The (International) Noise Conspiracy – October 24, 2000 at the Reverb in Toronto

In 1999 I saw the music video for New Noise by Refused and as it did to most people, it blew my fucking mind. I went online to see if they were coming to town and that's when I found out that they had already broken up. Super bummed.

A year later lead singer Dennis Lyxzen came to Toronto with his new band The (International) Noise Conspiracy and I arranged to meet them and take some photos before the show. Dennis, Sara, Lars, Inge and Ludwig are 5 of the sweetest people I've ever met. I'm not sure if they knew that I was coming but they were kind enough to do some portraits right before their show.

We were confined to the dark dressing room that had just one old operating room style lamp hanging from the ceiling, so I had them huddle beneath it and hoped for the best. The photos turned out great.

While we were shooting there were two other people in the room. Both had giant hair and one was soaking his sore feet in the beer cooler. I wish I'd known who At the Drive-In was at the time.

We stayed in touch and over the years they took me out a on a few short stints and always had a blast. More about that in the 2001, 2005 and 2006 galleries.

Neil Young / Tegan and Sara – August 31, 2000 at the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto

Just one short year after seeing Sara and Tegan play to 8 people in Victoria, BC Tegan and Sara were on tour with Neil Young!! Must have been the name change ;)

This turned out to be an interesting night. After T&S played we grabbed a bite in catering and Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) walked in and sat at our table. Turns out Pearl Jam had a day off and came up to see Uncle Neil. I told Mike he just missed their show but they were playing again on the side stage, so he joined me and watched their whole set.

After the show, we found ourselves walking across the street to The Ex (Canadian National Exhibition) with Eddie Vedder and Chrissie Hynde.

Eddie bought us all tickets for the rides and we rode a very sketchy and kind of terrifying roller coaster, and the ferris wheel.

When we were waiting in line for the ferris wheel the young couple in front of us tried to pay with cash because the ticket booth was closed for the night. The ride attendant wouldn’t let them on so Eddie handed them some tickets. The guy offered to pay him and Eddie said it was fine. The guy insisted, and that’s when his girlfriend yanked his arm and quietly said “That’s Eddie Vedder. He doesn’t need the money”.

Before they knew it Eddie and Chrissie got into the ferris wheel pod with them and made their night. Another one for the ages.