Mick Mercer

Mick Mercer (born 1958) is a journalist and author best known for his photos and reviews of the goth, punk and indie music scenes.

Life and work

Mercer is primarily a writer who has written more about the gothic scene and its music than anyone alive. He has also photographed bands from the punk era onwards. He publishes a monthly online magazine, The Mick, and hosts a weekly live internet radio show, Mick Mercer Radio.

Mercer ran one of the first punk fanzines, Panache, from 1976 to 1992. In 1978, he began writing for British music paper Record Mirror, then freelanced for ZigZag magazine, later becoming its editor until the magazine folded in 1986. During the 1980s, he wrote regularly for the British music weekly Melody Maker, and edited Siren magazine in the 1990s. He has written five books on gothic music, and self-published over 100 books, available through his website. He continues to publish weekly reviews of records, visible on his Facebook pages.

Mercer's Music to Die For compendium (2009) was described by The Quietus as having "a far greater stylistic variety than the casual observer might imagine", and as being "stuffed full of the best and most artistic music the world has to offer."