If someone had told 22 year old me that it would take me until I was in my early 60s to bring out a fifth issue of Kindred Spirit I would have had to press the pause button on my Walkman, remove my headphones and say "Can you repeat that? I must have misheard what you said!" I can see the look of sheer disbelief on my unlined face in my mind's eye now! But that is exactly what happened, and in 2024 I finished what I started by producing a one-off 40th anniversary edition.Whilst I did take advantage of 21st century technology to create the 'zine, I tried to stay as close to my roots as possible. I might not have spent hours crouched over a portable typewriter with a bottle of Tippex and a pack of felt pens on hand, as I did in 1984 but I did put together two "cut and paste" collages old school style, for the front and back covers. Doing this really took me back into the zone.
What I did not want was for the fanzine to end up being nothing more than my blog on paper. I wanted the information to be exclusive. It certainly turned out that way.
In the first instance I was aiming for around 30 pages of content. It ended up as 44. To wipe away my biggest regret of not being able to review or interview The Jam in real time I decided to add a couple of pages dedicated to Messrs Weller, Foxton and Buckler. That "couple of pages" turned into nine A4 sheets packed with memories, memorabilia and a round up of some of the polls about The Jam and Paul Weller I'd run on X throughout the year. I named it "The Jam Sandwich".
I asked a small group of talented friends and family members if they would contribute art, poetry and reviews. After having the first 25 copies printed to give to those people, I went on to have a further 100 reproduced. They sold immediately. Another 100 copies were ordered. The first 50 sold quickly, then things started to slow down. That was when the idea of putting together a book started germinating.
You could say the 40th anniversary fanzine acted as a stepping stone. I absolutely loved creating it, but whilst researching various artists and events covered in the original publications, I realised there was so much more I wanted to share than could be squeezed into 44 photocopied A4 sheets.
Once I was down to the last five copies, I took the decision not to have any more printed. They've all sold now, but pretty much all of the typed content will be included in the book. However, to keep the price of the book reasonable I have been limited in how many images I've been able to include, whereas with the fanzine I wasn't.
To try and cover all avenues I've shared below some of the items from the 40th anniversary edition that will not be published anywhere else again in the future.
I have a handful of all four of the original fanzines left in a box in my office, so if you would like a copy now is your chance. More details about the content and where to buy them can be found here.
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Taking things right back to the summer of 1983, this was the opening message (or part of it) that featured at the start of the first edition of Kindred Spirit.
Issue one started out as a poetry magazine first and foremost but I did include a few music related features. It was only when I came to try and sell the magazines I quickly realised I needed to change the balance.
One of the aforementioned music features was a disgruntled one page rant about the punk scene in 1983 as I saw it. As I stated in the 40th anniversary edition: "It’s quite ironic that I went on to interview one of the bands I slated in this piece (The Exploited). And not only that, but the interview became a highlight of my fanzine writing days."
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Peace activism was big news in the UK in 1983. CND membership numbers reached levels never seen before. Female protesters opposing nuclear weapons being placed at RAF Greenham Common were frequently in the news.
Whilst I did not completely go down the road of dedicating an entire fanzine to warning others of the horrors of nuclear war, I did feature several poems and pieces of prose along those lines across all four issues.
Because we did not have the internet, instant
messaging and social media, people relied on word of mouth, posters, leaflets
and DIY publications for more information.
Below is a snippet of one of the anti-nuclear poems that featured in issue one.
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Both Joe and I are fans of the work of distinguished silk artist, Lee Zimmerman. Joe has written many poems inspired by Lee's art. We were delighted when Lee gave me permission to include one of his sketches to accompany Joe's poetry.
Red wine at midnight
If only this was the last glass
The cup of her patience is gone
Dried up by too many tears
And sleepless nights.
How she wished to have
A sweet good night’s sleep
She’s sipping her wine
Beautiful in her rage
My heart can’t help
But love her more and weep.
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Had I continued writing my fanzine for one more year I can guarantee I would have included The Housemartins. They were the band to put Hull on the musical map in the mid 80s. They were a good news story.
In my book I go into much more detail about the band's earlier than early days, and the link between their demo tape (pictured below) and Hull goth/punk band - Les Zeiga Fleurs. It was this tape that brought them to the attention of Go! Discs.
Paul Heaton famously described the Housemartins as "the fourth best band in Hull". I was lucky enough to include the other three in my fanzines back in the day, namely Red Guitars, The Gargoyles and Everything but the Girl.
One of the founding members of The Gargoyles was the late Paul Warhurst. He designed and illustrated the sleeve for The Housemartins’ final single – ‘There Is Always Something There To Remind Me.’
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One of the highlights of issue four was the interview we did with The Cult backstage at the Tower in Hull. Billy Duffy answered most of the questions. Ian Astbury dipped in and out of the interview, mainly because he was preoccupied talking to super fan Ian Hunter, exchanging tee shirts for pendants. As I was digging deep in the memory bank, I recalled how Ian (Hunter) played with glam sleaze rockers Rich Rags. They had quite a following.
Stand up comedian Ben Norris also joined the party with a special story revolving around Billy Duffy from the days when he worked in a classical musical instrument shop in Farnham.
Photo courtesy of Ben Norris
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By way of a follow up, I included "what happened next" information relating to several of the bands and artists featured in the original fanzines. One of them was Wolverhampton quintet The Wild Flowers. Guitarist Dave Newton went on to have a long career in music. He was one of the founding members of The Mighty Lemondrops.
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You will not be in the least bit surprised to know there is more than a generous helping of The Jam/Paul Weller in my book, as there was in the 40th anniversary fanzine. I haven't however, included some of the amateurish images I put together relating to certain songs that won the many Weller/Jam-related polls I ran on X through 2024. Here they are in glorious technicolour!
BEST COVER VERSION
BEST DIG THE NEW BREED TRACK
MOST UNDERRATED SONG
I always wished I could have written a review in real time of one of The Jam's albums or singles. To try and rectify this, in the 40th anniversary edition I decided to pick one album and put a few paragraphs together about it. Although there are detailed references to Setting Sons in my book, the review was something exclusive to the fanzine. I haven't copied the entire piece, but here are a few thoughts on one of my top 10 tracks by The Jam - 'Private Hell'.
The fast-paced, tension filled melody with its haunting bass line is the perfect backdrop for those frighteningly real lyrics. A menopausal woman’s life is crumbling. She’s feeling overlooked by her adult children. She’s lost interest in her marriage. She’s going through the motions. Her misery and frustration climaxes when she smashes a cup, cracks inside, then sweeps up the broken pieces as if finally reaching some kind of safe place. It, like many Setting Sons tracks is a song which takes on different meanings as the years pass. And how Paul, who was then a 21-year-old man managed to get inside the head of a middle-aged woman when he wrote the song is something many of us will never understand.
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One of the bands I interviewed back in 1983 was Sex Gang Children. After doing some digging I made a connection between singer Andi and the legendary Mick Ronson. Mick contributed to a solo album of Andi's called Arco Valley.
This got me thinking about how I never once made a reference to Mick in the pages of my fanzine, yet he above all other artists not only put Hull on the musical map, but was someone who helped to reshape the music world.
On the Bilton Grange estate in Hull, where Mick worked in his pre-Spiders days, there is a huge mural painted on the side of a block of shops dedicated to him. It's not the only lasting tribute. To make up for what I missed out first time around, I've dedicated quite a few pages of my book to sharing more about Mick and the lasting impression he made on my/his home city.
Photo copied from Back to Ours Facebook page. The one I took didn't come out too well!
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To tie in with mentioning a Hull based ska band called Akrylykz, with a certain Roland Gift at the helm, who supported The Clash on this occasion, I was more than happy to do a retrospective review of the 1980 gig. What I didn't realise until I came to write the book was Toots and the Maytals were meant to be primary support on that tour. I thoroughly enjoyed researching further!
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Swans Way added a touch of glitz and glamour to the charts in 1984. They are probably best remembered for their single 'Soul Train', a favourite of crime writer Ian Rankin.
I went along to see them at Spring Street Theatre in Hull and talked my way backstage to carry out an interview afterwards. It didn't go down well when I said it, but with the addition of an eight piece brass and strings section, to me there was a big band 40s feel about their performance.
Percussionist Maggie de Monde's late brother was talented photographer Paul Edmond. He took a series of incredible photos of Duran
Duran at an early stage in their career. They started out in life as house band at the Rum Runner club in Birmingham. This was where Swans Way later used to rehearse.
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Do you remember seeing these billboard posters plastered all over the place in the early 80s, advertising Mansfield beer?
My brother's overriding memory of it is how Baz expressed his dislike of The Alarm. He did, however have kind words to say about fellow Norwich indie/funk outfit The Higsons. Along with tongue-in-cheek punks Serious Drinking the three were viewed by many as the face of the Norwich music scene in the early 80s. Although very different musically, they all played together and helped each other out. Charlie Higson even designed an alternative cover for the Farmer’s Boys’ ‘Muck It Out’ single.
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The only interview carried out via the post was the one I arranged with Pete Waddleton, bass player with Oxford goth rockers Play Dead. Of all the interviews I published, I didn’t feel I got this one right. Some of the questions bordered on pointless. When I conducted interviews face to face, it was often shambolic, but one question pretty much always led into another and I somehow or the other managed to pull it together. A postal questionnaire was never going to work.
To make up for this I managed to dig up some rare fascinating information about Play Dead for inclusion in my book.
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When I wrote Kindred Spirit the emphasis was very much on giving coverage to local bands as well as the more well known names. Here's another fanzine-style montage highlighting some of the artists that graced the stages of Hull's grass roots venues in the mid 80s.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank every single person who placed their trust in me and bought a copy of the 40th anniversary edition. I hope it will in time become something of a collector's item, along with its predecessors. I'm looking forward to putting the icing on the cake when I publish my book. Stay tuned for more information.
Kindred Spirit fanzine's social media links:
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Email: kindredspiritfanzine@gmail.com
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