always write what you wanna write.’ I thought, ‘Yeah, I’m bloody gonna do that!’ I always did, so thank you Joe!


“To begin with, I did most of the writing and the layout – long before computers, of course. You had to type everything in columns and then cut them all up, Letraset the headings, find photos, stick it all together and make it look nice. Very time consuming. That was my whole life. I was either working my balls off or lying on the floor stoned! It was a ridiculously intense period.”


He wasn’t complaining though. There simply isn’t enough room here to examine every issue Pete did but number 28 from early ’73 is a good example of the magazine at its peak. The Byrds are on the cover, heralding part two of Pete’s exhaustive history, which was going to be a whole issue at one point. He also contributes the second instalment of his epic Jimmy Page Q&A (one of the most in- depth the guitarist ever did), lengthy features on The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Stealer’s Wheel and Kim Fowley plus a Canterbury scene family tree, joined by Tobler on Love –one of the definitive Zigzagbands –as the mag’s adopted heroes were known.


“We were the only people interested in Love and AstralWeeks. Now they’re all up there as classic albums but in those days no bastard gave a monkey’s about them. I often wonder if ForeverChangeswould be that number one album in everyone’s lists if it hadn’t been for Zigzagand Tobler’s enthusiasm particularly. Now you get it as a classic album given away as a freebie with TheTimes.


“The idea that, instead of working, I could spend all day listening to music and interviewing all these people, that really interested me, not just about their music but about their backgrounds, their experiences... all these people like Country Joe, Arthur Lee – fucking amazing. I remember sitting there talking to Captain Beefheart and it was quite obvious that no-one has shown any interest in the details of his career before. He was astonished. Ry Cooder was another one. He kept looking at me, so I said, ‘What’s up?’ He said, ‘No-one’s ever interviewed me like this before.’ I was asking him about where he got his songs from, about Cisco Houston and Alfred Reed. He was totally bemused.


“I interviewed Frank Zappa on the stage at the Royal Albert Hall in ’69 when he was doing his sound-check. That was weird. I spent the whole day walking around with Roger McGuinn. It was ridiculous. We got such access to these people. You wouldn’t get it now.


“We got the most passionate feedback. All the bands wanted to talk to us. Even people like Elton John and Pete Townshend, who wouldn’t normally talk unless they’d got an album coming out, they would all do interviews if we asked them because they loved the magazine –subscribed to it in many cases. Bands also offered to do benefit concerts for us, so that saw us through rough times; people like Fairport Convention, Edgar Broughton, High Tide, Free, Mighty Baby… all great, great people.


“John Tobler came in on issue number two. I’d known him all through the ’60s. He was mad, like I was. We used to work together at the Prudential. I was useless at getting advertising and selling the bloody thing but he would go round record companies and give ’em the hustle. That’s what kept the magazine afloat. He wrote his socks off, too. Good lad, old Tobler!”


Pete carried on doing Zigzagthrough thick and thin, re-mortgaging his house, taking various day-jobs to support it and finally selling it to Charisma Records boss Tony Stratton- Smith in late ’73. “I got really demoralised about the whole scene, needed to get back to a more secure lifestyle.” Although he carried on contributing, the editorship was handed over to Connor McKnight before Fat Angelfounder Andy Childs took over


until late ’75. Apart from being a great bloke, he perfectly tuned in to the frequencies emanating from Pete’s cerebral cod-piece, giving it a shine of his own, homing in on the likes of Neil Young, Kevin Ayers and Tim Buckley while Tobler still loomed with Arthur Lee and other current fixations.


Top to bottom:


Captain Beefheart’s message to the


readers; Pete and the captain; hiding


behind his favourite


record; presiding over his Birmingham


Beatsters family tree; backstage with the


Kevin Ayers band and a young Kris Needs; introducing John


Stewart at the Zigzag fifth anniversary party at the


Roundhouse; poster for the same event. Mike Nesmith and Ian Dury... who’d have thunk it?


The December ’75 issue (number 57) unexpectedly ended with a letter from Andy which, after plugging the upcoming release of Mike Wilhelm’s album (on the Zigzag label) and a slew of ZZ-inspired fanzines like OmahaRainbow,DarkStarand HotWacks, announced that changes were afoot. Stratton- Smith had generously given Pete the title back, along with all the copyrights. Pete then hooked up with Reading-based printer Graham Andrews, a boundlessly energetic guy who removed the business pressures, leaving Pete free to concentrate on editing and layout. The March ’76 issue had Dylan on the cover and Pete announcing, “1976 is going to be an ace year... I feel it in my bones.” He wasn’t far wrong.


By now I was working for Aylesbury’s local newspaper and started meeting Pete every lunchtime for riotous, beer-stoked plotting sessions. Although back in his old editor’s chair he still kept a day-job with Aylesbury Brewery Company. I mentioned my ambition to write for Zigzagso he gave me the green light to do a feature on Pearls Before Swine, which never appeared, but my review of Mallard’s debut album made the next issue, marking my first appearance in a national rock publication. Pete then decided to form a garage band called the Aylesbury Bucks, roping


35


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