ZINE REVIEWS: ISSUE THREE

 

Note: this is not a complete archive of issue three's zine reviews, so if you sent something in and it isn't reviewed here don't panic, as it will be in the finished zine, and in "latest zines" when it is done.

 

ARTCORE #14 (A5, 48pg, £1+SAE)

First time I’ve seen this stalwart of the UK “zine scene” (ugh!), and it lived up to its reputation of being a damn good read. Interviewees are The ‘Tone, Brezhnev, Brain Grand Theft Audio, there’s an informative piece on the Seattle WTO protest, articles on Code of Honor and Flipper, and a complete BYO discography. An engaging read and nice to look at too, though all the writing being in capitals kinda did my head in a bit. Maybe that’s just me, though. (1 Aberdulais Road, Gabalfa, Cardiff CF14 2PH)

BATS AREN'T BUGS #1 (A5, 36pg, 80p+SAE)

Really good debut issue from two-thirds of the seemingly multi-talented Eighty Six kids and a Lubby Nugget. The layouts are basic but clear, and the quality of writing is high. Boy Sets Fire, the ubiquitous One Car Pile-Up and Zoinks! (RIP?) are put under the spotlight, there's a great column by Graham about growing up that anyone aged 18-21 is sure to relate to in some way, a clever word-play laden column by one Dr Frank (jealous? Me? Nnnnnnnnnnnmaybeyes…), stuff about the scary music genre that is metal, a piece on an unnamed but easy-to-guess ska band whose "ambitions" appear to be to suck corporate wiener, a Manchester scene report and a few (but not enough!) examples of Graham's ace artwork. Like the way they review stuff too; they give it a brief description then offer two opinions, which is original and works well. Good stuff, look forward to the next issue. (140 Burley Road, Leeds LS4 2EU)

DRAGG #3 (A5, 20pg, 25p+SAE)

First issue of Dragg I've seen, and most impressive it is too. Beneath the smart cut-out cover lie interviews with Jets to Brazil, Gash, Russ Remains and Indecision, columns, a recipe, a couple of very short stories and reviews, all done in a well-designed cut'n'paste kinda way. Nice to see some fiction in here, even though one of the "stories" is more of a conversation than a story. I like Chris' writing style, I like this zine, and at such a low price you'd be more than moronic to miss out. (33 Queens Road, Kenilworth, Warks, CV8 1JQ)

X FORUM X #2 (A5, 36pg, $2+postage)

Now here's something you don't see every day - a Malaysian sXe zine! It's all written in pretty good English though, apart from the Xs that seem to appear before and after names occasionally… only joking, sXe readers. Some of the opinions expressed in this zine seem a tad extreme to say the least. For example, Earth Crisis are apparently a "fascist" band, and some pro-life sentiments are expressed, including the following quotes: "you're killing a life inside you… a gift from god", "free sex is absolutely not accepted in our life", "casual sex is bullshit" and a reference to abortions that come about from sex for pleasure as "murder". Perhaps this attitude is prevalent because of Malaysian culture, but it's a little unnerving to read such opinions in a supposedly "punk" and therefore, one would expect, open-minded outlet. Apart from this the usual punk/HC topics are covered, such as anti-sexism, anti-violence and anti-drugs, and there are interviews with Zonk zine, 90's Choice zine, No Reason (the US HC band, who, I should point out, vehemently state they are pro-choice when asked) and Zerox zine. This is worth a look if you want to know what's going on in the sXe scene in another part of the world, but only if you can stomach the pro-life sentiments. As you can probably gleam from this interview, I had trouble doing so. (Lot 2341-D Off Jalan 1, Greenwood Park, 68100, Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia)

FRACTURE #12 (A4, pg, free+50p SAE)

Ahh, good ol' Fracture, I can barely remember what life was like before it. Here's more excellence from 'Drunk Rave' and 'Piss Stains' (Ó Peter Don't Care). Fracture is possibly the most important UK zine there is. (PO Box 623, Cardiff CF3 4ZA)

GEEK ESSAY #5 (A5, 36pg, 20p+SAE)

Latest issue from Nogs and the Chester Vegetarian Youth Crew continues Geek Essay’s tradition of being a most enjoyable cheapo cut-and-paste read, mixing the silly with the serious and chucking in random pictures here and there. Interviewed this time round are Academy Morticians, Egg Raid, Kneejerk, the Destructos, Dina, Eighty Six and Alpoecia Records, plus there are a couple of columns, stuff on (ugh!) football (one good serious piece on violence and one bobbins piece on Rangers) and a spurting ejaculation of reviews. Each issue is just that bit better than the last, and at 20p you really don’t have any excuse for not checking this out, cos it’s a decent way to pass a few trips to the outhouse. (Plas Devon Farmhouse, Rossett Road, Holt, Wrexham, LL13 9SY)

HAPPY HOUSE #12 (A5, 72pg, free+39p SAE)

It's hard to believe that a glossy-covered 72pg zine of this quality costs the reader absolutely nowt, but it's true, dear readers! There are a couple of new additions in this issue. 'Blast From The Past' is a nostalgia trip examining old bands, this issue's subject being the Dead Kennedys. The other is an excellent HTML tutorial which is a great idea as a feature for a zine and one which I hope runs for many issues… any chance of a Javascript tutorial too, Rick?! There are chats with Agent Orange, Pencilcase and the members of the Vanilla Pod fan club that are [spunge]. Tons of top reading matter and it's all free! Gotta be a bargain! (PO Box 506, Hull HU5 2YH)

VISION ON #17 (A4, 32pg, free+SAE)

Last issue had a glossy cover, this issue has a card cover with – get this – blue ink on it! Wooo! But who cares about the cover anyway? Not me. So why did I mention it? Er… look, I’m gonna start this review again, OK? Good. Hurrah, it’s a new Vision On! The people who are asked the questions this issue are Bouncing Souls, Jello Biafra (who, sad to say, comes across as being a bit awkward and standoffish), The Dragons, Becky Crackle/Flame In Hand and Down By Law. There’s a good selection of columns, couple of reprints from the Guardian and Observer (one a piece on the CIA’s involvement in Guatemala, the other a hilariously bad piece on sXe that manages to get more facts wrong than should be humanly possible – Household Name stock “expensive US imports”, doncha know?) and – best of all – Steve’s excellent reviews which always manage to raise a smile. Job’s a good ‘un. ! (27 Springbank Croft, Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, HD7 1LW)

JUNGLE JIM #2 (A5, 48pg, £1+SAE)

Wow! This is certainly the most beautifully presented zine I ever did see! The brown paper "dust jacket", the cutaway inside cover, the letter in an envelope, a fold-out picture… clearly a heck of a lot of time, effort and thought have gone into the presentation of this zine. Just looking at the zine will ensure that you fall in love with it, and after reading it you'll be proposing marriage to it! Er, if you're the type of person that talks to zines, and believes that you can marry them. Or something. There are in-depth interviews with Discount, MU330, Steptones, Belvedere and Douglas, a few columns and stuff on Hong Kong movies. If I had a 'zine of the issue' award this would win it hands down. And to think that Simon almost didn't get this out at all due to his computer screwing up. I'm glad he persevered, and I look forward to the next exciting instalment. Wonderful, just wonderful. (9 Henry Preston Road, Tasburgh, Norwich, NR15 1NU)

LATE FOR THE TREND #2 (A5, 56pg, £?)

If you think this issue of Scary Sheep is late, let me point out that #1 of Late For The Trend was out in 1997… however, Paul has better reasons for the zine’s lateness than I do which are outlined in the zine, along with interviews with the Headchecks, One Car Pile-Up, Piss Tank Twat, Chocolate, Cleatus, Snuff (who actually answer a couple of questions semi-seriously!), Panic and Rich Speedowax, plus some personal writing and some silliness, all put together in a pretty decent cut and paste stylee (including some piccies ripped off from the likes of Evan Dorkin and Daniel Clowes – this guy has taste!). This has pretty much everything that I like to see in a zine (any zine that says anything positive about Belle and Sebastian is always gonna score highly with me!), and it’s an engrossing, well-written read. Can’t recommend this zine highly enough – hope there’s a shorter wait between issues this time round. Not sure on the price, but I reckon a quid and an SAE sounds about right. (54 Nelson Street, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire DN21 2SE)

MIND THE CAT #1 (A5, 36pg, 50p+SAE)

Was given this by Gareth at Dr Frank's superb solo show, and it was already pretty old then and I haven't heard anything about a new issue yet… hope he has one planned cos I really enjoyed this 'pilot issue'. Usual zineage: columns, reviews and interviews (Skimmer, Sicko, Silent Bob and 720), plus a bunch of well-drawn cartoons, all slapped down in a snip'n'stick kinda way. Hope the second issue purrs its way onto the scene soon! (Old Orchard, Bangors Road South, Iver, Bucks, SL0 0AD)

P101 #6 (A4, 52pg+CD, £3 ppd)

Slight improvement on the last issue, though that's not saying much. The cover features the Vans Warped Tour logo for no discernible reason, and the next issue is gonna be the Vans Warped Tour special. I assume their coverage will differ somewhat from that of Punk Planet a few issues ago. As for the innards, the interviews aren't too bad. This time Lagwagon, Face to Face (nice to see a Face to Face interview, even if it does seem like Trever can't be arsed with it), China Drum (now called The Drum and if what's said in this interview is anything to go by the next album will be a steaming great pile of donkey wank), Farside, Marilyn's Vitamins, Four Letter Word, Mr Zippy and Blink 182. Ross seems to interview the same bands several times - China Drum, Lagwagon and Blink 182 have all graced his pages before. I'll resist the temptation to say maybe he hasn't heard of any other bands. Also in this issue are contributions from Wolfie (Real OD) and Welly (Artcore), a column and some reviews. Still no zine reviews, though. What really bugs me about P101 is that it's trying to be "professional" superficially (glossy cover, "big" band interviews) while its content is woefully mediocre (dull layouts, poor quality writing). It's a bit hard to take it as the big, professional zine it tries to be when the editor doesn't even know how to use commas. I doubt I'll ever like P101 but, as ever, it's still worth buying for the CD. Maybe Ross should drop the zine and just release a series of comp CDs. (PO Box 1152, Winterbourne, Bristol, BS36 2YD)

PUT THE PAST AWAY #2 (A5, 12pg, free+postage)

Flimsy hand-written personal zine with pretty much no pictures and sloppy but readable handwriting that isn't written straight. Subject matter touched upon includes the Columbine school shooting, the author's experiences with drugs and Ed Wood movies. What there is is adequately written, but there's only about ten minutes worth of reading here if that. If more time was put into the zine and the layouts were improved this might be worthwhile, but as it is I can't recommend sending off for it. Sorry. (PO Box 5683, Evansville, IN 47716, USA)

REAL OVERDOSE #21 (A5, 84pg, £1+SAE)

I expect everyone reading this knows the score with Real OD by now. Each issue is packed full of the usual zine goodness, but also tons of extra little irrelevant, irreverent bits here and there, all mixed up using Wolfie's secret recipe of tightly-packed manic layouts which have thankfully survived the transition from c+p to DTP. As usual there are fuckloads of interviews, this time with the Cogs, Diesel Boy, Servo, Weaklings, Tilt, Connie Dungs, Voice of a Generation, River City Rapists, CD Truth, Reducers, Dr Frank, Ataris, Dehumanized, Dance Hall Crashers and Kill Allen Wrench. There's enough in here to fill most zines three times over. Still the best zine on the planet? I think so! (64 Chatsworth Drive, Rushmere Park, Ipswich, Suffolk IP4 5XD)

RUNNIN' FEART #5 (A5, 60pg, £1+SAE)

It's been aaaages since the last issue of Runnin' Feart (hello, Mr Pot? There's a Mr Kettle on the phone… says something about you being black…), so it's nice to see it back. The new issue of 'Scotland's TOP punk rock fanzine' (it says here) features interviews with current Scary Sheep favourites Beauty School Dropout, the Destructos, the Red Eyes, 4 Past Midnight, Overspill, Happy Spastics, Critikill, Fake Patriots and On File, plus stuff on the Ramones, the Amphetameanies and Bloco Vomit, who are, of course, a ten-piece samba-punk band from Edinburgh. There's also a really good comic strip called 'Brains Can Be Dangerous' which, unlike most comic strips in zines, actually reads well as opposed to being pretty pictures but no plot and which comes across as being a crazy combination of 'Hector Vector and His Talking T-Shirt' and 'Harry The Head' from the late, lamented Oink! comic (if anyone has any copies of Oink! that they're willing to part with for cheap get in touch ASAP!). There's also a punk crossword to which, embarrassingly, I only knew nine answers. Oh, the shame! The layouts are nicely DTPed, there's a column explaining the lack of columns, and overall this is a decent read. I hope 'Brains Can Be Dangerous' returns next issue! (12 Crusader Crescent, Stewarton, Ayrshire KA3 3BL)

SCANNER #6 (A5, 76pg, £1+SAE)

Yet another zine storms out of the punkest street in Ipswich! (6 Chatsworth Drive, Rushmere Park, Ipswich, Suffolk IP4 5XA)

SHARKPOOL #3 (A5, 60pg, £1+SAE)

A serious contender for the 'Best Zine in the UK' crown, Sharkpool mixes light-hearted fun with more serious subject matter, never falling short of being extremely well written. This issue plays host to interviews with the Marshes ('bizarre' doesn't even begin to describe that one!), Swingin' Utters, Rock Bitch (a very interesting and entertaining read, as it goes) and Scared of Chaka, plus the Headchecks play Blind Date. Other highlights are a lengthy, thoughtful piece on violence, a fun piece on the pros and cons of alphabetising one's record collection (it must be done! I'm anal and proud… er, maybe I should rephrase that…), an upsetting piece on Richey Edwards, stuff on Sunset Beach, some book reviews and a reprint from 'Housekeeping Monthly' from 1955… how times have changed! I hope. If you don't already have this then you know what to do… seems that the next issue will be a split with Real OD, which will probably be the best zine that has ever existed! (Hyperbolic? Moi?) (PO Box 208, Nottingham NG7 6EN)

SHARKPOOL #4/REAL OVERDOSE #22 (A5, 84pg, £1+SAE)

Well, I wasn’t wrong! Two of my favouritest zines are shuffled into each other, resulting in a bumper package of great reading matter.  Instead of the usual split zine format of one zine on one side then the other zine on t’other, the pages of Sharkpool and RealOD alternate between the two zines, making it seem more coherent and more of a complete product than yer usual split. All the usual features from both zines are all present and correct (apart from a fairly short zine review section, but that’s being super-picky) and there are interviews with Sloppy Seconds, The Loudmouths, the Headchecks, Showcase Showdown, Jen Angel, The Dragons, Serpico, Stinking Polecats, the Griswalds, the Lunachicks, Gameface and Luna:Suit. Other bits of note include a piece on dioxins in tampons, a list of dumb-ass Family Fortunes answers (on the subject of Les Dennis, I would pay good money to see him and Neil Morrissey in a bare-knuckle fight to the death over the hand of Amanda Holden… whatever the result it’ll be worth celebrating!), a list of snappy things to say to telemarketing people and a piece defending Married… With Children, a mutual love of both zines’ editors. You should already know how great both these zines are, so you probably already own this one. So I should probably shut up. Yes. (see Real OD or Sharkpool address above)

SHREDDING PAPER #5 (A4, 100pg, £2.95+postage)

Really liked the past two issues of Shredding Paper, the glossy covered zine from the States with a heavy pop emphasis due to its editor being Mel C (no, not that Mel C, the one who ran Shredder Records). The layouts were very basic but that was a minor flaw. This issue is a Guided By Voices special, featuring interviews with various band members past and present, and there's even a GBV calendar on the back cover, so if you're not a fan of theirs there's little here to read other than a history of the Clash and 400 (count 'em! If you can be arsed) record reviews (but no [count 'em!] zine reviews, damn their eyes). I like SP's pop leanings and their attitude, but unless you’re a GBV fan I'd give this a miss and wait to see if next issue is back up there with the last two. (PO Box 2271, San Rafael, CA 94912, USA)

SMALL SAILOR #7 (A5, 40pg, 50p+SAE)

More cut'n'paste fun from Thirsk, with short interviews with W.O.R.M., Kevin of Do the Dog zine/label/distro & the Bakesys, Dropkick Murphys, The 'Tone, MDM, Dance Hall Crashers and the Riffs, along with vegan recipes, stuff on protesting against building pylons, tales of shit jobs and the always bizarre 'Dark Figures'. Fun zine, worth a look. (39 Station Road, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, YO7 1QH)

STAMPED ADDRESSED ENVELOPE #1 (A5, 4pg, free+SAE)

This is basically just a free newsletter that reviews zines. It's a great idea and Ewan plans to put it out every other month, so keep up to date with the (ugh) "zine scene" and whack a bunch of SAEs in the post to… (84 Oakhill Road, Sutton, Surrey SM1 3AL)

THIRSK 2000 #1 (A5, 40pg, 50p+SAE)

This is actually a three-way split comprising three zines from North Yorkshire's punkest town: Thirsk. The zines in question are, in order of appearance (as they say on the credits of movies): My God Can Beat Up Your God #7, Small Sailor #8 and Monkey Bizness #4. This is the final issue of My God… which is a shame, but dry those eyes cos Aaron's new zine, titled "Zine Cancer", will be out soon. Dropnose, Against All Authority and those interview whores One Car Pile-Up supply the interviewage, there are a couple of columns, then it turns over to Small Sailor, a zine which has always seemed like a sister title to My God… Here you'll find a guide to exorcism, and interview with Crackle and the usual 'Dark Figures' pullout. Apparently there's gonna be a Dark Figures comic next issue, which should be fun. And hey, any zine boasting a 'Conspiracy Squirrel' has to be good! From squirrels to monkeys (I am king of the segue!), Monkey Bizness is, well, insane! Its layouts are crazy, and the features range from the crap (farting, guide to being a pirate) to the funny (Terry Funk's guide to robins), with some stuff that's somewhere in between (an interview with the Fonz). Some of it's OK, but it seems like it's trying a little too hard to be offensive in places. Overall though this is worth picking up. I'll put Aaron's address done cos it's the first I got to and I'm a lazy bastard. (6 Mowbray Place, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, YO7 1RF)