Kindred Spirit - The Story of a 1980's Hull Fanzine

When writing my fanzines there was a heavy emphasis on providing coverage to the local music scene and up and coming bands, but I also chose to include a smattering of well established bands and artists. This post includes gig reviews featured in issues 3 and 4 of five of those well established bands and performers along with some background information and other memorabilia. Reading back over the reviews now 35+ years further on down the line they provide a really interesting snapshot of the era in which they were written. The reviews are as follows: 1 - The Police - Leeds Queens Hall  2 - The Clash - Brixton Academy 3 - The Smiths - Hull University 4 - Robert Plant - Sheffield City Hall 5 - Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Belfast Maysfield Leisure Centre  So, let's start the ball rolling with a review of The Police at Leeds Queens Hall from December 1983. I didn’t write this review but I was at the same gig. It was part of the Synchronicity tour and I w...

The first four poems featured in issue three of Kindred Spirit and I’ve added one of my own poems at the foot of the post also. I hope you will enjoy reading them. Evaporate  By Janis Immiscible chemicals you and I, volatile like, unstable vapour, impending explosion into possession. Dangerous to think don’t add alcohol – you won’t like the result. Sick, sick for you. Guide it, nurture it and it will grow for you. Disregard it, spurn, it could just evaporate. I will just evaporate. Ice  By Catherine Grimshaw Icicle fingers are cold and stiff, they point very hard and the tops stare at you as if you are an icicle too. Stalagmite, stalactite are all of the same, they are too cold and join in this game, except when they melt. Icy cold stares are frozen like hell. Ice is a word, ice is a smell? Ice is not nice, just like lice or like mice, but it’s cheap at the price, is the icicle ice. Ic...

As Killing Joke’s 40 th anniversary tour comes to a close, now seems the ideal time to share the interview we did with singer Jaz Coleman, which was featured in issue 3 of Kindred Spirit. I couldn’t believe my luck when through the daughter of a friend of my mum’s (believe it or not) we managed to secure a back stage pass to interview Killing Joke. The interview followed a mesmerizing performance at Tiffany’s, Leeds in December 1983, several months after the release of the brilliant Fire Dances album. Glitzy Tiffany’s seemed a somehow unfitting venue, but once KJ took to the stage the surroundings suddenly became irrelevant. They had us all in the palm of their hands from start to finish as they stomped their way through an awesome set. With his painted face and menacing expressions, Jaz dominated the scene; whilst guitarists Geordie and Raven swayed effortlessly from side to side in time to drummer Paul’s pounding tribal beats.    Wow! It’s all coming back to me… Th...