Getting Nowhere Fast! (issue #3) YEAR: 1981 CREATED BY: Keith Alcorn, Judy Leighton, Neil Griffin and various contributors LOCATION: York SIZE: A5 WHAT’S INSIDE…. The third issue of Getting Nowhere Fast! offers an engaging and eclectic snapshot of the independent music scene in the early 1980s. The zine was named after the debut single by Leeds band Girls At Our Best! and there's a short tribute to them inside.
With its neat layout and effective use of colour, Getting Nowhere Fast! also stands out aesthetically from many of its contemporaries.
The centre pages are dedicated to Scottish indie darlings Orange Juice, whose frontman Edwyn Collins also graces the cover in a playful cartoon rendition. Their Postcard label mates Josef K are also featured, as are Scars - another seminal name in the Scottish post-punk landscape.
For anyone interested in the origins of goth music, there's an early article about The Sisters Of Mercy. While the term "goth" is nowhere to be found (unsurprising, as the genre didn't really exist yet) the band is described as "an apocalyptic union of fuzz and echo", Andrew Eldritch is referred to simply as "A" and there's an interesting account of why the band didn't have a drummer….
Elsewhere, the zine keeps its ear to the ground with coverage of local bands like Nerve Senta (from York) and Loss Of Head (from Horsforth), who failed to escape from obscurity, but find a moment of recognition here.
Gig reviews include a write-up of Pere Ubu and Gang Of Four at Newcastle Mayfair. Reviewer John Lake unfortunately missed the first set from Leeds band Delta 5, but the omission is rectified with a separate review of the band's recent performance at Jaspers in Leeds (I saw all three bands in Liverpool in March 1981 and even bought the fanzine-style programme that they created for their spring tour of the UK).
Somebody called Pete Owston also reviewed a gig at Bradford University featuring Echo And The Bunnymen and Blue Orchids.
There's an enthusiastic appraisal of "Love Backed By Force", the first album from The Tronics, which is also promoted with a full page ad. Adverts for Ruby Hearts Original Clothing, Red Rhino Records, Track Records and Plunkets Restaurant also appear in the zine.
More vinyl and indie cassette reviews, eclectic playlists, and a somewhat unexpected two page deep dive into the Italian rock scene add to the zine's offbeat charm.
And then there's the massive crossword, which I never bothered to attempt….
Click on the title above to see scans of all the zine's pages….
my box of 1980s fanzines flickr
