JPG: By 2005 did you hook up with the Rock Hall?
JM: They already had Neal Hamilton as staff photographer. So, I shot some of the early stuff as a freelancer for the Rock Hall like the American Music Masters. I must have had some outlet for that. I tried to dig corporate clients but my corporate clients and interests were more non-profit art organizations. I loved working, and I still do, for Playhouse Square, the Cleveland International Film Festival, Ingenuity Festival, things like that.
I was getting back in my wheelhouse then. Once you let me run wild at something like Ingenuity Festival then I’m feeling creative again because I can look at all those different artists and what they’re doing and…so I was getting back in the groove. Working for arts organizations really helped me do that.
JPG: You mentioned in the book that Panic! at the Disco are one of the newer artists you enjoyed shooting. Are there other artists in the past decade that you’ve discovered and ignite that creative spark when you photograph them?
JM: I took a suggestion [laughs]. That was my niece who said, “Panic! at the Disco!” She saw them a couple times when she was a junior or senior in high school. I looked at a Youtube video on them and thought, “Oh! They’re pretty cool. I like them!” So, I got a photo pass to shoot them at Nautica. That was fun.
At the Rocksino, Alabama Shakes, love them. They were fun to shoot. I’m sure there are many more I just have to discover them. I shot the Alternative Press Music Awards in 2014 for Gibson guitars. I saw bands that were interesting but…somebody has to be really really special in a band for me to get interested in them. Brendon [Urie] from Panic! at the Disco is just a real interesting character.
It’s knowing the music and the musicians and what their tendencies are. If you go to them fresh and new if you haven’t seen any video but now you can because you can just go to Youtube then you have to do that in the first minute or so and see what people’s mannerisms are. You know what you need to get out of that. It’s anticipation so you know when to shoot.
JPG: What are the things that you are trying to get when you’re taking photos?
JM: Oh, wow…it’s obviously different for everybody. With three songs [limit], for example, you’ve got to focus on who are the stars in the band. Is it the lead singer? Is it the lead singer and the lead guitarist? Do they have a drummer that you can get a clear shot, if there’s a lot of action, and he’s well-known?
It is different for every band. You’re just looking for that dynamic moment, and, unfortunately, you have entertainers who don’t give you those, sometimes. Then, you’re just looking for a nice attractive shot.
One of the things about digital and lighting and all that stuff — and I’ve done this with performers – if it’s a really boring performer and they’re not giving me anything because there are not much facial expressions. They don’t move away from the mic. They have a guitar. Then, you just wait for swatches of color to come through on some computerized lighting so I can get some red or blue going through the back of that person. You’re just trying to make an attractive photo. I want everybody to look good.
If they’re an exciting performer I’m going to get that. If they’re not I’m still going to make them look as good as I can make them look.
JPG: With the current restrictions on photographers – only two or three songs in the photo pit or placed back at the soundboard being a couple examples — “All Access” also becomes a sentimental trip when rock ‘n’ roll was a bit wilder rather than as tightly structured now.
JM: That’s the response I’ve been getting from the people who’ve grown up with rock n’ roll, whether or not they’re working it like you, but you’re also a music fan. That’s what we all started off being; a fan of the music. People who went to the World Series of Rock [at Cleveland Stadium] or used to go to the Agora every Monday night, they come back and go, “Wow! I had such a great time with that book. Thank you for putting all of this down.” Those are their memories. It brings ‘em back to however old they were when they were hanging out at the Agora, going to the World Series of Rock, whatever their favorite concert memories were. I might not have been at their particular favorite show but I think I hit enough shows or memories in that book that people just like going back in time.
JPG: What makes the book more universal rather than just being something for Northeast Ohio music fans is that it represents a period in rock ‘n’ roll – the innocence and naiveté of the ‘70s when it was easier to get started and go backstage and meet people.
JM: I can’t be really positive when…I did a talk at Cleveland Institute of Art and I had a couple of photographers that came up to me and said, “I want to do what you do.” I said, “Well, it’s a little more difficult these days.” What I tell them is, “Shoot where you can shoot. Shoot in clubs. Shoot local bands.” One showed me on her cellphone — I think she shoots with a real camera — but she was totally doing it already. What she would do is go down and shoot those free performances at the Rock Hall on Wednesdays during the summer, and she’s getting great shots. They don’t ask about photo passes. It’s like, “Come on and shoot.” I said, “You’re doing it.” Sometimes they were outside. Sometimes they were inside with stage lighting. And I said, “You are building a portfolio and you’re getting experience doing exactly what you want to do. I don’t have anything to tell you. You’re already doing it.”
JPG: You could have also said as I discovered with some photographers I meet. “You might want to have a lucrative career on the side.”
JM: I also said to those photographers, “Do pursue this because you love this but do every kind of photography you can to pay the bills because you’re going to have to.”
JPG: Going back to the book, are you an organized person who was able to pull the photos right away? On the other hand I read that you were going through your work and discovering shots that were not previously used?
JM: All the slides and all the negatives are organized alphabetically. In each, every band has their own little envelope, where if I shot Springsteen 12 times all those concerts are listed on that. The proof sheets tell what the show is, what the date was. So, I could go back and find things.
Where I was finding things I hadn’t seen before were instances like U2 in 1983. When U2 in 1983 came through, just for immediate use, I probably printed off a couple shots of Bono. I’m pretty sure that’s how I worked that show, and sent ‘em off because they were relatively new. When I went to revisit it, I’m looking at three rolls of film and I go, “Look. I shot everybody else, too.” (slight laugh) I find all these photos including Bono trying to get into the crowd.
It’s fun. It’s just the way you perceived that shoot at a certain time or what was valuable for you in the moment was just to get a couple shots out of Bono. And now, it becomes a whole different story as you look back at it and I scanned more negatives. I think I did that with Led Zeppelin in ’77 and a bunch of other shows that I took a different view of and found some nice looking nuggets.
JPG: I noticed that a lot of your work is in black and white, which gives it a particular look and feel. Was that an artistic choice?
JM: It’s the era in which I photographed, and the magazines or newspapers that I worked for primarily used black and white. That’s why we all shot black and white. It was a rare instance when we would use colored slide film. Some of the magazines like Circus had a glossy paper and started using more and more color. And a lot of photographers then switched over to slides. I would carry some slide film but I would only use it if I felt that I could sell it in that manner. I always shot black and white but then I would throw in some color too if I felt I had a market for that band in color.
JPG: Obviously, the cost for black and white film was cheaper…
JM: …and you can process it yourself.
JPG: But also, was there an artistic reason behind it too? If you’re shooting a show now would you lean towards black and white or color?
JM: For example, I think all jazz and blues should be in black and white just because. I shot Asleep at the Wheel at some funky little club for the Rock Hall. It was during the American Music Masters week. And they’re a country swing band. So, I shot them and I made some of the images black and white just because I thought this is timeless stuff. Some of these photos and the kinds of music are just timeless, and if the artist looked that way, often, I’ll convert them into black and white.
Artistic decisions. I love my black and white photos much more than I love my color photos but I think that all of us who were shooting back then…Robert Alford talked at the Rock Hall. He used to work at Creem magazine and he was doing the same thing that I was doing only he was from Detroit. I went back to see him before he went on to do his talk. We’re sitting at this conference table and I said, “How did you budget your film back then?” And he goes, “Oh, you did that, too!” Even though a roll of film might not have cost that much, we didn’t have any money. Photographers didn’t have any money. If you went to the show with six rolls of film, you had to know how you were going to use your film. For example, you’d give an opening act half a roll of film, half a 36 [frames] roll. We’re talking about this and he’s doing the same thing that I’m doing. I said, “An opening act?” He goes, “Half a roll of film.”
Depending on the band you were shooting, if you knew about them enough, you’d have to gauge how much film you were going to give these people. Like a Led Zeppelin three-hour show, they let me shoot a three-hour show. So, I’m sitting there going, “I don’t know what’s going to happen here. Okay, I’m just going to sit here and wait for cool shit to happen.” And that’s what you did because if you got all gung ho and started using up your film at the beginning, what happens if something outrageous happens later on and you don’t have any film? I still have nightmares about that, like I’d be at Public Hall in ’64, of course I’m not because I’m 10 years old, The Beatles are there and they say, “Hey, c’mon back and shoot some pictures backstage,” and I don’t have any film. (laughs) So, it was maybe an artistic decision but it was mostly a decision out of necessity.
JPG: Obviously, that worked well for you. I’m thinking of the David Bowie shot, the Paul McCartney shot that’s in the National Portrait Gallery in London…
JM: They wouldn’t be the same if it wasn’t black and white. And if it wasn’t organic black and white shot with film, it wouldn’t look the same.
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