Richie Havens 1941-2013

R.I.P. Richie

Panache #13, 1980

 

Wading through the fanzine pile for this latest post I struck the Panache seam and was frankly amazed that none have appeared here as yet. It's amazing because Panache was a top flight publication and a personal favourite. Anyway I've hastened ahead to #13 primarily to make the astonishing The Cravats interview more readily available. Panache was of course headed-up by Mick Mercer with input from Surly Yout, Jorn and Eric. Interviews: Another Pretty Face, Animals & Men, Ski Patrol, The Cravats (9 pages of small type! + The Shend’s poem, Varicose Veins), The Chaps, and Siouxsie & Steve Severin (intemperate at times on account of MM’s earlier snubbing of an interview offer). There's a review of Derek Jarman’s, The Tempest, Stamp Out Snogging is a call to ban kissing at gigs. There's a handful of reviews: 7”s - The Visitors, Attempted Moustache, Beast; 12” - The Photos + a small article on Toyah + much much more – really, it’s rammed with tons of writing, cut-ups and snippets. Serious value for money.

 

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Panache #13 

Stabmental #2, 1979

 

Tom Craig's and Geoff Rushton's prettily dark Stabmental is a killer fanzine. Oodles of enthusiam from Oundle sees interviews with Chain of Dots (members incl' Garry Bailey, Sharron Borelam, Nag, Bendle, Igor, Mick Clark [One Gang Logic]), Rema-Rema, Clock DVA (feat' Adi Newton of Gun Rubber fame), The Lemon Kittens, and I'm So Hollow; reviews of The Raincoats, Yet Another Temple (tape), and P.I.L.. Ratcheting-up the Sheffield quotient with The Neutron Manifesto. 3 pages are given over to The Tape List - exhaustive I doubt but it is at the very least a fair stab(mental): The Accelerators, A Classic Slice of Teenage Angst, Coventry ZZZ, Daark Inc. Records (Tank Death, Animal Dance, Staff Incompetence, The New Pollution, Your Animals, Everyone Wants to Win, FurFur, Carcass Analysis), Digital Dinosaurs, Elephant Death, The Door & Window, Blank Space, An Hour of Torture, Wye, The Weird Tales Cassette, The Horrible Nurds, Fuck Off Records/Weird Tapes (Back to Sing for Free, Danny & The Dressmakers, 200 Cancelations, Autoverite, Androids of Mu, Weird Sampler, Scars on Sunday, All I can Hear is the Hearing Aids, 39 Golden Grates, Distortion Dub-Funhouse/Living Deadno, Grand Union Canal Mystery - Anthrax for the People), Fine Products, Flat Out, The Industrial Record Cassette Collection, I'm So Hollow, Infrascan, Phillip Johnson, Paul Leckie, Methods of Execution, Paul Möller, Metabolist, Obvious Products, Out of Print, The Popes, Eddie Re, Solo Sam, Chris Scott, Trokkoids, Violent Death Records, Warsaw Pakt, Paul A. Wells, and Waldo Records. For those wishing to savour some of the above delights I highly recommend a trip over to Die or D.I.Y., where many of these tapes have been discussed and uploaded.

 

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Stabmental #2

Voice of Buddha #2, 1980

We've common goals.

We deliver the goods.

We are the kind of men

Who can do the job;

Same fear, same blood;

Same tears, same mud;

Same heights, same hopes;

Same laughs, same jokes.

 

As flagged in the VOB#1 posting this here second, "Happy Issue" of VOB features interviews with Mayo Thompson, John Peel, Adam & The Ants, and The Jam (+ preview of Going Underground lyrics). Elsewhere there's Poet for the 80s?; a piece on Dave Waller along with a review of DW's and Mr. Weller's Riot Stories, Notes From Hostile Street (incl John Cooper Clarke, Linton Kwesi Johnson, and Patrik Fitzgerald). Practise Makes Perfect offers a brief unravelling of Wire. A solitary review of The Bodysnatchers at the (London) Lyceum. Michael and James dish up some snippets of news - notably the Nips split! Not forgetting the smattering of VOBgraphics throughout.

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Voice of Buddha #2      

Tidal Wave #1, 1980

I've noted this as issue 1, though I think it is in fact another one-off affair. Not that its being a stand-alone diminishes its appeal in any way. On the contrary - and this particulary applies to the most welcome interviews - TW is a veritable gem. It was a sole effort by Terri with "thanx [to] Esther for the endless cups of tea and the wonderfulness". The fanzine overall is dedicated to Ian Curtis and in 2 seperate wee articles Terri laments the passing of the esteemed Joy Division frontman. As indicated, there's an excellent selection of interviews with The Tea Set, A Certain Ratio, Young Marble Giants, and The Teardrop Explodes. Joy Division and ACR at the Moonlight under review and Terri's top platters in the Tidal Wave Playlist. TW is yet another Better Badges production. Top flight gubbins.

 

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Tidal Wave #1

 

Kevin Ayers 1944 - 2013

R.I.P. Kevin

Kick #3, 1980

 

“The vagueness of our discontent is the mark of its permanence”. Ahhh, it’s refreshing to come across a choice Orwell quote as a foreword to this fine fanzine. To be clear though, vagueness does not appear to afflict the Kick organisation’s enthusiasm for the spirit of Punk – that enthusiasm being particularly evident in Richard Cabut’s input here – itself bolstered by contributions from Anne Crawford, Chris Gibson and Lill (“if you’re reading get in touch”). Kick #3 sees The Fall, Bauhaus (David Jay), and Pneumania interviewed; gigs by This Heat/The Elevators, Simple Minds/Martian Dance/Wasted Youth, and UK Decay/The Wall/The Dark reviewed. Richard Cabut and Lill offer brief essays on Punk in, Occult Chemistry and A Rather Suss Piece on Punk & Life Thru a Foreign Punk’s Eyes respectively. Luton Punks sneaks a peek at UK Decay, Pneumania, Statics, Urban Warfare, Cinematix, Nervous Surgeons, Project 4, Dresden Maniacs, The Mandies and The Demons. There’s no playlist! Thank Clapton then for the short fanzine round-up and props to Better Badges, without whom (the inestimable Joly MacFie) many of the fanzines posted thus far on ee may never have come into being let alone enjoyed such a wide distribution. I tell ya, a proper celebration of BB on ee is well overdue. In the meantime, if you haven't seen it already, you’ll enjoy this excellent BB article.     

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Kick #3 

Sunday The 7th #2, 1981

Following Bubs' departure Sunday The 7^th became largely a sole effort by Martin "Cobby" Cobb, though Bubs does contribute...and Paul does too, er, so that’s clear enough then. Anyroad, there’s no doubting the quality of this 32 page bristling blighter! Featuring: profiles and interviews with Vice Squad, Toxic Power, The End (Matt McLeod, Trev A. Beckett, Ann Dee Martian, Zoff and Gary) + a plug for Sunday The 7^th house band, Primal Chaos. Other interviews with: Chelsea’s, Gene October (an interesting comment from Gene on being asked about the frequent line-up changes could have come straight from M.E. Smith’s mouth, uncannily so really); and a decent 2 part interview with UK Subs’, Steve Roberts and Nicky Garratt, the latter proving particularly illuminating. Elsewhere there’s a delve into the Tribal Warfare issue; a rather astute look at TV, the press and advertising in Don't Believe the Media Lies; 6 Minute War warns about cruise missiles, and a review of The War Game in Banned by the BBC. Opinions has contributions from Bubs, Richard and Michelle with poetry and points of view about war and work + Ann Dee Fucking Martian holds fourth on The Anarchist Dilemma (and just in case a shitstorm kicks up about certain elements therein, just remember, I DIDN'T WRITE IT, OK?!). There are no record or tape reviews but Cobby does offer a snappy little rationale for eschewing such fripperies – though there are a couple of live reviews of UK Subs/Chelsea/Stiffs/Anti Pasti, and Vice Squad/Anti-Establishment + a neb at a few fanzines, some collage and Discharge lyrics. Good stuff! 

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Sunday The 7^th #2

UrBAN D.K. #3, 1983

 

101? Now there's a number with which to conjure! Here in UDK #3, Dubliners, Freud Eggs, Mick Kennedy, Mairead Mullins, Pete the Roz and Art O'Leary rustle-up: With the Same Fervour with which We Came We Plough the Earth; Biased Reviews (LPs: Pillows & Prayers Comp, Dambala); a profile of  Max (Marion Woods, Ingmar Klang, Conor Kelly & Johnny Byrne); interviews with Virgin Prunes and Crass (postal jobby with Penny). 12 pages. Job done! 

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UrBAN D.K. #3

Between The Lines #1, 1979

Not a straight-forward fanzine at all really – more a thoughtzine in which Anna, with recourse to writings from elsewhere, shares with us her inner machinations. Sure, there are interviews with Gloria Mundi and Poison Girls but those are resolutely of the searching variety –there’s barely a whiff of the, “what’s your favourite colour” school of interrogation. As was standard with Poison Girls, Anna’s encounter with Richard and Vi is particularly illuminating – more discussion than interview as we witness the subject and host on an equal footing. Anna’s ruminations on Thinking and Thoughts are ably bolstered by contributions from Di and Abe, along with: poetry from D. H. Lawrence, Jackie, John Betjeman and Wilfred Owen; a short extract on Swearing from George Orwell’s, Down and Out in Paris and London; and a reproduction of the widely distributed CND Leaflet, No More Hiroshimas. I've noted this as issue 1 though I understand it is in fact a one-off. All told, Between the Lines is a real gem.

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Between The Lines #1

To compliment this post I’m uploading a recording of Poison Girls live in Leeds. The recording was made by Troy Bunn. Troy happened to be an inveterate bootlegger and was often to be found rooted to a spot throughout the proceedings of many a gig frantically hushing any approaching souls with a finger to lips gesture lest any intrusive natterings spoil his recordings. Sadly, most of Troy’s live tapes were lost to a rash bout of recycling during the nineties but those that survived - including 2 more PG’ sets - will appear here eventually. This is a reasonable bootleg though those aurally delicate types may need to allow their lugs to adjust to the slight coarseness of the recording quality - the songs however remain as beautiful as ever.     

Poison Girls live in Leeds, Fforde Grene Hotel, 1 July 1983

Where’s The Pleasure?

Are You Happy Now?

Underbitch

Too Close For Comfort

Old Tart’s Song

Rio Disco Stink

Cry No More

Too Proud

Tension

Total Exposure

One Good Reason

Cream Dream

Persons Unknown

State Control

I’ve Done It All Before

Situation Vacant #2, 1978

Here we go, the first for 2013 and it’s “Derby’s first new wave mag”! Worth noting that the Situation Vacant editorial team, Martin Roper, Russell Maw, Dugi Bell et al would go on to form Anti Pasti. In this issue of SV we have: interviews with Sham 69 and The Adverts; Seven Inchers – TRB, The Only Ones, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, The Radiators From Space, Magazine, XTC, Buzzcocks, Penetration; Larger Vinyl – The Only Ones, Buzzcocks; live – The Vibrators, Cherry Vanilla, Anti Nazi Carnival (X Ray Spex, Patrik Fitzgerald, The Clash, Steel Pulse, TRB, 90° Inclusive; Charts + a 1 page ad for The Skids.

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Situation Vacant #2