Kittie Tour 2012 | Blackguard – May 15, 2012

Kittie Tour 2012
Bonded by Blood, The Agonist, Blackguard, & Kittie
May 15th, 2012 @ the Soundstage in Baltimore, MD

A second round of Blackguard! The drive there was atrocious as expected, but this show was well worth it. The crowd was a bit thinner than the one in Springfield, which is surprising, but I would say the show went well. The bands, of course, kicked ass as usual (sadly, we missed Bonded by Blood this time). Paul got my friend, Ethan, and I on the guest list with a photo pass, so again: thanks so much, Paul!! \m/

We hung out a bit after the show with everyone (Ethan had bought them some Fin du Monde and some ‘Irish honey’) before they made their way to New York….as usual, we had fun times and cannot wait for them to come back soon. Good luck to Blackguard on the rest of the tour and I hope they get the rest they deserve before they come back. A big ‘thank you’ to all of them for being so awesome. Check out their sites if you are not (for some odd reason) not familiar with their work: Facebook & Myspace.

With the pictures, I’m very, very proud of how they came out. I would say this so far the best batch of photos from Blackguard that I’ve taken (check out the other ones here). I used my 50mm for most of these, which would explain the detail and the amount of light in a lot of them. Enjoy!

Blackguard is:
Paul Ablaze – Vocal
Terry Roadcase – Rythm Guitar
Étienne Mailloux – Bass & Accoustic Guitar
Justine Ethier – Drums
Gabriel Guardiola [Immortal Guardian] *temp touring member*- Guitar

This is Blackguard’s last tour of the year before they head back to the studio for another album (and for some rest back home!), so make it out to their shows! -G.G. \m/

Kittie Tour 2012 | Blackguard – May 14, 2012

Kittie Tour 2012
Bonded by Blood, The Agonist, Blackguard, & Kittie
May 14th, 2012 @ Empire (formerly Jaxx Night Club) in Springfield, VA

I don’t know if it’s obvious enough, but I’m a huge Blackguard fan (check out the gazillion – ok, more like 3- other Blackguard posts from me). These Canadian dudes are great at what they do; they always put on a great & exciting show; AND, they’re so chill. I don’t think I can say that about most bands that I get to meet, or let alone see live. With that being said, check out their work if you haven’t already: Facebook & Myspace. Also, I’d like to thank Paul for ALWAYS being generous and cool about photo passes. Paul, you’re the man!

Before the show, my buddy Scott and I ended up chilling with Étienne, who then coerced me into a shopping cart and gave me a quick and dangerous tour of the parking lot. This was a really good show in terms of crowd turnout (could have been better, but it was above decent for a Monday night). It was nice to see all the familiar faces there! \m/ With the photos, I did the usual settings, though make sure to check out the next post from the Soundstage show!).

Blackguard is:
Paul Ablaze – Vocal
Terry Roadcase – Rythm Guitar
Kim Gosselin – Lead Guitar & Orchestrations
Etienne Mailloux – Bass & Accoustic Guitar
Justine Ethier – Drums

-G.G \m/

Symphony X Tour 2011 | Blackguard – May 22, 2011

Blackguard is definitely a band that I photograph a lot-not only because they’re nice enough to give me permission, but because they kick ass!! If you haven’t checked out my other Blackguard galleries, feel free to do so; but most importantly, make sure to check out their Myspace and Facebook pages to check out their music.

This show was unique in that Paul Ablaze (vocalist) could not perform that night, so Nick from Powerglove did the first Blackguard set and then our very own Chris Bane (from an awesome local band called Cab Ride Home-check them out!) did the second set. I remember talking to Kim from Blackguard and he said it was an awkward show in that they’ve never played without Paul from what he can remember. We all agree that Nick and Chris did a pretty damn good job that night, though! Wooo! Unfortunately they played a short set

Random anecdote: when they were on stage about to start their set, Kim joked around gesturing what seemed to me to be indicating that I shouldn’t take pictures (at least not a whole lot) so when I found a break during a set, I had to ask. I was so confused and scared, so I didn’t take many pictures because I had to ask before taking any more! He was messing, though. Gotta love Kim

2nd random anecdote: so after the entire show was over, Étienne and some buddies started an epic sword fight!! MWAHAHAHA!! The (inflatable) swords were provided by Powerglove during their set, of course (you can see all kinds of swords in the Powerglove pictures coming up). If you’d like to see the sword fight pictures, please head over to my Facebook page and look for the album! Oh, and we also had a close-up shot war…..Étienne beat me My friend Ethan and I ended up hanging out a lot with Étienne at the end of the show out back, as usual. He is….uh….special (I say it with lots of love! Hahaha)

Anyway, it seems that Jaxx is still searching for a lighting tech because their lighting was poor (again!) AND some of the pics below look blurry because I was hastily taking pictures for some reason :/ They’re not as crappy as my pictures from Summer Slaughter 2010, but they’re close :/

All in all, I loved the show, but Blackguard always seems to make every show even better with their music and their friendly attitude (and crazy antics from Étienne).

Blackguard is:

Terry Deschenes – Guitars
Paul Ablaze – Vocals
Kim Gosselin – Guitars
Justine Ethier – Drums
Étienne Mailloux – Bass

Next round is on me!…..at the Kamelot show -G.G. \m/

Design Your Universe Tour | Blackguard- November 16, 2010

Once again, I bring you more Blackguard pictures (and just a month apart!) If you haven’t already, please check them out on their Myspace page and their Facebook page. They were formerly with Nuclear Blast, but now have signed with Victory Records. If you’re about to see them live, pre-order their upcoming album for $15 or add a T-shirt for $26 (I did ) at their merch table.

Some of these shots are pretty funny-Étienne has a knack for making hilarious faces XD

A note about this tour: this is the second leg of the American Design Your Universe Tour, the first leg was in January/February. I do have shots for those as well (crappy ones because I did not have the Nikon monster.) I will post those eventually-yes, I’ll be going back in time!

Feel free to check out my previous batch of Blackguard shots here while they toured with Nevermore, Warbringer, and Hatesphere.

Blackguard is:
Paul Ablaze- Vocals
Justine Ethier- Drums
Étienne Mailloux- Bass
Kim Gosselin- Guitar
Terry ‘Roadcase’ Deschenes- Guitar

Also check out the last 3 shots where some of the guys and my buddies took pictures-they’re all awesome \m/

Next round is on me!…-G.G. \m/

The Obsidian Conspiracy Tour | Blackguard-October 15,2010

These Canadian guys are awesome! I’ve seen them several times and they never fail to deliver (and they’ll be back in May with Symphony X, Nevermore, and Powerglove!!) Oh yeah, and I’ll be checking them out again next week with Epica. Check out their work at their Myspace page (this is where I first heard of them a few years back.) Try to make it out to their energetic live shows; they tour all the time! Plus, they’re great to talk to before and after shows We talked to Paul for quite a bit (and then I spoke to Etienne in French! Yay to practice!)

By the way, they just signed with Victory Records, which is exciting, so we can expect them to be doing more shows and more music. \m/

I’d like to thank the guys for the photo permission, especially Paul Ablaze-thanks, man!
Regarding photos: the lighting was awesome, but as always, it’s crazy hard to get good shots of drummers, even badass ladies like Justine.

Blackguard is:
Paul Ablaze-Vocals
Terry-Rhythm Guitar
Etienne-Bass
Kim-Lead Guitar
Justine-Drums

Camera used: Nikon D3000

Arm yourself!!…-G.G. \m/