In The Field: 7 Hills Opens Up
Yesterday, I wrote about shooting John Cafferty, the headliner at The Stone Pony last weekend.
Every headliner needs an opener….enter my friends, Promised Land Band.
Except on this night, they weren’t PLB, they were 7 Hills.
Long story.
In any case, just after the doors opened for the night, 7 Hills hit the stage.
Remember what I said in that post yesterday about what helps make up a solid Jersey Shore band? This one has it in spades.
7 Hills/Promised Land draw a loyal following from their Staten Island and New Jersey roots.
Team shot outside The Stone Pony, minutes before they hit the stage
Lead singer Kenny Munson is one of the best frontmen out there, perfectly channeling Asbury Park’s favorite son, but doing so with his own version of musical power and persuasion.
Kenny doesn’t just take the mike and drill through the set list. He takes time to set the stage, tell stories of who influenced him along the way, and peppering the band’s set with covers and original his own original music.
The 7 Hills stage is crowded with two keyboard players, a horns section, two guitarists, a bassist and, of course, a drummer. The one shot I missed this time was Kenny jumping off the drum kit…but only because he didn’t do it this time!
“There were two movies you HAD to see in the mid-80s…Eddie and The Cruisers was one of them…and the other was by one of the best musicians of our time…” Kenny said, before launching into a solid version Purple Rain by Prince.
7 Hills would cap their set with high-energy version of Rosalita that had their fans heating up the Pony. Before the show, Kenny asked me if I could shoot a video of this song, since it’s high energy and the fans get into it.
Now, I don’t shoo much video with the Canon 5DMarkIV, and told him as such. But, I said I’ll give it a shot. I first thought I’d shoot it back at the soundboard, but just before the song started, I decided to shoot it from the crowd. But, the only way I could do it was to hold the camera over my head…it’s a long song…that rig got heavy!
I was taking peeps at the LCD screen and it looked very underexposed to me, but the song was underway and I couldn’t be fiddling with it. I just hoped it would come out ok.
And, actually, it did. Looks better than I thought it would!
Even as I had one camera over my head filming, I had to try to get some still. So, my Fuji X100T was around my neck…I used that.
Kinda of a crazy shot but fun as well!
Whether they are going by 7 Hills or Promised Land, they play Asbury Park (either The Stone Pony or Wonder Bar) a lot. Always a great rockin’ great night out in Little Eden when they hit the stage.
PS: Much of this post was also appears on the Asbury Park Vibes website, but this version has some changes/additions as well!
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