Some music lovers dream of putting out high-energy, charismatic rock vibes. Others dream of capturing those exciting moments and chronicling a point in history.
Photographer Daniel Dreifuss has spent nearly a decade taking part in fast-paced, electric rock moments and has captured it in photos. This month, he’ll share the resulting images in an exhibit that celebrates punk rock music both onstage and behind the scenes.
On display will be photos taken by Dreifuss over the last seven years spent covering such punk rock bands as NOFX, Pennywise, Bad Religion, Dropkick Murphys, and many others.
Dreifuss began photographing punk rock bands in college. He co-founded Volatile Magazine in 2005, originally under the name Santa Barbara Music Informer. The online magazine, which is currently getting a website redesign, focuses on local bands as well as famed bands.
Through Volatile Magazine, Dreifuss covered a variety of bands like Korn, Evanescence, 311, Anti-Flag, Flogging Molly, Pennywise, The Living End, Good Riddance, Zebrahead, Lagwagon, No Use For a Name, and Social Distortion at destinations all over the world.
He’s been published in the likes of CNN, The North County Times, The Denver Post, The San Diego Union Tribune, Corbis, European Press Agency, Homadia, Reuters, National Geographic, The Guardian, and The Economist, though much of his band photography comes from his work with his magazine.
Most of the photos in the exhibit didn’t appear in the magazine, but they reveal more of Dreifuss’ personal artistic taste.
“A lot of my favorite photos are not so much about what other people like, but mostly what I wanted to accomplish,” he explained.
Looking back at his experience with the magazine he helped found and the collection of photos he’s amassed, Dreifuss said he’s amazed at what he’s accomplished because it all started with one simple intention: “Basically, we were college students who wanted to get into shows for free.”
A highlight from his photography career was meeting No Use for a Name in Israel. Partying with Flogging Molly is another. Meeting Fat Mike from No Effects was also pretty exciting as well. But another band meeting has more meaning.
“The coolest part was that my first interview was with Living End,” he said. “They were the first concert I had ever seen when I was 14 or 15 years old. So getting a call asking if I wanted to interview them was cool.”
In fact, it was shortly after his first interview that he began to get calls from band managers and publicists asking if his magazine wanted to interview other bands.
What he wanted to accomplish was getting up close and personal, capturing the essence of the band—and getting backstage for better access to them. He admitted, however, that backstage isn’t quite what it seems.
“A lot of these guys are older now. Some are pretty crazy, like Flogging Molly. Living End is pretty wild. I don’t think it’s what everyone thinks in their heads. A lot of them have families, so it’s not like girls running around crazy,” he said.
Overall the photos are a collection of some of the best contemporary punk bands as viewed by Dreifuss and Volatile Magazine.
“It’s sort of a timeline,” he explained. “The ultimate goal was to say ‘Hey look I’ve done this,’” he said.
Dreifuss’ work will be on display at O’Sullivan’s Pub in Santa Maria, with a reception set for April 14 featuring another of his favorite up-and-coming local bands, Sloppy Job. The Goleta-based punk rock band features an energetic style and a heavily ’90s-influenced sound. They’ve released two EPs: We Recorded a Recorded Record and … And Out Comes Another EP.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone has sensed a distortion in society. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 12-19, 2012.