Oli Spleen Waking after the long deep sleep that often followed a strenuous evening’s session pumping glutinous white puddles of fluid across scraps of paper, salvaged from magazines and underwear catalogues – it was not unusual for Peter to find some irregular blemishes, sores and friction burns on his overworked member. Peter had been masturbating…
Karina Patfield The building is old. It smells a little musty from every aspect, every corner. Dust settles on vertical windows and mould creeps into not-quite-right-angled corners. It creaks and sighs. The building is split into flats. Doors face forwards and sideways and backwards. Letters are put in holes. Fragile connective strands hang, taut in…
Words: Oli Spleen, B&W Images: Estate of Fred W. McDarrah Ten years ago this June, a gunman walked into Pulse, an LGBT+ venue in Orlando Florida and opened fire. Forty nine people died as a result. Deeply shaken by the news of this tragedy I was honoured to be asked to write a poem for…
Words: Oli Spleen. Gig photos: Jeff Pitcher. “I’ve killed so many men, but I saved one” – Lydia Lunch says as she puts an arm around me to pose for a photograph at The Piper, Norman Road. She’s just torn through an incredible set with her band Big Sexy Noise. Any attempts to define the…
Words: Lizzie Beck. Pictures: Tatenda Mikey and Hatton’s Yard. Where I live in St Leonards it is well established that there are as many art galleries as there are coffee shops. Which is actually pretty impressive for a small town. But why is this worth mentioning? Because in six years I’ve been in every one…
Just before Christmas it hit the headlines: we’ve stolen a Native American chief’s headdress. We, as in England generally, but also Hastings and its Museum specifically. Now, I know a Hastings boy did once stain his skin with tea and head out for Canada to pretend to be ‘one of them Red Injuns’. That happened,…
Oli Spleen The second to last time I saw Nick Hudson was at the start of March 2023. I had booked a two week trip to visit him in Tbilisi Georgia in the hope of performing a gig together and maybe bashing out a couple of Charles Aznavour covers while soaking up the sights and…
Merlin Betts My mind goes back to Winter last year, the wind and the rain along the seafront, making my way from St Leonards, the lights in Bottle Alley, the waves shifting between the shadows. The storm whipping my coat as I turn to head up Robertson Street and then scamper over and around the…
Merlin Betts I read this and I immediately thought of the biblical Eve. I bet a lot of you did too. Eve, or an archetypal woman. I didn’t know that “All About Eve” also refers to a band, and that their name comes from a 1950s film, “All About Eve”, which is about women lecherously…
Text: Oli Spleen. Photo: Oli with long-time friend and trans activist Fox Fisher. By Proud Parkers Photography. When Hastings Independent Press first launched over eleven years ago, its founding mission was to offer a unique community-led alternative to the mainstream fearmongering, scapegoating and divisive rhetoric that is the fodder of the daily tabloids. For many…