Towards the end of 2017, and after the first 5 issues of the zine, it became obvious that there was a solid readership base, and that there was longevity in what had begun as a simple idea of producing a paper zine covering the more left of centre improv’, DIY, experimental, sound, noise, and drone scene. I then got to thinking how to celebrate the first anniversary of TQ in June 2018.

Initially I thought about a ‘cover mount’ CDr comprising tracks offered by invited artists. Each to be given away with TQ12.

Ash Cooke who designs the covers of the zine came up with the idea of offering 3 consecutive zine covers (Feb, March, and April) as musical scores that could be interpreted in any way the performer wished.

Together we drew up a list of artists we thought may be interested. Some were TQ subscribers, others weren’t. In the end we had to force ourselves to limit the number of artists as there were so many people we wanted to invite. As it turned out, over the ensuing weeks, a few people took it upon themselves to contact TQ and ask to contribute, and so the list grew!

The 3 covers and instructions were sent out with a brief outline of what the Covering the Covers project was about.

There began a steady stream of sound submissions, and it became obvious that there would be too much to fit on to one CDr, so I resigned myself to the idea of inserting a double disc into the centre pages of TQ12

As subscriber numbers were steadily increasing, I became aware of the cost of mailing the zine with 2 discs. At the same time, the number and quality of submissions was encouraging, and it began to look like a double disc would be insufficient!

As I didn’t want refuse any contribution, I decided to go with a triple disc for the project, and to offer subscribers a free DL of all contributions, rather than insert discs into the zine.

By knocking a few ideas around with Ash, it was decided to thank each contributor by creating a Covering the Covers ART BOX, and giving them one to mark the 1st anniversary of TQ.

We also decided to make a ltd number of copies available for general release too

Each individually hand numbered box includes;

• TQ12
• A No-Audience Underground supplement – written by Rob Hayler
• The original 3 TQ covers used to inspire the tracks
• 3 CDr’s with over 3 hours of sounds created by 32 artists
• Track listing


Subscribers will receive a free DL of the album with their issue of TQ12, and for non-subscribers a DL is available here.

All proceeds from the download will go to Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.

www.hearingdogs.org.uk

Supported and encouraged by Ash Cooke who has also designed of the ART BOX, I am extremely pleased with this amazing collection of sounds, and I hope you will celebrate with me by pre-ordering the collection via Bandcamp, and also please consider the DL option with any income from this option going to a wonderful cause.

Thanks, and I hope you will join in the birthday celebration


Andy TarQuin Wood

For more info on this release and for TQ fanzine in general please visit our website

tqzine.blogspot.co.uk