Australia’s most celebrated rock photographer Tony Mott has plenty of stories to tell. Back in September last year, he shared some insights with us about his travels with Big Day Out, the shots he treasures most and why it’s all about trial and error. It wasn’t long before we wanted another batch of tales from the man behind the lens.
Next week, FasterLouder is launching the Shooting Stars photo series, turning the spotlight on FL’s live photographers. Who better to set the benchmark than Tony Mott? Since our last chat, he’s kept up his furious schedule of pit-calls and studio sessions; turning out virtuoso images of The Living End, Coldplay, The Drones and many more. Tony has given us a bunch of his favourite photos – some new, some taken from his book Every Picture Tells A Story – to showcase on FL. Here’s what he had to say this time about the rock – œn roll life.
THE DIGITAL AGE
I’m doing nearly all digital. But when I’m doing a big session, like with Arctic Monkeys last year, I do it on film as well. The advantages of digital are enormous; it just doesn’t happen to be as good as film. Last night I was shooting Eskimo Joe with a really weird light show. With digital, you can go a bit bananas: bracket it, go ballistic, knowing that something is going to come out. Had that been film, there’s not as much room to experiment. I’ve just learned Photoshop and cropping!
I just spoke at Underexposed in Brisbane and most of the young people there were on digital. I’m not trying to be rude, but in the digital age there are a lot more photographers. A lot more people are capable of doing it. When I did Judas Priest on digital, just about everything came out. It was pin-sharp; it was easy to shoot. Had I been shooting film, I would’ve been hoping for 10 cracking shots and 20-30 acceptable shots. That would’ve been a good night. The disadvantage from a career point of view is that if this is how easy digital is, so many people can do it and so many people are doing it.
SHOOTING ROCK STARS
Marilyn Manson: With Marilyn Manson, the photo is just there. If you said tomorrow you’ve got Marilyn Manson or Sheryl Crow, Sheryl Crow is the difficult one. She’s a bit uncomfortable in front of a camera, she doesn’t – œglam up’, so you’ve really got to manipulate her. With Marilyn, the image is already there without him having even done anything. You’re going to get a really strong photo. He wants that – he’s a thespian, totally into the moment. He turned up with a box of contact lenses of different colours.
Perry Farrell: Perry Farrell is just mad. He’s the most eccentric I’ve ever photographed. When he did Big Day Out, both with Porno For Pyros and Jane’s Addiction, I went to a few parties and just drinking with him. That guy is on another planet. He’s not with us.
This photo was done in Auckland and I’d never met him before. We were on a canvas studio backdrop. He said, “If we’re going to work together over the next three weeks, we’ve got to have trust. Do you trust me?” I said, “Yeah, I trust you.” He said, “I want you to just close your eyes and sit there.” After about ten seconds I opened them, and he went, “What happened to the fucking trust? You opened your eyes!” So I closed them again and he literally grabbed my balls and squeezed them. And went, “Now we’re friends!”
We were in a nightclub in Melbourne, and he’d just come back from the rainforest somewhere in Victoria. He loved it so much he wanted to do a gig there, with trestle tables and a stage. It’d all be acoustic and great. And because of the triangles, UFOs would provide the light show. We all laughed until the tour manager turned around and said, “You might think it’s fucking funny, I’ll probably have to organise this for real!” So yes, a very eccentric character. Of course eccentricity is fantastic to photograph.
DOING IT LIVE
Every night is a challenge. Digital has made it easier, but live photography is just not an easy form of photography. Live is always hit and miss, but sometimes you just get a moment.
I feel lucky to get any shot. I still get the thrill when something you try works and you go, “Fucking great”. But for every Iggy Pop and Crowded House, there are plenty of times when you don’t get it. The one thing I emphasised at Underexposed was, – œyou want to rely on your successes, not your failures.’ I’ve had way more failures than successes. When I’m doing my slideshows, I’m showing the best of my work. There’s plenty of crap I’ve produced. You don’t want to get demoralised. You want to learn from those mistakes.
Johnny Rotten is one of my early ones when I was just starting out. Those were the days before crowd barriers. There were no pits. So you were caught in the mosh-pits. When I took that photo I would’ve had ten punks on my head. In those days, punks used to gob. So they were all spitting. So my leather jacket was covered in phlegm, it was fucking disgusting. It’s a great moment, Johnny Rotten with the halo. There’s no one less saintly. It’s still one of my favourites.
With Crowded House, obviously that kind of access comes with being around a while and bands are comfortable with you. There’s nothing worse than being on stage, but from the pit you’d never be able to see the Opera House or the bridge. When Bjork played the Opera House recently, her manager wouldn’t give me stage access. I wasn’t being an arsehole but I decided not to shoot it, because you might be playing the Opera House but who’s going to know? It’s just Bjork and the stage in the background. I spend an inordinate amount of time hiding behind amps and popping my head out.
With The Living End, that’s literally me behind Chris Cheney’s amp just waiting for that moment. I really like that photo, because it’s them in full tilt. And you’ve got the Melbourne Big Day Out crowd in the background. Obviously you can’t have 500 photographers up there so that’s a privileged position I’m in. It’s also about knowing the bands for 10 years.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR SUBJECT
When you know someone really well, it’s an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage is that you know them. The disadvantage is that they sometimes don’t take you seriously – they just want to socialise, and in the case of Tim Rogers, drink. I’ve got Tim Rogers in a Seinfeld puffy shirt, where his hair is down to his arse. I threaten Tim every now and then with publishing those.
I’ve got some incredibly daggy photos of U2 from their early days. They were real bogans with really bad mullets. The Edge particularly had a really weird dress sense.
AC/DC is a band that doesn’t give a shit about publicity. That recent 60 Minutes interview couldn’t have been lamer. They’re just not a band who wants to be interviewed. I’ve requested photo sessions with them and normally with a band their size you have to go through a long process. AC/DC do anything you ask them to do, they’re just not going to think about it. Their session shots are generally quite ordinary. This one is just the two of them pulling funny faces. Even at 50 years old, they still do the funny faces. They’re nice people, they’re just really unpretentious. 300 million record sales haven’t changed them.
You can trawl through Tony Mott’s extensive portfolio and order Every Picture Tells A Story at his website.
CHECK OUT THE SHOWCASE OF SOME OF TONY MOTT’S FAVOURITE SHOTS RIGHT HERE.
