Andrew St. Clair

Lady Lamb The Beekeeper (aka Aly Spaltro) is playing a Brooklyn Vegan Showcase at SXSW and BV was interested in giving her some coverage beforehand, so I was asked to shoot “The Rumble”. A show curated by TheWildHoneyPie.com. You know, the guys that brought you Tokyo Police Club playing out the back of a box truck in the snow. So I got there early to hang with Eric (who runs that site), meet the bands, and possibly get some candids and portraits (mission accomplished). Eventually, my friend Ahmad stopped by and kept me company.

For whatever reason, once the show began the room was only 1/3rd full at its peak. The only positive thing about it is that it gave me plenty of space to move about the room and get different angles. The lighting for Bow Ribbons was okay. But for Lady Lamb The Beekeeper, there was a big dark shadow cast in the middle of her face from the microphone and I asked the lighting guy to fix it after her first song. Unfortunately, she only played the Banjo during this first song, so thanks to the shadow, I ended up scraping all of them. I have to say that the lighting set up at the Studio is nice, but is rarely utilized well. Everything is always too dark.

Lighting aside, Lady Lamb The Beekeeper gave a kick ass performance. She’s got a killer voice and a raw intensity on guitar and vocals that gave me chills. She was brilliant! If you don’t believe me, check out a video of her performance. 

As you can probably tell, I ended up using a flash during The So So Glos’ set as I didn’t feel like begging the lighting guy to do something about the lights. As for their performance. Even with a less than half full house at The Studio, the band brought it! Lots of energy, catchy songs, and a great stage presence. Really dig these guys. They’re opening for the Pogues at Terminal 5 in a couple of weeks and I would say they are a perfect fit. You can see the photos on BrooklynVegan.com