welcome fe b ruary 2013
Eight years ago, on 25 January 2005, 150 copies of the first issue of Loud And Quiet plopped onto the counters of a couple of London record stores and clothes shops. Amidst a clutter of low resolution photographs of such poor quality that Belle And Sebastian appeared to be in a witness protection program were articles on how Art Brut and The Go! Team were going to change everything, along with reviews of Morrissey at Earl’s Court and a piece on the (ahem) bravery of Carl Barat. The cover feature was squarely angled at how The Libertines were better than Babyshambles (about time someone bloody said it, right?).
Let’s not go through each of the 74 issues of Loud And Quiet that have since continued to plop onto shop and café counters each month, but suffice to say, we slowly improved in making the above not so wet-your-face hysterical. And now it’s January 2013 and we’re 8, which of course we never doubted would happen.
The following issue (printed to a staggering 200 copies) wasn’t much better. We’d managed to get a band to give us an interview, but that band was The Paddingtons. Jim Noir featured too.
Ahead of the band’s 8-night stand at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall next month, Daniel Dylan Wray has spent the last 40 odd days investigating what has made the music of the Düsseldorf four so enduring, speaking to Neu!’s Michael Rother, members of Cluster, Suicide and Devo, Geoff Barrow and others on his quest.
Fortunately we managed to convince ourselves that these two fanzines were nothing short of works of art that gave the people what they really wanted – a stylish (ha!), underground (HAH!), insightful music magazine dedicated to overlooked and under appreciated, genuine talents, like The Rakes (seriously, stop!).
To celebrate, we’ve not got The Paddingtons, or Eddie Argos, or bands made fuzzy for their own protection, but we do have something that vaguely resembles that very first cover feature – the story of Kraftwerk, and how they are better than Babyshambles.
And where Jim Noir would have been in issue 2, and Idlewild in issue 3, we’ve got FIDLAR, Mazes, Palma Violets, Villagers, Seize The Chair, Only Real and Apostille. Under appreciated, genuine talents.
contri b utor
s onn y mc c a r t ne y Photographer
Fuck Christmas and anticipation and fun; mid-December 2012 for Sonny McCartney meant careering around London with his camera as he clocked up the most shoots by one man for Loud And Quiet 45. From The xx at Brixton Academy to a rare UK live show from Theophilus London at Cargo, Shoreditch; Mazes in a Hackney park to Palma Violets in their decrepit Lambeth HQ – Sonny continued to adhere to his number 1 tip for aspiring photographers – “It doesn’t matter what it is, just get out of the house and take photographs, and don’t let anyone tell you how to shoot or how to be creative.” Sonny shot Bono once too (insert your own ‘Thanks Sonny’ gag here), and Ronnie Wood. See for yourself at his website, www. sonnymccartney.com
Inside shoot: Mazes by Sonny mccartney Victoria Park, HAckney, London. 17 December 2012
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