Back in 2009, I had just started going to local shows that were mainly hardcore/metal bands, and most of the time they were just bands from the Ontario area. It wasn’t until January of 2010 that I made the trip up to London, Ontario for a show that a band called Texas In July was headlining at a venue called Moon Over Marin (now deceased). It was the first show outside of Sarnia that I photographed. I took a bunch of photos during Texas In July’s set and after they finished, I went up to the merch table and introduced myself to Ben, the bass player, and showed him the photos I had taken on the rear screen of my Nikon D40. He was thrilled at what I had got, so he gave me his email to send him some of the photos. Below is a link to those exact photos.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/joelpilotte/albums/72157623081966233

In 2011, the guys came back to Canada to play the Eagles Club in Sarnia with a band called With Life In Mind. They didn’t have a place to stay, so I let the entire band and crew crash on the floor of my parents house after the show. We hit it off and a few months later, they invited me out on tour with them for a weekend. The bands on the tour were August Burns Red, Set Your Goals, and Born Of Osiris. I met up with them in London and rode with the band in their van for the next two shows, Ottawa and Sudbury, and then took the bus home from Sudbury. At the time I went on the tour, I was still in high school and had never really thought of touring or photographing shows outside of where I lived. It wasn’t until after that three day run that I realized that there was an entirely new world out there that I could potentially be a part of. 

Since that first tour, I have been on tour with the guys a total of five times, ranging anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. It was because of working with this band that I was given the opportunity to document the Vans Warped Tour in 2013 for Equal Vision Records. I have met countless bands, managers, record label employees, and other amazing individuals through Texas In July. With the work I had done with them, more and more opportunities came from it. I have toured with August Burns Red a few times now, one tour being an entire European tour, and it was because of Texas In July that I met them in the first place. 

What I am trying to get at is that I really do owe a lot of my experiences in the past 5 years of my life to this band. Even if they themselves did not directly have anything to do with something, it was still that first tour back in 2011 that drove me to keep shooting as many shows, festivals, tours, and anything else in the music scene that I could be a part of. They introduced me to a way of life that was unlike anything I had ever heard or known about, and even if I’m not a music photographer forever, I have these past five years to look back on and reflect at how amazing it has all been.

The following images were taken at Texas In July’s final show in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on December 27th, 2015 at the Chameleon Club.

This is a visual tribute to a band that gave me so much.