A period of lengthy inactivity on this site by me should not generally be held as any indication of any lack of enthusiasm for continuing to write here, but rather a reflection of the need to satiate other interests. And, if I’m being really honest, to unfortunately grieve the too-early passing of my wife, best friend and 31-year love of my life, Rebecca, this past April. Cancer. It’s bullshit. She was the best. 

Yeah, I’ve written several posts here since she left us – I guess the most recent four? – and that, in its own way, is cathartic for me. As weird as that might seem. There’s no right way to grieve, they tell me, and I’ve found myself processing it all in every way imaginable, a process that likely has no real end until my own. At the same time, I feel it’s pretty disingenuous to pretend like everything in my life’s totally cool and returned to normal in weeks, so I’m just blurting out the main reason why my “posting schedule” is perhaps a bit more uneven than it’s been in the past. Since this site is just as much my chance to selfishly insert myself into the narrative of these fanzines as it is a celebration of the fanzines themselves, well – I suppose it’d be strange to not mention it. There shall be feasts and there shall be famines, but I strongly believe that Fanzine Hemorrhage will continue to be a thing for the foreseeable future. Isn’t that wonderful for us all??

So anyway. Here’s a pretty early UK fanzine that found its way to my hands – Summer Salt #3 from 1978, published right after “The Damned and the Pistols have broken up”. Well, one had anyway. Summer Salt serves as a smartly-intentioned and -executed UK punk fandom bridge to what was happening in 1975-77, as well, when (I presume) editor Pete Maggs was coming of the proverbial age. Hence there are interviews with Dr. Feelgood, the Doctors of Madness and a celebration of Ducks Deluxe – all heroes to certain British Isles punks who otherwise suffered through parts of the 70s. (Jim Kerr of my own teenage early-80s heroes Simple Minds – and punk band Johnny & The Self-Abusers – used to rave about Doctors of Madness in interview after interview). 

Maggs actually announces in his opening editorial that he’s backing out and turning over the reins of the fanzine to Dave Case; I know that Case did make a fourth issue, and it’s currently selling for $150 here (!). Maggs and his staff kick off Summer Salt #3 with the Ducks Deluxe celebration, acknowledging the help of Zigzag magazine’s incredible archives in their own retelling. It’s followed by a short thing on Manchester’s The Drones, who are made to sound feral, raw and crazed. On this evidence, they were nothing of the sort. 

There are great live reviews of some pretty legendary shows here, the Sex Pistols and Damned notwithstanding. How about January 13th, 1978 in Huddersfield with The Prefects / The Doll / The Fall / Sham 69? About The Fall, Mick Hinchcliffe says, “…no emotion and a deadpan lead vocalist, but effective all the same. Much heckling comes their way however, to which the vocalist replies with laconic weirdness ‘We’re so sincerely sorry for playing for you’, and then they finish with ‘Industrial Estate’, which is very good. A future for this lot in my estimations”. 

Or how about The Saints playing with Generation X on December 4th, 1977? The Saints!! I’m sure you know they’re touring now with Mark Arm on vocals, no lie. After praising them, reviewer Maria Fabrizi says, “And now, for your enjoyment, the most over-rated band of ‘77, Generation X. The set was mediocre, the sound was mediocre, the band seemed drugged….there was a sickening lack of real atmosphere, and I am not going to one of their gigs again unless they rid themselves of their ‘Superstars’ image and feel”. There’s another celebration of the band Penetration – who, honestly, I can’t remember if I’ve ever even heard them before, though I do know “Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls” – this song was a big hit on KFJC in the early 80s – and then a bitchy/touchy set of fanzine overviews of contemporary (competitive) UK punk zines. 

And these Summer Salt #3 punks are clearly informed and excited by their scene’s precedents. There’s a review of the Velvet Underground bootleg Evil Mothers; a dissection of the debut Pere Ubu LP; and even some John Lennon blather. They also pile on just how lame The Dead Boys are; as I’ve mentioned before, this is music to my eyes. Very, very solid piece of work, this fanzine. If I can pull together a few hundred disposable dollars maybe we’ll have a talk about the other three in this space someday.