As well as the 40th anniversary
of Punk, 2016 also sees the 10th Anniversary of Southend Punk.com! I had
the idea for the site for a while, but it took until January 2006 to get
the site online. Since then it has mushroomed beyond my original conception,
and continues to evolve as new content is added all the time.I originally envisaged the site to be primarily aimed at covering the 1976-1986 era, but since its inception Southend Punk.com has received a lot of pertinent material that transcends this time frame, and contributions to the site have included some wonderful Pre-Punk material especially.
Indeed, it is the contributions and feedback from people now spread all over the world that have been one of the most rewarding aspects of continuing this site. It has also been fantastic to be able to include Southend Punk material to various books that have appeared on the era, eg Alex Ogg's 'No More Heroes', Ian Glasper's 'The Day The Country Died', Andi Harriman and Marloes Bontje's 'Some Wear Leather Some Wear Lace', Nina Manandhar's 'What We Wore', Gregory Bull and Mickey Penguin's 'Not Just Bits of Paper' & Sam Knee's 'The Bag I'm In'.
Recommended
sections for those new to the site, or for those who haven't checked in
for a while include:
•
'Updates'
Sixteen Pages of Updates, with 25 Updates per page, detailing
new additions to the site
• '21st Century Events'
A growing archive of Stills and Video documenting 21st events,
including everyone from Eddie & The Hot Rods to Stiff Little Fingers
•
'Miscellaneous Items'
A huge collection of Miscellaneous News Items, even including the
odd gallery
•
'The Punks'
A vast collection of Southend Punks, organised into nine galleries
(also now including five galleries of Chelmsford Punks), plus the 'Safety
Pins and Leopardskin' Galleries too
•
'The Bands'
A list of all the key Southend Punk bands of the era, with detailed
band profiles including select discographies and sometimes photo gallery
and video links
•
'Places of Punk Significance'
A growing archive of profiles on sites in the Southend area that were
of significance in the Punk era. There are several more sites to add in
as more material is gathered, to add to the already significant archives
on places such as The Queens Hotel, Kursaal & Zero 6
•
'Interviews'
An evolving set of Interviews with people from the Punk
era including Robin Beulo of Idiot / Speedball, Richard Murdock of Captain
Strange & Sue Paget of The Vandals
•
'Artwork: Concert Posters, Flyers, Tickets and Adverts'
A large collection of artworks from the era, including four galleries
of Punk era artworks, as well as two galleries of Pre-Punk artworks (including
such artists as Hawkwind & Mott The Hoople)
•
'Gigs Timeline'
An ever growing list that is an attempt to tabulate all the key Punk
& Post Punk gigs in the era. This part of the site is very special
as sources are so diverse, ranging from personal diaries to fanzine listings
etc
•
'Fanzines'
Several galleries of cover images of all the key local Fanzines from
the period (including Strange Stories, New Crimes, Necrology etc), as
well as some of the more known National Fanzines such as Sniffin' Glue
+ Ripped & Torn
There are many other
parts of the site to explore, including the Live
Bands Photo Page, the In Memoriam section,
Southend Record Labels list and much more.
Since starting the site, I have also launched my Label 'Angels
in Exile Records', which has issued a Machines CD & a Vampire
Junkies Featuring Texas Terri CD. Future plans include the elusive Southend
Punk compilation CD, as well as other possible Southend Punk media such
as a possible book.
All that remains is for me to say thank you for taking the time to look
through and support Southend Punk.com and to raise a glass to the next
Ten Years!
Steve x
January 2016