Days of Noise: A 35mm Photo Essay

Shentov here. We went on tour and I wanted to share a story from it. I totally love the idea of a tour report—like my previous one—and I always like to read it in a zine or over the web. However, this time I wanted to do something else.The following pictures are all shot on 35 mm in the course of a week while Feedbacker, Calf and Demikhov did a short tour in Greece and Bulgaria. I have this quirk for shooting analog using the crappiest cameras available. I always try to sneak my LC-A at shows and shoot some messy double exposures when I get the chance. I am no real photographer, though. I couldn’t care less about depth of focus or good composition. I know nothing about this, and it’s part of the fun, I guess.Probably a week before this tour, I somehow managed to buy a second hand Olympus Mju II locally for the pricey sum of €8. Now, I got really lucky, because nowadays these cameras command big bucks on the second hand market, and I can almost see why. They are small, full auto focus, relatively fast and take good old 35 mm film. Besides the hipster hype, I’m all good with it. Is it the perfect camera to take on tour? Probably not, since you already got all the megapixels right in your pocket with any smartphone. Is it fun to have on tour? Most definitely.And, in this case, it was my tool to capture the spirit of this journey.Enjoy!19/04/2019 Getting ready for soundcheck in Plovdiv. it took us maybe 5 shows to become besties with Vankata – one of the grumpiest soundguys in the Balkans.Dessi taking care of our merch.Demikhov totally killed it on the first gig of the tour.Cesare aka one of the hardest hitting drummers in Europe.We’re so lucky to have very welcoming and enthusiastic crowds here in Bulgaria.Battle of the aluminium axes.No drumheads were harmed in making this photo… yet.Post-gig Nikola at Post Culture.Döner party!19/04/2019 Somewhere on our way to Thessaloniki. Yes, we peed there, and we also found a doggo friend (not pictured). Yes, it had fleas.At Fabrika Yfanet, the largest squat in the Northern hemisphere.Greek squat cat.The Yfanet library. I can live there, seriously!Stairs. Girl.Focus is overrated.I used earplugs twice in my life……both times were at a CALF gig“OK, we’re Feedbacker”Dessi doing her thing.Living Under Drones, amazing band from Ioannina.Make sure you check them out, especially if they play near you on one of their tours.Incoming transmission from the Mothership.No caption here. I just love these two.20/04/2019 Ioannina (GR) was stunning.Cesare chanelling his inner Kurt Cobain.Demikhov.Living Under Drones.Calf live at Ioannina city (GR).Grind.Aaaa Aaa AaaaaCalf.Post-show21/04/2019 Athens streets.BlackBox Studios in Athens – friendly place held by awesome people. Check out their band called Their Methlab!Setting up.Demikhov delivers as always… we were concerned about frying up the bass rig that night. Speakers were flashing red…Invisible Jason.Tattoo time.A casual walk in Exarcheia.22/04/2019 Karditsa (GR) Ancient Emblem’s ace stage props.Ancient Emblem live in Karditsa. I dodn’t want to ruin their show using my flash, so unfortunately there’s only one acceptable picture from their set.Demikhov in Karditsa squat.Things are getting hot……we had a great time in Karditsa, as always.Wild times w/Calfthe Ancient Calf Ensemble“you noise boys are just pushing knobs”23/04/2019 On the last day of tour we took a huge ass expensive boat to Corfu……and ended up in a beautiful abandoned factory that is now Elaia Squat.We found a typewriter and a toy rabbit there….…as well as new friends. We had a great show with small and very accepting crowd. Also, one of the loudest gigs on this tourThis is Marco, probably looking up for aluminium guitars on the used market.This image says it all. Thank you, Elaia crew!We’re all fuckin’ tired, but it was fuckin’worth it!This is the point where our tour officialy ended. Calf took the way to their hometown while Feedbacker & Demikhov went on to Sofia. Thanks to all involved for a magnificent week of DIY touring!However, it wasn’t over for us until a couple of days later…MAYDAY(s) DIY FEST in our home town (organized by DIY Conspiracy) was truly a 3-days long celebration of activism, music and DIY culture. We had bands from Catalunya to Russia and genres from hip-hop to ritual experimental noise. Wonderful times of great music, screenings, discussions and DIY workshops in the spirit of sharing & solidarity, all this not-for-profit. After another tour, this event made us appreciate our scene in Sofia even more and left us eager to do more to keep it alive and vibrant.