| RIOT 77 #18 January 2016 ***** First time reading this Dublin based fanzine or should I say magazine. Whatever you wanna call it, its a welcome addition to any mag/zine reader who loves punk in all its inglorious guises. Its glossy, slick, black and white design is similar to Artcore in its professional presentation, but is geared to a more broad based punk coverage which is fantastic for us. Riot 77 reminds me of a less colourful Vive Le Rock but without the cruddy rock 'n' roll element or arse licking reviews. Riot 77's main focus is of a punk/Oi!/street punk disposition. But offers a wider range of punk with the occasional ska punk troupes included. Wasn't really expecting such a good broad diverse coverage and read. You'd be mistaken to think it was US based fanzine as there's a vast amount of US input by well chosen collaborators/contributors who keep the high end coverage to the maximum. The interviews alone without a doubt eclipse the rest of the zine, not so much for its subject matter (which are all worth your attention), but for the way they probe without really showing too much effort. This issue features the New York hardcore of Sheer Terror who I'd never heard of previously? But their bruiser of a singer the deadly Paul Bearer growls out at us from the front cover and immediately requires your patronage. There are neat Outcasts (with Greg Cowan) and Undertones (with John O'Neill) interrogations that covers a lot of the bands experiences, plus a great Cheetah Chrome expose from his Dead Boys infamy. And unlike most zines today they don't skimp on reviews with a mass of records and gigs taking the lions share. The gig pics were very impressive and really adds to the excitement of the review. Was disappointed to see no other fanzines get coverage as Cian the editor seems to love getting his zine reviewed in German Oi! mags, so maybe he should return the favour? However books, films and everything else is included in infinite detail. I didn't realise there was so many new punk book publications prior to the 40th anniversary, so it was good to learn about a few I might pick up myself. The reviews are all done with exemplary attention to detail, including page images. Riot 77 finishes off with a massive 8 pages of record reviews that seem mostly to hit the mark making this zine a highly recommended read. Comes in an A4 sized 52 page read. Which will keep you entertained and informed for quite a while. A new issue is due out Xmas 2016. 3.00 Euros riot77magazine@hotmail.com |
| ONE WAY TICKET TO CUBESVILLE #19 Summer 2016 ***** Here's another UK zine that's been around since '87 and I'm not too proud of the fact I neglected reading a copy during the last 30 odd years, but hey ho better late than never. My initial neglect might've had somert to do with the name, a bit studenty for me, but as it turned out its a bright, light hearted neat visual surprise to my meat eating Neanderthal eyes. It trades in 'anarchy absurdity and punk' as a by line and in that order, is very good indeed. But lets not forget Veganism, which was surprisingly not shoved down our throat unlike other zines from the same wing. The print job is exceptional and very enticing giving it a professional layout with enough zanyism to DIY us in. This issue centres on 'once upon a time in the north' and it's only missing an Ernio Morricone soundtrack but the totally Northern exposure on punk and the surrounding area as its sucked dry by London centric luminaries is hillarious. As its a Manchester based zine its no surprise its perplexed. So as one of my favourite films Kess salutes us from the cover, I couldn't resist buying it when I copped an eyeful of its pink cardboard cover. Inside after a tongue in cheek editorial dissing the Northern powerhouse, we get interviews with Epic Problem who openly admit to being a Leatherface wanna be band, which looses em initial credibility tut tut. Blitz or Leatherface? I know which one id prefer! Apart from that, we get some neat anecdotes on the New Mills punk legacy from Mackie. Billy Casper the front cover star then lets rip on his anti cloth cap Northern powerhouse and slavery resistant debate. Next up its playwright, cultural commentator and ex Chumbawamba Boff Whalley (is that his real name?) who gives us a satire on how to get rid of Northern culture, which sounds too good to be totally satire. We then get sole survivor of Gang Of Four Andy Gill who went to watch a film instead of seeing the Pistols on the 'Anarchy tour' tee hee, but worst still he resides in London shock horror! Vitriolic Responce are shouty discore from Manchester, who tell us about being the only crust band left in Rainy city. Meanwhile the cut out and keep figurines are from the ingeniously named Jesus And His judgmental Father a Leeds 'queer core' pop outfit. Bolshy from the other side of the pennines offer us a ska pop punk perspective, with trombones and sax plus lots of tinny guitars which only works for me when they rip it up. Best bit of this zine however was the hilarious trans penine real ale trail, which offered some neat pit stops along the way. Plus a few to be given amiss as our editors reel back in horror at.... "fucking hell, the toilets are literally full of massive blokes on 'roids' snorting coke". Sheffield's Dry Heaves offer us "snot rag hardcore punk' and sound way better than they look. There's 8 pages of record, books and zine reviews and to round off a surreal John Cooper Clarke and Poly Styrene cartoon in a Doctor Who adventure. This zine made a neat change from my usual reading matter and looking forward to the next issue. £1.25 One Way Ticket To Cubesville |
| VIVE LE ROCK #35 MAY 2016 ***** You had a choice of 4 or 5 different covers for this Vive Le Rock Damned 40th anniversary issue. I opted for the original Damned cover as thats my favourite era of the band and by far the best. Seems I'm not so biased after all, as its the cover issue that sold out first. But i doubt the 'Machine Gun Etiquette' of the Damned disciples fraternity will agree. On a less visual note we kick off with a Dead Men Walking interview, which are one of these numerous punk super groups that i can't see the point of, let alone going to see! It seems its the done thing after the 'acoustic wave' for old punks to join forces and along with that other profile on International Swingers which has other bored ex punks jammin to audiences i think its a bit of a cop out. There are more exciting bands like Hands Off Gretel who would've been far more interesting. However the update on The Stiffs was more like it. They were great and are doing some reunion dates and you can guarantee they'll sound good too. There's a look back at New York's Television yawn. Meanwhile Airdrie punks Reaction are more old punks doing it all again and from what i hear they still have the energy levels set high. The sexy Mother Feather emanate outta Brooklyn NY and are definitely worth a look and are fresh. Meanwhile Brummy's Black Bombers offer us a jaded looking second city Stooges take. Those looking back gigs or events are scraping the barrel these days with Iggy Pops controversial TV slot from '86 is this issues 'should've been there' moment, but surely his OGWT performance from '79 beats that hands down! The 6 page Discharge interview was a good one and it shows with the right singer they can still decontrol us to deal out some of that deadly damage. Which leads us to this issues highlight which is a 14 page Damned career run through with some great insights from all the leading players and focuses especially into their earlier career, coz lets face it after 1980 they ain't done nothing musically exciting at all, but all the goodies are included here. There's a neat Vice Squad interview recalling their early years and the splendid 'Last Rockers' 45 which i still love hearing. And a neat look back at the brilliant but underrated Destroy All Monsters career. If that ain't all, theres 18 pages of record and gig reviews ending with shorts pieces with Bruce Foxton on his new album and a good profile on Sam Yaffa ex Hanoic Rocks bass player. Mainstream it maybe but its worth checking out! £4.99 Vive Le Rock |
| POSITIVE CREED #31 October 2016 ***** Fuck me, ain't read a copy of this old UK zine all the way from Exeter since its debut issue back in 2001 ha! It was A5 then, but now its expanded into glorious A4 size, which is a zine writers dream, cos you have so much space to play around with. And unlike some others, Positive Creed don't skimp on the space either. Every page is littered with prose and views. However the cut and paste is minimalist these days and veers more to basic desktop publishing. Rob Stone the editor is knocking these out every 6 months, so its definitely a labour of love. I like the riffy looking mattress shot on the cover, I spent a few nights on a few of those in the dark distant past. Rob's editorial is a real Dickensian bleak read. Nothing Positive at all. In fact his whole written demeanour sounds very down as he tells us football, shagging and fighting ain't his bag in his new employment regime lol. I wonder what he does do for enjoyment? Coz he hates pubs too, so I doubt he'd be a big fan of the Macc Lads or any of the dives I frequent. I think its good you can talk about any subject or give an opinion whether you agree or not, coz that to me is part of life's rich tapestry and still be able to get off on punk too. He needs to be a little more broad minded I reckon, he ain't a 16 year old kid. I was also shocked to read inside that people who voted for Brexit are all fascists lol. He immediately lost points on that view, however if we take out the dodgy left wing politics and push aside his Jeremy Corbyn fixation, there are still some good pieces in Positive Creed for us Nazi, women hating thugs. But not Ferocious Dog they are folk punk and not my cup of tea at all, anyone influenced by the Beatles is very suspect within punk rock. I did enjoy the Chelsea interview, Motorhead's 'Bomber' album retrospective, and the Dirtbox Disco interview. He also offers fanzines reviews, live gigs, including a 3 page Rebellion festival viewpoint which gave us the funniest observation in the whole zine where Wattie Buchan of the Exploited was being interviewed and called Big John a "fat poof" and outed Jello Biafra as "gay" tee hee. The music reviews are eclectic. And finally a local Skateboard/BMX shop gets a profile. Ah so thats Robs sordid little secret passion outside punk...he skates! Duane Peters eat yer heart out. Rob has churned out 2 more issues since this one, so check it out if your that way inclined. Not sure how much i paid for this but suspect its around the £1.00 mark.? Positive creed Po box 777 Ex1 9th England Positivecreed@gmail.com |
