ILTOS FIRST SHOW OF 2023: Detroit plows through blizzard to get to sold out show with Bayside, I Am The Avalanche, and Koyo
THIS WAS THE FIRST SHOW OF THE 6TH SEASON OF ILTOS x SHERBURT
I swear to god, Detroit has been hit by every blizzard in the last 6 weeks. It’s been ridiculous. Ice storms. 1 million without power. And then a few days later perfect 55-degree weather. I let out a massive audible sigh when the weather report dropped. The report informed us that there would be a blizzard again but this time the night of this show. The day before I got an alert saying the show at The Fillmore was canceled. Schools were closing. Everyone and their mother was out to get eggs, milk, and bread. You know, because everyone loves french toast in a blizzard.
The drive to Detroit was obnoxious as all hell because the roads were like driving in a 7-11 Slurpee machine. When I walked out of the parking garage onto Beaubien, I immediately stepped off a curb onto what I thought was ice. It ended up being water with slush on top, about 8 inches deep. I stopped in my tracks feeling that Detroit slush fill my shoes it triggered my gag reflex. How fucking horrible a feeling? At the very least, I was so stoned when I stopped by the apartment to get the gear and I put on my old work shoes. What I get for not taking a cue from the guitarist of Koyo and getting some Timbs but I’m glad I didn't wear my regulars. Anyway, onto the sappy and silly. This was my first show of the new year and the first show with the new rig after working my ass off to get to it. This show was absolute clarity for me. That I finally am content with what I’m doing and now the real work can begin.
The last 10 years... With all its anguish. All its misery. All the loss. Every ounce of pain, entirely worth it, to get to tonight. My feet were soaked in the slush from a cracked Detroit sidewalk. Snowstorms turn the city into a ghost town. It's ominous when it's not beautiful. I dodged falling ice coming out of the Bricktown garage. I'm reminded I'm not even supposed to be alive, let alone doing this shit. None of this was supposed to happen. I can't help but always feel like a finger snap will come and reality will set in and this dream will end. But I know deep down, all of this was made from the ashes of my old self. All of this came from nothing. From the bottom of the barrel. Why I don’t drink whiskey. Why I don’t like pharmaceuticals. And why I battle depression daily. The truth is this; you have to find something to do with your negative energy. If you don't, you’re going to make things harder to take and harder to deal with. If you have to battle depression it’s hard to think about being sad when you’re doing shit you love. It’s harder for your brain to trick you into thinking you're miserable. Now sit at home and do nothing with the same problems. I implore you mother fuckers to find shit that sets you ablaze from the inside out. It doesn’t have to be the same shit as anyone else. Idle hands are the devil's playground, there's something out there that you want to do but don't. Stop pigeon-holding yourself to the current idea of your life. Then you can realize this shit can get really rad when you nurture it.
All these shows are cathartic because I kinda can pick and choose and be strategic about what I’m doing. This one had all of the above. A lifelong connection to two of the bands. High praise for the opener and the torch they’re carrying. They are the same as the bands that were on this tour 15-20 years ago. Playing with much heavier bands on hardcore festivals and legitimizing the next generation of Long Island bands. Long Island to me is just straight-up fucking pure songwriting culture to me. These sets didn’t have filler tunes. Think about that shit for a second. All 3. Bayside played fucking 21 songs. No filler. All fucking gas. All fucking smashing or at the very fucking least, crowd-pleasing tunes. If anything it gave me a reason to respect LIHC's past, present, and future, that much more. Shit doesn’t need to be groundbreaking, it just has to be fucking good. KOYO features members of SEEYOUSPACECOWBOY, Typecaste, Rain Of Salvation, Hangman, and Adrenaline. This is some of the best pop-punk music I've heard in a very long time. I don't know how to simplify my feelings other than that way.
This set, was an absolute blast. The new lineup for I Am The Avalanche clearly has chemistry and loves playing live together. It quite literally made me fall back in love with this band. The last time I saw this band was one of my favorite shows of all time in Detroit. Bane, I Am The Avalanche, and Evergreen Terrace. Being a product of Melodic Hardcore and that era’s peak being my heyday, it makes perfect sense right? And this was at fucking Alvin’s. I just remember the most stage diving I’ve ever seen until that point. I got ET stoned out of their minds and had drinks with a lot of weirdos that night. That feeling I had then, came back this evening while watching these dudes. How truly different this city and state and country and planet have become since. An entire lifetime away it seems. I absolutely love the stage presence of these guys though, can just tell it’s all hardcore kids. We’re a different breed. I’m stoked on this lineup, as they one, sounded tight as fuck, and two give off an energetic live show that if it’s your shit, you won’t be disappointed. With the new release of “Honey Bee” it was rad to have a beer and watch them play it before it was released a few days later. Those little things are the memories I keep with me. They make this experience and my entire music photography and journalist experience unique. Long Island is a pure songwriting capital.
BAYSIDE… oh boy. So since 2016, I have only had a few mess-ups in regard to music photography. While coming from a DIY background, I still try to have a level of professionalism when it comes to dealing with the bts stuff. I can confirm it's me with a tight butthole and a higher register in my voice. I have battled imposter syndrome just like everyone else the entire time I have done this. And every time I have been called out for being unprofessional it fucking stings...
When I am in the pit, I am myself. No person will hold any constraints on me there besides the regular photo rules. That guy I am in the photo pit is just me. It's not some other version of me. That different version is the tightwad above. I am a guy who enjoys a drink, who always partakes in cannabis, and a genuine fan of the music I’m photographing. I need to be in that mode to create. It’s the same mode I’m in when I edit. The same as every time I played drums live as an adult, and sometimes as a teenager. Definitely, every time I worked on production or DJ’d live. Gross, I hate talking about myself like that. Toot this horn asshole..
Anyway, Bayside allowed me to photograph them in the beginning of this trek. During their set at the Crofoot, I accidentally switched out of manual mode and into AP mode and my on-cam flash was triggered. I took about a half dozen photos of Anthony before realizing I was the one beaming him with flash.
This after I said “Who's the fucking asshole using the flash in the photo pit…”
I have thought about that since.
Like 5 years.
Of telling a waitress "you too" when she tells me to enjoy my meal.
After 5 years of obsessing about blinding Anthony Raneri, I finally got approved to photograph them again. Oddly enough with Vinnie Caruana again, but this time with IATA and not The Movielife.
I dummy-proofed this from ever happening again by finally fucking leveling up to pro gear, and pro canon cameras don’t have camera fucking flash my friends!!! No more fucking anxiety anymore. Bayside, Anthony, I fucking appreciate it.
This fucking band played an incredible set. I made it as long as I could with soaking wet feet but was so happy to grab Vinnie doing “The Walking Wounded” with the dudes. This was a lot of fun and I’m so stoked that this was my first show as I have a long affinity with Long Island music. Dating back to giving Mark from TBS “New Yorker” joints every time they came through from 2002-2004. I know, hilarious.
I am reminded how much I love doing this every time my health or my day job keeps me away from photographing shows. This was one of the hardest breaks for me. A few weeks post-surgery I was humbled after doing two shows. I realized how much had been taken out of me, not just all my teeth. My energy and stamina plummeted. I couldn’t do anything at all for a few weeks. Being a person who works retail 6 days a week, no movement for a few days begets a fat boy coming back. By the time I did the two gigs in November, I was not ready whatsoever for the physical effects of my exhaustion.
I overexert myself always, I always feel I can do more. My biggest fear is having a heart attack at a show. Also, passing out from exhaustion and needing to be sent to the hospital because I’m just simply not taking care of myself properly. I know a lot of other things could be considered so much worse than that. I hate the idea of a show stopping for me for anything. Those 2 shows needed to happen so I can retool my entire outlook, my mentality, and how I do things going forward. I am so stoked this was the tour that started off the year, the new season, and the camera rig. I’m so thankful for everyone who has followed me for this long.
I have no idea where we’re going from here but I know it’s gonna be very eventful. I’m just going to try to take as many photos and write as much as possible. This shit to me isn’t about advertising money, or fucking promoting the biggest bands, or getting the biggest gigs. I stopped with the bucket list being focal and it just being an afterthought. I have those goals still but last year became about doing everything on the list for me, and it got so selfish and I realized how much I truly don’t want to be like that, even with my art. I now have a platform, one that took almost a decade to build. I now have a way to push music. And I have a way to push local music more than ever, which is what I really want to do. Focus on the smaller bands and the locals who are trying to get to touring level.
Of course I will still put in for Metallica and I'm doing as many big shows as possible too. But I straight up ignored the small side, the DIY side, and the local side while building a portfolio. I did that so people would consider me legitimate in this realm. So when I work with an artist, it matters, and it helps. Somehow. I could not ask for a better situation outside of not having to go to a fucking grocery store job to pay the bills. My dear friends, I gotta find ways to make the shitty work, the personal life issues, the family problems, and the consistent weight of the world, tolerable to deal with.
And all of this in my eyes goes back to Youth Crew Culture and making sure the next-gen has the space to do the things we did and more. During the early days of Covid I realized how much I took from my culture and how much I could finally give back once shows came back. It all started to make sense. Now we’re staring down basement shows, local fests, and promo sets for locals. This makes me happy as hell. Especially being a Downriver Hardcore Kid approaching 40. There aren’t many of us still carrying the Black Flag. Rats forever.
Long live hardcore and everything that is adjacent including these 3 bands and all the other more melodic and punkier bands coming out of New York and specifically Long Island. Thank you for your exports.
Big Cheese
The Walking Wounded (with Vinnie Caruana)
The Wrong Way
Sick, Sick, Sick
How to Ruin Everything (Patience)
Already Gone
They're Not Horses, They're Unicorns
Masterpiece
Strangest Faces
Prayers
Numb
It Don't Exist
Landing Feet First
Megan (Smoking Popes cover)
Duality
Hate Me
Blame It on Bad Luck
Montauk
Don't Call Me Peanut
Go To Hell
Devotion and Desire
B A Y S I D E
http://ffm.to/baysidetheblueep
http://tiktok.com/@baysideband
http://twitter.com/baysideband
http://facebook.com/bayside
https://www.instagram.com/bayside/
http://baysidebayside.com
I A M T H E A V A L A N C H E
https://www.instagram.com/iamtheavalanchenyc
https://www.facebook.com/iamtheavalanche/
https://twitter.com/iatanyc
LISTEN TO “HONEY BEE” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipfcipt7nh4
K O Y O
https://koyolihc.com/
https://www.instagram.com/koyolihc
https://koyolihc.bandcamp.com/album/drives-out-east
