Director and photographer Steve Birnbaum blends rock & roll and history into one solid story and captures sublime art in a unique and timeless manner. Creator and mastermind behind the extremely popular Instagram page, “The Band Was Here”, he scours multiple cities and terrains in search of exact locations where famous musicians and artists have once stood and provides an exact arrangement overlay of the original photo.
The page swiftly gained a massive audience and following including fans and musicians from all over the world. Birnbaum gracefully captures historic moments that echo in space and time. Residing in New York, where many of the shots are taken, Birnbaum profiles the city life and the many musicians and artists who have paraded on the concrete pavements. In 2010, Birnbaum began his creative journey after applying the same technique while revisiting locations of family vacations.
“I got the idea Around 2010 or so. There’s an article of . . . a photographer who was blending war photography in Photoshop. He was blending something similar to what I do. He was taking photos from present day, and he was blending actual war photography from years ago and blending it in photoshop . . ." he says.
With over 180,000 followers, the brilliant transition to musicians from family vacation locations was one that vibrated with fans and music fanatics. Being inspired by photographers and music from the 90’s grunge era, Birnbaum also sets out to revisit cover album photoshoot locations of several iconic albums in a multitude of genres including "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" by Bob Dylan, "Solid Gold Hits" by The Beastie Boys, and "Bad" by LL Cool Jay. Hip-hop also has a respectful presence throughout the page and several iconic hip-hop and rap artists appear including Nipsey Hussel, Tupac, and Biggie Smalls. Although, legendary musicians fill up the page, Birnbaum’s own musical influences are ridden throughout.
Birnbaum elaborates on the selection of photographs that are chosen and says, "The pictures that you see are a reflection of me. So, if you are seeing a certain artist, for the most parts it's music that I enjoy, and that I have a wide variety of stuff that I enjoy, and photographers I enjoy. So, for the most part, it’s a part of me that you're seeing on my feed".
Predominantly shooting photographs in New York, Birnbaum also often ventures out to capture the artists who have been photographed in the City of Angels. Scouring Los Angeles and hunting down locations through plenty of research often finding results ranging from highly public landmarks to isolated areas such as sidewalks, bridges, hotel rooms, stairwells, beaches and the almighty 7/11's. While music has had a huge impact on him personally, Birnbaum explores the satisfying release that comes with the search and finding of these locations.
“I definitely have an interest in music. I definitely have an interest in photographers and that then just fuels the fire of then going on the hunt and trying to track these down and that itself is something as well. Spending hours trying to find a spot that I can’t find (laughs). It’s rewarding when you do find it. That gratification after you find it pushes you as well. So, that’s something. I always say, it’s like playing a game of 'Where’s Waldo?' constantly with myself, you know, I’m kind of just trying to find this spot in this sea of information," he says.
Birnbaum extracts the musical energy and depth that these locations offer through the photographs he takes and often provides background tidbits under each photograph. He is gifted with the astonishing ability of turning these revisits into alluring and complete pieces of art that can be emotionally gripping. A more remarkable series of photographs comes from a visit to late Nirvana singer and guitarist, Kurt Cobain’s now abandoned and deconstructed home in Los Angeles, that was shared with wife Courtney Love and newborn Daughter Frances Cobain. This is where Cobain notably wrote music for Nirvana's final album in 1994, "In Utero". Throughout the graffiti ridden walls and floorboards, the dust covered cabinetry, and the paint chipped stairwell, certain physical elements of the house remain unchanged.
“I found music definitely during the grunge time and Nirvana had a huge impact on me, and that kind of just snowballed and led to other things from there . . .” he says.
Birbaum reveals the sensations on his experience on this trip and writes as a caption, “Swipe to the 9th slide to check out a video taken from inside the closet where Kurt supposedly wrote most of In Utero. I sat inside that closet for a good 10 minutes, a few minutes of silence and few minutes of cycling through some In Utero songs on my phone. It was a pretty surreal experience.”
“I still remember like it was yesterday and where I was when I found out.” He adds on the photo of the same series in regards to the news of the passing of the Nirvana front man.
There is also an obvious abundance of punk inspired photographs ranging from Black Flag, Fugazi, Ramones, and The Clash. Another defining and surreal moment was his chance to visit and tour what’s known as “The Dischord House”, which is a Washington D.C. based independent record label that supports and distributes punk related artists and in the 80’s produced albums for bands such as The Faith, The Void, and the Teen Idles. He details on "The Band Was Here" under the recreation of a famous Glen E. Friedman photo of D.C. punk band Fugazi, the tale of Ian Mckaye surprisingly appearing and allowing him access inside the house that remains a dominant staple of D.C. punk music.
Birnbaum recounts, “[H]e was gracious enough to allow me to come in and give the tour, and was more than happy to, and show spots and talk with me for over an hour."
"Yeah, that was just totally amazing and mind-blowing to me. Someone who's had a huge impact on me like that to be so gracious and kind and open to what I do and especially he's also shown interest in what I do as well, and I talked with him since then many other times”.
Growing up in the 80's and 90's he claims “Fugazi for me was a huge influence . . . Fugazi and what Ian did with that band was a huge impact on me . . . punk music has had a huge impact on me as well”, Birnbaum states.
Throughout the hundreds of shots on “The Band Was Here”, there is still a thirst for unearthing mysterious locations. Throughout rock & rolls extensive history, there is a lot of ground to cover, and Birnbaum has plans to tackle a wide scale of locations.
“The Let It Be album for The Replacements cover. The cover that has the view of them on the roof . . .there’s a lot of old photography of Nick Drake. It’s not covers of his albums but photography of Nick Drake, some spots I want to hit up hopefully when I go overseas,” he says of places he would like to go to scratch off his bucket list.
He also adds that he would like to also go overseas and cover, “the more iconic stuff of course, The Beatles”.
Birnbaum shows dedication as he is often kneeling, laying down, and crouching to get the right angle and shot to recreate these photos and the Nirvana impact is also evident.
“I would love the Nevermind, Nirvana pool. I would love to find out exactly where that was shot, and I think I do have it located but it would require me to get into a pool and try to recreate that [laughs]. That is definitely on the list”, he says excitedly.
The exuberant attitude of Birnbaum and the will to forage through several neighborhoods, areas, and regions through extensive research results in one of the most mesmerizing pages on Instagram that captivates audiences' imagination while scrolling through their timeline. The joyful and well-known faces that are mashed up in collage like photos resonate strongly with musicians and fans, as comments pour in with awe and praise to Birnbaum, who provides fun and intriguing photographic content almost on a weekly basis. The impact of music on Birnbaum is crystal clear as he pieces together elements and locations of everyday life with music history and humanizes music culture as a whole and brings people closer to a sense of community. Birnbaum is currently working on "various projects" including a travel show incorporating music and is also continuing to work on documentaries.
By Lacey James
All photos via: Steve Birnbaum
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