My Punk Rock Life: The Photography of Marla Watson

Growing up as a rebellious teenager in the suburbs of Los Angeles, hanging out at gigs and gaining access to the now-legendary bands of the era, Marla Watson is now unleashing her rarely seen hardcore punk photography from the early 1980's in this new book entitled 'My Punk Rock Life'.

"I never considered myself to be a professional photographer but more of a historian. Regardless, I took some pretty great photos right alongside some of the greats like Edward Colver, Alison Braun and Glen E. Friedman. In late 1983 I travelled to London for two months and took pictures of all my favourite punk bands of that era. Life is a lot of fun when you are young and unencumbered. My negatives have been safely stored in my attic until the Covid years when I had extra time on my hands to scan them and create a book."

Marla's book emphasises the fans point of view. Reaching out to both friends and strangers to write short pieces about what it felt like to be a punk back then, including personal stories and experiences. The feedback so far has been massively positive from the likes of Ian Mackaye, Jello Biafra, Keith Morris, Mike Burkett, Jeff Nelson and others, many of whom are featured in the book.

"A crucial document on the early days of US hardcore!"

"A great archive of that time period. The bands, the people, the venues... everything is so well documented."

"Marla paints an excellent picture of the SoCal punk scene during the 80s with her photography and anecdotes."

Marla started taking pictures at Los Angeles punk shows in the early 1980's, just as the US punk hardcore scene was emerging. This was her salvation. She made a press pass and stood on the side of the stage with her camera during all those amazing shows. She has collected the photography from that experience of a lifetime into this 254 page book. 

With over 300 high quality and rarely seen images from the infancy of the hardcore punk scene featuring seminal acts such Black Flag, Minor Threat, The Dead Kennedys, The Misfits, The Damned, Circle Jerks, Bad Religion, The Vandals, Channel 3, The Adicts, Stiff Little Fingers, Shattered Faith, Fear, White Flag, Youth Brigade, Social Distortion, The Angry Samoans, Battalion of Saints, Redd Kross, 7 Seconds, Suicidal Tendencies, Descendents, Bad Brains, Discharge, UK Subs, The Clash, The Varukers, The English Dogs, T.S.O.L, The Lewd, Subhumans, Red Scare, Ill Repute, The Pandoras, The Blades, The Bangs, The Toy Dolls, Sin 34, GBH, The Dickies, DOA, and the list goes on! 

These photos have sat in a box, untouched for forty years. Now Marla is sharing her photography with the world in her first book; 'My Punk Rock Life'.