John Robb

Capturing the moment, stealing the soul, and flashing it back in brutal black and white or an expansive colour, Ian Tilton infuses his photos with a flair and a lust for life, underlining them with distinctive bled borders. These are photographs that spit energy and vigour, mirroring a genuine love for the subject, which is all too rare in the increasingly hack media pool.
Tilton moved to Manchester in the mid-eighties; this vibrant northern city a perfect place to cop some rockin' shutter action, as the Manchester music thing exploded. Tilton was well-placed to capture its protagonists; grabbing the truest carefree leer of the young Shaun Ryder, the intensity of Morrissey with The Smiths at their peak, the studied cool of the Stone Roses, the abandon of a youth culture free of shackles.
Not that all action has been confined to the 'rainy city', Tilton has removed his lens cap all over the world, from the struggling half-assed dimwit at the bottom of the circuit through to the fatoid lazing walrus at the peak of an ill-deserved career, and a host of cool, mean music action in-between. This includes numerous books and exhibitions on Nirvana, Guns 'n' Roses and Manchester music, and work undertaken for Sounds, Select, Melody Maker and Q magazine.
Professional yet maverick, Tilton is widely recognised as one of the best on the scene.

Damian Morgan

Speaking as an obsessive music fan, art-lover and rock star wannabe, being given the opportunity to immerse myself in the work of Ian Tilton was a dream come true.
From his (now World famous) photo of Kurt Cobain's tearful release of energy backstage in 1990, Iggy Pop well near booting the camera out of Tilton's hands, to images of Manchester's pop and rock glitterati, Tilton's pictures ooze warmth, beauty and the visceral power of great Rock 'n' Roll. A youthful Stone Roses as featured on their debut album cover, Morrissey's shirt being torn to shreds, chosen by Moz to be the gatefold image on The Smiths album 'Rank', a thin but pretty Richey Manic, a brooding Robert Smith. I could go on and on (and usually do).
Now, for the first time ever, Tilton is opening his vast archive to public view, an archive that chronicles an amazing period in music's history; 80's indie, American Rock, Metal, 'Madchester', Grunge, Brit-Pop and all those bits in-between when genres nibbled at each other.