REAL FRIENDS + KNUCKLE PUCK TAG TEAM A SUPER EPIC NIGHT AT THE REGENT
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY STEPHEN BROWNLEE
What was expected to be a quiet Sunday night at home turned into a rock n roll war zone at The Regent Theater on Thanksgiving weekend. The legendary Los Angeles venue was the host to a tag team effort by two of the Prairie State’s finest in Real Friends and Knuckle Puck as part of their co-headline fall tour.
Real Friends went up and put on a banger of a show. Now I didn’t get to do a whole lot of research on both of the acts’ past live shows but I was prepared for anything especially the hardcore crowd surfing that came full speed ahead. My cardio came to good use as I was dodging bodies left and right in the pit. It became so intense that security had to clear out the pit in the middle of the second song.
My favorite shots of the act involved vocalist Cody Muraro, one where he became one with the crowd as he stood in the middle of the theater floor performing an emotional piece and a lucky shot where he’s on stage and it's just him with his mic in his fist in the air staring straight ahead as the LA crowd raised their arms high.
I especially felt the energy during their cover of one of my favorite songs covered by the band in Jimmy Eat World’s “Sweetness”.
Next up was Knuckle Puck bringing in the noise to close out the long holiday weekend. We luckily got through the first three songs although the crowd surfing seemed a lot more intense this time around. There was even one girl who fell over so hard she almost smacked face-first into the pavement but she got up quickly like a champ and jumped back in the crowd.
The crowd surfing was an obstacle the whole night as we were limited in space for shots. My favorite shot of the act was bassist Ryan Rumchaks putting his heart and soul out into the mic with vocalist Joe Taylor by his side, giving an almost grunge-like feel to the photo.
For both bands, I used the 24-70mm lens in the pit and the 70-200mm everywhere else. The shoot was tricky when it came to lighting. Not complaining but just good practice. Editing was a little challenging this time around. I played around with my color temps and also left a little noise in some shots to give a vintage feel which I sometimes like to do depending on the shot. The most challenging part to shoot was of course the drummers for both bands. I had to give them both the black and white touch to make the photos stand out as much as possible. The night gave me an idea for a homework assignment to make for myself and that is to go to some local shows to learn to shoot drummers better in challenging lighting. You know the old saying, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice! Practice! Practice!”. But only the first three songs of course.