#opposite box

Deep Machine with Opposite Box and Chalaxy at The End. 01.11.2014

Chalaxy's stage set up was so unbelievable! They put tons effort into giving it that "heady" vibe, color changing tape included. Check out their newest music video for standout single, "My Best," here, and you can relive their performance at The End.

Opposite Box, whose name is growing in the festival circuit, really packed the dance floor with their experimental sounds. These Chattanooga natives kept everyone engaged with eye candy and interaction with the crowd as everyone circled to watch the trombone jam sesh.

Deep Machine, notorious for their live shows, closed out the night and their career as a band, with a badass performance! Knowing this was Deep Machine's last show, their loyal fan base filled the place to show their support and gratitude for all the awesome tunes and memories!

Photos and words by Rhea Foote

I had been trying to see Kill, Baby... Kill! for, literally, 11 months to the day! I had them booked for the record store... Because they had called out of the blue and asked if they could play for free just because stopping and doing a show was easier than driving the distance back home to Alabama uninterrupted. But their van broke down 30 miles outside of town and they had to cancel! That bummed me out since I had gotten used to the idea of seeing them over that couple of weeks. Then I wound up in Rome, GA on September 23rd at a house show where they were also supposed to play. But the cops busted in and shut down the show all of about three songs into Commonwealth's set. There was even a couple of times they tried to come back through Chattanooga but we just couldn't get it together. So I was pretty stoked when I found out they were playing with my friends Opposite Box!

Noah had given me a copy of their EP when we were in Rome so I wasn't completely unprepared for what I was about to see. But I must say that watching this Surf Rock band, a genre that I'm not particularly interested in, was incredibly fun! It was just as much fun photographing them too as you can tell by the pictures. Almost every shot was a keeper and you can tell they were moving around the entire time. They were just so energetic and loving every minute of being on the stage. Which is how it should be! What really got me though was the way that Chris played the keyboard like he was riding a surfboard! Just going through the photos two months after the fact made me want to see them again. Noah's girlfriend was hilarious too. She was sitting outside between sets talking shit and some people weren't quite sure if she was joking or not. Just my kind of sense of humor!

The Brewery isn't a very good venue for Opposite Box though. Seeing as they're such a large band both in number of members and performance. It was cool being able to get such amazing shots of them this time around though! And it was Dave's birthday show so you can imagine it was quite the party. Like Noah was telling me... "If you were to just describe OP to me (a jam band) I wouldn't want to see them. But they put on such a great show and are such good people. I'll share a stage with them anytime!" This was also the first time I caught them with their fire dancers too. Which I had been looking forward to ever since Dick told me they're usually at their shows! All kinds of props and banners and the like every time they play. A total good time party band. But probably the best moment of this show was when Matt started to bolt off of the stage mid-song and almost hit the giant flatscreen TV above the stage with his tuba while the entire room gasped in unison...hah!

I had been trying to see Opposite Box for at least a year! And I must say, they certainly didn't disappoint. From what Dick tells me this was somewhat of a tame performance as well since there's usually fire girls and stuff... What!? I gotta see that! Even after taking safety issues into account they really worked up the crowd something fierce. Throwing balloons, pulling out pinatas that were filled with shakers, bouncing all over the stage... The music wasn't exactly my style but they're all amazing musicians and I'll still make it a point to see OB every chance I can. Especially since they hate this town just as much as I do...haha! I can't believe they played for almost an hour and a half though. I was dead tired just basically standing there taking pictures so I can't imagine how beat they were after all of that. The band before, Baby Baby, put on a really good set too. Not my style, again, but they didn't slack when it comes to getting the crowd into it. I saved a girl's life halfway into their set also... The drummer that was standing had his cymbal stand too close to the edge of the stage. One time it fell and went right towards me so I caught it. Not long after that, without even looking, I caught it again going the opposite direction then looked over to see it was less than two inches from splitting a girl's skull wide open. Too bad all I got was a thumbs up from her. Everyone can use more good karma though I guess. The first band was just boring. Incredibly, incredibly boring.