Swerving Away From The Middle

One of the perks of having a long term relationship with a client is that, after a doing a few shoots over the years, a certain amount of trust is built up and you can break away from the usual approach and experiment.

Scott Amendola is a composer and drummer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is in the enviable position not having to live in New York or LA to have a national audience. For the latest round of publicity photos I made sure to get the basic portrait but I also loosened up and photographed details, movement, and out of focus. Some of the non-portrait images proved to be useful on the intro page of his website and email announcements.

STS / The Mattson 2, Episode 1

In this series of So To Speak we focus on The Mattson 2, a twin brother guitar and drums jazz duo from San Diego. Like most young musicians today their interests span a wide spectrum. Their playing can go from traditional jazz to avant-garde serialism. Jared Mattson plays electric guitar while brother Jonathan provides the rhythmic foundation on the drum kit.

While they have strong connection to the surf and skate community through their collaborations with artist/filmmaker Thomas Campbell and musical collaborations with Ray Barbee and Tommy Guerrero they explore territory outside of that world by listening to many different genres and playing experimental and improvised musics.

In this episode Jonathan talks about finding his voice in the drum kit.

For more info about The Mattson 2 go to:
mattson2.com
galaxiarecords.com

STS / Enablers – Joe and Kevin, Episode 5

In this series of So To Speak we focus on the guitarists in the band Enablers(there is no “The”). Joe Goldring and Kevin Thomson.

In this episode Joe and Kevin perform a guitars only version of “Morandi: Natura Morta #86”, track 4 on Enablers new album, “Blown Realms and Stalled Explosions” out now on Exile On Mainstream records. Pete Simonelli’s words appear as subtitles.

Enablers are a spoken word rock band that started in San Francisco in 2002. Known for its distinctive character with prose and poetry written and performed by Pete Simonelli, guitar interplay between Goldring and Thomson, and a heavy yet meticulous backbeat provided by Doug Scharin.

For more info about Enablers, go to enablers.bandcamp.com/

or their Facebook page

STS / Enablers – Joe and Kevin, Episode 4

In this series of So To Speak we focus on the guitarists in the band Enablers(there is no “The”). Joe Goldring and Kevin Thomson.

In this episode they talk about their drummer, the mighty Doug Scharin.

For more info about Enablers, go to enablers.bandcamp.com/

or their Facebook page

So To Speak, Episode 3, Screaming & Sharing

Scott Amendola is a drummer and composer. His latest record LIFT is a trio project with Jeff Parker on guitar and John Shiflett on bass.

The emotional landscape of music is a profoundly wide and nuanced space. In this episode he talks about the value of exploring the darker territory in a tune called ‘Death By Flower.’

For more about Scott – scottamendola.com