Page 63 of Daisy Jones & The Six

Then you’ve got Billy and Daisy, right?

They had each veered to opposite ends of the group. But I kept trying to get everyone to mix it up. And at one point, I watched as Daisy leaned forward. She was looking at Billy. I just kept shooting. I always try not to call any attention to anything. I try to hang back and let people do what they are going to do. So I just kept snapping as Daisy was looking at Billy. And everyone else is looking at me, at the camera. And then, for a split second, bam, Billy turns and looks at Daisy just as she’s looking at him. And they locked eyes. And I caught it.

I thought,That’s good enough to be an album cover.As soon as I think I have something good, I immediately feel freer, right? I feel ready to try stuff and move people around and I feel like I can push people a bit further because if they get mad at me and walk off, it’s not a problem, right? So I said, “That’s great, guys. Now let’s go to the top of the mountain.”

BILLY:We had already been out there in the hot sun taking photos for an hour or two by that point. I was ready to go.

GRAHAM:I said, “We’re driving up. Not walking.” And the photographer and I went back and forth a few times and finally it was decided that I was right.

FREDDIEMENDOZA:We ended up in the perfect spot.

Billy and Daisy got out of the car and they stood there on top of this mountain. With just a clear blue sky behind them, right? And the rest of the band lined up, and they started standing in between Billy and Daisy and I said, “Let’s do Billy, Daisy, Graham…” So I finally got Billy and Daisy next to each other and their body language was like they didn’t want a single atom of their bodies in contact. I tried to make conversation to loosen them up. I said, “How did Daisy come to join the band?” Because I didn’t know the story and I figured it would be easy to talk about.

Billy and Daisy both started talking at the same time and then they looked at each other again. I took a few shots and then I zoomed in on Billy and Daisy’s torsos, their chests, as they were talking to each other. They were angled in, and there was so much…the negative space between them felt…alive somehow. Electric. There was so muchpurposebehind the not touching, right?

I could tell as I was looking through the viewfinder. I knew it was a great shot.

DAISY:When we were up there on top of the mountain, the guy put Billy and me next to each other and asked us some dumb question and immediately—Billy and I have barely said five words to each other in days—the first thing out of Billy’s mouth is some dig at me.

BILLY:It’s some nerve, coming into my band and taking over my album and being at the center of my album cover and then interrupting me when I’m trying to answer the guy’s question.

KAREN:We were standing there, posing, the rest of us, and you could tell the camera wasn’t even aimed at us. The guy wasn’t even pretending to take our photo. Do you know how stupid you feel posing for a picture nobody’s taking?

WARREN:I accidentally sat on a rock that got loose and started tumbling down the hill. Almost knocked Eddie down with it. He had to jump out of the way.

EDDIE:It was a long day. I was getting so sick of those fucking people.

GRAHAM:I was standing on the top of a mountain, with the woman I loved, shooting a cover for an album we all knew was going to be a massive hit. I swear, I think about that day sometimes when I’m feeling low. I think about it to remind myself you never know what kind of crazy good shit is around the corner. But it’s hard not to remember, when I think about that day, that lots of crazy bad shit is often around the corner, too.

FREDDIEMENDOZA:When I started developing the images I knew the one of the band against the guardrail with Billy and Daisy looking at each other…I knew that one was great, right? But then I pulled out the best one from the shots of Billy and Daisy’s torsos, and I just went, “Fuck yeah.” It’s the kind of great photograph that—the moment you see it—you can’t help but have an emotional reaction.

He was in denim, you could see her chest. You knew who they were, even without seeing their faces. You could fill in the gaps yourself. With the clear blue sky between them, which was framed in a more or less straight line on Billy’s side and then on Daisy’s side it was curvy, because it ebbed and flowed with her body…it was masculine and feminine at the same time.

And then when you really looked, you could see there was something in her pocket. I didn’t know what it was for sure. It looked like a vial—I was assuming for pills or powder. And it just brought it all together. It was America. It was tits. It was sex. It was drugs. It was summer. It was angst. It was rock ’n’ roll.

So there it was, Billy and Daisy, their torsos on the front. And then the whole band with Billy and Daisy looking at each other on the back. A great fucking album cover. If I do say so myself.

DAISY:It was coke, in my pocket. What else would it be? Of course it was dope.

BILLY:You know when you just can’t stop clocking where somebody is? Even when you tell yourself you don’t care? I just…I felt like I was always trying not to look at her.[Laughs]I swear that guy just caught the only two times I was looking at her. He caught me on the front cover and the back cover.

GRAHAM:When Teddy showed us the full mock-up of the album sleeve, with Billy and Daisy on the front and then them looking at each other on the back…None of us should have been surprised. But it does sting a little, to know you’re not the main attraction. I mean, I’d been living in my brother’s shadow from basically the day I was born. I was starting to wonder how much longer I had to do that.

EDDIE:Billy and Daisy always believed they were the most interesting people in the world. And that whole album cover confirmed it for them.

BILLY:It’s a great cover.

DAISY:It’s iconic.

KAREN:Recording was really starting to wind down. We were back in the studio putting finishing touches on stuff.

EDDIE:I think it was sometime after we finished the overdubs on “This Could Get Ugly” and I was at the studio listening to some of the tracks with everybody. Well, not Warren and Pete or Billy. They weren’t there. And then Teddy left at some point. And then Rod. And I think even Artie left. And then I was gonna call it a night so I went out to my car to go home and I realized I forgot my keys so I came back real quick. And I heard two people screwing! And I thought,Who the hell is getting off in the bathroom?

And then I heard Graham’s voice. And I saw, through the crack in the door, Karen’s hair. And I just ran right out of there. Got in my car. Drove home. But when I got home, I realized I was still smiling. I was happy for them. They made a lot of sense together. I thought,I bet they get married. And I never thought that about anybody.

WARREN:I think I finished my last tracks somewhere in December. I remember thinking I was ready for this album to be done so we could get back on the road. I wanted the crowds and cheering and the groupies and the drugs. Also, something they don’t tell you when you buy a houseboat…it’s very easy to get cabin fever. That’s really meant to be more of aweekendthing.

KAREN:As we all got done with our parts on the album, we started taking off. Taking a much-needed break. When Graham and I had laid down everything we were supposed to, we rented a place in Carmel for a few weeks. Just the two of us, a cabin, the beach, the trees. Well, and shrooms.

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