AK•75-85 - Music photos by Murray Cammick
AK•75-85
Music photos by
Murray Cammick
Tues 1 – Tues 22 August
2017
Black Asterisk
Gallery
10 Ponsonby Rd,
Auckland
Preview:
Tues 1 August, 6.30pm
Artist Talk: Sat 5 August,
2pm
After the success of the 2016 Flash Cars show, Murray Cammick returns to Black Asterisk Gallery with a selection of music images with AK•75-85. Once again Cammick is exhibiting limited edition, silver-gelatin prints derived directly from his negatives and printed by Jenny Tomlin.
In this show Cammick has not strayed far from the Queen Street of Flash Cars, as the music of the day revolved around inner city venues. The offices of RipItUp, that Cammick co-published, were never far from Queen St with the most classic location for the magazine being above Stones’ Shoes on the corner of Darby Street and Queen Street.
When RipItUp started in June 1977, Cammick and original editor Alastair Dougal were not aware of how radical the changes in music culture would be as the decade ended. Foreign punk/new wave acts like The Ramones, Iggy Pop and Blondie visited and locals like The Suburban Reptiles, The Scavengers and Toy Love put some energy into the scene.
New Zealand musicians were inspired by the success of Split Enz overseas and original writers like Hello Sailor, Th’ Dudes and Sharon O’Neill found respect for their own songs. In a time of cultural change, RipItUp and Cammick documented important cultural events such as Bob Marley’s 1979 visit to New Zealand and suburban cultural events like North Shore band The Screaming Meemees playing in a packed suburban hall.
For those who liked their music raw, seedy local venues were the place to worship and the Zwines and Mainstreet mosh-pits were where alienated youth gathered to enjoy the company of kindred-souls. Cammick’s camera captures the tribal audience as well as the sweaty musicians who command the scene. Cammick documented “a good night out” and “another generation of musicians finding their own voice” – cultural pleasure and cultural importance.
Prior to starting RipItUp in 1977, Cammick was the designer of Craccum, Auckland student newspaper in 1976. He studied photography at Elam School of Fine Arts 1973 to 1975 with lecturers John B. Turner and Tom Hutchins who encouraged him to take socio-political photos for the student newspaper. Cammick took the first photos of the Flash Cars series at Elam and learnt a respect for the documentary tradition in photography.
Reflecting on his music photos for the
Capture blog (2012), Cammick wrote:
“I tried to
document the music and the scene as a ‘fly-on-the-wall’
documentary photographer. You either contribute to the
myths/bullshit of rock n roll or you try and show some of
the reality of the grind of touring and promotion. I recall
being the designer at Craccum in 1976 and being
delighted that our music editor John Robson came back from a
press conference with a photo of Frank
Zappa drinking a cup of tea. How sublimely un-rock
n roll!”
“Shooting un-rock ‘n’ roll photos became something to aspire to, so I was pleased to get Iggy Pop in his clunky reading glasses laughing at the Talking Headsstory in RipItUp magazine. As we arrived at Iggy's White Heron Hotel room he was still in his pyjamas and I sneaked a shot but he heard the camera and made it clear, “No photos in my pyjamas.”
“For years I've regretted that I did not capture the beauty of Debbie Harry in my 1977 photos, but now I am starting to appreciate that they show a tired young woman who briefly leaves an international flight in Auckland to do a day's promo. She is giving copies of the New York Punk magazine to the RipItUp writer Jeremy Templer.”
Debbie Harry arrived from the USA at dawn – a day of interviews in Auckland, then on a plane to Melbourne for a TV interview that night. That’s life.
The
Photographer’s Notes
Bob
Marley
Anyone who asks me to play soccer has
smoked too much dope. Marley asked me that question –
after I had retrieved a stray ball, by the park outside his
hotel, the White Heron. I interpreted his question,
as an indication that he would prefer that I stopped taking
photos. As a young photographer I was not too keen on doing
‘music industry’ style photos of a Platinum album
presentation or the traditional Maori welcome, the powhiri,
but “Yes” was the answer when the visitor to New
Zealand was Bob Marley.
Chris
Knox
When RipItUp decided to put five new
bands on the cover of the April 1979 issue the ‘group’
interview soon came upon insurmountable ethical and regional
issues. Louise Chunn wrote, “To Chris Knox, expatriate
Dunedin boy and don’t ever forget it, Aucklanders don’t
dance, they pose rather fast. And anyway Toy Love don’t
want to have people showing enthusiasm or approval through
dancing. ‘We’d rather stun them,’ said
Knox.”
Iggy Pop
We arrived at
the White Heron hotel, to find Iggy in his room,
still wearing his pyjamas, playing guitar. I took a subtle
snap on my camera but Iggy heard the click and turned to me,
“No photos in my pyjamas!” During the interview
Iggy said: “You have to remember, I was in — will the
real Sex Pistols please stand up? — I was in the
Stooges.” It was curious to watch Iggy reach for his
clunky reading glasses to peruse a Talking Heads story in
the current RipItUp. I recall Iggy saying, “Here
I am traveling the world, alone in my hotel room, except for
my pyjamas.” Due to ‘image’ reasons this comment
– whether taking the piss or not – did not run in
RipItUp.
Dolly Parton
Hippies, freaks, punks and members of Split Enz, I could
cope with, but meeting Dolly Parton was a culture shock. The
singer visited New Zealand in 1979 and ended up in the
RipItUp centrespread sandwiched between Iggy Pop and
Toy Love. I understood the country outlaws Cash, Jennings
and Willie Nelson, but most country music made my stomach
uneasy. Dolly knew how to work a room. Making eye contact
with every writer and every photographer. Dolly was in
control of the room and soon showed her down-home smarts and
taught us the basics in controlling your own career. “I
moved to Nashville, still with the big hair-do, long since
out-of-style. People started telling me I should change my
look. And I thought — well, for somebody to tell me that
¬– only means they’re noticing the way I look. So I
decided to change it alright, by exaggerating
it.”
Girls and beer
cans
The early 1978, Hello
Sailor gig at Auckland University Recreation
Centre was excellent – that translates, I thought I
had taken some great pix. After the gig I got a cool
backstage photo of singer Graham Brazier.
I think I was too shy to ask the singer if I could take a
photo and he asked me if I wanted to take a photo. As I
walked towards the exit, the beer cans caught my eye. Before
I pressed the shutter Suzanne (RIP) and
Shoana walked into the frame and gave me
the photo. The photographer is only one participant in the
making of a photo.
Kim Fowley
When LA
legend Kim Fowley visited Auckland in January 1979 I was in
awe of his intelligence, his humour and his namedropping.
He was in awe of the fact that I was in awe of him. He’d
book toll calls to rock royalty like Bruce Springsteen to
impress us locals. One call was timed to take place when I
visited the studio. Fowley liked music journalists dropping
by – he liked to hold court. Even in the photo – Kim
spun me – so he ended up looking like the President of the
USA. I ended up with a ‘portrait’ of Kim Fowley. I was
not a portrait photographer, I was a documentary
photographer, but Fowley only did
portraits!
Graham Brazier
I have more
good photos of Graham Brazier than every other local
musician in total. To be blunt, Graham was into having his
photo taken, but in my case I think he liked to help me get
good photos. The musician who performs off stage as well as
on stage, to some, is a “rock star poseur” but
photographers appreciate a little bit of help. Graham was a
poet and a book collector – he had empathy for poets and
writers, and he was not above helping me to get a good
photo. On occasions when I had camera in hand, I’d get a
nod from him that said: “this will make a great
photo.”
Zwines
I would have
more photos of the punk club Zwines if I hadn’t put
my opening night film through the camera twice and if you
didn’t have to run a gauntlet to get there. Only a few
metres from Queen Street, off Durham Lane, the punk club
Zwines was above Babe’s disco and the skinny
white punks had to get past the burly disco kids to get to
the Zwines entrance. The westie punks would have
taken it all in stride but us middleclass types from the
other side of town had to meet friends nearby and do the
final distance to the club, as a group.
Screaming
Meemees
In 1981, The Screaming Meemees
played the Northcote Netball Hall and proved that
there was life on the North Shore – beyond the tolls
gates. One of myfavourite gigs ever! In the sandpit and the
mosh-pit, you learn to enjoy life and negotiate with other
people. I respect bands that make you want to jump up and
down and celebrate being alive.
Siouxsie
Sioux
By the time Siouxsie and The Banshees made
it to Auckland in 1983, punk had become post-punk and
Siouxsie was post-punk too. She was polite and pretty and
seemed to enjoy being surrounded by adoring music fans
masquerading as journalists. Robert Smith
was there too, having a cup of tea, making this suburban
hotel press conference, a very cool occasion.
AK•75-85
Music photos by
Murray Cammick
Tues 1 – Tues 22 August
2017
Black Asterisk
Gallery
10 Ponsonby Rd,
Auckland
Preview:
Tues 1 August, 6.30pm
Artist Talk: Sat 5 August,
2pm