Zines

Runnin Down the Back Streets
#9 40 pages Full size
Comparisons of this zine and Amercan Upstart have been running rampant. So we swapped to investigate the truth. This zine is chuck full of Great interviews, record reviews and the creme of the toilet reading crop: Riotous Event Coverage. True tales from news clippings and first hand stories of Football (soccer to us yanks) violence and riots. The zine has more interviews than anything else, the interviews are well done and of good length. Featuring MENACE, RAISE A FLAG, GUITAR GANGSTERS and more. Plus a history of the American oi scene.
R.D.T.B.S. 13 The Croft, Badsworth, Pontefract, W. Yorks, WF9 1AS England

Out Of Order
#2 60 pages 1/2 size
A thick zine out of the Netherlands featuring interviews from bands around the world. Full of opinionated record reviews. Featuring interviews with Retaliator, Super Yob, Portes and more. The zine goes hand in hand with the record lable Sickmind. A good read.
Out Of Order Fanzine P.O. Box 1245, 8900 CE Leeuwarden, the Netherlands

Trouble Bound
#9 32 pages Full Size
The only other zine in the Midwest worth reading. TBPhil is a mac daddy.
TB C/O Phil Kellum 8334 Alden Road, Lenexa Kansas 66215

H.A.G.L
#28 pages ?? 1/2 size
Great zine with a real punk rock feel to it. Featuring interviews and stories, a bit differnt that yer average zine. A damn good read.
Trev, 57 Briardene, Burnopfield, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE16 6LJ, England

Common Sense
#6 30 pages 1/2 size
A skinhead zine out of Conneticut. Short interviews with the Cuffs and Agnostic Front, plus the Asshole Report (my favorite), letters and opinion. Common Sense has crammed a lot into a small space. This is a one sitter.
Common Sense C/O Win Vitkowsky 20 Highland Rd, Byram, CT 06830

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American Skin
Don De Grazia
Scribner 2000

It appears that Americans (skinheads?) are sick of reading about the fantasy life of Joe Hawkins and his battle with various street mobs of London, and are taking steps of their own to tell the dirty tales of the American street life.
  As much as I really enjoyed American Skin I could not get over the Peter Pan run-a-way-join-a-crew fairy tale. Granted, it is a staple in coming of age stories but it read like an afterschool special gone bad.
  The story revolves around Alex Verdi, a kid who runs away and finds himself in Chicago doing what he has to do to survive. His path crosses that of Tim Penn the leader of a skinhead crew. Here is were the story gets a little too romantized. Tim and his crew all magically work at a club called the Gorgon, the club is run by an aging homosexual scenester who allows the young employees to live in rooms scattered around the club, closets, store rooms etc. So if you work at the club you have a place to live and in order to work at the club you pretty much need to be in Tim's crew. So Tim helps Alex out by getting him a job and a place to stay.
  Now ya can't have a skinhead story with out opposing crews can you? Frank Pritzger is the leader of the local WP crew, so I'm sure you know where all this is heading... oh by the way Tim used to be Franks right hand man, but things change. So the conflict is set, people get hurt, lives are reagganged, then comes the love interest. Alex falls for for a fine young thing who works at the club. But soon their relationship is about as out of control as their lifestyle. Again, things change. The book pretty much continues on like that through the end. Although what makes this book better than any of the Euroupean pulp that you may have read are some truely fucked up twists that keep you buried in the book.
  An interesting side note. The book is set in Chicago during the late 80s. If you have any knowledge of the city and it's scene in the time frame you can tell that who ever wrote this book was there. This is by no means a true story. But some of the charecters definitly exist, Chicago is the home of Romantic Violence and other various WP crew organizer, Clark Martel. The way Clark Martel and the story's character Frank Pritzger wind up in final circumstances are too close to be coincedence.

Ratz Are Nice (PSP)
Lawrence Ytzhak Braithwaite
Alyson Books

I don't know where to begin with this book. I recieved a copy for review, read it and re-read it and still can not define a story line. From what I understand, the author intended the book to read like a song, phrases and paraphrases following eachother in a chainsaw rhythm. Which is all good, if you're well read, obviously I'm not cause this style of writting made absolutly no sense to me.
  Now the main charecter (I think he's the main charecter at least) Edison is of Cajun decent. Now I'm stretching here but I assume we've all seen that cajun cooking show with that friendly back wooks Cajun cook, the one who makes ya laugh cause you can't understand a damn word he says. Well that is also the same dielect that our main charecter uses. Making the book that much harder to follow. I asked the author about this and he said "We are bombarded with cockney terms and television "proper" English but we seem to be ashamed of local accents and drawls, even though Skins are suppose to be proud of being working-class (we tend to forgot the down right poor). Working-class doesn't mean England all the time. Edison also uses North American street terms which is preserved in this story." Cajuns are not the first image of the working poor that comes to mind for me. This created the largest problem for me, I had no personal voice to give the character. Reading and rereading lines to try and get their meaning. If it were possible for me to lead you through a condensed version of the story I would. But I am sorry to say I cannot.

Anecdote: Stories From The Road
Compiled and Edited By Rachael Almada
Bodach Press

Much like a compilation record we have ourselves here a compilation book with stories containing the horrors of life on the road with a band. A great concept through and through, but a realization needs to be struck upon. Just cause someone is in a band doesn't necessarily make them a writer (I think I am good proof of that). But as I said, the concept is great. Rachael sent out hundreds of letters to bands (I know cause I recieved one) asking for crazy, spooky, dirty, adventurous, happy, sad, pissed off stories, you name it, if it happened to you on the road and you feel the story worthy of a wider audience, she wanted it. The response was varied. A good chuck of punk bands complied, along with the Anti-Heros and the Dropkick Murphys (don't offer to wash the boys socks). Short story books such as these make the best toilet reading, you can start and finish a story in one sitting, making you feel that much more accomplished. Don't expect any of the Van Halenesque stories of the band being mauled by girls and lot of unprotected sex with blonde groupies going on, remember these are punk bands we are talking about. She is planning to do another and I think she will get a better response from bands who just like guitar players will say: I can do that too.