Set In Stone: Ian Tilton’s Stone Roses Photographs is showing at Proud Camden from 29 May to 16 June, featuring Tilton’s iconic shots from the first phase of the band’s career. Here are eight of the best, starting with a legendary appearance at Granada TV Studios on Tony Wilson’s The Other Side of Midnight in January 1989.
Ian Tilton’s first photoshoot of the band with new bassist Mani, 29 March 1988. Tilton: “They all turned up at my place together and had coordinated what they were wearing. Second hand clothes were the thing back then and they each wore heavy black, half-length overcoats; three were shiny leather and John’s was corduroy.”
Photo shoot at Ian Tilton’s Studio in Chorlton-Cum-Hardy, 6 September 1988. Tilton: “So I said to the Roses, ‘I want you to kind of pose a bit like the famous Pennie Smith/Clash photograph. Lean on each other so you look close to each other. Look cool and cocky’. So that’s what they did, standing against the wall at my studio.”
Ian Brown photographed through a metallic tube at Manchester Victoria Station, April 1989. Tilton: “The effect is time warp-ish, like Doctor Who going down a time-warp tunnel with the Roses at the end of it.”
Ian Brown backstage at the Blackpool Empress Ballroom, 1989. Tilton: “So Ian tapped me on the shoulder from behind and says, ‘Here, have a look at this!’ He spontaneously shoves a whole jaffa orange in his mouth, so I quickly grabbed the shot. Just one shot and that was it. And that orange in the mouth became one of his most famous images, despite being such an extremely fleeting moment.”
Ian Brown on stage at Spike Island, 27 May 1990. Tilton: “I captured what I consider to be the definitive Spike Island gig shot of Brown holding the inflatable world. If you look closely at the photograph, he is actually licking the ball! I got the right angle; I was in the right place at the right time.”
Photo shoot for the cover of Sounds Magazine, 20 July 1989. Tilton: “Brown put his hand in the air and started waving his fist around. And that was it, the iconic monkey face – I got him to do it!”.
Set In Stone: Ian Tilton’s Stone Roses Photographs, Proud Camden, 29th May – 16th June 2013, www.proud.co.uk. The accompanying book, published by Omnibus Press, is available now.
