Made at The Olympic: an interview with Rock n Roll photographer Simon Fowler
Queen at The Olympic, © Simon Fowler
In this edition of ‘Made at The Olympic’ where I’ll be interviewing artists, photographers and engineers involved in the creation of work at The Olympic, I spoke with photographer Simon Fowler. From photographing music legends, like Springsteen, Bowie and the enigmatic Freddie Mercury as part of Queen, Simon Fowler has a pedigree and history that would make any photographer or music fan jealous. You could sooner list off those he didn’t shoot in the the 80s than those he did… The Jacksons, Tina Turner, Led Zeppelin to name a few. He’s done it all, from magazine and album covers to concert and theatre posters. I stumbled across an image he shared on Instagram of the band Queen taken right here at The Olympic, when they were recording their album The Miracle in 1989. And caught up with him to find out how that shoot came to be and discover more about the pressurised, glory filled reality of the life of a rock n roll photographer.
Fowler is initially a little flustered on the call, having just got back from a day with the grandkids but soon warms up as a well and truly worthy raconteur. I began by asking how his first shoot with Queen came to be. “It was 1989 when I got my first phone call from Paul Prenter, Freddie's personal assistant. So, I've got the phone in one ear, and I’m in the middle of doing something and I thought he asked if I wanted to photograph “Cream”… And I thought it can't be Eric Clapton, surely… It could be, but then I said “who is the band again?” And he said Queen and I thought s*** and nearly dropped the phone.” I’m sure he counts himself lucky for picking up that call.
He’d been invited to shoot the band in Munich at a studio whilst they were recording 'Hot Space', their 10th studio album. Prenter had warned him he “might get ten minutes, half an hour at most, or go over there for no reason at all and get nothing”. Fowler thought it was worth the risk and ended up getting three hours with them. And so began a long and fruitful collaboration between photographer and artist. He even managed to play a little in the recording session when Roger got him to “do some stick work”, so to this day he hopes that he’s “still on the album!”.
Queen recording Hot Space in Munich (Simon Fowler)
“I got my first phone call from Paul Prenter, Freddie Mercury's personal assistant. And I thought he asked if I wanted to photograph “Cream”. But then I said “who is the band again?” And he said Queen and I thought s*** and nearly dropped the phone.”
That first shoot set the precent for the 15 or so shoots that followed throughout the years from 1981-1991. As Fowler put it, “from that point they just kind of trusted me and we built up an easy relationship”. Even if the shoots were often at a moment’s notice and he was promised very little, he would always manage to get something great. In fact, he felt they’d always “do their stuff to help me. And definitely weren’t a hinder to the process”.
When it came to the shoot at The Olympic, it took place in breaks during the recording of their 1989 album, The Miracle and he was again under the Kosh. The Olympic at the time was a huge space, three studios where “one band would take over the whole building”. Queen would be “doing something for an hour, then come into the studio and say we’ve got ten minutes. And bam. There's no make-up, no set dressing. They’d do their bit, then go off to do something else and two hours later, you’re trying to wrangle them into a different setup”. Often with Mercury cooing at Fowler “Simon darling, how long is this gonna take?”. Time was limited and patience even more so! The stakes were naturally higher at the time as everything was shot “on film”, no digital correcting in post. He made a particularly telling observation that it was Freddie who led the charge on the importance of aesthetics for the band. Every time it would be him “pushing them into doing stuff… otherwise the boys probably wouldn't have done anything, and I mean that nicely, they just weren’t that interested”.
Queen on the train, heading to The Olympic, © Simon Fowler
Fowler enjoys the kind of pressure of a short, sharp shoot, he likens it to “a performance”, where “five minutes felt like half an hour” because he would have an entire studio of people looking at him going “come on, come on, come on”. Despite the stress of moments like this, he found that often “when you have to shoot from the hip… you get a cracking shot that you weren't expecting.”
Freddie led the charge on the importance of aesthetics for the band. Every time it would be him “pushing them into doing stuff… otherwise the boys probably wouldn't have done anything”.
Freddie on the set of the iconic music video ‘I want to break free’, © Simon Fowler
The now iconic images from Queen’s satirical music video for ‘I want to break free’ taken by Fowler which featured the band dressed up in drag as an ode to iconic British soap, Coronation Street, was a particularly memorable time. He recalled of the experience that “it was kind of a weird one… bit of a double edged sword, because you've got this massive rock band dressing up in drag” which was great fun but at the time was very brave . Now it may be “considered a norm” but back then, it certainly was not. Brian May more recently described how he felt that the music video for ‘I want to break free’ had turned American fans and MTV specifically against them for a period. What Fowler remembers the most though is “laughing a lot, which everybody did” seeing Fred “with his big Tash, put on a wig and boobs on and a little mini skirt” and “Brian with curlers in his hair and Roger looking, well, really very pretty”! What a time, to be part of something so revolutionary and cutting edge.
Fowler enjoys the kind of pressure of a short, sharp shoot, he likens it to “a performance”, where “five minutes felt like half an hour”.
The mercurial David Bowie was another artist Fowler was lucky enough to shoot live, someone that was a “big hero” of his. And who with his sparkling charisma made the job almost easy. He was just “one of those guys that naturally did interesting things.” At a concert of David Bowie’s in Earls Court he would be “watching him and go ‘Oh God, there's a photograph. Oh my God, it's another photograph.” And very humbly said, “outside of focusing the camera, I didn't do much…He did the rest.”
David Bowie, live at Earls Court, © Simon Fowler
Drawing the conversation to a close I had to ask what initially drew him to photographing musicians. He admits he “played in a band when I was very, very young. And initially wanted to be a musician.” But had always had an interest in photography, and after college was fortuitously offered a job at LFI (London Features International), where Mike Putland a superstar photographer was at the helm. Putland photographed everybody – The Stones, The Who, Zeppelin and became a bit of a mentor to Simon, who truth be told he “learnt more from in two weeks with him than” he “did in three years of college!”.
Reflecting on his career, he now feels blessed that he saved and copied some of his imagery. Explaining that “record companies are notoriously bad for archiving imagery properly”. Often, he would do a shoot “and then 15 years later” it’s nowhere to be found. This is something I’ve certainly found to be true when it comes to back filling The Olympic’s archive. Fowler went on to say how grateful he is for the foresight to have kept all of the black and white images from his shoots. Where would we be now without this archive of incredible artistic history? Before the internet and Instagram ruled our lives, photographs were a printed moment in time, between two artists, the musician and the photographer, and aren’t we lucky to be able to experience a piece of it today. Or as he said, “thank God I did that”. Thank God indeed.
Take a look at Fowler’s extensive portfolio via his website, where you can also purchase limited edition and signed prints.