ZINE REVIEWS...

QUEER FISH
This is a gorgeous little A6 weekly detailing the ‘alternative Amsterdam agenda’, a diy listings guide and extremely useful with it. Lists stuff under Clubs, Exhibitions, Independent Film, Music, Queer, Drugs and Miscellaneous. Don’t miss out on the Amsterdam underground if you go there. Get it from Conscious Dreams (Kerkstraat 117), The Bookshop (Leidseplein), American Bookstore (Kalverstraat) and Distortion Records (Westerstraat, and take plenty of guilders cos this shop kicks ass!) among many others...

SHARK FEAR, SHARK AWARENESS Vol. 2
This truly amazing zine from the Society of Shark Fear documents, before your own eyes, normal people overcoming their fear of these monstrous, terrifying creatures. Lots of shark paraphernalia, an interview with a car advertiser about why they used the great white in their ads, minutes of secret shark society meetings and other weird sharkish goings on in Olympia, a fantastic sermon, Hawaiian sayings and some great snaps. Send em’ all your Sharky Baba’s cos Americans don’t get Kinders, poor things... Society of Shark Fear, 1420 NW Gilman Blvd, Suite 1414, Issaquah, WA 98027-7001.

MUSIC FOR PORTABLE CHORD ORGANS No.2
This one really saved my life. On a gut wrenchingly choppy sea crossing, reeling around at the absolute limits of sheer boredom, crap food, crap films, crap bar and everybody tucked up in sleeping bags or bunk beds, this one made me split my sides laughing and cheered me up no end. I never got round to writing the thankyou letter he so richly deserves, so when you read this Rick, thanks a million! It’s full of hilarious crap, with unpointless stuff cropping up in the form of an interview with Josh from Pop Factory and lots of teenbeaty reviews, history of organs, letters, zines and stuff. Big Yeah! Rick, 1734 Carol Street, Downers Grove, IL 60515, five gulders, I guess that’s about a dollar or an IRC or something.

LILITH No.10
Dutch feminist zine from June/July ‘96 that covers, erm... Hexennacht in Leeuwarden, Komt Allen!, De Heksen Zijn Terugi, Antiseksisme, Een Loze Kreet? and other such stuff.... Well, as you may have guessed, yes, it’s all in Dutch, but you can sort of tell what it covers and it seems to be reports of actions/demos from across Europe and from Washington, DC, rants, reviews and some good handiwork, art, etc. Nice just to have really, it’s reassuring seeing zines done in other languages, and yes, it might have fallen into the hands of some Dutch reader in whom it might have activated some neural mechanism to get up and DO SOMETHING! but it didn’t. It fell into mine and Ireallylikeit.Two guilders, about a pound, about an IRC, from Lilith, Postbus 2107, 9704 CC Groningen (Twelve gulders for six issues).

FAST CONNECTION Issue 3
Big ‘n’ chunky music zine from the Slampt record/tape label, heavy on the independent/DIY ethos and mostly written from very personal viewpoints. Big on the networking scene, FC acts as an open forum for some very relevant and important issues such as girl power / feminism (delete as you feel applicable - girl power seems to have a million meanings in these twisted times) , peoples’ attitudes and relationships with each other plus the usual letters page punker-than-thou issues verging on petty crap. Lots of great articles though, plus interviews, columns, comic strips, reviews and scene reports. Don’t slag it ‘til you’ve read it! £1.50 from PO Box 54, Heaton, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE6 5YW.

THE COMPLETE TECHNORIST HANDBOOK issue one
Lively punk zine for all the ravers and party people in the Bradford/West Yorkshire area and an effective late ‘96 scene report for people everywhere. Their own definition of techno covers all forms of dance and party music so if you’re not turned on by the word technorist, certainly don’t be put off by it. Local stuff includes an all-important beady eye on the area’s club promoters and worthwhile nights plus plugs for their top clubs/nights. More general material includes a three page spread on how to avoid getting your house party busted, info on the CJA, soundsystems, drugs, the police, etc. What it lacks in design is made up for in content, with strong political undertones subtly breaking through. To quote a technorist, punk’s not dead - it’s dancin! 30pence from CTH, PO Box 269, Bradford, BD8 8YR.

TIKI NEWS issue eight
Seemingly the definitive report from the United States’ West Coast Tiki scene, on this outing under the guise of a travel issue. New England, Reno, Vancouver and San Diego all get the Tiki treatment by Tiki-carvers and worshippers alike, setting out to uncover all manner of freaky looking offerings to the Tiki-gods, mainly in the form of wood carvings and mugs. Hawaiian bars feature heavily, with large amounts of cocktail tips suggesting offerings being made to the gullets as much as to the gods! For the music lover, there’s a San Diego surf-scene report plus lots of ads and reviews for everything from the caveman surf of Estrus and Dionysus Records to more exotic, forbidden-island style Tikitones. Pleasantly desktop published and beautifully illustrated with hand drawn Tikis and photos of the same, not to mention reviews of Tiki art. Totally Tiki-tastic! $2 from 2215-R Market Street #177, San Francisco, CA 94114.

QG (QUIT GAWKING) issue 2
Funky Canadian college zine featuring a lively blend of style and content with a definite message and depth. Content meanders loosely around anti-consumer/capitalist,feminist, favourite boy band, arty rants and poetry. Countless topics are covered, and the editors move between cut’n’pasted typewritten notes and DTPed pages, although the dominance of the latter is a shame because their cut-up pages seem to pack the most punches, especially the breast enhancement feature. The poetry is consistently good and given spacious surroundings rather than being crammed into some corner. QG’s use of space is refreshing, really laid back and a nice contrast with many other political or guerilla media zines where stuff is rammed down your throat rather than easing your taste buds out and leaving you wanting more afterwards. QG is part of The Media Collective of artists and activists, who are hopefully not ALL into skating, ‘representing’ and silly ski-hats. But then these are The Kids, and it doesn’t look like they’re gonna let us forget it in a hurry.

GALACTIC Issue 2
This UK indie music/grrrl zine has the young and refreshing feeling of a zine in its infancy that is destined to grow both in size and popularity. Number 2 is the sports issue, featuring fun and in-depth interviews with International Strike Force, Lungleg, The Delgadoes and Bikini Kill, the latter with a transcript of Karren’s spoken word performance at the same night’s show. There is a revealing article on editor Kate’s day out at the filming of Top of the Pops, a page on Car Boot Sales care of Vertigo contributor Stephen Drennan and loads of related zine reviews, all topped off with some great pics, easy to read text and elegant cut’n’paste design. Roll on number three. Flat Above, 1 Falsgrove Crescent, Burton Stone Lane, York, YO3 7AZ. 50p + A5 s.a.e.

64 SLICES OF AMERICAN CHEESE No.12
This one’s a regular free newsletter from Che Records who are a London-based indie music label putting out the likes of Urusei Yatsura, Backwater, Superstar Disco Club, Slipstream and many others on the main label plus more experimental acts like Technoise/Hyware, Fuxa, Exit and Merzbow under the ‘i’ sidekick label. This zine-format newsletter is overflowing with info on all their current and previous bands’ activities, whether for Che Records or for other labels. There’s an attack on the ‘indie police’ and a detailed account of how the label is run following rumours in the UK indie backstabbing scene of a major label connection, which makes fascinating reading for anyone outside the record industry, underground or otherwise. Che also functions as a record distributor and they have a mail order list at the back which is nothing short of amazing, with a far better range of music and prices than any local record store. There are lots of zine reviews too and it’s all word processed, cut’n’pasted and easy to read. Free subscription from Che Trading Ltd., PO Box 653, London, E18 2NX.

GUINEA PIG ZERO No.1
Subtitled A Journal for Pharmaceutical Research Subjects, GPZ is an open forum for the human guinea pig community, people selling their bodies to the pharmaceutical research companies, getting paid good money to sit in beds having new drugs tested on them. As a job-zine they claim that Dishwasher zine was the "inspirational force in the creation of GPZ". This first issue has a history of guinea piggin’ and a long article on one guinea pig’s trip around some of India’s leprosy colonies, but in comparing experiences in drugs testing facilities against conditions in leper colonies, some stupidly futile and possibly offensive parallels are made. There’s also stuff on pharmaceutical cover ups, animal vivisection and all sorts of related stuff. They’re compiling report cards on each research facility aswell so the next issue should really spill the beans. Original, informative and funny, this is a great zine. $2 from 4728 Spruce Street, cage #369, Philadelphia, PA 19139.

CHICKEN IS GOOD FOOD No.1
An interesting one this, if only for the fact that it’s actually put out by a vegetarian and that the band interviews are the best in any current zine. The content is wide ranging, with lots of rants on consumerism, mass media and MTV punk fashion, some thoughtful, some not, but all seeming to come from a suburban punk angle. Standout pages include ‘Random Shit I Heard on the Bus’ and a comic strip called Stewie all about musical nostalgia advertisements. The interviews are all in the form of ‘Madlibs’, identical stories with words missing that the subject has to fill in, inevitably leading to some hilarious outcomes. Spazz, Propaghandi, The Dread, Rhythm Collision, Zoinks and Heroines all feature, but the best one is Guttermouth, who had special treatment with their own interview questions: Does NOFX know you sound like them?... Do you and NOFX know each other? Do you get along?.....What if NOFX changes the way they sound? Will you change too? I haven’t heard either band, but the unreturned interview is a great idea. The computer design is pretty boring to look at, with lots of punk record ads spicing it up a bit. It’s a cool zine though, always lying around, and won’t see the darkness of the shelf for a long time yet. $1.75 from PO Box 642634, San Francisco, CA 94164-2634.

SNIFFING BEHIND THE CISTERN Issue 7
SBTC has become something of an institution on the Brighton punk scene and although it’s editor Paul Cistern had ceased printing to do other zines it seems he couldn’t stop himself and SBTC is now in full flow again. DIY to the bone, punk as fuck and leading the pack in the unpretentious music zine stakes, issue seven features Rudimentary Peni and International Strike Force interviews plus loads of comic strips of the hilarious Fanzine Boy, an anoraked-up supergeek who will install terror into indie music zine editors worldwide. Fanzine Boy now has a dedicated comic all to himself, so send an extra fifty pence for this gem.

RIGSBY issues 4 to 6
Punk rock DIYers the Just One Life Collective put out about four issues of Rigsby a year. Issue 4 features Gas Huffer, Snap-Her and Dancing French Liberals of ‘48, who used to be The Gits before the death of their singer, Mia Zapatta. Number 5 is the Old Gits issue with Descendents, DOA and other aging punkers, Hong Kong action movies, catering-core recipes, words on summer 96’s troubles in Northern Ireland and endless other stuff. Number 6 has Battalion of Saints, Lunachicks, Crumbs, Dr Strange and New Day Rising plus more catering-core recipes, punk distro news and tonnes of reviews. They also do more gig promoting in a year than most promoters do in a lifetime, so if you’re in a "100% diy, no rock and roll bullshit, no artwank" band that needs a gig and a floor to sleep on, these are the people for you. 142 Springfield Road, Brighton, BN1 6BZ

HEROZINE issues 1 and 2
Herozine is a handwritten mini-zine steadily growing in size and truly a direct line to the kids if ever there was one! Issue 1 covers Dweeb, Barbie versus Sindy, Simone Angel, Sweets and all sortsa girlie antics in a fresh and fun style with coloured pens, glitter and gold stars all adding to the mayhem. Issue 2 is even better with an Ash and Kenickie blind date and interviews with SexLoveBusterbaby, Tampasm, Boyzone, East 17 and even themselves! Lots of lovingly scribbled graffiti such as I Hate School, doodles galore, five-word record reviews and coloured paper combine to make Herozine a product of either pure, sweet innocence or calculated genius. You decide which! Rosie, 9 York Villas, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 3TS

BEWARE THE CAT No.5
London-based music zine taking in all styles of modern music with a really lively and in-touch feel. It has more of professional magazine feel than most music zines due to the style of writing and computer design but this is complimented by plenty of sketches and comic art. Interviews include Sebadoh, Quickspace Supersport, The Psychonauts and DJ/club promoter Russ Jones (Strange Brew/Far Out Records) with articles on skate videos, the evolution of graffiti art (the hippest thing to write about in music zines after International Strike Force interviews!), ultra strong lager reviews, free festivals and the dubious trend of bouncers interrogating queueing clubbers as to whether they are ‘right’ for the club (with recommended responses of course: "Who’s your favourite DJ?"...."DJ Why Don’t You Just Fuck Off, DJ Don’t Stand On My Funky Trousers", etc). Lots of reviews covering everything from Ui and Terry Edwards to Dirty Beatniks and Sash. Great value and cover to cover reading makes this one a top buy. 70p, PO Box 6355, London, N15 6PD

ANGEL HEART No.7
Another great Scandinavian punk rock zine. The DiY/hardcore scene over there seems to be really healthy if its zines are anything to go by. This one’s Finnish and is put together by the ex-editor of the defunct Poser Punk zine in a typed/word processed cut’n’paste style that looks great. There’s interviews with lots of DiY activists: Six Weeks Records (usa), Consume, Be Silent, Die(usa), Freak Animal Records (finland), Panx Records (france), Scattered Productions (finland) and several more plus plenty of anarchist discussion and distro ads. Loads of information packed in and this one came with a whole bunch of distro flyers. Essential reading for hardcore punkers worldwide. J-P Muikku, Kielokatu 7AS2, 80130 Joensuu, Finland, $2 or 2 IRCs ppd.