Back in the old days before blogs, the Twitters, Youtubes, and all that, we had something called zines. I made few different ones, starting in about 1992 and going through 2003 or so. Most of them are fucking wretched, but I found a copy of the first issue of my best zine, HATING LIFE, from 1999 or so. I had just moved back to Seattle from Cleveland, and was very influenced by Lifesucksdie, Bruce from Phobia’s zine Jellobungresia, and Fat Chicks In Party Hats. Sure, there are plenty of things about it that are awful, but all things considered I think it holds up pretty well for being a decade old.
I was living with a bunch of friends from high school (including Todd from Champion/Betrayed, who I miss a lot), and basically was just real into going to hardcore shows, writing graffiti, and hanging out with girls/my mosher bros. Accordingly, it’s mostly pictures of graffiti, chicks I liked at the time, and dumb shit about metal and hardcore records, and generally along the same lines at Stuff You Will Hate– as you will see, I’ve been doing this kind of annoying bullshit for a long time, for better or worse. I’ll post some of the most notable pages, but you should download the full zine and read it in detail. The second page of all the interviews is in the ZIP, so what better way to piss away 20 minutes of your life that you’ll never get back??
The cover, featuring shred legends NITRO! As you can see, I have been repping them for a long, long time. Also, HATING LIFE is the name of a really fucking sick song by the death metal band Grave.
First of all, note that I titled this “INTRO BUST” many years before Double Crossed. Second, the gist of it is “if chicks aren’t into your band, you suck.” Sounds familiar, right?? I have been beating the “don’t play boring music for beardos” drum for quite a while!
At the time, The Locust were getting real popular, and they still had proto-scene hair (before entering their more recent gasmask/light-bondage phase). People still mention this page to me from time to time, so I guess it was memorable?
Some very rare mid-90s Seattle graffiti pics- WERL, SOBER, PACE, etc. The girls are my former roommate/current BFF BloodyGuts (left) and some lame chick I was dating at the time (right). On the bottom right is KERN TA aka Metal Inquisition’s Skullkrusher doing a Mother’s Day piece (“Feliz Dia De Madrecita”). 
Interview with the geniuses in Deeds of Flesh, featuring some classic lines like “I like to piss in there mudslides and piss there lemondrops.”
Clockwise from upper left: “STRIGHT EDGE” tattoo; Some bitch with busted-out teeth from the then-recent WTO rights in Seattle; misc graffiti; some ORFN/SECTER doodles courtesy of CERT; a screencap from Hamtaro; my favorite piece of graffiti ever, a BW production by BISIE, WERL, SECTER and AMAZE.
Some moderately amusing record reviews, the best one probably being Creation Is Crucifixion: “The songs are all about computers and stuff.” Even then I was pissing people off by reviewing Pyrexia, Hate Eternal, and Candiria alongside Home Grown, The Enkindels, and other gay poppy shit.
Clockwise from upper left: Lame chick I dated showing her tits in front of a Skarhead poster (boobies shopped out, sorry); more rare, mid-90s Seattle graffiti from the likes of BISIE US, ADEK BTM TKO 3A, SAGER LFC NCS, ABHOR KUK, and SOBER AOD LFC; Slayer ticket; funny business card I found on the ground that says “Hey black, can a nigga dick it down from the back?”; a couple other girls I dated/crushed on.
Interview with Chris Elder from Despise You/Pessimiser- I lost his actual responses so I just made up what I thought he would have said. I think I did a pretty good job!
Interview with ARES from Downset and the legendary graffiti crew CBS. He was real, real cool and super friendly. The singer, Rey, was a very fucking strange dude but also nice. I feel like this band never really got the press they deserved.
More graffiti, including MERZ’s first piece, a 625 throwup I did in 1997 or so, and a picture of Jessica Alba when she was still hot. Cringing at some of the design elements.
I don’t know why I included this, but I was real into the Super Robot Wars games at the time, and included a bunch of screenshots from some of the Super Famicom titles. LOL @ the mega-90s graphic design!
Moderately amusing interview with Levi Watson from the awesome Fall Silent. I hear he is a high school teacher these days; he was always a real cool, super nice guy and I wish him the best with whatever he’s up to! Solid dude for sure.
Like many other 20 year-olds, I was a guitar geek. This interview with the thoroughly average grindcore band Assuck is mostly about dumb shit like what kind of pickups Steve Heritage used, blast beats, and other stuff that only stupid kids care about. They were pretty much dicks to me. That guy Kyle from Grade or whatever was there too and was also kind of a dick. They clearly thought they were The Shit despite playing a venue that was essentially a punk rock flophouse in the ghetto with 100 kids in attendance, tops. Lame band.
Back cover- a screencap from Pocket Fighter for PS1. Great game! I don’t know why I blurred out the address since I haven’t lived there since 2000, but I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry?
What do you think?? Please feel free to make fun of it, god knows I’m asking for it after mocking the creative output of many current 20 year-olds. Hopefully it will bring back memories for any oldz reading, and give you newer kids some insight into the bizarre world of 90s hardcore. Either way, hope you like it or at least have a good laugh at my expense!
All I wanna do is go hog wild
I went to prison for a while
As I rot here I think
My cellmate's ass really does stink
At least I'll be out in 3 years
And what's the use of all these tears
-scene kid in prison
i think samhain did the proto scene hair best, they have the sickest bangs in the history of bangs http://media.photobucket.com/image/samhain/lucascbrown/Samhain_Group.jpg
Great stuff. Makes me hella nostalgic for the late 90's/early 2ks. It appears your penchant for "shit stirring" was already in full effect via choice reviews for 90's pop punk records that you knew br00tal metal dudes would hate! Seems familiar.
P.S. why the antipathy for the Locust? Obviously douchelords, but didn't they wear tight pants with white belts, sport ridiculous haircuts & bang hot chicks? I figured that's half the way to winning your heart.
Well, I wasn't going to mention my Locust tattoo, but you've kind of forced that hand. Still, on the list of the things I will hate, and laugh the hardest at, I am always very near the top. That "beehive" page is my new wallpaper.
Skullkrusher has skills.
The 90's looking girl on the page with the "Stright edge" tattoo, I'd go down on her ass for a week and come back for more later. Any more pictures of her?
Awesome. Reminds me that I need to scan and post the 2nd issue of Monkeybite. If I get real bored, I may even post the Black Army Jacket / Noothgrush 7" that came with it.
P.S. why the antipathy for the Locust? Obviously douchelords, but didn't they wear tight pants with white belts, sport ridiculous haircuts & bang hot chicks? I figured that's half the way to winning your heart.
Good point, but the problem is that they were pretentious about it, and I hate pretentiousness more than anything.
The 90's looking girl on the page with the "Stright edge" tattoo, I'd go down on her ass for a week and come back for more later. Any more pictures of her?
Nope, she was a cutie for sure though! No idea what she is up to these days…
"90s looking girl" JUST sent me a FB request YESTERDAY. Weird, huh?
Sarge, you should peep her! Even hotter now!!
BRING PICS
too many highlights to name….
…First of all, note that I titled this "INTRO BUST" many years before Double Crossed…
relax Sarge, Warzone had "intro Bust" before that. Also, i figured "hating life" was from side by side.
Really enjoyed the Downset piece, totally agree on them esp. that first album which is an unheralded masterpiece of the genre. Anger: hostility towards the opposition! April 29th! Florence & Normandy!
Ah yes, the WTO riots. Good times. I had fun going downtown every day to escort my wife through the tear gas because her work was too lame to shut down.
Classic graffiti for sure. The Abhor WTO shot is crucial.
Rey from Downset was strange but also a cool dude. I met him in Stockholm, Sweden in 1997, I think it was. He stayed at a guy from VIM-crew's place, can't remember what he wrote, think he stayed in Europe a while after a tour. We were a couple of kids who took him out to do some graph (he wrote SHOT1) on a pretty safe spot, sure enough someone saw us and we had to run. I remember how cool it was for us then to hang out with a dude from LA who, alledgedly, always carried a gun where he lived, rough neighbourhood he said. He said you had to watch out for cops AND gangbangers when out vandalizing. Also, he went a bit stalky with this 16-17 year old girl. Kept calling her when he got back home. BUT he was really cool to hang out with, a really nice guy.
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I took all those WTO photos. I know for sure I got 3 or 4 rolls of film and I seem to remember toothless chick. Also, I have a copy of vol 2 around somewhere featuring classic Timm Macintosh "vegan timeout" reference in Champion interview; as well as Dillinger Escape Plan interview in which you asked the singer if people mistake him for a vampire because his name is Dimitri, and also asked him which member wrote the song "that goes chugga-chugga-chugga, weedley-weedley-weedley".
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These zines are what made the scene dope back in the 90′s!
could you re-up the zine?
hey d, could you re-up the zine? thx ily bb