Sparklehorse

Sparklehorse, Oaklands, California 1996

Meeting Sparklehorse: A Beautiful Blur of Motorbikes and Melancholy

I was a bundle of nerves going into this shoot. I hadn’t listened to Sparklehorse before, but I had heard plenty about their passionate and devoted fanbase . So, naturally, I felt like I was walking into a sacred space without the manual.

Mark Linkous, the band’s frontman, had a presence that was both quiet and intense. The band had pulled some serious strings to find this incredible warehouse packed to the rafters with motorbikes and vintage gear. It was visually stunning… and also a bit of a nightmare to frame. There was just so much happening.

Thankfully, the brief was for black and white, which turned out to be a blessing. It gave the images a kind of stripped-down honesty that suited the band perfectly—no frills, just raw, thoughtful presence.

Looking back, now that I know their music and Mark’s extraordinary legacy, I can’t help but feel like the moment was a bit lost on me at the time. But even then, I knew I was in the company of something special. The band was respectful, quietly self-contained, and entirely uninterested, but not dismissive of the fuss surrounding them, . A rare kind of cool—the kind that doesn’t even try.

Lights: Ambient warehouse

Camera: Nikon F90, couldn't afford an F4 at the time but I stuck a motordrive on the F90 which made it looked impressive enough to the. untrained eye.

Lens: The wonderfully versatile but overly priced Nikon 28-70mm F2.8 (its the F2.8 that makes this lens the price of a diamond ring - My partner made me choose)

Film: Kodak Tri-X - the mother of grainy cool. Developed in basement flat in Ilford chemicals.

Location: Some warehouse in the middle of Oakland, California.

I'd love to know the other band member names here.