Get Yourself Some Damn Photos: David Garrick Brings Musicians & Photographers Together, Today at Walter’s

So, this right here is a very, very cool thing. Everybody knows that if you have a band or play music solo or whatever, you need to have pictures of yourself, of some kind. Really, you do; as somebody who often has to use said pictures, trust me, you fucking need them. Bands and musicians who have one blurry photo up on Facebook, well, that just means you get a big ol’ blank right where your face should be when we write about you.

In the Good Old Days of H-town Music (which, truth be told, were nowhere as good as they are now, although they were definitely fun), we had photos taken of my own crappy band, done by a friend from college who we’d badgered into it because we knew had a camera and she’d taken a few photography classes (hi, Margaret!). We trooped over to the warehouses around Francisco’s, sat on a loading dock, and pretended we were ninjas, party dudes, or too damn serious.

Yes, we were that band, taking yet another ubiquitous Brick Wall Band Photo. And while our friend did the best she could, y’know, they weren’t great pics. If I were to look in the Rock & Roll Confidential Hall of Douchebags and see our photo there, well, I wouldn’t be surpried. It is so damn easy to take a terrible band photo; that’s why countless bands throughout history have done just that.

Today, though (Sunday, March 5th, that is), you have the opportunity to dodge that particular pitfall of band life, because Free Press Houston music hero David Garrick is hosting his second-ever Seriously, You Need Pics this afternoon from noon to 4PM over at Walter’s.

The idea is simple: bring together bands in need of new, non-douchey photos and professional, know-what-the-hell-they’re-doing photographers, throw in some booze ($3 Bloody Marys and Screwdrivers), add a dash of music courtesy of DJ Playlist (who may or may not be Garrick himself), and make it all cheap-cheap-cheap.

For a measly $5(!), bands can sign up to have their photos taken by cool photogs like Marshall Forse Walker, Daniel Jackson, Christi Vest, Michael Villegas, and a bunch more — all of ’em people who can take a cool photo that won’t make you look like you’re a lame late-’90s nu-metal band (unless, um, you are a lame late-’90s nu-metal band, in which case, I guess you’ll look like you look, amirite?).

Personally, this is a very neat thing, something I would’ve jumped at in a heartbeat back before I became irrevocably old and stopped beating on a guitar and yelling up on a stage. If you’re in a band or otherwise play music, what’ve you got to lose? $5, people. I spend that much in the morning to get coffee on my way to work, for crying out loud.

Do this thing, Houston Music Scene, and next time I talk about your band, I won’t be cursing your name as I frantically trawl the Internets for pictures that might maybe be of you and your musician friends, before I settle for a blurred-out picture of a panda or something.