Peardrop was one of my favorite old ‘zines, put out by my old pal Laurent Merle (who did USD ‘zine, and now does Listenable Records).. He has a great sense of humor, and it comes through in his writing. Even when he doesn’t like a band he finds a funny way to talk about them. It was full of wacky interviews with death metal, grindcore, thrash, and hardcore bands. Here’s some pages for you to peruse:
Organ is a new ‘zine put out by some of the guys at Hell’s Headbangers. I don’t see many new ‘zines these days (tho they seem to be gaining in popularity- there are more coming out every day), so getting one this thick and detailed is very nice. And what detail it has- the art and layouts are phenomenal! It’s all black and white, but I love that look- like an old Creepy or Eerie comic book (but 10 times as thick). You can tell they took a long time putting this together- the art is painstakingly intricate, and everything is very neatly hand written (which I still don’t like that much, but it fits in this ‘zine).
The interviews are very well done and informative, with bands such as IMPETIGO, ASPHYX, CIANIDE, NOCTURNAL, DENIAL, and UNDERGANG to name a few. They also have interviews with Mike Howlett about his awesome book The Weird World of Eerie Publications, and Mike Minett (who played Frank in the splatterpunk classic Bad Taste). There are articles on Coffin Joe, ’80s sword and sandal movies (such as Deathstalker and The Sword and the Sorcerer), VHS trading in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and a rather pedestrian one on Japanese hardcore (the only article in the whole ‘zine that seems a little threadbare). There are also some old school comics along the lines of the above mentioned Creepy and Eerie mags, and scads of movie reviews (mostly gore/ horror/ exploitation).
The pages are very think and the print is dark (you can’t tell on these scans because the ‘zine is so thick that my scanner couldn’t scan it that well so the print look a little light- it’s not like that in the actual ‘zine).
This was a pretty damn fun read, and I’m looking forward to more…
This was a great ‘zine that suffered from bad printing. I have to apologize for how faded and terrible it looks- it was bad when it came out, and has only gotten worse over the years. But the content was fantastic- an excellent mix of grindcore, death metal, hardcore, and black metal with a bunch of my fav bands. This issue was huge, and had interviews with PROCESS REVEALED, MY MIND’S MINE, NECROPHILE, RADIATION SICKNESS, KOVEN, LEGION OF DEATH, LIBIDO BOYS, NOCTURNUS, REDNECKS IN PAIN, SADUS, BOLT THROWER, SMOLDERING REMAINS, BLOOD, TOXODETH, OLD LADY DRIVERS, ROTTING CHRIST, and SORE THROAT, as well as ‘zine and music reviews and ads, and a couple of live show reviews to finish it out.
Here are some pages from it for you to check out:
At this point, having already put up issues 1 – 3, I shouldn’t have to say that Godvomit should not only not be viewed by children, but probably by anyone. This issue was probably the most over-the-top stupidly offensive in every way (everything from purposeful grammar Nazi baiting to a Michael Diana cartoon), however in 1991 and 1992 (when it was produced and released) there wasn’t that much subversive, shock-to-the-system art coming out (that movement was just starting and gaining speed in more than the underground, where it had been going strong for awhile) and offending pretty society was a priority. Don’t take it too seriously.
Also, several pages of this issue were damaged- the original cover was damaged beyond repair, so a preliminary sketch of the cover is printed here. Also the Schismopathic interview is damaged beyond repair. Everything else was fixable. Enjoy…
Ripping Headaches was a long running (mostly) thrash and death metal ‘zine that featured longer, more in-depth interviews than most old ‘zines did. It was co-produced in Florida and France, and tho the font in this issue leaves something to be desired, the content did not. Here are some pages for your perusal:
Brainwash was a ‘zine that featured interviews with more bands that I was into than most, and included a lot of bands who weren’t interviewed in every other ‘zine that came out back then. The interviews were unfortunately very short (as were the reviews), but it was still a good read.
Here’s some pages from it to check out…
PMT focuses mainly on film and music ‘zines, but people used to make them about everything- politics, comics, art, fiction, video games, or even just their feelings. Whatever interested them. Cadavers, Fruit, and Government Forms was an ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ ‘zine that featured music and film reviews, comics (the editor, Jeff Dworak, also drew some cool comics), comic and book reviews, opinions, stories, and more. This issue has less music than most of them did (the first issue had several full page demo and album reviews) but was thick and full of all kinds of content, from reprints of Hostess ads from old comics to a “Nintendo Buyer’s Guide” (which just said “Don’t buy this piece of shit machine!!”) and an interview with the weirdo trash band SOCKEYE. Varied and never boring, here are some pages for your perusal:
Another cool old music (death and thrash metal mostly) ‘zine was IHDM. I actually got to contribute a couple of live reviews to this, the second issue. It featured interviews with AUTOPSY, NOCTURNUS, DECEASED, HELLWITCH, ABOMINOG, EVICTION, PRIMEVIL, IMPETIGO, DERKETA, RIPPING CORPSE, and REVENANT. It also had album and demo reviews (plus the above mentioned live reviews), and a ton of ads.
Here’s some pages to peruse:
Dying Terror was a really cool music ‘zine that featured interviews with hardcore and metal bands, funny, well done reviews, news, and a couple of opinion columns. I’m not sure if there was more than one issue, but this one was very thick and featured interviews with BATHYM, FILTHY CHRISTIANS, PRONG, MORTICIOAN, NUCLEAR DEATH, THE ACCUSED, MORBID ANGEL, EVICTION, IMPETIGO, NOKTUNEL, BEYOND DESCRIPTION, HIDEOUS MANGLEUS, SUFFOCATION, ATOMICAUST, and Richard C. who ran Wild Rags Records (the label that put out a lot of cool albums by bands like IMPETIGO, BLASPHEMY, BLOODCUM, ORDER FROM CHAOS, HELLWITCH, BLOOD, and a bunch more).
It was structured a little different than most ‘zines in that all the reviews were up front, then it had all it’s interviews, then all it’s pictures, then the last several pages were all ads.
Here’s some pages for you to check out:
Suburban Voice was a (mostly) punk ‘zine put out in the ’80s by Al Quint, who is still going strong today, writing a column in MaximumRockNRoll, doing Suburban Voice in blog form, and doing a cool radio show.
Suburban Voice #19 featured interviews with THE DAMNED, INSTIGATORS, DAG NASTY, CRIPPLED YOUTH (prob the main reason I bought this issue- I used to love them), and a pre-MTV popular SOUL ASYLUM. It also featured album and demo reviews, live show and ‘zine reviews, a letters page, and a couple of opinion pieces (on such diverse topics in this particular issue as nationalism and Marvel comics).
There’s no date, but it probably came out in 1986 since both SOUL ASYLUM and DAG NASTY say their new albums are out.
Here are some pages for your perusal:
