| JELLYBRAIN #10 2002 **** |
| After I came face to face with my latest zine nemesis - a Mr Paul Jellybrain, at last years Brezhnev gig. What was gonna happen? Were we gonna blank each other, have a scrap on the sticky carpet during the sound check or play conkers? Well none of the above occurred and l didn't detect a glass or dirty look being aimed in my direction from our exceedingly sly editor either. We just sorta pretended nothing was said and let dead dogs lie tee hee. But what I did detect was his latest swag of putdowns, kinky hang-ups and dead iffy taste in greasy dago pop jumping out from the zine box. So I had to bite me tongue and buy a copy off the cunt (between me and you, Jellybrain just gets better and is without a doubt the best all round entertaining British fanzine your likely to fit in a Tesco shopping bag theses days...but don't tell him OK). This issues been a year in the making but well worth the wait. From the brilliant front-page byline of "...because life can fuck you up the arse and seldom respects you in the morning" to the honest 'right on' rant on the last page, it's a fucking corker! If like me, you get off on humour from the darker side of life with lots of twists 'n' turns, you'll fuckin love this twisted 'n' bitter 36 page side splitter. Tracy Emin that scruffy rubber lipped UK artist who unveiled her unmade bed as a piece of art and got critical acclaim from the art boffs, gets a severe come upance. While she's being coshed Jellybrains other pet hate the US of A 's act of independence, gets some serious amendments. And while were laughing at the absurd that loony on a tram in Amsterdam story was a fitting introduction to weirdo world of Jellybrain. And all this occurs before we even reach page 5! The few slightly pedestrian moments we do get in Jellybrain these days, comes with the editors dubious fascination with European underground bands. The spotlight this issue falls on Euro minstrels, the Peewees and The Mighty Gordinis, who sound really exciting (adopt sarcy tone). Plus that Jap girly outfit Mikabomb, who are here for their looks not their hooks! The bands all come as a one page brief respite of normality in between the crackin sarcy observations and wicked cartoon sketches. Paul's a great artist if you didn't know already, and his cartoon adaptations really work well with his dry one liners. Jellybrain's current '39 observations on life' needs some serious investigation. Take the "you can't respect a man who carries a dog" for example, or the fucking hilarious "prodding a fire with a stick makes you feel manly" tee hee. See what I mean? It's cracks like this that makes for a barrel of laffs. Those real life situations he encounters on his travels can only mean snidey comments are about to enter your air space, and the more the merrier I say. The tale of the American couple he met in an Amsterdam bar or his early career as a transient squatter are a laff a minute. The 8 pages of reviews are always a must to read, both on record and zines. It ain't so much for the product you read em, but for the way he sum's em up! Take the doomed Mouthwash CD for example..."The member of the Star Trek landing party with the red jumper has more chance of seeing the end of the episode than this has of seeing the inside of my CD player again!" guffaw!!! Listen... just buy the fucker and see for yerself coz you won't regret it! JELLYBRAIN |
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| NOSEBLEED #22 May 2002 **** |
| I spotted this at the recent Adolph And The Piss Artists gig in Brum. And was quite taken with the fluorescent glossy colour cover. Once I flicked through it and seen the 24 track CD (review up soon) release accompanying it, I had to get it. I'd heard loads of good reviews about this Dublin based fanzine, and I liked Boz's artwork that had been dripping round the UK punk scene for the last ten years. But I never managed to get hold of a copy till now. I'm assured it's very infrequently released, as the editorial states, it looks like were lucky getting one a year! Comes in a sharp professional print job, which is a must for the gifted artwork. As you probably guessed, this ain't your run of the mill fanzine, it's got suss, humour and a nifty eye for detail. Although a lot of the musical ejaculations the editor and his reviewing sidekick Andy foam about, leave some mental health warnings in our Doctors notes. Highlight had to be the hilarious seedy GOFFIK centrespread of a couple of monks about to do what monks do best, which ain't brewing cider! Ohh the guilt, ohh the sin! The Artwork is what this mag is really all about, it adds character and is funny, scathing and downright bang on. I especially loved the hilarious bottom of the food chain image. Steve Scanner from the UK's most grafting fanzine delivers a rare guest column, which was amusing to read him getting all hot 'n' bothered under his long main about the state of punk and especially the hated with a vengeance 'tribute' bands!!! Look out Sussex Pistols he's coming to get ya! There's an off skew interview with an ex-street fighter! And nahhh we ain't talking Brad Pitt here, this is the real thing. It's some heavy from up Newcastle way, who considering his rep and not grassing himself up still demanded anonymity. It's definitely an eye-opener and pretty scary scenario to be involved in. I gotta give Boz ten outta ten for having the bottle to approach such geezers without thinking....is he gonna drop the nut on me or pull my eyeball out if I ask the wrong question? The 'Fido' cartoon sketch was given a double page spread, but call me tick cos it went right over me head??? The massive 4-page Nedger Nemesis interview was another step into the dark underworld of some mad Irish geezer who by the sounds of it is a performance artist on the extreme. He produces antisocial rantings, black comedy, tales of abduction and rejection and bizarre soundtracks... sounds like real fun. Any other sectioned OFF jokers out there...get in touch I'm sure Boz will give you the third degree. The only band interview in this issue is another obscure Irish group of cutthroats from the dark drug swept slums of seaside shanty town Bray! They remind me of the Irish Misfits in print, but with rosey cheeks and curly hair instead of grease 'n' makeup, god only knows what they actually sound like? We get more light relief on the Ship Of Fools article. This is the editors chance to stretch his over active imagination and gives us a fictionalized account of what various punk factions would do if they were stranded on a raft together (snigger). Sounds like Big Brother. The Dublin Toilet humour piece shows that Boz has a gang of good ideas running through his bald skull. And without being petty, I really do think he comes over as a sorta Dublin PUNK James Joyce (snigger). There's definitely room for one in our punk print if it's done this good. We end our voyage of discovery amongst Dublin punk folklore, with a flashback to October 1980 when Sir Johnny Rotten spent a weekend in Mountjoy Jail. If you don't know it by now, it's a funny tale of infamy, lies, slaps and general blarney. With the mood of the mag now lightened up we finish with the US's Wreckless Eric....Atom and his package. Nosebleed is arty, intelligent and like the windowpane's in DM's trademnark loves sniffing round the more obscure, dark corners of this universe. Well worth your investigation. NOSEBLEED |
| TERRORIZER #96 |
| Jan/Feb 2002 **** |
| First time I ever bought a copy of this death metal monthly mag, that Rob Filth from Throw Bricks At Coppers swears by. This issue is a 96 pager double whammy and the only reason it's on this site is coz of it's impressive 30 odd pages celebrating 25 years of punk. Even these noise merchants realise their snotty roots. As the studded holo cast of screaming metal mayhem are way out my safety-pinned listening range, I'll spare you the hairy putdowns and just concentrate on the punk input. The spiky punkette front cover was a dead give away amongst the shelves in WH Smiths, and despite the £2.75 price tag was enough to lure me inside to check out the goods. I was expecting another rerun of the old Kerrang style approach to punk with the '77 brigade getting another pogo down saliva soaked lane, but I gotta admit Terrorizer have done a splendid job here covering and concentrating on just about every spectrum of the current punk scene. We get the original roots bleached but it's a great insight into todays scene too. For a start last years Holidays in the Smoke festival gets a fair review bolstered by some good live pix. 'Satellite' co-author Alan Parker is up next as he does his best not to sound like a cunt with yet another book plug, but he's rapidly losing what was already a tatty credibility rating amongst the Sex Pistols fan base (snigger). There is some in-depth coverage of the latest retrospectives on sale including CD's, books and DVD's. But the best coverage was left to the Anarcho punk section which actually talks to bands and individuals who are around today doing stuff. We also get some real 'on the street' views from da kids via the punk underground pages, which made for a refreshing approach. Some of the current UK DIY punk fanzines doing the rounds get some good exposure too, all be it excluding the Nihilism faves, but hey it's a start for a glossy. There's a good debate on the origins and true style of punk with Clara Wiseman bass player from Hackney's Zero Tolerance winning the day with a well sussed piece. A lot of bands who don't usually get column space in these mags get some deserved profiles. Bands like the brand new and highly recommended in some circles Deadline, Sick On The Bus and Total Chaos from LA. There's a big interview with Bad Religion who always come over more as businessmen than punks these days. Even more articles on the Oi!, Hardcore, post punk, goff, industrial and even the turd filled metal/punk crossover wings of punk gets a fair spotlight. The articles are detailed and read well, thank god they bought in specialist punk writers who know what they're writing about, without exception. It's only major downer was the inclusion of that cunt Stewart Home who for the life of me has absolutely nothing interesting to say on anything whatsoever let alone punk. They end with their very own top 50 punk albums chart that has the hard 'n' heavy Discharge beating the Pistols to the number one spot! Well what d'ya expect from a rock mag! You also get a FREE Cradle Of Filth poster which I'm sure Rob Filth will be cooing over at this very minute. I dunno if back issues are available?, but I suspect they are so check out their site for more info coz this is worth your punk perussal, go to... |
| BARBIES DEAD Issue #6 |
| Spring 2002 ** |
| Great name, shame about the paste!!!! And like the name suggests I was looking forward to a UK Subs kinda punk rock read...y'know soft lights and loud guitars. Well this ain't it. The vibe is energetic it's similar to 4 Minute Warning but there the similarities end. The music once more gets put on a back burner as we get doused in political and PC observations nicked from other mags, how lazy is that? I mean c'mon 1 or 2 articles maybe, but every other fucking page! How many times have we gotta read what we shouldn't eat, drink, or fucking view? Has anyone in the punk ghetto heard of common sense these days? Apparently NOT! It's a shame coz mags like this lose their spontaneity as were retold over and over again like kindergarten punks what's the REAL score! The music sneaks in unannounced as a side dish far too infrequently for my liking. There is however a very good Oi Polloi interview. Very interesting to hear the Cockney Rejects were their big influence to straddle guitars, turn into Robert Bruce historians and take their brand of Gaelic protest punk across the globes squats...who'd have guessed eh? The zine reviews in this issue ain't the best, they're rushed, basic and are sweetened only with sparkling diplomacy as the editor Alex loves everything he reads!!!! Can someone, anyone give it to us straight any more? Ain't we old enough and big enough to take it on the chin? It seems Alex ain't no spring chicken either (so he should know better) as he quite happily shares with us his first punk rock experience from 77/78 while the energetic Radio Stars entertain Middlesbrough paper kids. We then get a swiped piece on the French Refugee camp at Calais, which seems to be the soup kitchen of Europe, before the big breakout into the Giro haven of the UK. This is followed by an even more morbid account from the Taffy Foreign Legion, who seem to be suffering from Legionnaires disease big style. I'm woken up with a sharp dig in the ribs by another PC spotlight on refugees, and this time it emanates from the Australian outback where they couldn't give a Castlemeine 4 XXXX for Woomera! The only Subs nod in this 'ish was the 'Flood Of Lies' album revisitation, which on a more constructive note was more like it. Glad to say we won't be seeing any more Mark Barnsley appeals in the UK zine scene (as we all breathe a sigh of relief). Reason being he's actually out (shock horror) having done his bird for a crime he obviously was wrongly convicted of. A ridiculed Thatcher the Snatcher and old Brittle hips (Mam), are nicked once more from the daily's but bought a smirk to our faces as we manouvre into the clinically depressing world of Active Minds, where's me razor? As earlier reports suggest, the record reviews were a lot more inspiring, giving us an idea of what the noise is all about. Red Letter Day, MDM, 4FT Fingers all get promo profiles, with a few gig reviews thrown in amongst the smudgy incomprehensible photostatic pix. Not the best photocopied zine on the market but Barbies Dead certainly ain't the worst either, but as my old probation officer once said could do better! Oh before I forget Alex (the editor) wants YOUR first punk gig experience in writing, either reviews, accounts or just memories. He's planning on putting a book out and all those who contribute get a FREE copy. You can get reach him via |
| 50p & SAE Alex, Woodhouse, The Square, Gunnislake, Cornwall, PL18 9BW, UK |
| MOST PUNKS ARE TOTAL ARSEHOLES #1 2002 *** |
| Brand new zine here from the inner city depths of the North London punk scene, and straight away the original name grabbed my attention. Zines like this bring back that old snotty attitude that a lotta zines miss out in today's unimaginative climate and confirmed by....."do whatever the hell you want with it, sample it , cover it, steal it!" I love that attitude and along with the impressive visual layout it's very sylish. Attractive page layouts are half the battle in zine writing, and M.P.T.A. is very well done without even a hint of slash 'n' epoxy style. However my pen and ink punk bubble was semi-deflated by the political guff involved. I sometimes think punk zines like this printed on 'community presses' are only allowed the community facilities as long as they involve the community politics in the publication???Which is fucking blackmail in my book, but maybe I'm wrong, who knows? The editor Mark warned me in his attached note... "political as fuck but not a student in sight" which is very true and he dont seem the sort who'd be railroaded??,.... M.P.A.T.A is sort of a Class War crossed with Glue bag Baby, but thankfully without the middle class wankers to spoil our punk fun, however no sight of Glue bags natural wit either? I wish M.PATA would concentrate at least 25% more on punk rock views, coz it seems to have a good perspective on the scene, but sadly the punk rants are left to the sidelines for more campaigning rants in this packed 52 page read. We get a massive 9 page interrogation of Terminus, who I must admit ain't at all too familiar with musically, but it's an angry pissed off piece. I loved the 'Bunk the tubes' article! Now this is more like the kinda political stuff I wanna read about. Some fictional writing is involved too, which we don't see much off in today's UK zine scene. This particular tale of catching a tube full of psychotic evil suits kept me there till the end, The 'Thug' skin piece was a laff too. We then get a really YAWWNNNING interview with some cunt called Robb Johnson, who strums folk guitar when he aint sending us to sleep!!! And yeah, you guessed it....he sings political lyrics!!! Shit like this along side other rants like 'View from the far side' made me switch off completely. The inventive music reviews were small but highly compact, which included resident faves like Bug Central through to Drop Kick Murphy's and onto Assert. So a big range gets covered. Although we have to dodge the 'users guide to British politics' along the way... fuckin 'ell give your readers some credit Mark, all this is actual common sense to punks who can read and write, unless your some Kosovan straight in from Dover!!! There's a profile of Nosebleed who disappointingly turn out to be a hardcore dance band duuuuuhhhh. The zine reviews again like the music gets a small 3 page section but there's more print squeezed in here than rebel protesters at some Met. paddock on May Day. Lastly Bug Central rain the petrol bombs home with another interview, and deservedly so (gutted I missed em the other week in Brum!). So a good debut, and yeah Most punks are definitely arseholes including myself, and despite the obvious, if this can get out more often, will prove to be a thorn in the more established punk zines bland side... which is always gonna be good! £1.00 from MPATA c/o Phoenix Press, PO Box 824, London, N1 9DL, UK. or E-mail donnymark@hotmail.com |
| Q SPECIAL - 'Never Mind The Jubillee...' April 2002 *** |
| With a forward and afterward written by Debbie Harry and Malcolm McLaren respectively, this 148 page glossy mag had great potential for being a complete load of bollocks or a very good punk expose. And with the 25 year plus hindsight and access to numerous punk rock vaults a mag of Q's supposedly professional standing, should've mustered together a better display than this! This glossy cash-in is a purely 76/77 London/New York punk trip, with everything else ignored. It sure looks the real deal with the eye-catching cover and atmospheric classy vintage mug shots, some are very rare glimmers from a bygone age. But with a load of thrown together barth as text barely makes this worth the fiver cover price. What really lets this down badly was the scandalous and innumerable factual misquotes and shot in the dark misnomers. Why they include a calendar of events when your lucky to get the right week, let alone the right day is beyond me. It seems rushed and very sloppy journalism done by a small army of chancers. The main nucleus of the text is basic heard it all before band profiles which to be fair do cover the main bases. But without relying on the superb imagery to set this mag alight it would've been a joke. The best section is the cameraman's view of the shots. Ray Stevenson, Godlis, Dennis Morris and Barry Plummer give us some great insights on how and when the shots took place. There's also a couple of good profiles on punk artwork, fashion, plus the fanzine era with informative pieces on Sniffin Glue and Punk magazine. But like the front cover states in its subheading..."All of the bands and all of the bollocks!" |
| £4.99 www.Q4music.com |
| RANT #3 2002 **** |
| Rant #3 comes charging out it's grubby village pen Ranting and Raving with a new vigor and a more inspired read. This is thankfully a fucking big improvement on last issues disappointing display. Mick has finally got his act together with a great 46 page cut 'n' paste typed text of vex, done in pristine black n white zeroxed print. And this issue has got a lot more thought out point of view, which we like here at Nihilism central. Mr Rants fixation with Mark Noah of GMM records is still bordering on the ridiculous, so much so, he's even got him on the front cover, and it don't stop there dear reader. He carry's his 'Hate' campaign inside on the 'Your Editor Speaks' page ha! Fuckin 'ell Mick have you took lessons in stalking or wot? Whatever the gripe or racially motivated case, there ain't nothing better than reading a bit of controversy in a zine is there? Especially this kinda one way traffic ha! The reviews are a lot more detailed, and you actually get a glimpse of what's being reviewed instead of nice read or crap band or great set. Talking of which check out the Brezhnev gig review at the Lamplighter's from their last tour. Nihilism On The Prowl (boo hiss) gets pulled up about my last review of Rant #2, so check out the soon come 'Don't Care Retort' page on this site as it displays both points of view...It's nice to get things out in the open, eh Mick? Red Flag 77 are given a rare (these days) interview, plus fellow Suffuck combo Condemned 84 get a condemned mans discography as well. There's a good Steam Pig insight from Dublin and Dog Shit Sandwich from Brum leave a mess, so a good cross section of punk this time round. There's also an M.D.M. profile page (highly recommended by Nihilism) plus we are treated to a poetry page done Mick Rant himself (snigger). He actually slags off 'drug abuse' on one hand, before going out to score half an ounce of dope in the other!? Trev Hagl rounds off this issue with a welcome guest appearance with his less acidic (these days) Savage Humour on 'Censorship', 'Punk videos' and 'Computer blunders' (snigger). Definitetly the best Rant yet! £1.00 plus 2 stamps from 9 Sutton Court, 47 Leicster Road, Broughton Astley, Leicestershire, LE9 6QE, England |
| BOOTBOY MAIL #19 2002 ** |
| This issue is another first for Punk Rocker and unlike 'Most Punks Are Arseholes' this is totally going in the opposite direction. Bland layout, hastily thrown together and about as rivetting as the checkered Selector ad. on the back cover. Band questions range from 'where was the most bizarre place you had sex?' to 'who would you hate to be stuck in a lift with?'... which for a debut zine you could dismiss as growing pains but this is issue 19 fer fucks sake!!!! If you've got punk by numbered outfits like Scum, Lowlife, Wild flames, Ronguns, Zero1 and Crucified Venus answering em, you ain't gonna get a lotta joy. Now if they asked bands like Bug Central or Statch And The Rapes that same question I'd be extremely interested to hear their answers. None of the bands interviewed or featured made me wanna check em out in the slightest. They all just sounded boring or bored! Maybe appearing in Bootboy Mail is the kiss of death to any band ha! ha! You'd think the bands would try at least to turn it round for themselves, but no they just went through the motions. Punk is supposed to be diverse and yeah we do need zines like Bootboy Mail which is basically a laff and throwaway, just as much as we need the more serious politically motivated zines out there. And like most people I'm all for a bit fun, be it at the expense of others or ourselves, but please try and make it worth our while with some decent jokes or jibes next time. This is spat out on a monthly basis I believe?, so credit for regularity, but maybe it's stretching it's limited resources and every 3 months would be a more realistic deal for us and them. At least a few tricks of the trade should've been learned by now don'tcha think? Despite the name this ain't a skin read, although there's loads of badly drawn skin bird cartoons, sitting on Skrots or drinking cans of Stella. And it's all put together by Sado, who strange as it may seem created the smart looking Hotwired web site layout, so where did he go wrong here? Sado also plays bass for Hotwired... so if your aquainted with Hotwired you know exactly what your in for. Bootboy Mail half heartedly trys to fill the cracks with photo stats of 'residents uprising' community leaflets, a double page spread devoted to some 'pervy park', plus a fictitious 'Dear Gibbo' problem page arrrrrgggggghhhh!! The reviews all 4 of em (no kidding!!!) were basically more space fillers. Most original looking page in the zine went to the last one 'Norfolk N Good' and it was done by someone else! So that was it m'dears! I can see you all rushing out to buy this one, so here's the address HOTWIRED |
| PUKE #7 August 2002 **** Welcome to the sick bed of Pineapple Rd and Birmingham's snottiest (and only) punk zine Puke. This is where it gets real! Despite it's lower page count, Puke makes up for quantity in quality. I told Becca this was her most professional edition to date, which sent her reaching for the vodka bottle and screwing up her panda eyes by proclaiming "It still has a scruffy edge!" Well have no fear Becca, coz your scruffy, handwritten projectiles are still humming like a beggar in Birmingham New Street. Puke's compact, well soiled, chaotic bloody mess only shows it's captured the art of cut 'n' paste to a fine art, a bit like Becca's Vodka sessions maybe? The print job on this one makes all the difference too, maybe the copiers have got more ink in em around Brum than in Aylesbury? Coz Puke is dark 'n' strong all the way through, like a dose of the pox. Seems like the West Midlands is having a positive effect on the Aylesbury kid, in more ways than one. You wanna check out the gig reviews for proof. I think every lowlife punker outfit within it's 2nd city confines has been witnessed and documented in this issh. There's no hiding now boys!!! The 'Weird Shit' worldwide news clippings and scribbles that litter it's pages still makes for an entertaining and hilarious read. Take the Chink on the bus who got attacked by an eel he was taking home to eat! Good to see someone giving us the lowdown on bands like the Strokes, who seem to infiltrate the more gullible amongst us as being PUNK! (Adopt maniacal laugh!). The interview prey in this bowel of sick are The Pits from Sunderland, who don't say an awful lot, Norwegian Paddy's - The Greenland Whale Fishers, whose lively penchant for volume has the ability to make lamps come crashing down upon unsuspecting beer drinkers in the downstairs bar, and lastly Bullet Of Diplomacy from Coventry who smell of PC...where's the fucking stew? There's a few guest columnists who sound like they've been frog marched at gun point to add their swill, Dave from locals D.T.M. nearly shot himself in the creeper (snigger). As we close the latrine door behind us Pukes multitude of zine and record reviews from the dung pile we call the UK punk scene, still covers a wide selection of misfits, liars, cheats and downright life savers. Epitaph: Not quite as provocative and abusive as last issue but still essential if you wanna lick the real rim of the current UK punk toilet bowel. BECCA PUKE |
| BACKFIRE Vol 5. #3 Summer 2002 **** Just had a batch of this impressive Seattle based Quarterly publication, sent over from Christeen Aebi (the Portland punkette responsible for the Dead Kennedy's interview elsewhere on this site). This mag comes at us in a pro-glossy cover with clean inked tabloid pages of text. The independent music underground (don't all run away yet!) is it's prey, but covers a large chunk of punk from in or around the surrounding Washington/Oregon areas and elsewhere. Dunno how much Backfire cost, but I suspect you can pick this up dirt cheap on subscription or at local gigs. Backfire is heavily subsidized by adverts that are here with you all the way, but for FREEBIE mags of this quality to survive they are a necessary evil. I like the personal touch bought to us in a pro manner. Backfires spiky attitude is crossed frequently by a decidedly wicked sensa yuma, check out the editorial for confirmation. This mag is a lot more fun to read than the current music mags in my locale, coz It's like a 21st century Zig Zag (for you older UK readers out there). As always I'll concentrate on the punk coverage, as that's what your reading this for. Firstly there's a well informed Dee Dee Ramone tribute. Local outfit The Spits from Seattle (no not the phoney Swedish combo) tell us the difference between punk and Oi! Backfire licks it's flames further in the direction of Europe as the con-artists called the Hives get more unwarranted exposure. How come these jokers seem to be infiltrating everyone's misconception of punk rock?, we ain't fooled!!! Plus we get Christeen's note worthy streamlined DK article. I like the quirky 'pin-up' page that exhibits colossal American cars!!!! This issue features a scantily clad, sexy Cadillac hearse, called affectionately 'the Big Sleep'. And finally the UK is represented by Manchester punk vets Slaughter and the Dogs, who get pounded as they pass through the region on their first US tour. All this along with a massive 14 pages of descriptive reviews and demos featuring a lotta punk (but sadly no gigs), brings this 36 page blunderbust to a halt. From a glance through the back issues I have here it looks like this periodical has kept it's passion and original energy throughout the 50 odd editions, which is no mean feat. Next issue is due out in November 2002. So for more info contact Backfire PO Box 77311, Seattle, WA, 98177-0311, USA or E-mail Dawn the editor/Publisher at dawnfell@nwlink.com |
| 4 MINUTE WARNING #4 Spring 2002 **** Biggest issue yet no doubt, of this Blackpool, UK A4 read. Mitch is really getting into the swing of things fanzine wise, which is good to see and attractive for us. The layout is positively sardined together with loads of little snippets to check out, while the main articles purrrrr along. If like me you like a lot to read then this is textually arousing, coz you got a vast amount to consummate. You'll be very lucky to devour this in one sitting, unless you've just been sentenced for non payment of fines. Mitch has put some time into this issue and like all worthy punk zines, 4 Minute Warning is a labour of love. She allocates an eager team of contributors to their various tasks with sharp planning. However they don't all capture the spark of our imagination, so it's a mixed bag of the good, the bad and in my case very ugly. It was good to see Vitel Formanek from the Czech Republic finally getting some feedback from the UK zines. He's still on his 'never say die' mission to contribute Euro reviews, interviews to us ungrateful UK zinesters. The gig reviews on show are here, there and everywhere, dotted around the typewritten landscape. Pity most of the bands were predictable. One downer was picture quality, no clarity on a lot of em and I had a job reading the miniscule zine reviews. But that's due to the print reduction which I was more than guilty of in my own zine career. The record reviews however are vast and very readable, covering all walks of punk lowlife from the hideously ugly Rotunda to the snotty heights of Sad Society. Interviews in this issue is yet another MDM piece, and while were in Merseyside we get Spike from Retch Records who's been beavering away on his underground punk label since Blitzkrieg topped themselves. Foreign Legion (who have since gone way down in 4 Minute Warning's respect bracket) get their last look in, while Glasgow pop punkers the Red Eyes tell us straight why they're unfashionable. The snidey by the minute, but funny Apocalypse Babies make their resurrection speech and lastly we get one with the geezer who shoots all the UK DIY punk videos, Psycho Fish. There's a good piece where Mitch opens up her heart on her first dabble into punk rock, way back when she was ten!!!!, thus beginning a lifelong fascination with Siouxsie Sioux. Finally the 4 Minute Warning siren sounds as Squat thruster, Steve (Flies On Toast) infamy gives us a neat Dutch scene report. I just hope Mitch, who has suffered a few disappointments at this summers HITS festival don't lose the hunger or the inspiration to do more issues...she needs your feedback!!!! £1.20 & A4 S.A.E. from Mitch Elsden 31 Fir Grove, Marton, Blackpool, Lancs, FY16PJ, U.K. |
| NME Originals - 'Complete Anarchy 1975-79' April 2002 ***** Now this is the real deal!!! All be it centred around the New Musical Express (UK music mag), featuring archive interviews, reviews and rare pictures. What the similar formatted Q Special lacks in factual detail this publication released the same month and boasting the same page count positively vomits forth some great insights. We get long lost ultra-classic interview features with all the punk bands and major players who darkened this mags portals from 75-79. It was good to see a few of the minor outfits getting coverage too, like Nipple Erectors, Angelic Upstarts, Ruts etc. MC5 's Rob Tyner paints a vivid picture of his very first UK punk gig, whilst Rolling Stones contributor, Lester Bands spends a few weeks on tour with the Clash.There's a CBGB's Club scene report from '75 and a hilarious Sid Vicious gives Nick Kent a real insight from late 77. Comes in a well ordered ripped 'n' torn layout littered with front covers, rare sleeves and posters from the day. You'll be digesting this one for quite some time, I still ain't read it all. As they say the originals are still the best and this is the genuine article N.M.E. |
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