Look, a Zine.

Hello. This is the blog for a new zine, Lost Tapes from the Federal Sessions.

What is it?

The goal of the zine is to be a useful, and hopefully enjoyable, resource and documentation for contemporary DIY music. It will be released every few months, and will feature a CD-r containing tracks from bands doing the rounds at the moment - predominantly from the UK, with a couple of international bands per issue. Each band donates a track or two for the CD-r, which together, provides a mix-CD glimpse of bands currently playing shows in the DIY scene who I rate, and who hopefully you'll enjoy too. In the future, if I can deal with the data constraints, there may well be DVD-r issues featuring live sets on video, too.

The effect of myspace, and music sharing in general, is well documented. It's always possible to do a quick net search and find new stuff from bands you dig, or have heard about. The goal of this zine is to offer something a little more tangible and personal. The CD-r will be packaged within a 'traditional' cut 'n' paste paper zine. Inside will be discussions with all of the bands involved. Asides from the essentials of label and band contact, it's hoped that these discussions will provide an insight into the individuals involved, their motivations, and a look into their experiences within DIY and their local 'scene' (or lack of, perhaps). Maybe you're into that kind of thing?

DIY music is rather a wide spectrum...

It is, and I'd like to make clear to anyone wanting to contribute, that genre is not necessarily an issue here. My goal, outside of the DIY remit, is to make the musical focus of the zine as vague as possible. However, I should note that, due to my musical comfort zone, the majority of the early contributors are involved in the punk/hardcore/emo side of things.

Can I/my band be involved?

Probably! This is currently a one-man endeavour, but anyone wanting to help is very welcome. Can your distro distribute this? Do you want to interview a band you're into/am friends with? Want to share stories about your local scene? Your gig collective? Please feel free to chuck me an e-mail.

Same goes for any bands wanting to be involved - just send me an e-mail. All it requires is a track or two and the assertion that you have half an hour to answer a couple of (hopefully not too inane) questions about yourselves and your music.

ISSUE ONE!

Well shit, this is in progress. For those of you interested, the current CD-r and zine will feature (to be 100% confirmed, but pretty certain) discussion and music from the following bands:

UK:
The Sceptres
Bird Calls
Jesus of Spazzareth
Woolf
Dead in the Woods
Facel Vega
Human Hands
Guilty Parents
Saturdays Kids
Battle of Wolf 359

International:

Street Eaters (California, USA)

Small Bones (Louisiana, USA)

Damages (Vancouver, Canada)

CONTACT

I'm James.

cyslabe@gmail.com

Thank you.x