"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?" – Robert Browning
So, boy, it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I have been busy. Recently I was out in Manhattan, KS for the 2022 MidFest where I was able to meet new people, bands, and bars. Here’s a few of my favorite shots.
MidFest Music and Arts Festival
July 23rd, 2022
Manhattan, KS
Bands that performed:
See the Full gallery here
Late last year I was put in touch with a band from Lawrence Kansas, metal band Horned Wolf was looking to make a music video for their new single “Become Like They Are” with their new lead singer, Sav. Finally, a chance to have the opportunity to create something for someone new. This opened me up to new adventures, new challenges, and in the end, after a 12 hour shoot, a month of editing, I was able to create a vision for their music.
So much has been said about Horned Wolf through the Lawrence Music scene, featured in articles from The Pitch KC, BraveWords, and metalunderground.com, to name a few. Their sound, voice, and talent to create is going to take them far. It will be exciting to see where they go from here.
“Don’t promise tomorrow. I will not fret”
Horned Wolf, “Become Like They Are”
October 23rd, 2021. I won’t forget that night any time soon.
A couple years ago, I came across a videographer that goes by Hate5Six. A concert videographer, his passion and goal to record bands and their live performances inspired me to want to move beyond the realm of photos, and into the experience of recording video for bands. Having been in the video world for the better part of the last 20 years, it’s almost an expected thing, if not a question of why didn’t I do this earlier.
So many awesome bands came out and gave it their all that night. The Slipstream Drive, Swamp Chain, Tree Kitty, The Giant Thriller, Into Forever, Revisionist, A Living Hell, All From Nothing, Ellyria, and ASMO. It was great meeting those I haven’t seen before and hearing some badass new music. I cannot wait until the next Punk Fest!
Local music is wonderful. It’s real and alive, fresh and inspired. Being a part of the music scene in the Hays area for all these years, I am so very thankful to be able to be friends with so many talented and wonderful artists, and to give back to them, to help them be seen, promoted, given a stage other than the basement of a bar, or garage is something that I can give to them to thank them for giving me the opportunity to be a part of their lives.
Getting video of the 2021 Salina Halloween Punk Fest was an opportunity for me to introduce myself to a new area and new bands that, most likely, have not heard of me. Getting my name out there is important with growing as an artist, and a professional. With maintaining a presence in the community, I hope that I will be able to build something in the surrounding communities. Hopefully they’ll see what I have to offer, and want to work with me. That is the hope.
So, I want to take this time to glamorize my precious Aurora. I don’t take a lot of pictures of her, but when I do…she’s adorable. Ain’t she?
In August of 2020, Dangerously Biased (Facebook) out of Hays joined with Queen City Shout (Facebook) to perform a live performance for their yearly festival. Normally a live festival, due to the pandemic, live streaming was their outlet for that year. They reached out to me to produce a recording of their live set for this event. Over the course of 2 days, we recorded a sampling of their live performance, and broadcast it on Facebook before the band uploaded it to their YouTube account.
To be able to capture the energy of a live performance of one of my favorite local bands is something I felt I could never capture in photos. From Matt Isley’s movements across the stage with his bass guitar, and Sutton Thompson’s adrenaline shot of an attack on the drums, their sound and stage performance is better live than in stills.
This wasn’t perfect, I will admit, but it was a start, and helped build an idea that had been lingering in my head for a while.
“Let me tell you what I saw today…”
Dangerously Biased, “I Saw It All”
In the winter of 2019, Hays musician Jordan Rome (Facebook) asked me to produce a music video for his single, “Leave me to my demons” off of his album release “7 Songs for the Soulless“. I have worked with Jordan before, and even did the cover photo and art for the album. The goal was to recreate the look of the cover photo, and bring some transition from the static image to the moving image.
Jordan embodies the spirit of classic old-school country with a punk thrash flair, and his passion for producing his brand of music is the drive that careers are born from. His sound isn’t like anything coming out of the area, and I’m glad that I have been (and continue to be) a part of his journey.
“Well I wish that I was dreaming…”
Jordan Rome, “Leave Me To My Demons”
HarrisonHale Photography 