By Sam SutherlandCompiling a wealth of incredible photographs from Toronto's underground music scene with the compelling story of growing up amidst the chaos of punk and new wave in the late '70s, Don Pyle's excellent Trouble in the Camera Club: A Photographic Narrative of Toronto's Punk History 1976 - 1980 is a vital piece of Canadian musical history that offers much more than a good coffee table read. "Each time I took a step back and looked at what I was writing, I realized more and more that this has to be about how I came to take these pictures," says former Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet drummer Pyle, who began shooting at 14. "I wanted it to be the story of how the pictures came to be, not the story of how the Curse or the Ugly came to be." The result is a deeply personal narrative that rings true with anyone who found solace in music during their teenage years, combined with photos, fliers, and ticket stubs chronically everything from the rise of the Viletones and Teenage Head to legendary appearances by Iggy Pop and Blondie.
Have you had much feedback so far? Don Pyle: Yeah, actually. All the feedback I've had ― anyone who says anything to my face anyway ― has been overwhelmingly positive. It's been really great, and it's taken me aback. There's been more positive expression than I expected. The last few records I put out have been pretty much totally ignored, so I've gotten used to making something, and no one noticing [laughs]. So this was a little bit of a shift, eh? Yeah, it has been. And it's easy to feel a bit detached from it because it's taken so long. I think accepting that it was real, and not just in my hands but in other people's hands, as well, has taken me a week or so to get my head around. For me, what makes it so compelling is that it's so personal. I didn't know what to expect in terms of the writing that would accompany the photos, so beyond the quality of the photos, there's a real sense of magic, that feeling of being a teenager and discovering something. I don't even think you need to have an interest in the specifics of that era of Toronto punk to find it compelling. It's just a great story of being a kid and discovering music. Thanks, I appreciate that. When I started writing the copy for the book, I easily erased more than I wrote. It took me a long time to find the right tone, the right direction for it. As soon as I started telling any band's story, or describing their history, then I was really aware how I was being dragged in to another book. It was like, "Oh my God, I'm going to write another book! I'm going to write two books! First, the photo book, and now, I have to write the history!" But each time I took a step back and looked at what I was writing, I realized more and more that this has to be about how I came to take these pictures. I wanted it to be the story of how the pictures came to be, not the story of how the Curse or the Ugly came to be. It was really helpful to take that step back. It some ways, I felt like I had to do that to express, as you said, the magic of that time. Thirty-five years later, there's a lot of music that I was really into at that time that I wouldn't necessarily be excited by today. So much of it was that moment. I don't want to read some old guy saying, "This band was great then, but they became crap." There's so much stuff that I love, and I didn't want to be dismissive of where that stuff went, because a lot of people there went to places I didn't find as interesting. But I was thinking a lot about that Sex Pistols... What's the second film? Not The Rock and Roll Swindle? Oh, The Filth and the Fury. Yeah, The Filth and the Fury. I found that film so emotional and so moving. And something I thought was so genius about that film was having them in silhouette, so you remain totally in the moment of when this happened. I was thinking about that film, and doing this writing, and trying to remain in that moment, rather than in the present. So I think some of the things I said in the book were kind of silly, or whatever. But they were totally what I was thinking at the time, what I remember thinking then. I think that that's going to convey something more about my feeling taking those pictures, than describing what happened to Teenage Head, or how I feel about their seventh album.
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