General Speech #10 zine

Description

In this issue, Mune from Japanese hardcore legends PAINTBOX talks openly and emotionally about his early punk days, Paintbox, Chelsea’s passing, and much more.

Chile’s premier fuzzed out hardcore punk phenomenon IGNORANTES gives us the scoop on their decade long history, and pessimistic outlook on the world.

Photographer David Hoffman talks about the 1983 Stop The City protests in London, the importance of protest, and shares the story of the events surrounding the photography used on CHAOS UK’s iconic Short Sharp Shock LP, with unseen photos!!

EY from XA RECORD, gives a fascinating interview about punk and new wave in Japan in the late 70s/early 80s, his label XA RECORD, and the mysterious band DIE WAN, arguably the best label and band you’ve never heard of!!

Interviews with cult Belgian hardcore favorites PRIVATE JESUS DETECTOR, early 80s Tucson maniacs CORPORATE WHORES, UK82 legends CHAOTIC DISCHORD, and early UK political punks FALLOUT and SIX MINUTE WAR should appeal to those looking for raw blasts from the past.

And finally, you can read about the best hidden gems, B-sides, and unreleased tracks in the sprawling catalog by the best punk band in the world, THE DAMNED!

Our take: I often say Ill read pretty much anything having to do with punk, but a lot of the things I readzines, books, or stuff on the webare of poor quality, often with shoddy research, poor copy editing, and ugly and/or non-functional graphic design. General Speech is impeccable in these respects, an underground punk zine crafted with the obvious care and attention to detail that one usually has to shell out a bunch of money to a team of professionals to get. As note-perfect as General Speech might be in these respects, it still strikes me as the purest expression of the concept of the music fanzine that you can find in the punk underground. While most zines adopt, to some extent or another, the tropes of mainstream music publications, the editor Toms passion for music seems to be the guiding principle for what lands in General Speech. Tom revels in the details, both the small details of better-known releases and the minutiae of lesser-known punk. For instance, the biggest bands featured in this issue are probably the Damned and Chaos UK, but the articles delve deep into the recesses of those bands stories. The article on the Damned is a lengthy feature on Toms favorite non-album tracks, while the Chaos UK feature is an interview with the photographer who took the photo on the cover of the bands Short, Sharp Shock album. Elsewhere in the mag there are features on the obscure Japanese cassette label X.A. Record, the Chilean band Ignorantes, and older groups Fallout, Six Minute War, and Private Jesus Detector. These interviews are rich in detail, Toms obsessiveness well matched with the interview subjects candor. The cover star and centerpiece of the issue is a long interview with Mune from Paintbox, and while many western publications that attempt to interview Japanese punk bands have trouble penetrating the language and cultural barriers, this interview is gripping for anyone deeply into Japanese hardcore. The writing in General Speech is beyond reproach, but the visuals are just as good, with Toms collection of punk ephemera and unimpeachable graphic design skills proving to be an unfuckwithable combo. If youre anything like me, youll pore over every inch of this fanzine and return to it again and again. Totally essential.