Offenders (Hit The Trail #5)

Dirk Ceustermans also borrowed two issues of Hit The Trail, a zine edited by David Grubbs, the guitarist/vocalist of ‘Squirrel Bait’ (from Louisville, Kentucky); with contributions of various people (e.g. ‘S.B.’ musicians Clark Johnson, Rich Schuler & Britt Walford). #5 & 6 (1984) were 8-page A6s with reviews (records/tapes/concerts) and brief interviews (‘Offenders’ in n° 5 & ‘SamIAm’ in n°6).

David studied English language and is professor of music at Brooklyn College and director of graduate programs (Performance and Interactive Media Arts) at the City University of New York Graduate Centre. He also authoured books like Now That The Audience Is Assembled, The Voice In The Headphones & Good Night The Pleasure Was Ours.

Brob

Hit the Trail was published from 1983-85 – for me, ages 15-17 – around the time that I was also playing in the band ‘Squirrel Bait’. There were eight issues, the maximum print-run was 150 and the format was the same for all of the issues: one 8 1/2″ x 11″ page printed on both sides, folded vertically and then cut horizontally, resulting in an 8-page magazine that could be mailed with a single postage-stamp…

The zine focused primarily on hardcore punk, with interviews (e.g. ‘Samhain’, ‘Offenders’, ‘Maurice’ – future members of ‘Slint’) and reviews; but also unexpected features: an interview with Bo Diddley, a bit on hypnotising animals, recipes, etc.

David Grubbs

‘Offenders’ (Killeen, Texas) singer J.J. Jacobson (R.I.P.) was interviewed during their 1984 tour. The others in the band at that time were Mikey Donaldson (bass; R.I.P.), Pat(rick) Doyle (drums) & ‘Tony’ Anthony Johnson (guitar; R.I.P).

 

Youthquake (Across The Great Divide #6)

This zine was done by Pete, a guy from Prestwood, Great Missenden (northwest of London). I have issues n° 6 & 7 in my collection but can’t remember how I got these…

Some content? #2 (?): ‘Civil Dissident’, ‘Vicious Circle’, ‘Indirekt’, ‘Inferno’, ‘Government Issue’, ‘War Of Destruction’ (Den), etc. #3 (85): ‘Cólera’, etc. #4 (86): ‘Lärm’, ‘Vicious Circle’, etc. #5 (?): Ian MacKaye, ‘False Liberty’, ‘Kafka Prosess’, ‘Ratos De Porão’, ‘Massappeal’, etc. #6 (87): ‘Desecration’, ‘YouthQuake’, ‘Negazione’, ‘Sic’, ‘Circle Jerks’, ‘Extremes’ (Oz) etc. #7 (88): ‘Impulse Manslaughter’, ‘Plague’ (USA), ‘Missing Link’ (Can), ‘Lemonheads’, ‘Inhuman Conditions’, ‘Social Unrest’, ‘Nazgûl’. #8 (89): ‘Corrosion Of Conformity’, ‘The Fixtures’ (USA), ‘Last Option’  announced…

There were also a few tapes released under that name: It’s A Small World…So Stop Fucking It Up (compilation), Thanks For Writing Back (compilation; 1986), Fo(u)rth Rate (American) Thrash (by ‘Civil Dissident’ from Australia; 1985), Stand For Something…Or You’ll Fall For Anything (by ‘Nobody’s Victim’ from Australia; 1986) & ‘Youthquake’ (USA) demo (1986).

Wasn’t Pete also in the band ‘Postive Outlook’?

Brob

Pete’s surname is Keljački. His family is of Yugoslav origin. I stayed with him in the UK in 86/87. We were long term penpals. We stopped corresponding while he was living in Boston. No, Pete wasn’t in a band…

Dave Ross, ‘Civil Dissident‘

‘Youthquake’ (Catasauqua, Pennsylvania) was the first band with of Roy Mayorga (drums; later ‘Nausea’, ‘Soulfly’, ‘Amebix’, ‘Stone Sour’). The others guys were Bob Fegley (bass; R.I.P.), Larry Deiter (vocals), Mike Gentilcore (guitar) and Tracy Pain (guitar). The band put a demo out: It’s Up To Us (which was renamed Stress Test after remixing). They also had a track on the compilation double-LP 1984 The Third (on the French label New Wave recs) and a few on the Spit On It compilation-tape (Harsh Reality Music). Rob Glaser wrote about the demo (MRR #42; Nov ’86): >>Very musically from Hüsker Dü’-ish anthems to HC. In the same league as ‘Raw Power’. Good lyrics.<<

Nuova Fahrenheit

From 1982 on, ‘Punkrazio’ Andrea Menichini (from a small place between Udine and the border with Slovenia) was the bassist of ‘Pravda‘ (the others were singer Michele, guitarist Maurizio D’angelo & drummer Marco). Before (1981) he had been the guitarist of the band ‘No Suicide’ (who featured on an LP entitled Challenge, together with other Italian bands ‘Mercenary God’ & ‘No Submission’). Later on he was in the bands ‘Sabotaggio’ and ‘Tomahawk’.

He also ran a label (‘EU’s Arse first 7″ and a couple of tape-compilations) & distro, and did a radio-programme. He was also involved in the occupation of the C.S.A. [Centro Sociale Autogestito, self-managed social centre] on via Volturno in Udine (1987).

Nowadays Andrea lives on the Canary Islands…

In May ’81 he put out the first zero-issue of Nuova Fahrenheit. #1-4 followed that same year. The 5th issue appeared Feb. ’85. The 6 isues (0-5) are downloadable on the ‘Pravda’ website:

>>For those already familiar with ‘movement sheets’, i.e., the thousands of colourful pamphlets in all formats that followed the brief political-creative spring of ’77 or the underground publications of the early 70s, the advent of fanzines in our country was only a pleasant but predictable surprise. For those totally unfamiliar with this world and exclusively used to the glossy paper poisons of the official channels for music information, the trauma and shock were total.

The same spirit – of creative ‘militancy’, of love for the ‘new and interesting’, of passion for discovery and disinterest in the economic aspect that was common to those two previous waves of free flight – was found in music fanzines.

In this scenario the punk zine Nuova Fahrenheit, the fanzines of ‘Punkrazio’ Andrea Menichini, bassist of ‘Pravda’, stands out as one of the first and most interesting of the entire Italian punk movement.

Here we offer the originals that were then photocopied and then sent out by mail to contacts (that progressively increased, up to the 1.000 silk-screened copies of no.5. People can appreciate the colours, pen-strokes, pieces of scotch-tape and fingerprints of glue used to handwrite the fanzines, composed using scissors and a typewriter, a luxury not everyone had access to…<<

Brob

N.F. was one of the earliest and most important Italian fanzines.

If you read any article about Italian punk these days, you might think there was a certain continuity between the early scene (let’s call it the ’77 scene’) and the later hardcore scene (let’s call it the ‘punx’ scene, as we used to). Don’t know about other cities but to this day I’m still under the impression that in Udine it was not so: Andrea ‘Pankrazio’ Menichini was one of the few people I know, who made the transition from one scene to another. A prime mover and member of ‘No Suicide’ in the 70s, he was one of the first to embrace the new punk values, meaning those of mixing punk (which had meanwhile turned into hardcore) and anarchist politics. I think you can see this kind of evolution if you read the five issues of Nuova Fahrenheit in the order of release.

#0 was “of introductory and promotional nature”: I really can’t remember that much about it…

The first real issue had a statement on the cover: “There may be violence but violence is not our only game, it can make our friends enemies but we have to take that risk.”, then went on to report on (‘81) concerts (e.g. with ‘R.A.F Punk’, ‘Nabat’, ‘FallOut’, etc.), bands such as ‘Swelling Itching Brain’ (from Forli), fanzines (e.g. Archaeopteryx done by the people of ‘FallOut’) & records, etc.

N° 2 (“Proposal for action and testimony of a punk-presence in Italy.”) contains a piece entitled Punk? (with opinions of various people), news from various cities in Italy, a presentation of ‘Ranxerox’ (from La Spezia), show/record-reviews and more. It’s still a lot about music (‘Pankrazio’ was particularly interested in covering the Italian scene.) but I think you can see the early signs of a growing political awareness in this issue, too.

This was further developed in #3, featuring the bands ‘UnderAge’ (from Napoli), ‘Rinf’ (post-punk from Prato), ‘Frigidaire Tango’ (new-wave); there’s city-reports, columns entitled Persone Non Macchine [People Not Machines], Punx Contro l’Eroina [Punx Against Heroin] , and more.

Persone Non Macchine was ‘Pankrazio’s answer to Gianluca Lerici (who became very well known as Prof. Bad Trip [Archaeopteryx editor]), who wrote him a very polemic letter about what punk actually was or not was, in opposition to what new-wave was. Punx Contro l’Eroina is actually a review of a gig, which took place at the Vidicon (a venue in Milan in the early 80s, before Virus came into existence). It mentions bands that were short-lived (before ‘Wretched’). The picture in the lower left corner says “cantante dei (singer of) ‘Tanks'”. Can’t remember his name but he was a very famous member of the early Virus collective (and in the background you have another familiar face: he definitely looks like Gianmario of ‘Wretched’).

Issue #4 went further down that path, containing an extensive Bologna Punk special, ‘flash’ presentations of several (Italian) bands, concert/record-reviews, a polemic on punk, etc. I still consider this the most accomplished issue ‘Punkrazio’ released, with a balance between music and politics. It was released in April 1982 and I remember buying it on the same day of its release, at a gig featuring local bands.

After that, the zine was put on a long hiatus, though ‘Punkrazio’ kept on being very very active, he helped producing the 1st ‘EU’s Arse’ 7” (Can’t remember if he was involved with the following one, the ‘EU’s Arse’ / ‘Impact’ split-EP, although I remember him being present at our local radio-station, where he had his own show. The band showed up with the master-tapes of their songs, recorded on the same day and he played them.), the ‘Warfare’ / ‘Upset Noise’ split-EP and the one by ‘Soglia Del Dolore’. He also played bass in bands such as ‘Pravda’, ‘Sabotaggio’ and ‘Tomahawk’, all of these being incredibly harsh and raw, and sounding “beyond punk”.

Political awareness grew and by the mid 80s, striving to get a space of our own became the main goal for everybody in the scene, besides fighting for (or against) many political issues.

I think this is quite evident in #5, the final issue. It came out much later, in 1985, and reflected ‘Pankrazio’s views at the time: music-coverage was still there (reviews, mostly) but political stuff predominated, in both writings and art.

Adriano Di Gaspero (ContraCultura zine)

The zine was focused on Italian punk and a few new-wave bands, but only in #1 and 2. ‘Pankrazio’, was the bassplayer of the no-wave band ‘No Suicide’ and later ‘Pravda’ (who did some gigs with ‘Warfare’, ‘Upset Noise’ & ‘Soglia Del Dolore’ (summer of ’83), and ‘Sabotaggio’ later. Basically this ‘zine, together with the punkzine Attack (done by ‘R.A.F. Punk’) started the Punkaminazione project in the mid ’80s: a zine for all Italian punks, with more contributions about the Italian scene… N.F. was oriented towards anarchopeacepunk (the ‘Crass’ way): reviews (concerts/records/tapes) and anarchist attitude…

‘Renza Solappa’ (‘EU’s Arse’, ‘Warfare’ vocalist)

Kevin Seconds (Schmock #6)

Before X-Mist Armin Hofmann (‘Skeezicks’ & ‘Happy Ever After’ bassist, and owner – with ‘Apes Of Wrath’s Ute Prigge – of X-Mist recs) and at the time of his tape-label ExtremMist tapes (1984) was an active zinester. Unfortunately none of his publications reached me and the guy lost them all in a fire… There was Banzai and, during the same period, Schmock (Wildberg, Germany), “The first German fanzine in English!” (that he did together with ‘Hero Hito’ Norbert Paplewsky – not Paplewski). The first issue got out in 1983.

Dirk Michiels (Punk Etc) has a few issues in his collection. #2 (Apr ’84), #3 (Nov ’84), #4 (Apr ’85) & #6 (Jan ’87). #2 is also on the www; with a presentation of ‘Neurotic Arseholes’, ‘Die Ärzte’ & ‘EA80’, ‘Toxoplasma’ gig-review, Norwegian music, French punk report, Japanese underground report, Spanish scene-report, etc. The 3rd issue had a girl performing fellatio on the cover (which was still considered perverse by some authorities); content-wise: an interview with ‘Mottek’, presentations of ‘Toxic Reasons’, ‘Äni(X)Väx’ & ‘Rudolf’s Rache’, part 2 of the Japanese underground report, a US travel-report, reviews (gigs/tapes/records), info on the Polish scene & the Chaos Tage, and more. N° 4 has more about punk in Poland, a column by Mykel Board, East-German scene-report, gig-reports, presentation of ‘Hostages Of Ayatollah’ and  ‘Spermbirds’ & ‘Walter Elf’, a whole bunch of reviews, etc. #6 has interviews with Kevin ‘Seconds’, ‘Government Issue’, scene-reports from Germany, Amersfoort (NL), Peru, Cheshire (UK) & Spain, and more.

Armin also ran ExtremMist mailorder and tape-label (from his hometown Wildberg, north of Nagold) at the time… In 1986 he joined the Trust crew. He was also the bassist of ‘Skeezicks‘ and still runs X-Mist recs.

Brob

That’s such a long time ago, really can’t remember it all. Needless to say, that I don’t even have any copies left here myself… All I can remember or know for sure, is that I had started with a zine called Mode Magazin, and later on when I started getting more into US-style Hardcore (and had no interest in old school Punk Rock anymore), switched the name to Banzai. I wish I had at least one copy of each left. But no… Mainly because I had fire in my room in 1985: 80% of the record-collection got burnt, all tapes turned into weird little lumps of plastic and all fanzines into ash. Horrible! It made me feel suicidal at first… But then again, it cured me from my habit of collecting things.

I did Schmock simultaneously, in co-operation with my friend Norbert, who also did the tape-label Schwabenstolz tapes… Norbert was a funny guy from a rural town in the suburbs of Stuttgart [Weil im Schönbuch]. One of the very first punks in the region – and actually a truly original one. That’s also why he got annoyed with the generic and uniformed punk-scene pretty soon… We did the Schmock fanzine together, written in English (pretty poor English at that time…) to connect with the international scene.

I really can’t rememer how many issues we did…

Armin Hofmann

This chat with Kevin of ‘7 Seconds‘ is from the time the band’s New Wind LP was released (and criticised)…

No Cause For Concern?

This zine was suggested by Paul Morris of ‘Sons Of Ishmael’. The editor, Janine Frenken (from Ottawa, Canada’s capital), started it with two friends (Dave Champion a.k.a. Dave DC; vocalist of ‘Civil Terror’/’Deep Six’ & David McCaig) in April, 1982. They did 9 issues (last one June 1984) “which reflected the pulsating, political and intensely creative scene that throve in Ottawa and the rest of North America in the early 80s”.

More info, interviews, etc. can be found on nocauseforconcern.com. Unfortunately the original scans are low-resolution. But there are typed-out transcripts.

Janine was in the all-female punk band ‘Unwarranted Trust’ (who had a track on the P.E.A.C.E. compilation-LP) and later filled in on bass for ‘Porcelain Forehead’… She went to become a graphic designer.

Brob

Why did I start a zine?  Back in 1982,  mainstream media hated punk and either gave it bad coverage or wouldn’t cover it at all. You’ld only hear about punk bands, shows, releases, etc., through fanzines, or the odd show on college-radio. (Or maybe while hanging out at the local non-chain record-store.) I was also reading Flipside and people were sending in ‘scene-reports’ and copies of their zines and it just seemed natural that every local punk-scene would have some sort of fanzine. Ottawa definitely needed one. Ottawa had punk bands, there was a group putting on underground shows (which I was a part of)… It was a good way to let people know what was happening locally as well as in other Canadian cities (people started sending scene-reports once we got a few issues out there which was really cool). And it was good to let people in other cities know what was going on here, to show it was a place worth playing if you were a touring band. I loved that aspect of it (its contribution to our scene) but I also loved actually putting the thing together, you know: typing out the articles, glue and scissors, that stuff, LOL.

I love that you’ve got a blog on zines. To me it’s a continuation of the original concept – to make a record of what we were doing. That’s one of the reasons I put most of N.C.F.C. up on a website…

Janine Frenken

I first started attending punk shows in Ottawa before moving to Toronto so Janine’s zines bring back memories of my early days in punk.

Paul Morris

P.S.A. (Der Sensenmann #1)

Der Sensenmann (“the grim reaper”) was edited by Mario Mihalic (Ottikon) and ‘Röbi’ Robert Zollinger (Winterthur). Before they did seperate zines: Mario did Die Wahrheit (“the truth”) and ‘Röbi’ did Timbuktu Nachrichten (“news from Timbuktu”). A bit later ‘Röbi’ started Speed Air Play, a tape/record-label (Der Sensenmann was also a small distro) and radio-show on LoRa (local radio in Zürich) – the latter with Claudio (?) & ‘Roli’ Roland Brümmer (Skatecore fanzine).

#1 (from the collection of Dirk Michiels of Punk Etc) dates from 1984 and features ‘P.S.A.’, ‘Subversion’, ‘Zyklome-A’, ‘Crude SS’, ‘Depp Jones’ (ex ‘Canalterror’), etc. There’s quite a lot of info on people who made fanzines (‘Winni’ Wintermeyer of Nasty Facts, Urs Vollmin of Apocalypse Now, Petra Beck of Hexentanz, Martina Müller of Namenlos, Dirk Detering of Staatsfiend, Andreas Mandrysch of Weiberfeind, Jan Leuzinger of Provinzblatt, the people of Seelenqual, etc.).

Brob

I started Timbuktu Nachrichten in the early 80s, when I was living at a small farming village and had no friends or other cool people around who were into punk or subculture. There were only 30 xeroxed and I mainly send it to punks in Switzerland and Germany. That zine was more about personal topics, thougts, essays, very chaotic… Around that time I met Mario, who also grew up in a remote place like me. He had already put out a zine called Die Wahrheit (#1 & 2). We decided to do a punk-fanzine together and called it Der Sensenmann. We did 2 issues (offset, about 100 or 200 copies). We also started a punk-distribution with zines, tapes and 7″s of befriended punks. Doing the fanzine got me friends (mainly other zine-editors, with whom I traded) and I started to visit them all over Europe with an interrail-ticket. This way I could escape from my village, build a network and meet like-minded people at punk-gigs. To me, the cool thing about it was sharing the same (underground) ideas, the DIY-movement, seeing bands and different ways of living.

The second issue of Der Sensenmann had the German bands ‘Rudolf’s Rache’ & ‘Der Riß’, concert/music-reviews, the Swiss bands ‘The Decay’, ‘Bullwix’ & ‘Nervengas’, Yugoslavia & East-Germany scene-reports, Austria punk, and lots of fanzine-reviews/ features (mainly German).

1985, when the last Der Sensenmann came out, my interests grew more and more from British punk towards American hardcore, so I started – with two friends with whom I already organised already HC-concerts (‘C.C.M.’, ‘Negazione’, ‘B.G.K.’, ‘Verbal Assault’, ‘So Much Hate’, ‘D.I.’, ‘Youth Of Today’, ‘NoMeansNo’, ‘Challenger Crew’  and many more) in Zürich – the Speed Air Play radioshow. I (together with a friend) still do that show but only about 6 times a year… Vinyl only, always broadcasted live. To earn a living I’m a self-employed painter.

I lost touch with Mario, I think he’s living in Croatia now.

Robert Zollinger

Mario M. took the pics for our (‘The Decay’) 7” and ‘Röbi’ drew the cover! I only saw the final issue of the zine though and I have a vague memory about Mario telling me about Die Wahrheit. Mario then disappeared… Röbi co-released the ‘Profax’ debut-EP and the ‘Such As’ EP.

‘Pablo’ (‘The Decay’, etc.)

As an example here’s the piece about ‘P.S.A.’ (‘Punk Sound Against’), an anarchist band from Sassari, Sardinia (the Italian island Sardegna) with Geppi Sanna (vocals), Danilo Sini (guitar), Luigi Palomba (drums) and Gianfranco Squintu (bass; replacing Gigetto Carta). At that time they had a tape out (Sulla Nostra Pelle) and were on Pax recs’ compilation-LP Bollox To The Gonads – Here’s The Testicles.

[Translation below]

Here’s some invfo about Italy and the @ HC band ‘P.S.A.’ from Sardinia. It seems to me that punk in Italy is the least fake and hasn’t become a fashion. The skin- and punk-scene is good, but in Sardinia there’s only ‘P.S.A.’ and two heavy-metal bands that are good.

‘P.S.A.’ (‘Punk Sound Against’) are Geppi (vocals), Danilo (guitar), Luigi (drums) and (Gianfranco) bass. They write: we’re against racism, nuclear arms and all injustices that man has to endure, further totally anti-militarist and anarchist; because that’s the only way to freedom for mankind. These views are clearly expressed in the lyrics, which also deal with everyday matters. They try to influence public opinion through song-lyrics/flyers because they think nationalism/patriotism is a form of racism and because they don’t believe in state and government. To show this concretely, they play punk. All their lyrics are sung in English and Italian because they think everyone can understand it this way.

They’re making a tape with anti-military and anarchist bands from all over Europe. This is supposed to be proof that many people are fighting against war. (If you know a band with similar views that wants to be on the tape: send material to ‘P.S.A.’)! To finance the tape, they also sell a T-shirt with anti-nuclear propaganda, designed by themselves. The T-shirt costs 12 SFr. (postage included; if interested: send the money in a sealed envelope or by bank-transfer to ‘P.S.A.’). They would also be happy to spread as many anti-nuclear leaflets as possible.

Something else about the music: they play ultra-fast HC with short lyrics (mostly anti-USA). The songs are very short and aggressive. If you want to listen to them: the band has a tape out: With Our Life / Sulla Nostra Pelle. Available from ‘P.S.A.’ for 6 SFr. There’s also a tape-sampler [Il Destino Dell’Uomo] to be released soon (also with ‘Crude SS’) and they also have 4 tracks on the sampler Bollox To The Gonads.

The Next World (Acts Of Defiance #2)

This is not about the zine done by the people from Sunderland (see Acts Of Defiance; UK).

The one here (#2, from 1986-87) was the zine/newsletter done by Jean-Marc Hellot (from Sevran, near Paris) who ran a distribution with the same name. Before he had done a zine named The European Theatre. I’ve got the 2nd issue of his A.O.D. (a benefit for the A.L.F.) in my collection and it features the UK bands ‘The Next World’ & ‘Shrapnel’, ‘Scoundrels’ from The Netherlands and ‘The Dirty Scums’ from Belgium; there’s also scene-reports from Peru (by Giancarlo Leveroni of Libertad De Expresión zine) & Finland, and lots of addies…

In the spring of 1990 I organised a tour that was intended for ‘Indian Dream’ (from Scarborough) but in the end that band couldn’t make it. Someone suggested ‘The Next World’ & ‘Headcore’ could make it to the dates… ‘The Next World’ (originating from Kettering) were Steve ‘Geezer’ Butler (bass) & Darron ‘Bill’ Ward (guitar/vocals), and a drum-machine. They turned out real nice guys… And they were involved with the 1 in 12 in Bradford.

‘The Next World’s 7” (Public Order a.k.a.Branded) was reviewed in my zine: “Tight, rhythmic (programmed drumming), quite danceable punk-rock. Socio-critical lyrics.”. Something similar about their LP (Resurgence); this was manufactured and distributed by the Bradford Music Collective (bradford-music-collective.co.uk). The first was in support of the Campaign against the Public Order Act (protesting the fact that the police were given new means to “control political unrest”).

This interview was conducted when they were finishing the recordings of their LP (which actually got out in 1989). Some time later Steve & Darron played for ‘Virtual Reality’…

Icons Of Filth (Axe Of Freedom #4)

Alan Knotts, from Glasgow, did this zine; together with his brother ‘Boaby’ (vocalist of the band ‘Maximum Security’). Craig Ireland did reviews. My mate ‘Sned’ made issues 2-4 available on the www (Punk Zine Library). I thought I had at least one issue in my collection but it seems to gone lost… After #4 Alan also did a few issues of Spanner In The Works, together with Stephan ‘Pan’ Knight (1986-ish).

excerpts from an interview with Alan in Skull And Crossbones #8 (1989)

#2 (Feb ’85) counts 10 pages, including ‘D & V’ (Sheffield), ‘Sarcasm’ (Leicester), ‘Exit-Stance’ (Milton Keynes), Mark of ‘7th Plague’ & ‘Contempt’ (Telford) + tape-reviews and opinions. In #3 (Jun ’85)  there’s interviews with ‘Toxic Waste’, ‘Oi Polloi’, ‘Death Zone’ (Stoke-On-Trent), ‘The Sears’ (Wednesbury) and ‘Aftermath’ (Glasgow); zine/record/tape/gig-reviews & a couple of action-reports (student-strike, Youth vs. Trident). #4 (Oct ’85) was with ‘Lost Cherrees’, ‘Icons Of Filth’, ‘Instigators’, ‘Disturbed’ & ‘Subhumans’; plus the usual things.

Issue n°5 (’86) was a benefit for the Warzone collective (Belfast) with ‘Degenerates’, ‘State Of Decay’, ‘Stalag 17’; plus other stuff. The cover of #6 mentions ‘A.O.A.’ & ‘Statement’ (Patrick ‘Rat’ Poole), plus music in Poland. #7 was dubbed “Anti Liberal Issue” (with ‘Sedition’ & ‘Disturbed’) and states “Free to all I.R.A. Prisoners of War”…

Brob

The only time I was even in the zine was when Alan interviewed me. I never contributed. [the editorials indicate differently] Boaby/Bobby used to do some artwork for my zine No Visible Scar. Axe Of Freedom came on the scene just after I stopped doing mine. Bobby was in the band ‘Maximum Security’ but they split up a long time ago.

Craig Ireland

Alan Knotts hasn’t really got a relation with ‘Sedition’ but his brother Bobby was in the band ‘Maximum Security’ together with Craig Bryce (‘Sedition’ bass-player).

Angus Quinn

‘Stig(gy) Smeg’ Andrew Sewell (R.I.P.), the singer of ‘Icons Of Filth’, is interviewed here (after the release of their Brain Death EP; Mortarhate recs 1985). The others in the band (from Cardiff, Wales) at the time were ‘Aitch’ Mark Wilson (drums), ‘Daffy’ Simon DeManuel (guitar) & ‘Fish’ Richard Edwards (bass).

From the www: “The band started in Mock Death in Cardiff in 1979 with ‘Aitch’ Mark Wilson on drums, ‘Daffy’ (Simon DeManuel) on guitar, ‘Socket’ (Tony Watts) on bass and Fran and Tina sharing vocal duties. ‘Atomic Filth’ formed shortly afterwards with ‘Socket’, ‘Daffy’ & ‘Aitch’, and ‘Stig’ on vocals. Within a year the name had been changed to ‘Icons Of Filth’ – Socket left to be replaced by Ed. The 7″ EP Used – Abused – Unamused was recorded May 1983 and released on Corpus Christi recs. Ed left after this to be replaced by ‘Fish’ (Richard Edwards). In December ’83, Onward Christian Soldiers was recorded and released the following March on Mortarhate recs. Brain Death 7″ was recorded in October ’84, followed in April ’85 by the Filth & the Fury EP.”

Militant Mothers (Seconds To Nowhere #3)

Seconds To Nowhere was done by Udo Meixner & Achim Kietz from Hof (Bayreuth area, Bavaria), plus Jörg Reuschl (Münchberg). Udo sent me the covers and some interviews/reviews… (‘Active Minds’ interview, ‘Einstürzende Neubauten’ gig-review from #2; this talk with Karl Nagel of ‘M.M.’ from #3; ‘Bionic’ interview and info on ‘Gwar’ from #5).

Some bands mentioned on the covers are ‘The Idiots’, ‘Razzia’, ‘Ausbruch’, ‘Spermbirds’, ‘Walter 11’, ‘Normahl’ (#1); ‘Erosion’, ‘Target Of Demand’, ‘The Bevis Frond’, ‘Mudhoney’, ‘New Model Army’ (#4); ‘Profax’, ‘Bionic’, ‘Danzig’, ‘The Breeders’. The 2nd issue also has a scene-report about Poland by Piotr Wierzbicki (QQRYQ zine), an interview with ‘D.R.I.’.

Brob

I did the fanzine with Udo Meixner but I quit after the third issue. It was a cool time!

Achim Kietz

As far as I can remember, the fanzine Seconds To Nowhere was founded in late 1986. The first issue should then have appeared in early 1987. At the time, I was very enthusiastic about the spirit of the so-called D.I.Y. movement. In 1986 I had already started a tape-distribution (Radioactive Tapes). The name was obvious because that was the year of the Chernobyl reactor accident. I’ve always been interested in journalism – so what could be more obvious than combining a love of music and a love of writing? Back then, fanzines were a dime a dozen – but hey, that was the only source of information on punk-rock!

So me and a buddy started writing to our favourite bands and asking for interviews. At that time, most interviews were conducted by letter. In the beginning it was primarily German punk bands like ‘Normahl’, ‘Razzia’ and so on. There were also reports about the punk-scene in East-Germany or Poland. But since our taste in music has always been a little more diversified, we also reported on bands like ‘Einstürzende Neubauten’ or ‘Ghost Dance’ right from the start. There were only 5 issues of the fanzine (unfortunately).

After distributing tapes and the fanzine, I also founded my record-label Striving For Togetherness (S.F.T.) recs in 1990. Up until the year 2000 I released records by ‘Headfirst’, ’25 Ta Life’, ‘Vision Of Disorder’, ‘No Redeeming Social Value’, ‘Shutdown’, ‘Fahrenheit 451’, ‘District 9’, ‘Neck’ and ‘Choose X’ (the only German band).

As the editor of a punk fanzine, I learned a lot. Writing and photography have always been my passions – so what could be more obvious than doing an apprenticeship at a daily newspaper after school? And in fact, in 1990 I applied to a “serious” daily newspaper with number 4 of the fanzine, incidentally with Henry Rollins on the cover. They actually hired me and trained me as an editor. So I literally turned my hobby into my job and of course I haven’t regretted it to this day! For a few years I also worked as an author for the German Visions magazine, where I wrote about bands like ‘Agnostic Front’, ‘Biohazard’, ‘Cro-Mags’, ‘Sick Of It All’, ‘Pantera’, ‘Stone Temple Pilots’ and many, many others. I was also (in the times before covid) a press-photographer at festivals such as Rock Im Park, Southside or Roskilde.

Udo Meixner

‘Militant Mothers’ was the band of ‘Karl Nagel’ (Peter Altenburg, who used to do Hackfleisch zine and was in ‘Morbid Outburst’). The others in the band were bassist Harvey ‘Hustler’ Quast (ex ‘Morbid Outburst’, guitarists Eike (88-89)/ Olivié Wolf (90-92)/ ‘Chico’ Roland Wedig (91-92) & drummer Hilmar Vogt.

[Translation below]

In reviews, ‘Militant Mothers’ get compared with bands like ‘Bad Brains’, ‘Scream’, ‘L.U.L.L.’, ‘Black Sabbath’, ‘The Birthday Party’, ‘Dead Kennedys’, ‘Mottek’, etc.! How do you explain this multitude of very diverse comparisons? I mean, there are still certain differences between ‘Black Sabbath’ and ‘The Birthday Party’…

First of all: don’t lump ‘Morbid Outburst’ and ‘Militant Mothers’ together: the former were constantly and obtrusively compared to ‘Dead Kennedys’, at times that was unbearable. I’ve never really understood it but, well, you just have to live with it. At least it’s clear that ‘Morbid Outburst’ has always left an impression on many people. So we can’t have been all that eclectic.

Nowadays, with ‘Militant Mothers’, things are quite different. We actually assimilate the most diverse influences and don’t excuse ourselves for doing so. It’s also completely idiotic and boring for everyone when bands pin themselves to one style. The tape [Hit Your Heart; 1988] is just a small excerpt of what we’re doing at the moment.

We steal from almost every genre of music, alienate and mix, so that something completely different comes out. And exactly that’s what we want. We want to be the motor and not let ourselves be driven; Harvey and I have done that for far too long. That’s why it’s good to play with Eike and Hilmar: because they absolutely don’t cling on to any ridiculous traditions, they just get going.

“Three elements symbolise ‘Militant Mothers’: aggression, warmth and the absurd.” – that’s what the booklet accompanying the demo says. Aggression is clear, as is the absurd, but warmth…?

We just don’t feel like hitting everything blindly, any idiot can do that and it only makes things easier for a short time. Our music can only make sense if we really let all our feelings out, and these shouldn’t stop with aggression. There has to be an end to the clowning about being tough. Just because a few hippies get on your nerves via persistently irritating knitting and smiling, doesn’t mean that you have to leave the field to them.

For our music this means that we wanna give the listeners the power, despite the rubbish that surrounds them and that we also build into our songs; that it is worth nót to give up but stand up for human values, together with others, even when half the world laughs at you and thinks you’re a dreamer. Only if you believe a little in security, you will get the strength to fight for it. ‘Bad Brains’ have successfully demonstrated that this is possible with hardcore: despite the ultra-aggressive music, their lyrics are full of warmth, even if the whole rasta and jah babble is sometimes quite annoying.

What inspires you regarding Michael Jackson?

Jackson is a poor sow, a totally mental cripple. Henry Rollins can’t be that broken, and that’s what makes the ‘mega-star’ likeable. His music is actually rather unimportant. I just have a few records from him because you can learn a lot from his vocals technically. There’s no fear of contact – none of us have that. By the way, when I was 12, I fell for Heino [German schlager singer], just like Jello Biafra still does today. Maybe it’s because so many people compared my voice to Jello’s at the time of ‘Morbid Outburst’.

What’s the last record you bought that really got you excited?

That was Henry Rollins’ Life Time a few months ago. The guy has an absolutely positive charisma and writes at the same time totally depressive lyrics. The man is really impressive, even if his macho show leaves an unpleasant aftertaste. Two weeks ago, we played here in Hannover as the opening-act for the ‘Rollins Band’ and have actually never seen a band that comes across as compact. That’s when you become aware of your own limits. You can already gauge the impression they left on us by the fact that we’re still talking about this event today… You have to put that in perspective!

What recent event has particularly pleased/ shocked/ moved you?

At the moment I’m just fine because I’m singing in a band that is worth working your ass off for. Whether Franz-Josef Strauß [German politician, minister-president of Bavaria 1978-88] dies or the pope lives, is not that important anymore.

What are your plans for the future of ‘Militant Mothers’? Are you searching for concerts?

We play everywhere as long as the sound is right and there’s a stage. After more than four years, Harvey and I in particular are tired of the gigs with a transistor-radio sound, which make playing on two square meters a hell. We want to be able to let off steam, and that’s only possible if the conditions are right.

Otherwise, we got the material for an LP together – now we just need a label that believes in us and our sound. We definitely want to put it on record by the end of February – with or without a label. [The Acid Of Life; released in ‘89]

C.K.N. (Weerhaak #5)

This is the predecessor to Waakheer & Weekhaar, done by Niels de Wit. Weerhaak (Dutch for “barb”) appeared 1984-85 (in Dutch) and was “the first punk zine in Volendam” (popular tourist attraction in The Netherlands).

Michael K. made the 6 issues of this zine available on his website (bacteria.nl/weerhaak). I only have some of the successors in my collection.

#1 (May ’84) mentions the splitting up of ‘Rudimentary Peni’, there’s info on ‘Vorkriegsphase’, ‘Conflict’, Niels’ own band ‘Gepøpel’ & ‘Inferno’, reviews (gigs, recordings & zines); and various other bits.

#2 (Jul ’84) talks about the ‘Gepøpel’ reforms, presents ‘Lärm’, ‘Wretched’; there’s an interview with ‘B.G.K.’s drummer Marcel & ‘Conflict’s bassist John and other usual stuff; plus Dick Duck (Niels’ cartoon) appears for the first time.

#3 (Sep ’84) has brief bits about ‘The Dirty Scums’, ‘Black Vampire’ & ‘Capital Scum’; scene-reports from Venlo (Mat Aerts) & Arizona. Niels gives his opinion on the media and Marcel Kok writes about refusing military service. There’s also a comic from Martijn Klaver, various odd bits and reviews.

#4 (Jan ’85) contains scene-reports from Spain (by someone of Penetración zine), and Steenwijk (by ‘Stanx’ vocalist Cesar Gonzalez), Venlo (Mat Aerts), Utrecht (by Ron Goris) & Groningen (Michael K.) in The Netehrlands, plus New-Zealand (‘Armatrak’s Steve Moore); an interview with ‘Zyklome-A’, presentation of Niels’ Anti-Esthaetic Recording Syndicate (AARS) and the band ‘U.B.C.F.’; plus more.

#5 (Apr ’85): ‘C.K.N.’, ‘Scoundrels’, ‘Wulpse Varkens’, ‘Oigasm’, ‘Kromozom 4’, ‘Afflict’; opinion on HardCore, Dick Duck cartoon, reviews.

#6 (Jun ’85): ‘Funeral Oration’, ‘R.A.F. Gier’, reports on the scenes of Friesland, ‘t Gooi & Greece; more Dick Duck, reviews.

Brob

I was on the editorial board of Weernieuws, the schoolpaper of Schoolcommunity Werenfridus in Hoorn (where also people of ‘Gepøpel’, ‘Indirekt’ & ‘Antidote’ were attending classes). The censor of the paper was rather strict: many of the comicstrips/ cartoons I made, were not accepted; once an entire comicstrip was replaced by blank frames. So I thought it was time to do my own thing. Hence Weerhaak, a name that I disliked quite rapidly (and then changed in Waakheer & Weekhaar). The first issues were not that good, a lot of bios/lyrics, etc. that came straight from records. But I didn’t really care about the quality, it was more about selling and exchanging my ‘product’, and the contacts I got out of it (a lot of copies went to Belgium, where there was a much livelier fanzine-culture than in The Netherlands).

Gradually the zine got better and I developed my own style somewhat, definitely when I let go my rigid punk-approach and started writing about anything I wanted. I made copies in printruns of 150-200; from 1986 on I could go to my band-mate Hans Engel (R.I.P.) who worked in a small school-printshop… So after all it became a “school-paper” anyway.

Niels de Wit

Here’s the interview with ‘C.K.N.’ (Creatieve Kippen Naaiers/Neukers; “creative chicken fuckers”), a band from Alkmaar, The Netherlands, with (at the time) Pim Bakker (vocals; later ‘Boycot’), Ronald Maas (bass), ‘Otske’ Edwin Otte (drums) & Dirk-Jan Aafjes (guitar). ‘Jack Stuka’ Jaap Erik Mostert (guitar) joined later.

[Translation below]

Reviled by many, praised by some; this is an interview with singer Pimmetje of ‘C.K.N.’ (‘Creative Chicken Fuckers’) from Alkmaar – the questions are from Niels.

WHEN? WHY? WHO? HOW? WHAT?

We started over 2 years ago, Dirk and Ronald asked me if I didn’t feel like singing for them; what I’ve tried and am still trying (I’d been playing bass in a few other bands before that). Only, we couldn’t find a drummer. That’s why we asked the drummer of the ‘Zweetkutten’ [“sweaty cunts”] if he didn’t want to play drums for us too and that’s what happened. With ‘Otske’ on drums we had our first performance on December 3rd ‘82, we had practiced 9 songs and ± 4 times (it wasn’t really a success either). After that we had a couple of gigs together with ‘Blitzkrieg’ and the ‘Zweetkutten’. When the ‘Zweetkutten’ broke up, we continued on our own (‘Blitzkrieg’ thought we were a booze band and didn’t want to perform with us anymore). After that we had a couple of gigs across the country: Amsterdam, Meppel (at the Doe Niks [“do nothing”] festival, haha), Steenwijk, Castricum, Beverwijk (during the opening of the new police-station), etc.

I’ll also tell you how we came up with the name: there was a magazine Creative Cutting & Sewing, but our guitarist thought it said Creative Chicken Sewing [“naaien” also means fucking, in Dutch] and hence we got the name. Our line-up is: Dirk – guitar; Ronald – bass; Otske – drums, Pim – vocals.

A LOT OF YOUTHCENTRES REFUSE TURN YOUR BAND DOWN AND YOU HEAR THE STRANGEST STORIES ABOUT PUNKS FOM ALKMAAR; HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?

Wow, what a difficult question, that refusing is fortunately getting less. The question about why, well, that differs: sometimes just hearing the name is enough, other times when people get to know we’re from Alkmaar. I think it’s because people equate ‘C.K.N.’ with drunken, destructive individuals. Not just band-members but also people that tag along. Well, about drunks, that’s right: we like beer, but it’s not like (except for one time in de Buze [venue in Steenwijk]) that we’re drunk on stage. But that thing about being destructive, that’s nonsense. Right, a bunch of people coming along usually pogo but that’s okay no? (I’ld rather have 15 people pogoing than 100 people staring at you.) Not that I think everyone should pogo; if you don’t feel like it, then don’t do it. Also: a lot of punks think we’re not political and just booze. Again, bullshit: we have a few songs like Dixan [brand of washingpowder], Creatieve Kippesoep [“creative of chicken soup”], Seks Met Een Pop/ Kip [“sex with a doll/ chicken”] en Kotsmaniak [“vomiting maniac”]. But our other songs such as Kotten Systeem [“shack system”], Kortjakje [nursery rhyme that goes back to a folk song from the early 18th century], Fascist, Crises, etc. are political and we’re all for that too (otherwise we wouldn’t be playing them). And, besides, there will always be people with prejudices, shame on them, I don’t care. And we won’t change either, we are what we are: people who like fun and beer. Well, I hope this answers your question and makes you a little wiser too.

What we do besides the band (except walking around drunk, haha) is making a fanzine, called the Kippenkrant [“chicken paper”]. There have 3 issues until now and we’re actually working on the 4th (people can contribute stuff through the address below). Furthermore, the guitarist and I are busy setting up a distro for LPs, tapes, etc. Because here in Alkmaar and surroundings there’s only one shop that carries almost nothing and the rest sells stuff much more expensive than necessary. We sell things at what it costs us.

A little more about the Alkmaar scene (fun word). There’s another band here: the ‘Hobbits’, they haven’t been around for long but they get better with every practice and we will also perform together with them. They play fast hardcore with political and funny lyrics and have had 3 gigs. Furthermore, in Alkmaar and the surrounding area you have about 40 to 50 punks, and contrary to what you hear everywhere, new ones also pop up. A steady group of ± 15 can usually be found in Parkhof [punk venue].

ANY RELEASES PLANNED?

We just recorded for a tape with 20 songs, it will soon be for sale for fl 5,- [5 guilders = 2,50 Euro] (with lyric-booklet, sticker – yeah, for the collector – and a comicstrip). For more info: write to the address below. Be patient though when you write, you will get an answer.

FAVOURITE BANDS?

Some of my favourite bands (just mine, as the band-members live quite a bit away and I won’t see them until next week if all goes well), and I don’t think it’s that different from the other band-members: from ‘Boegies’ to ‘Outrageous’ to ‘Chaos UK’ to ‘7 Seconds’ to ‘Bad Brains’, etc. I don’t have one real favourite.

DO I HAVE A WRONG IMAGE ABOUT ‘C.K.N.’ IF I ASK ABOUT YOUR FAVOURITE BEER BRANDS?

You can ask about that, that is: as long as there’s alcohol in it and there’s a lot of it, hahaha. What I have to say is: everyone should take a look at themselves before whining about others. Well, that was about it, good luck!

‘C.K.N.’ – Pim Bakker – – – Alkmaar