Gered Mankowitz Interview

Gered Mankowitz and I caught up in Los Angeles, while he was in town for his book tour, promoting the release  “The Experience: Jimi Hendrix at  Mason’s Yard”. Gered is one of the most famous and credible rock photographers over the last 50 years, so yes, this is kind of a big deal to get to know him …

Reasons you may know Gered Makowitz:

• He has photographed icons, such as: Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Marianne Faithfull, Small Faces, Traffic, the Yardbirds, the Jam, Kate Bush, Slade, Sparks, Eurythmics and Jimi Hendrix.
• In 1965-1967 he was The Rolling Stones personal photographer.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Why might people know Gered Mankowitz? “I am the photographer of several images of Jimi Hendrix and also the Rolling Stones and Marianne Faithfull that have become iconic all over the world.”

(Marianne Faithfull pictured above by Gered)

Do you have a particular photograph of Jimi that you hold dearest in your new book you have just released? “There are many that I particularly like. The image on the cover, which is a new interpretation of this photograph, in it’s own way is my favorite, because it has had a life of it’s own over the last 20 or so years.”

Where were you on September 18th, 1970 when Jimi Hendrix passed away? “I have no idea. I know I was in London. I think saw a headline in one of the London evening papers, they come out in the middle of the day. I expect somewhere in the west-end of London where my studio was.”

What is your favorite Jimi Hendrix song? “Well, ‘Hey Joe’ was the song that was just entering the charts when I met him and started to work with him. So there is an association particularly with that song. At the time I met him I wasn’t that into his music, it went sort of over my head. But, I recognized there was an extraordinary talent and personality.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mBjG9chIFw[/youtube]
Do you recall the first record cover that impressed you? “There wasn’t really album art in those days. I know what you are talking about. Probably Elvis’ black and white album, would have been the first album to make an impact, I can’t remember at this very moment what it was called.”

Yeah, for so long it was really just the artist’s image on the cover, wasn’t it? “It was the artist image with a bit of badly designed type on it and that is why I wanted to change all of that. Well, me and several others of course … I am not obsessive about my music. But, I still got all my vinyl, so perhaps that makes me a collector.”

What was the first camera you ever used? “The first camera … the camera that changed my life, was a tiny little Italian camera. A Bencini Comet, my grandmother bought it for me, because I was showing an interest in photography. And she bought it and I started taking photographs and that led me to become seriously interested in photography.”

What is your go-to camera now? “It’s always been a Hasselblad, ever since I have made my work my photography.”

What was your favorite Rolling Stones show you recall while you toured with them? “No (stated very bluntly) I don’t because they have all blurred between each other and a lot of the photos I don’t remember which shows they were even taken at. However, the Academy Of Music in NY was particularly exciting, because it was very early in the tour and we were based in NY for the first 5 or 6 days. It was such a great gig, very high energy, screaming screaming kids and because we sped back to the hotel to party in the same city, it was particularly a good night. The rest of the tour, we had to fly out of the city we were in right after the show. NY had the celebratory high that a band deserves after a good show.”

(Poker, 1965, USA taken by Gered)

Who is the most intimidating person you have ever shot? “Bing Crosby. Because I was asked to do what turned out to be his last studio album cover. He was such a huge star, on a different planet to the Rolling Stones and The Beatles. He was very old. There was a tremendous tension around the session, mainly because of the record company. It was going to be called “Seasons”. On each of the folds of the album there was going to be a portrait that reflected the different seasons. We had a very high production set-up. He arrived, he didn’t say hello to anyone. I had to be the front man, so I said “these are the 4 outfits we have for you”. He looked at me and the outfits and just said “no”. He said “you shoot me in this”. He was wearing a red plaid golfing jacket and a little hat. We got him in front of the camera. On the Hasselblad you have 12 frames per roll. After 9 he gets up, starts to walk out and goes “that’s it, you got it, that’s it”. I got to sneak in 2 more frames and then he just got up and left. There was nothing we could do.”

Do you have a favorite wardrobe stylist to work with? “No I don’t like wardrobe stylists. I don’t like fashion very much. Most of my work was done at a time when stylists were not part of it, not part of a team. I don’t like hairdressers, makeup artists or stylists, they all dominate the shoot time, you only get a fraction of time. They create a barrier between the subject and the camera. However, the closest person to a stylist that I work with most is Sharron Daly, she is not really fashion stylist, she is an advertising props and production researcher and does amazing work.”

(Gered asks me if I am a fashion stylist. I laugh and respond with the answer no. We continue to talk about how cool I think it is that the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix were rocking their own style and not something picked out for them. They were making their look themselves. I started to wonder if he thought my outfit was lame.)

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Do you have a favorite genre of films? “No I don’t think I do. I don’t like horror. I am not wild about musicals. I like well made, well directed thrillers. Not crazy about Sci-Fi. I like indie films. Probably the Coen Brothers, I love the Coen brothers, they are a genre in and of themselves.”

What adjectives define Rock N’ Roll to you? “Exciting, loud, fabulous, scary, in your face, sexy, moody.”

What is a good piece of advice that a rockstar once gave you? “Uhhhh, I don’t know that Jimi gave me any advice. Charlie Watts, the drummer in the Rolling Stones gave me some advice, but I can’t remember what it was. Keith Richards told me some advice once (laughing in thought), he was very protective of me in 1965, he was like an older brother. Keith said to me that I have to be very careful about the girls that hang around rock n’ roll stars.”

Who is someone no longer living that you would have loved to work with? “Well the young Elvis, Bob Marley. Yes particularly those two stand out.”

Who was the biggest it-girl that you worked with? “Well Marianne Faithfull. Her and Mick were king and queen of the music world for some time. She was and is still a very very good friend of mine. Kate Bush and Annie Lenox were also it-girls, these are people I worked with. They were in their own way, I don’t particularly care for it as a term, because they were very huge artists, but they had an it-type popularity. I have never and just don’t work with people who are just famous for being famous. I photograph artists.”

(Kate Bush pictured above by Gered Mankowitz)

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

How would you describe the decor of your home? “My home is not a style. I live in a Victorian Farmhouse in Cornwall about 1/2 a mile from the sea. I have a lot of books, photography. In my media room I have a lot of my own work up. But, I wouldn’t really consider my home a particular style.”

Do you have a favorite snack? (Gered begins laughing at me) “I don’t snack much. But, my favorite snack would be mixed nuts and raisins.”

What was one of the most memorable clubs or nightlife places you recall from tour in the 60′s? “The music scene was relatively small. There was a very small club next to the studio called the Scotch Of St. James. They were all discotheque clubs, with a small stage and a restaurant. The Adlib Club was my personal favorite. The Adlib was in a penthouse, you had to go up in a glass lift, it felt terribly exciting.”

(Fun fact about the Adlib Club, this was the first place that John Lennon, George Harrison and their wives all took LSD together.)

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Where is somewhere you have traveled in your life that you suggest people visit? “New Zealand is an amazing country, it is full of exciting places.”

If you could have 1 song play every time you walked into a room, what song would you choose? “Well, ummm. I don’t know. ‘Stay’ by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs.”

‘Stay’ by Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs

What was a book that you read recently that you would recommend? “Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.”

:::::::: So, You Think You Know Gered Mankowitz? :::::::::::

Familiarize yourself with more of Gered’s work on his website. Or head over to Amazon to purchase Gered’s new book available now.

Check back each week for a new So, You Think You Know Me interview.

Goodbye Michael

I haven’t got much work done with Michael’s memorial going on. What did you think?

This is a little twisted (like Michael’s life) but I was waiting for him to pop out of the coffin and yell, “Surprise bitches! It’s me I’m back! I knew y’all still loved me.” Talk about the best comeback ever…. And it would be perfect timing with his concerts set to start in a week.

I felt like it was all pretty somber, sad stuff. Couldn’t it have been held at an outdoor venue? I don’t know why Kobe Bryant had to be a part of it as well?

Personally, I find caskets to be really creepy and it reminded me how I want to be cremated.

And what was with the E! entertainment commentators speaking about it afterwards? I’m not sure what the other networks did but I found it a little weird hearing from the same dbags that took such pleasure in mocking him, and talk about whether it was right to have his daughter, Paris, speak or not. That’s where I turned that fucker off. Dude is dead, memorial is over. Now you flip to an episode of Cheers that is already underway.

But on a serious note, hearing his daughter speak and his family was some powerful stuff and definitely helped to humanize Michael in a way that Kobe Bryant and Queen Latifah didn’t (for me at least).

This song has come to me. I don’t know why, I’m notorious for misreading things and it probably is about doing too much blow and eating Mars bars, but it somehow spoke to me and my mixed up lil mind.

The Rolling Stones – Ruby Tuesday