Wednesday, 30 May 2012

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

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot for this Si...

It was a local (to me) fanzine which I read in 1980/1981: I've only got one issue left now so it was great to read this again...

I think the writers were students as they lived in an area of Birmingham populated with left-leaning students and the 'creatively unemployed' (which is where I've lived on and off for the past 20 plus years!), and the fanzine stopped after approximately 3 years (which is a bit of a giveaway)...

As usual - a great post: keep it up!

All the best,

Nic

Anonymous said...

Once again - thanks Si! I used to read this when I was 12!

I think the editors must have been students: they lived in an area of Birmingham which always had a 'bohemian' feel, and the magazine stopped after 3 years or so...

I still see people from Vision Collision, Partizans, etc around (as I live in the same part of Birmingham - the 'bohemian' bit ;) )...

Nic

Si said...

Cheers Nic, you boho you ;)

It does have something of a studenty feel to it dunnit...

...as ever, I really appreciate any input and the background info you supply is greatly welcomed. As with your contribution to the BD film, lucidity seems to have smiled on you.

All the best

Anonymous said...

Wow! I was a member of Floozy I Need You and this is the first time I've ever seen a reference to us on the web! We existed 1980-1. Some great other bands there too - most of which I had forgotten. Cheers. What did our interview say?
Chris B

 Allied Propaganda Issue 2, July/August 1979 Any fanzine is worth checking out if you can spare the time or money, if only for the principle...