h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Has/does anyone read the punk zine Maximum Rock n Roll? Personally, i buy it to read the often intelligent, thoughtful articles. I love the cut and paste style of its band interviews too.

Have not seen any to buy for about 3 years now but it's a great mag and kept me up to date with the Usa scene + its not corporate owned and therefore can really rip into something they think it s**t!!

MRR is a bit hard to find round here too. There's only one independent record shop that stocks it, and they only have it once every few months If you can, you should get the March 2002 issue (#226). It's all about 'sexuality and the scene' and the queer-punk subgenre.

'Artcore' is a good UK zine, but a little hard to find. I also like reading 'Adbusters' and the £4 price is worth it for a whole magazine without ads. I'm turning into a bit of a zine fanatic, and hope to be putting my own one out with a few friends soon. I suppose h2g2 is a bit like a zine, in that it's a not-for-profit organisation that people can contribute to.

Good luck with the fanzine. Sometime ago my band were doing pretty well on the London circuit and we decided to put any money we made from gigs into a fanzine. (yes, we actually made money!) I used to work at a printers and was able to get an A4, 8pp, 2 col 'zine done dirt cheap.

We were trying to implement an underground gig circuit, trying to break the stranglehold of the bigger venues by arranging our own support bands - they would headline in their own area and invite us for a support etc. I thought it would be great for other bands/members to write articles, promote gigs, advertise demos etc. I could get a magazine out every 2-3 months, and hand them out at gigs, give loads to other bands to hand out and as gigs are normally booked well in advance, the info would always be up to date.

Not one single band took up the offer! I could'nt belive it - Apathy in the UK!! We got kicked in the teeth with the gig sharing as well. with a few exceptions, none of the bands we invited to play with us ever returned the favour. Would you be surprised to learn that after this we got the reputation of being a very snotty, unfriendly band?

Did you get the collected "Sniffing Glue" a couple of years ago? It showed what you can do with passion and commitment. As it happens, I'm in the middle of my first guide entry..... my memories of being a punk from '76 - '78. I don't know if I should give it a solid structure ( after all, I would like at least one person to comment on it!) or just go for one mad rush of blurry, beery recollections.... well, thats how it was for me!

What sort of recent stuff are you listening to?

Punkwise I listen to everything from the first Ramones album right through to the present day. The only thing that prevents me from discovering even more bands is my finite amount of money I didn't get the 'sniffing glue' comp., but thanks for the recommendation. Next time i have the money to travel the 15 miles to the nearest *good* music shop i'll have a look out for it.

The new stuff (ie. released within the last 5 years) that I'm listening to at the moment would be (to name a few)
- Leftover Crack
- The Casualties
- Descendents
- Capdown
- Pistol Grip
- The Distillers
- Choking Victim
- Four letter word
- Assert
- Satanic Surfers
- Anti-Flag
- The (international) noise conspiracy.
This isn't a great list, as it's just all the first stuff that came into my head.

Some friends of mine have got their own band, and have managed to put on some really fun shows. They got a UKHC band called Assert to come down and play a really fun show for just £75. They brought their own support band, the Swellbellys, too. I spoke to one of their band members, possibly the bassist, and they were all very nice. I think it's much nicer when you get to interact with the bands, rather than it being 'us and them'.

It does sound a bit harsh of people to call you an unfriendly band when they ripped you off. You should have written a song about it

Ooh a punk rock guide entry. The guide needs more of those. I'll be sure to check it out when it's done.

Only one song? I did about 10 of them I did get upset as I thought that the punk ethic was about being together, would of worked. What we did next was to put on our own nights - hire a venue and put 3 bands on, play once a month with the same bands so everyone could build up a following. We used the revolutionary idea of making sure the bands complimented each other!! A change from being on the same bill as a prog. rock band!

I havn't heard of a lot of the stuff you mentioned. Shame on me. I've got behind in collecting new stuff due to other areas I'm investigating>

Only one song? I did about 10 of them I did get upset as I thought that the punk ethic was about being together, would of worked. What we did next was to put on our own nights - hire a venue and put 3 bands on, play once a month with the same bands so everyone could build up a following. We used the revolutionary idea of making sure the bands complimented each other!! A change from being on the same bill as a prog. rock band!

I havn't heard of a lot of the stuff you mentioned. Shame on me. I've got behind in collecting new stuff due to other areas I'm investigating>

In regards to your list, I've listening to a lot of Turbonegro, Glueficer and Electric Frankenstein. now I know it's not HC but what the hell is it called these days? They all sound like the Ramones with more aggressive vocals and v. fast guitar solos.

Hello there you dirty great punks.

I've read MR&R on and off - you certainly get a lot of content for your money. Are either of you familiar with Fracture Fanzine? I think I prefer it to MR&R, mostly because it's UK-specific. They've a website here: http://www.seanchai.dircon.co.uk

Yeah, I prefer Fracture too. The fact that it's free (compared to the £3/£3.5o that I pay for Maximum) is also a bonus. Reason to Believe is another good 'large' size that focuses on the whole of the UK and European scene, it has so cool DIY related stuff too