida! Many adventures to speak of then.
02.18.09
The new
RVAmag is online. Brand new, full page, photos of NO BS Brass Band, Hail Hydra, Diamond Black Hearted Boy, and PLF!
02.17.09
PASTE used one of my Santogold (now Santigold) photos today. The feature is a fun one about name changes.
Check it out here. To see a screen shot of the website check out my "tear sheets" (Thanks Austin!)
PM update:
I just posted a a photo of
Gull busking in front of
Plan 9 last Friday night. Some people were really into it, others... well didn't know what to think of a skull-masked-one-man-band.
02.09.09
Tess Dixon wrote a review of the Best of 2008 Photo Show for
RVAnews
02.08.09
My friends
The Andalusians came to town on Friday. Took some promo shots and some live shots at Rumors. Basla brought me a copy of The Onion that they are in with one of my photos. I posted the clip under "tear sheets" Catch them on tour the next two weeks and get the limited run 7"! It comes with a free 6 song download from Dischord.
The
Best of 2008 Photo Show reception went great! It was a ton of fun hanging out with all the photographers and their family and friends. The ladies of
ART180 hung out. However... the VCU homecoming game prevented some people from finding parking... I'm truly sorry for the poor planing on that one... first the Super Bowl then homecoming!
If for some reason you couldn't make it, the show is up for the rest of the month.
This is the last day of my 28th year... the
countdown to 30 starts tomorrow.
...time for the Grammys.
02.06.09
Hex Machine postcards are in! They are limited to 1,000 copies. If you want one you can (A) check out
Hex Machine on their tour to SXSW or (B) send me an email and I can mail you one.
02.04.09
Check out the Zero Hour on
WRIR this Friday the 6th at 12:30 - 1:00pm. I will be talking with Tim Bowring about the Best of 2008 Photo Show and my own work. You can get WRIR in Richmond on 97.3FM or online from there website.
01.29.09
BRICK weekly has posted a story about me online.
You can check it out here.
www.brickweekly.com
01.24.09
Limited edition
Hex Machine postcards are on the way! Recycled 100lb matte paper just like the
Edie Sedgwick ones. Once they are gone, they are gone! If you want one, catch Hex Machine on tour to SXSW or contact me soon. You can see what they look like in the "tear sheets" section of this website.
update:
Jason Loewenstein is using a photo for his new project Circle of Buzzards. They are doing some recording and a few shows.
Check them out.
01.23.09
The Elf Power / Vic Chesnutt show was outstanding! Photos coming soon....
update: the home page photo is a teaser from last nights show. I will post the link here when the rest are done.
01.22.09
Last night I shot a promo of
The Party Liberation Front having a "tea party". I can't wait to share them! The main image will be in next months issue of RVAmag. The close up shots will start showing up next week.
Tonight
Vic Chesnutt with
Elf Power at the Black Cat! It will be interesting to see how DC looks after millions of people took it over less than 48 hours previous.
On the 20th I finally got to see
Frankzig play! Frank and I go back a few years, but for some reason I keep missing his flamenco sets... The night Johnny Cash died, we were playing guitar and drinking beers at his house. For some reason I remember we just sort of started to play Cash songs for an hour or so... the next morning we found out Johnny passed away...
01.20.09
Congratulations #44!
01.18.09
The new
RVA magazine is online. It's the year in review issue! They used about a dozen of my photos, plus a bunch from many of the photographers in the "
Best of 2008 Photo Show"!
01.17.09
Spent most of the day outside shooting
Diamond Black Hearted Boy and
Hail Hydra for next months RVAmag. I posted a portrait of DBHB, you'll have to wait for the rest!
01.15.09
It's freakin' cold out! Too cold to ride my bike!
I posted a photo from earlier today. First photo post of 2009!
01.13.09
Basla's new band,
Andalusians, just signed with Dischord Records! If you're not familar with her music, you might have seen her play with
Beauty Pill,
Del Cielo, or
Edie Sedgwick, among others...
They are currently using a photo I shot of them for their bio page.
The Best of 2008 Photo Show is really starting to look incredible! The best part so far has been getting to talk shop with all the great photographers. Mark your calendars, Feb 7th, Harrison St Cafe + Rumors Boutique, Richmond!
01.07.09
If you live close to Richmond, VA mark your calendars!
The Best of 2008 Photo Show goes up 02.01.09 with a free reception on the 7th.
I'm curating the show this year and have selected 24 other local photographers.
More details on the
website...
Tomorrow I get to shoot the
No BS Brass band promo for
RVA magazine. I'm really excited to work with them. I've seen them play live more than a few of times, and it's always great! Also, some of the members played with Broken Social Scene when the stopped here last October.
01.02.09
I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays!
Things have been a pretty busy, but I did manage to catch the
National Feather do a reunion show last week. Miniature Giants opened the show. Lynchburg has this growing pocket interesting people hiding out.
I'm working hard to scan in older photos for the website. My goal was to have a few up by now, but things are going a little slower than I hoped. ...I guess you'll just have to check back more often!
12.12.08
I've been sick the past few days... nothing major, just enough to make me slow down.
Currently working on a few projects as well as normal holiday business.
- Casey from
Rumors asked me to do some live shots of bands wearing local clothing lines. The shots will be in the fashion section of
RVAmag this coming January.
-
Hex Machine are using some photos I took for their forthcoming album "Omen Mas". The album is slated for a Feb 09 release.
- I'm curating the
Best of 2008 Photo Show that will take place here in Richmond Feb 1st - March 1st 2009. The show will have 25 local photographers showing their best work from this year. Should be a great mix of styles and subjects. More info on that after the holidays.
- I made some postcards for
Edie Sedgwick (Dischord). He has a couple more shows this year, and he will be hitting the road again in March with Medications. Make sure to visit the merch table for a this limited run postcard! You should be able to get one from Dischord if you buy the
LP (If you missed out,
contact me, I've some left)
12.03.08
If you're in the Richmond, VA area check out
Chop Suey books in Carytown. Upstairs you'll find the Holiday Bizarre Market featuring 48 different artist, crafters, painters, and photographers! I've got some prints for sale, and some of the money goes to benefit
Art 180.
If you're not in Richmond, VA or just want something you see on this website... please contact me!
11.19.08
SPIN posted an article on Edie Sedgwick and used one of my photos.
11.05.08
President Elect Barack Obama!
President Elect Barack Obama!
The Bad Brains were a great disappointment. HR carried his bags to the mic and stood there without intensity. He wouldn't sing during their hardcore songs. Some of the dub songs were ok. Most of the crowd cheered, slam danced and crowd surfed as if we were transported back to the early 80s. The rest of the band were amazing! Seeing Ian and Henry on the side of the stage, we hoped one of them would have stepped up and saved the show. Lets hope HR can get his head together.
President Elect Barack Obama!
President Elect Barack Obama!
11.04.08
Last night we got to hear Henry Rollins at the Birchmere. Great set, better than when he came to Richmond last year. I got up around 5:30 and voted. Much longer lines than the previous two times. In a few hours I will make the drive back to DC to see Bad Brains destroy the 930 club.
10.31.08
I posted a photo of the Beastie Boys from the Rock The Vote tour. The rest of my photos from that night will be featured on the
Paste Magazine website early next week.
My main camera died this week... hope to have a replacement back sooner than later.
Happy Halloween!
10.23.08
I got into the Obama rally with my camera. Sat in the upper upper deck center back. Got some decent shots... but my card reader died on me and now my images are trapped inside my compactflash card. Thankfully my friend
Nick Kessler is hooking me up with some recovery software tomorrow! On day's like this I miss my 35mm...
I uploaded some shots of
Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene. What a great band!
10.21.08
I had fun hosting
Edie Segwick for a couple of performances here in Richmond. I uploaded two photos from their sets. Tonight I'm headed over to see
Broken Social Scene with
Land of Talk. Tomorrow on my lunch break I plan on walking over to hear
Barack Obama speak at the coliseum. At the very least see the thousands of people hanging out trying to get in....
10.15.08
I
experienced Monotonix last night. I'm not sure I can describe it well enough so here are a some of videos:
one two three
10.04.08
Last night I checked out the Carnival of 5 Fires put on by Gallery 5 here in Richmond. So many wonderful performances and artwork. For now I will leave you with a
Hellblinki photo and encourage anyone reading this to come out tonight and see them play again.
I also posted a photo of Mogwai, Tulsa Drone and Fuck Buttons.
09.16.08
Over the weekend I saw
Buck Gooter and long time friends La Mere Vipere play at Nara Sushi. I met the Buck Gooter guys a couple of years ago when I displayed my work at the Little Grill in Harrisonburg, VA. Since that time they have drawn some high profile fans such as
Henry Rollins, who plays Buck Gooter songs on his radio show.
The guys in
La Mere Vipere have roots in the mid to late 90s scene in Lynchburg, VA where I grew up. Specifically
The Seven Hearts who played lots of shows with my old band
Angels VS Aliens.
A couple of photos are posted from the weekend... tonight Tulsa Drone, Fuck Buttons and Mogwai at the National! ....stay tuned
09.11.08
Last weekend we took a trip up to Washington DC. Saw
The Walkmen with
Golem at the 9:30 and did some promo photos for
Edie Sedgwick. Other than the leftovers of
Hanna, the trip was a lot of fun. I posted some photos that you can check out, plus the Edie promo will show up on the
Dischord website soon.
08.28.08
Last night:
The Awesome Few,
Liza Kate (with
Curtis and
Josh Small) and
Bellafea rocked Rumors here in Richmond, VA. I've seen each of these bands play many times and they just keep getting better. No matter what band
Heather,
Nathan or
Eddie are playing in, go see them, you will not be disappointed.
photos coming soon....
08.20.08
Saw the Smashing Pumpkins last weekend. You can read my review of the show, with photos, here:
www.rvamag.comOn Monday, I had the pleasure of seeing
yndi halda all the way from Canterbury,UK! They are one of the newest bands on Burnt Toast Vinyl, also home to Saxon Shore, Unwed Sailor and Bosque Brown. They pretty much destroyed the Ghostprint Gallery with The Late Virginia Summers, who have really crafted their art since the last time I saw them play. I will post photos from this show very soon.
Scoot Richmond has hired me to take a bunch of photos for them. We started a flickr page so please be our guest and have a look:
www.flickr.com/photos/scootrichmondThis week I will be shooting
The Hotdamns as they record a new EP at Sound of Music studios here in Richmond. The photos will be paired up with words by Lauren Vincelli in a new issue of RVA magazine.
07.29.08
I just got back from Chicago! I will start posting some photos soon.
I got to see Polvo, an acoustic instore performance by Aaron Espinoza of Earlimart,
Prefuse 73, a Cubs game, and on the way home I saw George Clinton in the airport!
We had a great time, and look forward to going back.
While I was gone, MashUP posted a video interview with me.
Check it out here:
www.mashuprva.com
07.11.08
I just added a handful of older photos to the website. Including the Mermaid Skeletons, Rah Bras, and lots from the 2007 Durham Duo Fest.
07.06.08
Last night was the Denali Reunion Show here in Richmond.
I used to see them play for rather small crowds, but last nights attendance was somewhere been 800 to 1,000 people! Fans traveled from as far away as Mexico City to see the show. The sound was amazing, and the songs seemed as fresh as the first time I had saw them play live.
07.04.08
Last night I saw some great bands at Nara Sushi here in Richmond.
ONiON opened the show trowing paper mache onions full of candy and real chopped onions in the crow!
FIYA, a No Idea band from Florida, were pretty good.
Gull had some problems with his mask, but still rocked.
I uploaded a photo of Ultra Dolphins, they continue to blow me away!
fun facts for today:
Congress established Independence Day as a holiday in 1870.
In 1938 Congress reaffirmed it as a holiday, but with full pay for federal employees.
07.01.08
Welcome to the new www.pjsykes.com
I will update this blog with news, stories, and links to things going on.
New photos will be uploaded more often as well.
A big THANKS to the folks at
Other Peoples Pixels for helping me get this website up and running!
