Heather Spirik Photography: October 2011

Soo, me and A Skylit Drive go back a long ways. Okay, so, not really, but the story of how I became madly obsessed with them is something I think may be interesting, so here it is, sorry if it bores you.

On, November 19, 2008, around 6pm, I could be found loitering in the South Side of Pittsburgh, waiting in the freezing cold to see my favorite band at the time, Escape the Fate at the Rex Theater. As I'm standing there, A van rolls up and people begin getting out to unload equipment. I had looked up the opening bands on the tour and had decided they all sucked. Since I knew Escape the Fate had a tour bus, I wasn't very interested. I turned around and ignored them. Glancing over my shoulder, I noticed someone facing away from me with gorgeous long blonde hair. Thinking out loud, I said "That girl has really nice hair." Uh-oh. The "girl" turned around. It was most definitely not a girl. I got a dirty look and turned away, just assuming it was some tour member helping unload. So the night goes on and a band comes on stage. To my utter embarrassment, since I was front and center on the fence, this band's lead singer was the "girl" I had encountered earlier. And to top that, they we're really good. They we're playing a song of their fairly new album, Wires and the Concept of Breathing. The song was "I'm not a Thief, I'm a Treasure Hunter." There's a part in that song we're the music get's silent, and the lead singer, whom I now know is Michael "Jag" Jagmin, belts out "Breathe easy, the doctors are about to arrive," before the music picks back up. He sang that line and I swear I got goosebumps. And that was it. I fell in love with this band and their music. If there are any questions as to Jag's voice, as many people don't like the rock music I do, he has an acoustic project that can be found here.

So anyway, a month short of 3 years later, I find myself preparing to go to yet another A Skylit Drive show. I think it's about my 8th or 9th time seeing them since that first time. There was a bit of a fiasco getting there, and I'd tossed around the idea of not going after having my photo pass revoked and not getting a ride, but I went nonetheless. I'm damn happy I did. They we're fantastic. As usual. And again, they played their good old "I'm not a Thief, I'm a Treasure Hunter." And once again, I found myself with goosebumps. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to shoot at their shows so often, and I hope one day I'll be able to do so on a professional level.