Milloy or: between music and concert photography

Here you can see my favorites, arranged by the songs from Milloy’s current album Creating Problems While Practising Solutions that inspired me when selecting and editing them. Not entirely journalistically correct (the pictures were not necessarily taken during the songs they are named after), but it gets across what I wanted to achieve with them.

Pockets

“Pockets” lives from the drums. It propels the song to unimagined heights. This recording, made in between songs, of course, shows drummer Brigga joking around. It is as if he was saying, ”Watch out, I’m playing a big part in the next song.”

Mary Rose

“There’s an ocean between us, and I can’t swim”. “Save yourself, washed in the ocean“. “You hold my hand and I hold yours“. “I’ll never let you down“. “Mary Rose“ is different from many of the other Milloy songs on the album. It is calmer (despite the energetic chorus), more lost, more playful. When I found this photograph on my computer, I noticed how different it was. A portrait: the hair beautifully lit from behind, highlights in the pupils, the background blurred. Not exactly what I had in mind for concert recordings, but a nice example of what can happen when you just go with the flow of the moment. Opinions?

Propofol

I will say it straight: this is faked. Composed of two shots taken in quick succession. But that does not change the fact that scenes like this were frequently seen: while Jim sings his heart out, he is actively supported by his fellow musicians. And without their bawling and the lyrics they sing at the same time as their frontman, the song would only be half as good. A band lives from the interaction of its members, so why not try to capture that? In my opinion, slightly out-of-focus shots of the lead singer emphasize the message that a band is more than just its frontman.

The Math

My favorite, without question. The song is fast, mercilessly eating its way into your ear canals. Pure energy. When I saw this picture, I was initially dissatisfied: out of focus, noisy (high ISO with a camera that was much too old). What a bummer. But once I got over my shock at the lack of technical perfection, I realized that the shot expresses exactly what I was able to experience at Milloy’s concert. Unbridled power in a room that was far too small and bursting at the seams. And to be honest, now I love the slight blurring because it brings out the rapid movements of the musicians. And I liked the noise so much that I wanted to emphasize it even more in black and white.