Original Punk Zines

ISLAND DOES AVANT GARDE, CLUB MOD, & DADA AS PROTOPUNK ‘MOVEMENT’ (1980)

Selected local happenings from 1980 as chronicled in the "History of Houston Punk" series — part recollection, part oral history –published by PUNX in 1986.

TRANSCRIPT

“The Punk/Avant Garde connection is highlighted by a show at Rock Island…reportedly the best acoustic production ever held at the Island. The bands include the Ruse, Spermwhale, and Polyphony.”

"In April is the premiere of a new venue, the ‘ultimate hole in the wall’: Club Mod. The Tix host the Throb Prom at this dingy warehouse on Milam St…which has a single light hanging precariously from the ceiling. This party highlights the difference between sixties and eighties psychedelia: black and white nihilist clones in urban cage, but human nonetheless. Other bands to play here later are the Huns, Killerwatts, and Vast Majority."

"September 19 is a show of the Big Boys with Really Red at the Island. The Big Boys also play the Parade and Spit, and at the Spit, the management apparently does not like Biscuit’s brand of weirdness and pulls the plug."

"On 10-15 there is a Post feature, 'Punks, Wavers, and Posers': interviews with W. Wolff, Christian Arnheiter, David Bean, Margaret Moser, Dick Long, Henry Weissborn, etc."

"October's issue of XLR8 features the first of two parts: 'After the New Wave,' which is a fascinating and intellectual look at punk and new wave. It explores the protopunk movements of Dada, juvenile delinquency, and the street fighters of the sixties. It concludes with a positive encouragement for us to face the political and aesthetic challenge before us with integrity and individuality."

"On Halloween an art-space at 3221 Milam plays host to Culturcide and Really Red."

"On December 15, WILD DOG #4 is published and the Derailers make their club debut at the Parade…the club cuts them off early. This is the last punk show at Parade."

ORIGINAL ZINE IMAGES COURTESY OF WILD DOG ARCHIVES.

ORIGINAL ZINE IMAGES COURTESY OF WILD DOG ARCHIVES.

CLE MAGAZINE: ISSUE 2, NORTH COAST PUNK AND THE ELECTRIC EELS (1978)

"The [Electric] Eels were an extremely loud, controversial assault on their audience. They were also very entertaining. The Eels are gone for now but there are some excellent tapes floating around. It would be great to have some of them released.” – Michael Weldon, contributing editor, CLE

Issue 2 of Cleveland, Ohio’s underground punk periodical CLE was released in the fall of 1978, a year after its debut in winter 1977. Covering the local first wave scene, CLE was founded by then 18-year-old Jim Ellis, who served as editor and publisher for the full five-issue run until the publication folded with Issue 3B in spring 1981.

Henry “Wild Dog” Weissborn reached out to emerging scenes from coast to coast. This scarce publication from his archives remains an imprint of early North Coast punk.

“Watch CLE for more on the Eels, Mirrors, Tin Huey, Rocket from the Tombs, Milk, Devo, Styrene/Money Band, Pere Ubu, the Wolves, Friction, Cinderella Backstreet, Bizzaros, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks…” – Footnote to “Electric Eels: Attendance Required,” Issue 2

FLIPSIDE VIDEO FANZINE NO. 1 (1984)

Established in August 1977, FLIPSIDE fanzine covered the early L.A. punk scene. The first issue featured an interview with Eulogy and performance reviews for The Quick and Devo.

One of the more successful publications to emerge from the first wave in the U.S., FLIPSIDE evolved from a small-run, photocopied zine to a glossy newsprint with worldwide distribution. After a 23-year run, the publication folded in 2000.

Since debuting his zine in April 1979, Henry Wild Dog exchanged news about the Houston and L.A. scenes with founding editor Al “Flipside” Kowalewski.

In 1984, FLIPSIDE began releasing video fanzines featuring live punk performances and interviews with both local and touring bands. The first of the series featured live shows and recordings from Social Distortion, the Vandals, Black Flag, and the Circle Jerks and an interview with M.D.C., an original Austin punk band that relocated to San Francisco.

MEDIA COURTESY OF WILD DOG ARCHIVES.

MEDIA COURTESY OF WILD DOG ARCHIVES.

WILD DOG ZINE: THE HATES ON DESTRUCTION AT THE ISLAND (1981)

“In the past there have been a lot of situations where people were up and pogoing, but there has never been fist fighting and destruction as went on at my last two shows. There were things being thrown at us, and I liked it.” — Christian Kidd on performing at the Island, WILD DOG #5 (1981)

Christian Kidd (Arnheiter) formed Guyana Boys Choir with bassist Robert Kainer and drummer Mike McWilliams in 1978. The band’s first live performance took place December that same year as an opening act for legendary Zydeco performer Clifton Chenier, at the downtown Masonic Temple.

Guyana Boys Choir was short lived, and Kidd regrouped as Christian Oppression with drummer Glenn Sorvisto and bassist Ed Felch. The band was renamed The Hates after Kainer rejoined Kidd. The Hates’ first two EPs were recorded at Wells Sound in Houston in 1979 on the band’s private label, Faceless Records.

Christian Oppression, the second iteration of Hates frontman Christian Arnheiter’s band, perform at Houston’s Paradise Island club in 1979.PHOTO BY GLEN BROOKS; CONTRIBUTED BY CHRISTIAN KIDD.

Christian Oppression, the second iteration of Hates frontman Christian Arnheiter’s band, perform at Houston’s Paradise Island club in 1979.

PHOTO BY GLEN BROOKS; CONTRIBUTED BY CHRISTIAN KIDD.

“The punk scene in Houston is systematically suppressed,” Christian Kidd said in WILD DOG #1 (April 1979). Kidd noted in this 1981 interview with WILD DOG that punk shows were becoming more violent at the Island — and that he enjoyed the audience response.

“There’s a punk crowd in Houston, and this is part of that hardcore crowd,” he said. “It’s building up; before you just had a few people going crazy in the crowd. There seems to be different factions, too…they really didn’t get along, and I thought it was great.”

ORIGINAL GALLEY COURTESY OF WILD DOG ARCHIVES.

HYMNAL NO. 1 AND 2 (1981)

HYMNAL, a punk and hardcore fanzine originally headquartered in Houston, debuted in December 1981.

The first three issues were based on the Houston scene, after which the publication relocated to Austin. Its fourth and final issue was published in 1982, with featured coverage of Houston and Austin bands. The full run of Hymnal, Nos. 1-4, can be accessed in the private collection of Wild Dog Archives.

IMAGES COURTESY OF WILD DOG ARCHIVES.

IMAGES COURTESY OF WILD DOG ARCHIVES.

BEAT GENERATION MEETS PUNK: SAN FRANCISCO’S SEARCH & DESTROY (1977)

V. Vale’s inaugural issue of San Francisco punk zine, SEARCH & DESTROY, originally funded by beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. (No. 1, 1977) takes its moniker from a Stooges song and features a “Basic Iggy Pop Bio”:

“Iggy Pop’s legend is one of the crucial cornerstones of rock & roll lore. It began when his Ann Arbor band, The Stooges, debuted on Halloween, 1967, chopping flower power down at the root.”

The full run, Nos. 1-11, can be accessed in the private collection of Wild Dog Archives.

ORIGINAL ZINE SCANNED COURTESY OF WILD DOG ARCHIVES.

ORIGINAL ZINE SCANNED COURTESY OF WILD DOG ARCHIVES.

TAKING INVENTORY (2012-2013)

wild-dog-archives

From only a few of the boxes found in the Wild Dog Archives we managed to log some 193 news-based countercultural and music publications, including early issues of SPACE CITY!ABRAXASHYMNALOVERTHROWREsearch, and a full run of V. Vale’s San Francisco, Beat-funded SEARCH & DESTROY, quite possibly our favorite punk zine next to our own Houston’s WILD DOG.