Darren the Demolisher

Darren the Demolisher, originally uploaded by ajaymalghan.

I shot the Download Festival at Shoreline Ampitheatre for PopWreckoning this past Saturday. Thanks for the credentials Jessica; this was by far the greatest musical experience I have ever had, playing or shooting. The stage was a revolving setup so there was only 5 minutes downtime between bands. 27 total bands played and I shot 14 of them. Mute Math was the band that stood out on the bill to me since I’ve wanted to see them for a while. The drummer Darren King blasted through his kick drum head on the first song, I’ve never seen anyone break a kick head, let alone on the first song. Anyone know of any singers that do headstands on a Fender Rhodes? Imagine the band kicking into Chaos as the rotated to face the crowd, yeah it was that good. Adding to the experience I could only shoot one song since my friend Austin’s band, Albert Cross was playing on the second stage…more on them later The set was somewhat surreal because one second I was standing next to the drummer as he gave his drum head to a kid in the audience and the next I was running to the second stage. It was the first time I had run since my hip replacement, not bad for 6 months huh? I can’t describe how good it feels to be able to shoot 14 bands and not be in pain, Thank You Dr. Mont., you’re a genius.