Having posted the Zorrophonic archive, we now go back to the more or less pre-Internet fan world of 1990, and the “Sproutwise” fanzine which arrived just a little after the more widely known John Birch Rollmo ‘zine.
I’ll be producing a set of PDF fascimiles of the latter too, as well as a “make your own CD Fanzine” kit for some of the classic and very difficult to find CDs he produced, but for the time being, here are Paul Dixon’s 4 issues of Sproutwise
It’s very easy to forget what the world before Google looked like, with far less information available in any format, and rare material almost impossible to find. Many of the fanzines of the era attempted to stretch themselves towards generalist music magazines – and in some cases became just that – while others were simply created by fans to attract the attention of other fans, much in the same way as I created this site. So the fanzines reproduced here are very much of their time: don’t expect secret and arcane knowledge, they’re just snippets taken from here and there and in today’s context very primitive. But as the start of the widening out and connection of the fanbase, they’re an important part of the story.
The files are in PDF format and will print onto A4 for anyone wanting the true 1990 experience.
- Sproutwise Issue 1 (Late 1990)
- Sproutwise Issue 2 (1991)
- Sproutwise Issue 3 (Christmas 1991)
- Sproutwise Issue 4 (Early 1992)