Wandering Sons

This story hasn't run yet, but I was given the go-ahead to post it... I feel like I've been sitting on this shot for too long.

Every once in a while I'll take a picture, I see it on the back of the screen and it makes me laugh... because it has either failed so incredibly I'm dumbfounded, or much more rarely, something unexpected and cool has happened.

I was sent out one night to photograph a band called Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons, an Appleton band that just got signed by a major recording label in L.A. – to our knowledge the first band from our area to achieve this is in more than half a century. We had covered them maybe a dozen times over the past several years, but this was their last show before moving to L.A. For such a popular band, the venue was a sardine can.

Part of the band's flavor is their eclectic mix of instruments. I saw the guy on the clarinet and he was swaying in and out of the spotlight. The shaved head and designer frames popped out at the right moment and boom... something kinda cool.


They're a great band... I really enjoyed their live performance. I perused the iTunes previews for their album and it seemed too polished for my tastes. Part of what made them great live was their improvisation and free flowing sound, something that I just didn't come across as well in the studio.

An extra shot of Cory Chisel...