The Farm - Stepping Stone

Against a back drop of Thatchers Britain, high youth unemployment, factory closures and the Toxteth riots, zines were rife in Liverpool circa 1980.  Towards the middle of the decade British football clubs were banned from playing in Europe for 5 years, this is crucial to the die hard football culture romance being neatly sold back to us these days.

While the majority of homemade press came across like student rags (Hootons term not mine....), The End zine stood out loud and clear in the North West.  This particular zine was dreamt up by Peter Hooton as a publication for the lads of Liverpool, written by lads of Liverpool, so sort of like Seinfeld a show about nothing but in a Xerox A5 stapled zine format.

Hooton reached out to successful modzine 'Time For Action' editor Phil Jones about his initial zine idea around 1980. Cartoon sketches, droll scouse humour, football and fashion with trend Ins & Outs tables.  Odd to think this was ground breaking in 1980 alas in a jobless violent era it was unusual and to a certain degree a tonic to the North West, an affirmation that there were others out there going through tough times and laughing it off. 

Phil Jones initially dissuaded Hooton from bothering to get the zine off the ground, as he believed it needed more of a punk, mod or ska focus to get anywhere. Hooton wanted to write about Pool' football and the type of likeminded types he saw at The Clash or Jam gigs. Sticking to his guns and buzzing about this new type of zine approach Phil relented and joined The Ends five aside team. 

Issue 1 of The End was by todays standards an impressive run of 500 copies. With a printing cost of £90.00 and was sold for 20 pence.  A good few record shops took a bundle of the inaugural issue and the rest were sold on the street and at Anfield, Goodison and Prenton Park.  On one occasion Hooton and Mick Potter were hawking the zine outside a Dead Kennedys gig in Liverpool city centre.  When most of the DK fans turned their noses up at the zine featuring a Q&A with mod-revival band The Chords, Potter informed his potential readers that "the zines about you, its about your life"

The zine went from strength to strength and ran for 7 years towards the last issues reaching an impressive circulation of three thousand copies.  The team of five lads landed Q&A's from The Clash (following Hootons meeting with Mick Jones at a Clash gig in Paris), John Peel after a good few issues of the zine taking the piss out of his arty farty music selection appeared on the cover of issue 5, The Mighty Wah and The Tear Drop Explodes. As the issues rolled on the circulation got wider across the U.K and I'm sure overseas too. 

One particular reader across the wrong side of the pennines in Leeds, was a young Leeds FC fan James Brown, alas not the soul legend but the future creator of Loaded magazine. Brown told the BBC "to those looking into Liverpool through The End, it seemed a world of fashion-obsessed lunatics with their own language, heroes and priorities"

As The End had came to its natural er, end in 1988 the baggy scene was rife in the North West and Peter Hooton went on to become the lead singer of The Farm.  I've had this promo copy of the bands first release E.P record for sometime now.  All the links to this release come together perfectly for this seasons Anglozine Extended Play season story: EP vinyl, clothing and footie. Stepping Stone was originally recorded by Paul Revere and The Raiders and also perhaps most famously, by the Monkees. The Farm release date was April 1990 and so it was also being played for the first time during the last true stylish world cup- Italia 90.  

My 12" promo copy also has a natty handwritten 7" disc for radio DJ's and photocopied A4 zine feel press release, I'm pretty sure this format was used to make it more impactful as a fax- what the hells a fax you cry! The release is perfectly short and sweet and loaded with family tree signifiers of the beginning of the 1990's. The band were managed by lead singer of Madness Suggs, mixed by Boys Own, them of the best 1990's logo and also a fanzine, I tell you zines are crucial.

I'm also chuffed by the name of the band promoter Anglo Plugging London and its totally 1990's logo.  Chris Coco writes in the press release that the band are 'renowned for their fanzine and shirts'. The fanzine mentioned here is of course The End. I'm pretty sure that the shirt being referred to here is the iconic printed T-shirt No alla Violenza which was huge around the time of Italia 90 and manufactured by Charlton Athletic fans the Parker brothers....