Hail Murray!: The Punk Photography of Murray Bowles, 1982-1995

Vibrant images from the San Francisco Bay Area Punk Rock Scene in a deluxe hardcover

From San Francisco’s Mabuhay Gardens to Berkeley’s 924 Gilman—and the countless basements, backyards, and warehouses in between—Murray Bowles was there, camera in hand, the scene’s beloved documentarian.

“Documentary photographers pass fast through the scenes they’re known for,” says Aaron Cometbus, publisher of Cometbus fanzine and a member of Pinhead Gunpowder. “But Murray stuck around. It wasn’t just a single period of the Bay Area punk scene he captured but countless classic eras and clubs and bands, stretching over decades.” 

Collected here for the first time, Murray's classic images chronicle a uniquely dynamic and enduring music community in all its chaos and glory. Featuring hundreds of images of bands such as Green Day, Operation Ivy, Neurosis, Crimpshrine, the Dead Kennedys, MDC, Special Forces, Social Unrest, Spit Boy, Melvins, Gwar, Soundgarden, NOFX, The Offspring and many, many more.