The Dorks

As I mentioned in my previous post I went though my achieves of images I made about 10 yrs ago when I was asked to photograph this little band from Park Ridge called, "The Dorks" Chris the drummer and I were talking at work one day and he mentioned he was in this punk band and they were recording this new record. I remember thinking to myself, oh man Punk huh? It was a pretty predictable sounding type of music from my previous experiences. Its a sound I really wasn't that fond of at the time at all really. Chris was a cool guy and we got along pretty well. So when he asked me if I wanted to do some photos of the band I jumped at the chance. I remember going into the shoot thinking really not knowing what to expect. Chris was like just show up my folks place and we'll go from there. I still hadn't heard the music at all, I had my idea of punk music in my head. I was still a bit shy only to find that I was not alone in that department. Andy and Brendan the two guitarists were just as shy as me maybe even more so which was hard to believe. Luckily Chris and I had been working together for about 4 months or so and having him kinda lead the shoot helped out a lot. I had never been the type of photographer when photographing people to tell people what to do, where to stand etc....I just wanted them to be themselves be as natural as possible....I think these photographs reflect just that. The first time these guys plugged in and played a tune in the shed I really was blown away! This was not punk music I had in my head, it was rockin' raw and nasty the way anyone would want Rock music to be. I was hooked right then and there as I was photographing. Out of all the shows I ever saw these guys play they sounded the best when I was photographing them in that Shed. I was really looking forward to hearing the whole record. When Chris told me that I had gotten the cover I was even more excited! It was certainly the first time I had ever gotten a cover of an album. It was never the goal to get an album cover shot, but it just worked out that way. We shared lots of good laughs good times over the years for sure. I would also go on to photograph a bunch of live shows as well, what is represented here is the iconically the last Dorks show at the legendary Fireside Bowl. It really was a pleasure to do these images and would like to thank the guys for the opportunity again for letting me into their little world...Not only did I get an album cover and lots of photographs, I made some of my best friends from this experience I shall never forget....