The stories behind classic shots of Thursday, The Urge, Dashboard Confessional and more. With Boston Photographer, Matt Lambert.

My journey into photography started at a young age. My father worked for Polaroid corporation as a machine operator, so I often had access to an instant film camera in the 80’s. I never really wanted to pursue it until I was in college and was writing about music for my college newspaper. My grandmother told me she’d buy me my first digital camera after I graduated college. So, once I had the diploma, I reminded her. I started small with a point and shoot. That got me away from using a disposable camera (remember those?) and took it everywhere. After getting the chance to officially photograph the band Mutemath at House of Blues in Boston, I borrowed a friends DSLR. The photos came out awful, but I knew I needed one of my own, so in the winter of 2009 I bought myself my first DSLR and have been onward and upward since.

The Urge:

This was taken this past summer on the tail end of an amazing cross country trip to see Pearl Jam in Seattle and Montana. I found out they were playing their iconic album Master of Styles in its entirety for one night only in their home town of St. Louis, Missouri. The Urge stopped touring many years ago before I started seeing concerts, so when I heard about this show I knew I had to be there. I ended up finagling my trip instead of going back home, to fly back to Chicago and drive down to St. Louis to catch the show! Not only did I get to see a fantastic band I never thought I’d get to see, I got to photograph them as well. Hopefully I’ll get to see them again some point in the not too distant future.

Thursday:

Geoff Rickley of Thursday, I have loved this band ever since seeing them live back in the early 00’s. They have so much emotionally intense live energy. When I had the chance to photograph one of their most recent reunion shows, I was beyond excited. Rickley would often find himself practically in the crowd, pointing the mic at all the fans singing along to the music. Even getting a mouthful of microphone sometimes and hurting himself. They went on a hiatus in 2012 and I never thought I’d see them playing again, forget even photographing them. They played the Worcester Palladium and I got to be in the pit with my kit. It may not be as rough as it was 16-ish years ago, but it was still an incredible experience.

Dashboard Confessional:

Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional. When I was a freshman in college, a new project from this guy who used to sing for an punk/emo Christian rock band Further Seems Forever released an album with just him and an acoustic guitar. I knew nothing about him or his older band but as soon as I heard DC I was hooked. I started seeing him live every chance I got including a very small coffee shop in the basement of Clark University in Worcester, MA. I remember meeting him after the show and how kind he was. Fast forward 15 or so years, Chris developed Dashboard Confessional to be a full band and had been touring like that for longer than his original band was around. This shot was the summer tour in 2017, I stood in the photo pit, singing my lungs out while taking photos. So loudly that Chris gave me a smiling nod during one of the songs. I thought to myself, whoops I broke some photographer code, acting like a total fan boy while I’m supposed to be doing a job. However Carrabba didn’t seem to mind one bit, and it was a moment I will never forget.

~Matt Lambert

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