If you love rock, the chances are you’ll love an image by photographer Paul Harries. Fiona Adams meets the Teddington man who makes Ozzy et al look good
Paul Harries
For 1980s rock fans, the small Marquee Club on London’s Wardour Street was the place to be. There, amongst the jostling devotees, you might have seen a young man with a camera, drawn by his love of music, pushing his way to the front to try to capture his heroes on film.
A million miles, one might think, from leafy Teddington. It is here, however, in the high street’s newest café, Organically, that I have arranged to meet this determined young man. The years may have passed, but the passion is undimmed, and today Paul Harries is one of the most renowned rock photographers in the world.
Over the course of his career, predominantly at Kerrang! magazine, he has shot – among others – Ozzy Osbourne, Slash, Bruce Dickinson, Green Day, Muse, Slipknot, Biffy Clyro, AC/DC and Chester Bennington, lead singer of Linkin Park, who sadly died in July. Bennington, captured by Paul, graced the cover of a subsequent K! homage issue and the magazine had to be reprinted twice.
Paul’s subjects constitute a veritable Who’s Who of the rock world, yet he is equally at home on a drizzly Monday morning drinking a cappuccino with me. Dressed in black, with pierced ears and a delicate silver hoop through his nose, he certainly looks the part. As I quickly discover, however, he is a quiet and measured man, humble about his success.
It was in Romford, Essex, that Harries grew up, with parents Ron and Gillian and his little sister Joanne. Ron worked on the river at Tilbury; holidays were in a caravan at Clacton-on-Sea. But was it music or photography that first grabbed the young Paul’s imagingation?
“It was music that drew me into photography,” he explains. “It was the more visual artists that I really got into, like Adam and the Ants – the bands that had a bit of theatre about them.
“I couldn’t play any instruments. I tried! Then I thought: ‘Well, I haven’t got any talent for this, so let’s try to capture the visual side of things.’ I used to draw a lot, pictures of all these people, getting them down on paper in some way. Toyah, Adam Ant, Siouxsie and the Banshees – all those crazy looking people!”
After sixth form, Harries “weirdly ended up at the Bank of England” and enjoyed “earning a living, going out and having fun”. And it was during this period, while he was serving the grande dame of British monetary policy, that the photographic bug began to bite.
1 of 5
2 of 5
3 of 5
4 of 5
5 of 5
“The Bank of England turned everything around for me. They advertised for a new in-house photographer and I applied. I didn’t get the job, but it sparked me off and I started taking the camera to concerts. You could walk straight into the Marquee Club with one – nobody cared. I’d push my way to the front and take pictures. A few people that I’d met along the way used to produce their own fanzines, before we had websites, and they started to ask me if I’d do pictures for them.”
Even today parents would struggle with the idea of their son’s leaving the Bank of England to take pictures. But Paul was lucky.
“My parents were great. They were really worried about me leaving a good, steady job, but they knew I was unhappy, so they said: ‘Give it a year, see what happens and don’t worry.’ Fortunately, somebody who ran one of these fanzines had a call from Kerrang!, who needed someone for a job really quickly, and they recommended me.
“That was it, really: I was springboarded off into being a professional photographer!”
The stuff of dreams, I marvel.
“Well, yes,” he laughs, “though it took a bit longer than it did to tell you that story! I just kept politely bothering them.”
Since then, though now based in Teddington with his wife, Amanda and two children aged 15 and 10, Paul has travelled all over the world for K!, as well as for projects set up directly with bands. He particularly likes working with Black Veil Brides and Slipknot, with whom he collaborated ona book.
The popular perception, of course, is that musicians are among the most difficult divas in the firmament. Slipknot, for example – all masks and mad expressions – look frankly terrifying to me. Not so, says Paul. They are, in fact, “really lovely”.
“If you’re dealing with people, you have to make a real connection with them,” he says. “You can’t just be technical. Not if you’re going to get the best out of them.
“It’s all a performance, so I’m a bit more show-offy when I work. Of course, it depends what the band is like. You have to be in command to a certain extent. If you can get on someone’s wavelength, that always works, as does picking on one of the band members!
1 of 10
2 of 10
3 of 10
4 of 10
5 of 10
6 of 10
7 of 10
8 of 10
9 of 10
paul Harries
10 of 10
“Sometimes though, it’s the people that are actually quite ordinary who turn out to be moody! As a photographer you generally find that, if someone is making an effort to present themselves – whether it’s as crazily as Slipknot or just by doing something that gives them a visual style – if you’re trying to portray that, they’ll work with you. It’s the bands who don’t care what they look like that are more difficult.”
And a rock photographer's lot isn't always a glamorous one.
“These days everyone is feeling the pinch and budgets are tighter. Travel is OK, but it’s often a case of ‘fly in, do the job, fly back out again’, especially in America. I flew to Los Angeles once, arrived at my hotel around 10pm, woke up in the morning, had breakfast, did the shoot, packed my bags and went back to the airport. I didn’t even have time for jet lag!”
Still, Paul clearly loves his career and is proud of what he’s achieved.
“It’s nice to have come from Romford and ended up with all these rock stars from around the world. You never think that’s going to happen.
“I’m not really interested in the fame side, though. It’s the people I work with who are the stars – I’ve no desire to be the star myself. Even so, it’s nice that people know who I am through my work. I love it when I meet them at concerts and they say: ‘Are you Paul Harries? I got into photography because of you.’”
Needless to say, any fears that his mum and dad might have had about his leaving his sensible job have long since been dispelled.
“They think it’s great,” he says, before going on to relate a story which sums up parents the world over.
“I had been doing photography for a few years and I’d had magazine front covers and everything. My dad asked if I would do a bit of work for a guy he knew who ran a shop that made front doors and stair banisters.
“So, off I went to this shop and did the pictures. They were used in a full-page ad in the local paper, the Romford Recorder, and my parents were over the moon!
“I’d been to America and shot all these people...”
Paul tails off, shaking his head and laughing.
He might be big in Japan, London, New York and LA, but when it comes to impressing mum and dad, the only real way is Essex.
- Limited edition prints by Paul Harriesare available to purchase for £100.Visit: paulharries.com. Some of Paul’s work will also be on display at 1of1 Design, Teddington, in the Public Personae exhibition from Sept 8 – mid-Oct. Email info@1of1design.co.uk for an invitation to the private view.
Check out our Interviews Section for more great local celebrity chinwags
You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates on our latest articles
Sign up to our Weekly Newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and stories
Looking to advertise your business in Surrey or SW London? Check out our 11 different lifestyle magazines with a combined monthly distribution of over 210,000 AB1 homes
