ON FILM: TORTOISE AT THE ROXY, 1996
Tortoise, 1996. L-R: Doug McCombs, David Pajo, John Herndon, John McEntire, Dan Bitney. Photo:David Bellard
DAVID BELLARD ARCHIVE PHOTO SERIES
FILM: KODAK EKTAPRESS 1600 (COLOR), KODAK T-MAX 400 (B&W)
EQUIPMENT: CANON ELAN IIE w/ 28-80mm LENS
I did this photo shoot with indie post rock icons TORTOISE in L.A. in 1996 following the release of their second album “Millions Now Living Will Never Die.” I was a huge fan of the band after first hearing them on the genre-bending UK compilation Macro Dub Infection compilation, then subsequently tracking down every Tortoise CD and record I could find in the record shops of Los Angeles valley - no small feat in the pre-internet days of record shopping.
My Tortoise CD collection, circa 1996. I was especially proud of the hard to find Japanese editions with bonus tracks.
Tortoise played at the Roxy that night, with opening bands 5ive Style and The Sea and Cake - amazing line-up right? I’m fairly certain this show was the first time I used a newly purchased Canon Elan II E - and as you can see many of the photos are blurry because I was having a hard time with a poorly calibrated eye sensor focus. I would learn on later shoots that the eye sensor AF feature in the Elan models was generally not helpful in a live setting with a lot of movement.
Tortoise sound check, Roxy Theatre 1996 - pictured Doug McCombs and John McEntire. Photo:David Bellard
The photos here are a small selection from four rolls of film I shot, including B&W photos of soundcheck, band pics outside, and live shots of the show. The B&W photos were shot on Kodak T-Max 400 35mm film and the color shots are Kodak Ektapress 1600, a film commonly used for magazine shoots. It took me a few subsequent low-light club shoots to get the right combination of film and settings, but there were always blurry shots.
John McEntire, 1996 Photo:David Bellard
Tortoise sound check, Los Angeles 1996. Photo:David Bellard
Tortoise, 1996 at Roxy Theatre. Photo:David Bellard
Tortoise, 1996 at Roxy Theatre. Photo:David Bellard
Tortoise, 1996 at Roxy Theatre. Photo:David Bellard
Tortoise, 1996 at Roxy Theatre. Photo:David Bellard
Tortoise, 1996 at Roxy Theatre. Photo:David Bellard
Tortoise, 1996 at Roxy Theatre. Photo:David Bellard
Tortoise, 1996 at Roxy Theatre. Photo:David Bellard
Tortoise, 1996 at Roxy Theatre. Photo:David Bellard
Tortoise, 1996 at Roxy Theatre. Photo:David Bellard
Tortoise, 1996 outside the Roxy Theatre. Photo:David Bellard
Tortoise, 1996 outside the Roxy Theatre. Photo:David Bellard
Tortoise, 1996 outside the Roxy Theatre. Photo:David Bellard
Tortoise, 1996 outside the Roxy Theatre. Photo:David Bellard
John McEntire of Tortoise, backstage at Roxy Theatre, 1996. Photo:David Bellard
Tortoise Sound Engineer Casey Rice backstage at Roxy Theatre, 1996. Photo:David Bellard
And for you hardcore Tortoise super fans like me, here is the cassette recording I made of the show that night on the same recorder I used to interview them. I digitized the tape and mastered the audio in Audition and it sounds pretty good. It’s actually a decent recording. Let me know what you think in the comments!