| The zine began to change drastically around issue number eight, and the first big difference was the fact that I decided to offset print it, which also meant that I had to learn to be more exact with the zine's layout. The cover was illustrated for us by Tony Easly, who was in a Redwood City hardcore band called APESHIT. He had also done artwork for RWC bands like AGENTS OF SATAN and PLUTOCRACY. One thing that always set UGZ apart from other East Bay zines is that it was originally a project begun by folks from three, very different scenes. I was from the East Bay, Karen was from Redwood City and down with bands like NO LESS, AOS, and SPAZZ, and Atom was from Orange County and taken with melodic hardcore in a way that would sicken most readers of UGZ. While I had my ultra local biases early on, I eventually realized that it was just this kind of attitude that worked against our stated objective of scene unity. "One way or the other". Issue eight's almost ruined it in the end. To this day it just looks too clean and orderly to me, but the content reflects the changes taking place around us at the time. Underground music dominated the look and feel of the zine, as did all of the many people I was meeting and clowning around with at the time. Sam Bortnick began to play a bigger part in the zine because not only was I dragging him to shows as often as I could, but his co-worker at the camera shop where he worked was Eli from THE PANTS, who later changed their name to DRUNK HORSE. Sam became kind of the official photographer for DRUNK HORSE as they made the move from backyard shows to playing hipster bars in San Francisco. This was around the time when GRIMPLE got back together, and while Serena and I went to every local show, we only managed to drag Sam to two. One was at the Cocodrie in San Fracisco's North Beach (RIP) where GRIMPLE canceled, but where Sam got some great PIG IRON and TOTIMOSHI photos for us. The other was a benefit for the legalization of marijuana at Berkeley's Ashkenaz, and that is the show where the GRIMPLE photos in issue eight were taken. I also roped Sam into attending a Food Not Bombs show with the FLESHIES, playing one of their first shows, and the prmoise of free food was much more of an influence on Sam than the FLESHIES were at the time. Also booked on that bill was JOHN THE BAKER, but when we arrived and asked why the FLESHIES were playing for an hour when there were other bands, we found out that John and one of the events organizers had clashed early on in the evening over the use of a PA. I wouldn't formerly meet John The Baker for another couple of years. Issue eight also had interviews with FLEAS AND LICE, as well as Icki of STY ZINE. |
| Issue nine came about after a lot of shit had gone down in the scene, and it was finally a scene where we (UGZ) had new friends, and bands that we cared about and followed to every show. Fortunately for us, most of these shows were within walking distance from where we lived. The problem, or part of the problem was that many of these bands couldn't get good local shows at the bigger all ages clubs, or shows at all for that matter. When they did it was because one or two guys in the scene who actually felt strongly about heavy, hardcore music: Pete Benumb and Jake Kelly. Other than that they had to rely on parties, and friends from the bar who were putting together last minute shows for touring bands. Usually it was matter of not being down with certain crowd (The late eighties, early nineties East Bay scene), and not having the right sound (Pop punk or the simple three chord punk rock that was championed at clubs like Gilman, and by it's then head coordinator Chris Sparks and head booker Clayton. Like I stated previously, if you wanted generalizations and blanket acusations then UGZ was right up your alley because I wasn't interested in debating, or being lured into long drawn out arguments, or weighing my credibility against some guy who had been in some legendary East Bay band back in the day. I didn't give a fuck about any of that. My personal opinion at the time was that the best music was no longer coming out of the East Bay, especially in terms of hardcore, and not only did UGZ reflect that in issue number nine. It also emphasized my dissapointment at finally having a bunch of local bands that we could support, and not knowing how to build on that, or even how to keep a new scene going long enough for others to be a part of it. Going back to issue one, Karen and I had wanted to book shows and parties, screen t-shirts, and put out records. As I watched LANA DAGALES, EXITWOUND, UNITED BLOOD, MURDER TAKES NO HOLIDAY, and even the reformed GRIMPLE break up, I knew that we all could do so much more in terms of getting involved and helping each other out. At the same time, issue nine is most remembered for the cover photo of Rueben Lunatic flipping Sam Bortnick the bird at an EXITWOUND/MURDER TAKES NO HOLIDAY show, and for an interview we did with Ted Falconi of FLIPPER. Jake Skate, of EXITWOUND, and I met Ted while flyering at Soundwave studios in West Oakland, and it started a little run of Jake Skate and I tracking down living legends from the Bay Area punk scene. |
