Chester is an Internet Zine (formally also a printed fanzine) focussing on UK-indie, pop and dance music.

The Fanzine

Chester was intially conceived as a printed Fanzine but expanded to include an on-line version. Over the course of 1996 to 1997 there were 3 editions of the fanzine printed. More info on the Fanzine

So what's indie music?

Indie, the word, is derived from independent, which generally refers music on an independent label. This term was coined in the early eighties as artists such as The Cure, The Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen and New Order were on indie labels, releasing interesting, progressive guitar and electronic music. Today however a lot of artists that are considered in the indie genre are on major labels or have major distributors and are finding success on both the independent and mainstream charts.

Britpop was a term that started to be used around 1994 to describe the upsurgence in UK pop music, as artists such as Blur, Oasis, Pulp, Elastica and Supergrass were all doing very well in the UK and elsewhere.

How did Chester start

Chester began when UK-indie fan Tabitha came across another UK-indie fan's (Alex) home page. Through their love for the same type of music these two strangers began work on a printed fanzine. A few months and lot of hard work later, Chester had become a reality.

Caleb, was contacted after the two editors came across his home page (through posting on the UK-Indie mailing list) and invited him to hop on board. After the first printed zine, Caleb started work on the Net version which you are now reading. He has continued work on the Web version long after the demise of the fanzine.

Contact Details

e-mail

E-mail us at [email protected] for contributions and further contact details.

Who's who of Chester

Caleb Rudd

Editor. Caleb left sunny Brisbane and moved to London in mid 1998 after being involved in UK-indie fanzines (Chester), radio shows (the UK SHOW on 4-ZZZ) and club nights (including Velocity and Toast). He hopes to stay in the UK until May 2000, if not longer, and continues to be involved with the Uk-indie music scene, which has most recently resulted in co-editing Papercuts fanzine. [e-mail]

Clem Urry

Contributing editor. Clem studying journalism in Brisbane has been involved with the UK-indie scene for many years. He is promoter and DJ of Brisbane's only continuing UK-indie night Popscene, now in it's fifth year and writes a fortnightly UK music column for streetpress publication The Scene. He also co-presented the UK show with Caleb and Chris.[e-mail]

and let's not forget...

Taylor Glasby (Former contributer) Glamor princess Taylor moved over to London after completing a journalism degree in Brisbane. She moved back to Brisbane soon after, but is coming back to London in July 1999. Confused? You should be. [e-mail]

Alex Allegos (Former Fanzine editor). Lives in Melbourne and has his own homepage and indie links page: Sugary Tea.

Chris Butler (Former contributor). Former writer for Chester and co-host of the UK-Show, Chris is now living in Sydney but hopes to make his way to the UK early 2000. [e-mail]