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.
"No other youth culture or subculture centred on fashion or music, or both, has ever had as many fanzines dedicated to it as the mod revival."
So wrote Eddie Piller at the start of his 2918 book Mod Zines (with Steve Rowland) and he should know: as editor and publisher of Extraordinary Sensations, Piller saw his 'zine sell a phenomenal 15,000 copies at its peak in the mid-80s, as many as legendary punk zine Sniffin' Glue had managed a decade earlier.
Over the course of an hour-long conversation with The Fanzine Podcast's host, Tony Fletcher, former editor/publisher of Jamming!, Ed talks about some of those zines, about the success of his own zine once he brought in Terry Rawlings as partner, about the lasting allure of mod culture for him and thousands of others all over the planet, and especially, about his new memoir Clean Living Under Difficult Circumstances: A Life In Mod from the Revival to Acid Jazz. Published in 2023 by Monoray Books, Clean Living follows Ed's adventures through his East End upbringing to his West End clubbing, through trips to Australia and journeys round Europe, covers the violence of the era in gory details, ands with him founding the legendary Acid Jazz label, which is still going strong today.
Additionally, as well as being a DJ, a podcast host himself over the years and an inveterate party promoter, Piller is the founder of Totally Wired Radio which since 2019 has broadcast DJs "who specialise in Jazz, Soul, Hip Hop, Ska & 2Tone, Country, Soundtracks and Library Music, Reggae, Film, Folk, Funk, EDM, World Music, Afrobeat, Latin, Gospel, Rare R&B, Poetry, Punk, Psyche and Garage, Disco along with Podcast Interviews." Oh, and he also co-wrote the book Punkzines, also published by Omnibus Press.
Modzines referenced in this issue include Maximum Speed, Get Up And Go, Shake, Direction Reaction Creation, South Circular, XL5, Go Go, Shadows and Reflections and more.
The Best Of Jamming!: Selections & Stories from the Fanzine That Grew Up, 1977-86 can be found here and signed copies are available in the USA direct from https://tonyfletcherauthor.bandcamp.com/merch/
SIgn up for Tony Fletcher’s weekly newsletter, long weekend read, and for exclusive access to archived interviews, including those from his Keith Moon biography, at tonyfletcher.substack.com.
Theme music by Noel Fletcher. Logo by Greg Morton.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
