Blogzine 8

PRE-ORDER NOW! Published November 16th 2021, this is our 8th printed zine about everything that made us punkgirls … and still does. Combining exclusive interviews, top notch analysis, low forms of wit and colourful optimism, Blogzine 8 spans the decades of women in music. We talk with Cynthia Sley and Pat Place of Bush Tetras –  from New York City about getting the band together, surviving a UK tour in our freezing 1980s winters and the new box set which should confirm Bush Tetras’ importance in the post-punk hall of rhythmic hollering. If, like us, you were inspired by punk to teach yourself guitar, you probably had a look at the BBC youth series Rockschool, where – in an early attempt at diversity –  our interviewee Deirdre Cartwright was the guitar tutor and an unlikely style icon in her boiler suit and spiky hair. Now, Deirdre’s a well-known jazz guitarist still gigging and touring with different bands; she was a delight to talk to. The Gymslips‘ drummer Karen Yarnell joined the band when the aim was to make money from working men’s club gigs, but Karen told us that didn’t last long as punk soon became a way of life, with thrashy songs about Marje Proops, streaker Erika Roe and authentic working class life in the early 80s. We go bang up to date when we chat with all-female trio Peaness just before their September 2021 tour supporting Maximo Park. Jess, Rach and Balla tell us about the professionalism that comes with having done a degree in music performance and why their fast poppy guitar songs are nothing like the punk they associate with their dads. In the UK, the ‘punk special’ festival at London’s 100 Club in September 1976 is seen as one of the key elements in the explosion of punk. A photo by Caroline Coon showing two young women by the 100 Club sign is a well-known icon of original punkrock; the two in it are Siouxsie Sioux and Michelle Brigandage. In 2021 for Blogzine 8, we go back to the 100 Club to meet Michelle and hear about that weekend punk festival, the inspiration which led to forming her own band Brigandge and creating punk fashions and designs ever since.

Alongside the interviews, Blogzine 8 has fashion info about berets, a review of government scare campaigns, we talk about tits, there’s comic strips about acting your age and not your shoe size and there’s gorgeous colourful frocks. All of this is lovingly packed into 40 square pages.

Punkgirldiaries usually send out free posters, postcards, badges etc while stocks last, so order early to get all the freebies! If you pre-order, your zine will be sent out around 12th November 2021.