Daisy Jones & The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid Page 0,76

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.

Freddie Mendoza: 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