Welcome to my maiden voyage into the world of blogging. Last summer I had the opportunity to scan a number of vintage punk fanzines from Mich Jones' personal collection. This was all thanks to the Rock'n'roll Public Library project, which put various bits of memorabilia, ephemera and clutter from Mick Jones' lock-up on display and provided a scanner for patrons of their library.
When I first got to the exhibit/library, after admiring Mick Jones' B.A.D. baseball jacket and his collection of 'Only Fools and Horses' VHS videos I discovered a massive pile of 1970s punk fanzines on a bottom shelf. My heart raced as I sifted through three huge piles of fanzines, mostly from Britain, but from all over the world. I've never seen so many vintage fanzines in such good condition all in one place. Unlike records, very few fanzines seem to have survived the intervening years - most I imagine fell apart in harrington jacket pockets, were left on trains or thrown out at a later date by wives and mothers. Faced with far more fanzines than I could ever read, I tried my best to scan as many of them as possible, and only managed about fifty. Another patron from the library scanned a further 12, which he kindly e-mailed to me. So from this hodge-podge assortment of 70s punk fanzines I'll be posting around one a week for the coming year.
To start things off is an entire fanzine devoted to West London's the Valves. Enjoy!
