ron kretsch

In this gorgeous coffee table book, discover never-before-seen photographs of the Dead Boys before they took off. Taken in 1977 by the band’s roommate Dave Treat, these photographs showcase a particular moment in music history as well as the history of Cleveland, Ohio. In the ’70s, downtown was a wasteland and these punk rockers thrived in it. Dead Boys 1977 features images of the band posed in the midst of the urban decay that surrounded them and fueled their musical style. At a time when James Taylor was ascendant and punk rock had not yet fully caught on, these photos of Cheetah Chrome, Johnny Blitz, Stiv Bators, and Jimmy Zero take the viewer back to a seminal moment in punk history. Grab a copy and get your punk nostalgia on.

In 1977, budding photographer Dave Treat lived in the same apartment building as Stiv Bators of the Dead Boys, just before they moved to New York and became known worldwide. Treat decided that Bators, a gifted self-presenter, was the perfect subject to hone his photography skills on. This led to shoots with the band amidst the then more-plentiful ruins of Cleveland’s urban 1970s landscape. The photos were lost for 35 years while Treat went into construction, before unearthing these photos, reuniting Cheetah Chrome and surviving Dead Boys, and a worldwide gallery tour of his photos.