Printed Noises #2, 1979

 

The 60c pencilled top right corner on the cover of this Printed Noise hints at a journey across the Atlantic and back to finally reside just across the Pennines from its Chorlton-cum-Hardy home. There’s a fine assemblage of bands for this second issue with Martin Clayton and Dirk R.E. Matrix interviewing A Certain Ratio, Joy Division (a choice typo has Peter Hood on bass! Rob Gretton gets his tuppence in, and bless Ian Curtis for exclaiming, “fanzines, you are the future of the world”),and The Teardrop Explodes (Julian Cope in comical messianic mode and Mick Finkler recalls Wire – just as Gretton did – just as Charlie Chainsaw did....). There’s an article on The Mediators and Manchester for Beginners puts the spotlight on venues (just the Factory and Band on the Wall really + a mention of City Fun fanzine Ed., Andy Zero reopening The Mayflower as Fun House). Modern Life, Modern Man & the Future offers a schematic for survival + PN’ take on the playlist with their Trendy/Matrix Earlists. Admirable.

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Printed Noise #2

Chainsaw #5, 1978

It's Chainsaw time again! Here's issue 5 of Charlie Chainsaw's smashing fanzine. Replete as ever with Charlie's charming comments. The editorial notes the move to double-sided printing and promises, “if I make a profit on this mag I’ll use it to get the bleeding N fixed!”. There’s a fetching snap of Charlie by Jon Romney of Negative Reaction fame and Mr. Chainsaw tells us that the rest of the photos were self-shot using his recently acquired “Boots Beirette that cost £12 new (good eh?)” – how sweet... Anyroad, Chainsaw #5 features: an interview with The Users; Money Corrupts discusses the allure of major labels, photo-fit punks, the “absolute bullshit” nature of the “New Wave” scene and offers props for Wire and Siouxsie & The Banshees; live reviews of The Soft Boys, Squeeze, The Boys/The Force, Slaughter & The Dogs, Siouxsie & The Banshees; LPs  - Live at The Roxy comp (Wasps, Mean streets, Neo, Bernie Torme, Art Attacks, Suspects, Maniacs (the Art Attacks review is ace - “it just sounds like a singer with a Northern accent, with a distant rumbling...”)), Raw Deal comp (The Users, Raw Sewage Co., G.T.s, Bloodclots, Sick Things, Psychos, Killjoys, Zhain); 7”s – Magazine, The Wasps, Devo, Blitzkrieg Bop, The Panik, Metal Urbain, Chelsea, The Pigs, Sham 69, Alternative TV, Menace; a review of Julie Davis, Punk; a short article on Charlie’s band, The Buttocks and neat ads for The Panik and Johnny Moped. Oh, and we mustn't forget Willie D’s Hitler’s Kids cartoon...HACK!

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Chainsaw #5         

NN4 9PZ #4, 1980

 

It has a dead swanky textured cover does issue 4 of NN4 9PZ; a lovely accompaniment for its sterling internals. Excellent work all around sees Chris, Mick, Neil, Tim, and Alan interviewing UK Decay, and Killing Joke (it must be said, the favourable write-up of the KJ encounter shows astonishing goodwill on NN4 9PZ' behalf). There's a mini-feature on Bauhaus; live reviews of 999/Pinpoint, The Zeros/Bauhaus/UK Decay, Antibodies, Killing Joke, UK Decay, The Crew/The Zeros/The Russians, Bauhaus/The Scars, Athletico Spizz 80; poetry from T. Sheppard, and a couple of interesting letters pages (T42 Seaman Stockton (Eklektik) corresponded), along with some of Chris' thoughtful responses. Of course there's the obligatory Playlist and a brief fanzine round-up. Pleasing indeed.

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NN4 9PZ #4

Adventuring Into Basketry #2, 1981

 

Here's an actual request fulfillment - issue 2 of Neil Burrows' and Andrew Hulme's AIB (featuring contributions from Monica Bryce, Jonathan Tait, Anna Watson, and Roger Horberry). A wonderfully well-rounded fanzine, issue 2 sees: interviews with Pigbag, The Raincoats, The Comsat Angels, Crispy Ambulance; Submerge Funk One and Submersibles Funk Two focus on "funky Music" (Haircut One Hundred, Heaven 17, Level 42, Blue Rondo A La Turk, Spandau Ballet); reviews of LPs - David Thomas & The Pedestrians, Dislocation Dance, The Diagram Brothers, WNW6 compilation (Artery, Out On Blue Six, The Pinkies, The Room, Dr. Mix & The Remix), Matt Johnson, Depeche Mode, Girls At Our Best, New Order, Ian Dury, Poison Girls, Jowe Head, Richard Earl - 7"s- Method Actors, Vivien Goldman, Lora Logic, Virgin Prunes, Girls At Our Best, Fallout Club, Pigbag, Scritti Politti, Rip Rip & Panic, The Associates, 23 Skidoo, The Cure, Dif Juz, Cabaret Voltaire, The Comsat Angels, John Marlon, Blackouts, Stephen Mallinder, Dance Chapter, Artery, A Certain Ratio - Gigs - Depeche Mode/Blancmange, Linx, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Altered Images, Rip Rig & Panic, Heaven 17; and Spitfire Parade (that's the AIB playlist in Basketmaker's parlance). The lovely lot of it neatly squeezed into 12 perfectly formed pages...hear me hear me - heaR ME HEAR ME!    

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Adventuring into Basketry #2  

Dry Rot #1, 1979

"AT LAST" indeed! This Dry Rot is a firm favourite of mine - just one of a handful of exceptional items I've been holding back. Produced by Rob Callous from the fabulously low-fi D.I.Y. stalwarts, Six Minute War. As far as I know 3 issues of Dry Rot saw the light. There's no flashy front cover for this fanzine, it just gets right on down to brass tacks from the get go with news on Proles, The Unknown, Riot/Scrambled Acne, Benny Normal, Doggy Ryan, Belgrade, The VDUs, Dyno Rod, The Red Plague, Crass. Great interviews with The Epileptics, Crisis and Crass. Live reviews of AD 1984, The Administrators/The Leopards, Brockwell Park including Stiff Little Fingers/The Verdict/The Spoilsports, Spizz Energi/The Last Words, Splodgenessabounds, Graf X/The Mass/The Licks/Klingons. Featuring Dummy, starring Captain Armpit, Shag Nasty, Mekons (selling out to Virgin), and Manicured Noise + Rob's charts (top and bottom 20 of 1979). Excellent stuff!

 

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Dry Rot #1     

Blaze #3, 1984

A fine fanzine this - glimpsed partially in the All The Poets post - here's full mashings of Blaze #3. Out of Peterborough - largely the graft of Janine Booth with many able contributors in Eleanor Linwood, Funky Will, Steve Crosby, Steve Hawkswell, Attila, Sooo Burton, Greg Lutto, and Snakey. Blaze #3 has features on: The Tempest, Everything you ever wanted to know about Northampton but were afraid to ask (incl - N/hampton Musicians Collective Rumpo Records), The Syndromes, Insect Flak, Cellar 16, The Exit Girls, Skating for Cover, Bullets for Silver, Armpit Orchestra, Groovy Underwear, Rouska (Richard Paddison), Some thinks you might like to know about some groups within about a 20-mile radius of Peterborough incl - So What, Perpetual Motion, Plastic Heroes, Method of Exection, The citizens); interviews with Billy Bragg, Swift Nick, Care for a Waltz, Orange Juice; live reviews of The Alarm, The Fleshtones, The Climb, PIL, Redaing Rock Festival (incl - The Stranglers, Big Country, Steel Pulse, Auto De Fe, Pendragon, Solstice, Hanoi Rocks, Man), The Big One @ Victoria Apollo (incl - The Style Council, Mari Wilson, Ian Dury, Hazel O'Connor, Elvis Costello, Paul Young, Passion Puppets), GBH/Conflict/ Chaos, Hiroshima Peace Day Festival (incl - Jo Boxers, Orange Juice, Pauline Black, Orchestre Jazira, Lost Loved Ones, Big Country, One The Juggler, The Icicle Works, Billy Bragg, Taming The Outback); poetry in the guise of Ranting at the Nation (incl - Attila the Stockbroker, Steve Hawkswell); plus Letters and Crossword

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Blaze #3

Pink Flag #6, 1980

Here's issue 6 of the excellent Sheffield fanzine, Pink Flag. Predominantly concerned with the local scene, Gary Birchall's extended live features on inter/national bands coupled with Pat Mackle's photographs provide enough interest for those outside the Socialist Republic. Issue 6 contains: news on Clock DVA, Artery, The Naughtiest Girl was a Monitor, They Must Be Russians, Corridor, Veiled Threat/Active Gliders, Sexual Lotion/Daktari, Dum Dum Dum; interviews with De Tian, Vice Versa, New Model Soldier; features on Hula, Comsat Angels, Objet D'Art; live features on Dead Kennedy's/UK Decay, Echo & The Bunnymen, Simple Minds; and poetry from Sheffield lexical juggler, Mark Mywords.   

 

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Pink Flag #6    

Acts of Defiance #7, 1983

 

As a lame atonement for the late-summer hiatus I'm posting this chunky bugger - the 40 riotous pages of Acts of Defiance #7. Yes, 40! True, Sned's already made AoDs available on The UK Zine Archive, but here's an opportunity to point you in that direction if you've yet to discover the place. Raf, Russ and Mike at the helm with: interviews - Famous Imposters, Annie Anxiety, Faction, Poison Girls; issues - veganism, Territorial; Army, Militarism, voluntary unemployment, In The City (capitalism), battery chickens, Nuclear Power Fades Your Genes (nuclear accidents), Youth Opportunity Programme; a liberal sprinkling of fanzine round-ups; updates on The Station; tape reviews - Youth in Asia, Napalm Death, Political Asylum, Autumn Poison, Passion Killers, Flowers in the Dustbin, The Committee, Self Abuse, Chumbawamba; a notice on 91 Products; Grangetown Anarcho Punk Gang cartoon; a mini feature on The Stoned Rayzens; and poetry from Edible, Annie Anxiety, Wilfred Owen, and Andy T....and speaking of the lovely fellow... 

Sheffield Marples 1983 pic Andrew Medcalf

...it's well worth noting the recent release of Andy's long player, Life at Tether's End. Yes! Some 32 years since his first appearance on Bullshit Detector we take delivery of this delightful lolloping slab of Andy at his seething 'n' bristling best. Generally I'm not really an advocate of reviews, rather, an adherent of the popular dictum; "writing about music is like dancing about architecture". Suffice to say, there's much to admire in Andy's approach to kicking-up a stink about social injustice and the venality of the political class. Certainly his has been a welcome return to the fray in recent years. As with recent live outings, LaTE sees Andy presenting the poetry in a musical setting interspersed with purely spoken elements. Whilst there's preference here for the highly affective raw ranting, there are some gems amongst the musical offerings, notably the clarion call of the scathing broadside, I Still Fucking Hate Thatcher (itself released as a very attractive 7" on 1in12 records by way of a benefit single for the venerable Club), and the wonderfully depressive Wooden Curtains. Alongside the many excellent new excursions, the CD handily compiles many of the classics first showcased here. LaTE is the debut release on the resurrected All The Madmen records, and it's got to be said that ATM have set the bar bloody high for future releases. The sturdy package houses a 96 page booklet featuring Andy biographised and interviewed by Richard Cubesville and a rake of ace agitart and illustrations accompanying the poetry and lyrics. Easily worth a tenner!          

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Acts of Defiance #7         

Voice of Buddha #1, 1979

 

DEAR READERS,

in this 1st issue we bring you interviews with the Slits, the Modettes and the Detours. Not content with that, we slag off the Stranglers and the Buzzcocks, while drooling over the Human League. Apart from that you'll have to find out for yourself.

NEXT issue (2) will contain interviews WITH THE JAM, ADAM & THE ANTS, MAYO THOMPSON & JOHN PEEL and anyone else upon whom we drunkenly stumble We love you

THE EDITORS...

...namely: Muf (Michael Leonards) and Jim (James Naylor) giving you the lowdown there. I reckon they snaffled the title from the Human League's, Being Boiled. Nothing to add to that really other than VOB #1 also features a brief track-by-track review of The Jam's, Setting Sons. Oh, and issue 2 did contain all they predicted it would - I'll post that one anon. Listen to the....

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Voice of Buddha #1 

Mucilage #2, 1984

Here are the 26 jam-packed pages of Mucilage #2 out of St, Albans courtesy of Aidan and Allan Clifford featuring incisive input from Coral, Debbie and Dave. Top notch interviews with Crass, The Cult, New Model Army, 400 Blows, New Kick, and The Redskins; features on Dr Who & the Rise of Timelord Chic, D.O.A., Beauty Without Cruelty & For Fox's Sake focus on vivesection, animal testing, and bloodsports along with the angry accompaniment of the stirring Black Mass' lyric, Scum (elsewhere there's a note on BM + This is Britain lyric); news on The Shout; live reviews of The Shout, Penumbra/Karma Sutra/No Defences/Chumbawamba, Husker Du; Clive Pig 12" reviewed; Today's Fashionable Cause; comic strips (Nosey Nigel, Baz Razz - He's Always Sick [i.e. he vomits a lot]) + Mucilage charts and a plug for the Mucilage Press, Some Jolly Cheap Printing. 

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Mucilage #2

City Chains #2, 1977

Don't ya just love that snap of The Bazoomis' Metin Kamil (R.I.P.) sneering at ya from the cover of this fanzine? There's a fantastic write-up and live review of The Bazoomis at The Roxy in this the second issue of City Chains - it's such a shame that we can't actually hear how the band sounded. Apparently they did record a demo but legend has it that the blighter is languishing in some obscure cupboard just awaiting to be rediscovered. Worth noting though, members of the band did go on to form the estimable The Expressos, and The Escape Club. Anyway, this here fanzine was the work of Chig and Elaine and a right riveting read it is too. Apart from the tantalising look at The Bazoomis, issue 2 also includes an interview with The Boomtown Rats, The Members and The Victims live at The Roxy, You & The Pistols appraises Sex Pistols, the punk movement under discussion in, Posh or Poor?, news on Sham 69, Ian Dury, The Yachts, and The Damned + a spot of carping about Elvis Costello on Top of the Pops. I like it...

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City Chains #2

Dangerous Logic #3, 1978

Issue 3 of Oliver Lowenstein's, Dangerous Logic is quite a contrast to recent posts such as Grinding Halt. DL is something of professional-looking proposition with design and layout credits going generally to Ian Denning, and Laura Rae Chamberlain for the rather stylish cover. Oliver remains vibrantly active in publishing, primarily through his Fourth Door Review, which is essentially a vehicle for championing the benefits of progressive societies - or as Oliver would put it: "[t]he way I imagine it, the Fourth Door is a way into possible futures, with the emphasis on the plurality implied by possible. It feels today as if the increasing tug and ubiquity of one omnidominant official future, drowns out the capacity to even imagine other, unofficial futures."

Anyway, this edition of DL features a superb bunch of interviews with, and articles on Pere Ubu, The Fall, Buzzcocks and Caroline Coon. The only whiff of a review comes in the shape of an appraisal of Julie Burchill's and Tony Parsons', The Boy Looked at Johhny. A cracking read throughout.

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Dangerous Logic #3

Grinding Halt #8, 1980

Here's another cracking issue of Callous and Snide's Grinding Halt. It's always a pleasure to see the GH masthead screaming out from ee but really I'm posting this now as an artifice directing you towards Stewart "Eddie Snide" Osbourne's, Grinding Halt Facebook page onto which Stewart has begun uploading the full run of the fanzine - topper stuff indeed. As with all GHs, #8 is heaving with delights, namely: superb interviews with The Passions, The Skids (Richard Jobson), Killing Joke, The Dead Kennedys (Jello Biafra); live reviews of The Suspects/The Seize, The Passions, The Diagram Brothers/The Undercoverman/Freudianslip, The Delmontes/Foreign Press, The Thing/Paris/Foreign Press, The Revillos, The Saints, The Skids, The Specials/Swinging Cats/223, The Comsat Angels/Liliput/Wah! Heat/Killing Joke/Pink Military (what an extraordinarily ace line-up!), The Dead Kennedys/UK Decay, The Ramones/The Spectres, Rockpile/The Polecats, John Cooper Clarke, The Durutti Column Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls; tons of vinyl reviews - 7"s, The Seize, Potent Human EP (Manchester Mekon, The Spurtz, The Liggers, Bathroom Renovations), 8 From '80, A Carlisle Compilation (The Spive, The Pedestrians, Mr Buider, No Support, The Toolbox Murderers, The Limps), Killing Joke, Liliput, Sector 27, The Spectres, Mo-Dettes, Basement 5, Glaxo Babies, Bullseye, UK Subs, Dolly Mixture, Purple Hearts, Echo & The Bunnymen, X-S Discharge, The Monochrome Set, The Professionals, The Distractions, Wasted Youth, Josef K, The Residents, The Rat & The Whale, The Tea Set, Gen X, Poly Styrene, Orange Juice, Athletico Spizz 80, The Revillos, The Passions, The Damned, The Teardrop Explodes, Joy Division, Victim, The Diagram Brothers, The Astronauts, Some of My Best Friends are Canadians, Data, The Psychedelic Furs, Motorhead, The Bollock Brothers, The Stiff Sampler (The Equators, Joe "King" Carrasco & The Crowns, Tenpole Tudor, Dirty Looks, Any Trouble); 12"s, The Saints, The Skids, The Specials, The Cockney Rejects, Killing Joke, UK Subs, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, The Piranhas, XTC; and a mini feature on Bugle Records (Johnny Curious, The Astronauts, Bob Green, The Produkt, The Screws, War Effort, The Plague 1980).

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Grinding Halt #8

Adventures In Reality #G, 1981

Stylishly staying Coventry-side here with Alan Rider's excellent, Adventures in Reality. Get the low-down on all things AinR from Alan himself in this great Zine Weekly interview. To ogle the full run of AinR covers, and those of Alan's, Not the Jobhunter, check out part 2 of  the ZW feature. Well worth noting is Alan's working towards charting Coventry's punk fanzine output in a, hopefully, soon to be published book. Apparently Alan has catalogued 50 or so fanzines! Consider that lot alongside recent ee posts such as Smart Verbal, Alternative Sounds, and this here AinR and you've just gotta marvel at how richly Midland UK was zine-served. Good Work! Contributors to #G included Andy C., Steve Teers, Nick Edginton, Hugh Tobin, 'Pamala', Lynne Wallace and Benjamin Allen. Rammed with: Crass, Poison Girls, Anne Anxiety, and Flux of Pink Indians at Digbeth Civic Hall (April 22), Eyeless in Gaza, Human Cabbages, and 3 Way Dance at the General Wolfe (May 7), Modern Zoo/Famous Five/Speech Majors; a report on the closure of Cov' Tiffanys  featuring an alternative venue checklist (The Launch, Coventry Theatre, Gen' Wolfe, Belgrade); Component Erotic with contributions from Simon and Christie; interview with Attrition, including of course Martin Bowes of Alternative Sounds fame; the AinR Coventry Family Tree part 1 covering Night Train, Chapter Five, Ray King Band, Squad, Urge, Berlin, DGB, Urban Blight, Transposed Men, Swinging Cats, Tearjerkers, Aching Tongue, Solid Action, Outlook, Fallen Heroes, Editors, Team, X-Certs, Gods Toys, Aorta Major, End, Mix, and L'Homme de Terre; vinyl reviews for The Misunderstood, Au Pairs, Killing Joke, Blue Orchids, Pressure Stops, and Pre-Set; Poetry from Andy C.; helpful hints on doing a zine, and Alan essays Urban Life. Topper!  

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Adventures in Reality #G

Alternative Sounds #17, 1980

Here's the penultimate issue of Martin Bowes', Alternative Sounds. Martin (still active in the band Attrition) pulled-off a remarkable feat in producing all 18 copies of Alternative Sounds between February '79 - November '80. I say remarkable because as issue 17 attests, Alternative Sounds was a rather snazzy proposition, not at all a slap-dash affair. Check out the nifty variations in layout and presentation - all making for a dazzlingly dynamic fanzine experience. Apparently the name, Alternative Sounds, was something of a swipe at the decidedly more corporate, Sounds. At any rate, Martin was clearly a dab-hand at the fanzine lark and here in #17 he kindly offers notes from his mooted guide to fanzine creation. Elsewhere we see Martin championing Coventry fanzines (1 page), another page given over to fanzines in general + Do-it-Yourself; tips and pointers to creating a fanzine. Lastly, Martin offers a teaser for the then upcoming Something Else' visit to Coventry on which he was set to demonstrate the art of fanzine creation. A true ambassador for the D.I.Y. ethic, make no mistake. Elsewhere, Alternative Sounds is stuffed to the point of bursting with: profiles - Ambivalent Scale collective, Coventry record shops, The Civil Servants, The Silence, The Wild Boys; interviews - The Abstracts, God's Toys (featuring former AS contributor Dill); reviews - Boys & Girls Comp' (The Human Cabbages, The Clique Syndicate, L'Homme de Terre, The Famous 5, First Offence), Bouncing in the Red Comp' (Steel Pulse, Steve Gibbons, Ricky Cool, UB40, The Denizens, Dangerous Girls), T Rex, Cockney Rebel, The Dead Kennedys, The Louder Animal Group, The Observe, The Damned, Killing Joke, The Glaxo Babies; cassettes - Fantaccini Playground (The Muliple Jesu), The Stick Insects (Puritan Ethic), Cryptic Clues (Half Alive); live - The Fall, The Nightingales; letters and news on X-Certs, the Bush Telegraph, and the Squad's splitting-up. Brilliant stuff!

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Alternative Sounds #17

In The City #6, 1978

Still lot's of other titles to appear on ee but I thought I'd slap on another ITC - definitely one of my favourite fanzines, despite its knockers. As usual, Pete Gilbert and Frank Drake dish-up lashings of intelligent comment, interviews, news, reviews and original Gilbert photos. Quick note, I can't quite scan the cover correctly - it should be garish puke green but appears here a tame turquoise - ho hum! Anyway, bollocks aside, ITC#6 features: an extensive review of The Rezillos at the Marquee + in depth interview with Eugene, Faye and John; TRB in the USA reviewed by Cathy Nemeth and an ITC interview with Dolphin + bonus poem from the charming TRB drummer (he really is sound, I once interviewed him alongside Jake Burns during his stint with SLF - that interview appeared in the 3rd and last issue of my Fanzine, Creation, limited to a measly  20 copies - if I ever find a copy I'll whack it on ee and give y'all a laugh); onwards with an extended appraisal of Magazine's, Real Life; Patrik Fitzgerald live; Jawing offers an Ultravox Warning; reviews of 7"s by The Diodes, Johnny Thunders, Skooshny, Tonight, Steel Pulse, The Normal, Ian Gomm, The Lurkers, Rich Kids, Automatics, Patrik Fitzgerald, Jet Bronx, Fruit Eating Bears, Penetration, The Tights, Elton Mottelo, Essential Logic, Destroy All Monsters, Cane (3X3), Buzzcocks, and Martin & The Brownshirts. Its Killa dilla! 
'
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In The City #6

Chumbawamba 1982 - 2012

R.I.P. Chumbawamba

http://www.chumba.com/

Early Chumbas by Fritz The Cat

Guttersnipe #4, 1979

Guttersnipe was a collective effort produced at Telford Community Arts centre Printshop between 1978 - 1982. Largely the work of 'young punks', Guttersnipe was overseen by TCA staff, Graham Peet amongst them. Partly funded by Arts Council money, pressures saw a degree of bowdlerisation - evident in this issue - and the source of heated discussions in later issues. Lots of Guttersnipes to appear here on ee. This issue has Angelic Upstarts, including a brief interview with Mensi; the Seventh Anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Hyde Park; Guttersnipe talks to two 16 year olds Mickey + Jean about their attempts to commit suicide; Guttersnipe in London featuring The Angelic Upstarts at the Marquee and a review of the Small Wonder Records showcase (Patrik Fitzgerald/The Molesters/Crass); live - Public Image Limited/John Cooper Clarke/Linton Kwesi Johnson/The Pop Group, Bette Bright & The Illuminations/Spizz Energi, The Damned/The Radio Stars/Capital Letters, The ID/Strange Pleasure, Scherzo, 90 Degrees Inclusive; 7"s - Eddie & The Hot Rods, The Ruts, The Fall, Blondie, The Mekons, Throbbing Gristle, The Cure, The Weirdos, The Members, T.V. Personalities, Neon Hearts; Virgin and Reggae charts and letters.


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Guttersnipe #4

Blam #2, 1981

I intend to post a fair few of Pete Hall's Blams. This early issue is sparingly designed but buoyed on: decent interviews with Au Pairs, Modern English, Frenzid Melon, Flux of Pink Indians (by post); profiles of Josef K, Surrounded by Masks; Interesting News about Synchromesh, Dogma Cats/Leisure Sounds/Ersatz/The Barrier Fades, Special Duties; live reviews of Funeral Directors, Fad Gadget / Depeche Mode / Palais Schaumberg / Furious Pig, The Cure, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Adicts / Waxwork Dummies / Special Duties / Spasmodic Caress; reviews of cassettes by Special Duties, I'm Dead (The Wonders of Medical Science, and Terry's Left Ear), and the New Crimes' fanzine compilation, New Criminals, featuring The Subhumans, Sinyx, Mix: 86, Stripey Zebras, A.P.F. Brigade, FoPI, Enola Death. Viv Beeton contributed.

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Blam #2

Precautions Essentielles Pour La Bonne #1, 1981

PLEASE, WE SAY TO YOU NOW, 

DO NOT ACCEPT THOSE THINGS, 

ESPECIALLY THOSE THAT HAPPEN EVERYDAY 

AND SEEM NATURAL, 

FOR IN THESE TIMES OF PLANNED CONFUSION 

AND DELIBERATE VIOLENCE, 

WHEN BLOOD RUNS AND MEN ARE INHUMAN TO MEN, NOTHING MUST BE CALLED NATURAL, 

SO THAT NOTHING SHALL REMAIN UNCHANGED

Ok ok so I’ve used that quote before – but boy does it bear repeating. Inhumans, with their craven bleating press-pack-propagandists obediently at heel, have hidden the ‘deliberate violence’, cooked the books on their wholesale savagery, cranked-up the ‘newspeak’ mangle and fashioned lofty conceits to enable their filthy trade: ‘responsibility to protect’ and ‘humanitarian interventionism’ play loud to a somnambulant populace at large. Right, so who’s next? Oh hang on - we’ve not done for Syria yet. Nothing personal you understand – it really is just business. Anyway, I hope your reading of Precautions Essentielles Pour La Bonne doesn’t leave you as seething as mine just did me. Credit to Julian Vicious, Dan, Pete, Nick, Mark and Ben for delivering: top flight interviews with The Diagram Brothers, Poison Girls and Zoundz; live reviews of Flux of Pink Indians/Zoundz at the Moonlight Club, Funeral Directors/Waxwork Dummies/FoPI at Chats Palace, Six Minute War/FoPI/Eraserhead/Sinyx/Dialectics at Action Space (Anti Vivisection Benefit); spleen venting on advertisements, war, selling out and the commodification of Sid; appraisals of SMW/Theatre of Hate 7”s and FoPI’s tape. Sprinkled liberally with collage and Crass’ lyrics. A corker I tell ya!


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Precautions Essentielles Pour La Bonne #1

Smart Verbal #6, 1980

There is no peace

we are at war

war has become a permannent state of reality 

Here's a well-stuffed and varied fanzine from Brum courtesy of Boz, Mo and Zo. The letter from Crass is a reproduced gig handout. SV#6 also features: Delayed Reaction, Vision Collision, Eyeless in Gaza, Suzy Varty (Brass Lip), poetry from Peter Becker Flecker, M. Newton and Andy C., live reviews of Naked Lunch/Shock/Theatre of Hate/Classix Nouveaux at Nottingham Rock City, Guilty Millionaires/The Prisoners at the Star Club; The Thompson Twins, The Instant Automatons, The Privates, a host of fanzine reviews, Deleted Records mini profile (Radio Silence, Eating People, Blues Masters of the Humber Delta, Peter Paints His Fence ep); Cassette Confrontation looks at the rise of independent cassettes (Loss of Head, Undercovermen, Drumland Dreamland) and elsewhere there are lots of reviews/contact addresses for tape producers; Brian Brain, Blurt, Floozy I Need You, Partizans, and Bron Area interviewed.  

42cm x 25.5cm folded scanned at 600 dpi

Smart Verbal #6

The Gargoyle & Nosey Neighbours Supplement #4, 1980

ED. "What inspired the song I'm in Love with Margaret Thatcher?"

Haggis, "Cos we hate her"

An utterly charming little fanzine is The Gargoyle & Nosey Neighbours Supplement. Produced in Mytholmroyd by Steve Baldwin, this issue of TG&NNS is almost entirely text; the Plectrum Boy comic strip being the only graphic concession. Issue 4 features a decent, if silly interview with The Not-Sensibles; letters of jesting menace and encouragement from The Dresden Tax Dodgers and Discharge Cal respectively; a review of Futurama [Gary Glitter / Athletico Spizz 80 / Boots For Dancing / Hazel O'Connor / The Psychedelic Furs / Echo & The Bunnymen / Brian Brain / The Flowers / The Soft Boys / Young Marble Giants / The 4be2s]; Popeye / Annie Anxiety / Poison Girls / Crass at Halifax Lee Mount Club (including a brief interview with Pete Wright); Belladonna / The Magnetos at Hebden Bridge + news, charts, gig guide and crossword. 

20.5cm x 29.5cm scanned at 600 dpi

The Gargoyle & Nosey Neighbours Supplement # 4      

Back Issue #4, 1981

Aidan Brennan and Derek Fischer's Back Issue is yet another cracking fanzine out of West London. BI#4 features interviews with Adam &The Antz, Another Pretty Face, Modern English, and The Cravats (see here for a bundle of Cravats ephemera). Reviews: 7"s - Au Pairs, Cabaret Voltaire, Modern English, Virgin Prunes, Delta 5, Misty in Roots, Augustus Pablo, Mass, Young Marble Giants, Vic Goddard & The Subway Sect, Bauhaus, Television Personalities, Motorhead/Girlschool, Depeche Mode, Crass, New Order, Nikki Sudden, Theatre of Hate, Bow Wow Wow; LPs - The Damned, The Wall, Small Faces, Theatre of Hate. Cherry Red Records profile featuring Eyeless in Gaza, The Transmitters, Five or Six, Medium Medium, Second Layer, and The Dead Kennedys + local news/info on Missing Presumed Dead and The Transmitters. PEANUTS?

A4 scanned at 600 dpi

Back Issue #4

The Other Side #1, 1981

Kill Nostalgia. 

Admire the view 

now we have reached the top of the Pistols’ 

thorny stockade, 

there is an exhilarating slide down to 

THE OTHER SIDE

a new age!

Well I for one would be well & truly knackered without nostalgia – and ditto many of the fine blogs in my roll I reckon. Still, within its ’81 context it’s easy to empathize with the sentiment. Besides, boasting such excellent ‘issue’-driven interviews with the likes of Killing Joke (Anti Christ Crusade), The Au Pairs (Feminist Reality & Rolf Harris), Linton Kwesi Johnson (Equality, Justice Peace), The Specials (The Greatest Show on Earth), and John Peel (Distress Signals From Peel Acres); The Other Side not only talked the talk, it walked the walk also. And deftly so it must be said - TOS is a somewhat slick production out of Luton headed-up by Neil Rowland & Paul Wellings and features written contributions from Michael Morgan, Jessica Adams, Desmond Hunt and Stephen Saltzberg, accompanied throughout by Hope Row's and Lesley Smith's smashing photography. The nearest we get to a review of any description is the snazzy 1 page plug for Afraid Of Mice and the couple of live The Teardrop Explodes photos from Dunstable. Elsewhere there’s Ronnie Scott’s Twilight Paradise; Strength Through Joi sticks the boot into Oi; and Rock on the Rocks celebrates “new pop ethics”. A great fanzine. 

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The Other Side #1   

White Stuff #6, 1977

MESSAGE TO JAMES: 

sorry, but the pistols just made quarter of a million...they don't need any free promo from me any more...

 
Sandy Robertson's White Stuff, as namechecked in the last Sniffin' Glue post, features contributions from Alex Fergusson (no introductions should be needed for this chap), Glenn Marks, Tony D., and Skid Kid (Ripped & Torn co-conspirator). White Stuff is clearly something of PattiSmithzine: this issue has Patti art, Hotel art and a Devotion to Arthur Rimbaud. Elsewhere, there's The Colossus of Henry Miller by Frank Letchford, which includes the questionable assertion, "women lack the vitality and curiosity for bold experience". I'm not overly familiar with Miller's oeuvre so maybe Letchford is just citing the writer - whatever, I couldn't let that slip through unchecked. Glenn Marks', No More Heroes, looks at 'half ready' product and assesses the criteria for hero status. You can find more commentary on Sandy here, here and here from Alex F. on his and Sandy's close association.

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A4 single sided scanned at 600 dpi

White Stuff #6

Sniffin' Glue #7, 1977

 

Hits, downloads and comments prove Sniffin' Glue #12  to be by far the most popular e.e. post, so it's about time we had a gander at another of Mark P's inspirational efforts. The back page is missing from my copy so I've tacked on scans from Sniffin' Glue: The Essential Punk Accessory - again, I recommend scoring a copy of that book while you can - - it's got the full bloody run in it! At any rate, the back page Track ad adds to Mark's remarking about the "£60" so it's well worth having sight of it and we wouldn't wanna be without Erica Echenberg's Hang Up now would we? SG#7 is pre-Danny Baker but Steve Mick, Harry T. Murlowski and EE are on board for comments and photos. Mark P. interviews The Adverts and Don Letts; The Gorillas at The Nashville reviewed; news on The Clash and Generation X; U.S. scene namechecking with Nerves, Low Numbers, Bizarros, Thundertrain, Count Viglione, Gizmos, Venus & The Razorblades, Sneakers, Slickee Boys, Pentagram and Pictures; vinyl reviews - Buzzcocks, Spiral Scratch (including enthusiastically reproduced Breakdown lyrics), The Stranglers, Johnny Moped, The Gorillas, Talking Heads, Crime and The Ramones Leave Home +++ "fanzines that have come out since the last issue: Teenage Depression/White Stuff/Kid's Stuff/More-on 2/Zip-vinyl/Sideburns 2/O.D 2/Flicks/Fishnet Tights"....you see, inspiring! "See yer..." 

Double and single sided A4 scanned at 600 dpi

Sniffin' Glue #7