marco benevento

B List: Chad Smith’s Favorite Photos, Pt. 1

Photographer Chad Smith has only been shooting bands for the past three years, but over that time he’s gained a reputation as one of the best in the scene. His work has been used in a variety of publications and even on official releases from some of our favorite artists including the cover of Umphrey’s McGee’s Hall of Fame 2010 album.


Back in March we asked HT photo editor Jeremy Gordon to put together a list of the 10 best shots he took and to share the stories behind the images. Jeremy did such an amazing job that we’ve contacted a few additional photographers about doing the same. So, for this week’s B List and for a future B List Chad Smith will share his ten favorite (five at a time) photos and the stories behind them. Here’s the first five…

1. Bassnectar @ The Metro 2008

[All photos by Chad Smith]


Let’s start of with this photo of Lorin (Bassnectar) at The Metro back in 2008. One interesting thing about my little concert photography career, aside from being a relatively short one thus far (started on Jam Cruise 5 in 2008), is for the majority of 2008/2009 I didn’t have a legitimate photo pass for many of the festivals and shows I shot. A few pointers for those of you just starting out: make friends with promoters as well as club/venue owners and shoot at small bars that allow you to bring in a digital camera.

For this show, I got a pass from the promoters whom I happened to be friends with. This shot helped open up all sorts of new arenas for me. I shot this on a Canon 40D with a Sigma 30 mm 1.4. Shooting into strobes can always be a challenge and I shot about 100 shots winding up with about 75 that ended up in the garbage, but there were a few keepers among them along with this beauty. I sent it to Bassnectar’s management and have a great relationship with them that continues today.

READ ON for more of Chad’s favorite photos and the stories behind them…

Read More

Bloggy Goodness: Hoopla Pale Ale

Earlier this year String Cheese Incident keyboard player and accomplished homebrewer Kyle Hollingsworth previewed his collaborative beer with the Boulder Beer Company – Hoopla Pale Ale –  at the band’s

Read More

Garage a Trois: Always Be Happy But Stay Evil

With its fifth release, Garage a Trois has crafted an album destined to go down as one of the best instrumental releases of the last couple decades. That may sound a tad hyperbolic, but Always Be Happy but Stay Evil showcases the extraordinary range of four musicians at the top of their respective games. 

Read More

Postcards From Page Side: Kimock All-Stars

For three Wednesday nights in March and April, guitar maestro Steve Kimock has assembled a rotating cast of All-Stars to accompany him for a residency filled with completely improvisational, free-form jamming. I was able to catch the middle of these three nights at New York City’s Sullivan Hall last Wednesday, which featured a truly stellar lineup of Marco Benevento (The Duo/GRAB) on keys, Adam Deitch (Lettuce/Pretty Lights/Break Science) on drums and Marc Friedman (The Slip) on bass joining Kimock. The results were inspired, daring and overall, very impressive.

[All photos by Marc Millman]


While I have included links to videos and audio below, for one to truly grasp the events of this evening, one needs to understand Kimock’s, and these other super-talented musicians’, schools of thoughts. While Benevento and Friedman are well known on the jamband and indie scenes, and have played together in many instances prior, this was the first time that these four musicians had formally played a gig as a whole. Deitch was in my mind the wild-card on this evening, bringing an impressive funk and hip-hop swagger to the fold that I wasn’t quite sure how it would fit into this scene of loose, laidback, patient, and at times, very psychedelic playing. In the end, Deitch held the backend down, but never really stepped into the spotlight as I would have hoped to showcase his nasty chops.

Incorporating some Kimock numbers throughout the evening, things really seemed to open up with the first set cloer of 5 B4 Funk. A number that relies on heavy bass thumping, Friedman crushed the low-end and had the near sell-out crowd bobbing and moving. You’re The One was another highlight as it really kick started a fiery set two and allowed Kimock to really get cooking – something I wish he’d do more of, frankly. While he is the most impressive guitarist I have ever seen in terms of sound, tone and technicality, he manages to stay true to his philosophy of exuding patience in nearly any situation. That may be the reason that I have always found his fans to be jazz lovers, as you really need to focus, peel back the layers and pay attention to gain the full effect and receive the ultimate payoff.

READ ON for more of this week’s Postcards From Page Side…

Read More

Briefly: Everyone Orchestra to Record LP

Drummer Matt Butler has made his Everyone Orchestra a staple of festivals and live shows for the past 10 years. For the first time in the ensemble’s history, The Everyone

Read More

Friday Mix Tape: HT’s Top 25 Albums

Since we’ve spent the entire week recounting our favorite albums of 2010, and quite frankly you’re probably tired of reading about them, seemed like a no-brainer to end the week

Read More

HT 25 Best Albums of 2010: Numbers 16-20

For the second consecutive year at Hidden Track, we concocted our innovative little experiment for the year-end Best Albums list. Instead of picking the old fashioned way – subjectively – we opted for something a little different: a collaborative, collective list that incorporates the opinions of everybody here at HT.

To begin, we devised an all-encompassing list of well over 100 nominees, whereby most everything our contributors recommended made the list. Then we invited our crew of writers to independently and blindly vote on the whole list on a scale of 1 to 20 (20 = five stars). We ended up with varying degrees of familiarity with the nominees as some folks voted on just about everything, while some just a few. From there, we deployed our egghead algorithm for rating albums: (two times the average rating) + (the total number of votes). At that point, we took the top 25 highest scores and presto: the Hidden Track 25 Best Albums of 2010. No bullshit, no big opinions; just the results.

We’re on to day two of on our week long countdown, let’s check out albums number 16-20…

20) Marco BeneventoBetween The Needles & Nightfall

Key Tracks: Greenpoint, Between the Needles, Numbers

Sounds Like: Brad Mehldau meets Tortoise


The Skinny: Marco Benevento’s latest solo record is the prolific keyboard player’s most impressive release yet. Bassist Reed Mathis’ sense of space and harmony along with drummer Andrew Barr’s subtly explosive poly-rhythmic playing lay the foundation for Benevento’s hook-laden melodies, shape-shifting piano, and circuit-bent sounds. While his first two studio releases were solid, Between the Needles and Nightfall has a cohesiveness not found on either that allows Marco’s songwriting to truly shine. The one-two punch of Greenpoint and Between the Needles at the front of the album set the overall tone for the album, while Marco’s solo at the end of Numbers highlights the whole thing.

READ ON for the next four albums in our countdown…

Read More

Tour Dates: Dispatch Returns

Back in 2007, Dispatch shocked the world when they reunited for three benefit shows at Madison Square Garden that sold out within hours of going on sale. The jam-pop trio,

Read More

View posts by year

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter