SLF dont half jog the memory back. Issue 5 was our coming of age. It was, in our own heads, the first time we'd produced a proper issue and it was our building block in so memory ways.
It was 1982, I was 19 and just got my grant through for 3rd year so we were loaded, Roddy Frame agreed to do an interview, Dolphin had run across the stage before walking over the first 3 rows of the audience to boot a boy who was throwing his fag butts at Ali the bassist oh and Thatcher could only dream of a war over the ownership of Los Malvinas.
More than anything Keith and I were starting to understand what we were doing. He'd review Siouxsie Sioux, Dollar and Buck Fizz while I did SLF & Aztec Camera. It served us well as later when the Bananarama and Culture Club LPs came through the door he helped himself and when the Echo & Bunnymen and Talking Heads came through, he helped himself!
What I really loved about the early days is how we learned to write badly. It didn't come naturally but we did outperform. I was a stickler for consistency so when I spelt Ahmed wrongly once, I'd do it wrong all the way through the piece. Similar problems would afflict us with Vinyl and Rhythm. Keith didnt like a 6 letter rhythm his beat to a 5 letter drum and Rythm was born. Vinyl on the other hand was one of mine I think where I type too quickly for my brain or my right hand so it becomes vynil, although having read it in the Siouxsie Sioux review I'll have to hand it back to KB. Thnaks is more likely to be one of mine. Thanks relies on the right hand doing nothing while the left hand does the first three letters the way I type and I was never that good a typist.
However the really great part of this learning, was we re-read the Deadbeat constantly as we looked to improve it. What we were trying to achieve was something that satisfied us and we had no idea what people buying it would think and that's probably just as well. By issue 13 with the New Order, Big Country interviews we had a mix of the popular bands that would grab the reader's attention so they could read about the smaller bands. While my starting point had been to promote Life Support, I realised quickly there were 100's of bands with similar if not greater claims so Life Support rarely got mentioned while we concentrated on the multitude of unsigned teenage wannabees and a few who were now in their 20's!
There is no doubt in my mind that my era of bands worked for me. The early 80's underground scene in Scotland was awash with talent and dross, while the charts were alive and kicking with Trevor Horn productions. I always felt the cake of music could offer a lot of people a living but the charts wanted us to focus on the few not the many. I dont mind that great stars have evolved but I do dislike the creation of stars. While the late great Bowie was a masterful creation, he evolved. I was reading Jill Bryson's website recently and it described how she decided that pop nonsense wasn't for her and went back to her art, just as they were starting the 2nd Strawberry Switchblade album. I dont know when Charlie Higson said I've enjoyed The Higsons but I'm going to do a real job. I'm sure if the business wasn't so full of people trying to find the next big thing and just let evolution happen. Artists and Accountants are funny old bed fellows, but it was ever thus and it does mean we get a laugh at the next big flop. The line about One Direction not winning their X factor year is developed hysterically in the play "Harry", and the whole irony of being sold a band/brand as opposed to buying music you like is beautifully summed up in their story.
Live music venues still exist and I'm the last to comment on how its changed as in truth I dont really know. I go to gigs rarely now as my ears ring like fuck for the next three days even with ear plugs so its not the pleasure it was, but I've gone off piste again. Deadbeat issue 5 was the starting point and for the next 19 issues we had fantastic times. 19 issues and 16 months later I stuck my head above the parapet and realised that I was no longer at Uni, still had resits and had a wee meltdown. I'd got half my degree in first year and done nothing in 2nd and 3rd year except the band and Deadbeat. I hadn't moped at home, I was absolutely full on partying after I left, but in the August I finally passed the 3 subjects needed to get a degree....and sadly the Deadbeat pulse seemed to be slowing. I summed it up well on the page issue 26-33, the mixture of paralysis and just exhaustion. Keith and I were both probably moving on and just hadnt noticed.
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