What is now Shindig! hasn't always been so... Back in 1993 Jon 'Mojo' Mills, the magazine's editor, was living in the small village of Landford - on the edge of the New Forest, 10 miles south of Salisbury, Wiltshire - playing guitar and singing with garage band The Nuthins. Through touring the breadth and length of Europe he discovered an international network of bands and labels that were dedicated to the '60s garage phenomenon. After reading American publications like Ugly Things and Cryptic Times and the roughly photocopied Italian fanzines Misty Lane and Born Loser, he thought to himself, "I'm gonna do that."

  Things weren't so easy though. He had no experience of writing and had absolutely no idea of how to layout a magazine! Getting a PC would be a good idea, but how would he be able to afford one? He worked long hours in all manner of boring jobs and six months later had, surprisingly, accumulated enough money to buy a brand new machine. Meanwhile, letters were sent to various obscure garage bands and some major heroes, ranging from The Tell Tale Hearts, Distortion/Moulty Records and even '60s freakbeat legends, Les Fleur De Lys. Amazingly, all replied, and even supplied photos and records...this was GREAT! 

  All those years ago, PC's were much more expensive than today - and more for business than pleasure. Diskovery Systems of Salisbury supplied him with a then state-of-the-art 486 machine with four megabytes of RAM. Not even enough power to surf the web nowadays... but then it was a monster! Loaded with a basic DTP package Jon set about learning how to use it. Through trial and error he eventually got there. The interviews were completed... all he had to do was type them up, lay out the pages and review the records... However, due to eagerness and zero PC experience the work was lost about ten times due to the PC crashing and forgetting to back it up! Doh! But determination ruled, and he didn't give up!

  Featuring Canadian comic artist Darren Merinuk, Mike Stax, Les Fleur De Lys, live music scene at London's Wild Western Rooms, The Mystreated and much more, the 60-page issue was complete. Inspired by the spooky B-movie themes that many garage bands of the time liked to feature in their songs, the name Gravedigger was chosen. Darren Merinuk drew a great cover, and BAM!, what seemed like a magazine was now ready to print. But hold on... How was the bloody thing going to be financed? That most important of factors had been completely overlooked! The £700 quoted by a local printer in Salisbury was totally unexpected! This could be the nail in the coffin! After buying the PC Jon had no cash left! He'd also forgotten about trying to get some advertising to help with the costs. There was no money.... Gravedigger had dug its own grave!

  A few months later the bassist in The Nuthins, Carol, managed to sneak out 100 or so copies using the photocopier at work. The project was saved! Hooray! The rough-around-the-edges look of this photocopied 'n' stapled job was a start at least. Slim Chance's Wild Western Rooms in North London, where The Nuthins regularly played, was the obvious marketplace - and all of the copies sold. One copy was bought by a chap called Paul, of whom more later...

  Things progressed with The Nuthins, Jon met more 'scenesters' and decided to start on the second issue - Son Of Gravedigger. There were so many bands fitting in with this garage scene - some more punky, others surf orientated and the rest of a more purist '60s persuasion - subject matter was plentiful. That second issue was ready to be printed in 1994 (the year before Jon left for university) but still he'd not figured out how to cover the printing costs. Fortunately, a one-time Bucketful Of Brains contributor contacted Jon about Gravedigger #1, offered to write for #2 - and ended up paying for it! He donated enough money to print 250 copies.

  Jon then left the happy nest in the country and moved to London to study. He took the box of Son Of Gravedigger with him - and very quickly sold them around the Big Smokes' record stores... London was teeming with '60s music and clubs! What a place for Gravedigger to be situated! More and more great '60s comps were being issued and the labels were now treating Jon as a 'proper' editor - and sending vast amounts of promos. The black-clad, pointy-booted, mop top '80s/'90s garage bands all of a sudden seemed rather naff! They just weren't so appealing any more. The editor wanted to change direction - a new philosophy, a more professional outlook and more of a focus on the '60s originators. With a change of name to Shindig! - and an ever-increasing team of people willing to help out - this magazine looked set to really take off.