Out of Town Films

DRGN King “Holy Ghost” - Philadelphia, PA Two weeks...

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:00:00 -0400

DRGN King “Holy Ghost” - Philadelphia, PA

Two weeks ago, we invited local Philly band DRGN King to come play at Girard Hall after their show at Kung Fu Necktie. The plan was to have them play acoustically and to have a few people over to watch the performance. Well, things didn’t go exactly as planned and for the better. The acoustic set turned into a full on electric set and the few people turned into many people. So basically it was a mini-show.

The police were lurking outside since it was midnight on a Thursday and DRGN King were playing pretty loudly. They only had time for two songs. One of which was “Holy Ghost”, a song apparently about looking like Jesus. Enjoy.

Avery Rosewater “Havana” - Philadelphia, PA We met...

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:44:37 -0400

Avery Rosewater “Havana” - Philadelphia, PA

We met up with the guys from Avery Rosewater in February to do a few songs in a kitchen in South Philadelphia. The first one was “Wright,” which they have apparently changed the name of since then, and the second being “Havana”. Enjoy.

Laura Stevenson “The Hole” - Philadelphia, PA When...

Wed, 08 May 2013 10:55:16 -0400

Laura Stevenson “The Hole” - Philadelphia, PA

When we met up with Laura Stevenson one Fright night last month, she was pretty exhausted. It wasn’t from touring because her tour technically hadn’t started yet. It was her first night of tour. However, she had stayed up pretty much all night the night before finishing up her thesis for grad school and finished it that morning. A pretty impressive feat considering she had a new record Wheel coming out the following week.

Despite being tired, Laura was excited for tour and all that was ahead of her. She even found time after soundcheck and before the show to hang out with us. We didn’t have much of a choice of the setting due to time, so we retreated into the tiny not-so green room in the basement of Milkboy Philly where she performed “The Hole” for us. It was pretty noisey due to the Friday night crowd in the bar above, but she still sounded great. Enjoy.

Banned Books “Looking for America” - Philadelphia, PA We met...

Wed, 01 May 2013 12:02:57 -0400

Banned Books “Looking for America” - Philadelphia, PA

We met Banned Books at their place in South Philly the day they were going to play Pi Lam’s Human BBQ. Their housemate served us some Insomnia cookies from the night prior when we arrived, and a bond was instantly formed.

We made our way to their basement, which also serves as their practice space, and filmed two songs. The first was “Looking for America.” Enjoy.

Water Liars “Linens” - Philadelphia, PA As I pulled...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:55:38 -0400

Water Liars “Linens” - Philadelphia, PA

As I pulled up to Johnny Brenda’s load in area, I parked my car and waited for the three dudes of Water Liars to come out. They eventually hopped in, kindly introduced themselves in a slight Missippi draw, and we were off. They didn’t know where we were driving to, but they were down and ready for whatever came next. I joked we were driving to Florida, to which they responded “Shit, just when the weather is starting to get nice here in Philadelphia you pick now to drive to Florida.”

We pulled up to 6th and Girard and piled out of the vehicle. We made our way across the street and up the stairs of the rickety, old building of Girard Hall. As we turned the corner of the stairs we were exposed to the vast and decrepit warehouse style feel of the main room. The two gentleman picked a spot out to perform, one perched on a stool and the other standing with a guitar strapped across his chest, and started into their song “Linens.” They played another track after this, a cover, which we’ll be releasing further down the line. Enjoy.

Young Buffalo “Cliffdiver” - Philadelphia, PA We...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 12:25:33 -0400

Young Buffalo “Cliffdiver” - Philadelphia, PA

We first met up with the dudes from Young Buffalo outside of Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia. A venue that sometimes feels like a second home since so many artists we shoot with play there.

There was a lamp store down the street that we tried to get in to for the shoot but they had literally closed five minutes before we got there. So we opted to go back to the venue because our time was limited and it started to rain. The guys nestled into a little cove behind the merch table and played us a new song, “Cliffdiver” in between sound checks Enjoy.

Blessed Feathers “Salvation Army” - Philadelphia,...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:52:00 -0400

Blessed Feathers “Salvation Army” - Philadelphia, PA

It was the second to last night of tour for Blessed Feathers when we met up with them last week. They had been on tour for nearly a month and showed no real signs of fatigue.The duo were heading to upstate New York afterwards to start recording and at the present time were focused on where they could get the best Indian food within walking distance of the venue. For the record, they went to Ekta.

Before they headed a few blocks away for dinner, Donivan and Jacquelyn played us a new song called “Salvation Army”. Enjoy.

Modern Inventors “Old Habits’ - Philadelphia, PA A...

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 10:51:40 -0400

Modern Inventors “Old Habits’ - Philadelphia, PA

A few weeks ago, Modern Inventors, a local Philadelphia band, invited us to come along to their recording for The Key Session at WXPN’s studios. They had holiday lights strewn about the room with the overheads set to dim. That Saturday afternoon we documented a few songs, but here’s the first entitled “Old Habits”. Enjoy.

You Won’t with Lucius “Television” -...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 11:22:00 -0400

You Won’t with Lucius “Television” - Philadelphia, PA

The first session we released with You Won’t featured just the duo in the back stairwell of Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia. They sang us “Who Knew” with just their voices, guitar and accordian. For the second song they wanted to play for us, they asked if we minded that the girls from Lucius joined them. Of course, we didn’t. So they teamed up, with a little help from the guys in Lucius, too, to play us a version of “Television” in the green room. Enjoy.

Sóley “And Leave” - Philadelphia, PA There were few...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 10:57:00 -0400

Sóley “And Leave” - Philadelphia, PA

There were few very words exchanged between us and Sóley when we met up with her and her two bandmates at the chapel of the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia a few weeks ago. There really wasn’t much to say either. They had just soundchecked and waited for us to set up.

Once we were ready to go, Sóley and her mates played us the slow burning “And Leave” from her 2011 record, We Sink. The version she performed for us strayed from the recorded version and it ended as abruptly as it had started.

To cap off the performance, she simply said “Takk”, which means “Thank you” in Icelandic. She said the single word in a very delicate and sincere tone that left us with a smile on our faces as we walked out into the night. It was one of those “did that really just happen?” moments. Enjoy.

The Seihos “Two” - Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain When...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 12:30:00 -0400

The Seihos “Two” - Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

When we were in Barcelona last fall, we arrived in the city with no set plans of shooting a session. All we knew was that we were going to see Lionel Messi and FC Barcelona play. Other than that, our whole plan was just to wander the city and figure it out from there.

We sent out a tweet our first afternoon there, asking for suggestions on musicians to meet up with. One man responded saying his nephews were in a band called The Seihos and that they’d likely be up to shoot with us. After a few more tweets and a few emails, we found ourselves getting picked up right outside of where we were staying. They picked us up and we headed for their practice space in the suburbs of Barcelona, something we thought we’d never get to see.

The practice space was in the basement of the family home of the keyboard player, who actually wasn’t there. He was out of town. There we ate olives and drank Estrella Damm and they played us a new song titled, “Greece”. Enjoy.

Lucius “Goodbye”(Paul McCartney cover) -...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 12:02:00 -0400

Lucius “Goodbye”(Paul McCartney cover) - Philadelphia, PA

After Lucius played us “Turn It Around” before their set at Milkboy Philly a few weeks ago, they asked us if we minded if they tried out a cover for us. Of course, we were more than happy to document one more song, especially since it was a cover.

Little did we know the cover was going to be a Paul McCartney demo that was never actually recorded for The Beatles. It’s called “Goodbye”. If you want to hear the original, you’re going to have to do some digging on Internet. For now, enjoy this version.

Holopaw “Golden Sparklers” - Philadelphia, PA When...

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:50:00 -0500

Holopaw “Golden Sparklers” - Philadelphia, PA

When we first started discussing with Florida band Holopaw where to do the shoot, they jokingly threw out the idea of playing in a snow covered field. Maybe they weren’t joking, but the idea of shooting outside in early February wasn’t very pleasant. They then suggested their good friend Michael Johnson’s studio- Ape School, located downtown, which sounded like a much warmer idea.

They had a day off after their Philly show at Kung Fu Necktie so we holed up in the studio for a few hours on a Sunday to document three songs before they headed to Washington DC. One of which was “Golden Sparklers”, the second song off their new record, Academy Songs, Volume 1. We’ll share the other two soon but for now, enjoy.

Isaac Delusion “True Love Will Find You In The End”...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:39:00 -0500

Isaac Delusion “True Love Will Find You In The End” (Daniel Johnston cover) - Brooklyn, NY

We first heard of Isaac Delusion when a friend of ours, Camille, was visiting Philadelphia from Paris. She sat in on our PVT session, saw the Liberty Bell(even though it was closed so we had to look from the outside) and ate a Philly cheesesteak from Pat’s, not Geno’s. When she was leaving for her next destination, she mentioned that this band from France who she sorta kinda knew would be playing at CMJ while we were there and that we should check them out. So few emails later and several listens to “Midnight Sun” and trip to NYC, we found ourselves wandering around Brooklyn with a couple of guys from France.

They played us several songs that day in a very stripped down matter. Isaac Delusion’s music is very electronic based, in terms of instruments, but for our sessions they played all of the songs acoustically. They played us a mixture of originals and very unexpected but awesome covers including this one by Daniel Johnston called “True Love Will Find You In The End”. Enjoy.

Avery Rosewater “Wright” - Philadelphia, Pa It is...

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 11:51:53 -0500

Avery Rosewater “Wright” - Philadelphia, Pa

It is always exciting to come across a local band that completely catches you off-guard and blows you away right off the bat. That happened recently when we visited Avery Rosewater earlier this month. We had only heard one of their songs before we paid them a vist. That song being their only release, “Havana.” We had an idea of what to expect, but we didn’t realize how deep their song arsenal was.

We first met the Philadelphia locals through some mutual friend and a few emails later we found ourselves in a South Philadelphia kitchen with the band set up in its tight quarters. They usually practice in the basement, but they set up in the kitchen just for us. Fortunately, we were able to document three songs that day, one of which being “Havana.” The other two have yet to been released onto the interwebs including the song from this session, “Wright.” We’ll share the other two soon so stay tuned and enjoy this for now.

Lucius “Turn It Around” - Philadelphia, PA We first...

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 11:56:00 -0500

Lucius “Turn It Around” - Philadelphia, PA

We first met the guys and gals from Lucius last November when they were in town playing a show with You Won’t, who we were shooting a session with at the time. They were all very friendly and we could tell they were all a very talented bunch. Fast forward to two weeks ago. We became familiar with their self titled EP and grew quite fond of it, too. When we saw that Lucius would be in Philadelphia for a headlining show at Milkboy Philly, we knew we had to get them to play us a song or two.

After a quick conversation via Twitter and a few emails to confirm the times, Lucius made sure to squeeze us into their schedule. They ended up playing us two songs right at the upstairs bar of the venue minutes before doors opened. The first song they played us that night was a slightly reworked and energized, “Turn It Around”. Enjoy.

Delicate Steve “Afria Talks To You” - Philadelphia,...

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 11:56:00 -0500

Delicate Steve “Afria Talks To You” - Philadelphia, PA

A certain kind of energy exists when you see Delicate Steve perform live, one that you simply cannot get from their records. It is an energy that quite simply makes you feel, if that makes any sense. Their communication with one another is through very subtle glances that do not require words, such expression that a crowd notices and responds to internally. The entire band grooves so well, both as musicians and as people, and that emanates through their music with each ebb and flow of the respective songs. The appeal of seeing and hearing the fuzz of Steve’s guitar melodically rip over the tight groove of the band’s rhythm is one we can’t seem to shake from our memory, nor do we want to for that matter.

As always, we did our best to document the performance of “Afria Talks To You” at PhilaMOCA, as well as with our previously released “Many Moods” session. We also must give the band credit for being the lighting crew and a big thank you too our mutual friend Andrew Maury for mixing and mastering the audio. Enjoy.

m a r y s e & la Tribu “TOC” - Paris, France -...

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:18:00 -0500

m a r y s e & la Tribu “TOC” - Paris, France - 11/08/2012

When we were on the Paris metro last November heading towards the 20th arrondissement, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We had shaky directions of where to go once we got to the stop and we didn’t know that the area wasn’t the safest in the city. All we knew was that we were meeting up with two bands, both of whom were friends, and they had rented out a studio space for two hours. We knew that the one band, chowchan, had a very post-rock vibe to them, but we didn’t know anything about the second band, m a r y s e. We only knew that they were rounding up their friends to act as a choir of sorts. So as we were wandering our way to the studio space- Mains d’Ouevre, we knew that we were in for something special.

m a r y s e and their friends, who we’ll refer to from here on out as ‘la Tribu’, greeted us with treats(beer and doughnuts) since we came all the way from Philadelphia to hang with them. The band consisted of two identical twins who both sing and play their instruments, harp and violin. For performances they are joined by la Tribu. The twins set up facing each other and had la Tribu form a circle around them. All the while, we had no idea what kind of music they were about to play. However once they did start playing their song, “TOC”, all three of us(two of us on cameras and the other just hanging out) just broke into a big smile as they played their experimental tribal music. It was definitely one of the highlights of our entire two week adventure. We hope you enjoy as much as we did that one night in Paris.

Jesse Sparhawk “Hummingbird” - Philadelphia, PA -...

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:59:00 -0500

Jesse Sparhawk “Hummingbird” - Philadelphia, PA - 09/06/2012

Rigby Mansion, one of the more subtle and hidden gems of the Philadelphia music scene, is one that has an allure and majestic quality to its beautiful infrastructure, both inside and out. Walking up to the mansions grounds that evening, we were greeted by a vast front-yard filled with people, sitting on the grass and facing an elongated white, wrap around porch. In the center of the porch was the spotlighted musicians, to which everyone listened with the kind of patience and attention that one could only hope to be blessed with for a performance.

Of the artists that played that night, we documented all four of them playing throughout the house. Marie Sioux on a lovely red velvet couch in an upstairs room, Philadelphia’s Bad Braids in an elegant claw footed bathtub, French musician Martin Rousselot on a piano and this session with Jesse Sparhawk playing to an intimate living room group. He performed a song called called “Hummingbird,” what to which Sparhawk responded once the song was over, “I don’t need to write any more songs. That’s the best one ever.” We kind of agree. Enjoy.

Quilt & The Black Magic Family “Secondary Swan”...

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:01:38 -0500

Quilt & The Black Magic Family “Secondary Swan” - 01/16/2013 - Philadelphia, Pa

This is the second session we’ve had with our pals Quilt. Previously they played with and in the backyard of our other pal and alum Daniel Bachman, which was quite a treat for us as it was that session that introduced us to Daniel.

This time around, we decided to bring the guys and gal over to a local Philadelphia book shop known as Mostly Books. If you’ve never been here, let us be the first to say that this place is incredible. It is not only massive but it’s filled with books and records that could keep you busy for days upon end.

The shop keep was kind enough to let us set up in a quaint, open room tucked away in the back of the store to film this version of newer song called “Secondary Swan.” The trio were also joined by their friends in The Black Magic Family on banjo and flute for this session. You may recognize OOTF alum Mike Bruno in there, who plays with our friend Megan in Bad Braids. Enjoy.