Hard + Fast

by Melanie Nissen

Melanie Nissen was the co-founder and photographer of the legendary Los Angeles magazine, Slash. Between 1977-1980 she photographed the Los Angeles punk scene. Taking photos of the fans, the bands and the scene around her. Local heroes like Screamers, Bags, Germs, X, Go-Go’s, Black Randy, Weirdos, Dils, Zeros, Alley Cats, Deadbeats, Fear along with local legends Brendan Mullen, Kim Fowley, Claude Bessy, Russ Meyer, Penelope Spheeris, northern neighbors The Nuns, Avengers, Crime, Dead Kennedys, The Offs and visitors including Pere Ubu, Magazine, Devo, Damned, Cramps, Dead Boys, Peter Tosh, Ramones and Sex Pistols all form her body of work from this time. These images are from a box in the garage and are all that’s left of a larger body of work. Hard + Fast is a photography book, some previously published in Slash Magazine and some never seen before.

220 pages, Hardcover

Published February 1, 2022