As an avid fan of Seattle’s music scene during the late 1990s and early 2000s, photographer Bootsy Holler created a remarkable portfolio documenting the littleknown bands who later defined a decade in music history.
She captured live gigs, band portraits, backstage moments, rapt audiences and more, chronicling the formative years of artists such as Death Cab for Cutie, Fleet Foxes, Interpol, Modest Mouse, Gossip, Beck, Moby, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Foo Fighters. Says Holler: “I was documenting my life. The musicians, promoters and bouncers were my friends, and I went to see bands I enjoyed and places I could get in for free. I didn’t know I was in the middle of something new.”
With open spine binding and cold glue bright orange thread, this collection of Holler’s energetic, raw images, together with her own personal recollections, reflects on the second generation of Seattle’s music scene, as the world transitioned from celluloid to digital, grunge to indie. It is a pilgrimage back in time, a nostalgic trip for anyone who cherishes music or yearns for a time when nobody texted or had a camera in their pocket.