These Things

These Things was a 1976 London punk fanzine by Adrian Fox (aka Randy Bollocker and then Arcane Vendetta) and ran for 4 issues.

Adrian and his sister Sharon were from Ilford and were enthused with Punk and especially the Roxy Club for that first legendary 3 months and it comes through loud and clear in the writing. He virtually grows up writing the fanzine that is a mix of teenage angst and emotion and excitement at a music, scene and fashion he believes in. It was a one-man operation and he took he did everything including the photos. They also hated Ilford and the Lacey Lady and his sister Sharon produced a one-off handwritten fanzine called Apathy In Ilford.

Their gang at the Roxy Club included Pape and Fiona Dutton, Claudio and Shane McGowan. They were second wavers with customised clothes laughing at those who spent money at Seditionaries and those who changed into punks for the night.

I was 16. Mine was a dog-eared thing. I tried my best with it. you’d go along to the Roxy Club. You had an idea of who you wanted to review and you’d go home and do it the following day. You’d hastily pen a review, and build it up to get at least 7 reviews in the mag. You’d want to put it out quickly. I wasn’t so lucky to find a photocopier; I had to use the local library and that was it. It was kind of very quick, you had to be out there quickly no matter what the kind of spelling errors or whatnot. It was unpretentious. They were immediate. I was writing about what was going on on the floor.  The bands weren’t that important, but what the audience was doing and how they were reacting. Even where a couple of punks would be pogoing and they got stuck together with their safety pins and flying over speakers. You produced a fanzine on the run. You would bring an issue out as quick as possible; bad cartoons late nights, messy prose.

We’d all hawk our fanzines at the top of the stairs at the Roxy Club; an intelligentsia if you like. Cariola Chaos, a really good-looking girl with big blond hair with fishnet stockings, white shirt, black tie and nothing else selling Fishnet Tights; Adrian Thrills of 48 Thrills..I used to like him a lot. Max with Tomorrow The World and obviously Sniffin’ Glue. You also might sell in the upstairs bar or stand outside selling to people as they came in. Punk77 Interview

Adrian was a victim of the developing ted punk violence. There were actually 4 issues of These Things but he lost one as he recounts.

There were four copies but only officially three. I was beaten up in Seven Kings photocopying one version of issue 2. Three teddy boys attacked me. Coins went flying all over the place. A couple of stitches in the head from studded gloves and they trashed the mag. I lost some good photos as well and had to do a 2b. Punk77 Interview

He had some surprising allies as well.

One night I got accosted in the upstairs bar one night in March by Burchill and Parsons. They introduced themselves to me and bought me a couple of drinks. I was quite pleased. They said “Arcane Vendetta we’ve been looking for you …we love your fanzine so much we’ve actually put it on the wall of our office.”  I felt in awe. Punk77 Interview

Burchill namechecked him and These Things in the NME in her round-up of fanzines. Talking about the fanzine Sideburns

Clean up your act, sweethearts, and you’ll be right up there with the legendary Randy Bollocker (now Arcane Vendetta) of These Things – a publication second only to that notorious Clash fanzine, The New Musical Express. NME 11.06.1977

The last fanzine was in May-June. It was on blue paper. It was printed properly. They spanned from the end of 1976 to April 1977. Punk77 Interview

We at Punk77 love Arcane Vendetta

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