ON THIS DAY ... in 1984 - SEX GANG CHILDREN

23 photos from a combined Zigzag/Melody Maker interview, 1984

SEX GANG CHILDREN - DISCOGS

SEX GANG CHILDREN - BANDCAMP

SEX GANG CHILDREN - BANDCAMP 2

So I haven’t worked this out exactly but I believe these were taken with a newsy update in Zigzag after Dave left the band, the interview starting in the Zigzag office, then the pub next door, before wandering into town proper and ending in a cafe (the one next to the jazz record shop, fact fans) just up the road from Melody Maker, where Holborn and Covent Garden are judged to overlap. The landlord at the Zigzag pub (literally next door to the office) was prone to ignore us initially, hoping we’d move on, but within a few weeks realised we drank like fishes and, being there every lunch and evening, probably brought him as much cash as the other part of his trade, journalists from the Guardian (who also had various other pubs in the area to choose from). So then we were more than tolerated. We were the lifeblood! Angels really, when you think about it. Likewise at the Maker, where the pub was two doors down, meaning we actually had to walk maybe twenty yards, given that sedan chairs had fallen out of fashion. Imagine! The landlord there once elected to bar certain people (Carol Clerk’s mates) because the ‘rock ‘n’ roll table’ (actually two tables) had seen some unseemly behaviour in his eyes. Carol demanded no-one go in as a result, and the abrupt lack in trade soon had him begging her forgiveness.

I don’t think the cafes round that area realised how much we contributed to their economy either. I bet there was a couple of dozen journalists (staff and freelance) bringing a variety of people every week into several establishments. When the paper moved to Waterloo they must have found it curious how takings dropped sharply. We, the hard working, largely inebriated, music journalists of London did our bit for society!

My Goth, Punk and Indie photobooks (including three DAISY CHAINSAW books) can be found here » PHOTOBOOKS LIST

Photos or posters. » MICK MERCER PHOTOS - REDBUBBLE

Goth classics (GRBB, Gothic Rock, Hex Files etc) on Kindle can be found here » GOTH KINDLE

Eighteen more photos from this session follow, for paid subscribers only.

Paid subscribers get access to every post and photo gallery posted since January 2023, while free subscribers can only see what’s been posted during the past seven days. Photos listed now go into my Substack archive, searchable by paid subscribers, and will never be listed as galleries again.