Zines, Zines, always more Zines.
That's actually rarely the case. Most of the time these days, zines are few and far between. While they're inarguably becoming more and more antiquated every day, there's something to be said (and has been, ad nauseum) for the qualities of a paper zine that still make them worthwhile. Thanks to my current job I've been able to finally do Brickshitter on the regular, and I've been trading with people more frequently too. Matt Radiobeat has been banging out Beat Sheet just as quickly, if not more so, and I just got the For the Worse/Concrete Facelift tour diary issue in the mail. I also picked up Ride the Fury Fanzine #1, a new zine out of NJ that my friend Pat puts out. More on both of those in a second, but getting new zines in general is always a highlight of doing a zine, so anyone who's doing anything zine-ish these days, please send me a copy, I'll send back all my garbage and more. Lucky you. Hardcore zines rule, ok?
Beat Sheet Vol. 5: For the Worse/Concrete Facelift World Tour Diary
Matt roadied for the above four day world tour, and recounts the weekend's events in this issue. Most tour diaries are either so bland and matter of fact ("Show was cool, some kids moshed. Ate pizza after, watched movies. Van ride was long. Repeat.") or made up entirely of longwinded inside jokes ("So then Bobby Stagedive was like 'ALFALFA SPROUTS, COCKSUCKERS!' and everyone was all 'LOL' and then we all went to that one place that Stevie said was awesome, but it was only awesome becuz he got this girls digits there and then f-banged her in the van that one time.") This zine, happily, is neither. There's a good balance between the funny shit that went on and plenty of show/bands talk as well. Really entertaining, perfect length for a straight through read with no filler. And on a strictly aesthetic level, this is the best looking issue Matt has done by far. He'll have the whole thing up for a download in PDF form on his blog sometime soon, so check that out, or email him (radiobeat@gmail.com) for a copy.
Ride the Fury Fanzine #1
RTF is a Jersey based zine that, at least so far, focuses mostly on said area. RTF#1 is a short fullsize zine with a Dustheads interview, record reviews, two short columns and a list of tips on how to go about booking DIY shows. Pat and Jeff split the writing pretty much down the middle, so there's two perspectives that are different enough to stand apart but not so far divergent to give the thing a schizo tone. The interview is a little on the short side, but otherwise no complaints, and as the Dustheads are arguably the best band going right now, no such thing as too much exposure. (Side note: Tall Tales I and II are both out now on Don Giovanni records, I is almost out of print, so get both asap.) In addition to the interview there are reviews of new records from the Ergs, Mother Night Hellhole, Kill Your Idols, and Pellinore, a column about the last last Kill Your Idols show, and one about the whole "coatrack" issue.
Both columns are concise and straight to the point, the only issue I (personally) have is with the coatracks one. And you know what, as I typed the following few sentences, I started thinking about the column and remembered that what I'm arguing against isn't what the column was saying at all. The whole "not enough girls in hardcore" thing always sets me off though, so I ended up on a fairly unrelated tangent, at least as far as said column is concerned. But this is my blog, and I'm a pretty self indulgent guy, so I'm leaving it in. But for the record, the column is actually saying that there are plenty of girls in DA SCENE and that people just need to look around more, at least in jersey. Basically. So here's the aforementioned blathering: Partially because I'm a sexist, but partially because I don't believe in coddling people, I have zero desire to go out of my way to make hardcore more welcoming to girls, or to give them a pat on the back for showing up and singing along. I also don't go around looking for other "under represented" groups and say like "hey, black guy, you know what you might like? Punk rock! And we don't have too many of you folks, so you should come up the quotient. Awesome. Oh and if you have any friends who are gays or asians that would be GREAT. High five!" Hardcore is something that primarily appeals to guys, and, for whatever reasons, white guys. While I obviously have no problem with it if girls and every other race under the sun wants to come to shows, (except Italians, just don't trust em) I don't think there's any need to adjust things to cater to people. I don't expect the knitting classes at the Y to start including tailgating and fireworks just to make sure I feel welcome.
Yeah, so at one point, I was still talking about Ride the Fury. This is also the first zine Pat and Jeff have done, and while it shows with some of the layout aspects**, it's still an enjoyable read, and hopefully we'll be seeing more in the future.
(**About that layout...something it took me literally years of doing crappy zines to learn is to limit the handwritten parts to an absolute minimum. I know how it is, last minute stuff that you forgot, but try to use it very sparingly.)
Get ahold of Pat (gerity@rider.edu or http://myspace.com/xpatgerityx) or Jeff (atlf27@comcast.net or http://myspace.com/jeffguerriero) for a copy.
And, my last little plug, Brickshitter #3-5 are still available for mailorder, send your mailing address to grossnation@gmail.com, and #6 will be out in a few weeks. And all the back issues, #1-5 are up for download as PDF's on the myspace (if the links are dead, check back in a few days, I have to refresh them every so often.
dog cum.
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