PUNK ARCHIVES

By the mid 1970s the excesses of mainstream rock had taken its toll. The two-minute guitar solo was soon replaced by the two-minute song through a growing legion of new bands. This was Punk rock, a new form of music which had emerged out of the garage rock scene of the 1960s and the protopunk bands of the late 60s and early 70s. Groups like the Remains, the Seeds, the Knickerbockers and the Chocolate Watch Band and most especially The Stooges, The Velvet Underground and The New York Dolls, became the progenitors of this new thing called Punk. New York City was probably the place where this catharsis of the young and restless began, where bands like the Ramones, the Patti Smith Group, Television, the Heartbreakers, Richard Hell, Blondie, Roxy Music and Talking Heads inspired others to take up arms and produce new forms of music, art, poetry, graphics and fashion. New Wave and Art Rock would become the two other terms used to describe some of the bands and music from this galvanizing period of the 1970s.

What emerged in New York also began happening elsewhere. London, Los Angeles and Boston are all places most people think of when it comes to Punk and New Wave, but few would ever consider Tampa, Florida as being another. Although Zenith Nadir was a cover band, it was probably this new wave foursome that not only became the inspiration but the motivation for a number of Tampa area bands to form and write original tunes. That was, after all, the true spirit of Punk and its DIY ethic.

The Shades, the Strait Jackets and the Jetsons led this charge, with the Jets, Stick Figures, Not Much, Triple XXX Girls and The Shades following close behind. Tampa had a small but vibrant scene in the 1970s, one that remains unparalleled to this day for the energy, originality and creativity that it contained. Musically speaking, the Jetsons, the Strait Jackets and the Stick Figures all should have had label deals, but this was Tampa, not New York.

It was not easy being from Florida, nor was it an easy time for many bands who decided to come to the Sunshine State. In fact, it was at a hot, muggy trailer park in Tampa where the New York Dolls decided to call it quits.

By the time I moved to Tampa in 1978, Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan of the Dolls had not only formed the legendary Heartbreakers in NYC but released their first and only studio album. This was L.A.M.F., which upon release in October 1977, helped fan the flames of the punk scene in Tampa. Other landmark punk releases between 1977 and 1978 included Radio Birdman’s Radios Appear, the Buzzcocks’ Another Music In A Different Kitchen, the Ramones’ Leave Home, Rocket To Russia and Road to Ruin, and Blondie’s Plastic Letters and Parallel Lines.

These recordings spurned a live music scene in Tampa like no other, but limited to the few places who dared to host such events. The Buffalo Roadhouse, The Empty Keg at the University of South Florida, Ms. Lucky’s (once known as the Wild Boar, a famed drinking spot of Jack Keroauc) and a biker bar called Mi Back Yard, all became the venues which were somewhat open to the unheralded punk and new wave beat.

This vibrant, engaging and growing music scene cohabited by artists and intellectuals soon became the main subject for my camera. From local legendary bands and the celebrated touring acts, to the individuals who made the scene what it was, I shot as much of it as I could within my limited means as a student, and did so because I knew it wouldn't last forever. I worked mostly in black and white, using Kodak Tri-X, which was perfect for my subject matter, but also shot in color on rare occassion, capturing things in more realistic tones.

By the early eighties that magical time had dissloved as music and life itself changed, and everyone went their seperate ways, or in some cases seperate ways together. As Ernest Hemingway once said, "I never had to choose a subject—my subject rather chose me," and this was very much true, not just for me and camera, but for everyone who had been a part of this creative, turbulent and special period in history.

Photographs from Craig Snyder's archive include the groups, the groupies and the people who made up a portion of the Punk and New Wave scene of the late 1970s. Images include renowned bands from the US and UK, onstage and backstage, such as 999, the Ramones, Gang of Four, The Psychedelic Furs, Iggy Pop and U2.

Photography also includes documentation of a bantam but significant thriving underground scene in Tampa, Florida where raw and energetic groups like the Strait Jackets played in small, smoke-filled rooms, or a legendary avant-garde ensemble known as The Jetsons, and later The Stick Figures, upset the status quo of what rock music was supposed to sound like. South Florida bands include The Cichlids and Morbid Opera.

At least one book is planned that will showcase some of these rare and unseen images, as well as a deeper exploration of this history.

LINKS

the Strait Jackets
www.thestraitjackets.com

Strait Jackets on Facebook
www.facebook.com

craigsnyder.org — Copyright © 2010, Craig Snyder. All rights reserved.