Live Concert Photography: METZ with Big Ups and Bully
Music Hall of Williamsburg
January 14, 2016
If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past two years or so, you may be familiar with relatively recent JOVM mainstay act, Metz. With the release of their 2014 self-titled debut and 2015’s II, the Toronto, ON-based trio quickly developed a national and international profile for a sludgy, face-melting, power chord and anthemic hook-based sound reminiscent of Bleach and In Utereo-era Nirvana, A Place to Bury Strangers, Japandroids and others. In fact, II further cements the band’s reputation for crafting punishingly loud, bruising mosh pit worthy music — while also being the most forceful, furious and frenzied material that they’ve released to date.
Two weeks ago, the Canadian trio made two stops in the NYC area to support II including January 14 at Music Hall of Williamsburg, along with Nashville, TN-based trio Bully and NYC-based quartet Big Ups. Nashville-based trio Bully can trace their origins to when founding member and Rosemount, MN-born Alicia Bognanno, who earned a degree from Middle Tennessee State University in audio recording. After landing an internship at Steve Albini‘s renowned Electrical Audio Studios, Bognanno started recording demos of her own material before relocating to Nashville, where she initially worked as an engineer at Battle Tapes Recordings and The Stone Fox. Bognanno then joined local power pop band King Arthur for a short stint before she recruited Stewart Copeland (drums), Clayton Parker (guitar) and Reece Lazarus (bass) to flesh out the project’s sound. With the self-release of a limited cassette, followed by their debut single “Milkman,” the band caught the attention of Columbia Records imprint Startime international, who released their debut effort, Feels Like last June.
Opening the night was NYC-based self-described “punctual punk/nerdcore” act Big Ups. Comprised of Brendan Finn, Joe Galarraga, Amar Lal and Carlos Salguero, the band formed in 2010. With the 2014 release of their debut full-length Eighteen Hours of Static, the band’s sound has been described favorably at points to The Descendents — and at other times to the likes of Pissed Jeans and The Jesus Lizard.
Check out photos from a night of loud, power-chord based, mosh pit worthy rock in Brooklyn below.
(Photo Caption: Big Ups performing at Music Hall of Williamsburg earlier this month.)
(Photo Caption: Belly performing at Music Hall of Williamsburg earlier this month) 
(Photo Caption: Getting sweaty with the members of METZ during their set at Music Hall of Williamsburg earlier this month.)
For this photos and more, check out the Flickr set here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsktAhUfi