How to spot the next big thing in music

By Laura Davis

Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009 | 6:30 p.m.

Think you could spot the next big thing in music? The next band capable of making girls throw their panties on stage while screaming themselves hoarse and guys to cover their bodies in tribute tattoos?

Me neither.

But rock star photographer Robert Knight claims he can.

Entering the Terry Fator Theater at the Mirage on Saturday for the free screening of Rock Prophecies, the documentary about Knight’s colorful career, I had one mission: To find out if Knight was really able to finger previously unseen talent or if he was just another middle-aged name dropper in a beret. Growing up in a city like Las Vegas tends to make you cynical. People spouting claims to fame lurk behind every slot machine.

Appearances were made by music legends throughout the film, ZZ Top, Slash and Santana all vouching for the man who happened to be sitting a few rows over. Knight was not only responsible for many of the classic photographs that have now been bootlegged into posters on every young musician’s bedroom wall, but he worked his magic on both sides of the lens, befriending the big names he shot.

There is more to thank Knight for than just wall decorations. After seeing the Sick Puppies play over seas, he convinced their manager to bring them to America. He also had a hand in helping launch local favorite Panic at the Disco.

After completing one of their first photo sessions he got their picture on the outside window of Guitar Center, alongside big names like John Mayer and Robert Smith.

At the end of the screening Knight stuck around for a question-and-answer session with the audience. When asked by an aspiring photographer for career advice, he said, “Find young artists and help them along. Get remembered. Grow with them.”

After spending 40 years around rock legends, Knight has a formula for finding a diamond in the ruff: Go on MySpace and YouTube (that’s how he found his current project, young blues guitarist Tyler Bryant), and look for someone with something quirky, sort of OCD, and with the mindset that music is the only thing they were born to do.

The math seems to add up. If Knight’s past record of success is any indication, we can expect to see much more of Tyler Bryant.