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Sitting down with Raj of The Sunpilots

Posted by johnshippee on January 31, 2015
Posted in: Concert, interview, photography. Tagged: band, concert, interview, john shippee photography, music, The Sunpilots. Leave a comment

Raj, frontman and cofounder of The Sunpilots

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of talking with Raj, singer and cofounder of a really great rock band, The Sunpilots. As they had just wrapped up a long tour in January, he was back home in Australia, so we made arrangements to meet through Skype.

Starting out with a bit of history, I’d read through the bio on their site and saw they had been semifinalists in an international songwriting competition for their song “Metric System”, which appears on their debut album Living Receiver.

Me: I saw that you were a runner-up in an international songwriting competition. The two things that were most notable to me about this, as a fan, was that it’s an international, which sounds like there is probably a huge number of entrants competing. The second thing was that Robert Smith, of The Cure, was one of the judges. Sure, there’s no way to know for sure if he actually listened to or voted for your song, but as I’m a huge fan of both of your bands, I like to think he did.

Having said all that, first, congratulations on the award. Obviously I’m a few years behind, but as a recent fan, I think this is a well deserved award. Next, with receiving honorable mention in the competition, and being a new band, did this change how you go about writing songs at all, or did it more solidify that you were on the right path and to just keep doing what you were doing.

Raj: It’s always nice to get positive feedback. At that point, too, we were not 100% sure how people were going to receive the album. It was our first very serious musical project. We (Raj and the other members of the band) had been in other bands, but it wasn’t until The Sunpilots where we decided that we really wanted to make a serious go at it. We’ve always wanted to make the music that we wanted and then figure out where it fits. As opposed to a lot of other bands which determine where they want to fit, then write the music for that, which limits their creativity. While it is fine, and it can be entertaining, it lacks passion.

Even though we didn’t write for any particular group of people, compared to our latest album, King of the Sugarcoated Tongues, our first album was quite conservative. When you come into a new band, you have a collection of old songs or bits of old songs floating around that you turn into songs with the new band. Whereas the second album, we had gotten to know each other, and each other’s capabilities a lot more. We were able to pull upon each other’s strengths to write a great album. The songs that Bob (Spencer, guitar) and I wrote together have a whole other level of complexity.

Me: I can see that. While I’m not a musician, surrounding myself with creative people helps inspire my art, as well as gives me ideas I don’t know that I would have had on my own. It sounds like it’s the same with creating music in a band. Going along with that, what is the creative process like for you? Do you have an idea for a story you want to tell, write the lyrics, and then come up with music that fits the words, or do you have a tune in your head that you flesh out, and then write the lyrics to go with the music?

Raj: It really depends. It has happened both ways. Sometimes, I’ll have a melody in my head, and once it has started to take shape, I’ll write out the lyrics to go with the song, then Bob will add guitar to go along with the song. Other times, one of the other band members will have an idea that will inspire a melody in me, and then the lyrics will come after we’ve formed and shaped the song. We usually work on multiple songs at once. I’ve found doing this, the songs kind of cross pollinate and work off of each other. Either way, though, the song has to have feeling and emotion. 

And feeling and emotion, they do have. Check out a writeup I did previously after seeing them perform live at Freebird Live in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. There’s also a link to their Youtube channel where they have videos from various live performances, including when they played a festival at the legendary Woodstock.

Raj: We have a lot of strong ideas and views about social issues that could be fixed if people just cared and/or tried more. If you inspire someone, the pay it forward concept could take place, and that’s great.

A lot of people just simply don’t know about a lot of social issues that are out there. The media and social media are biased and 1 sided. So if there is something we feel strongly about, the first thing we do is to try and inform other people of the issue. One thing a lot of people have easy access to is music and entertainment and one thing we, as musicians, have is a microphone. I always say to people, if you have a microphone, you are able to reach people. We can get information out there. The bigger our audience, the bigger the chance that we can help make a change.

There’s a lot of music I can’t stand. It’s playing to the lowest common denominator. Like that new song “Shake It Off”. It’s meaningless. Sure, it might be catchy, but it doesn’t say anything. Whatever it is your singing, make it say something. Make a difference.

For example, I heard Nickleback’s latest song the other day “Edge of a Revolution”. I didn’t…it’s not my favorite song…I think they were talking about a lot of the propaganda that governments are spinning. It’s quite interesting for a band like Nickleback to write a song like that.

Some of the comments on Youtube are interesting. To the 4 people in our band, it’s obvious what the band is talking about. But a lot of the young people are talking about this for the first time because this is their first exposure to it. They grow up only listening to and watching things that either their close friends or families are listening to and watching. They may grow up thinking that everyone watches and agrees with Fox News. They may not know there are atrocities going on in the world.

Me: Since you brought it up, I’ll check it out. I’m not a fan of Nickleback, so I wouldn’t have known anything about it had you not told me about it. Speaking of favorite and disliked bands, what are some of your favorites?

Raj: There are 3 or 4 bands that I always go back to. I really enjoy classic 70’s rock, but some more recent bands are Radiohead and Pearl Jam.

Me: Really? I was just talking to my friend Taylor about Radiohead. It’s one of her favorite bands. We were discussing favorite albums, and she said her least favorite was Pablo Honey, which surprised me, because that is my favorite album from them. Granted, they’ve put out plenty of albums I haven’t heard, but their second left such a bad taste in my mouth, that I kind of lost interest and decided that Pablo Honey was going to be my only Radiohead album. Favorite Radiohead album hail to the theif and in rainbows.

Raj: It’s so great and mysterious about how people can have so much in common, but then have different tastes. My favorite albums of theirs would probably be Hail To The Thief and In Rainbows.

Me: Switching gears a bit, you just wrapped up a four year tour. How did that start and what was it like?

Raj: With everything so far apart in Australia, and with such few towns, you run out of places to tour really quickly. Between 2007 and 2010, we were spending every moment away from our jobs playing shows and working on the band. We did five national tours in that time. It worked out really well that we each have a European passport, so we decided to go to Europe, specifically Berlin, I love the place. I’ve been there before. We have a lot of friends that were there and said it was great. We shared an apartment for about one and a half years to help save money. After we had enough money saved up to last about 12 months, we decided to go over to Berlin and play our asses off and see if we can make enough to keep going. At the end of 2011, we were making enough for food and gas, but not rent. So we had to decide what to do. We made a pact to give up the apt and to live on the road full time. We tour 7-8 months a year and stay with friends and fans. Then for the remainder of the year, we go to Berlin, where the street music scene is enough for us to stay in a really cheap apartment.

It’s difficult what we do. Our typical day is you wake up, hit the road an hour later, then drive 6-8 hours, get to the gig, usually late, you’ve been stuck in the van all day and been eating crappy food, you’re stressed and running late, but have to do load in and do sound checks. It takes a lot of time to set everything up, including the merch table, hopefully eat a meal, then play the show, hang out with fans, then get home around 3am.

Even in the car, you’re online contacting bands about promotions, and backlines, and then working on promoting/thinking about other shows and the next tour. It’s an endless stream. It’s easy to get fried. And to top if off, you’re ALWAYS with the same people, often within the same 10 feet of each other. We do have fights, we blow up on each other, then 5 minutes later you get over it. You have to. It doesn’t do anyone any good to stay mad. Especially in such close quarters.

I don’t know if it’s the most healthy way to do it, but it’s the best for what we’re doing right now.

Me: Yeah, I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be in such close proximity to the same group of people for such an extended period of time. Especially when you don’t really ever get the chance to take a day for yourself and just have some alone time to decompress. 

At this point, what would be your idea of “making it”?

Raj: The last 3-4 years have been really stressful. We love what we’re doing and want to keep doing. Our goal would be to play for a few hundred people at every show. With that, we could get a cheap apt for each band member, and then maybe even get a hotel room every few nights on tour. Having a little bit of privacy would do wonders for us. 

We’ve come from nothing. We’ve played rooms where it was literally the bartender, the sound guy, and his dog. Having a room with a few 100 people would be like a larger band playing to 1000s of people.

Me: Thank you, Raj. I really appreciate you taking the time to meet with me and I look forward to seeing you on the next tour and hearing the new album you guys are working on.

The Sunpilots on stage at Freebird Live

The Sunpilots on stage at Freebird Live

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Appetite For Destruction

Posted by johnshippee on January 11, 2015
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: Appetite For Destruction, band, concert, concert photography, Guns N Roses. Leave a comment

There’s nothing quite like getting to see your favorite band live. The way the crowd erupts during the opening of their favorite song is magical. Sadly, there are some bands you just can’t see anymore; whether it’s because they are no longer alive, like Jimi Hendrix, or the band isn’t together anymore, like The Police, you will never have the opportunity to see them live. Then there are the bands that broke up, then one of the founding members started a new band under the old band name, like Guns N Roses. Sure, Axl and some other backing band members are touring under the old name. They might even play some of the old hits, but it’s not the same. If you feel the same way, you’re in luck. There are a few GNR tribute bands out there that perfectly bring back the nostalgia of the original lineup. I had the opportunity to see one of these bands, Appetite For Destruction, at Freebird Live, in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Appetite tore it up!

Photo of Appetite For Destruction live in concert at Freebird Live

Appetite For Destruction live in concert at Freebird Live

photo of Guns N Roses cover band, Appetite For Destruction

(Almost) Axl and (almost) Slash performing live on stage at Freebird Live.

The crowd was really into it!

The rest of the photos from this show can be seen over at John Shippee Photography.

The Sunpilots

Posted by johnshippee on December 31, 2014
Posted in: Concert, photography. Tagged: concert, freebird, photography, sunpilots. 1 Comment

It started out around the beginning of December when I was looking at various local venues’ websites to see which concerts were coming up. The concert which stuck out the most was going to be at Freebird in Jacksonville Beach. There was going to be a band from Australia playing along with a few local bands. Doing some research on this band, The Sunpilots, I found that they had quite a following on Facebook. So, I made a note to go and photograph the show.

A few days later, my wife said she had been contacted via a couch surfing website we’re members of by a group of guys that were looking for a place to stay in Jacksonville for a few nights. When she said they were in a band called The Sunpilots, I let her know I was already planning on going to their show, and it would be awesome to have them stay with us.

Due to van troubles, the band arrived later than expected, sometime around midnight, so there wasn’t much hanging out the first night. We made introductions, showed them around our place, talked for a bit, then turned in for the night.

They are all a bunch of great guys with fantastic sense of humor and great stories.

A little about the band… (the info is primarily sourced from their website, and stories from members of the band)

The band formed in Australia in 2008, by frontman Raj and guitarist Bob. The current line-up is completed with Kay on drums and Adil on bass. They quickly gained popularity with their debut album, “Living Receiver”, which won Indie Album of the year at the MusicOz awards, as well has having two tracks from the accompanying single “Spotlight In The Sun” being featured as iTunes Singles Of The Week.

Concert photo of The Sunpilots

The Sunpilots at Freebird Live

Not to say that they outgrew Australia, but with the country’s population primarily split up into a few cities spread out across a vast country, making a living from touring just wasn’t working out. So, they did what any super-dedicated band would do, they sold all their belongings and hit the road in 2010. That was 4 years ago. Four years of living out of a suitcase and a van. They primarily depend on their friends and fans for places to stay. (Remember from earlier? That’s how we met them, via the couch surfing site.) Four years of not having a not having a home to call your own. But what an adventure it must be!

I’m so happy to have ‘discovered’ the band. Their music is amazing. Raj has quite the range of vocals, which I suspect is from his mother (from Sri Lanka) teaching him the Carnatic music of the East. Bob then jumps in with his energetic guitar, while Adil lays down a cool bass line, and this is all tied together with Kay’s drum beat.

drum concert photography

Kay, of The Sunpilots, on drums

Check out this video of them performing their song “Faking This” live at a festival in Woodstock!


Whether there are tens of thousands of people in the crowd, or ten people in the crowd, they put this same amount of energy into their shows.

guitar concert photography

Bob, shredding on guitar.

bass concert photography

Adil, laying down those smooth bass lines.

singer concert photography

Raj, demonstrating his impressive vocal capabilities.

I’m in the process of working out some details to do a follow-up to this post with an interview with Raj. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this all works out.

In the meantime, please, go to their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/thesunpilots, and download their latest album. It’s free. You’ve got nothing to lose. If you like rock music at all, you won’t be disappointed!

Which Concert To Shoot?

Posted by johnshippee on June 28, 2014
Posted in: Concert, photography. Tagged: concert, concert photography, john shippee photography, live, show, tips, Wiz Khalifa. Leave a comment

Someone asked me how do I decide which shows I will photograph.  The short answer is “I shoot as many as I can.”  There are a lot of people out there who see a big name artist coming to town and think they’ll just show up with their camera and get some great shots.  I suppose it could be possible for that to happen, but it’s also possible you could win the lottery on the way to the show.  Both are unlikely.

I remember one show I was photographing where a friend of one of the band members went and bought a camera the day of the show because their friend got them access to the press area.  Before the show, he was putting the batteries and memory card in his new camera and asking the pro photographers there what settings he should be using.  We all tried to help, but have different takes on the best settings for shooting a show.  We did, however, all agree that you want a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the action, but slow enough to let in enough light to actually get a usable image. We learned after the show that he didn’t understand what we were talking about.  He set his camera to 1/5000 of a second in Shutter Priority mode and every shot was so underexposed that he didn’t get a single usable image.

I recommend shooting as many shows at as many different venues as possible to get the experience of shooting in different environments and thinking on your feet.  It will help you know when you need to change camera settings when house or stage lighting changes and will also help you learn how to get the best angle for the best shot.  Also, don’t just go to shows where you already know you like the music.  Photographing bands you don’t know is a great way to meet knew people and to discover great new music.  In April, I photographed Wiz Khalifa.

Image of Wiz Khalifa on stage. Photo by John Shippee Photography

Wiz Khalifa on stage. Photo by John Shippee Photography

Prior to shooting this show, I had no idea who Wiz was.  I’m glad I went and was able to photograph the concert.  His music is vastly different from what I normally listen to, but I still enjoyed most of what he played.  He also had great stage presence and a lot of energy.  Once he started, it was clear to me why the venue was sold out and people were being turned away at the box office.

Pic of Sold out crowd at Wiz Khalifa show. Photo by John Shippee Photography

Sold out crowd at Wiz Khalifa show. Photo by John Shippee Photography

The show was at a venue I had never photographed.  The stage set up and lighting were top notch, which helped produce some amazing photos.

Image of Wiz Khalifa on stage. Photo by John Shippee Photography

Wiz Khalifa on stage. Photo by John Shippee Photography

Pic of Wiz Khalifa on stage. Photo by John Shippee Photography

Wiz Khalifa on stage. Photo by John Shippee Photography

If you’d like to see the rest of the photos from this show, check out my website: John Shippee Photography.

#LacunaCoil

Posted by johnshippee on June 25, 2014
Posted in: Concert, Festival, photography. Tagged: concert, Lacuna Coil, metal, photography, welcome to rockville. Leave a comment

Wow!  While I’m up for shooting pretty much any concert, there are some bands which I never expect to have the opportunity to photograph.  Lacuna Coil was one of those bands.  For those of you who don’t know, Lacuna Coil is a metal band from Italy.  It was mostly because they are an international band that I expected to never see them live.  It’s kind of like that episode of Friend’s.  The one where the Friends make a list of hot celebrities they would be allowed to sleep with and their significant other couldn’t get mad.  Ross originally includes Isabella Rosselini, but Chandler tells him that Isabella is too international, thus too unavailable.  Lacuna Coil, and other international bands, are like that for me.  I don’t want to sleep with any of them, but I don’t expect to ever get to shoot one of their shows because, as Chandler put it, they’re “too international”.

Any ways…

Lacuna Coil performed at Welcome to Rockville in Jacksonville, FL, along with Korn, Five Finger Deathpunch, Rob Zombie, The Pretty Reckless, and many, many other great bands.  It took awhile, but after pulling some strings, I was able to secure a photo pass for the event.  At last!  I get to see, and photograph, Lacuna Coil.

photo of Lacuna Coil's drummer by John Shippee Photography

Lacuna Coil’s drummer. Rockville 2014

The crowd was amped as the band took the stage.

Crowd shot by John Shippee Photography

Crowd at Welcome to Rockville 2014.

Christina and Andrea put forth a huge amount of emotion and energy in their performance.  It was fantastic to see!

photo of Christina of Lacuna Coil by John Shippee Photography

Christina of Lacuna Coil

Photo of Andrea of Lacuna Coil by John Shippee Photography

Andrea from Lacuna Coil

Photo of Lacuna Coil rocking out on stage at Welcome to Rockville 2014 by John Shippee Photography

Lacuna Coil rocking out on stage at Welcome to Rockville 2014

It was truly an incredible experience seeing the band live.  If you ever get the opportunity to do so, I highly recommend it.

The remaining photos from the set can be seen on my site, John Shippee Photography.

*** EDIT ***

I didn’t realize that the band was using a lot of footage from this concert for their video “Nothing Stands In Our Way”.  You can see me in a few of the shots! Check it out.

The Airborne Toxic Event

Posted by johnshippee on June 9, 2014
Posted in: Concert, photography. Tagged: concert, freebird, live, music, photography, show, The Airborne Toxic Event. Leave a comment

The Airborne Toxic Event

Boy time flies!  Tomorrow it will 1 year since I photographed The Airborne Toxic Event (TATE).  They performed at my favorite concert venue in Jacksonville, FL, Freebird Live.  If you haven’t had the chance to visit, you really should.  Here’s a few of the things I like about it:

  • It’s a small, two story venue offering great views of the stage from both upstairs and down.
  • It’s a smoke-free venue.  I appreciate coming home and not smelling like smoke.
  • They have a great lighting and sound system.
  • The stage is a good height to shoot shows.

Any ways, back to TATE…

I had seen them once before, by accident almost.  The Jacksonville Landing was hosting a Rock On The River event that featured TATE and The Sick Puppies.  I didn’t know they were going to be playing at the time, so I didn’t bother arriving early enough to get a decent location.  I was super excited when I learned they would be coming back and playing a smaller, more intimate venue.

image of The Airborne Toxic Event at Freebird Live by John Shippee Photography

The Airborne Toxic Event at Freebird Live by John Shippee Photography

I first of the band years back when they were featured on a late show with Carson Daly.  They performed their song, Sometime Around Midnight, which immediately became one of my favorite songs.  Ever!  Check out the video.

image of The Airborne Toxic Event performed at Freebird Live. Photo by John Shippee Photography

The Airborne Toxic Event performed at Freebird Live. Photo by John Shippee Photography

The band did a really good job of intermixing their newer and older song, which the crowd clearly appreciated.

image of Anna Bulbrook of The Airborne Toxic Event. Photo by John Shippee Photography

Anna Bulbrook of The Airborne Toxic Event. Photo by John Shippee Photography

The rest of the photos can be seen on my website, John Shippee Photography.

The All American Rejects

Posted by johnshippee on June 4, 2014
Posted in: Concert, photography. Tagged: all american rejects, camera, concert, film, photography, tips. Leave a comment

Do you need a fancy camera to shoot concerts?

When I first started shooting concerts, I had a Nikon n80 film camera and the kit lens that it came with.  It didn’t take me too long to realize that the lens I had was inadequate, so I quickly upgraded to the 70-200mm 2.8 lens.  I still have this lens today and love shooting with it.  While they are nice to have, and make things a lot more convenient, you don’t need a fancy dSLR to shoot decent photos.  Take for example, these shots of The All American Rejects.  They were shot with a low-level film camera body.

Photo of The All American Rejects. Photo by John Shippee Photography

The All American Rejects. Photo by John Shippee Photography

The real downsides to me for using a film camera was not being able to check a few test shots before hand to ensure that my settings were getting me the best images and the time it took to rewind and change film.  When you only have 3 songs to shoot, you don’t want any time wasted with rewinding/changing film.

The All American Rejects.  Photo by John Shippee Photography

The All American Rejects. Photo by John Shippee Photography

A few more photos from this show can be seen on my site, John Shippee Photography.

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