Local artist Lance Mercer has been photographing concerts and the music scene since the age of 13. Starting out snapping self-described terrible shots of bands like D.O.A., the Fartz, and the Fastbacks in the early '80s, Mercer stuck with the hobby and eventually became a successful photographer, landing himself a gig as Pearl Jam's official photographer, touring with the band from 1992 to 1995.
His new book, 5x1: Pearl Jam Through the Eye of Lance Mercer, is a varied collection of stunning and energetic photographs captured over those years. After three more postshooting years of hard work, Mercer's book is finally being released this month.
What took so long making the book? Was editing and organizing the photos a painstaking process?
I think it took a long time because Regan Hagar, who worked on it with me... we both were just really specific with our ideas. I was especially [concerned] about how I wanted it to be presented. I think we were just being very particular. The book isn't even so much about me or the band; it's about that time.
That was one of my questions, actually. The book is obviously something Pearl Jam fans will enjoy, but it's also something for fans of photography. Did that play into it when deciding where to take it and what to include?
Yeah, absolutely. I wanted it to be a yearbook, all the way down to the size of the book and the fact that people could carry it around with them. I didn't want people to have to sit down at a coffee table to look at it. There's no dust sleeve, there are exposed edges... we wanted it to wear nicely. I think it kind of started presenting itself in that way as time went on. I definitely didn't want to emphasize one thing or the other; I wanted it to be more about the time and the photos. Even the thoughts people had, as they started coming in, started dictating how the whole look and the feel of the book was going to be.
Why did you decide to include comments about you and the band?
The last book that I did with Charles [Peterson, Place/Date] had no words in it at all. We came up with this idea of sending out photos and submitting them to a whole bunch of people who we knew had either worked with the band or been influenced by the band. I gotta tell you, I was floored. The first one that came in was Pete Townshend. My background is more of a punk-rock one, but Pete Townshend definitely crossed those borders, so just the fact that he was able to look at my photographs and comment on them was pretty overwhelming to me. It gave me goose bumps for sure.
I love what Jeff Ament said about youâhow he started taking pictures and that pissed you off, so you threatened to play bass, then you started your band the Briefs.
[Laughs] It's true! It was a joke we had going. If you look at Pearl Jam's artwork, as it progresses, more photos are by Jeff. He's got a great eye, so then he started taking all these pictures and I was always fucking with him, telling him I'm going to end up onstage with a bass.
It says in the book that you started photographing the local music scene at the age of 13. When most kids go to a punk-rock show, if they like what they see, they usually want to play guitar or drums or bass.
I did too!
But you were also inspired to pick up a camera.
Yeah. I wanted to be onstage too. I knew I wanted to be a photographer early on, and once I discovered punk rock... I was studying these photos of the Clash and the Jam and the Sex Pistols, and the photos were not technically great, just like the music, but they were very cool because of the content. I was inspired not only by the music, but also the photographs. 
Lance will be selling and signing copies of 5x1 Sat Dec 2 at 7 pm at Roq La Rue Gallery, 2312 Second Ave, 374-8977. A portion of the proceeds from the evening will go to the Vera Project.
