05 July 2011 - 0 Comments

As part of their 30th anniversary Flying Nun Records are re-publishing the Garage fanzines digitally throughout the rest of the year.

Today music is talked about, listened to, purchased and forgotten almost instantaneously online. In mid 1980s New Zealand a lot of music was still relatively scarce being only available as hard to find and expensive to transport vinyl records.  News about music was also slow to get about nationally and internationally and rather restricted to mainstream newspapers and magazines.

Garage was the music zine child of journalist Richard Langston, born in Dunedin in 1984 the first issue featured The Great Unwashed on the cover, while inside are pieces on The Verlaines, The Chills, Tall Dwarfs and much more.

"We became part of a network of fanzines and magazines dedicated to reporting on the margins of music – B-Side and Distant Violins in Australia, Bucketful of Brains (England), Forced Exposure and Conflict on the USA’s East coast, the K Label home of Calvin Johnson and Beat Happening  – out of Olympia Washington, and Option down in Los Angeles.  

We traded news and records like the obsessives we were," Langston writes on the Flying Nun blog.

Essentially, Garage was the product of passionate fans wanting to spread the word and we are proud to make the first of the six issues made available again as a PDF download via the Flying Nun Records' website, with the remaining five to follow monthly. And while it used to cost a $1, these ones are free.

Plus Richard Langston has compiled a podcast mix tape together as a musical companion to the first issue. The choices reflect the music of the time that inspired him to write, edit, print and staple his fanzine of musical life in Dunedin during the mid 1980s.

GARAGE #1 IS AVAILABLE AS A PDF DOWNLOAD HERE (Click the link)

LISTEN TO THE GARAGE #1 PODCAST AS PART OF RICHARD LANGSTON'S GUEST BLOG FOR FLYING NUN (Click the link)

Thanks to www.flyingnun.co.nz for this story.

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