Hail Murray! Book Release Party

Published by Last Gasp of San Francisco, edited by Anna Brown, forward by Aaron Cometbus, Hail Murray! features Murray Bowles’ photographs from 1982-1995. A long-awaited collection of work by East Bay punk legend Murray Bowles will hit bookstores December 1. Hail Murray! brings together two decades of Bowles’ iconic photography, representing the definitive chronicle of the Bay Area punk scene in its heyday–a story that has yet to be fully told.

Before you read on, take a look at the excellent article by KQED: No One Is a Spectator in Murray Bowles’ Punk Photography

A Silicon Valley software engineer by day, Bowles spent his evenings and weekends embedded with the Bay Area punks. Never without his camera, Bowles attended thousands of shows in myriad venues, from San Francisco’s Mabuhay Gardens to Berkeley’s legendary 924 Gilman Street, and countless warehouses, basements, and backyards in between. His work captures the chaotic joy and tenderness of a scene that spawned The Dead Kennedys, Fang, R.K.L., Neurosis, Christ on Parade, Sleep, MDC, Operation Ivy, Green day, NOFX, Sweet Baby, Crimpshrine, Spitboy, Jawbreaker, The Mr. T Experience, and many more.

Hail Murray! is the first book-length compendium of Bowles’ work. The images it contains–originally distributed at shows for 25 cents per print–helped propel the East Bay punk scene to legendary status and remain indispensable to its collective memory. For anyone who did not experience this era first hand, the book is a unique window into the Bay Area’s vibrant creativity during its golden years. The release of Hail Murray! is a major contribution to the genre of punk photo books, standing alongside collections by Edward Colver, Ruby Ray, and Glen E. Friedman.

Readers of Hail Murray! will come away with a deep appreciation for the ineffable quality of Bowles’ photographic eye and recognition that these pictures could not have been shot by an outsider. Only someone who belonged and was truly in the thick of it could have captured the rare intimacy and youthful exuberance of this world.

Anna Brown, a close friend of Bowles and editor of Hail Murray!, said:
“Murray’s work wasn’t just about the music—it was about capturing the spirit, the camaraderie, the anti-fashion, and the raw joy of being in the room.”

Lawrence Livermore, founder of Lookout! records, said:
“Murray had a vision and he shared it with the world. He showed us ourselves in ways we might never have seen on our own. A chronicler and a maker of history. The East Bay as we know and remember it would not have existed without him.”

Hail Murray!
The Punk Photography of Murray Bowles, 1982-1995
Edited by Anna Brown
Introduction by Aaron Cometbus
Hardcover ∙ 270 pages ∙ 12 x 9 landscape
ISBN 978-0-86719-927-7
Published by Last Gasp