The Crucial 3-0
Post Punk Liverpool
by Kevin Cummins

The Hard Day's Night Hotel Gallery, Liverpool, London
23 May to 22 June 2009


Photographic documentary about Liverpool's music 'Zeitgeist' since the late 70ies

On the 4th day of the Liverpool SoundCity music festival (20 - 23 May) where over 400 bands from 15 countries will present new music from different genres, the photo exhibition "The Crucial 3-0" about the city's most influential bands curated by British photographer Kevin Cummins starts in London. The exhibition's title comes from a band which existed not longer than six weeks - Crucial Three; what counts is the impact! The documentarist of music has created a series of thirty hand finished prints showing the authentic world of Liverpool bands spanning the past thirty years.

“The Liverpool scene was really vibrant in the late 70s, early 80s. It learned a lot from the success of Manchester and fought back in an attempt to regain its place as Music Capital of Britain,” says Cummins of the exhibit. “The Liverpool bands always had a slightly cooler charm and confidence - which I think comes across in these images.”

Video: Kevin Cummins in an interview on occasion of the exhibition 'Joy Division' in London. By youtube.com/user/hindle248, edited for the Manchester District Music Archive, 2007. Kevin Cummins (born in Manchester, UK) is wellknown for his portraits of rock musicians like Joy Division, The Smiths, Manic Street Preachers, David Bowie... www.kevincummins.co.uk/

fig.: Holly Johnson photographed by Kevin Cummins. © Kevin Cummins

Video: Holly Johnson (born 1960), leading voice of the 80ies Liverpool band Frankie Goes To Hollywood, explains why the BBC has banned the original of 'Relax', the appearance of gay men in their videos etc. The song 'Relax' was released in 1983; in 1984 'Relax' was the number one in UK as well as in Germany. Watch out the video on youtube.com/watch?v=mgEdFXJ-huw!

Holly Johnson has an extensive website with free downloads, biography about his music, art work and his inspiration such as that his screen prints have been strongly influenced by Andy Warhol, his AIDS charities... www.hollyjohnson.com.

The Liverpool SoundCity Festival
Highlights of the SoundCity festival 2008 have been Santogold or Hercules and Love Affair, to name a few. Find out more about the festival's conferences, exhibitions, attending musicians, multimedia material like MP3... www.liverpoolsoundcity.co.uk/.


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