Lost Fansites Revisted

Many great sites paying hommage to Lush have been googled over the past decade-plus, a few have matured in to sites befitting the band, others have persisted only as time capsules forgotten by their creators, and most have just come and gone. Web providers revise services, get bought out, and ultimately all those homepages often get erased.

A select few of these sites were top-notch in their day, but like the band, they have ceased to be... or maybe we've just forgotten them?

Lush Images from Fanclub gig, Dublin Castle, Camden, December 1994

These are a few images which I grabbed back in 2005, I've long forgotten where they originated from until I chanced upon them again quite accidentally tonight! They're a wonderful showcase of live images of the band, up close and personal, very beautifully and professionally displayed, somewhat reminiscent of 4AD album art. Thankfully they're still up, hosted on Lysa's Lush page.

If you're out there - Thanks to Brian, the photographer/artist, and Lisa for keeping these and her site up all these years!

update: After corresponding with Bill of Lush Remembered I learned that the full set of the original scans used for the 'collages' where also posted on his site. He would greatly like to get in touch with the photographer.





The Lush Archives back in 2003 was an early repository of band photos, many seen no where else on the web. For the first time a fans were creating professional looking sites, this one for sharing a wealth of what was then considered high-quality scans instead of those tiny little gifs in circulation since the '90s.

Miki, Chris and Phil jamming furiously in Cologne, May 12 1992.

These live gig photos were featured on another site... but who's? Sorry, but I can longer say. I made these grabs back in 2003.

Drinks on her Boss pedals? hmmm, maybe that's why Miki's smiling!

Emma, Miki and Steve from various gigs

Yet another fan site with more great live shots, and another time capsule that's fading. Check out Sweetfoolthemouth site and SAVE those live gig photos -- before the last of the image links are gone forever.

update: The photographer is Jo Brooks, who was also heavily involved in photographing other bands, especially the Pale Saints. She's is still web-active with her blahg discussing such things as Life, and occasionally even Lush & Pale Saints.

Snippet from an old removed Sweetness & Light .mov file

Back before there was YouTube, we had the Superblast! site, the only place many of us had for viewing those glorious music videos. The site still remains online. But for how much longer though is up to the service provider to decide. Until the inevitable plug is pulled, its a reminder that not only have we persisted, but just how far the fan community has come along.




So, who created the pioneering sites? Neil's was certainly there, as well as Eyesore (now mantained at Quimby's), Downer, and of course Lysa's Lush site...

Back in 1997 when I first logged online with a primitive AOL 2.0, one of my daily destinations in addition to the above sites was the Lush message board, moderated by someone called Miki (no, not that Miki). It was all fun, all fan-run, if only visited by a handful. Today we have Purpleveinsscenicgreens on Yahoo groups, lovingly run by Jen, boasting a membership of over 400 now.

Things age and things change, but hopefully for the better with time.




If you were connected to any of the sites mentioned above, or know of any more details pertaining to them, please let me know!