Where Have All The Fanzines Gone?
By Conor Duffy
Please note: I will come off sounding like a whiny bitch during this article, which isn’t really an article, but just a big rant. If you have any respect for me whatsoever I’d suggest reading something else, but considering there’s not much else to read, you may as well have a look.
It is with a heavy heart that I write this article, but I have been moved to do it by an item I received in the post this morning. It was issue 11 of The Easy Way, the personal/musical fanzine produced by the wonderful thrill racer. It wasn’t the fanzine that disappointed me, it was the two words printed at the bottom of the front cover: "Final Issue." Yes, thrill went off and got the one thing no fanzine writer should ever have - a life. A full-time job in the first half of 2004 and a decision to enter law school (please don’t judge her) in the second half meant she just didn’t have the time to print The Easy Way at all last year, and now she’s decided to wrap it up for the foreseeable future. Damn.
This has happened to me before. Country boy and "scene" outsider that I am, I’ve never had much access ‘zines, but the ones I have found have generally folded before I buy their third or fourth issue. Case in point, QED fanzine, which I found in time for issue two, and which disappeared before issue four (but not, it should be noted, before I sent them the money for issue four. Incidentally, Brendan, if by any chance you’re reading this, either get back in the game or return my 2 Euros.) Other fanzines I’ve found through trading have also been remarkably quiet. With the added benefit of experience, I can hardly blame anyone for wanting to do something other than print a cheap rag that no one will read. Here we are, five issues into Angry Left Wing Mofo Is Dead, and what do we have to show for it? If I really think about it, I can probably tell you the number of copies we’ve actually sold:
Issue 1: Eight. Yeah, definitely eight, but only because my mother (God bless ‘er) had a shop at the time and took five copies off my hands.
Issue 2: I think that was two, maybe three.
Issue 3: Don’t ask.
Issue 4: Ditto.
Issue 5: Zip. Nada. None.
Actually, there’s a pretty good reason for that. The latest issue has been out since November, and I’ve done nothing to advertise it. Absolutely nothing in any way, other than update the site, and I didn’t even do that properly. You see, my problems are twofold. Firstly, in the past I have placed posters up around my local area, with no success. In fact, I’ve known of several stores that gladly take my posters, only to remove them after a day, or worse yet, not display them at all. Whatever, I know who I’m trying to reach - the folks my age, the young men and women looking for place where they can find great unsigned bands and list their grievances to the world. The type of people I pass every day in the halls of my college. I put posters all over that college, and all I’m doing is wasting paper and thumbtacks. For the first couple of issues I placed small ads in Hot Press magazine, which got me (literally) one or two customers. But I’m just not able to understand why there are so few people with an interest in independent publications. Is it apathy, or do only three people read the classifieds in Hot Press ? And why do so many adult contact mags advertise there? That’s beside the point. My second problem is that I’m a spineless son-of-a-bitch. Sure, it’s easy for me to sit down in front of a computer, knock out a few hundred words about how much the government sucks and print it out. But now you want me to sell it!? Are you mad!? Hell, I’m surprised I don’t start hyperventilating every time I have to ask some shop worker to stick a poster in their window. My social skills are barely functioning. Almost all the friends I have had to introduce themselves to me first. How do you expect me to talk to total strangers?
There is a third, monumental difficulty I find myself stuck with nowadays: I too am getting a life. Not much of one, but still, enough of one to make the production of a fanzine that little less important in my life. Understand that when I started this ‘zine almost two years ago, I was a very different person. I was a guy taking a year off, working a crappy job, finding myself with way too much free time. Back then making a fanzine seemed so easy. Now I can never find the time to write much in the way of articles (I got my eye on the clock right now; another hour and a half and then I gotta go.) Don’t get me wrong; I’m not sorry I started it, because I’ve met some interesting people through this experience. Plus it’s always cool to say, "Yeah, I write a fanzine."
OK, maybe that wasn’t what I was thinking about at the time. It’s just that reading the last issue of The Easy Way has made me realise that I need to make a decision about my own fanzine. While the site will always be here, and will always be available for anyone with an article, the question I must ask myself is whether or not the paper ‘zine can really continue? Could it be that my shortcomings and the public’s disinterest have finally put an end to it? Is that why I haven’t been advertising - do I not want to do this anymore? Perhaps the Angry Left Wing Mofo finally is Dead? On the other hand, there’s nothing quite like the pride you feel holding something you’ve created. Thrill, by her own admission, is "a zinester for life" and we will no doubt see one offs from her in the future. It’s something to consider. I’d like to take this thing that not just I but a whole group created, and keep it going. But I can’t keep printing a regular ‘zine. It’s a horrible waste of paper and a real blow to the ego when you show something to the world and the world goes, "No thanks." To quote Andy N on that first D.I.H. album I reviewed in Issue 1, "This is the end, my beautiful friend." Those of you who were there for the paper ‘zine, please don’t forget us, and those of you who weren’t - well where the hell were ya!?