LODOWN magazine #93

October/November 2014

Interview : Guillaume Le Goff

GLEN E. FRIEDMAN

MY RULES

« It’s been twenty years since the original FUCK YOU HEROES was published. A lot of things have changed in our culture, politics, and planet at large. Did any of us think then these cultures would become the standard bearers ? That they would remain standing to this day as they have ? Hell No ! Nor arguably did we want them to. Getting radical to this day as with immediacy. Yelling at the top of your lungs to influence change in an idéal, derived from inspiration and confidence that some one is listening. How is change effected by us ? Skaters, punks, the culture of Hip-Hop, are still to this day seen by the majority of the population as rebellious. The consciousness of generations now have been influenced, inspired, and realigned, there is no denying this truth, only a small portion of the uninitiated may not understand. These folks, have done something, something good.

What the fuck have you done ?

Glen E Friedman

We thought it would be usefull to cite legendary photographer Glen E. Friedman by his very own words to introduce the release of his new book, My Rules (Rizzoli). A major publication, 324 pages of never-before-published works, which will appeal to a large public, to all the real street culture history fans, the skate, hip-hop, punk and metal heads, and everyone, old and new generation, eager to know more about this memorable, radical times for the countercultures (or subcultures) that were the end of the 70’s and the 80’s in the USA. Minor Threat, Fugazi, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, The Misfits, Bad Brains, The Beastie Boys, Run DMC, Public Enemy but also Jay Adams, Tony Alva, Duane Peters or Stacy Peralta, all are represented in this definitive Glen E. Friedman monograph. Another very good point is the fact that he worked this time with Shepard Fairey regarding design, and called contributions from long-time friends and icons like Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock), Craig R Stecyk III, Ian Mackaye, Henry Rollins, Chuck D, Rick Rubin, Tony Alva and others.  Making My Rules a definitive must have book. We had the chance to talk with Mr Friedman to know more, and here is what he had to say about it.

What were your first aspirations to do « My Rules » and how did it work out ?

GEF : Well, « Fuck you heroes » (Burning Flags, 1994) was already a monograph, and it unexpectedly sold out its last printing much quicker that i expected. And i wasn’t prepared for that, and the book industry in the last 5 years has been very difficult. Like we don’t sell books anymore. So i thought about doing something different from « Fuck you heroes ». Also the original films that were created to make it, 20 years ago, has deterioted on the last printing of the book. They could only be used one last time. I didn’t want to start from scratch. So i thought about another solution. And also, « Fuck you too » (Burning Flags, 2005) has also been out of print already for a year when « Fuck you heroes » went out of print. My idea was to make the best of the both books in one show… But rather than using the name « Fuck you all » i thought i kind of worry out, it didn’t had the impact it used to have so i went back to « My rules », the original zine i made back in 1982. And i said i’m gonna start from the beginning, i don’t need to prove to people that i take perfect full frame images. Something i think i needed to do when i made « Fuck you heroes », which is a beautiful testament of its era. And still the images are great. And  a lot of them are still full frames in « My Rules » the book but some of them are cropped because i made the entire book 95% of full bleeds, picture from edge to edge. The ones that remain full framed go over a page and a half. Many of the images are 300% biger than they were in « Fuck you heroes », even bigger than they were in « Fuck you too ». Plus 30% of images that are in the new book has never been seen before. When you go back and look out the stuffs, when you retrospect, 20-30-40 years later, you have a different eye, so we edit a lot of stuffs. ; some stuffs from the same sessions that people have already seen photos from, for example there are maybe half of the images we produced for Beastie Boys’s « Check your head » session that we did that one day that are in this new book that no one has never seen. The classic Run DMC pose with Jay Master Jay in the middle, there’s probably 3 or 4 pictures from that day on the book that no one has never seen. Same with pictures from Tony Alva, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, lot of stuffs ! It’s pretty good. Pretty exciting to me. That’s why i decided to make « My Rules. 

Another reason is that i decided to make it with a new publisher, very well respected around the world, Rizzoli. I spoke to some other publisher before them who i was introduce to by Shepard Fairey, and they simply didn’t get it ! I thought they did, but they drop the ball… I got really frustated to deal with a publisher who is supposed to be independant and do something good, plus they are big, but they really won’t listen to me, and so i just cut off communication, and kept my ears open. I even considered doing it on Kickstarter and selling all the books in advance. And then, i got introduced to the people at Rizzoli and it went very well. I told them you need to do something  for me that i can’t do on my own. I want a really big book, in content and in size. And i don’t want it to be expensive for the public to be able to afford it. I said them that if they could do this for me, which i can’t do by myself because i don’t print 50 books a year, i put out one every 5 years. And if the price is good, i’m with you and i get no advance on the book. I just want it to be affordable, and big. So we worked out a deal and it worked out great. The book is phenomenal. I’m really really happy with it. 

Also, besides my own photos, i asked 22 of my most favorite or most interesting subjects to write an essay about their inspiration from this period of time that i was shooting their picture. And more important, what got them to that place. Not so much about what they’re doing now, some of them talked about the present, but more about where they were at that time and what got them there.

Craig Stecyk and Shepard Fairey wrote introductions. Tony Alva, Jay Adams, Lance Mountain, Rodney Mullen, DMC, Chuck D, Rakim, Adam Horovitz, LL Cool J, Rick Rubin, Ian Mackaye, Henry Rollins, Dr Know from the Bad Brains and others wrote essays.

What about Shepard Fairey graphic design’s involvement ?

Shepard Fairey and the Studio Number One guys helped designed the book. Honestly i had 95% done, they helped clean it up, gave me some guidance, and put it all together. Shepard and I have a long time good Relationship, worked together on many collaborations. He does not always agree with my ideas, but he’s open to compromise, he sometimes gave me some good ideas and sometimes i followed them too. Since he loves what i do, and i love what he do, and Shepard has always been a fan of my subjects, I was like « hey Shepard, what do you think about this skate shot ? », because you know, he’s a skater too. « Do you think i should use this one or this one ? ». I asked his opinion, even on the editing sometimes. It was really cool. He also wrote a preface to the book.

In our heavy internet area today, where eveyrbody thinks or predicts print is dead (which i totally not agree), do you think the kids would be appealed by « My rules » ?

I did not think to a specific group of people when i did this book. I did it for everybody. The young people now are looking at the internet, and not books, heavily, for the last 5 or 10 years. I think they’re ready again to pick up good books. Thats also why i wanted « My rules » to be big, to be special in a way the internet can’t do. I think this book kinda doeas that. Someone who saw the book early the other day told me they cried when they saw it. Because they haven’t felt something like this in a while. The emotional response is huge, because the way i took pictures, it’s not done the same way that much anymore. Some people do, but they are some characters, some situations i captured, because of my skateboarding roots,  because of my punk roots. I wasn’t an outsider, i had a real relationship with who i shot. Like with Jay Adams (rip), he was a year older than me, we hang out together at school and later on the skate spots, we were kids having a good time, and he even sometimes told me how to shot pictures back then. Our connexion was pretty deep… I’m really proud i portrayed those people and expose them to others. I’m very happy and proud of this. It’s about the photos, not about me. The people inspired me to take photos. And i did the best works with people inspiring me the most. It’s because of them i cared so much and worked so hard. There’s a lot of good pictures out there but i think i did it during the golden era of skateboarding, punk rock and hip-hop. For those kids who care, who are ready to learn, they’re gonna be stoked.

What are your rules, in term of statement, and with this new book do you have the feeling to close a cycle, with no compromise ever made in your life ?

GEF : I would not say i never made compromise. I’m a human being, i work with other people. But in our ideals and in our heart, there is no compromise, that’s for sure. « My rules » is really about integrity. It’s about people having integrity. In the first « My rules » zine in 82 i also had people wrote essays about what were inspiring them at the time. Its about inspiring other people and where your inspiration comes from. And what you do with it. This time i tried to make it more clear then ever. Hopefully i’m gonna travel to Europe and show the photos from the book, really big, next year. We’ll see what happens.