Paganfest America Part III | Alestorm – March 29, 2012

Paganfest America Part III
Yesterday’s Saints, Deranged Theory, Huntress, Arkona, Alestorm, Turisas!!!
March 29, 2012 @ Sonar in Baltimore, MD

Alestorm!!! Somehow, I’ve only managed to see them twice (including this time) even though they’re here often enough. The first time I heard of them was in 2006 through Myspace, but it wasn’t until the Heathenfest Tour in November 2009 (check out my Heathenfest posts!) that I really got into Alestorm. That’s also the show where I met my buddies from MD/PA who make it a tradition to go to every Alestorm show in the DC/MD/VA area. Since my buddy Ethan is a very good friend of the band, he invited me to chill with them before the show in Baltimore. So we ended up going to the harbor with Gazz and Pete and bojanglin’ at an Irish restaurant called Tír Na Nóg overlooking the harbor (hmmm…toxic water-hehe). The food was good, but the decor was better!

Besides the fact that the guys are absolutely amiable and fun to hang out with, their music is pretty damn legit (as we say in VA). Definitely check out their work, most notably their most recent album: Back Through Time. Check it all out on their official site, Facebook, and Myspace.

Also, I would like to thank Ethan for setting me up with a photo pass and everything else that he did for me!! THANK YOU THANK YOU!! Thanks go to the tour manager as well (sorry, I forgot his name; I know, I’m a horrible person)!! It was great to see all the familiar faces-shout out to Antonio, Joel, Adam, Keith, David, Josh (the random, cool guy that fended the crowdsurfers from my poor camera), John, Johnny, and especially Elyse for driving my tired ass back to campus. You all are amazing.

Ok, regarding photos. Certainly not my best batch, but I don’t think I cared that much at the time. The set was too fun to look through the lens, but I did manage to catch some decent shots. The lighting at this point was getting progressively worse (you can compare it with the local bands’ lighting in my other posts).

Note: All the dudes you see in these pictures that are onstage but are not carrying an instrument…..yes, those are friends, but they’re not part of the band! (Though they are all good friends). Enjoy!

Alestorm is:

Chris Bowes – Vocals, keyboards
Gareth Murdock – Bass
Dani Evans – Guitars
Pete Alcorn – Drums

“‘Cuz being a pirate is really badass” … – G.G. \m/

Paganfest America Part III | Turisas – March 29, 2012

Paganfest America Part III
Yesterday’s Saints, Deranged Theory, Huntress, Arkona, Alestorm, Turisas!!!
March 29, 2012 @ Sonar in Baltimore, MD

Somehow I’ve managed to miss all two or three times that Turisas has come by my area for the past 3 years…finally I see them live! The show war running about an hour and a half behind and I think they had to cut short their set (all bands probably did). The lighting was just atrocious during their set-probably the worst out of all of the other bands, which is why I only have 10 semi-decent pictures of Turisas here…otherwise, the show was amazing and Mathias is-as always-such a beautiful man….

Check them out if you haven’t already. Official site. Facebook. Myspace.

Turisas is:

“Got all I want and I don’t need to pretend…” (No, they did not play “Supernaut”) -G.G. \m/

Paganfest America Part III | Arkona – March 29, 2012

Paganfest America Part III
Yesterday’s Saints, Deranged Theory, Huntress, Arkona, Alestorm, Turisas!!!
March 29, 2012 @ Sonar in Baltimore, MD

So this is the second time I’ve seen Arkona, within 3.5 months no less. Since I first saw them live with Korpiklaani back in December (see Ukon Wacka Tour posts!), I have not been able to spend a day without listening to at least one Arkona song (the favorites being “Goi Rode Goi”, “Zakliatie”, “Rus”, and “Slovo”). I’m a huge fan of their latest albums especially: Goi Rode Goi and Slovo. I absolutely recommend them-check out their work on their official site and Facebook!They always put on a great show (though I’m not a fan of Masha’s fur).

Some photos are somewhat blurry here, too, though I got several good shots. Taken with my Nikon D3000.

Arkona is:

Masha “Scream” – Vocals
Sergei “Lazar” – Guitar
Ruslan “Kniaz” – Bass
Vlad “Artist” – Drums
Vladimir “Volk” – Wind ethnic instruments

-G.G. \m/

Paganfest America Part III | Huntress – March 29, 2012

Paganfest America Part III
Yesterday’s Saints, Deranged Theory, Huntress, Arkona, Alestorm, Turisas!!!
March 29, 2012 @ Sonar in Baltimore, MD

Another first for me for the night-Huntress, hailing from California. Apparently, Jill, the vocalist was classically trained when she was young which explains her strong voice. Very friendly band- check them out at their official site, Facebook and Myspace. During their set, there was this random guy next to me and he kept trying to touch Jill during the first two songs. As soon as they had a break in between songs, Jill flipped out on the guy to set him straight: “Touch me again and I will have you kicked out!” Yessss….you tell ‘im, Jill!!

The photos came out very blurry, even these, so the number is once again very small. I was too busy at the time with my Yuengling anyway…haha. Photos taken with my Nikon D3000.

Huntress is:

Jill Janus – Vocals
Ian Alden – Guitars
Blake Meahl – Guitars
Eric Harris – Bass
Carl Wierzbicky – Drums

-G.G \m/

Paganfest America Part III | Deranged Theory – March 29, 2012

Paganfest America Part III
Yesterday’s Saints, Deranged Theory, Huntress, Arkona, Alestorm, Turisas!!!
March 29, 2012 @ Sonar in Baltimore, MD

Deranged Theory hails from Manassas, VA and they are absolutely LEGIT. I think this was my second time seeing them live, and I can assure anyone that they just keep better and better. They have some awesome shirts out now, but check out their work on Myspace or Facebook. Thanks to Joe, the vocalist, for being such an awesome dude/friend. Let’s hope they’re signed soon!

The lighting was atrocious during their set, unfortunately, which is why there are fewer photos here than I normally post, but that’s okay. Most of these are decent. I admit that a lot of them are just of Joe, but not only is he ridiculously photogenic, he was in the only spot onstage that got decent lighting…..or maybe it’s because the light reflected off of his weapons…? Photos taken with my Nikon D3000

-G.G. \m/

Paganfest America Part III | Yesterday’s Saints – March 29, 2012

Paganfest America Part III
Yesterday’s Saints, Deranged Theory, Huntress, Arkona, Alestorm, Turisas!!!
March 29, 2012 @ Sonar in Baltimore, MD

This was my first time checking out Yesterday’s Saints from DC. If you’re familiar with Loculus (and you should be, especially since I talk about them quite a bit), then you’ll notice that Al Born is also the drummer in Yesterday’s Saints. Check out their site-their set was great!

Some of the photos are a bit blurry-I was still playing around with the settings for the rest of the night. Used Nikon D3000 of course…

-G.G \m/

The Finnish Metal Tour 2011 | Finntroll-March 2011

Once again, Finntroll! Last time I saw them was last year, so it was great seeing them live again. Last time I wasn’t allowed to bring in my Nikon, though, because that’s when Jaxx started crackin’ down on professional cameras and photo passes, etc. I ended up using them with my friend’s point-and-shoot. You can check out those pictures in my blog as well. Check out Finntroll if you haven’t already at their official site and/or their Myspace site!

Regarding photography: The lighting in the beginning was a bit lousy, but started to pick up at the end (you can tell by the progression of quality in my pictures, etc.) The smoke machine was still kicking, though, so I did some intense contrast editing to get rid of most of it. As such, I didn’t get to take pictures of the drummer or keyboardinst I hope you like them regardless! I think I took some awesome shots

Finntroll is:
Mathias “Vreth” Lillmåns – Vocals
Mikael “Routa” Karlbom – Guitar
Samuli “Skrymer” Ponsimaa
Sami “Tundra” Uusitalo – Bass
Henri “Trollhorn” Sorvali – Keyboards, Guitar
Samu “Beast Dominator” Ruotsalainen – Drums
Aleksi Virta – Keyboards

Thank you to Outerloop for the photo pass!

…Trollhammaren…-G.G. \m/

The Finnish Metal Tour 2011 | Ensiferum-March 2011

I FINALLY get to see Ensiferum from Finland . Last year when they were touring around this area, I had swine flu so I couldn’t go. Anyway, I’ve been waiting for them to come around again, though I would have LOVED to see them with Turisas: a band I’ve yet to see! I’m not as familiar with Ensiferum’s music as I am with, say, Turisas or Finntroll; but these guys were pretty rad and they put on a helluva show. Check them out at their official site and/or Myspace site.

Regarding the photography: It was difficult to get decent shots because of the smoke machine (a photographer’s worst nightmare), but the lighting was awesome! Props to Jaxx for once! I did quite a bit of contrast editing to get rid of some of the smoke, so here ya go. Let me know what you think As usual, I took these with my baby, Napoleon, a Nikon D3000.

Ensiferum is:
Petri Lindroos – Harsh Vocals, Guitar
Markus Toivonen – Guitar, Clean Vocals, Backing Vocals
Sami Hinkka – Bass, Clean Vocals, Backing Vocals
Emmi Silvennoinen – Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Janne Parviainen – Drums

Thanks to Outerloop for the photo pass!

…from afar…-G.G. \m/

The Finnish Metal Tour 2011 | Barren Earth-March 2011

BARREN EARTH!! To put it simply, this is a Finnish supergroup consisting of members from amazing bands: Amorphis, Moonsorrow, Swallow the Sun, and Kreator! I’ve been waiting for these guys to come to the states since the summer of 2010 when I first heard their song “Flicker” on Music Choice’s Metal Channel. I’ve been listening to their new EP titled Curse of the Red River and their demo called Twilight. Definitely check them out at their official site and/or their Myspace page.

Naturally, if you like doom metal (i.e. pretty much the bands they’re coming from) you’ll definitely like Barren Earth. Beautiful melodies and badass heavy metal. That’s all ya need…It’s great to hear Sami on vocals, too. Not something you hear quite often, honestly.

So regarding photography, I have no idea why Jaxx decided to do a crappy job with the lighting. I spend a good part of the show just messing with the settings until I felt comfortable with them. They really need to get crackin’ on their lighting though, especially for “opening” bands! As such, some of the pictures are blurry and weird looking, so I tried to edit them in a way that looked artistic, etc. I wish I could have taken pictures of Sami!! But he was on the other side…I’m so used to him playing on the left side onstage with Kreator…but oh well. Unfortunately, I could not take any decent pictures of the keyboardist or drummer…as usual. Anyway, I took these with my baby Napeleon: Nikon D3000. Please enjoy and let me know what you think

Barren Earth is:
Mikko Kotamäki – Vocals
Olli-Pekka Laine – Bass
Kasper Mårtenson -Keyboards
Janne Perttilä – Guitar
Marko Tarvonen – Drums
Sami Yli-Sirniö – Guitar (ahhh…Sami ^.^)

Thank you to Outerloop for the photo pass!

…”Where they go death always follows…” -G.G. \m/