Due to an oversignt that brilliant cover photo of the Exploited on this months issue was not credited to the world renowned Paul Slattery. Paul has shot punk, metal and rock legends for 35 years or more. Paul took his first picture it 1975 at the Lyceum when he should’ve been studying for exams. It was a chance encounter with Lemmy from Motorhead that meant that the life of a Rock and Roll photographer became a reality and he subsequently went on to photograph The Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Ramones.
Going on to photograph such bands as U2, Joy Division, The Fall and The Specials he has flirted with Heavy Metal and survived drinking sessions with the likes of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and of course motörhead and counts Lemmy as a true gent and a number one rock god. In complete contrast he made some of the most iconic photographs of the Smiths in the mid eighties, and in the late eighties and early nineties he photographed the Stones Roses and a young Manic Street Preachers, bands that captured the spirit of the times. In February 1994 he was introduced to a then unknown band called Oasis with whom he eventually spent a year on the road. In between times he hitch hiked 2500 km over snowbound mountain passes across Tibet and spent several months in the Three Gorges area of the Yangzi River documenting life before the building of the Yangzi High Dam. Thousands of settlements and whole towns have been completely inundated by the rising waters, and over three million people have lost their homes. He is putting this book together at the moment. These days he is likely to be found photographing the English landscape, downtown Cairo, or at a gig photographing England’s No.1 band The Len Price Three. Paul’s photographs have appeared in thousands of magazines worldwide, over 100 books on rock and roll bands, and on numerous CD’s.
For a further insight into Paul's work take a look at "The Smiths - The Early Years," published by Vision On, Omnibus Press (2007) and Oasis - A Year on the Road, published by Vision On, Omnibus Press (2008) both are definitive photographic biographies of bands whose visual representation is a strong at the music they created.
