OOR Magazine asked me to photograph Rudeboy (legendary frontman from Urban Dance Squad) & Phantom Frank (The Phantom Four) for the April issue. The two have been collaborating under the name The Phantom Four & The Arguido, and recently released the album “Sounds From the Obscure”.

Read an impression of the photo shoot below.

I met them on a Monday afternoon at KX Radio in Amsterdam, where they were playing a short live session. When I got there, they were just on a commercial break. Good timing. They seemed nice. Phantom Frank told me they would be done in about half an hour, so in the meantime I decided to find a good spot to photograph them.

Inside the building there was too much clutter and artificial lighting, so I went back outside. The studio was located in an industrial area, but not the cool looking kind. There was nothing there but ugly buildings really… So I decided I would just have to photograph them against the wall of the studio building, and walked back in to meet them. They just finished, and Frank said I missed a good perfomance. “Sorry.” Somehow I felt embarrassed. Was it rude that I hadn’t stayed to listen to their live session? But when else was I going to prepare the shoot? Oh well…

Rudeboy, or Patrick, was still talking to the radio host. Patrick definitely liked to talk. Frank told him impatiently that we needed to get started on the photo shoot. Patrick stopped talking to the radio host but then started talking to me. Would I be taking full frame shots? Because he was so short and didn’t want to look weird next to (very tall) Frank. Then he continued with questions. What magazines did I work for? What music did I like? “Mostly indie i guess, rock, guitar.. whatever you call it.” Then I added: ” back in the day I was into grunge” This got him started all sorts of anecdotes from his time with Urban Dance Squad. “Did you know we had a legendary show at the Crocodile in Seattle? Every Seattle grunge band was there. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in chains and all them.” I did not know that. “Wow.” That was seriously impressive. I told him I had never been to Seattle in the 90’s, but that recently I have been there a couple of times because my cousin lives there now. Patrick said he loved Seattle, but unfortunately the Crocodile was closed down. “As far as I know it’s still there,” I said.

Meanwhile Frank was getting more irritated and was trying to get Patrick to stop talking and get us outside. He succeeded. We started the photo shoot in front of the wall, while continuing the conversation (as I always do). Halfway through I asked them If we could take some shots without their winter attire (which I thought might look cooler) but they didn’t want to. It was too cold and they didn’t want to get sick for their CD presentation at the Melkweg next weekend. “Ok.” After about 15 minutes of shooting I could sense that they were kind of done, so I wrapped it up. The photo we ended up using (below) was actually shot in the first couple minutes. Of course Patrick was still talking and while Frank was dragging him away, he asked me “Are you on facebook? Can you add me? Patrick Tilon.”

This photo was taken at venue Metropool, where he was opening for Das Racist on December 11th. He had already done the show and it was around midnight when I asked if we could take some portraits, before going to the next venue where he was playing that night. I wasn’t sure where to photograph him, because most of the the venue was pretty dark and I didn’t want to use flash. Dominik suggested we go in the men’s bathroom. So that’s where we ended up doing a little photo shoot for about 10min, while a couple guys walked in and out to use the toilet. It was a little awkward but funny at the same time.

In 2010 the crew of Triomf asked me to document them during the course of  a year, to celebrate their 10-year anniversary. I followed them with my camera at most of their club nights and festival events and ended up with an incredible amount of photographs. This year they asked their favorite Dutch graphic designer Bas Koopmans to team up with me to create a book. It’s been a long journey and I’m very excited to present it tomorrow!

This photo is featured in the VICE festival guide 2011, which I took at Stekker Fest in Utrecht last year. It’s part of a series about Triomf, which will be published for their 10-year anniversary later this year. You can check out the online version of the Vice Festival Guide here

Location: BlaqJacket, Heintje Hoeksteeg 8, amsterdam
Time: 7pm – 9:30pm
Entrance: Free

For more info: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=167055280009003

Houses (left) / Bas Amro (right)

Jasper Wolff (left) / Julien Mier (right)

Palmbomen (left) / Jungle by Night (right)

Skip & Die (left) / Mirella Kroes (right)

Boef & de Gelogeerde Aap (left) / Presk (right)