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According to Wikipedia... John Maher is a British former musician who was part of the punk and new wave scenes in Manchester, England, most notably as the drummer with Buzzcocks. Since retiring from the music industry he developed an interest in car drag racing, racing VW Beetles as part of the VWDRC. |
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A clip from Buzzcocks 1989 reunion tour |
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This led him to develop a successful business building high performance aircooled VW engines, John Maher Racing. His engines and transmissions are widely regarded as being amongst the best built in the UK combining power with reliability, a point reinforced by his racing success. The level of demand for his products has allowed Maher to relocate from Manchester to the Isle of Harris in Scotland.
In 1976, still a 16 year old schoolboy from St. Bede's College, Whalley Range, Manchester, he joined punk band Buzzcocks, then led by Howard Devoto, who was the lead vocalist. After the first Buzzcocks dissolving in 1981, he collaborated with Pauline Murray of The Invisible Girls, and formed along with Steve Diggle (also of Buzzcocks) a band called Flag of Convenience, in 1982, but he quit shortly afterwards. In 1981, he was drumming in Wah!
After reuniting briefly with Buzzcocks in 1989, he retired from music in 1992 and returned to his Volkswagen business in Manchester. In 1999, Maher's workshop was featured in the Channel 5 programme Stars & Cars. This featured footage of his former incarnation as a drummer, a tour of his workshop, and interviews. |
Channel 5 TV programme, Stars and Cars (1999) |
| As for getting into night photography, that didn't happen until late 2009. After seeing US photographer Troy Paiva featured on Sky Arts TV show 'Artland USA' I was sufficiently inspired to give it a try. Although photography has been an intermittent hobby of mine for many years, it wasn't until I saw Troy's work I decided to take things more seriously. There are no shortage of photo opportunities in the Outer Hebrides and with almost zero light pollution, the mix of derelict buildings, abandoned crofts and amazing scenery it makes a great enviromnment for the kind of photographs I enjoy taking.
Initially the only outlet for my pictures was via the online photo gallery website Flickr, which I still update regularly. It was suggested I print a batch of photos and enter them into the annual Grinneas exhibition, held in the An Lanntair art gallery, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis. The response was excellent and has led to healthy sales of framed prints and ultimately the creation of this website to make prints available online. |
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