ABOUT

PRINTHEAD was a 1980s Leicester magazine/fanzine published between November 1983 and April 1985 - 13 issues in all.

On the sad demise of the Leicester fanzines, "B.U.T. Fosse/Biggles-up-the Fosse" and "Biggles Shaves his Legs", Damian and John decided that they should start one up themselves. John would be the Editor and write for it, Damian would do the photos and design. John came up with the name after a 1979 track by The Fall, and Damian designed the logo. Sue quickly became involved with the production, which was done at and her's & John's house. For the first six issues most of the typing was done by Sarah (an L.P.S.U. secretary) and also Sue. The staff/contributors were a combination of students/ex-students and people from the Leicester music and arts scenes.

It was funded by the adverts that John brought in, but a large part of it's income came from discos put on in the Arena at Leicester Polytechnic Students Union. To enable this, and go gain other support such as free photocopier use, a Poly Fanzine Society was set up by Damian (and a group of students) in the polytechnic's Students Union. Damian was able to do this as he was one of the union's Executives (after 3 years on the Ents Committee). We didn't realy advertise the connection with the Students Union (uncool) but without it the magazine, and the compliation LP (below), wouldn't have existed.

Printhead Records released a LP, called "Let's Cut A Rug", in 1984 which was a 'writers' compilation but nevertheless was mainly Leicester bands. The release was mainly funded by a disco in the Poly's Arena and it took a lot of jovial arm twisting to get Ken Mounter (S.U.'s Treasurer) to countersign the cheque. More on the LP in later revisions of this page (also see the Printhead Records page).

The production team got sidetracked by other interests/projects etc. (e.g. "Yeah Yeah Noh") and the magazine's last edition was a one-sided A3 broadsheet in April 1985.

It now serves as an interesting document of the music and arts scene in Leicester during, and around, 1984. I am quite proud of it, as I expect the others are too, which is why I produced this archive website.

30th August 2025

From the beginning:

John Grayland: Editor, writer, paste up, covers, Advertising Manager
Damian Swarbrick: logo, photography, paste up, covers, layout, ads, Poly Fanzine Society
Sue Dorey: layout, typing, paste up, covers, ads
Sarah Stansbie (Issues 1-6): typing, Executive Editor

and then:

Chris Reed: staff (Issues 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13)
Derek Hammond: staff (Issues 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11)

Contributors:

Writers (in order of appearance)

Lester Mercury
Mark Orphan (Staff, Issues 5-7)
Zip Nolan
E.M.M.A. / Emma
Andy Booth (Staff, Issue 4)
Derek / Del / DJ Hammond 
Duchamp’s Apprentice
Graham Summers (Staff, Issues 7, 8)
Ian Collier-Webb (Staff, Issues 4, 5)
Dougal Frazer
Dave Mitcheson
Louise Gitchard
Chris Reed
Jeremy Crump (Staff, Issues 7, 11)
Fiona Candlin
Richard Mason
C.A.D. Bastard
Tom Oldfield
Dave Wells
Porkie Minhas
Mick
Andy Mosquera
Geoff Overon
Sara
Amos Zamorski
Andy Nicholls
Eon Burley
Richard Dublin
Abby
Mary Shitehouse?
Rose Jones
Vicky
H.B. Pencil
Carl Taylor
Richard Dublin
Tim Wylie
Tony Spittle
Ian Stevens
Caroline Lynch
Nick Bennett
Duane Zoll (Staff, Issues 10, 11)
Nancy/Sue Coo (Staff, Issues 10, 11)
Derek Simmonds
Fletcher Lanceford
Chenelle
Ian Barcley James Harvest (Staff, Issues 10, 11)
Pino. Shea (Staff, Issues 10, 11)
Dave H
John Turner
2 B Frank
Perthapal Singh
Eve White Eve Black
John Roberts
P.R. Ide
Mayakovsky
Red Eliot
The Beast
Fred Zeppelin

Photographers

Damian Swarbrick, Tom Oldfield

Cartoon Strips | Collages

Alex Finlayson (Staff, Issue 5), Alan Jenkins | Derek Hammond, Sue?

Best Advertiser:

Street Music Studios for 12 full page adverts (11 back covers) and recording services
24 Careys Close, Leicester LE1 5NQ

Supported and funded by:

Poly Fanzine Society
Leicester Polytecnic Students Union (L.P.S.U.)
4 Newarke Close, Leicester LE2 7BJ

Printed by:

Leicester Community Printing Press
Lincoln Street, Leicester LE2 0BR

Published by:

Start-From-Scratch Publications 1983, Fanzine Society 1984/85 (&89 but that's probably a typo)

 

 
Leicester Community Printing Press & Printhead


Notes
:

This is my first draft of this About page, and so apologies if your name is missing at the moment etc. I'm hoping to credit the 'staff' properly (but until then you can just refer to each issue), make corrections when necessary (when I remember better), and add other stuff.

This is, obviously, my version of the magazine's history but I'm trying to be fair and accurate.

Thanks to John Tugby and Sue, via him, for providing scans of Issue 9 which I couldn't find at the time.


Dedication
:

This website is dedicated to the memory of Ruth Miller (1962–2023), founder of the Unglamous Project and a major contributor to the Leicester music scene.

The Guardian: ‘Loud, dirty and simple’: Leicester’s punk collective for older women
BBC News: Tributes to Leicester 'punk mum' who inspired women to play in bands
BBC News | Local News | Leicester: 'I retired as a teacher - now I'm a punk rocker'
Unglamorous International Women's Weekend: 8th – 10th March 2024: About Unglamorous
Leicester Museum and GalleriesUnglamorous - A Female Punk Revolution

 

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