...I'd been feeling a little burnt out lately, really needing a break from doing anything for a while. I hate that, I can't stand inertia, but I suppose non-stop zineage and hundreds of letters a month and thinking up new ways to describe and critique Fat Wreck releases and stuff has to take its toll eventually. But then the new issues of 'Happy House' and 'Mad Monks' arrived and blasted me straight back into action, such is their fine rapid growth and inspirational attributes. Things are getting pretty slick in zineland right now, huh? Flashy layouts and almost 'professional' attitudes, it's really cool that zine editors are taking more and more time and investing more and more money into making their publications so special. Not that there's anything wrong w/ typewritten cut & paste hands-on zines, it's just about time this country shaped up and started producing quality zines just like those Americans and Belgians and Germans and whoever have been doing for years. Original ideas and that extra effort that goes into glossy covers and interesting reviews pages layouts and stuff have been a most welcome addition to the 'zine scene' (bleurgh, that's almost as heinous a term as 'pop punk').

One of the things that's been irritating me most lately is that same old thing zinesters always complain about, the apathy of the average gig-goer and their refusal to part w/ a quid or whatever to buy a zine. I really don't understand it and after the 'DENTS show in August it really made me think seriously for a couple of days about whether or not I could be bothered to keep on trying when it seemed like no one else cared. But then, the last time the 'DENTS played we sold 60 or 70 zines at the show, so go figure. And it doesn't help now that the Garage seems to have adopted that cuntish attitude towards zines that other London venues has, not even letting you take them inside to sell. Why? How the hell does it affect the venue? It's not gonna make people spend their last £1 on a zine instead of beer (how many times have zine editors heard that 'I'm skint, I need beer money' excuse from wankers at gigs?) It's not gonna mean people will buy a zine, read it supa-fast and then throw it away, meaning the venues have to clean up tons of discarded paper from their floors. There can't be some licensing law about it, surely? So what's their fucking problem?? Please, all gig promoters and bands and press people or whoever, DON'T LET VENUES BAN ZINES!! Talk to them about it, explain how important it is for punk rock bands and labels to have zines, how zines are so central to the spreading of the 'message', or even reviewing their records or whatever (yeh, and their shows). If we're all in this together (like we're supposed to be) and we're all interested in keeping punk rock healthy and growing (like we're supposed to be) then take a stand against this stupid policy, OK? We really don't need the national music press (it's dying on its feet, anyway), we just need venues to loosen up and we need more people to go to shows prepared to buy a zine or two, we need to work together and pull in the same direction.

But like I said, I feel inspired again now, thanx to 'MM' and 'HH' (and all the other zines that have arrived here lately). Still can't quite face transcribing the couple of supa-long interviews I've got on tape for #16 yet, but I'll have to get to it soon since next week we've got three more interviews to do. And there are so many cool shows coming up this winter, too! Can't wait to see MTX, I really love their new rec. And the latest MUFFS alb is fab, too. Only on import right now (don't you hate that??), but it's worth the investment if you liked their previous couple. Hope they come back again soon, too - they really rocked last time. Praises also be to NRA, LAGWAGON and the BOUNCING SOULS for their boss new platters (HELIUM and SUPERCHUNK are great, too, but they ain't punk so you probably won't care about that). So all's well around here again (probably 'til next time we go a-zine sellin').

Something funny has been happening lately, too. Suddenly we've been getting lots of letters from people who want us to tape them Traci Lords videos, or who are obsessed w/ talking about Traci Lords whenever I run into them at shows and stuff. How odd. I'd hate for people to think I'm a porno freak, I really do only have a couple of skin flicks (and one of those is 'Deep Throat' that someone taped me at the end of the GG Allin 'Hated' documentary). Well, actually I don't care what people think, but please stop writing us about it, we are not the UK branch of the Traci Lords Fan Club, OK??! All this fuss over a couple of pages in real OD! But at least we don't get any of those mis-informed anti-porn letters anymore. What the hell is the fuss anyway?? So sorry, but if it's Traci Lords vids yr after we're not the people who can help you out. Maybe you should spend a day in Amsterdam or something? But it is cool how Rick skillfully inserted a Traci pic on the column heading thing up there, we are still fans of Ms Lords' 'work', we still love her singing on that RAMONES alb and that MANICs single, we do enjoy her instructions on how to get the perfect hip-movement in 'Traci Dick', we just don't indulge ourselves that often. In fact hardly ever, as it goes. And her techno LP sucked like a hoover.

Guess it's approaching that time when I should bring this load of nothing to an end. Hey, I wonder if people will make more of an effort to support zines? Probably not. It is hard work putting together a zine, and even tho people always say, y'know, 'oh, it must be horrible, all those free records blablabbla'....well, if we didn't have to put every spare penny into the zine then no doubt we'd all be buying those great records anyway (and the free shit stuff is just free shit stuff, that don't count). It all works out pretty even in the end. But it's not about money, I'd like to think most zine editors would continue doing their zine even if they only sold a couple hundred of each issue, we just all need a break and a bit of support, y'know ? We haven't seen a zine for years that's blatantly just an ego trip, that doesn't care about what it's writing about, they all seem to really be wanting to help, wanting to add something to the whole 'scene', and let's face it, they're so fucking cheap, you can get a massive bunch of great zines from all over for a tenner or something (w/ a few smart and much appreciated freebies like 'HH' thrown in for good measure) and that's a far better investment than five pints on a Friday night (unless yr on a first date or something, obv). So support them!! And then start yr own. There's nowt so satisfying as getting yr shit back from the printers and mailing them out to people who are interested in punk rock. You should be so sanguine!

Any how, I see a pile of CDs glowering at me from the other side of the room so I'd better get my reviewing head on (sigh), get 'em all outta the way before footy starts on TV. That's funny, too, how there's been this recent upsurge in punkers hating footy and going into greatly detailed letters to us explaining why. We get way more mail about that than we ever did about how 'nasty' porno is. But you can't please all of the people all of the time, and who'd wanna ? If you hate footy that's fine, but, uh, we don't care. Saw a review of real OD recently that said our zine was about 'footy, beer and women' or something, which is most bizarre since those general subjects only make up about 5% of each issue anyway. Makes us sound like the fucking MACC LADS or something, which we most definitely ain't! Hey, am I ever gonna finish this damn column? Guess so.... Tard PS - LOVEJUNK just did a Peel Session. Did we sell out ?! Does that count ? What's this week's opinion ?

Tard