With iconic photography of young iconoclasts, musicians, and bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, The Circle Jerks, Ice Cube, and Bad Religion, as well as hundreds of other early punk and hip hop bands, Edward Colver was an insider to the turbulent and burgeoning underground music scene of early-eighties Los Angeles. Since active in photography for more than forty years, he first documented an average of five local shows a week using only a 35mm camera, flash, and Kodak Tri-X film.

Colver’s book, Blight at the End of the Funnel, collects some of the best of his hardcore punk and promotional work for record companies. His shot of Henry Rollins for the cover of Black Flag’s “Damaged” album was used on billboards and lamppost flyers throughout Los Angeles during the Annenberg Space for Photography’s Who Shot Rock and Roll installation in 2012, curated by Brooklyn Museum curator and author Gail Buckland. In addition to numerous other openings, including Shepard Fairey’s Subliminal Projects gallery and a solo show at Lethal Amounts this last year.



Show Notes: 

• The punk rock revolution in Los Angeles
• Edward’s experience shooting Henry Rollins for Black Flag’s “Damaged” album cover
• His run in with Jerry Lee Lewis
• Working with Ice Cube
• Suing Interscope Records
• His experiences shooting photographs for 36 years
• Shooting the Circle Jerks “Group Sex” album cover

Edward Colver's Instagram

Posted 10.28.2017