Exclusive interview with photographer Dick Barnatt for ON STAGE AND BACKSTAGE
Photographer Dick Barnatt is as legendary as those he's worked with: Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper, AC / DC, Slade, Uriah Heep, Rod Stewart, The Sweet. Today, for the first time in 40 years, Dick talks about his impressions of working with The SWEET.
- When I first started in photography I befriended another photographer who about four years later I bumped into again, by now he was very successful in the music business and asked me to join him as his studio manager which I did in 1973.
His name was Fin Costello and we worked together for the next few years where I really learned a lot. Fin decided to leave the UK and went on tour with Deep Purple in the States.
This was when I decided to set up my own studio which I did in February 1974.
Just before I left Fin's studio we were visited by another photographer called Barry Levine.
who was over from the States to do a cover for a Glam Rock band, Barry spent the best part of an evening discussing with me how could he achieve a reflection of the band for there new album cover.
That band was The Sweet and the cover was Sweet Fanny Adams...
Barry Levine: Fist album cover I ever shot while I lived in London. Band was The Sweet album called Sweet FA. I didn't have a clue what I was doing lol omg
- Have you got an idea, what were The Sweet's reasons for hiring Barry for making the cover photo for "Sweet F.A."? According to him, he did not understand what he was doing.
- Barry was over from America and was working for various record companies
- You discussed with him how to achieve the reflection effect. What solution was found? How did the reflection that we see on the cover come about? If it was in the presence of the band, how did the musicians behave while you were thinking and looking for a solution?
- Barry told me what the band were looking for with the reflections and we threw different ideas about, I think I suggested using a reflection in water, but we never actually came up with a solution that night.
In the end Barry shot the band standing on flexible mirror foil and managed to get what he needed. The band were not there that night so I don't know how they may have contributed to the shoot
- What was your first impression of the band? Of their appearance? Have you listened to this kind of music, were you ever into it? If so, what do you like from their repertoire?
- I met the band for the very first time in 1976, someone from Arista Records had given my name to their manager David Walker and he contacted me asking if I would be happy to work with them.
I knew a few of their hits and actually liked a couple of the B sides, I do remember listening to Man From Mecca a lot, but David gave me a couple of the albums to listen to and I was very impressed, I had been working with quite a few Glam Rock acts already like
Slade, Gary Glitter and the Glitter Band etc, but when I heard the Sweet albums they reminded me more of Deep Purple who I had come into contact with whilst working with Fin Costello who was their photographer at the time
- When did the first shoot take place?
- The first photo shoot was at my studio in Lancaster Gate, London. We started off doing studio shots and then I suggested we went outside to do some location photos, my stdio was opposite Kensington Gardens which was great for location photos.
However I do remember Brian being totally against going outside but after some gentle coaxing he agreed and joined the band to walk over the road to the Gardens.
Many of these shots ended up in magazines all across Europe and were very successful.
- How much photoshoots you made with the first cast (Brian, Andy, Mick, Steve)?
- I actually thought after the first shoot that I would never work with the band again as we didn't actually bond and Brian was a little awkward to work with so I was really pleasantly surprised when after a couple of weeks David rang me up saying the band were really pleased with the photos and could I work with them again and I have ended up working with the various line ups ever since.
I am still in contact with Andy and in 2020 I produced a 50th Anniversary book in partnership with Rufus Publications.
- How did your work go? Did you work exclusively and strictly under a contract, or did you have an opportunity to shoot on your own initiative?
- The work was a mixture of ideas which was exclusive to the band, we tried various locations etc,.
- How did each of the musicians (Brian, Andy, Mick, Steve) feel about the process? Did any of them genuinely like the process of photographing? Did anyone hate it? Or maybe for somebody it was an inevitability that had to be resigned to, as a part of their job? Which of them was the easiest for you to communicate with? How critical was each of the musicians to themselves?
- Andy and Mick were both very interested in trying out stuff and genuinely enjoyed the process where Steve and Brian were less interested. They were all aware that is was part of the job, they were all careful of what they would wear and how they looked but
I think Andy and Mick were more meticulous.
- Have you shot Sweet for magazines like POP, POSTER and others? If so, how was the task set for you?
- Most of the time the management would approve the images and then they were sent out accordingly, German magazines were the main source and also Japan.
- Have you captured the period when the band began to change their image from shiny suits to white T-shirts and jeans?
- This was the very time I started working with them, they were just shaking off the Glam look and turning more into a Rock Band
- How did this happen and whose idea was it? Was it due to the music they began to perform, or just glam image began to lose its positions? How did the band cope with Steve's moustache?
I'm not sure how it came about, they were big Deep Purple fans and Status Quo were very big at the time. I believe they wanted to be taken more seriously and the Glam image was holding them back. I don't remember Steve moustache being an issue.
- Why do you think an artist's drawing was chosen for the cover of the "Off the Record" (1977) album, and not a photograph? For example, Slade basically used only photographs. The style of music that they performed, in a way, obliged them to appear on the cover in person.
- I think Sweet wanted to use artwork rather than photographs for their covers, the concept ideas came from Norman Goodman, who was an engineer on the band's recordings and then Terry Pastor illustrated the idea.
- I believe that "Level Headed" album cover sets a perfect standard of group staged photography. I often cite this photo as an example for photographers. For me, it is brilliant in its simplicity. BUT it is simple only at first glance, if you do not delve into the details! It's all great! It's "Level Headed"!
Well thanks for that, I had wanted to photograph them looking like a serious rock band rather than all the Glam etc and I wanted it to be Black and White and hard and gritty.
- This album has two design options. Which one do you like best? The one with band photo on the cover, or the one where the photo is positioned on the gatefold? How did the musicians themselves feel about the design of this covers?
- I like the band on the cover as the image was laminated which gave the print more clarity and contrast
- I heard that there was also a colour version of "Level Headed". Why did you decide to go b & w? Whose decision is this? Are the negatives from that photo session preserved in your archive? Or did it all go to the record company?
- I always shot Colour alongside Black and White but I only took a few colour as I was after a Black and White image.
I still have all the Black and White images in my archive, however all the colour images went to the Management Company and unfortunately many years later they were all lost when the company moved offices.
- How long did this photoshoot last? Whose idea was it? How much was filmed? Where did the shooting take place? Who chose and approved the cover photo?
- The photoshoot lasted about 30 minutes as it was shot in a corridor at Kingsway Recording Studios in Holborn, it was taken during the band's lunchtime and in some of the out takes Brian is holding his coffee mug.
This is another reason why I shot it in Black and White so I could work on it in the darkroom and hide any imperfections from the corridor. I shot 2 rolls of 36 with the band in different positions then I sent in a couple of chosen prints, one of which ended up on the cover.
- When was the last time you filmed the whole band (Andy, Brain, Mick, Steve)? Did you know this would be the last shoot? Have you seen Brian since the last shoot?
- The last time I photographed the whole band was for the original Cut Above the Rest cover, we did individual portraits of everyone and then they were going to be turned into wooden veneer portraits, the first I knew that the band had become a trio was when I did the cover for Call Me single sleeve. I had been aware that there were issues within the band but I didn't realise they would end up as a trio.
They rejigged the Cut Above the Rest cover and ended with three wooden veneer portraits instead of the original four and they also brought out an illustrated cover as well. For me it was a disappointing cover as they used a black and white image from the Call Me session on the inner sleeve which was a conversion from a colour slide which lacked image quality.
The next time I saw Brian was when I went to Mick Tuckers wedding and he gave me a lift from the church to the reception and I have to say he was not in the best of health. We chatted about old times and had a laugh but when I shook his hand to leave I never realised this was to be the last time I would see him.
- In the "Cut Above the Rest" (1979) the band suddenly become trio, and again it was the real photo of the group that suggested itself. Do you know why the group turned down the photo? During this period you were around and filmed the group a lot. Was this option ever discussed?
- As I say I think it was maybe all done in a bit of a hurry, they were just finding their feet as a trio and once they were sorted I was asked to do a proper session with them.
- When was the last time you filmed the band with Andy, Mick, Steve?
- This was that session and it was at Bray Farm Studios where they were rehearsing along with an additional guitar player and their old keyboard player Gary Moberley with whom I toured in Spain with on the Level Headed tour.
- What did the work with this group give you personally?
- I like to think it was an education for me as they turned out to be a great live band, far better than I imagined but it also gave me two great friendships with both Mick and Andy.
Mick asked me into his home to photograph his daughters christening and also his second wedding, he had a great sense of humour and I always felt we got on well, unfortunately I was not in England when he died and missed his funeral.
Andy and I have had a friendship which has lasted up till now, I try and see him when I can but he lives out of London now, he helped me a great deal on the book I did for the 50th Anniversary and hopefully we will meet up again once Covid is over.
Book The SWEET by Dick Barnatt
- How do these photographs make you feel today?
- Proud to a degree and grateful to have been a small part of the bands success but as time goes by I feel sentimental about those somewhat crazy days.
https://dickbarnatt.format.com/
https://thesweet.com/
https://www.rufuspublications.com/thesweet
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