Arca

Hotel Subur Maritim, Sitges, Spain, 11 March 1990

MH: For whom did you take the picture and what camera did you use?

KC: NME. Nikon F3

MH: What do you remember about the shoot?

KC: I’d been in Barcelona for a couple of days with the band and then we went to Sitges by the coast. They’d been out all Saturday night and I didn’t have much hope for the 14:00 start I was promised. Sure enough the band didn’t start to surface until 18:00. The light was dropping at street level and I thought that the roof would be the only place  with decent light. They were also supposed to be shooting a video that weekend, too – the camera man ended up shooting stock whilst I was shooting the band for my NME session – which is hardly ideal for either party. I decided to shoot Shaun and Bez under the first three letters of the sign HOTEL – HOT. I thought it’d perfectly capture the zeitgeist. It was the ›Summer of Love‹ and so on… It was only as I started to frame the shot with HOT above them that I realised what the next letter of ›hotel‹ was. I asked Shaun to stand on the letter E for a few frames and immediately I was excited by it. I knew I’d captured a seminal moment. As long as the exposure was perfect I’d have a great defining image. I had to wait for three days to get the film processed – and a very nervous three days it was.

MH: Was Ecstasy’s impact on Manchester, its music and its club culture really that huge?

KC: It’s impact was massive. Thousands of column centimetres have been written about it. This one photo can maybe tell a similar story.

MH: Was it difficult to get up on the roof of the hotel? Did you ask for permission? Is it sometimes better to just not ask for permission?

KC: Often it’s best to get as many shots as possible and claim you have permission – or even ask for permission once you’ve started shooting. At least you’ve got part of the session in the bag.

MH: Have you ever been threatened by someone who didn’t want you on his premises?

KC: I don’t know really. I don’t really take much notice. I’m usually pretty careful about where I shoot and if someone starts to complain I’ll ask the record company PR to sort it out.