“I used to work with a lad whose mate would go to Eric’s, the famous club in Liverpool, with a tape recorder taped to him,” says 80s Casuals owner, author and curator Dave Hewitson, as he talks about the fanaticism of a bygone era.
“Honest to God. He’d have the tape recorder taped to him and the mic running down his sleeve. I’d record Top of the Pops with a tape recorder. Not with it up my sleeve, but I’ve probably still got them tapes in the loft.”
This is the world of archival discovery and sepia-infused documentation that Hewitson’s latest book, ‘Spike Island Unseen’, has blossomed out of. Someone digs around in a loft, or uncovers a box under a bed, or in this case, a lot comes up for auction and just like that you’ve got 360 photographic negatives and slides of one of the UK’s most storied, culture-defining gigs.
A gig where video was banned and rumours of a full-length recording somewhere suggest someone might’ve had a mic down their sleeve. Curated by Hewitson and music writer Matt Mead, ‘Spike Island Unseen’ (now in a limited paperback run after 200 copies of the hardback sold out in November last year), features over 200 unseen images taken by freelance photographer Andy Phillips of The Stone Roses’ Spike Island gig, as well as memorabilia and fan accounts. Hewitson says that only a dozen of the images featured in the book have been seen until now.
What makes the book even more special, thanks to the photographic eye and ingenuity of Phillips, is a perfectly captured beginning, middle and end to the Spike Island story. The book begins at the chaotic press conference and finishes on iconic images of the band as they exit the stage. Speaking to The Guardian last year, Phillips describes running backstage during the last song to make sure he was in place to take what’s described in the article as the best shot of his career.
Whilst Matt Mead brought a healthy level of Stone Roses fanaticism to the project, Hewitson, whose memories of the event are hazy (“the missus had to remind me I went, I’ll be honest with you”) brought the curatorial eye and fascination with nostalgia. ‘Spike Island Unseen’ follows on from previous books he’s published including ‘Reni - Cult Icon’ and his brand’s namesake visual exploration of terrace culture, ‘80s Casuals’. Upon receiving the package of negatives and slides after winning the auction, it didn’t take long for Hewitson to realise he’d struck gold. “That’s the part I love. You get this parcel, you take them out, they’re only half an inch or whatever but you hold them up to the sky and you just think, that’s amazing.”
He shows me a picture on his phone of him holding up a modest negative to the light. Ian Brown takes up the tiny space, holding an inflatable earth, as the silhouette of John Squire lingers in the background. The world in his hands. The perfect metaphor for a band at their peak. As well as pictures of the band, the book is a time capsule of early nineties fashion, with a chunk of the book’s middle dedicated to shots of the crowd.
“At the time, there was a place in Liverpool called The Palace and they had shops that sold all that stuff. They had a place in there doing these baggy trackie bottoms. Whereas everyone had the jeans in Manchester, the trackies took off in Liverpool. Cotton sweatshirt material, wide leg. Possibly the Adidas Gazelle was just coming in around that time too. Baggy t-shirts were everywhere, a lot of colour.” A keen collector, Hewitson says he still has clothes in his wardrobe from that period. Just like Spike Island itself, the curation of the book has been something of a gathering of the tribes. Mani has signed copies. Roses Aficionado Baba Youngblood designed the cover. Former NME editor and Loaded founder James Brown wrote an introduction. In preparation for the launch, Hewitson went to visit a superfan, Scott, who amongst his collection of original posters, artwork and merchandise had reviews of the gig in every language, from German to Japanese.
“He even had these Spike Island toxic waste dump t-shirts,” Hewitson says. One crew member’s DIY ode to having a severe skin reaction to the site’s chemical works past. As part of the book’s launch, Hewitson has curated a selection of clothing mirroring the band’s stage getup as well as fashions from the crowd. He nods to the recent 90s revival, “especially the flared pants and a bit more colour.”
At the heart of ‘Spike Island Unseen’, aside from putting visuals to what has since become a mythical cultural event, a North West nineties Woodstock that weirdly, few seem to vividly remember in full, is the feeling of being a fan. For Hewitson, it’s not about happier times, but a happiness that comes with looking back and having something tangible. A piece of art you can hold in your hands that reminds you. Whilst the band is a focal point, it’s the people in the crowd that ultimately make the book. A theme summed up by Andy Phillips in his introduction.
‘The main thing I remember was the crowd just looking amazing when they started to surge around, and the band actually sounding good when the wind blew in the right direction.’
The copies of Spike Island Unseen Book are available from 80sCasuals
An exhibition featuring imagery from the book launches at SEVENSTORE on Friday 11th July and runs until late August.
DAVEY BRETT 2025