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We Peaked At Paper – An Oral History of British Zines

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We Peaked At Paper has been many years in the writing. It wasn’t helped by COVID as all the interviews were done face to face but it’ll be out in a week. It’s a chronological sweep through the world of fanzines and comprises of 20 interviews with different editors. The book covers music (Pete Paphides, Karren Ablaze, Rhodri Marsden, Mark Perry, Mark Hodkinson and the Smiths Indeed and Pynk Moon zines), football, personal politics, sci-fi – and Sian Pattenden’s surreal How to Win Friends and Influence People. Many of the zines are no longer with us but there are also interviews with editors keeping the zine flame burning, including Pint-Sized Punk, the zine started by a 10 year old during the first lockdown. And all endorsed by Mark Ellen, Pete Doherty and Jude Rogers. Hoorah!

https://www.boatwhistle.com/we-peaked-at-paper

Giddy Carousel of Pop podcast

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Hi poopkids, as fans of the collective works of messrs Ellen and Hepworth, I thought you might enjoy the Giddy Carousel of Pop podcast (@GiddyPopPod on twitter). available on all your usual podcast platforms. Each episode sees myself and Simon G take the staples out of an old issue of Smash Hits from the Eighties and go through it with the finest of tooth combs. Each time we have a special guest to help us and episode one stars Dr Volume of this parish. Episode 2 coming soon!

David Hepworth in Glossop 19/04/18

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Glossop Record Club welcomed David Hepworth as their guest on April 19th. I was honoured to host the event and asked a range of questions relating to his books, Whistle Test, Live Aid and Smash Hits. Add to that the audience Q&A (Benny Hill, Top Of The Pops and Van Morrison all got a look in) plus a few records, David was even presented a record by the Hepworth Band from our very own Beany. He was, of course, delighted.

https://glossoprecordclub.wordpress.com/2018/04/24/an-evening-with-david-hepworth-podcast-and-photos/

David Hepworth – appearing in the North!

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19/04/2018

On 19th April I’ll be hosting a Q & A in Glossop with David about his recent books. It’ll be like the Word In The Ear nights but instead of using photos to prompt discussion, we’ll be playing records. I’m sure our conversation will touch on other aspects of his career like ver Hits, Word, Whistle Test etc – but we’ll have some audience interaction too so come and fill your burning question boots! Tickets are £3 but will be valid as a voucher towards one of David’s books on the night. Doors 8pm, talk starts at 8.30pm.

Albatross Project – Dreaming Dangerous Rainbows

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What does it sound like?:

These recently composed songs have always existed. They are loose threads, woven together by unseen and mysterious forces. Each lyrical fragment is a mosaic tile dropped at different moments in time and scattered across the earth. If these songs remain unlistened to for another thousand years, they will wait patiently as they have always done. I’m well-aware that this sounds pretentious, You’re just going to have to trust me on this.

What does it all *mean*?

That music’s power to connect isn’t dissipated by time or distance.

Goes well with…

Booze and nuts.

Might suit people who like…

Free albums. Here are 3 codes for anyone who would like to download the whole thing. The album is not something I’m creatively involved with, I just want to share the word because it’s incredible. b9ym-kkuj w2u6-k9mk pvmt-gz98

David Hepworth interview

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Hi everyone, have already tweeted this, put it on Facebook and even put it on my ‘Hot retro Word magazine action’ thread…but some people have suggested a separate thread for it, so here goes. David was very honest about his time with Word magazine and it seems to have been the best of times and the worst of times for him. In the interview we discuss the genesis and end of the magazine, the podcasts, the Massive, his ‘1971’ book and a few other things beside.

https://wholehoggblog.wordpress.com/2016/11/05/word-interview-5/

Marilyn – back out of the dumper and riding the giddy pop carousel!

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Whenever I hear of Marilyn, my mind takes me back to the excruciating appearance with Mark Ellen (“Mr. Smash Hits”) on Jim’ll Fix it. There’s an episode of the Word podcast where Mark talks about the experience at length – hilarious!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1swSz7axuo

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/27/marilyn-peter-robinson-sat-in-room-20-years-taking-crack-watching-alien-films

The hearing aid diaries

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So, after years of smiling politely and nodding my head like an idiot in pubs when I didn’t have a bloody clue what someone had told me (apologies if you are one of those people) and exasperated looks when people say ‘Seriously…you can’t hear that car alarm?!’ I went for a free hearing test at Boots in February this year.

I’d thought I’d done quite well in my ‘Mr and Mrs’ style booth, pressing the button every time I heard a tone. I came out to a look of slight concern on the face of the woman who’d run the test. ‘I think we need to book you in for a more thorough assessment’. These initial results showed moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears which was a bit of a shock as I’d presumed that it wouldn’t be quite so bad. A further test 3 weeks later confirmed the initial results and the audiologist gave me an expensive hearing aid to try out. The improvement was impressive, the aural equivalent of switching from black & white to colour. The downside? I’d need to spend around £2000 to get my hands on a pair. He told me that the » Continue Reading.

Glossop Record Club: An Evening With Paul Du Noyer

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12/05/2016

Paul will be visiting Glossop Record Club to talk about Macca, Deaf School, Bowie (and because I’m asking the questions, Morrissey) and his life in music journalism. We’ll also be playing a few records relating to his books along the way. If you can come, please be ready with your own questions as my interview technique borders on ‘shambolic’ at the best of times. It’s free, the drinks are cheap and you’ll get a warm welcome. What more could a young heart desire? Everything you need to know here – https://glossoprecordclub.wordpress.com/

Boy Interrupted

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Author:Dale Hibbert

Dale Hibbert has lived an extraordinarily varied life going from being a millionaire in a mansion to living in a car. His personality is equally contradictory; he appears to be a lonely and distant man but is addicted to the thrill of love, has been married four times and has eight children. He dislikes people (“they annoy the fuck out of me”) but owns a successful café in Todmorden where he’s surrounded by them.

The book takes a chronological path through his life. His Mum died when he was eight days old and his Dad, an emotionally distant man, eventually passed the care of the young lad onto his parents. Dale’s grandfather was even less sociable and warm; in fact he was so resentful of having to share his house with a child again that Dale was forbidden to even enter the same room as him. He became vegetarian as a child and fell in love with The Velvet Underground but neither of these facts impressed the equally shy and self-absorbed young Steven Morrissey in the nascent days of The Smiths when Johnny Marr invited him to join his new band.

Dale was in the band for » Continue Reading.

Any thoughts on Periscope?

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I was introduced to Periscope through a recent Rocking Vicar podcast. For the uninitiated, it’s an app from Twitter that allows you to watch and comment on live streams from anyone around the world. Your text come up on the screen of the person doing the filming and they often comment on what you’ve written. It’s strangely fascinating and all very random. You’re never quite sure where you’re going to pop up. Yesterday I asked a Scottish man on a tuk tuk ride through Bangkok what he could smell as he travelled along (rotting veg and diesel), looked at an ornamental lamp in a Californian’s lounge as we bitched about the English weather (he’d lived in Canada and knew my pain) and asked a young chap in Florida if he liked Morrissey (he didn’t have a clue what I was talking about). Anyone else used it yet?