Rowan Bulmer - Swinging London's Forgotten Photographer

From Biba's advertising campaign, London, Kensington, 1966

Recently, I've been flicking through London fashion/culture magazine Jocks & Nerds, where I found the article about 1960's London photographer Rowan Bulmer. Unlike his contemporaries David Bailey, Terence Donovan, Brian Duffy, Robert Whittaker and many others, Rowan Bulmer and his work remain almost completely unknown today - which is unusual, considering Bulmer's high profile in the 1960's. He was friends with The Rolling Stones (reportedly, he introduced Mick Jagger to Chrissie Shrimpton), he photographed and hung out with Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, he was an official photographer for Mod meccas - TV programme Ready Steady Go! and Marquee club. He did first ever Biba advertising campaign and countless fashion photoshoots. Normally, a photographer of such calibre would today have his work published in a Taschen coffee table book, exhibited in museums, and the prints would sell a £100+ per pop. But not Rowan Bulmer. There are various reasons for that. As Chris May wrote in Jocks & Nerds:  Driven by passion rather than careerism, Bulmer never bothered to archive his work. What's more, The Marquee club, which stored a large chunk of Bulmer's negatives, had unfortunately lost them when it moved out of Wardour Street in 1988.

Rowan Bulmer dancing the Twist, Eel Pie Island, 1962

In 2011, Bulmer's daughter Tahita (who is a lead singer in indie band New Young Pony Club) has found a large box of old prints that her father left in UK after moving to South of France year earlier. Box contained unseen photos of Stones, Hendrix , The Who and other legendary musicians as well as fashion photos and various snapshots of Swinging London scene. According to Chris May, Bulmer seemed surprised that anyone would be interested in his story (or his photos).

And what a fascinating story it is (A classic case of right place, right time - Chris May). Bulmer was born in 1943 and grew up in Chiswick. At 16, he enrolled at Chelsea College of Art. Like many of his art school pals, Bulmer was a jazz and Rn'B enthusiast and quickly became a regular on Soho's beatnik/coffee bar scene. One of his favourite hang-out at that time was Duke Of York pub in York Alley, Soho. He remembers: The Duke Of York is probably where it all started. It was very important. Rod Stewart, Long John Baldry, they they all hung out there. everyone was drinking and smoking dope non-stop. Everyone was scoring and there was Benzidrine and heroin. I never got into drugs myself. I saw it wreck too many people and made a decision early on.  Around 1962, Bulmer started hanging out in the Ealing Club, Richmond's Station Hotel, Crawdaddy Club and Eel Pie Island - a places now considered a cradle of British Rn'B scene. He witnessed early gigs of The Pretty Things, The Downliners Sect, The Artwoods, Cyril Davies All Stars, Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, Jimmy Powell and The Five Dimensions (featuring Rod Stewart), The Tridents (Jeff Beck's first band). He witnessed Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Fleetwood learning their trade before they hit superstardom. I first went to Eel Pie Island when I was 15 - he remembers. I became a pot boy, collecting empty glasses from the tables. It was a traditional jazz club and then they brought in Rn'B on Wednesday nights. I loved it all.  

Keth Moon photographed by Rowan Bulmer

Around that time, Bulmer became a photographer. All these musicians I knew started to need photographs, and I thought, 'I can do that'. And because they were my friends, I took a lot of shots just for myself. Among his numerous musician friends were The Rolling Stones whom he met through Giorgio Gomelsky - owner of Crawdaddy Club and Stones' early manager, when he was shooting promotional film about The Stones in 1963. They were filming at station Hotel - Bulmer remembers - I was well known as a dancer and they were waiting for me to arrive before they started filming. The Stones were playing 'Pretty Thing' and the girl  I was dancing with happened to be Brian Jones' girlfriend Linda Lawrence. She later married Donovan, hence the song 'Linda'. Anyway, I went to a work-in-progress screening at the Intrepid Fox pub on Wardour Street and afterwards I was chatting to Giorgio and he realised that I knew everyone. He was worried that he would get troublemakers at the Crawdaddy and he asked if I would work with him and keep an eye out for these characters. So I stopped going to Eel Pie so often and I was with Giorgio. This was when I got to know the Stones well.

Mick Jagger photographed by Rowan Bulmer in 1967

Bulmer was very close to Brian Jones - at one point they even considered moving in together. Bulmer says: We went flat hunting together a lot. We looked at lots of places, but somehow it didn't happen. Some people didn't like Brian, but I did. He was generous and he was really passionate about the blues. Evidently, Bulmer was less impressed by Andrew Loog Oldham - a young manager, who snatched The Stones from Giorgio Gomelsky. He was alright. A bit arrogant. I didn't really know him before he took over the Stones. There were a lot of people trying to get the Stones at that time. I was surprised when he got them.

By 1964, Rowan Bulmer was approached by the producers of new TV programme called Ready Steady Go!. He became an official photographer for this soon-to-be-cult Mod show. His other role in RSG! was finding new hot bands for the show - perfect for somebody with his connections and position on the scene.

Roll of film Bulmer shot at RSG! around 1965 - if you clack on it you can see Cathy McGowan and some soul band - anybody knows who they are?

Around that time Bulmer also became an official photographer at the Marquee Club, where he shot pretty much anybody who was anybody in the 1960's London. Unfortunately, his decision of storing his negatives at the club proved disastrous.

Ronnie Wood, Chris Barber and Jeff Beck at the Marquee, 1967

Bulmer also took a lot of photos at The Speakeasy Club.

Jimi Hendrix Experience at The Speakeasy, 1967

Drag artist at The Speakeasy, 1967

Eric Clapton onstage with Cream, National Jazz and Blues Festival, Windsor, 1966

Mods, National Jazz and Blues Festival, Windsor, 1966

Geno Washington, 1965

From 1964 onwards, Bulmer also worked as a fashion photographer.

Fashion shots featuring model Wendy Richards, circa 1965

When Barbara Hulanicki opened Biba, she hired Rowan Bulmer to do the advertising campaign.

Photoshoot for Biba, Kensington Church Street, 1966

Fashion shoot at Yellow Submarine club, London, 1966. I don't know who the designer was but the clothes look amazing. I wish we could see a better quality version..

Same goes for this menswear ad from around 1966

London Mod/Psych band The Syn (their line-up included Chris Squire - future member of Yes) modelling newest Carnaby Clobber outside Marquee Club, 1967

Immaculately-looking Rod Stewart with female friends, 1967 ( I wonder where this photo was taken. I can see some David Bailey prints in the background...)

Rowan Bulmer continued working as a photographer in London in the 1970's. In 1980's, he moved to Ilkley,Yorkshire. He created large-scale sculptures on the Yorshire Moors. Around that time he also had his own art exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London. In 1984, Bulmer, passionate anti- Thacherite, joined a picket lines during miners' strike (I've always been on the Left - he says. My parents were Tory councillors; it's a reaction to that).

In the 1990's Bulmer returned to London. He opened his own studio on King's Road in Chelsea, where he worked until his retirement in 2010. Today, he lives in Dordogne in southwest France.

I don't know how much is left from his 1960's work, but I sure hope to see more. Rowan Bulmer doesn't seem interested in 'cashing-up', but the reasons for restoring and publishing the remains of his 1960's work do not have to be financial. Contrary to what he might think, there is a lot of interest in this, now legendary, era.

All the photos and quotations come from Chris May's article in Jocks & Nerds magazine, Volume 1 Issue 7, p 48-57.

This Way To The Speakeasy

Co-managers of Speakeasy Roy Flynn and Mike Carey with female friends, 1967

Recently, I found this NME article from May 1967 about Swinging London club Speakeasy.  It was a regular hangout for the musicians of the era. The club, located at 48 Margaret Street, opened in the late 1966, and soon became what Tony Bacon describes in his book London Live as Handy new watering hole, a prime early hours jamming post, and altogether useful hanging-out kind of place (p 101). The decor of the club was inspired by prohibition-era American speakeasies - it even had a fake 'front' - an undertaker's parlour. Another prominent feature of the venue was a portrait of Al Capone painted by Barry Fantoni.

NME article by Norrie Drummond (click to enlarge)

Managers Roy Flynn said in the NME interview:We want The Speakeasy to be a club which people really like to go to rather than the one which people go to, because it's the done thing. Soon, however Speakeasy would become absolutely out of bounds for ordinary people. As Tony Bacon writes:  It became legendary as the club to which entrance was easy only for those with at least one hit record that week. 'Hard to get into? No , nearly impossible if you're not a member' wrote Penny Valentine in Disc, "and even harder because it's so full. Therefore try to latch on to a happy-hippie scene goer who belongs" (p 103). 

Apart from being a rock stars' hangout, The Speakeasy was also, an uber-exclusive gig venue. In the article, The Soft Machine are described as 'resident group' and are pictured jamming with Jimi Hendrix. A stream of good bands performed at the Speak - wrote Tony Bacon - Hendrix's Experience was among the first in January 1967. Marianne Faithfull said that when she went there to see the great guitarist with Mick Jagger, Mr. Jimi tried to seduce her, whispering: 'What are you doing with this jerk, anyway?'. Cream appeared in August, just before jetting off for their first US tour with compere Frank Zappa introducing them as 'dandy little combo' (...) 

 Interior of the Speakeasy

 The Speakeasy was also the key place to go if you fancied a jam.'There was a lot of blowing at the Speak', Charlie Whitney of Family agrees.'People like Ritchie Blackmore would just get up. Hendrix was always blowing there. Couldn't get him off! He didn't care what he played, either: guitar, bass, anything he'd be there. And with anybody. It was definitely the after-hours musician's place. Chris Welch from Melody Maker had another theory for the Speakeasy's popularity.'(It was) because of the tireless patience of the head waiter and the staff, who didn't seem to mind too much when Mr. Moon appeared naked letting off fire extinguishers, or Ginger Baker hurled the odd dinner at some rival who displeased him'. For some, however, it was all a bit too much. Soft Machine's Robert Wyatt, for example:'Rock groups meeting in expensive clubs that are difficult to get into? What's all that crap? (p 104).

Hendrix and entourage at the Speakeasy, 1967

Speakeasy aside, on the same page of NME as the Speakeasy article, there are two ads - one for cool clothing outlet Harry Fenton, and one for Lambretta.

Although it's hard to find any information about Harry Fenton, the ad is certainly impressive - it pictures a hip young man in double-breasted jacket - a dedicated follower of fashion, whom you'd expect to see on the streets of London in 1967.

The Lambretta ad looks, by comparison, pretty dated. Yes, the font at the top hints at 'flower-power', but the drawing of  a mod and his female companions belongs more to 1965 rather than 1967 (apparently, in 1967 scooter sales in Britain had fallen dramatically, forcing Vespa and Lambretta to do aggressive ad campaigns. Vespa even tried to launch a trend for 'flower-power scooters' with psychedelic patters. Luckily, it didn't catch on).

Sources: NME magazine, issue from (week ending) 20 May, 1967
Tony Bacon, London Live, Balafon Books, London, 1999