"I'm originally from Goshen, New Hampshire. I moved to Sunapee, New Hampshire when I was 14. When I turned 18, I moved to Boston and have lived here full-time ever since. I am currently 22 years old.
Seven years ago, I taped two disposable cameras to the insides of my legs to sneak them into the Warped Tour, and it was there the spark that started Future Breed began. I continued with photos with disposable cameras here and there for the next couple years, but I didn't put them up anywhere. In late 2003, I distinctly remember missing a Blood For Blood show in Manchester, NH and being super upset that I didn't even know it was happening. That led me to make a site called Punk Underground in early 2004 to give show listings for the New Hampshire area. When I got the idea at the end of that year to put my photos on there, I changed the name to Future Breed, which I got through writing a song with a classmate during a high school French class. The song was terrible, but the name stuck.
Over time, the site developed. I dropped the message board, dropped the band news section, and focused completely on show listings, photos, interviews, and reviews.
I do Future Breed because it is something I genuinely love doing. I love taking photos at shows, interviewing the bands I love, and digging deeper into the music scene I've grown up around. I heavily believe in sharing those kinds of experiences with others so Future Breed exists as a portal for people to peer into this window of my life through the events that I attend and bands I get to have conversations with. It's not so much about serving others as putting everything on the table and letting whoever wants something to get it themselves.
At first it was purely documentary. I did photos for my friends' bands and expanded out to do shots for show flyers. I got involved in booking shows, and it became more important for me to get shots to document my own shows. By the time I was ready to go to college in Boston, it had developed from documentary to something I purely enjoyed so much I yearned to shoot and couldn't imagine going back into a crowd without a camera in my hand. At this point, I don't look at myself as a documenter but rather a participant at a show that can be passed the mic, dive, do whatever I feel in the moment. More often than not, that in-the-moment feeling is to sing along, grip the camera, and snap away.
Shooting from the sides or on stage gets some cool shots, but definitely not unique angles. Some of my favorite live shots of all time are ones that make you feel like you are a member of the crowd, not an observing stage-potato with a nice side view.
Future Breed is a project purely of my musical interests, and it is eclectic as such. I love hardcore punk and have been listening to it since I was absurdly young. It's not the only stuff I listen to though.... Sure, I go to a lot of hardcore shows all over the Boston area and beyond, but mixed in there are indie shows, ska shows, rockabilly shows.... Hardcore is a large part of Future Breed just like it is in my life, but it is not the whole picture.
Doing photos for my favorite bands of all time has been incredible, especially when it has involved traveling to new places, meeting new people, and checking out some amazing young and new bands along the way. Seeing bands grow from small to huge and documenting their entire existence has been incredible as well. Putting out a physical zine this month was such an achievement for me. Doing a blog is one thing, but holding your work as a tangible item has a value to it no Internet post can give. The support so far for the zine has been incredible, and that definitely marks the high point for me of doing this.
My only plan is that I continue doing Future Breed for myself. I don't want banner ads and sponsorships. I will not take bribes to write you good CD reviews (yes, that's been tried with me before.... twice). The site is on my terms because I am the only person involved in it. If I keep it like that, I have fulfilled my plan. I hope that beyond that, some kids here or there find value in what I do, if only in influencing them to go and do it better. I think there needs to be a raising of quality in how we all do our photos, zines, blogs, interviews, etc. I hope I can influence some people to challenge themselves and build something for themselves that expresses what they want to do, whether it's a zine, a photo site, or something completely unrelated."
Dan Gonyea
No comments:
Post a Comment