Back in 1991, the first issue of Headpress zine emerged on the streets of Manchester; a flimsy publication in prostate respect of the B-movie and all it stands for. Today, after relocating to the grimy East End of London, Headpress is a full-fledged publishing house, independent in both thought and bank account, with hundreds of titles slowly branching into independent film-making and recordings.

Covering plenty of counter-cultural subject-- from underground music movements you’ve never heard of, to 1980s porno flicks you’ve never seen-- all aspects of sin, sleaze, and subterfuge sit happily beneath the Headpress umbrella. Author David Kerekes is in possession of the brain that birthed this unwanted love child of pop culture. psychoPEDIA joined Kerekes listen to his cure for society’s collective short attention span:

What is Headpress?
The gospel according to unpopular culture.

If you had no idea what Headpress was, and you came across something it had put out, who would you imagine would be responsible?
Naked people in a tree, as one journalist believed me to be several years ago.

Who are the people Headpress would not exist without?
The people that Headpress would not exist without are mostly dead: Roger Watkins, the director of Last House on Dead End Street, “Archaic” Alan Hewetson, creator of the Skywald Horror-Mood, and Dr. Frances B Gross, the narrator of Faces of Death. I have been fortunate and honored to speak to each and every one of them and feature them in Headpress publications.

Did you ever mean to start a publishing company?
Headpress began with three guys called David who shared an appetite for “video nasties,” the horror films that were liable to turn the population of Great Britain into blood-lusting maniacs, according to the media. We turned our appetite into a blood-lusting zine instead, called Headpress.

Are you aware of trends in the publishing industry, or literature in general, to publish certain types of books? Do you take any notice of them?
The trend is a downhill one in general. If we followed it, we would be out of business.

What has been your best-selling book, and how many copies were sold?
I would say The X Factory: Inside the American Hardcore Film Industry. We generally print limited editions of 2,000 copies, but occasionally reprint, as happened with The X Factory, which sold around 5,000 copies total. Another good book for us was See No Evil: Banned Films and Video Controversy, which I co-wrote with David Slater, and that sold in excess of 30 million.

What are your biggest Headpress regrets?
Following advice given to me by distributors and Christians.

And proudest moments?
Riding horseback up the Holy Mountain in Rio De Catorce in Mexico with Caleb Selah, Headpress service engineer.

Can you give me a run down of titles that sum up the mentality of publishing house?
I’m going to name up and coming titles: Dr Adolf Steg’s Notebook, Planner & Diary, a book with virtually no writing in it; Bad Mags, the sleaziest, strangest periodicals ever published; It’s All Good, a John Sinclair reader; Trashfiend, disposable horror culture of the 1960s and 1970s; Chelsea Hotel Manhattan, the first factual book on the hotel and its inhabitants; and Keep It Together! on the Deviants and Pink Fairies.

In your wildest dreams, what will Headpress be in 10 years?
Full of stars, like Stanley Kubrick.

In reality, what will Headpress be in 10 minutes?
A wild dream about wild dreams.

~Iphgenia Baal


First photo by Mark Berry via Flickr