Back issue pictures from issue 8

Readers who sent for these back issues are now the only owners of these teenage Deadbeats. During Hogmanay 1982 we thought they'd make a great bargain in the Deadbeat January sales and thankfully for us the cash we got for them meant that we printed 800 of issues 9 and 10 which we upped to 1000, 11-13 and by the time of Deadbeat 17 with the Wild Indians and pop wallpaper Flexi-disc the Scottish public happily donated their 10p's regularly and we sold 1000 no problem. This was the critical phase though and both back issues and future purchases kept our wee cottage industry afloat. I've still got the mailing list and so Lorna Fullarton, Gillian Carter, Matthew Jefferies and another 50 of you, thank you!

This small amount of cash kept us ahead of the curve until the April and issue 12 when adverts started appearing. Its hard to believe but a student grant of £1500 and KB working meant that when the adverts came in we were rockin. With wealth comes responsibility and at 20, neither of us had any. We took more time off trying to get ads than we did doing reviews, well that's my excuse for drinking all the cash that summer. We did go up to Inverness to interview Echo and the Bunnymen but largely it was all about getting shit-faced as I wandered from pub to pub asking if they wanted to advertise in our wonderful wee rag. Occasionally popping into a tea shop, like Brambles in St Andrews, where surprisingly they said yes. I was also confused when the hairdressers wanted to advertise, I guess they took pity on me.

Once the advert cash came in the £50 for the printer was no bother and when we sold 800 copies we'd usually got the next £50. The funny thing about printing Deadbeat was we had to buy the paper for the printer before anything. Then we had to ship it to him. Then we had to hand him the copies to make the plates. Then we had to wait until he had time to print it, or he needed cash for bevvy. Thankfully the splendid pop wallpaper and the Wild Indians had the cash to do the flexi. I cant remember the cost, but I do remember the Deadbeat tapes being about £1.50 if you bought 100. Clearly we were rolling in cash by then!