All photos: John Moore, noir33
No one has captured the Fayetteville underground music scene better than local photographer John Moore of noir33.
This month, Moore will share his unique perspective on the scene over the last year in the form of a 120-page photography book entitled Lightbulb Club: A Year in the Life.
The book is set to be released, fittingly, at a rock-n-roll show at the Lightbulb Club on Friday, Jan. 23 featuring performances by local bands Grim Creeper, Thunderlizards, Mud Lung and Auric.
Moore said the idea for the book came last winter after he emerged from a photography hiatus. He’d stopped shooting bands nearly two years earlier, but returned to the art as a way to deal with the passing of his father.
Photo: John Moore, noir33
“I started shooting at the Lightbulb Club on and off,” he said. “After a while, I had a lot of images from that venue, and I wondered what you could do with them. That is when the idea for the book came to me.”
Moore said he knew early on that the book would be quite an undertaking, but decided to move forward with finishing the project in memory of his Dad.
The finished product includes 240 photos of over 75 bands all taken at the venue in 2014, as well as a foreword by local promoter and longtime music scene supporter, Roger Barrett. Each of Moore’s signature black and white photos are printed on premium matte stock pages.
A photo of Detroit band Protomartyr graces its cover, and the photos inside were chosen based on quality and as representations of the year in music at the venue, Moore said.
Photo: John Moore, noir33
The cover shot, he said, was his favorite of the entire year.
“The night I took that particular shot, it was easy to see that it would be the cover,” he said. “It pretty much sums up what a night at the club is like. If one picture can relay the experience of the Lightbulb Club and its history – everything from the lighting, the expression and the music that the band creates – that is it.”
Only 25 copies of the book will be for sale at the show for $20 each, and if they sell out, Moore said he will pass out handbills that evening directing those interested in getting a copy to a website where it will be available to purchase for a limited time.
The show is totally free to attend. For a bit more info, check out the Facebook page for the event.
More photos from the book
