Music « Archive of Attitude

Music

Back In The Days Paris

At La Bellevilloise in Paris – some very cool people, everyone into ‘Old School’.

And a nice French interview online as well as on TV.

Did I mention that a French journalist called me the ‘Anti Annie Leibovitz’ which is hilarious. Let’s just say I have a simpler way of taking a photo. I met Ms Leibovitz, many years ago in a hotel elevator in Texas. We were both there to shoot the tennis player Martina Navratilova. Annie had six assistants and twenty bags of photo equipment – I had one assistant and two bags .. I prefer to keep it simple

February 19th, 2012

Whitney Houston

When I first came to NYC I used to do a lot of shoots for Mademoiselle magazine. One day I was chatting to the model who told me her mother was the singer Cissy Houston, her cousin was Dionne Warwick and her godmother was Aretha Franklin. My soul idols! The model became a famous singer herself, the most-awarded female act of all time, she sold over 170 million albums. RIP Whitney Houston

February 12th, 2012

Stiff Little Fingers

Finding a kid for the cover of the Stiff Little Fingers single from their first album ‘Inflammable Material’ on Rough Trade Records was not easy. I decided that it should be a tough kid from a council estate or some such and went to South London to search for him. After hours of walking the streets I spotted this kid, he was perfect. It was getting dark and I asked him if I could take a photo. Later when the single came out his mum called up to ‘have a few words’ with the record company … but it all got sorted.

February 10th, 2012

The Cramps, The Ramones & Kodak Tri X

Kodak declared bankruptcy today, we all knew it was coming, but it seems like the end of an era. Kodak Tri X black and white film enabled me to shoot bands like The Cramps (above) and The Ramones (below) in poor light, capturing them with that gorgeous grain and make silver gelatin prints in the darkroom.

I have a collection of old cameras like this Kodak 35 bought at a yard sale for a few dollars. First introduced in 1938 it was the first 35mm format camera produced by Eastman Kodak.

January 20th, 2012

Kendra Morris

On Friday I photographed the singer Kendra Morris. She says she wants to live in an enchanted forest – her east village apartment is just that (see above).

She wrote all the songs on her debut album which is due out on Wax Poetics records in the spring 2012. Check out the video for her single Concrete Waves.

Kendra’s been singing for others her entire life, as a little kid in Florida she sang for her toys, in high school she sang with a gospel troupe (they sang for patients at a mental hospital one time), she sang in the Mall – the girl can really sing – she’s soulful – DJ Premier worked on Concrete Waves mix.

December 18th, 2011

Jose James

This weekend I photographed Jose James on the Bowery – he sings both jazz and hip hop (and has a great barber). Just back from touring the world with jazz luminary McCoy Tyner, he has recorded with DJ Giles Peterson, Taylor McFerrin, Basement Jaxx and many more – catch him performing at the Brooklyn Museum on December 15th.

December 6th, 2011