A quarter century after the camera clicked, some images of rock icons from the grunge scene are seeing the light of day.
Photographer Paul Hernandez shot promo and candid pictures of bands during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.
"All these beautiful men with these beautiful voices all came to earth at the same time in the same city. It's like, ‘Okay, how'd this happen?’” he said.
His retrospective Star Gazing, on display at Mainframe Gallery in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood, includes a number of never-before-seen photos. He kept the negatives boxed up for years, and didn’t print them until recently.
"To remember where we came from, who we were, what we were,” Hernandez said.
Alice in Chains was the first grunge band he shot back in 1988, after seeing them perform.
"I had to pull my pants back on because they were completely blown off,” he said. "(The music) was almost locomotive like, it was powerful, it was coming out you."
That inspired his choice of what would become a famous photo background for Alice In Chains: train tracks.
Hernandez went on to shoot Mother Love Bone, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Duff McKagan.
But his closest connection remained his first subjects – especially frontman Layne Staley.
"Layne was an old soul. He's an angelic human being. He's the only angelic man I've ever met,” Hernandez said. "Losing people is not an easy thing for me."
That’s one reason he packed away his negatives. But as Alice In Chains is celebrating 25 years and releasing a new album this week, he thought the time was right to revisit the past.
Star Gazing is on display through October 7. Mainframe Gallery is located at 5628 Airport Way S. in Seattle.
