The '70s indie music scene and Dr Vibes

The '70s indie music scene and Dr Vibes

It still amazes me just how much of an incredible resource the internet is. Way back in the 70s when the world was a very different place, I was still a fresh (albeit pimpled) faced youth and heavily into the indie-comic scene. Also at this time, punk music was breaking through and Manchester was becoming the focal point of the music scene (just ask Tony Wilson). In this environment stood 'Vibes Records', a cult record shop which was enjoying being at the centre of this scene, and was busy expanding to become a record label, as well as a cult magazine publisher.

Now to help the magazine establish its image, I was asked to provide original underground comic strips. The main strip: 'The Abominable Dr Vibes' proved very popular and kept me busy till the magazine folded, and so when the shop decided to start producing records... I was there to create the covers. This included the artists/bands: The Reducers, Trickswitch, and Fran Barrie.

So what has this all to do with the internet? Well this was over 30 years ago, and long before the internet and computers. Heck... it was in the days of the banda machine and typewriter! When I created this artwork I never expected it to survive all this time. Imagine my surprise then when I idly googled my 'name' Sadistic Scribbler, and found references to it associated with Fran Raya's (then Fran Barrie) record on various websites. Moreso surprised as at the time I was uncredited (as the artwork was not in keeping with 'Sadistic Scribbler' then image).

So not only had someone decided to document this little piece of history, they had also researched who had done the cover and had added it to the internet as a resource.

Wow! Who'd've thunk it!

So if anyone is curious about what this ancient piece of art memorabilia looked like, look no further than the image here (or check out the re-release). Now if only someone would archive the Vibes Magazine strips and the comics 'HB' and 'pssst'...

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Half-Polish / Half-Italian British-born artist-cum-photographer who earned a living as a designer and artist between jobs as a teacher and IT Comms specialist (CV and other details via [profile] above.) A baritone, autistic polymath, and member of Mensa (6σ IQ), I am Jan Szafranski and also known as The Sadistic Scribbler.

Started out as a comic book artist (first underground in the '70s to mainstream in the late '80s) before teaching art & photography to teens. Moved into computers, web-design, photo-manips, etc. before returning to teaching in 2002.

In 2006 I temporarily lost my sight (right in the middle of a lesson with Year 11s), regained it but then started on the slow downhill decline that comes with MS… including pain, fatigue, vision & cognitive problems, and tremors & spasms. Add to that recent development of osteoarthritis, and all of which make drawing, painting and photographing very difficult when not in remission.

I’m now 'sorta-retired' because of the symptoms, but will still accept art or photography commissions, as well as website designs and IT consultancy. More details of which can be found on my business site: www.idea-technology.co.uk and artist portal: www.sadisticscribbler.co.uk.

I am currently working on developing my use of digital painting. Digital painting is an emerging art form in which traditional painting techniques such as watercolor, oils, etc. are applied using digital tools by means of a computer, a digitizing tablet and stylus, and software. Digital painting differs from other forms of digital art, particularly computer-generated art, in that it does not involve the computer rendering from a model, nor does it use the computer to automatically generate a pseudo-painting. Instead, the artist uses traditional painting techniques to create the digital painting directly on the computer as if it were just another brush or medium.

I create the painting, directly on my PC, by using various painting software. The tablet can be compared to a canvas or watercolor paper surface, while the stylus pen or mouse is my paintbrush.

All images © Jan Szafranski. Unauthorized use prohibited.

These images and writings are not a part of the public domain. They are not stock and may not be used for manipulations, references, blogs, journals, share sites, etc. All images and writing are copyright © Jan Szafranski (also known as the Sadistic Scribbler).

Any copying, altering, displaying and redistributing of Jan Szafranski’s images and text is strictly prohibited, without express written permission from the artist and is considered a violation of applicable laws.