Bernadette Castillo February 19, 2016

Sharks in the Deep End | 02.18.16

I'm going to keep this short, since I didn't go to this show with the intention of shooting it... it was more an instance of knowing myself well enough to know that if I didn't bring my camera along with me, I'd be bummed out and it's better to have it and not use it, than to not bring it and wish I had. Which, I don't think there's ever been a time where I've brought my camera and not used it, but I digress.

I've known Tucker (and his fiance Sarah) since I went to one of his shows back when I was a freshman in college and remember really enjoying his music. I've kept in touch pretty much ever since, although I haven't seen either of them in probably about two years, which is seriously way too long! Fast forward to last night, where Tucker had his first show with a new band, Sharks in the Deep End. I knew I absolutely had to make it out, especially since I hadn't seen anyone in so long!

The space for the show was actually a photography studio and was really cool! There was almost this house show vibe because of that. And the show itself was incredible. Tucker is an awesome musician himself, and the bands he was in previously were all great and the guys in those bands were all really talented, but there was just something else about this new project. I talked to Tucker after the show and told him this exact thing and how it was just next level. Everything sounded so good! It was so exciting getting to see him play again, getting to catch up a little with Sarah, and running into his mom, Dolores. They are all such wonderful, genuine people and it was so wonderful getting to see them all again!

It was just such a great night of awesome music and getting to see friendly faces I hadn't seen in forever.

Bernadette Castillo February 11, 2016

This Will Destroy You | 02.09.16 | Barracuda

A friend and I have tried to see This Will Destroy You the last couple times they've been in town without much luck, so, when I saw the band was playing a show here in Austin, I immediately messaged her about it. I was so excited about finally getting to see these guys live but when I finally went to buy a ticket they were sold out. I hardly ever sleep on buying concert ticket and I was so bummed, but I asked my friend if she'd be willing to just try and see if we could get in, and I wasn't above trying to sneak in or anything to be perfectly honest. We figured we could show up to the doors and feel out if anyone was selling a couple extra tickets or maybe beg the doorman to get in. When it comes to shows, I ain't too proud to beg! The night of we walk down to the venue and the guy told said that he didn't want to guarantee us anything, but that we could check back in a bit when TWDY was about to take the stage. It was a maybe and that's all we really needed, so we just ducked into a bar to kill some time and catch up, which was wonderful. After a while, we walked back over to the venue and up to the doorman with a "hey again, we got any chance?" To which he just asked for our IDs and let us in for free since he "made us come back." For a sold out show, the place was pretty empty once we made it in. TWDY hadn't started yet, so it was pretty much kismet for us to finally get to see them. Once they were about to take the stage the place filled up pretty quickly, and the energy in the room was pretty electric. I wish I could put it more eloquently but these dudes seriously just rock. For me, a large part of enjoying muisc is due to lyrics. Sure it's melodies and the actual music itself, but it's also the lyrics that rope me in. Not to say I don't enjoy all instrumental music because clearly I do. I'm meaning to say that it's real when I just enjoy what is played and feel the music without having words that I relate to or find relevant or gripping. It was the music itself I seriously connected with, especially in the live setting, and that's a truly awesome thing.

P.S. RIP former Red 7 where the last show I saw there was La Dispute during FFF Fest after it'd been shut down. I was pretty bitter about it being painted completely white, but I digress.

The Angst in My Veins

Bernadette Castillo February 6, 2016

Capsize | 02.03.16 | Dirty Dog Bar

I've been itching to see Capsize again since I saw them for the first time back in Summer 2014 on The Common Vision tour with Being As An Ocean. I hadn't heard of them before that night, or any other band that was playing... I was really only there to see Being As An Ocean. I remember that night surprisingly well, considering that was over a year and a half ago. I remember being so happy to get to catch a show after the first week at my new "grown up" job with my good friends and it turned out to be such a great night of music. I saw Counterparts for the first time that night as well and I remember ducking into another venue next door to catch a local band in between sets (RIP Red 7 and Holy Mountain) .

So fast forward to present day where I've definitely gotten more into the "hardcore" scene, or whatever you'd like to call it-- I'm terrible at classifying genres, and I don't particularly like to, honestly. When I found out Capsize was making a stop here in Austin at a small venue, not far from my office building, and on the cheap, I knew I had to make it out to the show and snap some pictures. Going 2 weeks without seeing or shooting a show gives me the sads, let alone the 2+ months I've gone since actually shooting a show, so you know a year and a half of wanting to see a band live is too damn long for me. So needless to say, I was freaking stoked to see Capsize.

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There were a lot more bands than I was expecting playing this night, and I'm going to be honest, I didn't find them particularly enjoyable or entertaining. Maybe it was the lack of a real crowd, because Dirty Dog was a lot bigger than I expected and there weren't many people to fill up the place. Maybe it was that I wasn't getting decent pictures. Or maybe it's because I didn't feel a particular connection with what was happening on stage. The people who were in the crowd seemed to enjoy it, so that counts for something, I just wasn't feeling it... until Capsize took the stage. I was shocked to see so few people crowding around the stage when they came on but that didn't stop the guys from completely commanding the stage when they started playing and I really loved that. The energy and passion they put into playing was real to me and while I was mostly focused on photographing, there were times where I found myself just immersed in these guys' performance. It could have been easy for them to phone it in because there weren't that many people there but they didn't, and I seriously respect that so much. Their set was over entirely too quickly and the place cleared out fast, which bummed me out cause I thought they had put on a great show, but I did take advantage of that to be my awkward self and ask the guys if I could take some photos for my on-going portrait series (which my friend actually did most of the asking for me, haha).

The guys were all so nice and I had a lovely run in with the vocalist's mom who was so sweet and so adorable. We got to talk a little about music and tours and she was just so proud of her son and the band and after seeing them live, it's completely evident as to why. Listening to their albums you can hear the growth and progression but then to see that manifest live was just fantastic.

Brand New | Emo's East | Oct 2015

Bernadette Castillo January 26, 2016

I see it only fitting that my first post to this blog would be about a pretty epic tour that was announced earlier today: a Brand New/ Modest Mouse co-headlining tour. This is old news at this point, but it's a pretty big freaking deal because it was/ is all over my Facebook feed hours later and of course because it's BRAND NEW and MODEST MOUSE.

At work this morning, my friend mentioned that one of her friends had posted about a rumored Brand New/ Modest Mouse tour, and as much as I wanted to believe her, I just didn't. "Jesse and his wife just had a baby! I know they're working on a new album but this last tour run they said was going to be the last one for a while." In the back of my mind, I knew bands go on "breaks" all the time and come back way sooner than expected, but I was still skeptical because, you know, expectations vs. reality. Don't mess with my heart, my fangirl heart can't take it.

Probably less than an hour after she had mentioned it though, I refresh my feed and simultaneously check my phone notifications to see Brand New's announcement, with a poster, and a link to the presale which had already gone live (which caught me off guard because one of the things I pride myself on is keeping up with presales!) with a couple dates here in Texas.

Of course, presales have closed for most of the cities listed already, but they go on sale to the public Friday at noon local time! I would not be surprised if the Austin360 Ampitheater sells out relatively quickly, so best of luck to those who want tickets! I only tried to access the presale this morning when it was announced and my wait time to access the tickets was over an hour.