Renowned Chicago music photographer Gene Ambo sifts through his archives to compile Heavy Metro: Access All Eras, a hard-rocking volume that captures the glory days of Wrigleyville’s iconic Metro club.
From Nirvana and Metallica to Prince and The Smashing Pumpkins, the stage of the legendary Metro (3730 N. Clark St.) has played host to a who’s who of A-list talent—and rock photographer Gene Ambo has been there in the photo pit to capture them all. Now, as live music makes a much-anticipated return—and just in time for Metro’s 40th anniversary—Ambo has dropped Heavy Metro: Access All Eras, a love letter to the massive talents that have played owner Joe Shanahan’s world-famous club. Here, Ambo gives us the scoop on a handful of the book’s iconic snaps.
BRIAN SETZER, CIRCA 1984/1985
“When this photo was taken, I was hooked up with Creem magazine. I remember the Stray Cats had broken up, and Brian Setzer was doing his solo thing. I called his manager and set up a photo shoot upstairs at Metro. As for this photo, I was standing out front of Metro, Setzer walked out, and I thought, ‘Yes. This is more what I expected him to look like, not like the contrived shots that I did upstairs.’”
DAVE GROHL, Q101 HALLOWEEN SLIME BALL, OCT. 31, 2000
“It was Halloween, and Foo Fighters were opening for Queens of the Stone Age, and everybody was there early and pretty much hanging out all day and actually kinda bored. That night, the Foo Fighters dressed up as Cheap Trick ’cause it was Halloween. There’s other photos where you see them onstage with wigs. Dave Grohl was actually Robin Zander that night if I’m not mistaken.”
SHIRLEY MANSON, MAY 4, 2005
“U.K.’s Kerrang! magazine had me spend a day with Shirley Manson and Garbage. Shirley’s just the greatest. I was in her dressing room after we’d been together all day and her tour manager says to me, ‘Time to go,’ and Shirley’s like, ‘Oh, no, he can stay.’ So I hung out while she got ready. I have another photo of Shirley opening fan letters and getting emotional. I would’ve picked that for Heavy Metro, but this one is more intimate.”
IGGY POP, NOV. 6, 1986
“This is from Iggy’s Blah Blah Blah tour. The show was really insane and wet because there was beer covering the floor, blood covering the stairs. It was the wettest, bloodiest, most intense thing I ever saw at the Metro! Out of control! A Metro bouncer dragging two blood-soaked dudes down the stairs—pink with beer and blood that night. No photo pit, either. It was hard to get photos, to say the least.”
JANE’S ADDICTION, SEPT. 24, 2011
“Jane’s Addiction did two sold-out nights at Metro. They were great. Some local rock stars were in attendance. Jimmy Chamberlin from Smashing Pumpkins was hanging, and it was just a very Jane’s Addiction/Metro backstage atmosphere, you know. Metro had a photo pit by this time and I got really close.”
LIVING COLOUR, NOV. 8, 1990
“This shot is a little overlit in the back there as you can see, but, you know, this was in the old film days, so you couldn’t really see what you were doing until you got it developed. I really like these guys. I had worked with Living Colour through Anthrax, and we were in Europe together, so we were friends already—they were super easy to work with and just great guys.”
NICK CAVE, FEB. 18, 1989
“Nick Cave was playing and I rolled into the Metro with my camera. Some photographers come in kind of late into a set—that’s what happened this night. Metro just let me pop in and blast out some shots. I honestly wasn’t that familiar with his stuff but I knew all of my friends were there and that it would be a special kind of show you didn’t want to miss. That’s how I got this shot.”
NIRVANA, SEPT. 30, 1989
“This shot is in Metro’s main hallway. I knew of Nirvana from my friend Laurie Johnson; they were all staying at her house, right around the corner from Metro. I remember only having six frames of film. I got four frames of these guys drinking Upper Ten and two of them with Laurie. Nirvana had their previous drummer then—a year later, Dave Grohl would join the band, they’d sign with Geffen, and then… history.”
JOEY RAMONE, JULY 26, 1986
“Joey Ramone, backstage, dripping sweat. I took this photo right after the Ramones set. This was the second of two sold-out shows. They were up in this little dinky dressing room on the second floor. I knew Deedee Ramone from a friend, so we were kind of hanging out with them for those two days. The nicest guys, really easygoing. Joey was kind of shy. Didn’t say much. Such a deadpan look.”
BILLY CORGAN, 1990S
“I first learned about The Smashing Pumpkins from a friend who happens to be Billy Corgan’s cousin. He introduced me to Billy at a bar. I shot them in three different eras, but these are from the early years—you can tell because, for one thing, Billy’s got hair. Billy was really cool, like, ‘Dude, you can shoot our band whenever you want.’ All of a sudden, about two months later, they’re all over MTV; they are huge. I ran into Billy after that and he was still like, ‘You can still shoot my band any time.’ What a sweet dude. Great guy.”
JIMMY CHAMBERLIN, 1990S
“I used to work with Modern Drummer and bring them lots of photos of drummers. So, this image was from a shoot for Modern Drummer, an outtake. I forgot where I had shot this until I saw the setup at the right of the stage; it’s kind of ‘studio lit up,’ it’s not a typical thing. You can always tell you’re at the Metro because of that stage, that side stuff right there.”
Photography by: PHOTOGRAPHS BY GENE AMBO
