All Photographs taken by John Eder
Donated exclusively to this site with permission
Please visit his website at www.johneder.com

Click thumbnails to view larger

From this photographer,John Eder....The photo session was for a cover story in Creem Magazine and took place in Portland, Oregon - I forget the exact date, but Blind Melon were hot at the time. The article was an interview with the band conducted by Robert Hunter, the Grateful Dead lyricist, which had already been done, They were opening for Lenny Kravitz and I shot them in the afternoon before the show in and around their hotel. Shannon had driven his own car from I think Seattle where he lived and was with his girlfriend. The band were pretty nice guys - but a little rushed. I think I had them for maybe two or three hours. The shot with the county fair background was my idea for what the editor of Creem asked for - a something that said "American Band". I forget who came up with the Uncle Sam hat idea - it was a visual reference to the Grateful Dead. Ironically, the cover shot and the article had the huge title 'Dead Again', which at the time meant that the magazine felt Blind Melon might develop along the lines of the Grateful Dead, but of course the copy took on a different twist after Shannon's tragic death. Anyway, the county fair picture was done with Photoshop.

I also shot their live show. Shannon promised to wear the Uncle Sam hat onstage for the first song. Afterwards, my assistants & I went backstage to hobnob with the band. They were friendly and relaxed and especially nice to one of the assistants who was just a local college kid I'd hired to help carry stuff basically, the other assistant knew the tech stuff... He was a real fan of the band and they signed an album for him and took snapshots with him. I saw them again later that year in New York when they were headlining and the Meat Puppets opened for them. Shannon seemed like a really sweet fun person.