#joolz

Smash Hits (June 19 - July 2, 1985)

NEW MODEL ARMY and THE MEKONS, 1986 and 1987

Buying a flash - a Vivitar 285hv, to be precise, purchased at B&H in New York City - made working in dark clubs easier, and in the early years of my career most of my shooting involved bands like New Model Army from Bradford, who I photographed in December of 1986, after they had finally received visas to tour in the US after being previously denied one for having "no artistic merit". I was a fan of their album No Rest for the Wicked, so I interviewed and photographed them for Nerve magazine. Bandleader Justin Sullivan, who had just stopped using the alias "Slade the Leveller" - adopted so he could keep getting unemployment benefits while making money playing music - was thoughtful and sincere, and the band showed a sense of humour that belied their somber image when I pulled out some of the little rubber faces I used in my portrait of director John Waters.

My shoot with New Model Army was done quickly after soundcheck at RPM, the cavernous club on Toronto's waterfront where they were playing, and turned out better than I had expected. My interview with Justin Sullivan, the band's leader, was ultimately less successful: he had been candid and forthright with me, but I did him dirty when I wrote a more than slightly sarcastic piece, mocking him for his admiration of Bruce Springsteen, for instance. (Every young rock critic wants to appear hipper than their subjects, sad to admit.) I didn't think much of it until months later when the paper I wrote for received a letter from the poet and artist Joolz Denby (aka Julianne Mumford), a frequent collaborator of Sullivan's. (He's wearing one of her t-shirts in my photos.) Very graciously she told me that, while Sullivan was unlikely to have admitted it, he was hurt by my tone in the article. She went on to talk about their West Yorkshire hometown in a couple of beautifully descriptive paragraphs as a way of explaining the context of what Sullivan and the band were doing, and by the time I finished reading her letter I felt quite chastened and ashamed of myself.

New Model Army still perform and tour, though drummer Rob Heaton died of cancer in 2004. A film about the band, Between Dog and Wolf: The New Model Army Story, was released in 2014.

Another band I photographed in my early days was The Mekons, shot in the alleyway behind Lee's Palace, one of Toronto's most venerable rock clubs, after I'd finally bought a light stand and umbrella for my Vivitar flash. The band dated back to the first wave of punk in the UK with their proudly inept first single "Never Been in a Riot" (a subtly wry response to the Clash's "White Riot"), but they'd recently reformed playing an idiosyncratic and literate version of country punk with albums like Fear and Whiskey and The Edge of the World. They provided me with an excuse to like country music, and I was excited to photograph them for a story for Nerve magazine. Shooting large bands (any band, really) is always a challenge, and I didn't win them all over at first when I explained that my initial inspiration for the shoot was Chinese and Soviet "socialist realism" heroic propaganda art, filtered through an old photos of their colleagues from Leeds, the Gang of Four, that I'd always loved.

They said they were familiar with the photos - the photographer, Andrew Corrigan, had been an original member of the band, though I didn't know this at the time - but didn't express much enthusiasm for the idea. (Singer and guitarist Jon Langford mumbled something about "not feeling very socialist realist.") Still, they played along for a few frames at least, and I was able to get one workable photo, along with a more conventional shot of the group standing on the metal fire escape behind the club. As I always did back then, I photographed the band live as a backup in case my portraits didn't work out, but thankfully I was able to provide the magazine with at least one passable photo.

Here’s your free to download and use as you like (just don’t sell it) Yule gift from me.

So, it has been a month ago since my last blog post. Reason for this is the birth of my beautiful second baby boy, Luca! But after some quality family time, it's now time to pick up the tinkering, and start making things! Of course we start easy, so this week I'd like to show you the beautiful power of 3D printing and how it helps me to be an awesome dad!