In addition to being a founder of the Rock Against Racism movement, Red Saunders is also an established photographer who has worked for many publications. After losing a big chunk of his archive during a studio fire, he has recently been working on preserving his remaining archive. At BCA, we’ve been digitally archiving these images, including his shots for the Rock Against Racism Fanzine ‘Temporary Hoarding’.
In 1976, while documenting the Northern Soul scene for The Sunday Times Magazine, Red Saunders took his camera to the legendary Wigan Casino. His photographs captured the venue in all its glory — a former ballroom transformed into a mecca for Northern Soul devotees. But the scene was about more than just the music; it had evolved into a full-fledged subculture, defined as much by its distinctive fashion and fierce sense of belonging as by the records that filled the dance floor.
"It was a priceless assignment - a story about Northern Soul and, specifically, the Wigan Casino. It was written by one of my favourite writers on the magazine at that time, Gordon Burn. ‘Keep the Faith’ was the manifesto here, R&B lovers and multi-racial dancing all weekend."
- Red Saunders
Photo © Red Saunders, all rights reserved.
Red: “I’d been a mod in the early ’60s — pilled-up at all-nighters at the Flamingo Club, the Scene Club, and Whisky a Go-Go in Soho. So when I walked into this loud, garish scene, I felt perfectly at home. The girl in the photograph above is the very embodiment of the night and the era: just look at her eyes — that’s amphetamine, orange in a Coke bottle. Look at the clothes, the hair, the battered school chair, and the tacky flock wallpaper. It’s all there, perfectly of its time.”
Photo © Red Saunders, all rights reserved.
"I love this shot. It has developed a real 17th-century Dutch painterly quality. Again, the amphetamine eyes."
- Red Saunders
Photo © Red Saunders, all rights reserved.
"Early morning, the sun is rising outside, and the amphetamine has taken its toll. There is no alcohol, only empty soft drink bottles and cans that the pills get mixed in."
“Halfway through the night, I had lost my voice – I had been screaming at people all night to be heard above the music. It was quite disorientating, pitch dark and lit only by ultraviolet disco lights, loud, loud music and now and again, my flash popping off, freezing everyone in the darkness. Outside, young lads were still dancing bare-chested in the falling snow. We stumbled into Wigan station around 5 a.m. — post-amphetamine, totally dehydrated, and collapsed.”
“I still have my Keep the Faith badge.”
Photo © Red Saunders, all rights reserved.
Photo © Red Saunders, all rights reserved.
Photo © Red Saunders, all rights reserved.
Photo © Red Saunders, all rights reserved.
Photo © Red Saunders, all rights reserved.
Photo © Red Saunders, all rights reserved.
Photo © Red Saunders, all rights reserved.
