The Show Must Go On
Music Photos by Murray Cammick
April 9 - May 28, 2022
1st floor, 37 Courtenay Place, Te Aro, Wellington
10am-3pm Mon-Fri, 11am-2pm Sat
After the success of the 2020 Flash Cars show, Murray Cammick returns to Photospace.nz Gallery in Wellington with a selection of his classic music images. This music show is based on the earlier 2017 punk & new wave focussed exhibition that was shown in Sydney and Auckland. Additions to this show include photographs of Bob Dylan, Roxy Music, Kate Bush, Tina Turner and previously unseen Bob Marley images.
The Show Must Go On is a phrase we associate with the history of music, theatre and the arts. It is an ironic title in that music venues have been among the activities hardest hit by Covid-19 due to their being inoperable due to the nature of the pandemic.
The photographer is using this title to encourage people to once again visit and patronise the small art galleries of inner-city Wellington and inner-city Auckland. Many of those galleries have survived the pandemic and now need to regain their audience.
“I’m saying the art show must go on,” says Cammick, “and inner-city culture must thrive. We can start by planning an inner-city exercise route that takes us to the galleries of Cuba St and Courtenay Place in Wellington or Karangahape Rd and Lorne St in Auckland. Viewing art is compatible with mask-life and Covid-19 passports. Safety must be our first concern but we all need to put on our Autumn bucket lists: spend some money at an inner-city business,” suggests Cammick. “We have to avoid the cultural hearts of our cities becoming ghost towns.”
The exhibition of music images largely consists of high-quality black and white images printed using the traditional silver gelatin process by top New Zealand printer Jenny Tomlin.
The Wellington show has also added a few colour photographs of local legends from the 1980s and 1990s including Herbs and Shihad. These colour images utilise digital printing.
When RipItUp magazine started in June 1977, co-publisher 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 Suburban Reptiles, The Scavengers and Toy Love put some energy into the scene. These local musicians appeared on the classic New Zealand punk compilation AK•79.
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’s camera documented important cultural events such as Bob Marley’s 1979 visit to New Zealand and suburban cultural events like young band Screaming Meemees playing in a packed North Shore 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 captures the tribal, sweaty audience as well as the musicians.
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, 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 promotion and touring. I recall being 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 Heads story 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 glamour 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.” Arrive 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.
Cammick’s black & white music photography was featured in Art New Zealand Autumn 2015 issue.
“In the early days I chose to define myself as a photographer – an identity for myself – my Minolta SLR camera was almost permanently around my neck,” says Cammick. “I guess that gave me the purpose and status that young people seek in life. I was part of the ‘taking photographs’ gang. In the early days it was easier to be a ‘fly on the wall’ when photographing musicians who were near to my age. As I grew older and got busy as RipItUp editor, it is was enjoyable to give the opportunities to take photos to younger photographers.”
The photographer’s notes on photos;
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
Our RipItUp writer had gone home and there no longer much point in me staying. Crafty Liverpudlian, TVNZ reporter Dylan Taite had brought his soccer boots to the non-existent press event that day, so he could cunningly play soccer to achieve an exclusive interview. He achieved his goal – i.e., the interview of a lifetime. Marley obliged and even spoke rather clear English in the interview, rather than patois that he might use if he was in a less communicative mood. Dylan’s interview, with Auckland harbour in the background, features in most Bob Marley documentaries.
I was not too keen on doing ‘music industry’ style photos of a Platinum album presentation or the traditional Māori 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 any way 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 the writer’s discretion 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 two young women 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! Great to see this image in the recent Joan Jett documentary, nobody asked me, but it was cool that they liked my photo.
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 and I think he liked to help me get a good shot. 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.” This is what happened backstage at Mainstreet.
Screaming Meemees
In 1981, Screaming Meemees played the Northcote Netball Hall and proved that there was life on the North Shore – beyond the toll gates. One of my favourite 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.
The Ramones
I am not sure why I have a photo of Johnny Ramone as our interview was primarily with Joey Ramone. As Johnny was later revealed to be a redneck Republican, I am quite pleased that in my photo, he is upstaged by wall phone.
April 9 – May 28, 2022
1st floor, 37 Courtenay Place, Te Aro, Wellington
10am-3pm Mon-Fri, 11am-2pm Sat