Picked this one up at the same time as the Seps interview, and I like it a lot. It operates in the same ball park, so to speak, as YAZ, so if you like the bands featured in here, then you should check this one out. Issue 8, the one I got, has interviews with Tura Satana, Hed(pe), Breed77 and more. Plus a shit load of reviews and demos, and a section dedicated to the more extreme end of the metal spectrum.

Plus main man Graham has supplied all the live pics in the interviews (except the System one), so for that alone deserves you lot buy a copy of this as a thanks from me.

Ok, I’ve just received issue 9, and it’s of an equally high standard as issue 8. This time there’s the interview with Derrick from Seps that Graham did as I was interviewing Andreas, plus interviews with Earthtone9, Lockdown, Psycore (grrr), Stampin’ Ground, One Munute Silence and more. I’m still trying to figure how the hell the guy gets so many interviews into one issue, and still have room for more than 130 reviews. Yep, we’re talking serious amounts of stuff in here.

And of course, the live pics are bloody ace as well.

£1 plus 2 2nd class stamps from:

Intoxicated Magazine, PO Box 2581, Reading, Berkshire RG1 7GT.

Everytime I review this zine, I’m unfair. Unfair in that I highlight its deficiencies (as I see them) rather than highlight the positives. And here I go again. See, this is a good zine. This time you have interviews with Rollins, Green Day, Fat Mike, Stampin Ground and more. So we’re talking big stuff here. If that whets yer appetite, then ignore the rest of this, buy a copy and judge for yourself.

But it still gets stick from me. I dunno, it’s outdoing itself. It’s now a 4000 distro, which is huge. It has a CD with it (cool), it’s moved to A4 and is in colour. And there’s your problem. To accommodate all that requires serious money. To do that, the zine gets ads. And loads of them. Loads of “fashion” ads. Some dodgy ones too. Nothing wrong with ads as such, but they dominate the zine.

This time round, due to a last minute hitch, there’s no reviews section. I can understand the hitches and problems, cos sometimes it seems that everything goes wrong at once. But you should delay its release then. But maybe the advertisers are unhappy with that.

Some of the columns are a bit unreadable due to the colour (I can imagine it’s a bit of a problem and looks good on screen). And fair play, the guy behind it seems a bit pissed off at the flack he receives, as he says “mainly from zines.” I’m glad he’s fighting back on it and telling people like me to fuck off if that’s what he thinks.

But I just think it has to be scaled down a bit. There’s not enough there yet for it to be the fully fledged magazine that it wants to be, so it ends up feeling like an advert with a feature instead of the other way round. And despite protestations, it also still feels a bit “elitist”. But most, if not all scenes are like that. Which is why “scenes” are shit.

See, I feel bad saying stuff, cos any criticism I level could just as easily be levelled at Yaz. And a whole bunch more. Or maybe I’m just jealous of what is being achieved here. Who knows. And anyway, look how much space I’ve spent reviewing it. That should say something. It’s getting a reaction, which is what it’s about.

If you’re into punk, then I’d recommend you get this, and then ultimately, as with everything, make up your own mind on it.

Contact: PO Box 1152, Winterbourne, Bristol, BS36 2YD. £3

Undergroove zine - Issues 9 & 10 were the ones I received, and bloody good reads they are too. More open minded, or wider range in taste depending on your point of view, to YAZ, yet covering a lot of similar area. There’s also a healthy dollop of humour involved, some in-depth reviews, and some not so in-depth ones, and they’ve started they’re own label as well now, with the Shallow EP being the first release. Which means there’s even more reason to support a well worthy zine. Not that you needed any encouragement right? Plus they even had the balls to approach Iron Monkey and get an interview with them, something I’ve not had the bottle to do yet. Hey, some people scare me. Oh yeah, and it comes with a healthy amount of cartoons and caricatures of the bands featured. Basically it’s fun and informative, which is sort of what I think a zine should be. Issue 9 has interviews with Headswim, Unsane, Iron Monkey, Addict, Bedlam Ago Go and more. Issue 10 has Psycore (hmm), The Dawn, Tribute To Nothing, (hed)PE, Far and more. See, diverse. And good. Go take a look. £1.

Undergroove, PO Box 172, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY3 9WL.

Darren Sadler, Undergrove, PO Box 172, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY3 9WL.

Tastes Like Chicken - another cool zine. Not many live reviews, but the interviews are interesting, plenty of album reviews, and this bit I like, the top two demos per issue are each given a page feature. Nice one. YAZ could learn from that, and mainstream magazines certainly could. Covers the whole spectrum, metal, punk, hardcore and techno, plus there’s a dose of the Chomsky politics in there as well. Well impressed, and as much as I like the punk and hardcore zines, it’s nice for me to see zines like these around, which cover a little bit of everything.

Interviews include Pitchshifter, Coal Chamber, Leechwoman, Shallow and more.

Contact and cost:

£1 + A5 SSAW to Hog@TLC, 3 Farm Drive, Tilehurst, Reading Berks, RG31 4EU.

Ah, here we go again. Hardcore zines always bring out that love/hate struggle in me. Love them because they are so passionate about their thing, and so full of information and more reviews than Yaz will have in a year. Hate because they play on my own insecurities and that “it’s getting very boring to read again Dave” bleating about not feeling a part of the scene and that you have to belong etc etc blah blah blah, and because it makes me feel like a commercial whore with the mainstream appeal of the stuff I review. So no change there then. Issue 5 maintains the massively high standard of Fracture, and features an excellent interview with Ian from Stampin’ Ground. The old metal / hardcore debate is touched on in the interview with One Car Pile Up, amidst admissions from both band and interviewer of listening to Black Sabbath, Slayer and, gasp, Iron Maiden.

Clearly laid out, it’s what P101 should be. There’s a shitload of adverts to allow for this to be done free, but they complement the zine, not dominate it. You read a review of something you’re interested in, and you can locate it via the ads. Not locating a pair of trainers, or combats or whatever.

I guess it’s just about the best Punk/HC zine in the UK, and hopefully its future is becoming more and more secure with each issue. And so my love/hate relationship flourishes.

Basically free. But a 10 issue subscription is £5. Bargain. Cheques to D. Hopkin

Fracture, PO Box 623, Cardiff, CF3 9ZA.

FireFight #2 zine

Picked this up at one of the Earthtone9 gigs. An A4 zine, which is based almost purely around metal in the same way that say Fracture and any one of a number of other zines are based purely around punk/HC, with the occasional metal based album review thrown in. It has a number of interviews, all of which are good and of reasonable length, - 2 pages minimum, and is giving up at least 1 interview per issue to upcoming UK bands. This time round it's E9. The layout's a little samey (hey, who am I to criticise that), but it's clear and easy to read. Interviews include, Sepultura, Napalm Death, Kilgore, Misery Loves Co. Earth Crisis, 25 Ta Life, Entombed and more. Good effort.

£1.50 per issue or £6.25 for a 5 issue subscription. Cheques to A.M. Exley. No cash(!?!)

Fire Fight, 31 William Close, Southall, Middlesex, UB2 4UP.

The Kids Will Have Their Say zine

Another one to foster that love/hate relationship. See the same comments as apply to Fracture zine. If anything, despite this being A5 sized, there's even more obscure record reviews. Plenty of opinions, which is always a good thing right? And it’s 60 pages And also interviews with Knuckledust, Canvas, Imbalance and more. Good zine if you like it hard with a dash of core.

£1 from Jim Hart, 8 Redlands Court Road, Redland, Bristol, BS6 7EQ. It says he’ll be moving, if not already moved, but the above address will still be valid.

Def'er Than Ever zine

I received two issues of this zine. #1 and #2. Which is kinda handy in a numerical ordering sense. Anyway, it's a Deftones zine, and as the first one is totally dedicated to the band, and I'm not what you'd call their biggest fan, I prefer #2. But if you want to read questionnaire style interviews with each band member and that sort of thing, then it's probably worth a look.

#2 sees interviews with other bands, though it does tend to be the bands that toured with them last year in the UK, and the interviews are based around "what do you think of the Deftones" or "what's your link with the Deftones." Still, from a style point of view, if they can (or want) to get away from that, then there's the potential to develop into a pretty good zine.

The layout is on A4 and is kinda cut and paste. Some handwritten and some typed, and makes it more interesting to look at than say Yaz is. And it's a style I think a lot of people tend to like in zines. So overall, a pretty good start, which will get better if they continue to evolve the zine.

£1.50 per issue (inc postage) from: The Brow, Wilmslow Rd, Mottram St Andrew, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK10 4QT.

BB Zine - Issues 21, 22 & 23

A name I’d seen around a few times, but as I’m lazy, had not got round to checking out. My mistake. Anyway, mainman Matt sent for a copy of Yaz, and in return I asked for a copy of BB Zine. Course I proceeded to receive three of this years issues, and it was only bloody mid February. Free and monthly, I have no idea how the guy manages to produce something of this quality so quickly and so often. It covers a wide range of music (it’s described as “for the open minded”, and that’s true), though issue 22 was a “metal” ish, with OMS, Liberty 37 and Dag Mora. 1 quid secures you 6 issues. Which is a major bargain. Other issues feature stuff like BlowHoly, The Jellys, Fungus, Harvey’s Rabbit and more. Pretty diverse it gets.

And thrown into the pot, there’s also a label, Addiction Records putting out CDs. Consider me subscribed.

Contact: Matt Shipton. 12 The Lawns, High Street, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire GL10 2NU.