With so many of the senior set (Rolling Stones, Eagles, even the New York Dolls) filling concert stadiums this fall, rock ‘n’ roll can hardly be dismissed as a preoccupation of the young.
Its rejuvenating effects, however, are another matter, teases photographer Mick Rock.
“I feel a little bit vampiric, sucking on the blood of youth,” jokes the lanky Englishman, referring to more recent subjects like The Killers, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Perry Farrell, Kasabian and Orange.
For these musicians, the feeling is mutual. Rock’s frozen-in-time frames of David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Mick Jagger, Queen, the Sex Pistols, Blondie and their legendary peers have paved the way to new waves of rock stars, real and imagined, who’ve modeled themselves after his iconic images.
“I have a lot of freedom because I come dragging in this pedigree, having shot these characters,” muses Rock, who lives in skinny jeans, T-shirts, leather Converse high-tops and dark sunglasses. “And these are the very acts these young musicians give a damn about.”
No wonder, then, that the photographer, legendary in his own right and living in New York since 1977 (with wife Patsy Quinn and their 15-year-old daughter, Nathalie Rock), is undergoing a “resurrection,” as he prefers to call it. Not only did he document the wild side of rock, he lived it. A quadruple bypass eight years ago meant trading his more destructive habits for yoga and vegetarian meals. But the Cambridge-educated Rock remains the whirling dervish he’s always been, both behind and without the camera.
Recent exhibitions in Tokyo and Los Angeles and books jammed with photographs of glam and punk’s gods during their most influential years — musically, as well as aesthetically — don’t even measure up to the shows, shoots, additional books, documentary and product collaborations he has in store in the coming year.
For starters, a museum retrospective called “Rock ‘n’ Roll Icons: The Photography of Mick Rock” opens at the Urbis Cultural Center in Manchester, England, Sept. 28 (running through Jan. 5). Offered in the gift shop — and exclusive to Paul Smith shops, BowieNet and mickrock.com — is a collection of dishes and chairs screened with Rock’s memorable images by the London outfit Mosley Meets Wilcox.
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He stars in ads for Fuji, the show sponsor, and has added the F-10 digital model to his arsenal, which includes another digital, the Canon EOS (“I like the immediacy,” he says”) and his beloved Hasselblad.
During his three-week visit to England, he will shoot 10 of British rock’s rising stars for the U.K. edition of GQ. “Moonage Daydream,” Rock’s collaboration with Bowie (who wrote about 15,000 words for the book) will launch at the Apart Gallery in London Oct. 11. The London show is a retrospective of his work, including some of his images of black cats and erotically charged women.
Also on the way is a book of his intimate on- and behind-set stills of the “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” timed to the cult film’s 30th anniversary this year, as well as “Iggy and the Stooges Raw Power” with a forward by Iggy Pop, and the rechristened book “Glam” (published in 2001 as “Blood and Glitter”) with a foreword by Bowie.
Then it’s back to New York for the opening of a show similar to the London exhibition on Oct. 20 at the Morrison Hotel Gallery. The show moves west to its sister gallery of the same name in La Jolla, Calif., Nov. 17.
Rock isn’t considering the year-end holidays as a break. A Lou Reed book (Rock has documented Reed for decades, and is responsible for the “Transformer” cover), as well as shows in San Francisco, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and London all require his attention.
He will also need to wrap up editing film he recently took of Japan’s top Kabuki theatrical company, Nakamura. Controversial master Kanzaburo gave Rock unprecedented access during his recent weeks in Tokyo. An exhibition will also travel to Paris, Berlin and elsewhere next year.
Shooting the Kabuki artists, says Rock, “links me full circle with the glam thing. Kanzaburo’s been very keen to bring it to the younger generation. And, let’s face it, youth are fascinated by all things glammy and punk.”