I’m always gunning for a new high-quality fanzine and it appears that Hexarc, by the looks of Issue #1, is shaping up to be just that. It’s from Delaware – “the first state” – and aside from famous exports Bettina Richards, Joe Biden and Dogfish Head beer, it’s the state I know perhaps the least about. Not for lack of trying, folks; I mean, I’ve been on a train that passed through Wilmington once, and every now and again I start thinking about buying a cheapo home on the Delaware coast, a place I’ve never been, and find myself mapping out Zillow locations and prices.
But hey, to listen to Hexarc #1, the live music scene in Delaware’s been a bit lacking since the pandemic struck, while record stores and bookstores remain healthy. It’s a big concern for editor Max, who’s enthusiastically flying the flag for a new day in DE. I’m hoping he’ll see it. What I like most about this issue, though, is the great centerpiece interview with Pat Blashill, a longtime punk and indie photographer of much note, and a fella that some band in the 80s (Doctor’s Mob? Offenders? Offbeats?) wrote a song about that I cannot extricate from my head whenever I see his name. Blashill is the guy behind that very recent Texas is The Reason punk photo collection, and he proves to be a bountiful fount of both memory and knowledge about 1980s Texas punk freaks, from The Big Boys to Scratch Acid and with much in between.
Hexarc #1 also celebrates The Big Boys a bit further beyond that piece, with a short essay, discography and multiple flyer reprints. Funny; they were actually a big favorite of mine late in the 80s; I even had the Fun Fun Fun and Where’s My Towel records, among others, the latter a bootleg that isn’t even listed on Discogs. Thinking I need to figure out where did my love go and give them all a big open-minded listen again.
The fanzine is in great need of contributors like you, so if you want to get a line on how to write for ‘em (and how to get a copy of Hexarc #1), give Max a jingle over on Instagram at @hex.arc, or email him directly at hexarczine@gmail.com.
Fanzine Hemorrhage 