Hartford native Ted Theodore grew up around Connecticut’s live music scene, recording bands under the name Artrocity. When he moved to Worcester he didn’t miss a beat, becoming a regular presence at local music venues with his camera. The latest call has him talking about photography, rock and roll and Worcester over the years.
Where did the name Artrocity come from?
This is a holdover from when my high school friend and I were recruiting bands in the Hartford area. That fell apart and when the internet came along I started using it as a pseudonym.
How did you get started in photography?
It’s a family business. My mom and aunts took pictures, and I’ve had a camera since I was little, so I’ve always been interested in it. When I was old enough to go to shows, I always wanted to be in the front and take pictures, and this was a good excuse to be in the front – with a camera in my hand.
You first got involved in concert photography in the 80s. What was that?
In high school, I used to sneak cameras into shows. We were going to travel. I would come to Worcester, Northampton and Springfield for whatever rock concerts were going on at the time.
Once we were old enough to go to the clubs, we would go to the clubs and watch new wave, Compound Club and whatever was going on at the time.
This was before the Internet, so it was the only place you could see people. You had to get out there and be on stage. It was so cheap to see shows back then. That was our job. It would cost $5 or $10 to see The Clash, and then I saw so many bands in Hartford and down at Toad’s Place in New Haven.
What brought you back to the Worcester music scene?
My wife wanted to move back home to New England (from Washington, DC) so we did, but then we got divorced and I found myself with a lot of free time. Filling those spaces, I was going to shows and doing things I hadn’t done in years, but they were things I loved.
Going to see live music is one of the things that makes me the happiest, being a part of the music and the atmosphere of a place like that. I met thousands of people that way, just being there and putting myself out there. It changed my life back to the music scene.
What does that look like for you these days?
I try to go out at least once a week, but there were weeks where I was doing three or four nights a week. One of my trademarks that people notice is that I do several concerts a night. I’ll go to three or four stops, I’ll do a tour. My record was 10 concerts and 12 performances on a Saturday in the summer and people were like, “How did you do that? How did you drink so much beer?’
Nowadays I do it for the love of music. I love seeing how a scene is still being created. Worcester has been really good to me in providing me with all these outlets and welcoming people to be a part of them. I like to give back in my own way. I won’t get on stage and speak or sing, but I like to give back to them because they have brought me so much happiness over the years.
What kind of moments do you look for when shooting a show?
This is my technique, looking for someone’s signature move that defines the moment. These people are in that groove or digging hard. Some people have a signature move.
To me, there’s nothing worse than someone who’s going to read text off a sheet and not engage with the audience, so I’m just waiting for that moment. People just latch on, their facial expressions, they’ll play a power chord or just get into what they’re doing. The feel of the music is definitely part of it.
As the music grew, so did their expressions and their fever for it. I never use flash, so you’re not stealing because of me. If you see a flash, you might think, “There’s the photographer, I’ll be looking over there the whole time.” I’m standing in the corners and you don’t really know when it’s coming and I think I get a more natural expression that way compared to someone just mugging for the camera.
Are there any big differences between the photos you take now and the ones you took in the beginning?
With digital, you don’t have to have as much patience as you used to. I started with movies in the 80’s and 90’s and I remember dropping off a movie after a show and having it ready for me the next day. A lot has changed. I wish I had the technology we have now. It’s more immediate, more forgiving. New technology makes low-light photography much easier.
Are there any shows in town you’ve missed in the past year?
The best thing I saw this year was this band called Kaiju. They’re kabuki surf, they’re instrumental prog surf, and they set their tour van on fire outside the venue as part of their performance.
It was probably the most captivating thing I’ve ever seen, drawing the audience in and drawing us all into a circular pit around the band. There are so many great people I could name all day, but I like things that are more surprising.
Another place I really love is the starlite in Southbridge because the owner and booking manager there has surf music, metal music and country music and movie night and comedy.
You can go in there every night and part of the space is an art gallery and the walls have been changed. You really don’t know what you’re going to see when you get in there, and that’s always exciting for me.
How do you see the Worcester scene changing over the years?
People say that Worcester music ebbs and flows. It reaches these highs and never reaches its full potential, and then it goes back down and back up. I hope we are already on our way back.
COVID has really taken a lot of wind out of the sails of people, performers and visitors. My big thing is more about discovery, finding new things. I love walking into a place not knowing what to expect and being truly impressed by someone’s passion for their art.
I’m trying to understand that there’s a lot going on here. I went to 10 shows in one Saturday, what do you mean I have nothing to do? You have to be there to appreciate it. Here’s what it looks like, but you have to go there yourself.