Fracture
An independently produced British punk and hardcore fanzine that developed into a substantial newsprint publication documenting bands, politics, DIY infrastructure and the social networks around the scene.
Fracture
Fracture developed from the joining of Dave Hopkin’s Cardiff-based Mad Monks and Russell Gallon’s Hull-based Charred Remains. Hopkin and Gallon — usually credited in Fracture as Monk Dave and Russell Remains — were the principal editorial figures, supported by a wide network of contributors.
The magazine mixed long-form band interviews, record and fanzine reviews, letters and scene commentary with political writing, activist information, promoter directories, mail-order advertising and practical documentation of how the UK DIY punk and hardcore network operated. By issue #15 in early 2001, Fracture itself stated that its print run was a little over 5,000 copies and described distribution through the UK, mainland Europe, the United States and Japan.
Why it matters
Fracture matters to The Material Record not simply as music journalism but as surviving evidence of the infrastructure of British DIY culture at the turn of the millennium: its venues, promoters, labels, correspondence networks, political arguments, distribution systems and transition into internet-era communication.
Associated people
Coverage
The starting date is not fully reconciled. A South Wales music-history source says Fracture began in 1997, while a specialist fanzine history states that the first issue appeared in March 1998. The Bath radical-library catalogue documents issue #5 in December 1998 and issue #25 in December 2003; the South Wales source reports that the title stopped after 25 issues in 2004. TMR preserves that discrepancy rather than selecting an unsupported single date.
5 objects
TMR holdings represented across 1998–2001.