and features a guide to gigs happening throughout the city.
It also includes exclusive video interviews with Coventry bands and more."
Hobo Magazine was based in Coventry in the 70's but in 1980 Trevor left Coventry to do a degree up north in
Middlesbrough. After the degree and some ground work - Trevor launched a new magazine called Outlet. The focus then was on Creative Writing rather than music, working at a grass roots level, Trevor was involved in pioneering the Creative Writing movement in an area regarded as a cultural desert by some. The first initiatives were performance venue based, building on work he'd started with the Hobo Workshop in Coventry. There was the Multi Media society at Teesside Poly and the New Poetry
Scene at the Dovecot Arts Centre in Stockton and much more. In 1986 Outlet was lauched, a grassroots poetry magazine covering the whole of the
Teesvalley area. It went out free through the Cleveland library network and was funded by Northern Arts and Clevealnd County Coucil - libraries and Leisure. Trev tutored Creative Writing classes around the whole area for the Workers Educational Association and Leeds university Adult education in the Cleveland area and there was an interation between the classes and the magazines in encouraging new writers who had been made redundant, housewives and more experienced poets. From the at base Trevor established a range of writers groups in the area and an annual Writing festival Write Around. This ground work led to further developments by the powers that be. In 1990 the Outlet editorial team consisting of Trev Teasdel, Terry Lawson, Viv Harland, Pauline Plummer and Mel McEvoy - and later Margaret Weir, Andy Croft, Richard Briddon and Mark Beevers, made an Open Space programme about the work of OUTLET magazine. It was a long film but cut down to 10 minutes as the half hour programme was shared with two other grups from the North East. This is the film -
Trevor is redeveloping the OUTLET History Site about the Cleveland / Teesvalley Creative Writing Movement.
MARTIN BOWES, as many of you will know, ran the Coventry Alternative Sounds Fanzine in 1979 /
1980, an amazingly popular and documentary Coventry Music magazine during the Two Tone period in Coventry. The magazine wasn't just about Two Tone though, the City was buzzing with lively post punk bands and venues and Martin captured the scene and the atmosphere in his magazine before realising his first dream of having his own band which became Attrition - still going strong some 28 years later having recently toured Russia. Martin recently took time out from his busy schedule to answer some questions for us.
Trev Teasdel's Interview with Martin Bowes (2008)
Trevor - In Coventry people used to talk a lot about apathy! So what got you off your butt to do the Alternative Sounds Project? The inspirations / motivations.
Martin - I remember that....everyone used to say that in the late 70's early 80's...i don't know why...i don't know if times were really any different to now in that way....i suspect that in the wake of punk rock it was actually LESS apathetic a time...there were so many bands around at the time...a lot of people making an effort... but then there were less distractions from computer games and dvd's and the internet...
Punk rock just slapped me in the face. I wasn't happy with the adult world i was entering in the last years at school in the late 70's...and it said to me. ANYONE CAN DO IT. DO IT YOURSELF. I actually had already had dreams of being in a band...there was so much i wanted to say....I went to the Lanch (Polytech) to do an art foundation course in 77/78... I dropped out of that...it wasn't enough... so as the band thing was a, then, distant dream...i took up the fanzine.... the typewriter rather than the guitar... :) ..... I was proud that I was contributing to something as culturally and politically important as the punk and post punk music scene... and just to Coventry... as that was my life at the time as well...
Trevor - How did you get it started / produce it / finance it? Was it a struggle?
Martin - I did the first issue with Dill, the singer of Gods Toys...I have to credit him with that extra push to go out and do it... I was a shy boy in those days and he encouraged me...! he didnt bloody well contribute much but i never cared about that! :)
The first issue we pooled our dole money and photocopied 100 copies at Parbury's in Earlsdon!... February 1979 it came out...only a few pages... nothing special but a first statement...
it sold well staright away and we reprinted!... we got our money back...
then i heard about the Princes trust.... the Prince of wales gave away money to young people to help them start up new projects....(wasn't that kind of him?! :) ... i'm no royalist but this seemed like a plan.... so i applied and sent a copy of issue one... and i got £100 to finance the next issues...!
so it wasnt a struggle...i kept the fanzine going for 18 issues... the first 12 were out on the first of the month for a year....always got the money back from sales... a lot of alternative outlets sold it for no commisssion...something that wouldn't happen now... i took a very few adverts but i wasnt into a commercial concern.... the circulation rose to 1000 copies at it's peak and i really believe it helped the Coventry music scene a great deal...Although it started very much as a local Coventry fanzine...there were so many great bands here... in the end i was looking more and more to bands outside of Coventry...and even started my own band.... so i did the last issue in the summer of 1981... for years i thought of doing another....
maybe i will again... i met a lot of people through the fanzine... local bands...national acts...other fanzines people...which helped my band Attrition get started... and even local journalists who started off writing for Alternative Sounds... such as a certain Mr Pete Chambers...
I even went on to the BBC's something else programme ,... the Coventry edition... to talk about fanzines and show people how to make one...
that was a highlight..it was a great time for me...and for Coventry...
oh and... when i finished the magazine i had almost exactly £100 left in the kitty.... :)
Trevor - Martin - Alternative Sounds was a lively and popular Coventry music fanzine in the wake of Two Tone and is now a great historical document of the times - but wasn't one issue banned and branded 'sexist'. What was that all about?
changed the title for a joke... one issue i put out a mock "Alternative fiesta"... which was a poke at porn magazines... i used a page 3 model but in the style of the great Linder (she did the famous cover for the Buzzcocks
Orgasm addict) or even Crass...i cut her head off....what i thought was an obvious comment on the exploitation of womens bodies...
Unfortunately the fanzine was printed by the students union at the Lanch at the time... and there was a very strong left wing presence there... they didnt talk to me about it they immediately banned it...(actually they still printed it and took the money but that's another issue...)... i couldnt sell the fanzine there any more...
i was really disapointed in them... i always thought that there was a counter culture...that we were all on the same side...i was obviously naive... and my, perhaps crudely executed, statement had not fit into their world view...
well i found another and better printer and went from strength to strength..
shame about that though... it really is...
Trevor - 1979 / 80 was an exciting period in the history of Cov music. Punk had happened and Two Tone bands were breaking through. Give us a snapshot of the music scene in Coventry in that period. What was good, what was bad.
Trevor - What were the venues like - How easy was it for bands to get gigs in the city / out of it back then?
Trevor - A lot of bands seemed to either get contracts / make singles or at least have had the promise of that even if unfulfilled. What was happening at this time?
ethic...most were self financed... some bands got contracts but usually with small labels that were little more than being self financed...Gods Toys were an example...i so wished they had got a better deal...
Trevor - You initiated the compilation album Sent From Coventry. It's a great snapshot of the bands from that time. How did this come about and what effect did it have on the Cov music scene?
I approached the bands...some had demos already...some Cherry red paid for at John River's Woodbine Studios in Leamington.... i think it was a really good snapshot... they even included a special editon of Alternative Sounds inside the album with articles on all the bands... (A copy of which is <<<on this page - see the Sent from Coventry album cover the magazine is in the collection there)
this all added to the buzz going on here in Coventry in 1980.... it was all positive...
Trevor - What about media involvement - was there a rush to look for bands?
interested... signed Protege at least...
there were also more magazines and journalists coming to shows here.... it lasted for a while...then i guess somewhere else became the new big thing...
Trevor - What about recording studios in and around the city. Were you involved with Horizon studios?
Trevor - Two Tone is well documented of course but do you have any 'behind the scenes' stories or insights to share with us?
Trevor - I remember attending a meeting with you around the creation of a Community Arts Centre of some
description. (At the Hope and Anchor I think it was). I left Cov shortly afterwards but did anything come from that meeting?
Martin - I only vaguely remember that meeting.... so i would think it is safe to say that not a lot happened!....
i'm not very good at meeting like that anyway....like wading through mud at times... :)
Trevor - Eventually you emerged as a musician in your own right with the creation of Attrition. Can you tell us about that transition?
so it took some time and really the popularity od synthesisers to give me an out let...a start....we did our first show in December 1980...actually December 8th...the day John Lennon was shot. and as i began Attrition my enthusiasm for the fanzine started to wane....
Trevor - What were the influences and appraoches of the band?
Trevor - It's great to see that the band is still going strong and recently you toured Russia. Why Russia and how did you fix that?
now to Russia...
the Russian adventure all started a few years ago when we played at the Castle party in Poland...a Russian label was there and loved the show...they put out our last album "Dante's Kitchen", in Russia... and then hooked us up with a booking agency there...
Trevor - What kind of venues were you playing and what was the response to you like?
Trevor - Any stories of the tour you'd like to share?
we travelled on trains as well... overnight trains...which we didnt realise until just before we went... it's the only way to get through the snow and the long distances... we were doing up to 41 hour trips on the trans Siberian express....mixing with Ukrainian builders and mongolian peasants...it was like an episode of a Michael Palin travel documentary! and it was hard work but i wouldnt have missed it for the world... oh and the vodka helped... :)
Trevor - Where can they buy your albums?
We're planning to do more there...it really is a growing scene...
Trevor - Martin - Alternative Sounds was a great contribution to the Coventry music scene in it's greatest hour - that of the Two Tone breakthrough. Have you anything else you want to say about those days or the music scene.
Martin - Thanks...i need to scan all those issues i still have and put them online somewhere as a resource....
I had a wonderful time in those days.... it was a great period for Coventry and the UK music scene as a whole...
but as i also teach music technology at City College here in Coventry now i can see there is a lot going on here now too...almost 30 years later...
what they need though is a really good fanzine!
thank you!!!
Martin
www.attrition.co.uk
Stop Press - ATTRITION RADIO BROADCAST
There is an ATTRITION radio special broadcast online tonight on Germany's Neurobeat radio!!!
Listen to between 40 - 50 songs from our entire career...
between 7.30pm - 10.30pm Central european time. (6.30pm - 9.30pm UK time and 1.30pm - 4.30pm east coast US...)
Streaming link:
http://85. 25. 150. 179:8000
and the Neurobeat website:
http://www. neurobeat-radio. de
Finally here are some collections of Alternatives Sounds (at least the issues I still have copies of)
Coming to this post gradually (as I upload them) are the complete (or almost complete) collection of The Coventry Folk
Magazine - Folks - created in August 1978 and run until Jan 1980 (to the best of my knowledge!).CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO ACCESS THE MAGAZINE PAGES
I will add each issue as a collection here so you can have a read. They
contain a great insight into the workings of the Coventry folk scene not only during the period covered but through some great history of Coventry Folk scene articles written and researched by the magazine's editor - Pete Willow. the articles take us right back to the birth of the Coventry folk scene in the 60's. Other highlights are the hilarious activities of Joe Folkie that lampoon the folk scene, but lovingly!! There are original contemporary folk songs that were doing the rounds and submitted by their authors, reviews of folk clubs. A great resource for anyone studying the history of the Coventry music scene. You may find reference to a singer called Pauline Vickers.
Pauline Vickers became better known after 1979 as Pauline Black - the lead singer with Two Tone band Selecter. Those not familar with the
Coventry folk clubs of that era may be surprised to learn that Pauline started out playing in Coventry folk clubs in the late 70's. Dave Bennett in particular was encouraging to Pauline in the early days. I remember seeing her play at the Old Dyers Arms around 1978 - she did a floor spot playing songs by the Stones and Joan Armatrading. She was good and the material stood out from the usual range of songs. I next saw her a year later at the Lanch talking to Neol Davies before one of Selecter's early (pre-fame) gigs. I thought Pauline was about to do a warm up for Neol's New band but got a pleasant surprise to see her in the role of lead singer with the band. The rest is history!
Here is the full copy of Martin Bowes Alternative Sounds Fanzine from (I think) May1979. Martin's magazine contains
documents well the lively Coventry Music Scene that developed in the wake of Two Tone.
(Note the letters page should be in this collection where the X Certs page has come up twice. Not sure how to get it back in sequence but you can read it here anyway!
Eli c1973
Eli developed out of the Mick Green Blues Band. I'm not clear on the exact development although I
was a round the band from 1970 to the mid 70's.
The main protagonists were Mick Green (guitar vocals / Tony (Mojo) Morgan on bass and I think Simon Lovegrove on drums and Ant Callaghan on vocals and percussion and Johnny Adams on guitar and vocals. Simon / Ant and Johnny soon moved on to form Fission.
There were several permutations of this band over a short period of time. At one stage, In 1971 they reformed for a brief period as Railroad / later as Raine Chantre (excuse my French as they say). Probably others too. They did a version of the Midnight Special.
Mostly playing blues material, standard and original songs, sometimes with harmonica. They Coventry pub venues such as the Navigation, Hand in Heart.
SENT FOR COVENTRY - THE ALBUM
Martin Bowes, editor of the Coventry Alternative Sounds Magazine c 1979 / 1980 - in the midst of the Two Tone Period - was instrumental in getting together an incredible album full of the vibrant Cov bands of the time -many who made singles and supported many of the top bands of the day. Two of the bands featured on the album had had members of the Specials in their ranks - Machine's drummer was Silverton - drummer with the Specials until replaced by John 'Brad' Bradbury and Terry Hall had been lead singer with Squad. Kevin Harrison of Urge had played in the original formation of Selecter - The Transposed Man and had worked on the original draft of
On My Radio - listen to it here.
(Featured on Kevin Harrison's musical history site - HERE
You can listen to excerpts and download the album here
The following bands were on the
album -
The Wild Boys - we're only monsters
The Clique - Mothers Never Know
The End - Panic in the Night
The Mix - With You
Machine - Character Change
Urge - Nuclear Terrorist
Protege - Protection
Solid Action - Message from a Loner
Wild Boys - Lorraine
Squad - Flasher
Homicide - Armageddon
Riot Act - Sirens
Vietnamese Babies - Donna Blitzen
Cherry Red Records / Kathedral Records.
Here are the pages of the special issue of Alternative Sounds that came with the album - in a collection - click to view the pages -
Visit TWO TONE CENTRAL MUSEUM http://www.2tonecentral.co.uk/
Yet another collection of pages from Coventry music fanzine Alternative Sounds from 1979 / 80 produced during the Two Tone period and reflecting and stimulating the Coventry music scene at that time. Edited by Martin Bowes of Attrition. Unlike the previous collections of Alternative Sounds, these issues are a bit scrambled owing to the fact that the staples came loose and the pages mixed up. They consist of pages (I think) from issues 12 and 7. Still there's is plenty to interst the reader who remembers the Cov Scene or who is curious about the Cov scene during the Two Tone period.
Here is the Collection
Another full issue of Coventry's Alternative Sounds magazine from the Two Tone period edited by Martin Bowes of the band Attrition. Albeit the cover may now be regarded as sexist, the contents are a good reflection of what was happening on the Coventry music scene while The Specials and Selecter were racing up the charts.
The full issue presented here as a Collection
This is a scanned version of issue 6 of Coventry's Alternative Sounds Fanzine produced in the Two Tone Period c1979 / 80 Edited by Martin Bowes later of the band Attrition.
The full issue is in the Collection here.
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