John Lydon by Tony Mott. “Getting the lighting right for that was bloody difficult, especially with the punks surging – it was difficult to be in the right place, but I got it”.
“When they brought my first photo they paid me $20 or something ridiculous. And then the band’s Manager told me my name was on the door. I didn’t really know what that meant. I thought he meant my name was literally on a door. So I kept paying for about a month until he caught me and said ‘What are you doing!? Your name is on the door!’ I was green in those days…”
Since starting out as an obsessive punter in the thick of Sydney’s live scene, Tony Mott has produced a prolific amount of work. His iconic images have filled countless magazines, street press, books and exhibitions, he has worked with hundreds of rock, pop and punk figures, toured with the Rolling Stones, been told to fuck off by Bob Dylan, had his balls grabbed by Perry Farrell. Thirty years have indeed given Tony Mott a first-class citizenship in the circus.
Starting as an ex-pat chef in the Kings Cross of 1981, Mott obsessively worked his after-hours – often in his checked chef’s scrubs – hunting the beer-lights of Sydney’s gig heart, camera in hand. It was a great time. Sydney was a notoriously fertile circuit of big and small acts – all gigging, drinking and playing corner to corner.
“I was relatively happy as a chef” Mott tells The Barrelhouse. “But I had realised England was a shit hole and came to Sydney in the early 80s. And in Sydney the live music scene was phenomenal. London in particular at that time was dreadful – live music was really struggling despite the punk era. The Sydney music scene was arguably the best in the world. You could have stayed in one suburb and seen good bands seven days a week quite comfortably”.
Tony Mott’s first muse – the late, great Chrissy Amphlett of The Divinyls. Image by Tony Mott.
“I wandered into the Piccadilly Hotel, Kings Cross, on a rainy Monday night for a beer and to watch whatever resident band was playing. I got lucky: it was the Divinyls pre-record deal, playing every Monday night. It was not long before I decided to try and capture on film the manic performances of one Chrissy Amphlett. Luckily, nobody but myself asked to see the photos – they were crap. However, week-in week-out I tried to capture her in all her glory. And slowly but surely I became better at it – and so began a career as a rock photographer. For which I’ll always be indebted to her.”
By the sixth month the manager finally approached him. “He’d obviously seen me milling down the front taking photos. He asked me if he could have a look. They bought one for the poster – it was a huge thrill”.
“That was the poster on the streets and that was the start of it… So then the next big thing was, oh my god – I don’t have to pay to get in? This is brilliant! That was the big bonus – not making money. Being paid to get into gigs. Fantastic”.
The Divinyls’ Chrissy Amphlett by Tony Mott.
“I worked out I’ve photographed over 400 female artists live, and Chrissy is number one amongst them” Tony Mott said shortly after her death in 2013. “To say I’m feeling a huge loss still doesn’t say it all; bloody hell, we just lost the strongest, most powerful voice and mover. No choreography for Chrissy, no bells and whistles, she meant every movement”.
By the mid-eighties Sydney’s street music magazines made their appearance. Mott became a regular contributor. “There was a period there were there was nothing I didn’t shoot” adds Mott. “I shot anything and everything – even when there was no purpose to it. There was not a band that came to town that I didn’t shoot – even if no one was interested in it, it didn’t stop me. I shot everything that moved”.
But his work was about to be dialled up a notch or two. “Around that time Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had had a falling out,” he starts. “And Mick did a dreadful solo album and toured to promote it. Tony King – who is basically Mick Jagger’s personal manager – hired me for that tour. That began a relationship with Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones…”
Jagger already had an affinity with Australia. “His mum was fourth generation Australian and lived on Parramatta Road at Petersham (back then the inner belt of Sydney’s working class. For more on the relatively unknown story of the Jagger’s working class Sydney origins read here). He was very interested in Australia in general. I spent a lot of time photographing various family members on the ’95 tour. I got on with Mick well and we spoke often”.
Mick Jagger as icon. Mother fourth generation Australian. Image by Tony Mott.
Keith Richards with ‘Micawber’ – his famous trademark 1953 Fender Telecaster Blonde (used since Exile on Main Street). “Right time, right place” says photographer Tony Mott. “It doesn’t get any better than touring with the Rolling Stones – it’s never got any better since. It is the epitome for rock n roll photographers”.
“Keith; he tends to be a musician and communicates mainly with them. He’s not that fussed about photographers. He said hello every now and then. But as for The Stones – they’re as good as it gets in terms of giving you the access you need to get what you need. They’re incredibly generous, and, also, they just happen to be the Rolling Stones. The cliched thing about them being the greatest rock n roll band in the world just happens to be true really”.
The intimacy of Mott’s profession also reveals some interesting insights into the nature of the iconography business. As far as icons go they don’t loom larger than Dylan.”I met Bob Dylan on two occasions. I’m not quite sure if the persona he presents is real… I think he’s very bored of being treated like a God”.
Bored Dylan? Image by Tony Mott.
Bob Dylan and Tom Petty, by Tony Mott.
“When I shot him in ’86 it was incredibly difficult to shoot – the light was really bad shooting on film and eventually the tour Manager said ‘Bob wants to talk to you about photos’. And I got to meet the man himself. I went in the room he sort of mumbled about ‘the middle bit’. He kept going on about how he didn’t like the middle bit. I couldn’t quite work out what he was talking about. So I kept making up excuses saying ‘It’s really low light’ and ‘Maybe I can do better later on’. When I mentioned it to the Manager he said ‘Oh he probably thinks you’re the sound guy'”.
“I think he plays games with people. He also told me to ‘go forth and multiply’ in front of twelve thousand people… and I was the official photographer. He’d met me, and in mid song he told me to fuck off. In front of twelve thousand people, as well. Quite embarrassing, really. Anyway, so I did”.
Kurt Cobain by Tony Mott.
Kurt Cobain by Tony Mott
The moment highlights a fundamental principle for the rock photographer. “Never mistake a musician for a model” says Mott, seasoned in both studio shoots and the more organic live environment. “They’re not necessarily thespian, or comfortable in front of a camera. Freddy Mercury would be a prime example of that – live, no one was more comfortable, outrageous or flamboyant. Nine times out of ten he’d have the entire audience eating out of the palm of his hand. But offstage he wasn’t comfortable having his portrait taken. It’s a contradiction and it’s quite peculiar but it’s not uncommon”.
Not so for Jane’s Addiction’s Perry Farrell.
“There’s a possibility he’s insane” laughs Mott. “Which didn’t hinder me in any way. The first time I met him he said ‘we need to have trust between us’. And I said ‘Sure, I trust you, you trust me’ – and he said ‘No, no – proper trust‘. And then he said ‘Close your eyes for 10 seconds. I didn’t and he said ‘Where’s the trust?’ so I closed them and he grabbed hold of my balls and gave them a huge squeeze. I was relatively shocked, but he said ‘NOW there’s trust’.
“We got on like a house on fire after that. He is who he is – he never fails to entertain and thank the lord there are artists like Perry Farrell around. He’s so under rated. He’s never really crossed over into mainstream and he stays true to what he does, but I think he’s under rated. By God, is he eccentric”.
Would you trust this man? Perry Farrell, by Tony Mott.
Watch out. Perry Farrell with Nick Cave. Image by Tony Mott.
One of my favourite Tony Mott images is the iconic photo Johnny Rotten on sardonic ascension, wreathed in a fluorescent halo.“I’ve met him several times since then,” says Mott. “He puts on his Johnny Rotten persona. He almost plays Rotten in the third person – it’s a character that he portrays. But I’ve never found him anything less than amusing – he’s sharp as a tack. He certainly often takes a contradictory stance for the purpose of making things interesting. That Irish barroom argument and discussion – he’s totally into that”.
“The Johnny Rotten picture is one of my favourites. It was in the day before crowd barriers, so I was literally pogo-ing in with about a dozen other punks while taking it. And getting the lighting right for that was bloody difficult with that phluoro around the neck”.
Tony Mott with his photo of the holy John Lydon.
Finally we talk about how the music, the scene and the photography have changed since the early days of 1981 – and the dawning of the Digital Age. “I was dragged into the digital age kicking and screaming” he admits. “Nikon presented me with a D3 and it really was made for live photography – no grain, no noise. The first time I shot it was Judas Priest and I couldn’t believe how much I was getting back. It’s a lot easier shooting live than it used to be.
“But the change has seen the death of magazines. I just shot the Red Hot Chili Peppers – when I shot them in 2000 I sold twenty-eight photos around the world and this time around I sold three. The internet is the way of the future – but it hasn’t quite caught up with paying proper money for photos. And the gigs aren’t there to support it. It’s a new world out there. But you have to adapt. And its the blogs and everything that are really adapting”.
While Mott is moving with the landscape he laments the death of the music scene – once the source and inspiration for his journey. “I was with Metallica about two years ago, doing a shoot the guitarist said to me ‘I really want to go see a band’. 11pm on a Friday night – we struggled. That’s sad. Twenty years ago I wouldn’t have had to make inquiries. You’d just go and find them”.
But thirty years later his philosophy remains parallel to the technique; being in the right place at the right time. “That always helps – but the art of it is knowing where the right place is and making sure its the right time. And for every moment, usually 125th of a second – you get it right, you miss plenty as well. It’s not 100%. I’m very proud of my work, but for every shot people love I can name six I missed. You always present your best stuff but there’s plenty of opportunities you can miss as well”.
It doesn’t sound like Mott has missed many. As his website generously says – ‘If you don’t see an image or artist you are looking for, get in touch’.
For sheer volume check out Tony’s site http://www.tonymott.com/index.html
Some of Tony’s memorable photographs have also recently been collated into one impressive book, ‘Rock n Roll Photography is the New Trainspotting’.
