Rock and Roll has Tender Moments too... ! Photographs by Chalkie Davies 1973-1988 ! For as long as I can remember people have suggested that I write a book, citing both my exploits in Rock and Roll from 1973-1988 and my story telling abilities. After all, with my position as staff photographer on the NME and later The Face and Arena, I collected pop stars like others collected stamps, I was not happy until I had photographed everyone who interested me. However, given that the access I had to my friends and clients was often unlimited and 24/7 I did not feel it was fair to them that I should write it all down. I refused all offers. Then in 2010 I was approached by the National Museum of Wales, they wanted to put on a retrospective of my work, this gave me a special opportunity. In 1988 I gave up Rock and Roll, I no longer enjoyed the music and, quite simply, too many of my friends had died, I feared I might be next. So I put all of my negatives into storage at a friends Studio and decided that maybe 25 years later the images you see here might be of some cultural significance, that they might be seen as more than just pictures of Rock Stars, Pop Bands and Punks. That they even might be worthy of a Museum. So when the Museum approached me three years ago with the idea of a large six month Retrospective in 2015 I agreed, and thought of doing the usual thing and making a Catalogue. But, I posted a couple of images on Facebook with a short caption to test the waters, the result was very interesting, everyone complimented the words, they loved hearing the stories behind these iconic images. They all wanted me to write a book. Still I resisted, I never saw myself as a writer, I can certainly tell my War Stories, as some people refer to them, but I did not want to go too far into the personal and private areas of other people's lives. So I decided to skip Sex and Drugs, and only write about Rock and Roll. It took a year or so for me to adjust to this new way of expressing myself, pictures are easy, words are much more difficult. After a while I found a rhythm and the stories flowed easily from my mind to my iPad. After writing about fifty, ranging in length from 300-900 words I decided to show it to a few of my friends, they responded positively to my attempts at prose, insisted I knew what I was doing, so did another old friend, Charles Shaar Murray, my partner in crime at the NME back in the 70's. To get praise from Charlie was a huge compliment, nobody wrote better than him, he suggested that people don't realize that photographers can also observe and comment on what they see, that people let them have incredible access based on that way of thinking. What you are about to see are photographs that are in no particular order, it is not even a collection of the best images or the best writing, it is simply a range of the material I have ready for a book and show. They are in no particular order except by shape, first those that are horizontal, then vertical, then square. I hope you enjoy what you see and read, I look forward to hearing what you think. ! ! I might as well start at the beginning, or nearly the beginning anyway. I was working at Heathrow Airport fixing broken Autopilots on Jumbo Jets when I took my camera with me when I went to see Pink Floyd at Wembley in 1972. I casually walked into the area between the barrier and the stage, here I met the wonderful Jill Furmanovsky and my journey in Rock Photography began. I found out what dry ice tasted like, I got covered in it as the Floyd used it a lot, this was the first time they had played Dark Side of the Moon, the album was not even out yet but being that close to the band was exciting, I was hooked. Six months later I took it to David Bowie's Ziggy Tour opening night at Earls Court in 1973, this time I borrowed a long lens from a friend, but getting close to the stage was extremely difficult. The gig was absolute pandemonium, thousands of screaming girls besieged the stage and the area at the front was like a battleground. However, using the long lens allowed me to take pictures from further back in the audience, whilst I eventually snuck into the pit for the encores my first ever published photo came from this show, the rest were fuzzy and out of focus but I did have this one great frame that I reproduce here. A couple of months later the Tour finished at the Hammersmith Odeon, by this time I had been to quite a few concerts with my camera, mainly at the Rainbow Theatre but also other venues. In fact I put a color photo of Chuck Berry taken at the Rainbow in a competition, he was wearing this bright and flamboyant shirt, it won first prize. A man came up to me afterwards asking where it was taken, I told him it was at the Rainbow but that I did not have a Photo Pass, I was worried I had done something wrong. He introduced himself as Bill West, he told me that he was the Stage Manager for the Rank Organization, that he was in charge of all their Theatres, he gave me his card and told me if I ever needed to get into a show, anywhere in the country, I just needed to call him. When Bowie announced two extra Shows at Hammersmith, which were to be filmed by DA Pennenbacker, I called Bill up, he told me to go to the stage door on the second night and a pass would be waiting. He said that the first night would be crowded with photographers, but that on the second night, the final Ziggy Gig ever, it would be much less crowded. I showed up at the Stage Door, I was just eighteen and I told Charlie, the Stage Door keeper my name. He immediately said, "You are Bill's friend, you can go anywhere except on the Stage". He handed me a Backstage Pass. This was incredible to me, he pointed own the stairs and I then explored the tunnels under the Odeon, opened a little door and found myself in the Orchestra Pit. I was early, there were film cameras on tripods, but no other photographers. I could not believe my luck. The show of course is legendary, and the photos I took were really good, because I only had a couple of lenses I had to get right up to the edge of the stage to take them, my proximity to David was really close, the pit was fairly empty, I remember a couple of photographers being there, and there was the film crew of course but it was like having your fantasy come true, at one point David sat on the edge of the stage, I was literally ! three feet away from him, it's difficult to describe the buzz one gets from this, how incredible a feeling it is to see the artist thru your viewfinder, it's almost like they are performing just for you. I got home and started developing the film, I had no darkroom so I just put the three developing trays on the floor in front of my bed, my room was tiny and I used to sit cross legged in front of the enlarger, I could print until dawn broke, then the prints started to get fogged, so this was the start of my nocturnal behavior, staying up all night was the new norm, at eighteen you have the natural energy to do this, but on this night I made a decision, a very important one. There were at least twenty great photos from that gig, and I have high standards so twenty is a lot. Obviously Bowie is really in charge, the costume changes, the poses, the performance all made it so easy to take the pictures. But, you still have to be in the right place, with the right lens, and need very steady hands to accommodate the low shutter speed. I felt that I was good at this new line of work, that Rock Photography was what I wanted as a career, and there was only one job I wanted. I wanted to take pictures for the NME. I had saved up a bunch of money working at the Airport, I decided to quit my job within a year, Bill West took great care of me, I went to all the best concerts and was guaranteed a photo pass, I have always said I was lucky when asked how I got my job, this is how I got my break. Trust me, it's not supposed to be this easy. I was incredibly lucky, putting the Chuck Berry photo in a competition at the British Airways Camera Club was the best move I was ever to make, I got to live my dream, and for the next fifteen years I lived it to the full. ! The Osmonds were headlining a Charity Concert for Music Therapy at the Albert Hall, it was a right royal event as it was attended by HRH Princess Margaret, after the show the Osmonds and the other performers were lined up against the wall by the Royal Protocol Squad and told how to behave when PM came into the room, Marie looked like some kind of china doll, Donny seemed very nice and Jimmy, Little Jimmy actually, is probably best forgotten.