Interview with the Photographer Joel Lambert at Rebellion Festival.

Blackpool Gazette

Transcript

00:00What brings you to the Rebellion Festival in Blackpool every year?

00:05Why did I come, you mean?

00:07Well, because I've been working in music for more than 40 years

00:13and I think I belong to the generation which really began to live with music during the 70s

00:23even at the end of the 60s, and it never stopped.

00:27And I just retired a few weeks ago and since a few years I was just thinking

00:34it would be nice to make the portrait of a generation,

00:39so those people who have been living now for almost 40 years

00:43with music but also connected to arts, literature and so on.

00:48And of course this is a punk festival and punk exploded in the 77 or something like that

00:55and all those people around me, some of them are young

00:58but a lot of people inside are 45, 50, 60 years old.

01:03So what I do is preparing a work because we travel a lot,

01:09we were in Germany a few weeks ago,

01:12as if I were commissioned to make the portrait of a generation, if you want.

01:19So what do you think makes this festival stand out from other ones during the year?

01:26Well, because the last concert I worked for was Rammstein,

01:33which was a huge concert in Belgium, 90,000 people.

01:37But if you pay attention to big festivals now, you have a line-up which is a mix of everything.

01:46You have headliners and from my point of view it doesn't make a lot of sense,

01:52but this festival in Blackpool has a real identity

01:58and from my point of view it is one of the last in Europe with such an identity.

02:03It's really a beautiful festival.

02:05The other one we went to was a gothic festival in Leipzig a few weeks ago,

02:11a wave gothic, same kind of festival.

02:14They are in a niche.

02:16We recognise people who come from France, from New Zealand.

02:21It's the third year we come and we just see it's a family, it's a huge family.

02:28It's a niche and it's really interesting.

02:31So you just feel a connection with everybody there, everyone's there for the same thing.

02:38They are in the same mood and they are ready to travel all over the world to see the same bands.

02:44So it's really interesting because you just have the idea that you can meet those people

02:50in another punk festival 2,000 kilometres away from here.

02:55But on top of it, the way the festival is organised, it is fantastic.

03:04You are really welcome.

03:06The city is really particular and people are nice.

03:12So we begin to know them.

03:14It's the third time and it's tricky because we want to come back each year now.

03:21So what bands are the most exciting to see?

03:28The Stranglers because I saw the Stranglers in the 70s

03:33but not only the Stranglers, Sham 69, Lydia Lange who is really a star.

03:39I think she lives in New York but she is present here this afternoon for literature

03:45and then she performs in the evening.

03:48Who else? Tom Robinson.

03:53Plenty of bands in fact.

03:55But even now we discover young bands which are playing punk music again.

04:03Even from China, Dummy Toys.

04:05The Dummy Toys, yeah.

04:08You have two bands, the Dummy Toys are Chinese I think

04:12and you've got the Rum Kick who are from South Korea.

04:18They were here last year and they are still back.

04:21It's really interesting.

04:23So what are you doing at the festival from a photography point of view?

04:28The idea is I'm preparing an exhibition

04:31and the idea should be to present that exhibition in museums or galleries

04:38which are close to a huge festival.

04:40So if you have for example the Hellfest in France which is close to Nantes

04:46the show would be presented in a gallery in Nantes.

04:49If you have another festival in Brussels, maybe in the Botanic or another gallery or museum

04:56and it would be really nice.

04:58I'm going to try to get some information to present the photographs here in Blackpool

05:04and try to have a connection between the contemporary art or the gallery and the festival.

05:12It's something I've got to speak about to the director of the festival

05:16because just to create one more synergy around the festival.

05:21And then secondly a book about all those people

05:27because it's really becoming important now.

05:30I have hundreds of pictures and make a selection

05:34just like as if it were a commission.

05:39The portrait of a generation if you will.

05:41As I said, you've got a studio at the event.

05:47Where can people find you if you come to that studio to get a photo taken?

05:50What did I say?

05:52Where can people find you?

05:55Well we are just at the entrance of the market.

05:59So it's not a studio, it's just a backdrop, a white backdrop against the wall.

06:06Two flashes and we stop people and we ask them if they want to be shot.

06:12And on top of it I take notes because I send them the pictures later.

06:18I always send the pictures and I ask them who is their favourite artist

06:25or who is their favourite band and who is their favourite writer

06:30or what is their favourite book.

06:32And it's really interesting because when you travel

06:35you see that there are some connections between people all over Europe.

06:40Especially in literature, it's surprising in fact.

06:45So the idea would be to have in the book on the right page the picture

06:51and just on the left page beneath the first name of the person

06:58and then the name of the band or the musician or the writer.

07:03That would be the idea.

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