Rob Baxter is no stranger to a sweaty mosh pit.
The Perth photographer and musician spent plenty of nights throughout the ’70s and ’80s shoulder to shoulder with a room full of leather-clad revellers – and now, he’s unearthed his back catalogue of images for a new book featuring some of the city’s most iconic musical figures.
Baxter began a diploma in graphic design at Central TAFE in 1976, where he first learnt the basics of developing black and white film and printing photography.
“After initially working in advertising agencies I finally decided to just focus on being a photographer and embracing learning all there was to know. The bands started around 1976 and I managed to stumble upon the New Wave and document that time with my Nikon camera,” Baxter tells us.
“Back then in the ’70s as a student, I was always looking for the unexpected – and the idea of photography as art, for example hand colouring black and white prints and cross processing slide film for different effects was something different.”
“As a teenager and beyond I was like a sponge! Absorbing everything happening in music and the fashion scene in the UK. I remember the turning point from reggae and blues bands to getting back to basics with UK bands like The Jam and The Clash to name a few.”
“Here in Perth, my friends and I were witnessing the Perth scene – and because of our isolation here in the west it spawned so many unique bands… Original in every way, singing about the Australian landscape and in the Australian punk and New Wave style. The Triffids and The Manikins were examples of that original music coming from the west.”
“You could almost smell the Australian heat.”
Baxter wasn’t just behind the lens – he also took to the stage as a vocalist and keyboardist in the original line up of electro post-punk band The Plants, pictured below in 1979.
Still out and about photographing charity gigs and fashion events around town, highlights from Baxter’s years documenting Perth’s punk scene have been curated as part of his new, self-published book, Photographs from Perth’s Rock & Punk Scene 1970’s & 80’s. The book is available for purchase at Planet Books, located in Mount Lawley, Northbridge, Cottesloe and online.
“My photos over the years have appeared in various books and magazines as well as in film. The WA State Library in 2021 collated my photos and made them available to the public as part of Perth’s art history, but it has always been a dream of mine to publish a collection of my photos in a book and the day has finally arrived,” Baxter explained when the book was announced earlier this year.
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“It was now or never, as Elvis said back then,” he elaborated this week.
“I always had a plan to publish one day a book of Perth rock, punk, fashion, and people of that time – so I’m glad it’s finally out.”
“It’s self published mainly because I wanted to do it my own way without being told what to do. I’m happy with how it’s turned out and if it’s the only book I do then that’s OK.”
All images courtesy of Rob Baxter. Copies of Rob Baxter: Photographs from Perth’s Rock & Punk Scene 1970’s & 80’s are available to purchase via Planet Books.