John Roy, the frontman of local ska-punk band O-RAMA! on the trombone.
The story of this photo begins on the evening of May 9, 2023 at the local bar, Snug Harbor. The evening was deemed Punk Night as the bands, Huddle, O-RAMA!, Leave it Behind, Overturn and The 3 Skins took the stage.
O-RAMA! kickstarted the night, setting the tone for the rest of the performers. The energy they brought to the stage was infectious as the crowd began dancing to the upbeat music blasting throughout the small space.
I crawled around the semi-sticky bar floor taking photos, as I always do. I take hundreds in a night, sometimes of one band alone, for 20-50 good photos per band. Even when they’re good, there’s probably only a handful I truly love.
For me, this photo represents a great night surrounded by friends and good music. Some of the people I care about most in the New Paltz music scene were either on the stage or in the audience that night. This is a picture of one of my good friends, John Roy, the front man for the band, O-RAMA!, who I’ve taken countless photos of at this point, as he always makes for a great subject.
As a photographer, the current work I do is documenting the New Paltz music scene whenever I can. I post them to my Instagram picsby.alyss to have an ever-growing and public photo album. This is one of the hundreds I’ve shared among the thousands I’ve taken.
