Erica Echenberg
Erica (Pictured right with Mark P) worked as photographer for Sniffin’ Glue and is responsible both for straightforward pictures of all the bands at the time and also importantly for the punks and punkettes who were an integral part of the scene. All the books of the time, 1999 – A Punk Explosion, Punk Rock, Punk, Not Another Punk Book and In the Gutter used her pictures as did the daily tabloids for their shock horror stories and quite rightly so. In punk the fans were as important as the bands.
I always thought Erica Echenberg’s photos of the Roxy were fantastic. Whether it was the bands she captured, or the punks and punkettes dressed in their homemade fashions, they dripped with atmosphere and seemed to capture the very essence of punk and a sense of fun.
Tell us a bit about yourself…
I was born in Montreal Canada and my father always loved photography. He always had fabulous cameras and it was kind of his hobby and so I enjoyed it, took it up from him. After high school I went to artschool and I kind of stuck with the photography side of things did pretty well and then I thought well I’d come to England and best do something with my life. So I thought I’d best go to photography college which I did and I went to Ealing Technical College and there all I wanted to do was rock photography really. I met a chap who knew Ian Dickson (check out his excellent book ‘Flash Bang Wallop’ crammed with loads of cool punk piccies) who said Ian was looking for an assistant. I had done a few rock gigs in Canada and I went to meet Ian and he gave me the job. So from there learning the technical side in the darkroom, being his assistant and going on gigs I got a lot from it and met quite a few people in the music business. Met people who worked at NME and Melody Maker and it really just went from there. It was a passion, a focus, a path. I was very lucky and I think luck is really important. So once I started working for some of the mags they kept asking for me and I was a rock photographer. A female rock photographer which was really important as there wasn’t very many of them.
Was it a general love of Rock or a general love of photography?
Photography really and music. Probably music first and photography second. Technique was pretty low down because really I didn’t have any money, and my cameras were pretty rubbish so I think it went in that order. In those days going back 30 years you had to prove yourself. You had to take the pictures, develop them and print them and then you had to get them to whoever wanted them pretty quick. So once you’ve proved yourself people ask you to do more work. I made a lot of mistakes, that’s for sure. But I had to do people like Barry Blue, Bay City Rollers to Queen at the airport. All sorts of things before punk. I remember I had to go to church to take pictures of a christening for the band Pilot. I did a lot of work for Melody Maker, Sounds, Record Mirror, and NME. I went on TOTP quite a few times, I had front covers with the band called Mud and 10CC. You just went where they told you to go but normally it was quite exciting.
Those were the days eh????!!!
How did you come to get involved with punk rock then?
That was odd. I was kind of in the business by then and a knew people. I had a friend PR business who worked for Tony Brainsby. She was hip to the scene and heard about some bands who were playing at the Hope & Anchor. That was the first place I went. Somebody played ‘New Rose’ to me and I couldn’t believe it. It was so fast and crazy and then I heard the Damned were playing the Hope & Anchor so I went with my cameras to take pictures which I did.
I met Bryan James and we went out together for a while. Once I met him it kind of gelled and was very, very exciting. There was a camera crew there. It was easy days. You got to meet the bands. There were lots of other people hanging about sort of from the dinosaurs who were already writers and journalists and they were sniffing about.
Speaking of sniffing how did you come to be involved with the fanzine Sniffin’ Glue?
It was one of those things where people met people met people. It was a small scene, so you knew the bands and I guess Mark P. I met him at a Generation X gig and I was taking photos. I was young and he came up to me and started talking. Harry his mate was there. Another connection. I did a lot of work for a band called Curved Air with Stewart Copeland and his brother Miles. Miles had a record company and Nick Jones worked for him and they were getting involved in this up and coming punk scene and it all meshed together. Mark P got involved. Small intimate little group. Sex Pistols weren’t involved or the Clash, they stayed away from these little groups. Mark P asked to use one of my pictures and we became firm friends and used to hang out together. He never paid me for anything. I enjoyed the fanzine and being part of it.
We went down to the Roxy a lot. It was easy to get to. I lived in Knightsbridge. Very unpunk. I never had to pay to get in. All the bands hung out there and I just started shooting. Why I did it I had no idea. It just happened. Some got published. I never thought that 30 years later people would still be interested.
You had to use different levels of flash and shoot shots differently. The Roxy was very small in a basement and was very claustrophobic, to be honest with you. There was only one way out and up the stairs. I wasn’t shocked when I first went there as the Hope and Anchor was similar and I had been there. As the bands got bigger they would get bigger stages and better dressing rooms. I followed the Damned around so saw their beginning from the hope and anchor to the Roundhouse and beyond. Alcohol riders, dressing rooms and famous people. Marc Bolan was there.
Crowd shots?
They loved it, actually loved it. When you have people called Dee Generate or Jerry Attrick. I mean they wanted to have their pictures taken. They were dressing up and trying to be other people not the little school kids they were and they enjoyed it. Noone said don’t take a picture. The fans loved it. In retrospect punks were just innocent little kids. They were the sweetest little kids. You probably think they were scary, kind of frightening, but they were just young kids who maybe put some black liner on and sugar stuff in their hair; nothing was very scary at all. I didn’t see that much drugs or alcohol. I was innocent too and I wasn’t looking for those things. Everything was beautiful.
Me?
I didn’t look very threatening. I was pretty straight looking and wasn’t very punky looking. That wasn’t my thing though. I was a photographer. When I met Bryan we got invited to a lot of things.
Fashion?
Absolutely photogenic. There’s photos of the kids with safety pins through their cheeks, mouths and noses. They just really looked good. I wish I had had colour film but I didn’t have the money. I don’t know how it would have looked either. There was no computers. They were in their houses dying their hair and fixing their clothes and for them that was their outlet and it was exciting.
Women photographers?
Punk was great for women. Punk helped women a lot. You know if you were a woman you could be in a group, a drummer or a singer. You could do anything you wanted. You could be a fan. You could be a photographer and nobody cared really and that was fab. Before that what girls were in bands? There weren’t any. Wasn’t it fabulous? You could wear underpants on stage, say rude words and preach and do all sots of things and get away with it. For me that was the right time and place to be a woman and very, very important.
Still an effect today?
I don’t think it lasted that long to be honest. It’s still a mans world. It must have done something. Now seems very contrived. Then it seemed innocent times. They did exactly what they felt like and it was accepted. It didn’t matter if you weren’t beautiful or you weren’t thin as long as you had something to say and you wanted to say it. From Ari Up to Blondie to Siouxsie to Chrissie Hynde to Poly Styrene.
What was your aim in your photos – was it premeditated or luck in the live situation?
Because my mindset is photographic for me it was just an extension of myself. Instead of writing a song which I couldn’t do, I could take a photo, capture the moment and it would be a part of me. What I took I felt was a part of myself. I like to show shoes in photos or they had a bit of humour in there. For instance Sham 69. They just look humorous because they weren’t serious. Or I would take the drummer out of Eater and have him stand up to see how small he was. He was about 12 or something. I think my pictures were used because they did have a bit of humour and a bit of social awareness. Nothing too deep. I’m not that kind of person. I’m also kind of shy and to for me to get the photo I had to speak to people and we would engage in discussion. Of course being a foreigner I always kind of stuck out a bit as well. I was just trying to take the picture and capture the moment and enjoy it really.
My favourite picture?
Pogo shot…one of them is actually Shane from the Nipple Erectors. They are all in mid-air and everyone else is in a circle around them backed away against the wall in that shot. You can see people who were around at that time. I think it really captures the moment. That’s the other thing; It was the clothing, it was the dancing, it was the gobbing and it was the camaraderie of the people from rich to poor. It didn’t last long.
How did you survive the crush?
It was nuts. I started at the front but soon moved to the back. I used a chair at one point but the gobbing that was pretty disgusting but as the bands got bigger they moved onto better stages and there were pits for the photographers. Gobbing was the worst. I had to wash every night. On leather it would slide right off. The worst was when they threw things. One time this huge chair went past my head and then the other time a huge heavy padlock just missed my ear. It was dangerous. It felt very dangerous. The pogoing – I’ve got a lot of shots that weren’t in focus!! I wish I had a digital camera it would have been easier. When I got more established I would go on the side of the stage. In those days you didn’t need photo passes or just shoot two numbers if you are lucky. Then you could shoot the whole gig. Now everything is fast, downloaded and emailed or uploaded. Back then I took the pictures, used my kitchen and took out all the stuff to develop them. I think my pictures are worth a lot more because I had to work hard for them and get the shot. Technically I was abysmal – there were disasters. For instance the flash might not work.
The end?
Punk lasted from From October 1976 and 1977 and by 1978 had disintegrated. Bryan left the Damned.. It changed a lot and I got disillusioned. I worked for the newspapers and worked for Punk Lives. The bands changed and the good taste left. The Mohicans came in. I was doing PR for the Police, the Who, Stones but I kinda left photography a bit. I was doing work for Kerrang. Bryan was in the Lords Of The New Church and then we split up. The punk thing had had its day. I had had my time and I was moving on. You don’t really realise the whole thing is changing and yourself.
If you can, get hold of Erica’s book ‘And God Created Punk.’ It’s probably out of print so eBay is your best bet. It’s crammed full of fantastic photos and complete with Mark P’s over the top prose in full flow. If you want to see more of Erica’s photos and indeed Ian Dickson’s and others pop along to the Redferns gallery.
TalkPunk
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