Zine Mania
Posted by Prashant - 17/02/09 at 10:02:06 pm
Work in progress.
Lately, more and more it seems, zines are making a come back. At least it appears that way to me. Blogs are great, and they are a great fast and cheap way to share information with others, but the tangibility of print cannot be beat, and the ability to self publish, and the freedom to do whatever you like with a zine is something that is often lost with the Internet. Zines were pivotal to me, and hugely inspirational when I started riding many years ago, and I would collect them from all sorts of people and scenes. I ordered the newest issue of Holeshot recently, and read the Freestylin’ retrospective book online (with a great look at zine culture during that era of BMX) and fell in love with zines again and was inspired.
With heightened motivation, I took it upon myself to make a zine, something that I had wanted to do for years and years now. It’s nothing great. A six page pocket sized zine loosely based on bike riding, a few photos I liked, some words, and some collage (which I also fell in love with again after working on the Hate This DVD cover). I have about 50 copies I made, and you can get it for free from me, and I should have them at the Hate This premiere at the end of the month too (along with buttons and some remaining stickers). If you aren’t in Ottawa and want one, send me an e-mail and we can work something out.
More work in progress.
The end result. Single sheet of blue paper, sliced and folded. YO, SICK.
Amidst all this reminiscing, I took the time to go down memory lane with my own personal collection of zines.
Zines of my adolescence. Click to see it bigger.
Landozine top row
The infamous Landozine. New school kids might not know this, but Landozine was born in print form. I met Chris Chitaroni at a contest out in Pembroke, amidst a local out there who tried to run his own shop/mailorder. Got to talking with them both, and next thing I know I was getting parcels with a dozen or so copies every time Chris would put out a new issue. I would give them to other locals, and send them out to friends in other cities. Landozine was no ordinary zine. While most were simply photocopied, and had bad resolution on photos, this was printed, and in FULL COLOUR, and best of all free. In the begining it featured snowboarding, skateboarding, and BMX (at the forefront), then eventually the rest was weened out for strictly bikes. Chris had advertisers, rider profiles, contest reports, editorials, and just about everything else you would fine in an actual magazines, but at a more micro level, and the zine still had a hands on feel to it. While his access to printing the zine was gone after university, Landozine pushed on via the web and his ongoing series of videos.
Dialed Zine second row
Dialed was one of the first zines I ever got. Based out of Hamilton, by Andrew Gulya, or Gooles as he is known. At the time Hamilton had arguably the biggest flatland scene in Canada, a solid group of street riders, and there was just so much good BMX coming out of there. I would go there about 3 times a summer for flatland jams, and see so many people and riders out, busting incredible tricks. Stuff that was almost on the level of seasoned pros at the time, but most of these guys just rode, went to school or worked, and were content with that. A melting pot of different styles. Dialed was always much more loosely put together. Contest reports that would mostly discuss the partying that went on, bike tests of trashy Wal-Mart bikes that were intentionally destroyed, music and show reviews, hand written text, low resolution photocopied photos, and when he didn’t have any photos he’d make stick figure drawings to illustrate his story. I would always burst out laughing while reading it as Gooles would always be cracking jokes, and have a unique writing style. It would come out on an irregular basis, and the last one I received even came with a DVD of Hamilton’s annual Turkey Jam. Gooles has since left Ontario for Calgary ( funny enough, I randomly ran in to him while crossing a street in downtown Calgary back in September), and Dialed could be desribed as on “hiatus”. It’s design, layout, and style always inspired me, and is a testament of having a great bmx community and an even greater reason to document it and bring it all closer together.
Terrible One third row, first two items
Terrible One used to always put out fantastic zines. Black and white photocopy, but still good resolution, staple bound, and loaded with content. These would be made up of photos, stories, and other randomness from Taj, Joe Rich, Leif Valin, Sandy Carson, and a ton of other riders. A lot of art work from their old art director from years ago (Dave Vandermass?). I used to send a $10 bill or so in the mail to the T1 offices, and would get back a thick zine, stickers, pins, patches, etc. The one on the left is my favorite issue. It focused on one topic, stories from many different people of something they had done in their life that they would potentially go to hell for. Each issue was always in a new direction, and the zines never followed any sort of formula. Taj, at one point, even started an online store on the T1 site for selling and distributing other zines from all over the country. The online shop eventually closed down, and I’m not even sure if they continue to produce a zine anymore.
Michael Sieben third row, last three items
These three aren’t really BMX related. Michael Sieben is the popular artist and art director for T1, runs Roger Skateboards, co-owner of OK Mountain gallery, has a semi-regular page in Thrasher each issue, and has done work for Adidas, Vox, Volcom, and plenty of others. These zines each feature collections of drawings from him, centering around different themes. The first two feature a two colour silk screened covers on card stock, and the third one is a more “professional” collection of collaborative drawings between Travis Millard and Sieben that was published by Volcom. If you are in to illustration and graphic art, you can check out and buy his zines directly from his site here.
Velograph fourth row, first item
Velograph is a zine by a Portland bicycle courier that features mostly the day-to-day sort of activities, notes, photos, deadlines, and randomness that one would expect from a hectic job of a bike messenger.
In Words fourth row, second item
Probably the most unrelated to any of the other zines I seem to have, In Words was(/is?) a poetry and creative writing zine that came from a small group of students at Carleton University. I had gone to see a spoken word set at the Avant Garde Bar by Buck 65, and a guy handed me this. It most notably featured a few small pieces written by Richard Terfry (Buck 65).
Goodstyles fourth row, fourth item
I don’t really know much about this zine or how I got it. I think it was made by a rider named Joey Kyllo from Calgary (whom has since moved to the Vancouver area), and features an all around freestyle feel, with flatland, street, park, and dirt riding covered. There may even be a small portion in it by the infamous Arf.
Sauga BMX Zine fourth row, fifth item
This is another one that I don’t remember to well. I think someone gave this to me at a Metro Jam contest a few years back. It covered mostly the the events of the Metro Jam from the previous year, as well as video reviews, part reviews, and BMX park advocacy.
Same Thing Daily fourth row, sixth item
This zine accompanied the flatland DVD by the same name from Dane Beardsley. Dane makes an ongoing series of “underground” flatland DVD’s that used to go by the name Flatcrap. He since changed the name to Same Thing Daily, but the idea behind it is still the same. No real schedule for releasing videos, and always features a very diverse mix of riders that you don’t typically see from on the flatland circuit (i.e. Brian Tunney, Leif Valin, Travis Collier, Alexis Desolneux, Aaron Behnke, Hamilton Abe, etc.). With the zine he gave each of the riders a page to design as they pleased, making for a pretty unique collection of thoughts, writing, photos, illustrations, and more. I also got an official Aaron Behnke UGP trading card with the whole bundle.
I’d encourage anyone and everyone to support zines by either making one, reading one, sharing and trading them with friends, and keeping the DIY publishing idea alive. Below are a few links to great zine resources and some excellent e-zines that are out there.
Zineswap.com
Octopus Books Ottawa – Zines
Undergroundpress.org
Junkfood Zine
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First dibs! can’t wait to see it. i haven’t seen a cool little zine in a long time.
Comment by COCKMASTER — February 18, 2009 #
cool!
i kiss that stuff too.
Comment by Rich Red — February 19, 2009 #
um i meant miss that stuff. damn dislexia.
Comment by Rich Red — February 19, 2009 #
Freudian slip
Comment by Prashant — February 19, 2009 #
can’t wait to get a copy! Do you want me to send you some cash?
Comment by Nick — February 19, 2009 #
you gave me a chubby prashant. thanks dude! i’m stoked to see you’re doing a zine. randomly meet me somewhere and i’ll get a copy off ya. have you ever seen a freudian nip slip? so hot right now.
Comment by gooles — February 25, 2009 #
Dude let me get one, these look awesome!
I’ve included my email above, shoot me an address and I’ll send something your way.
Keep up the good stuff!
Comment by Ryan C. — March 13, 2009 #