| Published quarterly by local couple Suzy
Prince and Ian Lowey, NUDE magazine firmly places the counter in
front of culture, while reaching under it to produce material that
emphasises the cult in culture.
I first became aware of their magazine when my teenage daughter
came home one late night clutching a copy she’d picked up
for free at some no-doubt cutting-edge gig in, probably, Camden,
featuring – most likely – such emerging underground
talent as The Pipettes, Luxembourg or The Vichy Government. Must’ve
been a good night – she can’t remember who played –
but it wasn’t the latter (that’s just a gratuitous plug
for the band of one of my library colleagues, on the same circuit).
Like any concerned parent, of course I spend every spare moment
monitoring what my kids are listening to, doing online or reading.
Yeah – right. So, naturally, I scanned that and subsequent
copies of NUDE just to check there was nothing inappropriate. You
know: grooming by sex predators, occultists or members of Respect
or the BNP. There wasn’t.
Instead, I found an eclectic mix of contemporary graphics, deviant
design, outsider and alternative musics, eccentric architecture,
cult writing, indie film, cutting-edge fashion and profiles of maverick
genius the world over.
Anarcho-situationist graphic designers like Jamie Reid (Sex Pistols)
and Jimmy Cauty (KLF, Blacksmoke) rub shoulders with graphic novelists/cartoonists
Dan Clowes (Ghost World) and Charles Burns (Black Hole), noir fiction
next to prison writing, 1950s tacky pin-ups alongside photo-essays
on Teddy Girls, pinball machines (c/o local Pinball Geoff, natch)
and designer toys (by such as – big in Japan – James
Jarvis). Plus reviews and web guides to a vast range of cultural
intervention and desirable objects, and a curious obsession with
Tiki (that’s Polynesian kitsch esoterica to you and me). All
supported by ads for vintage clothes, art-house movies, indie records
and tattoo parlours. So that’s alright, then.
More than intrigued by this portal to a colourful world of fascinating
off-the-radar activity, I met with Suzy and Ian to find out more…
Both our nudists (though they’re not, that’s just shorthand)
have backgrounds in some 10 years of cult retail – selling
vintage clothing, lowbrow art, ‘zines, books and other underground
ephemera – Suzy from Last Chance Saloon in Waterloo, Ian from
Strangely Satisfying in Camden – and became aware of each
other through their customers.
Frustrated by both the rent/rate rises that beset independent retailers
(with which N16 shop owners and shoppers are long familiar) and
opportunities to have their own writing published, nor being able
to find any other magazines sharing their tastes, they determined
to do something together. Suzy’s £7,500 compensation
from London Transport for an accident resulting in a broken arm
provided the seed money; their enthusiasm the rest. ‘We had
no business plan’, asserts Ian, ‘other than a determination
to be totally self-financed and independent.’
Launched as a free magazine available from carefully selected outlets
or events in order to, as Ian continues, ’just get the word
out’, the pair, Suzy adds, ‘ran round town with a supermarket
trolley full of magazines to gigs, galleries and bars.’ And
people got the message – available initially only in London,
they soon found a word-of-mouth audience outside the metropolis.
Or rather, it found them.
From small towns (like those of their backgrounds – Suzy
from Derbyshire, Ian from North Wales, where they could never find
what they wanted to know about or be involved in) and elsewhere,
like-minded people made contact, leading to a grass-roots explosion
of interest and a growth in circulation. Now with a print-run of
10,000 – some still distributed freely at targeted outlets
– a cover price and real distributors (including Hackney-based
Central Books) were introduced.
‘We had to start charging’, explains Suzy. ’People
like Borders, who got the idea, can’t take free magazines,
so we put a cover price on stickers just to it get into their stores.
Then we were stuck with it. So we added a subscription service,
too.’ Which, in turn, led to a mail-order service for some
of the graphic works, books and other ephemera featured in NUDE.
‘For a small ‘zine, we were amazed at getting sales’,
Ian expands, ‘with contacts, for instance, from the States
and Australia.’
 Their
website was introduced from issue six and now averages some 3,500
hits a week. ‘We hadn’t really thought that through’,
adds Ian. ‘There’s a downside to the net, particularly
in the US, where our name means we crop up in porn and erotica sites.’
So, why that title? ‘We wanted to be provocative, but also
to lay ourselves bare in terms of editorial. Doing so, we try to
ensure that NUDE is free from the kind of fashionable post-ironic
cynicism that bedevils many other publications. We prefer the more
honest approach of sticking your neck out and admitting to liking
things,’ they chorus.
A regular feature is Beautiful Losers – heart-warming/rending
personal stories, both sad and risibly amusing, of failed bands
– an idea they allege was recently stolen by Time Out, with
no acknowledgment. ’As well as honesty’, they conclude,
’we, at least, have integrity.’
And plans. After curating an exhibition of challenging gig posters
by Frank Kozik at The Aquarium Gallery, they hope to branch out
into hosting gigs and more shows by artists they’ve featured.
’Having more of a reputation now’, Suzy ends, ‘the
people we approach say “Yes”, but also people now approach
us, wanting us to say the same’
A true labour of love, NUDE is available at £3.95 from Ocean
Books and Casino on Church Street. However, readers of N16 can take
advantage of a special offer to buy it for just £2.50 (inc
p+p) from Poke-in-the-Eye Publishing Ltd, PO Box 587, London WC1
9WB, or via its website: www.nudemagazine.co.uk
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