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Photographer Lawrence Watson exclusively reveals the stories behind his key shots from a new book documenting Paul Weller’s solo career:
I started photographing Paul in 1992, three years after he’d found himself without band or recording deal for the first time since he was 17.
Nobody wanted him! Polydor didn’t like his album, even though he was ahead of the game – he’d made a house album – and so he was left out in the wild for a bit. He had to re-evaluate everything.
I think it was the first time in his life someone had told him they didn’t like what he did, so I’m sure it was pretty strange for him. In 1991, he began touring small venues as The Paul Weller Movement, playing a mix of hits from The Jam as well as new solo material.
Show all 9 1 /9The modfather in pictures The modfather in pictures San Francisco, 1992 I don’t think Paul ever talked about what he was feeling when he got dropped from his label. He tends to sit on things for a little bit. But I think you can see some of those feelings coming through in this shot. I like doing honest documentary stuff and sometimes you hit on the image that tells the story. I’m quite happy sitting around backstage with a beer in my hand waiting for the right shot
The modfather in pictures Olympia, London, October 1994 This is at the old Nomis studios, near Shepherd’s Bush. Paul bought that teddy for his daughter, Leah. There’s a shot of John Lennon in Japan with a panda and this image is a homage to that Lennon shot. I started to explain it to him, and he went: “OK, I know the shot, OK.” If there’s a Sixties reference to what I’m trying to do, I can usually get him on board
The modfather in pictures Hyde Park, 1996 Noel Gallagher came to see Paul perform. They have guested on each other’s albums and Noel says Paul is one of his early influences; they have a good mutual respect for each other, without too much back-slapping going on and blowing smoke up each other. If you ask Paul about this shot, he loves to say that Noel is indicating the exact size of his penis
The modfather in pictures Hyde Park, 28 July 2002 He was on stage with Carleen Anderson, who was in the Young Disciples, and Chaka Khan, who did ‘Ain’t Nobody’, that day, and it was a brilliant gig. It was a good sunny day and we had the families down as well. I was there with my wife and kids and it was a good day of hanging out and stuff
The modfather in pictures Royal Albert Hall, London, 24-28 May 2010 Paul’s whispering to Steve Cradock. Steve is a great guitarist. It’s just like a hero shot. It’s such a beautiful venue. You always try to get that shot and show the elation of the crowd. This one’s nice because you’ve got them together. They get on really well and I’m glad I caught them having an intimate moment. I think something went wrong at the recent Teenage Cancer Trust gig at the Royal Albert Hall in March, and it threw Paul’s momentum off, but he got straight back in there. There’s nobody more annoyed after a bad gig than Paul himself. He never takes it for granted, he always wants to put on a good show
The modfather in pictures Japan, Tokyo, 1994 Paul has a good following in Japan. He was on a hunt for vintage Levi’s and those girls saw him and started giggling. The Japanese fans get so excited; they sometimes look like they’re hyperventilating. He went again in 2012 and the fans tended to be a bit older. They are getting to be of a certain age, some of them
The modfather in pictures Margate, 1995 We took the bike down to Margate. It was just sat in Paul’s front room on display and I said to him, ‘that would be good for a photo shoot’, so we took it down without any petrol in it because it had to go back in his front room again and I didn’t want to have to drain the petrol. So we had to drive it down to the beach in a van. He doesn’t have it any more, it went to a charity auction. The art on it is by Peter Blake. Go! Discs did three different scooters themed from the artwork from Paul’s first three albums. In this photo he’s rolling something between his hands – you could call it a cigarette. Those are just fans waiting in the background who heard that Paul was going to be there
The modfather in pictures Rimini, Italy, 2001 This was for an album called ‘Days of Speed’, which featured live acoustic versions of past songs. This was his first solo acoustic tour. It was out of eason so it was quite cold and those things in the background that look like mad mushrooms were the holders for the parasols that had been taken away for winter. Paul liked the look of them. He looks sharp in this shot. He likes his dapper look, that’s mod culture for you. It’s a very working-class thing as well to show off your clothes. He changes his shoes a lot, too, I can usually tell what gig it was by looking at what shoes he was wearing
The modfather in pictures Woking, late Nineties That’s in Woking. I took my son and Paul took his kids Nathaniel and Leah. The hill is near where he lived in Woking, it was the end of the day and there was that golden light. It was just after we’d done a shoot for the ‘Modern Classics’ album in a cornfield nearby
Into Tomorrow by Paul Weller, Photographs by Lawrence Watson the signed limited edition book of 2,000 copies from www.WellerBook.com , Tel: +44 (0)1483540 970, £325
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