Too Much Rock has been around for twenty-five years. It's just me. No ego, no ads, no paid impressions, no product placements, not an influencer, and no designs on anything bigger. Currently the site houses thousands of my show accounts, a hundred thousand photos and videos, a weekly podcast, a vinyl singles series, and features when I'm really excited about something.
Too Much Rock aims to support the local music scene by documenting the noise that happens in the bars and basements, with a emphasis on the local bands. To that end Too Much Rock has sponsored events such as Apocalypse Meow benefiting the Midwest Music Foundation, The Crossroads Block Party, Manor Fest, and Center of the City Fest.
You like numbers? 12K unique visitors a month plus social media followers, RSS readers, and podcast listeners. In July of 2022 the podcasts got 8,408 listens.
However the heart of the site is my PICS+VIDEO section. The others are pretty self explanatory. I go to two or three shows a week, and I document them. You'll get pictures, usually video, and sometimes my account of the show. Note that these are my experiences at a show, they are not reviews of the bands. As such, I reserve the right to spend paragraphs on my shoes and not even talk about a band if I want. Going to a show doesn't always have to be about the bands on the stage. Also, I may misremember facts, make blind suppositions with no basis of knowledge, or outright lie if I think it will make things more entertaining for me.
All the photos and video you see were captured digitally. This was novel (and ill-advised) in 1997. Today it's understood. Anyway, I've used various cameras throughout the site's life: Apple QuickTake 150, Epson 750Z, Epson 850Z, Fuji S9000, Canon 20D, 5D mkII, 6D and currently a 6D mkII. Because of extreme stage lighting I travel with a cadre of Canon lenses: f/2.8 24-70mm, f/2.8 70-200mm, f/1.4 35mm, f/1.2 85mm, & f/1.8 50mm. I don't crop images or correct many lighting issues, I just kinda toss 'em all on the site using Apple's iPhoto. It's mostly about documentation, not art.
All that said, please don't steal my pictures. The watermarked ones are all available via a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license. If you have a delightful use for something I've shot, and need bigger images than those posted, just ask, and I'm sure I'll give ya a nice copy assuming I get proper credit. I have much better quality images than the low-res and watermarked versions posted on the site. My pictures appear on hundreds of bands' websites and press kits as well as in magazine and newsweeklies as well. Bands, if you want me to come out to your show and take pretty pictures, just drop me a line and a spot on the guestlist. Chances are I'll be there anyway if I think you're good, and if we disagree about that, well, you probably don't want me there.