It's an age thing ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funny to think Rod Stewart will be playing Glastonbury today. I mean, who the hell wants to see an 80 year old geezer up on stage, reeling out his 'hits' for an audience one quarter his age? And then I have to come clean. Last weekend I skipped over to Manchester to see one of my all-time favourites, good ol' Charlie Harper from punk band UK Subs. At 81 he's even older than Rod but, oh boy, you wouldn't know it. Beer in hand, he belts out songs that first saw the light of day when I was 18, way back in the 1970s. (And if that's what punk and alcohol do for you, then I'm glad I signed up early!) It's just a matter of taste, isn't it? I wouldn't dream of standing in a crowd of 100,000 to watch a screen showing an old fart a quarter of a mile away, but stick me in front of Charlie in a small venue of a couple of hundred punters and I'm in heaven ..

I genuinely dropped upon this photograph this morning, a picture I did of Rod at Manchester City's old Maine Road ground back in the .. 90s? (I'm compiling a set of images for a talk I'm giving next Saturday and there he was, along with a bevy of other 'famous' people in a folder I named 'Slebs'!) I'd forgotten I'd taken it, much as I forget a lot of things these days. It's an age thing ..

Ps: My informal talk 'A life in Press Photography' will take place at GALERIE 16 in Chef-Boutonne at 11 on Saturday. Please come along, if you can remember ..

My favourite Punk Pensioner ..

You'll have to speak up a bit today. My ears are still ringing from a UK Subs gig in Manchester last night. They're one of my fave bands, still going strong after almost forty years, and it was a trip back in time to be thrashing about in the mosh-pit at The Star and Garter. That's my idea of a gig .. no barriers, no separation between artist and fan  .. and no 'three songs and you're out' crap if you're a photographer. I know I say it every time but I can't help but feel smug when I compare punk to the kind of dreary dross that 18 year olds are listening to today. Where's the power, excitement and energy in the manufactured garbage of people like Adele? Oh yes, I feel so superior. Punk keeps you young, too. Lead singer Charlie Harper here? He's 72 !!...

Punk forever ..

Last Friday evening I was in the bizarre position of being entirely alone! All on my own! Poor Billy No Mates! It was fantastic..

Lesley was working late and three sets of neighbours - on both sides - were away on holiday. There was no-one within .. what? 120 feet of me. So, what did I do? I did what any right-minded 54 year old punk would do in that situation. I opened a beer, hit the record player and cranked the volume up to 11 !..

I started with a bit of The Exploited, and then turned straight to the UK Subs. It was at that moment I remembered I had a DVD of the Subs, so switched the telly on to watch that instead. There's a great moment in the film where Charlie Harper, the band's lead singer, replies to someone in the audience. I couldn't hear what the punter said but Harper's reply was "I don't do that anymore, I'm 40 next year!.."

He's 71 this year, and still gigging! There's hope for me, yet! Punk forever! Yeah ....

 

U.K. Subs - Peel Session 1978

Turns out I can share videos with you on my blog, so ...  there's no better way to start than this!

Charlie Harper, the lead singer is now .... 70!

Larger than life ..

How to get ahead in business! I was shooting some PR photography at an office in Manchester yesterday - on the day they'd just received some 'blow-ups' of some work I did a month or so back - and couldn't resist a quick shot of the prints, all stacked up and ready to go on the walls! Can't wait to see my new 'exhibition' when it's up, as it'll cover all the stairwells of a 3 storey building!

On the subject of 'larger than life' I'm off to a birthday party with a difference this weekend. The event is a Punk 'All-Dayer' with the good old UK Subs to celebrate the ... gulp, I can hardly write this .. to celebrate the 70TH!! birthday of their lead singer Charlie Harper! I'm amazed! 70 and still heading a punk band! My hero! I'm in awe! I'm .. who the hell left that zimmer there?

Pure Vintage..

I've had a lovely little article published in Pure Weddings Magazine, featuring a fab couple whose Wedding I photographed last August. Click on the image to get 'the bigger picture', and you'll see a few of the shots I got round to taking on the day. The theme of the Wedding was vintage which is quite ironic because, once I'd shot the Wedding, I zipped off into town to see ageing punk rockers The Exploited! (I had a change of clothes before I went!) Reminds me of the time I went to see the UK Subs after finishing work at 11pm one night whilst working for the Sale and Altrincham Messenger. I remember arriving at The Russell Club in a suit and tie and the first words on arriving being some spiko leather dude screaming "F*ck me... a Mod!"

Ah, good times ...

Boring Old Fart Blog ..

It pains me to say it but, as of last Saturday, I am an ex gig-goer! I quit! I've had enough! I mean, look at this. This was my view of Saturday's gig at Manchester Academy 2. Somewhere out there was Kurt Vile! I know he was there 'cos I could hear him, even above the sounds of everyone talking to their mates all around me and, to be honest, I did catch the odd glimpse of him as I was continually shoved physically sideways by one trog after another trying to get to the bar. There was just no enjoyment whatsoever in any part of the experience. Man, even the music was boring! So that's it! No more gigs for me - well, until May, but that's a different story! Jeez! Is it my age, or the fact that it was so much more fun 'in the old days'? Ah, the old days! Yes, that brings me to that gig next May. I've got my ticket and I'm all fired up to go! It's for Charlie Harper's Seventieth birthday! The lead singer of one of my favourite bands, the UK Subs, is 70! I think we can safely say that he ain't no boring old fart ... 

Foreigner?...

I know, another shot of a band on my blog, but stick with it! I was searching for an insurance policy in a box of old documents this morning, and came across an old diary from 1981 - the year I was 21 and working for the Warrington Guardian. It was a timely find because, yesterday, I was talking with a pal about going to gigs 'in the old days'. His son, it seems, was going to his second gig of the week last night. Second gig of the week! I only managed three in the whole of last year .. and one of them was an eighties' tribute night! Anyway, I started reading through this old diary, and in particular, the February of 1981. You would not believe the listings in there! In just that one month I went to 12 gigs and saw acts as varied as John Cooper Clarke, The Rezillos, Bad Manners, Discharge, OMD and the UK Subs. There was even U2 at Manchester Poly, and Duran Duran although, tellingly, I can't remember anything from that gig! I once photographed Devo - that's them in the picture! - in 1980, and remember the ticket cost me £4. When I went to see 'em more recently the same band cost me 40 quid! Anyway, the thing that shocked me most whilst looking through my history was a listing for Foreigner! Foreigner? I don't even like Foreigner, so why would I go and see 'em? Then it dawned on me! It wasn't a listing for the band, it was a booking to shoot for somebody other than the Warrington Guardian. It was a foreigner, not the Foreigner! Phew!...