Lilly Cigar

Thinking about a bizarre transition I made as a photographer, I started thinking about a band named Lilly Cigar. The night after I decided that I wouldn’t do infrared photography in bars anymore, but would use traditional flash instead, I went out to shoot them. They were a bunch of Bakersfield, California, guys that were usually fun. I shot photographs of them many times, mostly when I was just feeling restless and stressed. It was sort of like watching cartoons. Presented for your amusement: The Lilly Cigar Gallery.

I think the first time I saw them, I had walked into a little club called “Sharks” at around five-thirty in the afternoon. They were onstage, and sloppy drunk. I’ll never forget the singer flaunting that fact, yelling “We’re drunker than you are!”

These guys were like an advertisement against taking anything too seriously. The guitarist was just, well, earnest. But the rest of the guys—I think they were just in it for the free beer. As for their name, I never bothered to ask why. Some stories are probably best left untold.