The Burning Up Times - Strangled.co.uk

The Stranglers in 2007. © Chris Gabrin
Burning Up Times Issue 3
whereas in a professional studio, I have
more control over these things.
Did you ever see the band in the
recording studio?
There was a studio in Fulham…
TW Studios?
That’s right – with Martin Rushent. At the
time, they were putting overdubs on Bring
On The Nubiles.
What were Stranglers gigs like back in
1977?
I remember that fi rst tour. Of course, there
was a lot of violence. It was endemic,
really. Punk was fairly aggressive. It was
like a football crowd where 99% are well
behaved, and the 1% are drunken louts
spoiling it. But The Stranglers did not like
being spat at. That was fact. The tabloid
press were having a riot, and venues were
trying to cancel gigs because of
all the hype. We’d get to hotels to fi nd our
reservations cancelled – it was almost as
if we were about to eat their children or
something!
Are you still in touch with Hugh?
I moved out to Los Angeles for a time and
I lost touch with a lot of people. So no,
I’m not.
What are you working on nowadays?
I became a one-parent family, so I’ve not
been in the game much, just bringing
up my daughter. But I’m slowly easing
myself back, now she’s at college. I tend
to sell my portraits through galleries.
With all the well-known names you’ve
worked with over the past thirty-odd
years, which artist stands out?
I suppose, Ian Dury. I’d known him
from about 1972, when he was in
Kilburn and the High Roads, but I’d
never photographed him. He started
recording New Boots and Panties,
and played me some tapes. We ended
up driving round Victoria looking
for a good shot for the album’s front
cover – Peter Blake knew this old
second-hand clothing shop that sold
costumes from the surrounding
theatres, and when he was a student,
he used to go there to get cheap
garb. We found it, and Ian stood in
front of it for me. At the time he
was going through a divorce, so
that day, he had custody of his son,
Baxter, who was with us. As Ian
stood there, Baxter just walked in
shot and stood beside him. Anyway,
the following evening, Ian called
round to my studio. It was no mean
feat for disabled Ian,
who had scaled the fi ve fl ights of stairs. He
came into the dark room. and we looked
at the contacts. We got to the one with
Baxter in, and we both knew that that was
the one for the cover.
Who are your photographer heroes?
Richard Avedon, Irving Penn and Bill
Brandt. I said this in an interview the
other day with [‘well-known music glossy’]
on famous album covers, and they asked
for my all-time Top 3 photographers.
Instead of Richard Avedon, they put
David Hamilton – the name of an awful
early ‘70s soft core porn director. I wasn’t
pleased at all!
St. Pancras Way studio contacts sheets
graciously supplied by Chris Gabrin. ©
Chris’ website can be found here: www.
chrisgabrin.co.uk
Autographed Grip supplied by Andrew
Robinson
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