On a sunny day in May I attended a few events that piqued my curiosity and introduced me to a niche, eccentric world. It was organised to celebrate 35 years of Headpress Books, a Manchester-founded independent publisher with a presence in the counterculture, pop culture, and horror scenes since 1991.
Read about the first two events here.
Music from the Margins
The third panel of the day featured Mark Goodall and Andy Cowan, who spoke with Jen Wallis, press officer at Headpress, about their books on music.
Mark’s Gathering of the Tribe is all about music with occult and esoteric associations. It covers things like Charles Manson’s Lie album; the Lyman Family’s heavy conscious creation music; outsider artists such as R. D. Lang; records about witchcraft and hauntology and sex; and the idea of music as control and persuasion. Speaking about the selection Mark said that not everything in the book is ‘good’, but it is interesting to listen to. As he played some excerpts I was inclined to agree.
Andy’s B-Side is the result of cataloguing his record collection during Covid. He started to play the B-sides as he went along and got the idea for a book about how important they are. Themes emerged on the “massive spreadsheet” he created and he was able to organise the B-sides into an A to Z format. The result was a friend describing the outcome as a “toilet book” – he assured us he was not offended by the remark.
Andy gave some examples of interesting B-sides, including songs that have ended up more famous than their A-side counterparts, such as 2Pac’s Hit ‘Em Up. He spoke about B-sides as blank canvases that gave artists the opportunity to experiment, especially as, regardless of which side the radio played, the songwriter would receive royalties. Some bands had a lot of fun with them. For example, the B-side of Napoleon XIV’s They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! is the same song played backwards.
Jen and the panellists discussed the popularity of the music memoir at the moment, saying that its formula is usually the same redemptive narrative arc. Mark and Andy enjoyed doing something more unconventional with their books: their formats were less mainstream and their subject extended beyond well-known, well-liked pieces of music.
Mark reflected on how Headpress understood the benefits of variety; by refusing to stick to a single thing (film, music or books), the magazine became especially alluring. Both Mark and Andy mentioned the importance of fanzines in the 80s and 90s, which allowed people to express their ‘weird’ obsessions.
Considering the changes throughout the years, Andy recalled the discontinuance of the magazine Hip Hop Connection, having been the editor of it from 1993 until its end in 2009. Mark commented on how a “willingness to take risks” that was active in the punk era has been lost today. It was the fact that Headpress does “something a bit different”, said Andy, that attracted him to the company to publish his book.
Sex Murder Art: Jörg Buttgereit in conversation with David Kerekes
David Kerekes, “head honcho” and one of the three original founders Headpress, had introduced the extravaganza at the start of the day. He had observed how ‘counterculture’ has become ‘pop culture’ throughout the company’s history. He spoke about how, at the start of the company’s life, at least one business had refused to print Headpress magazine.
David added that the magazine had championed people’s “small pockets of obsession”; the publishing arm continued that legacy and it has endured all the way through to today.
Headpress was founded in 1991 in order to release Jörg Buttgereit’s film Der Todesking. David Kerekes published Sex Murder Art in 1994 – Headpress’ first book – all about the German writer-director’s work. 35 years on, a revised edition is soon to be released. The pair reunited at the anniversary event and joined Jen Wallis on stage for the final event of the day.
Reflecting on the 90s, David said that Headpress “liked to push against the edge”. He divulged how, while the media reacted strongly to video nasties, in the counterculture scene fanzines were actively sought out and censored films were approached as magical things. He and Jörg reminisced about buying the horror film magazine Fangoria, recalling how it was bizarrely stocked in the porn sections of shops.
Censorship was a big issue that Jörg faced in Germany. Jörg voiced how his film Nekromantik was born out of frustration of being unable to watch a lot of horror that interested him. He also spoke about the lawsuit surrounding Nekromantik 2, which was confiscated in Germany days after its release.
Jörg considered what it would be like to make Nekromantik today, coming to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be the same because the environment has changed. “Censorship doesn’t work anymore. It sounds like a bad thing, but it’s good.” He argued that without the controversy, a modern Nekromantik would be pointless and less interesting. It is for this reason that he has refused some young filmmakers’ requests to do a remake.
David was prompted to revise his book in part due to a nagging question: why are people still revisiting Jörg’s films today? Jörg said it is “weird” to have a new generation of fans who no longer run out of the cinema. He added that they appear to take his films more seriously than he ever has, and observed that the majority are young women who congratulate him for his bravery in resisting German censorship.
Jen raised the issue of AI, speaking about Headpress’s belief in human creativity. Jörg mentioned that the cover of the revised edition of the book has been questioned despite being made entirely without AI. Jörg added that his films were made with “sweat and blood”; using an AI-generated image inspired by them for the book would be “a crime.”
Jörg also voiced his dislike of bootlegging, which is problematic for independent companies. He said he was aware he cannot do anything about it, but expressed frustration that producing DVDs as an alternative is financially impractical, leaving the issue beyond his control.
Despite these contrasts with the world 35 years prior, David closed the event by acknowledging how “humbling” and “reassuring” it is that Headpress is still here. Another of the original founders, David Slater, was also present and said it was “great to see David keeping the flag flying.”
