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| Photo Robert Game Theory page | ||
| Game Theory Photographs | My Game Theory favorites (WIP) | |
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Links Game Theory/The Loud Family Official Web site Scott Miller rock bands
Scott Miller Interview on this site
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| Game Theory and me | ||
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Between 1979-82 I attended UC Davis, near Sacramento, CA, earning a BFA in
studio art. Got a grant to set up a photo studio in the Design department and - taking full advantage - approached Davis rock bands with a proposition: Photos for 6-packs; I'd shot the campus Whole Earth Festival for two years and had 'being-backstage-is-cool' fever. Being a rock photographer sounded cool, too! It started with Boy's Life - a hard-pop trio featuring bassist Fred Juhos (Later of Game Theory). After a campus gig I gave them a scrap of paper with "Photos, Robert" and my number. First shoots were in my campus studio, then live or outdoors. Shoots were fun - we got to be creative and enjoyed the drinking and socializing. Got the bands thinking more about what image they wanted to project. Collaborating on a band image energized the shoots and the bands. The best photos were used on flyers around town and printed in campus and city newspapers, and I liked that! I was invited to gigs and band-related parties, and people began calling me Photo Robert. Davis in the early 80's was hopping musically: there were campus events and house parties to play and a funky downtown bar - The Bizarre Bazaar - where almost any band could get a gig and afterwards pass a beer pitcher for tips. Steve Wynn's Suspects played the art department; the 200-capacity UC Davis Coffee House hosted Iggy Pop, The Talking Heads, Devo, The Roches, etc. House parties featured The Violent Femmes, The Replacements and Rain Parade. Boys Life Fred Juhos introduced me to singer/bassist/songwriter Donnette Thayer and her X-Men. At Boys Life/X-Men gigs I met Alternate Learning, fronted by singer/songwriter Scott Miller. ALRN were the coolest, artiest Davis band; the campus radio station, KDVS, played their single Dark Days. On a hot Davis afternoon I was working the campus Craft Center tool counter when ALRN dropped in to print band photos. I approached and suggested I could do better - for beer - and gave them my number. (That was 1980... I shot Scott's bands for another 22 years.)
In 1981 ALRN became Game Theory (Fred Juhos on bass).
In 1982 I moved from Davis to Berkeley
but continued to do GT's publicity shots and album covers. |
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Album covers (click image or text for blowups) |
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 Distortion Back cover portraits. I shot back covers for two Alternate Learning EPs, Pointed Accounts of People You Know and Distortion*. Also, Blaze of Glory. *Dave Gill by J Beecroft (click image for enlargement) |
 Real Nighttime The lineup dissolved, so a color shot was discarded. In my favorite new shot Scott is looking out a window, playing guitar. It was a long exposure and blurred - his strumming hand is a blob. At Shelley LaFreniere's house, Scott and I considered twenty 12"x12" prints spread across the living room floor. I was pleasantly surprised that he was drawn to my favorite, in spite of the blur. I still like that shot. |
 Big Shot Chronicles In 1982 I moved back to Berkeley and worked at Big Shot photo lab. The owner let the band rehearse there at night. I shot the back cover in the rear rehearsal area, with blown-up band shots as a backdrop. The cover features a green- tinted close-up of Scott's face taken in Winston- Salem, NC the week they recorded BSC with Mitch Easter. |
 Lolita Nation For Lolita Nation I shot individual portraits: Gui and Scott used those; Shelley used an earlier glamour shot; Gil used a cropped picture from an earlier group shot; Donnette used a different photographer. |
 2-Steps from the Middle Ages During a two-week Winter Mid-West mini-tour, I shot the band at an Arizona arts colony gig. One - torn in half - was used on the back cover. Scott built a surreal landscape for the front cover; I was just clicked the shutter. |
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| My favorite Game Theory-related photos | ||
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 Alternate Learning in my UC Davis campus photo studio (1980) |
 Blaze of Glory Abandoned migrant worker camp 1st Game Theory |
 Blaze of Glory 1981 |
 Backstage SF's I-Beem. 1981 |
 Real Nighttime cover - dropped after band split (1982) |
 1st SF-based GT line-up Big Shot rehearsal studio (1984) |
 Scott and Gil backstage; early gig, opening for 3 O'Clock Los Angeles (1984) |
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 Rubber snake attack in Mitch Easter's studio! Recording Big Shot Chronicles |
 BSC front - NC, the week BSC was recorded |
 Big Shot Chronicles back cover |
 Erica's Word video shoot |
 Big Shot Chronicles tour, Frat house Evanston, IL (1985) |
 Gui and Donnette leap Shark Pretty Virginia |
Look AwayCharlotte, NC |
| Back to top | ||
 Charlotte, NC. Shark Pretty climax. Gui broke a string and there's fire in Donnette's eye |
After gig party Charlotte, NC (l-r) Two of Gil's homies, Gil, Gui |
 Arriving at Graceland Memphis, TN |
 Blowfish BSC 1986 Small southern town, while our sound guy, Jimmy, pays a speeding ticket |
 Alex Chilton, Scott Miller, Dan Vallor, Shelley LaFreniere, Doug (Alex's drummer) Backstage Berkeley Square, CA |
 Hallway of Oakland rehearsal studio, pre-Lolita Nation 1986 |
 Lolita Nation songs Stanford gig |
 Lolita Nation By the ocean, SF |
 Lolita Nation 1986 |
 Lolita Nation live, SF (1987) |
 Bad asses 2-Steps publicity ('87) |
 Are we done yet? (same as previous) |
 Shelley & Gil outside house where we spent the night. Boulder, CO 1987 Dog and apple |
Band bitches 2-Steps Midwest mini-tour. Freeway rest-stop |
 2-Steps tour Arizona art colony (same shoot as 2-steps back cover) |
 Red underwear 2-Steps from the Middle Ages tour, 1988 Backstage Kansas City, Mo the Show-Me state |
 2-Steps from the Middle Age tour Baltimore Two audience members and guest guitarist join. (2 photos joined) |
 Same as previous end of Remake Remodel encore |
 Scott Miller Loud Family Scott in SF studio Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things 1990 |
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