Punk Planet #18 (Chicago)

Punk Planet scored a minor coup with their Jello Biafra cover interview for issue #18. After receiving an unjustified beating at the hands of a bunch of ignorant bitches at the legendary Bay Area Gilman Street club in 1994 (for, of all things, not being "punk enough" and for being a "sell out"), Biafra laid low for a while and recuperated. While Maximum Rock 'N' Roll was boycotting the punk rock icon and his independent Alternative Tentacles Records label, for many of the same stupid reasons that Jello took a beatdown, Punk Planet was one, if not the first, punkzine to interview Biafra once he broke his silence.

What Jello had to say about punk rock and the meaning of "punk" is just as germaine today as it was over a decade ago, in this 1997 issue of Punk Planet. Sadly, many of the same social issues still exist in 2009, and although Biafra has been raging against the machine for decades, he has often been unfairly maligned by the same thuggish mudheads that he's been defending, idiots that believe that being a punk means nothing more than a pair of Doc Martens boots and a black leather jacket and a NoFX CD. If you're going to talk the talk, kids, ya got to walk the walk, and Biafra continues to fight for what is right.

Punk Planet #18 also includes band interviews with Kiss It Goodbye, Cast Iron Hike, Lucid Nation, and Corm. There is an interview with Jody Bleyle of Candy Ass Records, who also played with Hazel and Team Dresch, and another with the founders of the women's zine Bust. This issue's "heavy lifting" article is on the issue of welfare reform, and another covers the "Mayan Punk" scene, opening our eyes to an entirely different viewpoint of punk. And don't forget the usual columns, cartoons, record and zine reviews, and lotsa B&W photos.

(Click on the cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #18
• May/June 1997
• B&W w/spot color, 144-pages w/covers, newsprint
• Style: punkzine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Jello Biafra interview
Kiss It Goodbye interview
Cast Iron Hike interview
Jody Bleyle interview
Welfare Reform article
--> also reader mail, music & zine reviews, etc

Punk Planet #17 (Chicago)

Wow, what a difference a year makes in the life of a zine. Between issue #12 and Punk Planet #17, the zine finalized its eventual move to Chicago and increased its page count by over 30% to a whopping 136pp, with cool spot color on the cover. According to the editor's note, this was the first issue to receive widespread distribution through Mordam, putting it on the same footing as better-known punkzines that had been publishing longer.

The quality inside remains the same, tho', as the zine continues to grow and expand and offer up some of the best music coverage in the U.S. underground. PP #17 kicks off with the columnists that we've all come to know and love, from Leah Ryan and Darren Cahr to Bob Conrad and David Hake, among others, each seemingly provided a little more editorial space for their ramblings. This issue has a great interview with hardcore punk icon and zine publisher Dan O'Mahoney, as well as interviews with the bands Snapcase, Pain, the Rye Coalition (another fave of mine), and the Descendents.

Punk Planet had never been afraid to move beyond the superficial "who is more punk" to tackle more thought-provoking subjects, such as this issue's discussion of punk economy and the distribution of cultural goods. Heady stuff, indeed, and still timely today. The D.I.Y. Files column concerns itself with producing fanzines on the cheap (and scamming Kinko's, which the Reverend wasn't beyond doing back in the day thanks to the copy center's willing employees), and you'll also find a truckload of record and zine reviews.

With greater distribution and increased page count, the graphic designer(s) at Punk Planet went nuts with issue #17, throwing in more B&W photos and some cool pages consisting of pull-quotes from the accompanying article presented in stark large-font black text. At this point, PP was clearing leading the punkzine revolution in a positive direction.

(Click on the cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #17
• March/April 1997
• B&W w/spot color, 136-pages w/covers, newsprint
• Style: punkzine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Rye Coalition interview
Descendents interview
Snapcase interview
"Punk Economy" article
--> also reader mail, music & zine reviews, etc

Punk Planet #12 (Hoboken NJ / Chicago IL)

Still straddling the two world of Hoboken, New Jersey and Chicago, Illinois (with a reviews editor in Leeds, Alabama of all places), Punk Planet #12 continues to grow into the punkzine that we knew and loved during the 1990s.

This issue, from 1996, offers plenty of the personal columns that helped attract readers to zines like Maximum Rock 'N' Roll, but I always thought that those in Punk Planet were a little more thoughtful (although, to be honest, some PP columnists came over from MR&R if I remember correctly). Editor Dan Sinker's stuff is here, as are columns by Will Dandy, Bob Conrad (who I always enjoyed), Leah Ryan, David Hake, and Larry Livermore, among others.

Interviews in issue #12 included Squirtgun (who I always thought were underrated) and
"cuddlecore" band Cub. There's a though-provoking article on the role of punkzines in revitalizing the small press, and another on the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (which helped usher in an era of corporate media monopolies and more right-wing talking head assholes). There is some fiction, an overview of the Sundance Film Festival that asks the question "is film punk?" (sure 'tis, just go ask Michael Dean), and another article on the media's role in covering up UFO information. Naturally, there's a crapload of record and zine reviews and lots of cool ads.

(Click on the cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #12
• March/April 1996
• B&W, 104-pages w/covers, newsprint
• Style: punkzine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Squirtgun interview
Cub interview
Telecommunications Act article
The Media & UFOs article
--> also reader mail, music & zine reviews, etc

Punk Planet #7 (Hoboken NJ / Chicago)

I found a few more issues of the venerable Punk Planet in an untapped box, so I thought we'd take a trip back in time and check 'em out! Issue #7, from 1995, shows the zine in transition, moving its base of operations from Hoboken, New Jersey to the wilder, larger environs of Chicago. Although the final move would put Punk Planet square in the middle of the country, I always thought of it as an East Coast punkzine as opposed to the West Coast punk standard-bearers Maximum Rock 'n' Roll and Flipside. Also, because PP editor Dan Sinker seemed to be more interested in sharing good information and great music, there was less in-fighting and game-playing in Punk Planet compared to most punkzines (although I wouldn't be surprised to hear of behind-the-scenes shenanigans...).

Issue #7 shows another jump in page count, some 20% more than issue #5 that I wrote about earlier, although at this point it's still printed on cheap, crappy newsprint. Still, 96-pages of punk rock fun is nothing to sneeze at, and this issue features the usual columns from Sinker, Kim Bae, Julia Cole, and Larry Livermore, among others, as well as a column from my old pal and former Jersey Beat editor Jim Testa. The scene report this time around is from Baltimore, and interviews include Man Or Astro Man and Kerosene 454.

There's an interesting interview with graphic artist Rudy Vanderlans, publisher of San Francisco's Emigre magazine that discusses graphic design, and well-written pieces on the National Endowment for the Arts (and why we need it) and TV piracy. The zine's always-informative "The D.I.Y. Files" section is on health care, a timeless topic, and of course there are a slew of record and zine reviews and some fiction writing. The ads for punk 45s and LPs on long-forgotten labels are a hell of a lot of fun to thumb through, bringing back a lot of memories...wish I still had some of that vinyl, it would be worth a fortune on eBay....

(Click on the cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #7
• May/June 1995
• B&W, 96-pages w/covers, newsprint
• Style: punkzine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Man Or Astro Man interview
Kerosene 454 interview
Rudy Vanderlans interview
National Endowment for the Arts article
Television Piracy article
--> also reader mail, music & zine reviews, etc

Punk Planet #15 (Chicago)

Sadly, I recently heard the news that Punk Planet is ceasing publication with its latest issue, its 80th over the last 13 years. The usual suspects are to blame – a dwindling number of subscribers, fewer advertisers and, perhaps the deepest cut of all, distributors that rip them off. The zine's web site mentions a problem over at McSweeney's, where that publication lost $130k with the bankruptcy of one of its larger distributors. I seem to remember Punk Planet having a similar problem a few years ago.

Here's why this is such a problem: distributors are a necessary evil in publishing; the good ones will get your magazine or book out on local shelves across the country and pay you for those you sold. However, bad distributors will take your product, duckwalk it half-ass it onto a few shelves, and "lose" your payment. I'm convinced that many magazine distributors, in particular, are mob-styled operations much like a lot of record companies once were. They're formed as limited liability corporations, they fleece as many of the publications they distribute as they can for as much money as they can, and then they file for bankruptcy and/or simply go out of business, leaving indie publishers like Punk Planet or McSweeney's holding the bag. Many publisher just can't recover from the loss....

Looking back at healthier, happier days, Punk Planet #15 features a wealth of content over its 120-pages. PP took a strong political stance early on, this issue featuring extensive and interesting (punk-cum-anarchist) coverage of the Democratic and Republication conventions from 1996. There are also interviews with punk bands Rhythm Collision, Cheescake and Chamberlain and with Action Girl comic creater Sarah Dyer. You'll find the usual columns and more record and zine reviews than you can digest in a single sitting.

(Click on the cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #15
• October/November 1996
• B&W, 120-pages (including covers) on newsprint
• Style: punkzine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Sarah Dyer/Action Girl comics interview
Rhythm Collision interview
Cheesecake interview
Chamberlain interview
Democrat & Republication convention coverage
--> also reader mail, columns, music & zine reviews

Punk Planet #9 (Chicago)

It's unusual, for any publication, but Punk Planet found its voice very quickly, issue #9 showing the same independent spirit and developing the basic editorial direction that the zine would pretty much follow for the next dozen years. Editor Dan Sinker had moved from Hoboken, New Jersey to Chicago, where the zine would be published for many years. This issue is a fat one, growing better than 20% in page count from #5 in our archive.

There are interviews with the Mr. T Experience, the Lunachicks, Reverend Norb and Earth Crisis, as well as MR&R style columns from folks like Sinker, Larry Livermore, Julie Cole and David Hake. There are a slew of record and zine reviews, some fiction and the issue's "DIY" column is offers up a dated view of the Internet and web. This issue also includes a 7" flexi disk bound in the zine with tunes from the Mr. T Experience, Squirtgun, the Queers and the Hi-Fives. For you youngsters out there, a flexi disk (or "sound sheet") was a paper-thin square of vinyl that was grooved like a 45RPM single that zines during the '80s and '90s used to hype their favorite bands. Much likes zines themselves, the flexi disk is a media relic of a quaint time long passed.

(Click on the cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #9
• September/October 1995
• B&W, 112-pages (including covers) on newsprint
• Style: punkzine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Mr. T Experience interview
Lunachicks interview
Rev. Norb interview
Earth Crisis interview
--> also reader mail, columns, music & zine reviews

Punk Planet #5 (Hoboken NJ)

From my perspective down in rural Tennessee, Dan Sinker's Punk Planet zine was the East Coast response to left coast punkzines like Flipside and Maximum Rock 'N' Roll. Originally published out of Hoboken, New Jersey Punk Planet featured cleaner, more readable lay-out than most punk-oriented zines, and this early issue was printed in B&W on newsprint.

Looking over this 12-year-old issue and comparing it with more recent ones, Punk Planet hasn't really changed much in spirit or content. Regular columnists back in '95 included Sinker, Will Dandy, Julia Cole, Slim Moon, Darren Cahr, Dave Hake, Leah Ryan, Jim Connell, Kim Bae, Larry Livermore and Jersey Beat zine's Jim Testa. This issue's "scene report" was from Edmonton, Alberta Canada; interviews include Bikini Kill, the Queers and Huggy Bear. There are a handful of fictional stories, John Crawford's "Revolutionary Fetus" cartoon and record and zine reviews.

Punk Planet is still kicking out issues today and making a difference in the punk community.

(Click on thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #5
• January/February 1995
• B&W, 80-pages (including covers)
• Style: music zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Bikini Kill
The Queers
Huggy Bear
MC5: The End Of An Era
--> also album reviews, reader mail, columns, record and zine reviews