Nothing will prepare you for the wonders of Boris.
written + photographed by hunter astrid
I’ve been to numerous concerts in my lifetime and shot many of those as well, but this concert was most definitely the most fun I’ve had while photographing a show.
NOTHING -
The first band to take the stage this night was Nothing, who also often goes by Band of Nothing. For the night, the band consisted of Doyle Martin (guitar), Nicky Parlemo (vocals + guitar), Christina Michelle (bass). Forming in 2010, Nothing is a shoegaze indie rock band with a unique sound. I originally found this band at the very beginning of the pandemic and when lockdown hit. Because of that and what the music helped me through, seeing them and photographing them was a surreal experience.
All of the musicians’ individual skills shown through and they meld perfectly together when playing. Seeing these songs preformed live, that I’ve only previously heard in a studio recorded format, just confirmed how talented they all truly are. You could feel the emotions that came from the band and their music. Even though I was photographing the show and mainly focused on that, their music made me feel very in the moment and I was able to experience just as much as I would’ve without a camera in hand.
Their onstage set up was pretty different that what I’ve seen at other shows — on both sides of the drum kit had multiple sets up amps stacked on top of each other. A nice little detailed I enjoyed was a set of flowers on top of one of the amp set ups. Another thing I liked about their set up was when it came to where the members were on the stage. Usually if there is a band with more than two standing (not including the drummer) people, the lead singer is set dead in the center with the guitarist and bassist on the sides. Yet, with Nothing’s set up Nicky was on stage right while Christina, the bassist, was in the center. I liked the switch up and different dynamics of them on stage and it worked extremely well for them.
BORIS -
The second and last band to take the stage that night was Boris. Forming in 1992, this trio hails from Tokyo, Japan and consists of drummer Atsuo, guitarist + bassist Takeshi, and guitarist + keyboardist Wata. Atsuo used to be the lead vocalist but when their original drummer, Nagata, left in 1996, he took over. Yet, this tour Atsuo took front of the stage as the main performer and vocalist while Mike Engle from Crawl was their drummer for this tour. The name Boris actually comes from a song, also titled Boris, off of the album Bullhead by another experimental rock band the Melvins.
I don’t even know where to start with them, other than they are some of the most unique and talented individuals I have ever seen. Boris has released more than 20 studio albums so it wasn’t news to me that they are extremely skilled musicians, yet it’s something you have to experience and not be told about. Takeshi played with a double-necked bass guitar which lets him to play both rhythm guitar and bass without needing to switch instruments entirely.
The band had various amounts of different effect pedals and guitar accessories on the stage in front of them. As well as many different devices to create and manipulate feedback noises and play with he magnetic field vibration. Guitarist Wata also often uses an E-bow to get specific ‘bow-like’ sounds that uses vibrations to move guitar strings instead of with her fingers or a pick.
Atsuo was one of the most confident and extravagant frontmen I’ve seen performing live in my life time. He used every inch of the stage and his crowd work seemed to be second nature to him. He fell into/onto the crowd many times to get everyone involved and he seemed to enjoy every single second of it.
Like Nothing, they had a very unique set up that included numerous amounts of guitar pedals, multiple amps on either side of the drum kit, and a massive gong behind the drums. Every one of those items were used perfectly throughout the show. Other than fitting into the genre of experimental music/rock, it is extremely hard to categorize them into one specific genre. But, they don’t want to be and don’t want the constraints of being expected to play a certain way with a specific label. And I think it’s working out extremely successfully for them this way.
Needles to say this show was loud and, even with earplugs, I walked away with ringing in my ears. But, it was definitely worth it.
