Koks Nors Kelias

In the early 90s Jonas Oškinis (from Kaunas, Lithuania) got in touch with me. He distributed a punk/alternative zine named K.N.K., which stands for Koks Nors Kelias (“what’s the way?” or “any path”). The first issues were free but in order to finance its existence there was an English issue done, entitled K.N.K.N.K. He took it upon him to introduce bands from his country (e.g. ‘Turbo Reanimacija‘) in times when it was still dominated by the U.S.S.R. (despite Gorbatsjov’s glasnost & perestrojka, and the country’s declaration of indepence from the Sovjet-Union in March 1990) and not yet part of the E.U. (that happened in 2004). It was very difficult for him to get tapes across the border or to purchase western stuff (because of the -for them- unfavourable currency exchange-rates)…

I have K.N.K.N.K. #1, that dates from 1991-92 I believe. There’s a lengthy piece that seems like an interview with a punk-rocker (‘Atsuktuvas’, Nerius Pečiura ?) from the late 80s (possibly published elsewhere before; the English is sometimes quite archaic). It paints a picture of punx in the Sovjet-Union experienced ‘punk life’). There’s also interviews with local bands ‘Turbo Reanimacija’ (punk), ‘Extreme Exit’ (thrash), ‘Golgota’ (death-metal) & ‘Kančia‘ (punk), and some columns/opinions. The second issue has Lithuanian & Albanian scene-reports, an interview with the Polish ‘Ahimsa’ (by Lük Haas), talks with local ‘Turbo Reanimacija’ & ‘C.Q.A.’, and with the Latvian band ‘Inokentijs Mārpls’, etc. K.N.K. #3 also popped up but since it’s completely in Lithuanian, I can ‘t tell anything about it…

If you want to read more about punk in the ‘East Block’: Jonas contributed a chapter on Lithuania to the book Warschauer Punk Pakt – Punk Im Ostblock 1977-1989 (in German), compiled by Alexander Pehlemann.

KNK also did a radio-show via the private broadcaster Titanika…

Brob

Selling the zine sponsored the recording of ‘Turbo Reanimacija’ album-tape; it was just 20 or 30 dollars for the whole recording-session, including the rent of guitars…

Jonas

Suffer (Hell And Damnation #1)

This was an “old-school DIY cut’n’paste” zine that focused on the “DIY HC- & anarcho-punk underground”; done by Colin ‘Astro (Zombie)’ (from Doncaster, South Yorkshire).

Someone send me some clippings of the first 2 issues… #1 started as a split with Steve Buxton’s Ripping Trash (#11) in 1996. The Hell And Damnation part was hand-written but neat and totally legible: interviews with ‘Pink Flamingos’ (Ger) & ‘Suffer’ (UK), info on ‘Disorder’, plus columns (animal rights, anarchy, tattoos, etc.). There’s also a cartoon and reviews. #2 (also ’96) contained interviews with ‘Força Macabra’ (Fin), ‘Crow’ (Jap) & ‘Rajoitus’ (Swe); there was also info on the band ‘Rectify’ (UK), columns (jobseeker’s allowance, landmines, bullfighting), reviews, etc. The final issue (#12; ca. 2009) was again a split with Ripping Thrash (#25).

Brob

I came up with the idea of doing an omnibus zine [A Network Of Friends] which featured several fanzines [#2 was a 5-way split: Fecal Forces (Cro), Hell And Damnation, Downsided (Fin), Komische Typen (Ger) & Ripping Thrash], who contributed, from all over the globe… This ran for 2 issues, then Steve Ripping Thrash took it over. I also did a tape-label called Ei Kiitos [Finnish for “no thanks”].

Colin

The reprint below is with ‘Sned’ (numerous bands) when he drummed in ‘Suffer’, after the band’s tour with ‘Dropdead’. Alec Mac was doing guitar & vocals and Chris ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne played bass. They did 3 7”s on Flat Earth recs (Mac and Sned’s label). They did 3 7”s on Flat Earth recs: a self-titled one (’95), and a split with ‘Urko’ and ‘Forest Of Spears’ (both in ’98). From the review in Tilt! #9: “Diabolic, super-fast HC with enraged shouted vocals and tension-building beaks. Breath-taking!”…

Merel (Down But Not Out #3)

No idea how I obtained this… Bought it from a touring band or got it sent to me for review or possible distribution? The zine was done by two guys from New Jersey: Patrick (Pat K. Tutek) & Rich (Leiter; drummer for the band ‘Bleed’). The former did a record-label (Soundtrack Of Protest) for a little while (94-95).

Don’t know about the content of the first two issues. #3 has interviews with bands such as ‘Railhed’ (with Darren Walters of the label Jade Tree), ‘Mouthpiece’, ‘No Escape’, ‘Merel’ & ‘Die 116’ (ex ‘Rorschach’), and Matt Gard (Radio Riot newsletter). There’s also short bits on guns, making money & being punk, slavery, employment, etc.; and something about Sam McPheeters vs Boiling Point zine.

I reviewed it in Tilt! #8: >>Entertaining and interesting interviews with decent questioning in which the editors explore smart and seemingly not-so-smart bands. Despite a few intelligent columns, DBNO is mainly a music-zine.<<

The interview with ‘Merel’ dates from the summer of 1993 and questions were raised about the band surviving. They obviously did, since they ended up playing at our autonomous centre Vort’n Vis (95-12-03). ‘Merel’ was an emo band from New Jersey, with David A. (Dave) Leto (bass; on the Euro tour replaced by ‘Iconoclast’s Kevin Kajetzke) and Gregg Leto (drums) – both later in ‘Rye Coalition’, Jon Ariz (guitar), Mike Solski (guitar) & José Juan Ruiz (vocals). They did a split-7” with Iconoclast on Old Glory and a 7” & LP on Charles Maggio’s label Gern Blandsten.

 

This Side Up (Oops! #9)

Oops! was a zine done by Dragan Stjepanović (‘Mačak’) & Dragan Marković, Smederevska Palanka (Serbia). Dragan was the vocalist/bassist of ‘Nabla’, a hardcore/crust band – active during the late 90s. I got #9 (from 1997) & 10 (’99) which were sent to me by ‘Mačak’ (if I remember correctly). The zines were in Serbo-Croatian so I didn’t understand a word of it. #9 had interviews with ‘Scatha’, ‘This Side Up’ (Ita), ‘Debeli Samuraj’ (Sombor, Serbia), ‘Naked Aggression’, Unison’ (Bulgarian sXe); reviews, Stockholm scene-report; etc. #10 featured ‘Intervenzione’ (Por), ‘Spazz’, ‘Submission Hold’, ‘Intensity’ (Swe), …

Brob

Although I had a bunch of scene-activities (band, label, distribution, organising gigs), the fanzine Oops! was somehow still my main one and what people used to know me most for. My idea was to promote D.I.Y. hardcore/punk on the one hand but on the other I’ve always believed that hardcore/punk is more than just music, so for me it was very important to talk and spread opinions about things that were going on in my environment (war, nationalism, police-brutality, politics and all the hatred). Also, there was always a space for vegetarianism. The first issue came out in 1994 and the last, #13, ten years later, in 2004. Dragan Marković is friend of mine, we were from same town, and did a lot of things together. He did two issues of Kerosene fanzine and later two issues of Buldozer fanzine.

Some of the bands that were interviewed in Oops! were: ‘Anarcrust’, ‘Resist’, ‘Unhinged’, ‘Varukers’, ‘Chaos UK’, ‘Mrtvá Budoucnost’, ‘Naked Agression’, ‘Spazz’, ‘Petrograd’, ‘Tragedy’, ‘Catharsis’, ‘Born Dead Icons’, ‘Propagandhi’; and regional bands such as ‘Acroholia’ (Belgrado), ‘Unison’ (Lučani), ‘Hoću? Neću!’ (Kraljevo), ‘Sedativ’ (?), ‘Senata Fox’ (Zagreb), ‘Brainstorm’ (Belgrado), … and more, but I can’t remember everything 🙂

Dragan Stjepanović

The interview is with my correspondent ‘Adam’ Dario Adamic (Zips & Chains fanzine) about his band ‘This Side Up’…

Brob

[Transaltion below; thanks to Dejan Požegar]

This Side Up

I really hate to write any kind of introduction. People will get a lot of information from this extensive interview. The only thing left for me is to say: many thanks to Adam for the effort and to recommend you this great band. And to see them live very soon.

First question is a classic …

We got together in the beginning of ‘94. First only me and Jacopo [Iafolla], latter we found a guitar-player (P.G. [Pierluigi Garibaldi]) through an ad. We tried two different drummers until we found Andrea [Pipino] who stayed with us for the next two years. With him we recorded material for split 7” with ‘White Frogs’ [recorded March 1996], some compilation-tracks and a demo. We also did a European tour (Austria, Luxemburg, Germany and Holland). After that he left for Holland to go forward with his studies. So we had to find another drummer, who was also named Andrea [Rossi]. We did a Croatian, Slovenian and Italian tour with him. The first show with him was in January ‘95 [Dejan: Must be wrong if the first Andrea stayed for 2 years.] with ‘Eversor’ and ‘Immaturi’ (Don’t know if I wrote that right, I got the interview on tape – M.). Apart from them we also had shows with ‘Down By Law’, ‘Brightside’, ‘Abhinanda’, ‘Skin Of Tears’, ‘Los Crudos’, ‘Overflow’ and Italian bands such as ‘Tired Me Down’, ‘Comrades’, ‘Concrete’, ‘Opposite Force’, ‘TimeBomb’, …

You must know that I really like your lyrics which are not so direct, but still each have their own massage. Can you tell me how important they are to you and can they somehow result in some change?

Thanks for the observation about my lyrics. I’m also proud of the lyrics I write and they mean a lot to me. They reflect my own opinion about life itself. I think the world can’t be changed but for sure someone’s awareness can, awareness of the people who come in contact with this lyrics. And in my opinion that’s the most important and also the first step to turn this world to a better place to live. I got a lot of positive ideas through bands and their lyrics, therefore I believe that also counts for others.

Here in Serbia almost everybody involved in the HC/punk-scene makes fun out of the DIY attitude and the political idea behind everything. You released your music yourself, so tell me what DIY means to you and what you think about the statement “But music is more important”?

Listen. For me music isn’t important, because we are not musicians, us four, maybe except for the drummer. We can’t play. It’s not in our interest to become musicians, play perfect and make a professional career out of it. With the music we make, we simply follow the lyrics we have. Of course it’s important that the people like the music you play. If they where only into lyrics, they would probably go to poetry-nights in some student-centre. All in all music is important to bring this statements closer to people. Let’s be real about DIY; who would better promote our band, spend money and put some effort into it, then ourselves. I think we can do it better and if we got somewhere, we did so because of our effort, our sweat. Not because of others. I mean, thanks a lot to all the people who helped us in any way. And it’s beautiful how our scene is connected and how much people out there are willing to put in their enthusiasm and time to help others. We released our 7” ourselves and now we are going to put out an LP in collaboration with some other people. We don’t do the DIY thing because we need to. There were some labels interested to do it but we still decided to do it ourselves. Maybe a possibility of co-production with others.

Are there any vegetarians/ vegans in the band? What is your opinion about all that?

Me and the drummer are vegetarians. I don’t know what you mean with “all that”, probably animal-rights (Exactly. – M.). According to that, I’m not vegetarian because of a healthy lifestlyle but because of the feelings I have for the animals. I also don’t wear clothes made of of animal-skin, but from fabric or synthetic. This is a complex question but I see all that as a part of me. And the question is also inconvenient because it’s a ‘This Side Up’ interview and our opinions in the band are different regarding this subject. I think being vegetarian or vegan for me is one positive thing that I got into somehow through the HC-scene and studying biology. So that also helped with my decision.

Do you think it’s OK when punks are present in electronic media?

I don’t think I understand this question well either. With electronic media you probably mean internet, e-mail and those things (Actually I meant TV and those things. But that happens if I don’t put the question right. OK, let’s see what you have to say on that subject. – M.). Do you mean that? I think that’s perfectly OK for me. Why not? Why wouldn’t punks make use of progress and others would. Internet is a good thing that saves you money you would otherwise spend on all that post or phone. And it also gives you insight on a handful of information. It would be great if more punks would join this network. For example. If you trade records. Over the internet you might need 24 hours before everything is agreed. Through the post it lasts at least 2 to 3 weeks. I say yes on that subject.

Do you think it is OK to work?

It is OK to do what you like. The problem is to find a job that suits you. So it happens that some young people – after they finished school or university, in a rush or under the pressure from parents and society – end up doing a job they don’t like. They think it’s temporary but when they get in that routine, they have problems getting out. It might sound like fiction but it’s like that. I have a lot of friends who’s life unfortunately became grey since the started working. They don’t like their jobs. Jobs suck their energy. And they don’t use the little energy that is left to find other more suitable jobs. We have to have some financial stability to live. But it is hard today for everyone to get a job they like. Me and Jacopo work for an independent distributor and publisher. This is not Goodwill. Goodwill is an underground independent label that I run and I mainly lose money on it. We all study. I study biology, Jacopo economy, P.G. law and Andrea studies drums. At the moment he’s not working. He lives in a van, because he is changing a flat.

You also have some other activities going on. Can you say something about that?

I’m in two bands. The other is called ‘Home Run’. It’s more American sXe hardcore style (like ‘Gorilla Biscuits’, ‘Ignite’, ‘Chain Of Strenght’, ‘Uniform Choice’, …). I run the Goodwill record-label. I put out three seven-inches. ‘Overflow’ 7”, the Do It Yourself compilation-EP (with ‘Eversor’, ‘I Fichissimi’, ‘N.I.A. Punx’, ‘Point Of View’, ‘This Side Up’) and ‘This Side Up’/‘White Frogs’ 7”. Soon we’ll release the ‘Home Run’ 7” and after that a ‘This Side Up’ LP. I also do Bored Teenagers distribution which also takes a lot of time. And maybe the most important thing Zips & Chains fanzine that I do now already for 10 years. A lot of people in Yugoslavia know it by now, since I started 87/88 when I was still living in Split. When Split was still part of Yugoslavia.

Talking about Zips & Chains. In the last issue there are bands that are a bit bigger such as ‘NoFx’ or ‘CIV’. Don’t you think that bands as that have no place in fanzines?

Their role in fanzines is to attract audience. Big bands can’t gain anything from the fanzine. Everybody who buys the fanzine because for example ‘NoFx’ and knows them will never write them and say “I read the interview in that fanzine and I liked it very much. Now I am going to by your record.”. It’s just opposite. People know those big bands. They buy the fanzine, read it and they notice those smaller bands. They would never have bought the fanzine because of them. Eventually they realize that there’s another world. A world of smaller bands. And they write to those and buy their records to support them. The role of the big bands is to attract people. The ones who gain are the smaller bands.

Here the scene is divided between punks, DIY punks, hardcore, … In my opinion that’s stupid. Do you have similar problems in Italy and how is the scene there?

If the scene in Yugoslavia is like that, then it’s ten times more divided in Italy. I was often in Slovenia and Croatia, so I imagine how the scene could be in Serbia. Until recent that was the same scene. In Italy this sincerity is kind of lost. Those smaller not yet so evolved scenes have this sincerity which is lost in bigger scenes like US, Germany, Italy, … I’m not talking about individuals but the whole scene. A lot of things are done because of some kind of trend. What things are in and what are out. Little is done from the depths of the soul. If you’re unsatisfied with the scene in Serbia, you would pull out your hair in Italy.

What do you think about the squat-movement? Do you support it? Do you play in squats and how is the situation with them in Italy?

We actually don’t play in clubs but mainly in squats. The situation is that there’s a bunch of squats. There’s new ones are opening all the time. And the old ones are getting lost. The oldest is from the 70s. It’s called Leoncavallo and is in Milano. Squatting became popular in the second half of the 80s. Let’s say 1986. Squatters have their political roots in the events of 1968 (hippies), at least the older generation. The younger generation are mostly punks, anarchists and communists. In the beginning of the 90s there was a change (musically speaking). HC/punk wasn’t that popular anymore. Reggae was. But lately everything is getting back to normal again. Again there are a lot of squats doing HC/punk shows and the like. The audience in squats are people like us. They have similar ideas. People who accept us more easily. There’s a big difference of consciousness between people who visit squats and those from the clubs. It’s not easy to play clubs. Sometimes you feel like a fish on dry land.

If I’m not mistaken you recently played in Zagreb? How was it? Is there any possibility that you come here?

Actually we played in Ivanič Grad. That’s a small town 20 km away from Zagreb. The concert was fantastic. We played without P.G. (he couldn’t come). So Adriano (bassist) from our second band joined. He learned 6, 7 songs during two practices. He’d barely touched a guitar until then. In the beginning it was horrible. He forgot everything he learned. We stopped. We shit ourselves. But when we begun again and started jumping, the audience exploded and the show went well. Imagine how it is when 100 people get crazy in front of the stage. Half of them know the lyrics and then they join you on the stage and sing along. We’ld really love to play in Serbia (new Yugoslavia). I was supposed to go to Serbia this year but my friend from Požega (town) who wanted to go with me couldn’t get the money together for the trip. I hope it will be possible soon. I hope the scene in Serbia is as good as in Croatia. When we played Ivanič Grad, those three Italians in our band couldn’t believe it and just stood there with open mouths. (I would like to add that the first steps for their Serbian tour are already made and I hope it will happen soon – M.).

You’re from Split (Croatia) and now live in Italy. Could you tell me what do you think about what happened there (what happened on Balkan)?

This is a question you could write a book about it. To make it short: today there was a volleyball-match between Yugoslavia and Italy in Holland. I’m living in Italy for 7 years now but I was still cheering for Yugoslavia. And we won 3-0. Is that possible? An old proverb says that time heals all wounds. But the wounds carried amongst some people, are really deep. I’m really sorry that the old Yugoslavia at that time wasn’t on the cultural level like Sweden or Norway. If it would’ve been, something like that couldn’t have happened. I primarily think that this low cultural level allowed that the politicians could easily manipulate the masses. And that was the reason for the war. People I have been friends with before, still are and also the other way around. Not much changed here. It’s not a question of nationality (who is Croatian or who is Serbian). The question is who did what in this war. People are viewed in the light of some other values, such as religion, nationality and so on. As ‘N.U.P.’ (‘Napred U Prošlost’ – Yu band) say in their song Pogledaj (Look): “Look at religion, skin-colour, nationality, education, the content of one’s wallet, music-trends and the way to dress. Ancestry, are you from the village or the city or whatever. In every man there’s good and bad.” (from the first demo, 1985). This is for me one of the best old-school HC/punk songs from Yugoslavia describing those relations. I’m not talking only about relations between Serbians and Croatians, but about relations between people, what they look at instead of searching for quality in people. All that ‘N.U.P.’ say in their song are things that are so irrelevant and have nothing to do with someone’s self. All these things say nothing about the fact if someone is good, bad or evil. That’s true. And I hope that will change some day. Or at least that we in the HC/punk scene do something, introduce other values and ignore those who surround us.

OK let’s finish. Plans?

I already told you that. We’re recording an album that will be released in co-production with some labels. Two from them are from Croatia. After that we’re planning to return back to Croatia. The problem is that we work, and we can only come and play over the weekend. We would really like to come to Yugoslavia. There are a lot of people I haven’t seen for last 9 years and also new people I meet through post. Here I would like to say hello to all I know from Yugoslavia. I start with the group who made Bolji Život (“better life”) – which today is mostly gathered around 3D [?] with. Everyone from ‘Dead Ideas’ [Serbian HC band], Milan from SD [?], Galeta, Dušana, Gileta and all the others. Hope to see you soon.

Thanks. The end?

What to say more? Believe in yourself and hope for a better tomorrow. But we can’t wait for it with our arms crossed. Forget all who’re telling you need a hierarchy to do something good for the planet. There are a lot of things in our daily lives that we can do without any directives above us. That’s it. Hello to all in Yugoslavia and thanks for the interview.

Dario Adamic, C.P. 15319, 00143 Roma Laurentino, Italy.

Disattack (Phoenix From The Crypt #4)

Bill Steer, Andrew Pek (R.I.P.) & ‘Middie’ Peter Middlebrough – guitarist, vocalist & drummer of ‘Carcass’ (also in ‘Disattack’ before) – from Wirral (near Liverpool) did this zine… They started it in the first half of the 80s. Some bands featured: ‘Wretched’, ‘Mau-Maus’, ‘Disorder’, ‘The Fits’ (#2), ‘Rattus’, ‘Iconoclasts’, ‘Varukers’, ‘Kaaos’, ‘Deformed’, ‘Riistetyt’, ‘Bad Brains’ (#3), ‘Mellakka’, ‘Inferno’, ‘Metallica’, ‘Dirge’ (#4, 1984 – available on Jason Netherton’s metal-zine archive project Send Back My Stamps). Soon (second half of the 80s) it turned into more of a metal fanzine (Phoenix Militia)…

‘Disattack’ line-up here: ‘Tizer’ (drums), ‘Storm’ (bass), ‘Skully’ (guitar) & Karl (vocals). On the A Bomb Drops… tape (1986): ‘Middie’ (drums), Paul (bass), Bill (guitar) & Pek (vocals).

 

 

Skeezicks (The Sun, The Moon And The Starz #2)

The Sun, The Moon And The Starz was done by a contemporary in Dublin of ours: George Curran. His tastes later went more towards the U.S. SxE scene.

‘Tommy Trousers’ Thomas Maguire

George did this zine together with Paul Brennan; both were from Beaumont (co. Dublin). Tommy provided #1 & #2.

George also did irishedge.blogspot for a while: “A website dedicated to archiving my collection of old punk and hardcore rarities. Having dug out my old cassette/tape/vinyl archive, I’m attempting to get the less available items up here – be they demos, live-shows or just hard to find vinyl.”

Brob

I think we did 3 issues. I lost touch with Paul unfortunately… It’s been a long time since the zines came out – late 1980s.

I did the fanzine together with a friend and neighbour of mine Paul – who first introduced me to punk music. We started off listening to bands like the ‘Sex Pistols’, ‘Stiff Little Fingers’, ‘Sham 69’, ‘Dead Kennedys’ etc. We then moved into the more anarcho-punk stuff, especially all of the DIY bands coming out of the UK on labels like Spiderleg, Bluurg, Crass, Peaceville, Children Of The Revolution etc.  One summer I was away in the UK and I picked up a copy of the MRR compilation Welcome To 1984. Another friend also got a copy of Pusmort’s Cleanse The Bacteria.  These records were a real game-changer for us – they exposed us to a whole new set of internationals bands from all over the globe.  Bands like ‘Rattus’, ‘Raw Power’, ‘B.G.K.’, became instant favourites. We also were reading about different scenes and bands through MRR, and started to write to bands and buy vinyl through that.

The late 1980s scene in Ireland was very DIY driven and we knew people who were doing zines and putting on their own shows.  We also felt that we wanted to contribute something to the small but energetic scene here.  We also wanted to promote some of the new bands that we were listening to, as most people were only aware of/ following the local and UK bands. For us a fanzine was the best way to achieve this and so The Sun, The Moon & The Starz was born. (The name was a play on two tabloid newspapers The Sun and The Star.)

Our first issue was very basic – full of enthusiasm but not very good on the look.  Still it reflected our world punk interest with interviews with the Dutch band ‘B.G.K.,’ ‘Terveet Kadet’ from Finland and ‘Virus’ (USA) alongside more well-known UK bands such as ‘Amebix’ and ‘Exit-stance’.  We made a few dozen and just sold them to friends and at local gigs. It was a great way to meet new people.

The second issue we put a lot more thought and effort into – both with the content and the layout. Remember these were the days before PCs and design-software. It was very much a case of cut and paste – cutting up text from a typed-up page and sticking down on a blank page with glue along with some photocopied band-photos / -logos to fill the pages. Once again we had a good mix of international bands from the UK, Europe and the USA. UK bands like ‘The Instigators’, ‘Civilised Society’, ‘Political Asylum’, ‘Ripcord’, and European bands ‘Sorto’ (Finland), ‘Skeezicks’ (Germany), ‘Scoundrels’ (The Neteherlands) and ‘A.P.P.L.E.’ from New York filled the pages.

I went on to do another zine with a couple of friends in the late 1980s called W.A.R. (Without A Reason). It was a mix of punk and US hardcore which I was really getting into. I was also involved in running gigs in the late 80s – mainly UK bands playing Ireland whilst on tour. In the late 90s I started another zine called SCOLD which focussed on US and European hardcore especially the straight-edge scene. I haven’t been involved in the scene in recent times but still enjoy listening to my punk and hardcore.

George Curran

This interview, with ‘Skeezicks’ bassist Armin Hoffman, was done right before the release of the band’s Selling Out! LP (and around the time they played a show in my hometown (87-05-02). The others were Andy Hofmann (drums), Carsten Bauer (guitar), Marc Helber (guitar) & Jürgen ‘Sunny’ Findlinger (vocals; R.I.P.).

Terminus (No One Knows Anything)

I got to know Michał Hałabura (from Bytom, south Poland, near the Slowakian border) in the early 90s, when he was running the  distribution/label (in the beginning tapes, later also vinyl) Nikt Nic Nie Wie (NNNW; No One Knows Anything) – together with his mate Wolek. I believe I also distributed some of his releases (the ‘Inkwizycja’ & ‘S.K.T.C.’ LPs). He also organised concerts/tours and had been doing a few zines in Polish (each time under different names: Religia Na Sprzedaż (“religion for sale”), Panta Rhei), and this one here in English. Content: interviews with the bands ‘NoMeansNo’, ‘Trottel’, ‘Terminus’ & ‘Inkwizycja’; the ecological magazine Zielone Brygady (Green Brigades); and scene-reports (Poland, Czechoslowakia & Hamburg).

Nowadays NNNW is still an e-shop and some of the released material is available for download. If you master the German language: check this interview in Trust fanzine.

‘Terminus’ was a melodic hardcore-punk band from Scunthorpe (England) of which I distributed the vinyl on the Words Of Warning label: the LP Going Nowhere Fast (1990), the 7″ What Kind Of World? (1991) & the album Back Among The Blind (1992). The band consisted of Mark Richardson (vocals/guitar; editor of Fuck Off And Drop Dead zine), Chris Dale (guitar), Col Spence (bass; later Paddy Niland) & Mick Hare (drums; later Steve Connolly). ‘Rocky’ Richard Oxenforth played 2^nd guitar on Going Nowhere Fast. Mark compiled a comprehensive biography of the band on his website.

Sounds Of Suburbia

This zine was done by Rachel Rinaldo, a young woman from from Wilton (Connecticut). I never got to read it but saw some reviews… #2 (’88) was with ‘Hunger Artist’, etc. #3 (’88) featured ‘Zombie Squad’ and ‘Hallow Life’. There were also opinions, reviews, photos and political flyers. #5 (’89): ‘Detonators’ & ‘Oi Polloi’.

Nowadays she’s working at the Department of Sociology of the University of Colorado in Boulder, as Associate Professor. She’s interested in gender, globalization, social change, and religion, with a special focus on the developing world and Muslim societies such as Indonesia. Read up on her professional publications.

Brob

I started Sounds Of Suburbia in 1987 or 1988, when I was about 15. I can’t remember how many issues I put out – probably 5 or 6. The last one came out in the summer of 1990.

I’d gotten into alternative/indie rock when I started high-school in 1985, and got progressively more interested in punk, hardcore, and anarchist/left wing politics. My family moved to Wilton, CT in the summer of 1987 and so I was starting a new high-school where I didn’t know anyone and many of the kids were not friendly to bookish misfits like myself. I felt bored and isolated. My parents were quite strict and I was not allowed to do many of the things I wanted to do, but for some reason they did allow me to start up a zine and get a post-office box so that I wouldn’t giving our home-address to strangers. My father even allowed me to make the photocopies at his office on the weekend!

I think what I sent is from 1988 or early 1989. Along with punk-rock, I was particularly interested in animal-rights and environmental issues as well as anti-nuclear/anti-war activism. Around this time, I went to my first demonstrations – a huge anti-nuclear demonstration in Central Park, and I went to a series of Fur Free Friday protests, also in NYC. At these demos, I collected loads of left-wing and anarchist propaganda and met similarly inclined punk kids from NYC, some of whom I got to know better when I moved to NYC for college later on.

The one good thing about living in Wilton, CT was the proximity of the Anthrax, an all-ages punk/hardcore venue that had shows every Friday and Saturday night. I saw tons of bands there and often published the pictures in my zine: among the shows I can remember well: the ‘Circle Jerks’ with the ‘Necros’, ‘Social Distortion’, ‘Fugazi’ (first tour), ‘A.P.P.L.E.’, ‘Scream’, ‘All’, and many local bands like ‘76% Uncertain’, ‘Zombie Squad’ and more. Wilton was also was on a train-line to NYC, and though I was rarely allowed to go into the city at night, I did get to see some of the matinees at CBGBs, daytime shows in Tompkins Square Park and more.

Doing a zine really opened up my world, and I think it probably led me to the the work I do now, as a sociology professor. Making and distributing my zine was my entry into what was then an incredible global network of people involved in the punk and hardcore underground. I traded cassette-tapes, zines, flyers and letters with people all over the planet. The letters-sections of zines like Maximum Rock’n’Roll were kind of like an internet discussion-board. I was continually amazed at people’s generosity – I would mention casually to some penpal that I didn’t have some LP or 7″ record or wanted to check out some band, and a month later it would arrive at my post office-box. And of course, it was a huge political awakening. I learned about so many social and political issues, began reading anarchist and Marxist theory (often recommended by penpals), and figured out that there were many other people like me, who were passionate about both counterculture and social change. When I left to be an exchange-student from 1989-1990 in Indonesia, I put the zine on indefinite hiatus but continued to stay in touch with many of my penpals while I was there. I put out one final issue of the zine when I returned and just before I moved to NYC for college in the fall of 1990. Once I was living in NYC, I quickly got involved with the newspaper Love And Rage, and also in a lot of activism around the 1991 Persian Gulf War and other issues. I stopped doing the zine because I was so busy!

A lot later, when I started graduate-school for my sociology PhD, this background informed both my continued activism and my academic interests. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I got involved in the anti-globalization movement and did a lot of media-activism with the Direct Action Media Network and Indymedia. In 2002, I started doing fieldwork in Indonesia on women’s rights activism, and ever since then I have been doing research on gender, social movements, culture and religion in Southeast Asia.

Rachel Rinaldo

 

Facedown (Babylon Will Fall #1)

I got to know Ronnie Tack (originally from Bergen-op-Zoom, The Netherlands) when he was hanging around in the Ghent anarchist and squat-scene. He did this zine together with his mate ‘Beanie’ (Joris). The first issue had interviews (with the bands ‘Facedown’ & ‘Shai Hulud’, and the Amsterdam chapter of the Animal Defense League); plus a bunch of articles/columns proving a big political and social consciousness (velvet revolution, non-violent action, multinationals, population-growth, abstinence, hiking, etc.). #2 was even more politically oriented with bits covering the S26 in Prague [anti capitalist globalisation], the true face of our democracy, consumption & money, Reclaim The City [movement against displacement and for affordable housing], etc.

Ronnie and his friend Peter Franssen (editor of Affected by Thoughts) also did a distribution focussed on politically inspired literature and zines to “add more politics to the scene”.

‘Facedown’ played at the autonomous centre Vort’n Vis several times but I never bothered to attend any of their perfomances because of their flirts with commerciality (later they signed a major label as ‘.Calibre’), the hardline movement and krshna-conscience… This ‘new-school’, metal-influenced, vegan SE-HC band (from Kontich, near Antwerp) consisted of Thomas Baeken (bass), Youri Baeken (drums), Daniel ‘Dani’ Mies (vocals) Niko Poortmans (guitar) & Geert Ceuppens (guitar). The interview below was with ‘Dani’ at the time the latter had quit. They had been touring with ‘Liar’ & ‘Earth Crisis’…

Report #1

‘Redson’ Edson Pozzi (‘Cólera’ guitarist/vocalist, before in ‘Olho Seco’) and a guy named Pablo from São Paulo did this zine. I know it must be from 1989 because it contains a translation of my critique on ‘Napalm Death’. So it was a few years after my many meetings with Redson and his band when they toured Europe in ’87. Since his and my band (‘Repulsives’) were due to share a split-LP (which failed because the label went bankrupt), we stayed in touch for a few years…

This issue contains a column by Redson, scene-reports on Londrina (a region in the Brasilian province Paraná) & Austria, presentation of the German band ‘Alptraum GmbH’ & the Dutch ‘Bambix’, bits on the No More Censorship campaign & an anti-nuclear march in S.P., reviews and a cartoon entitled ‘Who profits from hunting in Brazil?‘.

Brob

I’ve been talking with Pierre & Val (in ‘Cólera’ since the beginning) about this zine. They can’t remember how many issues were made. Judging on the price mentioned on the cover and the value of the currency, it could only have been from 1989. Even Pierre (who, besides being the drummer of the band, was Redson’s brother) doesn’t even remember who Pablo was…

The editorial translates as

Without any delay, here’s Report zine. The intention of our zine is to disclose and inform people in the alternative scene in a qualitative way.

The articles and reports that are not signed by us, do not reflect the opinion of zine but of the people who contributed them.

The next edition of Report zine (I can already tell) will feature reports about the scene in England and Mexico; more gig-reviews (not just in Brazil) and new bands form different countries.

We would really like to thank everyone who helped us do this first issue (THANKS TO):

Martin Pick (Intenelt recs) – André Ribeiro (Toronto) – Ameba (Ataque Epléptico) – Rogério (Zine Utopia) – No More Censorship – Gopo Ulisses – Nunes Paulo (demonstration photos) – União em Defesa das Baleias [Union in Defence of Whales] – Grupo Seiva da Ecologia [Ecology Group] – Brob (Boycott Napalm Death) – César

We woul also like to say hello to the following people (HELLO): Louise (England) – A. Boonz (Death For Profit) – Adam Johnston (Go! zine) – Mau (Garotos Podres) [Rotten Boys] – Bryan Smits (Argentina)

Excuse us a thousant times if we forget someone…

REPORT ZINE (ALTERNATIVE AND INDEPENDENT)

Report zine / Mailbox 8910 / São Paulo – SP 01051 – BRAZIL

As this is the first issue, we’re desperately looking for materials (not Susan)… [Reference to the movie Desperately Seeking Susan (85)] If you’re in a band, send some recordings, a photo, logo, demos, etc. (don’t forget the contact address…) If you’re part of an organisation (pacifist, ecological, anarchist, etc.): send your stuff and contact-address.

If you do a zine send us a copy, mention the price (including postage), frequency and address very clearly. If you do art, comics, writings, drawings or any independent cultural activity, send it to us right away. We’re an independent organisation and rely just on you. We’re also looking for reports on local scenes and concert-reviews (both with pictures, please).

So? What are you waiting for? Write! Now!! REPORT ZINE

Report Zine are:

PABLO & REDSON

Renata Lacerda, part of the ‘Cólera Family’