How It All Began
By andrewduncan • Oct 30th, 2008 • Category: Categories, Lead StoryIn developing the site that has become ZapTown, it has made us go back and think about how we got started in the first place and the creation of Movements, the early '90s, and what alternative publications were all about at the time. Looking at this circle has made us get back to the basics of what alternative publications were all about.
Not long ago, I came across Tad Suiter's article on EduPunk and the zine movement as substance and aesthetic (http://leisurelyhistorian.net/edupunk-aesthetic/), as he digs into the true essence of the zine revolution. "Zines were always the best embodiment of the DIY ethos of punk, because they had the lowest barriers to entrance. All you really needed was a pen, access to a photocopier, and a stapler, and you could be a zine publisher."
It was this idea that really made creating a zine very attractive. We had no clue what we were doing at first, but that did not stop us from doing something that became a part of our psyche.
I had worked with Phil Yeary of Nightmare Images through high school and helped supply the sceneries and props for the city's haunted houses. One day, while hanging out amongst the dangling latex bodies and ghoulish props, we were going through a pile of zines that graced his mailbox. Names like Coroner's Report, Metal something-or-another and Gothic this-and-that littered the pile. I had been a casual admirer of zines like say the grainy black and white newsprint of Maximum Rock 'n' Roll, the punk dream of Flipside, or the local skate rag Sty Zine.
So we started talking about making one ourselves. Not that we would do better than the zine bestsellers like the Motorbootys, the Cometbus's, or the Pop Smears, but I feel that we had some grandiose ideas that carried through to the final product, typos and all. Enlisting Yuri Duncan for his artwork, we became the triad that would give birth to Movements.
In August 1993, the zine revolution was at its apex. The underground became the mainstream and anyone who had an idea and access to Kinkos was creating a zine from window cleaners (American Window Cleaners) to psychopaths (Murder Can Be Fun) to office supply fetishists (Flatter). Details Magazine came out with the article "Soap Box Samurai," by Jeremy Mindich, who appropriately claimed that "zines have become the weapon of choice for people who want to cut through the mediocrity of everyday life and give voice to their passions."
And those passions are reasons why Yuri and I continued the magazine through 11 issues and several years of existence. From local to national artists, strange perspectives and wild artwork, the zine was like a circus of chaos wrapped in every issue. I ran through the streets of Atlanta, we housed Total Chaos for three days after their van broke down — stepping over mohawks, spiked hair and wafting through a cloud of smelly armpits to get out the front door in the morning — I spent time in NOFX's tour bus, hung out in a stale conference room with a long-haired no name at the time who called himself Marilyn Manson. I sweated in more pits than I can remember. We saw some amazing bands and experiences we will never forget.
For the first time in over 10 years, below are the issues of Movements in PDF format.
In this issue: Once Again, Bubba's Empty Butt Cavity, Echo Record Reviews, Poetry and Shit, and Mr. Pants Playpen.
In This Issue: Skin Chamber, Wankin' Basstereo, Judgement Day, Gutted Pulp, Skatenigs, Bubba's Empty Butt Cavity, Mr. Pants Playpen, Dead Before Dawn, Make Them Die Slowly, Echo Record Reviews, Live Review, and Poetry and Shit.
Issue Three Temporarily Unavailable
In This Issue: SNFU, Lance Mountain, Weeds Of Eden, Cross Fade, Mass Exhibit, Mr. Pants Playpen, Confessions Of A Pit Junkie, Record Girls' Record Bucket, Make Them Die Slowly, Dead Before Dawn, and Poetry 'n' Shit.
Issue Five Temporarily Unavailable
Issue Six Temporarily Unavailable
In This Issue: Rancid, Offspring, Nine Inch Nails, Marily Manson, Pop Will Eat Itself, and Reviews.
In This Issue: Total Chaos, Pop Will Eat Itself, The Land Of The Lost, The Cramps, Gas Huffer, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.
In This Issue: Makin' The Atlanta Scene, Chokebore, Samiam, The Goops, and Reviews.
In This Is Issue: November Grief, Tilt, Brutal Juice, Dave, The Joykiller, SNFU, Circle Jerks, and Record Reviews.
In This Issue: Pop Smear, Blak, Strapping Young Lad, and Jackie Chan.
andrewduncan is a journalist who has migrated to the forces of academia. He has written for various publications including Chord, Heckler, Readyset...Aesthetic, and a a vast array of alternative press contributions. When not roaming the streets of Indianapolis, he is either addicted to KXCI, making music, or striving to watch every film listed on IMDB.
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