Ross Halfin is one of the world's greatest photographers. He's taken photos of musicians and celebrities from 50 Cent to Billy Bob Thornton. He loves travel photography, petrified forests and Japanese food. He speaks about his daily activities with an acerbic wit. You can read his daily diary on his website. A well read and artistic individual, he's brutally honest and doesn't seem to be caught up in any kind of hype machines. Just ask him about his legendary clientele and he'll tell you, "I'm just doing a job, I work very hard." He's got stories for days, months even--he's even got the pictures to back them up. All around nice guy, really.
Garrett Faber: What have you been up to?
Ross Halfin: I've been trying to shoot travel instead of bands.
GF: I noticed that, you said that it's easier.
RH: It's not easier, it's just that you get so past it. I've done it for a long time, and you shoot some new band, and the problem with American bands is they seem to go from unknown to huge instantly. When I first did it, bands did tours and it took a while to get somewhere, like Metallica, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Van Halen, and nowadays there's bands like Linkin Park who go from nowhere to selling ten million albums.
GF: Yeah.
RH: I look at Trivium, and they just look like children, there's nothing rocking about them, they look like somebody's kids! At least with Metallica, they looked the part, they looked heavy. Trivium just look like some children, and I don't know if that is a good or a bad thing. There's no image anymore, it's like, I have some tattoos and there I am. I also think I'm a bit late getting tattoos. I should have done it when I was your age. I'm not against tattoos. Look at Mtley Cre, it worked for them. I'm not against shooting bands, but after a while it's like fuck it, why bother with all this crap? Even when I'm doing a show and shooting from the side of the stage, it's like, "I'm not in the army, I'm not there to take orders." Fuck it, I'm not going to bother, I'd rather shoot Steven Tyler here. I'm not against doing anything new, I just think the problem with this industry is that, the way they treat people has gotten worse. You're supposed to have respect for what people do.
GF: Do you feel that the mainstream music industry, with the way bands just come and go, do you think it devalues music in general?
RH: Well actually, digital photography is devaluing photography, because any idiot with a digital camera is like, "Oh look, I can just play with it in Photoshop and I'm a photographer." You're not a photographer. People are like, "Why shoot black and white, we can just change it in Photoshop." It looks fucking terrible. I always shoot black and white film because nothing can beat a great black and white print.
GF: That is so true, I remember one time you told me that in an email and then I looked and noticed that it definitely looks better.
RH: It looks completely different right? Most of the stuff on WireImage is shit and its like, there's no quality control. It's like knock it out and tomorrow morning it's in the trash. There's no quality to anything, or no art to it in my opinion.
GF: It seems like all you have to do is get a famous person to smile and that's it.
RH: That's not photography, that's the paparazzi. Maybe I'm just old and grouchy, who knows? Also I think the other thing is American PR's in particular don't really respect what you do.
GF: How do you personally deal with that?
RH: By being in charge. They don't like the word "No." Say "No, I'm not doing it" and they can't deal with it. Like they hand you a contract. "I'm not signing it." What do you mean you're not signing it? "I'm not signing it." They can't deal with it. Don't lose your temper, don't scream, just say "No." They can't deal with "No." That's how I deal with it. Always be in control of what you're doing, if you're not in control, you lose. You shouldn't be there. Don't shout, just be in control. Say some security threatens you, and tries to throw you out of the photo pit. I'd say, "Go ahead! I need the money, I'd love to retire, thrash me senseless, I'll sue you, the building, the band, go ahead, cripple me." What, because I didn't leave the photo pit fast enough? I didn't pick my bag up quick enough for you?
GF: That's pretty hardcore.
RH: They're all a bunch of cunts. [laughs] "Go ahead, what are you going to do, beat me senseless because I've gone past the three songs?" Look at it like that. Look at someone like Maynard Keenan from Tool, he's a fucking dick! All this sort of, "I don't want to do this, I don't want to do that." You don't want to do this? Fine, get another job!
GF: Are you big into art? Besides photography?
RH: I originially studied Fine Art, that's my big thing
GF: Who was your favorite Fine Artist?
RH: Sadly I really liked Norman Rockwell but really, what do I like now? I like William Blake and stuff like that, I hate modern art. I can't look at a Jackson Pollack picture and think "that's art." The art world is always trying to catch the new thing so we don't miss anything, but I'm just not into modern art. Who's yours?
GF: I like Ralph Steadman and Andy Warhol.
RH:I can't stand Ralph Steadman, I think his drawings are like a four year old did them. I hate all that stuff from Warhol, its crap. I like Nick Griffin, William Stout is really good.
GF: Did you like Gustav Klimt?
RH: Yeah, I know who he is yeah. I liked Michael McInnerney who painted Tommy by the Who, he's always good.
GF: Can you draw or paint?
RH: Yeah, well, that's a matter of opinion. [laughs] No, I didn't put any of my drawings up, I know this sounds hugely pretentious, when I shoot landscapes and stuff I like to mess around with it, I also like to shoot really grainy stuff that you can't really tell what it is, which in a sense kind of looks like a painting. Oh there's another painter I really like, her name is Gill Rocca, she did a series of paintings of clouds that were fantastic.
GF: What books are you into, do you like fiction or non-fiction or historical or what?
RH: I'm reading this book called "Grotesque" which I haven't really started, by Natsuo Kirino, and there's this really good book about clouds called "The Cloudspotter's Guide" by Gavin Pretor-Pinney. It's actually really good. I think people should concentrate and read more.
GF: Okay, you've been to a lot of concerts, which concert was the most enjoyable for you?
RH: I shot Motorhead last summer live, in daylight in Italy, and I really enjoyed shooting it because that's not how you normally see them, it was really good to get stuff of Lemmy. The most enjoyable concert was The Who on December 23, 1973. It's called The Who's Christmas show, which I went to as a fan. I really enjoyed that.
GF: That's pretty cool man.
RH: The only band I've ever seen blow another band off the stage was when Metallica opened for Armored Saint at the Arcadium in LA. I was never really a fan of Metallica but Armored Saint couldn't follow them. I think it was when "Master Of Puppets" or maybe "Ride The Lightning" came out. I saw Jeff Buckley the last time he played in Melbourne, at the Paris Theatre. I didn't even want to go, I just went along with a friend of mine. He was amazing. It wasn't just one show or one thing.
GF: Did you ever meet Jimi Hendrix?
RH: No, I'm not that old. [Laughs] I was going to go to the Isle Of Wight when I was 13 and my mom said she'd call the police and report me if I went.
GF: Dude that sucks!
RH: I also think Hendrix is hugely overrated.
GF: I think so too but I still like him a lot.
RH: Yeah I do too, but no one will say it in case it comes back on them, I think "Electric Ladyland" is good, "Band of Gypsies" is great but the rest of it is sort of okay.
GF: What do you like taking pictures of?
RH: I like shooting the sky just because it looks like a painting.
GF: It does, especially when it turns like purple in the morning.
RH: I like when it gets dark blue, that twilighty time, and shadowy stuff. I like shooting kids. Don't get me in the wrong way, because if you shoot children they're innocent, they're not adults and they don't have an attitude that comes with them. When you're shooting bands, they've got something to sell, if you're shooting people, they've got nothing to sell so it's a bit more intimidating. Children haven't been corrupted yet, until they're teenagers.
GF: Oh yeah, teenagers are corrupt. One time we were riding down the highway, and the sky was gray and the tree were like black shadows cast upwards against the sky, I thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
RH: The one thing I regret not shooting, I was shooting the band Silverchair in Australia once, near Melbourne. We drove and we found this petrified forest. I took pictures of them in front of it. I never shot it without them and I've always regretted that. It was a black petrified forest in the water. I also want to go to Easter Island.
GF: How do you think those big heads got there?
RH: No idea. It's the one thing I've always wanted to see.
GF: Do you like sushi?
RH: Yes, I love Japanese food.
GF: I noticed on your journal you talk about a lot of famous people. Do they ever get pissed off at you about that?
RH: Yeah, Jimmy Page does all the time. He's one of my best friends. I don't care about what I write about Axl Rose because he truly is a cunt. If I said it, I mean it, it's true. I have to watch what I say about Steven Tyler, because I know he reads it and gets pissed off. You have to be careful about what you joke about.
GF: Did you ever feel the urge to direct a movie or a music video?
RH: No, I don't really like music videos.
GF: Why not?
RH: I think it spoils the art of listening to a record. It's like, "who's the director?" I'd rather listen to the record, what's the point?
GF: I think people need that visual thing to tie the music together.
RH: I don't think I'd be good enough, or capable enough. Maybe I'd like to put an acoustic piece or a classical piece against some travel footage. Maybe that would appeal to me, I couldn't give a shit about doing a band.
GF: You could go back to that Petrified Forest and film there.
RH: Exactly. I'd like to do a Gong Li film. She's a famous actress in China, she's in the new Hannibal film.
GF: Oh! I saw that on opening night, she's really pretty.
RH: I would love to photograph her, my dream woman.
GF: What's your favorite movie?
RH: 2046 by Wong Kar Wai, you can get that on DVD. Another one that's really good is called A Bittersweet Life, a Korean film, it's great. Battle Royale was a great film, the first one, not the second one.
GF: Speaking of Battle Royale, what's the closest you've ever come to dying?
RH: I was on a flight with Jimmy Page and David Coverdale, when they were doing Coverdale-Page in '93. We were landing in Tokyo, we were about 30 minutes from landing. There was this huge bang on the 747, it literally sent everything sideways, like one wing straight up in the air, one wing straight down. We all strapped in, it felt like someone was standing on the plane trying to push it down, the stewardess was lying on the floor holding on the leg of the seat. We finally came in and we landed and the pilot said, "Look out the window." We looked out one way and it was bright blue sky, we looked out the other way and it was jet black with lightning going through it and he says, "We got hit by lightning."
GF: Holy shit!
RH: I've also been in three really bad car wrecks. One with Lars Ulrich in L.A., one with a guy called Wong Keel, and one on the way to Steve Harris' house in Portugal, that was the last one. In all three, the car ended up totaled, the one with Lars, we ended up upside down in someone's garden in Beverly Hills. He wasn't driving, a girl was driving, but they were fucked up. I suppose that's the nearest I've come to death [laughs]. I woke up the next morning thinking, "did that really happen?" The cop said to us, "God is watching you, I scrape people off this corner."
GF: I read on your website that you dropped out of art school. What influenced your decision to do that?
RH: I come from a very blue collar background. My parents didn't have money, and I'd always wanted to go to college. I went and it was full of people who had qualifications but no real artistic ability who didn't want to go to university. It was also full of Persians who couldn't draw, that at the time, their parents had given the school like a hundred grand so they'd give their kids a place at the school. It was bullshit. All the teachers were Americans who loved Modern Art. I went for two years and then said "This is absolute shit" and left.
GF: Do you feel like a success? Is there more you want to do? Do you like what you do?
RH: I don't feel like I'm a success at all. I think I'm just a working photographer. I always look at it this way, when you're stuck on a train or sitting in rush hour and you can't move you think, "People do this every day for thirty or forty years, they get up in the morning, they come back and do the same journey every day." You know something? I get to go all around the world, I'm blessed in my job, I have a good job, you just get tired of the politics of the job, more than the taking pictures.
GF: How is the music scene different now than it was when you first started taking photos?
RH: Bands aren't as good [laughs]. It's all about the video.
GF: The image.
RH: The image, it's not actually about playing songs. That's why I said I'd rather listen to something.
GF: That reminds me, what was it like taking pictures of Ville Valo?
RH: Easy, it was easy. At nine thirty in the morning he started drinking, he got a bit drunk at the end. He's dead easy to work for, good guy, takes direction, he's great, I like him a lot. I warned him not to smoke around me and he didn't, he's good.
GF: What do you think of his music?
RH: Uh...I have no opinion of his music.
GF: Oh, I see, I see.
RH: "Love Metal?" Please. Girl music, music for women. I went to see them in London, it was all girls. He's really good onstage, he's definitely got something. He's a great guy. What's your favorite band? When you were 16, you had a favorite band, who was it? Mine was The Who.
GF: I think Placebo, they're my favorite too.
RH: Brian.
GF: Are you familar with him? Is he arrogant?
RH: I don't like taking his picture. He tries to be manipulative.
GF: Can you play any instruments?
RH: No.
GF: I can't either, that's why I got into art.
RH: The drums, badly. But then again, Lars Ulrich is a bad drummer but look what he did.
GF: Who do you think the best drummers are? I think John from System Of A Down is good.
RH: I fucking hate System of A Down. I think they're the worst band ever, I mean they're all nice guys. I think they're really the worst band ever. Which doesn't help the fact that my ex-girlfriend (who dumped me) went out with him for a year. I always get along well with him but I sort of feel weird, because of that. I think they're fucking rubbish. Kirk Hammett loves them, he told me. They're so terrible, nice guys though.
GF: What do you think about political bands?
RH: Oh please, do me a fucking favor. Rage Against the Machine, alright then, here's a machine gun, off you go. There's only two things in life John from System of A Down cares about, Bono really cares about, Bruce Springstein really cares about, and Tom Morello really cares about, or Zach De La Rocha. Do you know what that is?
GF: No, what is it?
RH: Themselves, and money. That's what they really care about.
GF: Who's really genuine in the music industry?
RH: You're being sold a product, it's just about what you like. I know Ville Valo played in Spain and he was so fucked up he'd been out for three days. He couldn't even speak English, he spoke in Finnish and sang in Finnish. He didn't even know he was there. What can I say, I'd like to have seen it.
GF: Me too. I also noticed you don't do drugs, do you drink at all?
RH: I like red wine when I'm in the mood. I've taken every drug there is. I've never smoked pot, I'm a big anti-smoker. It gets to a point when you're better off without drugs. It gets boring. I used to do coke all the time in the 80s. So you'd be all fucked up, not even fucking anyone because you can't get a hard-on and you end up feeling sorry for yourself. If you look at my website there's some pictures of AC/DC from 1980s. I'd been up for three days in New York when I took them, and I have no recollection of even going to Madison Square Garden. I remember I was talking to Geoff Tate from Queensrche I said to him, "I don't remember certain things about the '80s," and he said, "I wouldn't worry because no one else does either." [Laughs] He's like, "you weren't in your room doing it alone, everybody was doing it as well." I'm not against drugs, do whatever makes you happy. I don't do it anymore, I wish I'd been cleaner earlier. You look at Seattle rock, it's all misery isn't it? Nirvana, Pearl Jam, let's all feel sorry for ourselves. I did love Soundgarden, I thought they were great.
GF: I read the thing about Norah Jones a couple years back, what was up with her?
RH: Well, I was hired by the merchandising company to do her. When I got there, she was fat, she was overweight and had a big arse, or a big ass as you would say. Guess whose fault it was that she was fat? Not hers, mine! It was like, "Can you take these pictures from like two hundred feet away?" I'm like, "What?" She was being serious, she was the most obstructive person, she was an absolute complete fucking bitch. Grade A. I was like, "Why bother, life's too short."
GF: It seems like you don't get too stressed out about any of this.
RH: Why get stressed? What can you do? The last time I emailed Maggie Wang, she said, "I've been really stressed with work." I said, "Stress is self-induced." Why get stressed out about a load of pop musicians?
GF: Did you always feel this way about the music scene or did these feelings just come to you?
RH: No, nothing has ever come to me. I actually work very hard. I really resent that whole thing about "Oh, lucky you." What's "lucky me?" I think I do what I do fairly well, I work very hard when I work.
GF: Bam Margera once said, "The harder you work, the luckier you get."
RH: I wouldn't say there's any luck in it. You work hard, do a good job and create what you create.
GF: You're very wise and insightful, you should write a book.
RH: [Laughs] How not to be a photographer!
GF: I'd buy it!
Garrett Faber: What have you been up to?
Ross Halfin: I've been trying to shoot travel instead of bands.
GF: I noticed that, you said that it's easier.
RH: It's not easier, it's just that you get so past it. I've done it for a long time, and you shoot some new band, and the problem with American bands is they seem to go from unknown to huge instantly. When I first did it, bands did tours and it took a while to get somewhere, like Metallica, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Van Halen, and nowadays there's bands like Linkin Park who go from nowhere to selling ten million albums.
GF: Yeah.
RH: I look at Trivium, and they just look like children, there's nothing rocking about them, they look like somebody's kids! At least with Metallica, they looked the part, they looked heavy. Trivium just look like some children, and I don't know if that is a good or a bad thing. There's no image anymore, it's like, I have some tattoos and there I am. I also think I'm a bit late getting tattoos. I should have done it when I was your age. I'm not against tattoos. Look at Mtley Cre, it worked for them. I'm not against shooting bands, but after a while it's like fuck it, why bother with all this crap? Even when I'm doing a show and shooting from the side of the stage, it's like, "I'm not in the army, I'm not there to take orders." Fuck it, I'm not going to bother, I'd rather shoot Steven Tyler here. I'm not against doing anything new, I just think the problem with this industry is that, the way they treat people has gotten worse. You're supposed to have respect for what people do.
GF: Do you feel that the mainstream music industry, with the way bands just come and go, do you think it devalues music in general?
RH: Well actually, digital photography is devaluing photography, because any idiot with a digital camera is like, "Oh look, I can just play with it in Photoshop and I'm a photographer." You're not a photographer. People are like, "Why shoot black and white, we can just change it in Photoshop." It looks fucking terrible. I always shoot black and white film because nothing can beat a great black and white print.
GF: That is so true, I remember one time you told me that in an email and then I looked and noticed that it definitely looks better.
RH: It looks completely different right? Most of the stuff on WireImage is shit and its like, there's no quality control. It's like knock it out and tomorrow morning it's in the trash. There's no quality to anything, or no art to it in my opinion.
GF: It seems like all you have to do is get a famous person to smile and that's it.
RH: That's not photography, that's the paparazzi. Maybe I'm just old and grouchy, who knows? Also I think the other thing is American PR's in particular don't really respect what you do.
GF: How do you personally deal with that?
RH: By being in charge. They don't like the word "No." Say "No, I'm not doing it" and they can't deal with it. Like they hand you a contract. "I'm not signing it." What do you mean you're not signing it? "I'm not signing it." They can't deal with it. Don't lose your temper, don't scream, just say "No." They can't deal with "No." That's how I deal with it. Always be in control of what you're doing, if you're not in control, you lose. You shouldn't be there. Don't shout, just be in control. Say some security threatens you, and tries to throw you out of the photo pit. I'd say, "Go ahead! I need the money, I'd love to retire, thrash me senseless, I'll sue you, the building, the band, go ahead, cripple me." What, because I didn't leave the photo pit fast enough? I didn't pick my bag up quick enough for you?
GF: That's pretty hardcore.
RH: They're all a bunch of cunts. [laughs] "Go ahead, what are you going to do, beat me senseless because I've gone past the three songs?" Look at it like that. Look at someone like Maynard Keenan from Tool, he's a fucking dick! All this sort of, "I don't want to do this, I don't want to do that." You don't want to do this? Fine, get another job!
GF: Are you big into art? Besides photography?
RH: I originially studied Fine Art, that's my big thing
GF: Who was your favorite Fine Artist?
RH: Sadly I really liked Norman Rockwell but really, what do I like now? I like William Blake and stuff like that, I hate modern art. I can't look at a Jackson Pollack picture and think "that's art." The art world is always trying to catch the new thing so we don't miss anything, but I'm just not into modern art. Who's yours?
GF: I like Ralph Steadman and Andy Warhol.
RH:I can't stand Ralph Steadman, I think his drawings are like a four year old did them. I hate all that stuff from Warhol, its crap. I like Nick Griffin, William Stout is really good.
GF: Did you like Gustav Klimt?
RH: Yeah, I know who he is yeah. I liked Michael McInnerney who painted Tommy by the Who, he's always good.
GF: Can you draw or paint?
RH: Yeah, well, that's a matter of opinion. [laughs] No, I didn't put any of my drawings up, I know this sounds hugely pretentious, when I shoot landscapes and stuff I like to mess around with it, I also like to shoot really grainy stuff that you can't really tell what it is, which in a sense kind of looks like a painting. Oh there's another painter I really like, her name is Gill Rocca, she did a series of paintings of clouds that were fantastic.
GF: What books are you into, do you like fiction or non-fiction or historical or what?
RH: I'm reading this book called "Grotesque" which I haven't really started, by Natsuo Kirino, and there's this really good book about clouds called "The Cloudspotter's Guide" by Gavin Pretor-Pinney. It's actually really good. I think people should concentrate and read more.
GF: Okay, you've been to a lot of concerts, which concert was the most enjoyable for you?
RH: I shot Motorhead last summer live, in daylight in Italy, and I really enjoyed shooting it because that's not how you normally see them, it was really good to get stuff of Lemmy. The most enjoyable concert was The Who on December 23, 1973. It's called The Who's Christmas show, which I went to as a fan. I really enjoyed that.
GF: That's pretty cool man.
RH: The only band I've ever seen blow another band off the stage was when Metallica opened for Armored Saint at the Arcadium in LA. I was never really a fan of Metallica but Armored Saint couldn't follow them. I think it was when "Master Of Puppets" or maybe "Ride The Lightning" came out. I saw Jeff Buckley the last time he played in Melbourne, at the Paris Theatre. I didn't even want to go, I just went along with a friend of mine. He was amazing. It wasn't just one show or one thing.
GF: Did you ever meet Jimi Hendrix?
RH: No, I'm not that old. [Laughs] I was going to go to the Isle Of Wight when I was 13 and my mom said she'd call the police and report me if I went.
GF: Dude that sucks!
RH: I also think Hendrix is hugely overrated.
GF: I think so too but I still like him a lot.
RH: Yeah I do too, but no one will say it in case it comes back on them, I think "Electric Ladyland" is good, "Band of Gypsies" is great but the rest of it is sort of okay.
GF: What do you like taking pictures of?
RH: I like shooting the sky just because it looks like a painting.
GF: It does, especially when it turns like purple in the morning.
RH: I like when it gets dark blue, that twilighty time, and shadowy stuff. I like shooting kids. Don't get me in the wrong way, because if you shoot children they're innocent, they're not adults and they don't have an attitude that comes with them. When you're shooting bands, they've got something to sell, if you're shooting people, they've got nothing to sell so it's a bit more intimidating. Children haven't been corrupted yet, until they're teenagers.
GF: Oh yeah, teenagers are corrupt. One time we were riding down the highway, and the sky was gray and the tree were like black shadows cast upwards against the sky, I thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
RH: The one thing I regret not shooting, I was shooting the band Silverchair in Australia once, near Melbourne. We drove and we found this petrified forest. I took pictures of them in front of it. I never shot it without them and I've always regretted that. It was a black petrified forest in the water. I also want to go to Easter Island.
GF: How do you think those big heads got there?
RH: No idea. It's the one thing I've always wanted to see.
GF: Do you like sushi?
RH: Yes, I love Japanese food.
GF: I noticed on your journal you talk about a lot of famous people. Do they ever get pissed off at you about that?
RH: Yeah, Jimmy Page does all the time. He's one of my best friends. I don't care about what I write about Axl Rose because he truly is a cunt. If I said it, I mean it, it's true. I have to watch what I say about Steven Tyler, because I know he reads it and gets pissed off. You have to be careful about what you joke about.
GF: Did you ever feel the urge to direct a movie or a music video?
RH: No, I don't really like music videos.
GF: Why not?
RH: I think it spoils the art of listening to a record. It's like, "who's the director?" I'd rather listen to the record, what's the point?
GF: I think people need that visual thing to tie the music together.
RH: I don't think I'd be good enough, or capable enough. Maybe I'd like to put an acoustic piece or a classical piece against some travel footage. Maybe that would appeal to me, I couldn't give a shit about doing a band.
GF: You could go back to that Petrified Forest and film there.
RH: Exactly. I'd like to do a Gong Li film. She's a famous actress in China, she's in the new Hannibal film.
GF: Oh! I saw that on opening night, she's really pretty.
RH: I would love to photograph her, my dream woman.
GF: What's your favorite movie?
RH: 2046 by Wong Kar Wai, you can get that on DVD. Another one that's really good is called A Bittersweet Life, a Korean film, it's great. Battle Royale was a great film, the first one, not the second one.
GF: Speaking of Battle Royale, what's the closest you've ever come to dying?
RH: I was on a flight with Jimmy Page and David Coverdale, when they were doing Coverdale-Page in '93. We were landing in Tokyo, we were about 30 minutes from landing. There was this huge bang on the 747, it literally sent everything sideways, like one wing straight up in the air, one wing straight down. We all strapped in, it felt like someone was standing on the plane trying to push it down, the stewardess was lying on the floor holding on the leg of the seat. We finally came in and we landed and the pilot said, "Look out the window." We looked out one way and it was bright blue sky, we looked out the other way and it was jet black with lightning going through it and he says, "We got hit by lightning."
GF: Holy shit!
RH: I've also been in three really bad car wrecks. One with Lars Ulrich in L.A., one with a guy called Wong Keel, and one on the way to Steve Harris' house in Portugal, that was the last one. In all three, the car ended up totaled, the one with Lars, we ended up upside down in someone's garden in Beverly Hills. He wasn't driving, a girl was driving, but they were fucked up. I suppose that's the nearest I've come to death [laughs]. I woke up the next morning thinking, "did that really happen?" The cop said to us, "God is watching you, I scrape people off this corner."
GF: I read on your website that you dropped out of art school. What influenced your decision to do that?
RH: I come from a very blue collar background. My parents didn't have money, and I'd always wanted to go to college. I went and it was full of people who had qualifications but no real artistic ability who didn't want to go to university. It was also full of Persians who couldn't draw, that at the time, their parents had given the school like a hundred grand so they'd give their kids a place at the school. It was bullshit. All the teachers were Americans who loved Modern Art. I went for two years and then said "This is absolute shit" and left.
GF: Do you feel like a success? Is there more you want to do? Do you like what you do?
RH: I don't feel like I'm a success at all. I think I'm just a working photographer. I always look at it this way, when you're stuck on a train or sitting in rush hour and you can't move you think, "People do this every day for thirty or forty years, they get up in the morning, they come back and do the same journey every day." You know something? I get to go all around the world, I'm blessed in my job, I have a good job, you just get tired of the politics of the job, more than the taking pictures.
GF: How is the music scene different now than it was when you first started taking photos?
RH: Bands aren't as good [laughs]. It's all about the video.
GF: The image.
RH: The image, it's not actually about playing songs. That's why I said I'd rather listen to something.
GF: That reminds me, what was it like taking pictures of Ville Valo?
RH: Easy, it was easy. At nine thirty in the morning he started drinking, he got a bit drunk at the end. He's dead easy to work for, good guy, takes direction, he's great, I like him a lot. I warned him not to smoke around me and he didn't, he's good.
GF: What do you think of his music?
RH: Uh...I have no opinion of his music.
GF: Oh, I see, I see.
RH: "Love Metal?" Please. Girl music, music for women. I went to see them in London, it was all girls. He's really good onstage, he's definitely got something. He's a great guy. What's your favorite band? When you were 16, you had a favorite band, who was it? Mine was The Who.
GF: I think Placebo, they're my favorite too.
RH: Brian.
GF: Are you familar with him? Is he arrogant?
RH: I don't like taking his picture. He tries to be manipulative.
GF: Can you play any instruments?
RH: No.
GF: I can't either, that's why I got into art.
RH: The drums, badly. But then again, Lars Ulrich is a bad drummer but look what he did.
GF: Who do you think the best drummers are? I think John from System Of A Down is good.
RH: I fucking hate System of A Down. I think they're the worst band ever, I mean they're all nice guys. I think they're really the worst band ever. Which doesn't help the fact that my ex-girlfriend (who dumped me) went out with him for a year. I always get along well with him but I sort of feel weird, because of that. I think they're fucking rubbish. Kirk Hammett loves them, he told me. They're so terrible, nice guys though.
GF: What do you think about political bands?
RH: Oh please, do me a fucking favor. Rage Against the Machine, alright then, here's a machine gun, off you go. There's only two things in life John from System of A Down cares about, Bono really cares about, Bruce Springstein really cares about, and Tom Morello really cares about, or Zach De La Rocha. Do you know what that is?
GF: No, what is it?
RH: Themselves, and money. That's what they really care about.
GF: Who's really genuine in the music industry?
RH: You're being sold a product, it's just about what you like. I know Ville Valo played in Spain and he was so fucked up he'd been out for three days. He couldn't even speak English, he spoke in Finnish and sang in Finnish. He didn't even know he was there. What can I say, I'd like to have seen it.
GF: Me too. I also noticed you don't do drugs, do you drink at all?
RH: I like red wine when I'm in the mood. I've taken every drug there is. I've never smoked pot, I'm a big anti-smoker. It gets to a point when you're better off without drugs. It gets boring. I used to do coke all the time in the 80s. So you'd be all fucked up, not even fucking anyone because you can't get a hard-on and you end up feeling sorry for yourself. If you look at my website there's some pictures of AC/DC from 1980s. I'd been up for three days in New York when I took them, and I have no recollection of even going to Madison Square Garden. I remember I was talking to Geoff Tate from Queensrche I said to him, "I don't remember certain things about the '80s," and he said, "I wouldn't worry because no one else does either." [Laughs] He's like, "you weren't in your room doing it alone, everybody was doing it as well." I'm not against drugs, do whatever makes you happy. I don't do it anymore, I wish I'd been cleaner earlier. You look at Seattle rock, it's all misery isn't it? Nirvana, Pearl Jam, let's all feel sorry for ourselves. I did love Soundgarden, I thought they were great.
GF: I read the thing about Norah Jones a couple years back, what was up with her?
RH: Well, I was hired by the merchandising company to do her. When I got there, she was fat, she was overweight and had a big arse, or a big ass as you would say. Guess whose fault it was that she was fat? Not hers, mine! It was like, "Can you take these pictures from like two hundred feet away?" I'm like, "What?" She was being serious, she was the most obstructive person, she was an absolute complete fucking bitch. Grade A. I was like, "Why bother, life's too short."
GF: It seems like you don't get too stressed out about any of this.
RH: Why get stressed? What can you do? The last time I emailed Maggie Wang, she said, "I've been really stressed with work." I said, "Stress is self-induced." Why get stressed out about a load of pop musicians?
GF: Did you always feel this way about the music scene or did these feelings just come to you?
RH: No, nothing has ever come to me. I actually work very hard. I really resent that whole thing about "Oh, lucky you." What's "lucky me?" I think I do what I do fairly well, I work very hard when I work.
GF: Bam Margera once said, "The harder you work, the luckier you get."
RH: I wouldn't say there's any luck in it. You work hard, do a good job and create what you create.
GF: You're very wise and insightful, you should write a book.
RH: [Laughs] How not to be a photographer!
GF: I'd buy it!
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Plus he started Kerrang! Possibly the best music mag ever.