Michael Andrade – Bandwidth

Six Pics: House Venue The Dougout Turns 3

Michael Andrade — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 16:00:57 +0000

Sunday night, the Dougout celebrated its third anniversary — a long life for a D.C. house venue.

Atlanta indie-rock outfit Semicircle joined the lineup late after a cancelled gig at DC9. They shared the bill with a solid lineup of locals, including post-rock ensemble Polyon, a new band from Typefighter and Joy Buttons member Ryan McLaughlin; Witch Coast, which released one of the best D.C. EPs of 2014; pop-punkers Qualms, featuring members of Big Hush, Sad Bones and The Bowlcuts; and headliners The Obsessives, a two-piece indie-rock band worth paying attention to this year.

Despite blistering cold weather, eventual snow and a Super Bowl halftime performance from the talented Katy Perry, more than 50 people came out for the Dougout’s birthday. Maybe this time next year, they’ll be celebrating another one.

Semicircle

Polyon

Witch Coast

Qualms

The Obsessives

Photos: Priests And Naomi Punk At Black Cat

Michael Andrade — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 15:14:28 +0000

Last night brought another sold-out show for D.C. punk band Priests, who headlined the Black Cat Backstage after sets from Olympia’s Naomi Punk and local “post-bro” bedroom-pop artist Olivia Neutron-John. This is what Bandwidth saw last night (with apologies to Olivia Neutron-John, whose set we missed. Sorry Anna Nasty!).

For more Priests, check out Bandwidth’s video sessions with the band.

Naomi Punk:

Priests:

Photos: Downtown Boys And Neonates At Comet Ping Pong

Michael Andrade — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 16:42:06 +0000

Last night’s lineup at Comet Ping Pong brought together four punk bands connected to the scrappy local record label Sister Polygon: Puff Pieces, Philly band Pinkwash (photographed previously at The Dougout), Neonates and Providence’s raucous Downtown Boys. We caught these wild moments from the latter two bands’ sets:

Downtown Boys:

Neonates:

Photos: D.C.’s First In It Together Fest

Michael Andrade — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 15:26:29 +0000

From Thursday to Sunday night, more than a dozen venues hosted pieces of D.C.’s inaugural DIY festival In It Together Fest. The sweeping event brought numerous out-of-town and local performers to houses, bars, a church and other unconventional spaces in a collaborative celebration of underground music and art—and photographer Michael Andrade was there to capture these images from a few corners of the festival.

Baby Bry Bry and the Apologists at Jam Jar:

The Public at St. Stephen’s Church:

Loud Boyz at St. Stephen’s Church:

Hold Tight! at St. Stephen’s Church:

State Lines at St. Stephen’s Church:

Meridian at Paperhaus:

BRNDA at Paperhaus:

What Moon Things at Paperhaus:

Photos: Protect-U And GIVE Close Out Fort Reno

Michael Andrade — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 13:44:20 +0000

In last night’s balmy but pleasant weather, the 2014 Fort Reno concert series wrapped with performances from two bands that normally wouldn’t share a bill: D.C. electronic outfit Protect-U and melodic post-hardcore band GIVE. Protect-U is one of the few electronic acts to grace the Tenleytown stage in recent years; GIVE, meanwhile, is a regular sight—this year was the band’s third performance at Fort Reno.

Protect-U:

GIVE:

Photos: A Screaming, Silver-Suited Chain & The Gang At Black Cat

Michael Andrade — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 13:14:19 +0000

With their silver suits and dead-straight faces, D.C.’s Chain & the Gang preached and shrieked through an electrifying set at Black Cat Backstage Sunday night. Photographer Michael Andrade was there to capture the sermon.

Photos: Teen Liver, Swimsuit Addition And Peoples Drug At The Rocketship

Michael Andrade — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 15:00:44 +0000

Scenes from Tuesday night’s steamy show at The Rocketship, featuring newish D.C. band Peoples Drug, Chicago’s Swimsuit Addition, and the snotty Cigarette-affiliated band Teen Liver.

Peoples Drug

Swimsuit Addition

Teen Liver

Photos: Joy Buttons, Pinkwash, The Sniffs, And Young Trynas At The Dougout

Michael Andrade — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 16:25:29 +0000

Local venues and bands have now hosted numerous benefits for the forthcoming In It Together Fest, and Saturday night brought another one at D.C. house venue The Dougout, this time with Joy Buttons (featuring members of Laughing Man and Typefighter), Philadelphia band Pinkwash (with members of Bleeding Rainbow and Hume), D.C. garage punks The Sniffs, and Young Trynas (featuring Taylor Mulitz of Priests). Photographer Michael Andrade—recently profiled by Bandwidth—was there to capture it. Here’s what Andrade saw.

Young Trynas

The Sniffs

Pinkwash

Joy Buttons

D.C.’s Modern-Day Punk Scene, Captured In A New Photo Exhibit

Ally Schweitzer — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 15:19:47 +0000

Michael Andrade is so dedicated to documenting D.C.’s hardcore scene, he gave himself nerve damage doing it.

“When I first started [shooting], I had the cheapest camera,” he says—a Canon 60D that he used with a “bootleg flash” and a battery pack. Shooting five shows a week with his heavy equipment, the 26-year-old photographer began to feel pain in his right arm. It got scary a few months ago when Andrade was traveling back home from a show at Tenleytown’s Casa Fiesta. “My whole body started shaking,” he says. “I thought I was going to die.”

Andrade sought medical help and physical therapy. “I had to take a lot of medicine,” he says. Eventually, the pain receded. He soon invested in a lighter, more expensive camera.

Now, Andrade gets to show off the work that almost put him out of commission: Tonight the photographer opens “IN MY EYES,” an exhibit of his concert photography, at The Coupe in Columbia Heights. It’s his first solo show.

The exhibit features a few dozen images of 11 D.C.-area bands, including Chain & the Gang, Dudes (shown above), Olivia Neutron-John, Warchild, Give and Baby Bry Bry and the Apologists.

“I fell in love with hardcore music when I was 17 years old,” says the Alexandria native. “Bad Brains’ Pay To Cum changed my life.” Later on, the photography coming out of D.C.’s hardcore scene didn’t impress him. He felt more drawn to the work of photographers like Pulitzer winner Lucian Perkins—particularly his visceral images of a young D.C. punk scene, like the ones published in the 2013 book Hard Art DC 1979. “I decided to take it upon myself” to start shooting hardcore shows, Andrade says, aiming for a similar look and feel as Perkins achieved in his work.

Andrade has been shooting punk shows for two years—still a newbie by most standards, but his work stands out as some of the best in the scene. He’s now a familiar face at shows. Though, it helps that he doesn’t have a lot of competition at the tiny events he chooses to capture.

“When I go to these house shows, it’s like, two photographers,” Andrade says. When he recently shot a show at Rock & Roll Hotel, there were too many photographers there for his taste. He prefers the little gigs—where he can get right in the pit and shoot the kids. That’s where he says he finds the best shots.

“Lucian did a great job of documenting not just the band but the crowd,” Andrade says. In Perkins’ photos, you don’t just see the band—you see people in the audience, like Alec MacKaye, who would go on to become influential in their own right. “The crowd for me is half of the battle because they’re just as important as the band.”

Even after a couple of years—and who knows how many shows—the photographer says he still gets antsy before a shoot. “I always get super nervous,” he says. Why?

“I don’t know—I’ve done this a million times,” Andrade says. “I guess it means I’m still enjoying it.”

“IN MY EYES” opens at 6 p.m. tonight at The Coupe. The show is on view to Sept. 1.