Chris Bickford

Last month I had the privilege of working with Chris Grace, the man behind the band Blacklight Rumble, on a series of promotional images.   Chris and the band–Joey McClellan (lead guitar), Aaron McClellan (bass), Marc Slutsky (drums) and Pete Remm (keyboard)–have recently signed a distribution deal with Sony/RED records, and will be releasing their debut EP on Itunes, Rhapsody, Emusic and other online music stores beginning September 29th.  In the meantime you can check them out at http://www.blacklightrumble.com/ and http://www.myspace.com/blacklightrumble. Be sure to check out the lead song, “Savior”, a masterpiece of lyricism and melody.  The first time I heard this song it stuck in my head for days, with Grace’s impeccable voice and cascading phrasing making my head bob and sway, as if nodding in agreement with the haunting message of the lyrics.  It is, on one level, a question posed specifically to one man who placed millions of innocents in danger with his game of global chess; but on a larger level, it is a question to all of us, who either by support of the war machine or blind acceptance of the Military Industrial Complex that props up our way of life, need to really think about the repercussions of the Way it Is…But like any great song, it has meaning beyond this, as well.   Who among us has used our power carelessly over those less powerful than ourselves, believing in our hubris that it won’t ever be us on the receiving end of tragedy and oppression?

Savior

How many lives you gonna lose
Before you change the plan
Stop fighting off extremism
With your own version

Carelessly, carelessly
You swam too far from the beach
Treading there, losing air
A hasty child aching for higher ground

When will it get to the point
That you start to notice
You’ve been tearing up the joint
When the blood runs right to your throne
And the dirge starts playing
To lament one of your own
Maybe then you’ll know what it means to need a savior

How can you measure victory
When loss is infinite
Dead scrolling down my tv screen
More like a list of undergraduates

Lie to me, lie to me
The way you lie to yourself
Float along, fathers son
Or break those borrowed wings

When will it get to the point
That you start to notice
You’ve been tearing up the joint
When the blood runs right to your throne
And the dirge starts playing
To lament one of your own
Maybe then you’ll know what it means to need a savior.

Time and again
Like children who don’t read
The story til the end
We light the underbrush
Before we check the wind
The blowback come again
And your still blowing kisses

When will it get to the point
That you start to notice
You’ve been tearing up the joint
When the blood runs right to your throne
And the dirge starts playing
To lament one of your own
Maybe then you’ll know what it means to need a savior

–Chris Grace, Blacklight Rumble

Grace will soon be working on a video for the song which will, by the sounds of it, be extremely powerful.  I won’t give away the concept, but I look forward to seeing it.

Listen, listen, and buy it. You can buy their debut EP on Itunes, Rhapsody, Emusic and
other online music stores beginning September 29th. Tell your ma, tell your pa, these guys are damn good and should be heard.

We had a great time with this shoot, roaming the streets and bars of South Williamsburg, Brooklyn, popping in for a drink here and there.  Below are some of my favorites from the shoot.  Many, Many thanks to our two beautiful assistants Kerry Payne and Annatruus Bakker for helping with lighting, being “on it”, and adding to the fun. I look forward to seeing and hearing from these guys more in the future.