Join Tony Fletcher as he interviews fanzine editors past and present, along with authors, curators and anyone else contributing to the prevalence and preservation of the home-spun DIY press.
Tony Fletcher started Jamming! fanzine as a 13-year old schoolboy in 1977, and went on to publish 36 issues and take Jamming! monthly before folding it in 1986. He has since gone on to write many books about music, including biographies of Keith Moon, The Smiths, R.E.M., Wilson Pickett and others, plus a memoir, a novel and a Jamming! compendium: The Best of Jamming!: Selections and Stories from the Fanzine That Grew Up 1977-86 was published by Omnibus Press in 2021 and comes complete with reproduced interviews, articles, photographs and cartoons, fresh recollections from those who were part of the Jamming! story, and a foreword by Billy Bragg. More information and online purchasing options available at:
Signed copies direct from the author, ideal for readers based in the USA, are available from https://tonyfletcherauthor.bandcamp.com/merch
Sign up for free at tonyfletcher.substack.com for weekly updates on this podcast, other fanzine news, music, reading and writing recommendations, and for a free long-read weekend article by Tony.
'The Jamming! Fanzine Podcast Theme' is by Noel Fletcher. Copyright reserved.
The Jamming! Fanzine Podcast logo was designed by Greg Morton.
The Best of Jamming! book cover was designed by Martin Stiff
Tony Fletcher Socials:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Join Tony Fletcher as he interviews fanzine editors past and present, along with authors, curators and anyone else contributing to the prevalence and preservation of the home-spun DIY press.
Tony Fletcher started Jamming! fanzine as a 13-year old schoolboy in 1977, and went on to publish 36 issues and take Jamming! monthly before folding it in 1986. He has since gone on to write many books about music, including biographies of Keith Moon, The Smiths, R.E.M., Wilson Pickett and others, plus a memoir, a novel and a Jamming! compendium: The Best of Jamming!: Selections and Stories from the Fanzine That Grew Up 1977-86 was published by Omnibus Press in 2021 and comes complete with reproduced interviews, articles, photographs and cartoons, fresh recollections from those who were part of the Jamming! story, and a foreword by Billy Bragg. More information and online purchasing options available at:
Signed copies direct from the author, ideal for readers based in the USA, are available from https://tonyfletcherauthor.bandcamp.com/merch
Sign up for free at tonyfletcher.substack.com for weekly updates on this podcast, other fanzine news, music, reading and writing recommendations, and for a free long-read weekend article by Tony.
'The Jamming! Fanzine Podcast Theme' is by Noel Fletcher. Copyright reserved.
The Jamming! Fanzine Podcast logo was designed by Greg Morton.
The Best of Jamming! book cover was designed by Martin Stiff
Tony Fletcher Socials:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Fanzine Podcast is back after an unintentionally long absence to talk with Howard Wuelfing, editor/publisher of two key Washington D.C. zines, which have just been gathered into an eponymous anthology: Descenes and Discords. These influential zines, the first focused on local activities, its successor intended to gather additional material about the national alternative/underground scene, ran between 1979 and 1981 and served not only to influence and impact upon music in D.C., but provided publication space for a number of writers who would go on to national prominence, among them Gerard Cosloy and Byron Coley.
In this episode, Howard discusses abandoning plans to become a lawyer to focus on becoming a rock writer instead, how exposure to CBGB’s but especially the publication New York Rocker set him and his partners on their way with Descenes, how they were able to access typesetting, advertising and printing, and their successful game plan for distribution, but how the careerism of local “new wave” bands caused the team to pack it in after six issues. Embarking eight months later with Discords, the new look monthly zine had a winning run of cover artists (from Pylon to Circle Jerks to The Bongos and Mission Of Burma) and provided space and encouragement for the younger generation of hardcore bands who would soon step into the space Discords helped create. Accordingly, Ian MacKaye of Teen Idols, Minor Threat, Fugazi and Dischord (no relation) Records, was interviewed by Howard for a special reflection article that opens the new anthology.
Descenes and Discords: An Anthology is available from DiWulf.com in the Americas, and EarthIslandBooks.com in Europe. Howard Wuelfing can be found at https://www.howlinwuelf.com/
The theme music for the Fanzine Podcast is by Noel Fletcher.
The outro in this episode is the 12” mix of “Put It Down” by The Dear Boys, available at thedearboys.bandcamp.com
Tony Fletcher can be found at tonyfletcher.substack.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.