New Exhibit From Cleveland Photographer Captures Punk Rock's Early Days

Photographer and artist Jim Lanza. Credit: Courtesy of Jim Lanza

Local photographer and artist Jim Lanza clearly remembers shooting his first concert. His parents had bought him a “cheap camera” for Christmas. He took the camera with him to the World Series of Rock concert at Municipal Stadium.

“I was 12 years old, and I tagged along with my brothers,” he says one afternoon from Sixty Bowls Gallery, which will host Fans & Cameras: Jim Lanza — 45 Years of Taking Photos of Unpopular Bands and Weird People, an exhibit featuring rock n’ roll photos he’s taken over the page 45 years. The exhibit opens with a reception that takes place from 3 to 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 12. That same night, the Dead Boys, one of Lanza’s subjects, play a show at the Foundry. “It was Thin Lizzy and Aerosmith. It was big arena rock bands. I managed to make my way to the front of stage for AC/DC.”

That experience ignited a passion for photographing live music. In the early ’80s, Lanza discovered punk rock through his older brothers and got a fake ID to make his way into local clubs like the Pop Shop and the Lakefront.

“At that time, WMMS was pushing all this crappy music down our throats,” he says. “These other people wanted different. When I saw this artistic, DIY group putting on their shows. Bands like the Damned would come through Cleveland. Back then, it was such a small group of people that you knew a lot of the same people. It was punk rockers and metal heads and transvestites. Everyone was accepting everyone. I thought it was a unique bunch of people.”

He would take photos for his own amusement and get them developed at the local Fotomat.

“I would never do anything with them,” he says. “I had them in boxes. As I got older, I started going to shows for the Ramones and the Cramps, still at small venues like the Phantasy. I used to go to Detroit for shows all the time. “

When local bands Death of Samantha, Shadow of Fear and the Reactions decided to hit the East Coast, he tagged along with his camera.

“I really just went along for the ride,” he says. “The RV would break down all the time. We went through three RVs.”

In the wake of that road trip, Lanza started to print merch for bands. He had worked at Daffy Dan’s and knew how to make screen prints.

A major opportunity presented itself when his friend Mark O’Shea, who was the tour manager for industrial rock heroes Nine Inch Nails, asked him to come on the road with Trent Reznor and Co.

“They were touring behind The Downward Spiral,” Lanza says. “That tour started at small venues. The first show was in Seattle. Three thousand people came. Gene Simmons [from KISS] and Maynard from Tool were at the show. There was a big buzz about Nine Inch Nails. I was never a fan. I was more into punk rock. As the tour went on and watching the show so many fucking times, there were things about it that I liked.”

The crowds got bigger, and the band played Woodstock. NIN’s popularity soarded, and it went into the arenas. Lanza went from driving a 12-foot to an 18-foot truck. He went around the States and even traveled with the band when it toured Australia.

“It was amazing,” he says.

On the NIN tour with David Bowie, Lanza gave some T-shirts to Bowie that the Thin White Duke would end up wearing.

After a few years with NIN, Lanza got a gig taking photos and video for shock rocker Marilyn Manson on his infamous Anti-Christ Superstar Tour.

“Christian groups were phoning in bomb threats,” says Lanza. “I bought a 35mm camera to document the tour. Two weeks with Manson turned into a year-and-a-half.”

Just recently, Lanza discovered the negatives from that tour. Those photos feature “back-stage goofiness,” including shots of Manson wiping his ass with the American flag and sitting on a sofa with Ozzy Osbourne.

For Lanza, his exhibit offers a snapshot into the music world during a specific time period.

“You won’t find any photos of Billy Joel in my show,” he says. “The biggest name might be Joe Strummer from the Clash. And even they were an underground punk rock band. For me, it’s all about memories. All this unique stuff was happening in Cleveland. It was good time to be going to shows in the early ‘80s. You got to see the beginnings of techno and rap and all different types of music. I find myself listening to the same music — Stooges records and the Cramps. It was such a unique time.”

Not all of the work on display centers on rock and punk. Some of the photos in the exhibit come from the Cleveland-centric artwork that Lanza has sold at regional art shows for the past 15 years. Everything will be for sale.

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