Welcome to Beardblog, the weblog from the creators of Beard, Scotland's finest music, arts and facial hair magazine.
The eagerly anticipated Beard #2, with its unique mix (er...) of interviews, features and reviews will appear early next year, but this blog means Beard can exist beyond its very occasional publication.
Beard was devised one drunken night by Stewart Smith and Neil Jaques, two post-grad journalism students eager to publish their own fanzine in Glasgow.
We'd seen some great fanzines in Glasgow (Chica, Cheery Bananas) but some stinkers too. Bad poetry, sub-Hicks/Chomsky/Moore political ranting, ugly cut n paste artwork, precious reviews, and interminable q & a pieces were all too common. Interesting interviews and features, sharp crit, clean layout were rare.
Incredibly, we actually got our act together and produced Beard #1 after our course ended. With features on Glasgow's Grand Ole opry and Danish anarchist commune Christiania, interviews with Mudhoney guitarist Steve Turner and the people behind Shoeshine Records, and much, much more, Beard #1 was a success.
I'll be starting as a reporter on the Alloa Advertiser soon, while Neil is is Dallas, Texas for the next few months. He's going to be coming up with all kinds of crazy stuff. Hopefully he can travel to Austin and track down Willie Nelson. I've been doing some writing for www.ideasfactory.co.uk/scotland - more news when it's published. We'd also like to welcome a new executive member of the Beard team - Paul McGarvey.
With Beardblog you can follow the progress of issue 2, see what we think of the latest happenings and submit your own work for consideration.
I'll post some of Beard #1 on the site alongside previews of Beard #2.
Let's make this the best blog....ever!

Party on and be excellent to each other,
Yours,
Stew