Here we go with ATTACK OF THE FANZINES PART 2… the follow up to our not so successful first edition that not many of you cared about. In Effect started as a fanzine and will always have the backs of fanzine types till the end. Doing a fanzine is a lot of work that can at times can give you that “why the fuck am I doing this” feeling so we take this time to salute those involved with this article and we encourage others out there thinking about starting their own zine to start one! Although a serious pain in the ass it can be really fulfilling as well when you finally hold the finished product in your hands. This edition has some guest writers in zine-sters Eric Weiss from Rumpshaker Zine and Freddy Alva from New Breed the zine and New Breed the cassette compilation. We also got the Core Junkie in on the fun as he dropped in a review as well. Click on the photos of the zines/books to go to their respective websites if they have one. All but a few did. Have fun reading and try to track some of these down if you get the chance. 

ATTACK OF THE FANZINES ART BY: STEVE "PHECK" RITSUA

BORN TO EXPIRE Issue #6 (Released November 2015)

One would figure that the dudes in Terror wouldn’t have time to put out DIY style zines considering their touring schedule. Sure, they run into a lot of potential interviewees out on the road but when do they really get the time to put it all together, get it printed, etc etc etc. Born To Expire #6 is the crafty work of the “more stagedives” guy himself, Scott Vogel. His guitarist (Martin Stewart) does Word On The Streets Zine (which was reviewed in the last installment of Attack of The Fanzines and wortthy of a web search to aquire).

Just looking at the cover of issue 6 you start wondering how Scott crammed 8 interviews and features into 30 something pages of zine. Criminal Instinct, Forced Order, No Warning, Reach The Sky, Risk It!, Apathy (a hip-hop MC), and Suburban Scum are here along with a Marc from M.A.D. Tourbooking vs. Daiki from Alliance Trax Booking dual interview where both are asked the same “not so typical” types of questions. What I LOVE about this issue is the fact that the questions flat out rock and make this a helluva read regardless if you are into these bands or not. The Reach The Sky piece is awesome and the best thing in this issue. Singer Ian Larrabee is simply asked to state the things he does not miss about touring and the things he does miss about touring (Reach The Sky stopped being a touring band in 2003). A simple 2 question idea turns into almost 3 pages of insight that many people may not think about when they see a band touring… in this case touring in the Northern US and Canada during winter months, loading equipment in and out of venues over and over again, and crossing international borders were among the bad things that brought about great mini-stories. A great read. No reviews, a few photos sprinkled here and there and some ads… Very simple, to the point with that DIY feel through and through. How do you get one you ask? Terror shows is option A with RevHQ and Resist Records having some as well at last check. Look ‘em up! 

MOMENT OF TRUTH Volume 4 (Released Fall 2015)

Moment Of Truth is another zine brought to us by a busy member of the hardcore scene. Backtrack's guitarist Ricky Singh interviews Aaron from Bane, Justice from Angel Du$t, Ryan from Suburban Scum (pre-TIHC 2015), and Justin Louden who runs the Closed Casket Activities label who have put out stuff by Harms Way, Twitching Tongues, Incendiary, and Indecision to name a few. Things finish up with a Black N Blue Bowl 2015 recap and a feature called "The Story Behind The Lyrics" which dissects song lyrics from certain bands. In this case with Aaron Bedard, of Bane (and is separate from his interview). The lyrics for Bane's "In Pieces" and "Lost At Sea" are shown and on the opposite page the songs meanings are broken down by Aaron... a pretty cool idea. This is a quick read at about 30 something pages in length. Moment Of Truth really shines though with its look. Full color photos of the bands interviewed and printed on this thick glossy paper which really makes this thing pop. The type of  zine you want to get a plastic cover for to preserve for down the road as this serves as a small snapshot for hardcore 2015. Keep up the good work Ricky!

THE CLAY UNIVERSE PROJECT by: Alexis Cabrera & Christopher Villano  (Released October 2015)

The Clay Universe Project is a book based on real life experiences from Chris Villano... just some hardcore dude I met while riding the train and one half of the team that crafted this semi fictional book. Anytime I see someone wearing a No Redeeming Social Value shirt in public and there is no hardcore show in the vicinity I usually say what's up to them. Chris teams up with Alexis Cabrera to craft one helluva ride that turns into 283 pages of pure entertainment.

We start off with Chris being admitted into a psychiatric evaluation and in the same chapter he is eventually told he will be committed. The following chapter starts Chris' story and how he got to where he ends up. Messed up parents, loving older sisters and early on a niche for finding the bad ass in most things he does/did. Punk rock included. As the story goes on there are many references to punk and hardcore including chapter four which is titled "Dead Milkmen Save My Life". Chris' life gets more complicated as he gets older eventually graduating from a prestigious cooking school, running successful restaurants and selling drugs for his dad and partner even though he knows deep down its the wrong move. Bad decisions are abound as the walls start to close in on Chris with a serious cocaine habit contributing to his demise. As the end gets near Chris smartens up and envisions his Clay Universe Project but is it too little too late for him? I am not a big book reader but I have to admit there were more than a few occasions where I will admit this was very hard to put down. Knowing the book was semi fictional and yet not knowing the author from outside of riding on the train a few times I constantly had thoughts of "am I dealing with a fucking insane maniac?" His reply texts of "everything is based on real life experiences" further confused me as to what was real and what was not but made it a more interesting read to picture him in many of the chaotic and dangerous scenes throughout this riveting read. Chris and Alexis did this DIY style printing this up on their own dime. Hopefully it catches on and they reach more people with some type of deal that can get this out to the masses as its a winner. @theclayuniverse 

THIS OR THAT "1st Edition" (Released Fall 2015)

Ok... a unique idea here from Marc UA and his 1st edition of This Or That Zine which is part of a series of zines that he does. To this point each zine Marc has done has had a different title with a corresponding theme. There was The Friendly Leg where he tattooed an actual questionnaire on his leg and had various bands fill out the questions with ink, take a photo, wash it off and repeat with the next band members. Another one was Hardcore ABC where he took the 26 letters of the alphabet and had various people from the hardcore scene write about a subject of their choice that started with the letter they were given.

With This Or That Marc gathered up a bunch of people involved in the scene and gave them a bunch of statements where they had to choose one or the other. An example here would be when Vinnie Stigma from Agnostic Front was asked AF Broadway Show or AF animated movie. Apparently that was the only info asked to Stigma... This... Or... That and he had to choose just based off of the statement. Stigma chose movie. Each person is given a dozen items where they have to choose this... or that. There are some short explanations given in some cases as to why the person chose what they chose but in most cases it's just the answer. The people who took part in all this included Stigma, Scott Vogel from Terror, Justice from Trapped Under Ice/Angel Du$t, Joe Hardcore, Craig from Sick Of It All, Rachel from Indecision, Chris from Cruel Hand, Sunny Singh from Hate 5 Six, Ricky Singh from Backtrack and probably like 10 others tallying up to 50 something pages in length. The subjects are witty and are definitely not very serious so this whole thing comes with a very fun vibe. Small photos that correspond with some of the answers are shown at the bottom of each interview as well. Alot of fun and a pretty cool idea.

LAST NIGHT AT THE CASINO Issues 1-9

I picked up all nine issues of Last Night At The Casino recently and after reading the first one I really wanted to devour the rest immediately. These zines are so damn engaging I had to consciously pace myself so I wouldn't read all nine issues in one night. Yes, they're that good. LNATC is written by a punk guy named Billy, but instead of covering bands, shows, and more bands Billy brings us into his daily life as a casino dealer. The zines are basically a really well written work diary from a guy who earns his living behind a craps table. If you're like me and you're into gambling and the often strange world of casinos and their denizens ordering these zines is a no-brainer. Stories of the weird, eccentric clientele are endlessly entertaining. And, in a testament to Billy's prowess at weaving a tale his takes on casino life should appeal to anyone who is into slice of life storytelling. From high rollers to low rollers to complete maniacs to a guy who robs another casino patron gamble only to go gamble in the same casino, Billy's stories are top notch and often hilarious. These zines come highly recommended for anyone into punk, casinos, gambling or even just other subcultures (like hardcore punk) that feature their own unique language, rules, and social mores. Which, if you're reading In Effect you clearly are.  Email Billy at: IKnowBilly@Gmail.com   Review by: Eric Weiss

PROOF I EXIST #19 (March 2015)

Proof I Exist comes at us from that Billy guy who also does the Last Night At The Casino Zine which is the review above this one. Billy apparently is a zine making machine of a man with multiple themed zines and so far he is 2 out of 2 with interesting reads on not so usual topics. Proof I Exist #19 is part of a Fun A Day project where Billy writes about his daily activities for each day of January 2015. Like myself, you probably never read a zine with this premise before and the idea could be a little boring if the person writing about their day is not so interesting which is not the case here. Each day of the month is represented and takes up about a half a page to 2 pages to describe in full. My favorite day was January 8th where he finally went through with his idea of having a bag of fake groceries attached magnetically to the roof of his car. He then proceeded to drive around Albuquerque while other motorists try to get his attention in various ways while I'm sure he is pissing in his pants laughing about this hilarious idea. Some old guy asked him if they were real groceries or if he was just fucking around. Other days include finding wood and other materials in a dumpster which helped him to build a Price Is Right style spinning wheel with all sorts of activities to do once you spin and land on one of the activities. Billy is also an avid pinball machine player as well as the singer for a punk band Rudest Priest which brings in additional layers of fun. Some days he just chills with his girl and others he goes and covers Comic Con. This dude is pretty interesting and knows how to write and keep your attention as well. Reading Proof I Exist had a feel like I was almost reading about a real life reality show that wasn't fake. Does that even make sense? I think it does. 32 pages in all with a few visuals to give you a better idea on certain things and yes there is a picture of the fake bag of groceries. A one man DIY army is on the loose in New Mexico ladies and gentleman. Since this came out there have been a few more issues of PIE put out. I think they are up to issue #22 now. Give Billy a shout at: IKnowBilly@Gmail.com to find out more! 

NO END IN SIGHT Volume 1 (Released Summer 2015)

A nice 40 something page debut here featuring interviews with Richie from Wisdom In Chains, Rachel from Indecision, Red Death and Mike Score from All Out War. A nice DIY style layout with a clean look and large print. Good questions and responses from those he interviewed as well all wrapped up with a few reviews thrown in for good measure. Ripped through this in about 15 minutes but I wanted more. I guess that's a positive sign, right? A nice start with hopefully more to come. More content next time though please!

OUTSIDER MAGAZINE Issue #30 (Released Fall/Winter 2015)

Wow, congrats to Holly and the crew at Outsider for making it 15 years with this zine based out of upstate NY... (and is still free with a pretty big circulation). A new Outsider pops up every 6 months or so and it's always a good day when a new issue lands in my mailbox. Note: Email them! They will mail you a copy....

As with past issues this zine is a hodgepodge of all things the Outsider Crew digs. They don't stick to just punk or metal and the idea of doing exactly what you want to put in your own zine is something that all future zine heads need to take into consideration. Put in what you want to put in YOUR zine and let the chips fall where they may. It's just more fun that way. The editorial to open this issue hit home talking about memorable show experiences and on the very next page was a nice writeup from Malcolm Tent from the semi famous Trash American Style record store up in Connecticut. He relives old times when he opened his shop and talks about getting Violent Children demos to sell off of Jordan Cooper before Jordan started up Revelation Records. Then the period where Jordan started Rev and the following years after showing Revelation's surge as a record label.  A very cool read. 

Alan Robert from Life Of Agony is interviewed as well as others with The Jukebox Romantics, Pinup Model Rodeo JJ (further showing Outsider's willingness to not stick to bands and have diverse interviews) and a feature on the art of James Pogo. As always there are various reviews, the zine scene featuring new bands and some wrestling and tattoo related stuff as well. All this in only 24 pages mostly due to it being printed on big newspaper style paper.

Long live Outsider!

SLAPS ILLUSTRATED "OUR BESTIES" ISSUE (Released Fall 2015)

Slaps Illustrated is a unique fanzine in that it's main source of content is stickers with graffiti street art stickers being their main focus. It's amazing at what a big subculture this actually is. When you walk down the street in any major city you see them up all over the place but who actually puts these up? Whats their story? And to quote Jerry Seinfeld "who are these people"? Slaps Illustrated is here to shed a little light on all this with an issue dedicated to checking out people's stickers collections. From street artists (who somehow aren't called graffiti artists in many circles anymore), collectors, giants, unknowns, and photographers... this Our Besties issue has almost 70 pages that includes full color pages with literally hundreds of stickers from people's collections.

Slaps Illustrated's last issue didn't have much to read as there were mostly photos but with this follow up all that has changed and with each collection shown there is some sort of commentary from the person who owns them turning this into a worthy read. Highlights included finding out there is a place in Berlin called the Hatch Kingdom Sticker Museum (look em up! HatchKingdom.com) as well as well known NY graffiti artists Easy and Duel One with their collections, Chris from Robots Will Kill, and just the fact that many of these "outlaw" artists have social media pages that lead you into TONS of other venues to view their work whether it's done with spray paint or with a marker on a sticker. Slaps Illustrated which is based in NYC isn't just about graffiti... or NY art for that matter either. It's a well rounded screen shot of what is going on in this cool subculture that I'm guessing many reading this may not even know a shred of info on. Definitely worth a check. Pictured above is a limited edition cover by Duel One as well as a poster (also limited...verify they are available) and random stickers that accompany each order.

HOPE *2  (December 2015)

This benefit zine from Ireland is a throwback to when HC/Punk and activism joined forces for a righteous cause. In this case, to raise money for the Pipka Centre, a refugee camp in Lesvos, Greece. The question of "What was your favorite gig?" is put to 70 responders, people from bands like Youth Of Today, Fugazi, Stiff Little Fingers, Soulside, Chumbawamba, Gang Of Four, Articles Of Faith, Swiz etc...

As well as the people behind Revelation/Slumberland/BrassNeck/Dry Heaves Records and tons more, not to mention luminaries like Henry Rollins/Dan O'Mahoney/Glen E. Friedman, the list goes on and on. It's really interesting to read the widely divergent range of people's choices and how each particular musical moment touched them in a personal manner. The zine is 54 pages in total. You're bound to find a band or person who's story sparks your interest, as practically every representative of a particular musical style within the overall HC/Punk community is covered.

Full disclosure: I was asked to contribute and I wrote about my 1st HC show in 1985. How I got to be included in such esteemed company is beyond me but I am deeply honored to have been a part of this worthy project. –Freddy Alva

ARTCORE “30 YEAR ISSUE” (December 2015)

30 years is several lifetimes of existence in the Punk/HC scene. To have a real printed matter fanzine like Artcore, coming out on the regular since 1986, is nothing short of miraculous. I can name in one hand other publications that have as long of a run. Maximum RocknRoll and Trust out of Germany come to mind. The commitment and dedication to this vanishing craft shows on every page of the new 30th anniversary issue of Welly Artcore's labor of love straight out of South Wales. Mixing coverage of current bands like Pillage/Epic Problem/Holiday/Spoilers/Dry Heaves, articles on Henry Rollins and Sorry State Records as well as his cool "Vaultage" essays by various writers on HC/Punk history like the one on Post-Punk in America, the art of Randy "Big Boys" Biscuit and a history of NYC Peace Punk (written by yours truly). If this isn't enough, the issue also comes with a furious split 7" by Oi Polloi & Grand Collapse. If you care at all about the printed word and it's role in this subculture of ours; I implore you to pick it up. You'll be striking a blow against the all too readily available at the click of your computer mindset that has permeated all the aspects of our lives. Long live Artcore and printed fanzines!  -Freddy Alva

STRAIGHT AND ALERT Issue 1 (December 2015)

I literally said "holy shit" when I opened the envelope containing S&A #1. It's a full sized black and white glossy monster that has about 90 pages. Very impressive looks wise and it's definitely one of those zines that you know is going to take a while to get through. S&A comes to us from France (but written all in English) via Alexis Gautier who runs the record label of the same name. Forseen (dubbed the European Power Trip by Alexis) kicks off the interviews and it's followed up by an old interview with Breakdown that ran in In Effect issue 10 in 1996. I was leafing through the zine quickly when I got home and I'm like wow, this guy used one of my old Breakdown photos. Then I started looking closer and noticed that more of it looked familiar until I am sitting there saying "this guy just lifted my old interview". I flipped back a page and saw the intro saying it was from an old In Effect and I had a major "duh" moment. It's one of my favorite interviews from the old In Effect's as Jeff Perlin is one of the absolute best people on the hardcore scene to give an insightful interview. Other interviews in here include Xibalba, Sex Prisoner and Blindside USA. Add to that 4 separate interviews with some really active dudes in the hardcore community. Connor Donegan from Red Death, Protestor, Genocide Pact and more, Tom Pimlott from Violent Reaction, The Flex and more, Patrick Hassan from XRepentenceX, Sectarian Violence and more and Brendan Radigan from The Rival Mob and like 50 other bands are all asked similar questions in separate interviews. S&A has a nice layout formula keeping it neat and simple. They often dedicate full pages to just a cool photo which in some cases really gives it that wow factor. This is way more than just some cut and paste rag. Alexis says in the intro that he broke his shoulder which laid him up for a while and I guess the end result of all his newly found free time was this impressive debut. There are some record reviews and some ads here to round things out. A real long read (which I'm still actually working on) that was beyond impressive and makes me wish we had more guys like Alexis in the scene getting things like this done. 

GUTTER GROOVE #1 (December 2015)

Freddy and Nico over in Europe decided to get off their asses and "give a little back to the core" with their debut issue which is 28 pages long. I love the haphazard layout as this is a total DIY cut and paste job with band photos mixed in with various photos that don't have any ties to what is written on any particular page. Whether it is Borat, Omar from The Wire, Kenny Fucking Powers, or the Texas Chainsaw Massacre dude it's funny to see these photos mixed into the layout. Interviews with xrepentencex, Redemption Denied, and Next Step Up (a realllllly long Next Step Up interview I may add). They got a playlist, show reviews, album reviews and zine reviews and aren't scared to say if something sucks which is refreshing as well. A good first start with hopefully more to come. They are ready to wheel and deal if your looking to distro their zine and can also deliver your zine personally to you if you are in the Copenhagen or Berlin areas. If you have to Google Maps those 2 locations they probably aren't near you! dragthewater@hotmail.com

ADULT CRASH 2 PHOTO BOOK (Compiled by Dave Brown, December, 2015)

Here we have book 2 of the Adult Crash photo-book series as compiled by the Jewel of Richmond (by way of DC and Maryland), aka, Mr. Dave Brown. This book is a joint collaboration between Dave's label, Vicious Circle Records and Dave "Sausage" Walling's, Six Feet Under Records. Two fine institutions run by two of hardcore's finest, so you should seek out and buy up their shit. This book has a very DIY feel to it. It is softcover, totally in black and white, and stuffed with awesome photos and anecdotes. This is the book version of a great hardcore punk rock 7".  No frills where they are not needed. Inside one will find heaps of photos by Dave and several other collaborators including; Al Quint, Chris Daily, Ken Salerno, Chris Boarts Larson, Justin Moulder, Shawna Kenney, just to name a few. There are many other contributors, all of whom have names one might recognize if they've been involved in hardcore for any extended period of time. You get photos of everyone from 7 Seconds to Mindset and from Poison Idea to Night Birds in halls/basements/clubs all over the country with the larger concentration being shows from our beloved East Coast. The timeline is the eighties until present so there is a good mix of learning and reminiscing. The best part about the book, and the thing that sets it apart in my opinion, is the written anecdotes that Dave solicited from various members of this community of ours. These anecdotes are reflections on the "adult crash" or more specifically deal with what that means or how growing up and into adulthood in the scene has affected the authors. You get some insightful stuff from many of the photo contributors, but beyond that you get nuggets from the likes of Eerie Von, Matt "Bold" Warnke, Rob Kabula, Vic Dicara, John Stabb, Anthony "Pops" Pappalardo, Kevin Seconds and several others. It's an excellent way to break up the visual overstimulation of eyeballing all the sweet pictures. This is a great way to spend some time, kickin' back on a Sunday or waiting for your kids to finish skating, or plain old bootin' a deuce. I will now crowbar in that this would not be Dave's baby without a 7" slab of vinyl to go with it. The idea is to have current bands cover songs that were influential to them. In this edition you get covers from Violent Reaction, Night Birds, Barge and Government Warning.  Amazing. I will keep the tunes a secret, because this is about the print not the music. In a world of self importance and over self indulgence, Dave has used his punk rock ethos and the network of friends and relations developed within our community to create a nice capsule of our scene. He lets the pictures and others do the talking here, making it seem so simple, but I happen to know he busted his ass on this and at a particularly difficult time in his life, so big thumbs up Mr. Brown.....and I look very forward to the third edition...and you better hit me up for some of my Striking Distance and Brace photos. Holla!  -Core Junkie

NOT LIKE YOU ISSUE 5 (December 2015)

Issue #5 of Not Like You is once again upon us and has 40 pages of reading in store for you that will keep you occupied for awhile. Interviews start off with Stale Phish out of the Motor City. Not Like You has shown a love and admiration for punk bands that support the skateboarding lifestyle and this is just another example. After that is a Warzone interview from March of 1996. The weird aspect here though is that Not Like You actually bought this interview via Ebay. While checking out Ebay one night Mike from NLY noticed it and figured why not buy it and run it and he did just that. It is an interview done with Warzone singer Raybeez and is from a zine that was never published. There is no new groundbreaking info in it but still cool to see something like this that was probably never going to see the light of day get out there....almost 20 years after the fact. Skater Bill Danforth is up next to be interviewed and this is a good one. Bill being an old school punk and skateboarder out of Michigan has a ton of stories and holds nothing back. Joey Shithead from DOA and Ian Mackaye interview part 2 round out the interview parts of this issue. The interviews are generally long and done in person which gives them a unique feel. They also take up about 90% of this issue which to me totally works. A few record reviews, a gossip section and a collectors corner piece round this out. Not Like You is now 5 issues old, 6 if you count their photo issue and between their zine and their record label of the same name have really been putting in some work and deserve a nice pat on the back, maybe a that a boy while we are at it as well. Seriously though, another nice job and another good read that you should look up. 

FUKUSHIMA BREEZES (November 2015)

Under the title Fukushima Breezes is the subtitle "Your Guide To Blackmailing The Wives Of Broadcast Guys". If you needed that kind of advice this may be the zine for you, although after reading through this I still have not found these answers. Fuke opens up with an intro explaining that this will probably be the only issue in part due to Sean's short attention span. He also expresses his desire to not do a "hardcore zine" which this has the feel of but when broken down is more a collection of things that he finds interesting and there are way more items that are not hardcore than hardcore. The non-hardcore things include interviews with IcyKal who is a female rapper from South London, a death metal band called Venom Prison (also out of the UK), and Personal Best who are a power pop trio who again... are also from the UK. Our homie Aga Hairesis who has contributed many photos to In Effect is interviewed and is also the reason I got a copy of this issue. Other than the interviews FB has various political and social commentary which were interesting and different from most of the other zines on this list. There was an article on who funds the Islamic state, another called "Britain's Full" which looks at their countries open space and how their population basically all live in these mass populated cluster/clusters. Chester P For Mayor takes a look at a guy from the London area who is doing a lot to aid homeless people in the UK. There is also a lone show review of a Crippler LBU gig on a Rucktion Night @12Bar/Phibbers. There are 28 pages here printed on a half sized format with almost microscopic print that gave me the feeling that I may finally need to get a pair of reading glasses. If you are in the UK you can get his by PayPal-ing 1 pound to the email you are about to see. Outside of the UK email Sean to get more info.  sean@sm76.com