#chris cuffaro

EDDIE & BETH at Lollapalooza in Seattle, 1991

Chris Farley 1996

"This is basically for Entertainment Weekly; they hired me to go up to Seattle and do a story on "Seattle Scene" and "grunge". I went up there and at that time i knew a bunch of people and a bunch of friends and Eddie and everybody and... you can see it was pretty messy. And just often this impromptu photoshoot kind of happened. Eddie picks up his bass and starts playing and... he didn't care, we were friends, and I would just shoot anything and everything, it was a lot of fun.

I loved always shooting somebody creating music or somebody creating their art. I rarely took the camera out though, unless it was okay, like I wouldn't just force my way onto anything, and I always didn't want to be noticed. In a sense, I don't even think I sent these pictures to Entertainment Weekly because i felt they were too personal. I always tell people this: that the day I met Eddie Vedder, I knew that this guy was special, and at that time, I knew that the band was special [,,,]"

-c.cuffaro (from youtube video "GREATEST HITS: Eddie Vedder at home")

Alice in Chains for Rolling Stone / September 1991 / 📸 Chris Cuffaro

"I mentioned back on September 11th that I shot Alice in Chains for Rolling Stone for the first time.  Rolling Stone did not like the results so I got to shoot them again.  This time in Seattle at a recording studio.  I had to meet them there and was told I would get one hour to shoot.  The guys showed up in a good mood and ready to go.  I showed up tired cuz I flew to Seattle from Los Angeles that morning. Since the studio was dark and moody there wasn’t much I could do so I took them outside.  When you have an hour to shoot you try to keep things simple.  When the band is in a good mood you take advantage of it and do something fun.  I did the first shot behind the studio in the parking lot.  Just had them get together and be a band!  I just made sure that the were relaxed and looking good. For the second and last shot I noticed that next door there was a school playground.  They had slides, swings and more.  I noticed they had this ride that was for kids to go in circles while ridding tiny bikes.  Kind of like a self propelled merry-go-round.  I asked the band to get on and start peddling.  They did get on and the fun started.  I just started shooting as each band member rolled by.  We all were laughing so hard cuz it really was ridiculous.  The photos make me smile to this day cuz it was simply a funny moment with a great band."