At one point in September 1982’s Thrillseeker #1, Barry Henssler of The Necros bemoans the lack of fanzines tied to the DC punk scene. I’m guessing the folks who were living their “salad days” at this time in our (my) nation’s capital don’t quite remember it that way, and indeed, there’s an entire book set to come out about DC’s punk fanzines. Thrillseeker will get some play, I am sure. It’s an excellent and incredibly comprehensive piece of on-the-ground work, edited by a guy named Tony Lombardi and with a plethora of contributors. I scanned the many names and recognized Tom Lyle from Government Issue, and Jeff Krulik – Mr. Heavy Metal Parking Lot to you.
Thrillseeker #1 absolutely looks the part and walks the walk of a hardcore punk zine, but due to Lombardi’s wide-ranging, omnivorously music-hungry tastes, there’s quite a bit more than meets the proverbial eye. The long review section at the back, for instance, tackles everything from Mofungo to The Raincoats to Mission of Burma to the Flesheaters to the Dazz Band and Rick Springfield. The short review of the (excellent) debut single from The Bangs (you perhaps know them as The Bangles) says, “What a disappointment. I thought these gals were supposed to play 60s influenced trash rock, but this is just cutesy wimpy pop. Even Tru Fax & the Insaniacs rock out more than this trio”. You don’t even have to know that reference to know it’s a total harsh burn. But Lombardi, who writes at least two-thirds of the reviews here, also cops to loving Fleetwood Mac and the new Springfield record. And Void and Flipper.
We’ve established previously on this blog that the opening “news/gossip” section was a de rigeur part of many 70s/80s US punk fanzines. What I always love are the “items” that end up never coming true, such as “Black Flag will be in a movie called Cool Patrol”. What the hell? Who can tell us what that was all about? There’s more gossip and news about go-go bands (DC’s indigenous funk gift to the world); the fact that ½ Japanese’s “epic” ½ Gentlemen Not Beasts is about to be issued on cassette; and “The Gun Club have undergone personnel changes. The band now includes two women. Jeffrey Lee Pierce still drinks too much!”
The live show reviews include a dispatch from a Fear / Necros / Scream / Double O and Void show at the Lincoln Memorial July 3rd, 1982. God bless America!! Void, in another review, are described in awe and quite aptly: “Their music is pure noise, as tortuous as the best Black Flag and Flipper. It was like they were tuning up the whole time they were on stage”. Oh to have seen that. Void bassist Chris Stover now lives in and is a realtor in San Francisco, my home. We had some good hangs a couple decades ago; went to each other’s kids’ birthday parties and what have you. Either Lombardi or Tom Lyle (both are “TL” here) reviews a go-go show with Trouble Funk, Air Raid Band and a no-showing Soul Sonic Force. I recall how excited I was when I learned that all-white hardcore bands and all-black go-go bands in DC played shows together. Never happened in enlightened San Francisco, but perhaps that was because we didn’t have go-go bands.
In the Black Flag interview, Henry Rollins has just joined the band, and he actually talks about wanting to cut a comedy record with his old pal Ian Mackaye. Is that where this thing started? I’ve seen that ferociously bad idea referenced in other fanzines for years. Greg Hetson from the Circle Jerks says their next record will be a “six song 12”EP” – another one of those bit of information that bore no eventual fruit. There are also interviews with Fear, The Necros, X, DOA, Sonic Youth (!!) and The Flesheaters. This is that same tour that Byron Coley documented in tour diary form in Take It #6, one of my favorite single issues of any fanzine ever. Here he’s a clowning interview-interrupter, and on the evidence herein, clearly the band and Coley get along well. Chris D’s favorite new stuff includes the Meat Puppets’ debut album on SST, along with “Dream Syndicate, Salvation Army, Red Cross and the Gun Club”. 1982, a great year to be alive in Los Angeles, California.
Government Issue recount their trip to California, starting with their interview with Tim Yohanan on the MRR radio show, “All Tim Y wanted to talk about was ‘straight edge’, and we were burnt out from the sleepless ride out to the west coast, so it was kind of lame, but fun!”. They then go on to talk about their first gig at the On Broadway in San Francisco, which was just upstairs from the Mabuhay Gardens, and, (for a time) was also booked by Dirk Dirkson. “The crowd in SF is weird, really image-conscious Oi-clones. Lots of dressing up for the big night out but not much action….Dirk made our show all worthwhile by giving us $40 at the end of the night! Shredding!” No lie: that’s the equivalent of $132.56 today.
There’s a long interview with Jello Biafra that’s actually really good. He’s humble enough, for a change, that it almost makes me respect the guy. I did enjoy his personal taste in offbeat music, but his stage performance and unbridled ego in virtually every setting was so off-putting to me in the 80s that it’ll take another forty years of personal growth and maturity for me to move him to the positive side of whatever imaginary ledger I’m keeping. Void also show up again in an extensive, exceptionally dumb interview from a radio show they stumbled onto, with wacky call-in guests; it was maybe one of those things “not fit for transcription”, particularly in the pre- voice-to-text world.
I know Thrillseeker made it to both a second and a third issue, but I’ve never seen them in the wild. The notion of DC being fanzine-bereft, however, is severely undercut by its existence, to say nothing of other gems we’ve talked about previously here like Truly Needy and Vintage Violence.
Fanzine Hemorrhage 