Oh for the sheer depravity, the heinous capitulation to vice. Brown M&Ms only; bald, toothless hookers; dwarves; cocaine, by the fucking bucket load. If you can take a breath in between snorting ants and ramming live fish into the nether regions of young groupies, then you might’ve noticed something: Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Hammersmith — it all looks the bloody same! The decadent days may have passed us by (unless you’re Justin Bieber, in which case the lost art of urinating upon your baying public is alive and well), but the song remains the same — the source of countless rock star’s infamous disobedience endures; backstage areas are really, really dull.
“You live in the present. And tomorrow will pretty much be like today. Always the same. Everything for music. It’s great and at the same time dull” recounts Sebastian Szary, one half of internationally-renowned electronic duo Modeselektor, and one third of the act Moderat. Mariah Carey might think that global arenas have oddly familiar interiors, drenched in rose petals and cuddly toys, but most travelling musicians will feel an altogether more eerie sense of recognition; cheap furniture, throw-away table cloths, generic international lager. Shot during Moderat’s 2014 world tour, Backstage Tristesse is a melancholic look at the same-same spaces that lurk behind the curtains at major global music venues. The fanatical support out front dream of finding their way past the security, the weary artists dream of escaping its mundanity. Available now from Monkeytown Records, Szary’s photo book is a welcome reminder that not all is what it seems.
© Sebastian Szary
