Sandman was the North’s free monthly music magazine.

It existed to give press to local and mainly unsigned bands who wouldn’t otherwise be written about in the national press, and also to celebrate the successes of those bands when they do make it big, like the Arctics or Kaisers...

The print edition of Sandman was founded in 2002 by Mark Roberts and Jan Webster at a time when there wasn’t much media representation for the wealth of talented unsigned bands in Sheffield. The magazine grew swiftly, packing out the Boardwalk for the launch gig, and quickly earned a reputation as a credible and honest magazine. It took a while for some bands to come round to the idea of the mag as sometimes it could be brutally honest. However if we got two reviews of the same gig that contrasted totally, we would always print both of them. The magazine didn’t have a ‘house’ opinion, it was simply a forum for over 500 different writers, all with their different views, to express their opinions through.

By 2005 there were 5 Sandman Magazines, in Sheffield, Leeds, Hull, York and Nottingham and to keep expanding we decided to combine all the separate mags into one bumper edition. We then expanded into Manchester with a full editorial team and started covering Leicester, Lincoln, Derby, Bradford, Liverpool and many more cities inbetween.

September 2008 saw the last print edition as the magazine looked to the future and evolved into a web based magazine. Environmentally friendly media.

The last upload was made on Sunday 3rd May 2009 to close the door on the Sandman era. To a) avoid speculation and b) try to motivate others to start up new magazines, as a business Sandman was sound, and although life encompassing at times, a pleasure to be involved with. I do honestly hope that someone somewhere picks up the idea of a free, independent, cool, underground, honest, stylish, credible and respected music magazine, and runs with it, because there are loads of people out there, like you and me, that want to read all about the wealth of new fantastic bands appearing in cities all over the North. So here's to the next magazine to grace the tables of pubs, venues, and shops; to be read cover to cover or tossed on the fire when people disagree with the opinions within; to raise the aspirations of fledgling bands and indeed raise the bar of achievement and success; to help inform the public what really is out there past the corporate facade of touring bands ltd; to make sure that everyone gets a say; and to do what it should best, celebrate fantastic music here, there and everywhere.

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