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. 

A3 folded scanned at 600 dpi

The Other Side #1