DB Burkeman speaks to Port about rediscovering his lost archive, turning it into a book, and capturing icons like the Sex Pistols and Iggy Pop
Many may know DB Burkeman as an early pioneer of electronic music. The British DJ, who went by the moniker DJ DB, moved from London to New York in the late-80s, co-founded Breakbeat Science, the first record store in the US to specialise in drum and bass, and was credited for introducing the genre to America. Fewer, however, may be aware of his work in photography.
Since stepping away from DJing in 2010, Burkeman has ventured into the art and publishing worlds, authoring books that explore the intersections of popular and counterculture. He launched his own publishing company, Blurring Books, with an aim to ‘disrupt’ traditional publishing practices through releases such as a peel-out art sticker book, which brought museum artworks from the likes of Andy Warhol, John Baldessari and Linder Sterling into the public domain via laptops, skateboards and phones.
His latest book, CRASH BANG: Pictures from a Punk, is a collection of 125 photographs that document the heyday of punk. Shot by Burkeman between 1976 and 1982 across London, New York and Los Angeles, the publication offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the lives and gigs of The Camps, Sex Pistols, Ramones, Debbie Harry, Iggy Pop, Siouxsie and the Banshees and more, who are snapped candidly backstage and in dressing rooms. “First off, I want to be clear,” asserts Burkeman, “I’m not fronting as being a photographer! I was a high school dropout who failed the one O-level exam I took (photography) but had ridiculous and grandiose ideas about being the next David Bailey or Helmut Newton.”
These photos – charmingly unsharpened and grainy in their appearance due to the film expiring – were left to gather dust for 40 years before being rediscovered. Below, Port chats to Burkeman about uncovering the lost archive, the musicians he met, and the moments that defined this iconic epoch.
Your new book compiles a collection of photos that were ‘forgotten’ for 40 years. Can you tell us about the moment of rediscovering them and what inspired you to turn them into a book?
Well, here’s how this all came about. When my mum died about eight years ago, my sister needed me to come home to clean out my old bedroom. Bedside drawer, I found a bag of about 20 undeveloped rolls of 35mm black and white film. I brought them back to New York to the best lab in the city, and asked them to develop them.
They asked how old they were and when I said 40 years; they said chances are there would be nothing on them. I asked them to develop them anyway, and about half of them were completely blank.
But then I saw the contact sheet for a Ramones show at the Rainbow, from Christmas Day 1977, which became their iconic live album It’s Alive. Then I saw the sheet for The Cramps at Mudd Club, a show that I’d completely forgotten I was even at. I couldn’t believe it – it was a very exciting moment!
For a while, I was thinking I wanted to make a zine of these photos (very punk etc.). But my friend Erik Foss told me I was a fucking idiot, and that the photos were important and deserved a real book. I had recently met Sammie Purulak, a young and very talented designer, who saw the photos and said, “Let me design the book!”.
The images are shot between 1976-1982 in London, New York and LA – otherwise known as the ‘heyday of punk rock and new wave’. What can you tell us about this period?
People will argue about when and where punk rock originated, but it caught fire in 1976. That’s when I started taking photographs because I left school and wanted to be a photographer.
These bands and this scene were the most exciting thing to be a part of. Part of it was simply a backlash towards the pompous, progressive music scene of the early 1970’s, when you could never get close to those musicians. Punk gave young people the confidence to try doing stuff themselves. I believe rave culture came out of that same DIY ethos, in the UK anyway.
Can you tell us about some of the musicians you’ve captured and your relationship with them?
For most of the bands in the book, I did not have any relationship with them, other than going to see them at gigs. But there are two or three that I was friends with for various reasons, the first being a band called The Tourists.
They lived in a squat above a record store called Spanish Moon in Crouch End, North London. As a 15-year-old, I had worked at Camden Lock Market selling records for Paul Jacobs, who went on to open Spanish Moon. The Tourists featured Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart before they formed Eurythmics. The band used me as their photographer and I had my first (and only) photo printed in NME because of them.
I was also friends with Patti Palladin. When she teamed up with David Cunningham of the experimental pop group, The Flying Lizards, Patti asked if I would do a proper photo session for their label Virgin Records. Those pictures are possibly the best and most professional photos I ever took.
What was your photography approach like – were you on the ground and getting involved, or were you more fly on the wall?
Mostly a fly on the wall for sure. I was painfully shy and socially very awkward.
You’ve mentioned that it was your drug use that allowed you into these intimate spaces with the bands, like dressing rooms etc. How does it feel looking back on this body of work, especially now that you’re clean? Would you have been granted such access if it wasn’t for the drugs?
Looking back at this period of my life is strange, and a little hard to describe emotionally. In fact, it’s almost emotionless. When I think about how crazy things got and how close to death I was, more than once, it’s similar to watching a film about someone else, not me.
I do believe that being in the mix of other very druggy people and bands did give me access to some places I would probably not have been invited to if I’d not been a fucked-up druggy myself. I consider myself very lucky to have gotten out of addiction. I have a bit of a dark sense of humour and was thinking of calling the book, Lots of Dead Friends. Not a very commercial title 😉
Can you pick out a favourite image and explain why it’s a favourite?
That’s like asking, “Who’s your favourite child?”! There are a few shots I really love.
The image we used on the cover was shot at my first girlfriend Kate’s 16th birthday party. These two kids, Danny and Nick just showed up and gate-crashed. They were the first two kids we’d met with ‘the haircut’. I’m told that one of them is still alive. I hope he sees the book.
For one photograph, Patti Palladin and I stayed up all night and she parked her car outside the gates of Buckingham Palace at 5am. I don’t think you could even get that close nowadays, you’d probably be shot if you did.
I love the couple of photos of Magenta Devine (RIP) and Tony James, dressed to the nines. The photograph shows the two super stylish guys strolling Portobello Road like it was a catwalk.
There is also a photograph of my then-girlfriend Sara, whose headshot was taken while we were living at the Chelsea Hotel in NY in 1979. People would mistake her for Poison Ivy from The Cramps.
Of course, the fact that I saw the Pistols and managed to capture those images is pretty cool. There are so many photos I could talk about …
The book certainly acts as a time capsule into this era. How do you hope your audience responds to this body of work?
I just hope people like it. I’m not one for preaching or messages, but if like me, you found the lure of drugs irresistible and then couldn’t stop, just know it is possible to have a fulfilling life without them.
CRASH BANG: Pictures from a Punk is available to pre-order here
