ALTERNATIVE STRATGIES - call for submissions, Summer Time!
Hello, paper punks.
Alternative Strategies #2 is looking for submissions, letters, adverts and any/all ideas that illustrate the world of London Loud Noises.
With the success of issue one (there are ten copies left in my possession and you can find a copy in London, Leeds, Glasgow, Bristol, Nantes and San Diego - with some of those stockists running out fast!) we've had some great ideas and plans are afoot to get them in your hands, with a prospective 'on the table' deadline of Static Shock Festival and a printing deadline of mid-August. 32+ pages, a couple of surprises and a new colour scheme. Here's how you can get involved:
WE ARE LOOKING FOR SUBMISSIONS of band interviews, photography, columns and anything else that is fit to print and is connected, however tangentially, to the punk, hardcore and DIY scenes of London and beyond. Minimum of 250 words or half an A4 page, can be original or syndicated (or bootlegged in a convincing style) and could fit in nicely with what has been published in issue one and the back pages of Another Subculture's listings zines. All expenses will be covered (photo development, art materials, that sort of thing - I will not be paying for your train tickets to Glasgow, at least not yet.)
WE WOULD ALSO LOVE YOUR FEEDBACK and a letters page will be featured in the zine if there are letters coming our way. Gossip, Points of View-style feedback on previous work, rude poems, guitar tabs, you name it. Remember how Maximum Rocknoll's correspondence was fruitful, intruiging and occasionally descended into chaos? We'd like two of those, please.
WE ARE TAKING ADVERTISEMENTS FROM ISSUE TWO. Simple reason: to offset the costs of printing and give Ben's credit card a breather, and build towards a situation where profit appears and gets distributed to everyone involved in the creation of the zine. (Issue one's revenue went straight back into paying off the costs - we're just about breaking even, somehow?) If you run a record label, another zine or distro, or have a festival or gig coming up in the longer term that you want several hundred paper punks to catch up on, then this is for you. 1/4 of an A4 page for £25 per issue, going up to £100 for a full A4 page.
You have until Friday 15th July to pitch, and then until Friday 12th August to complete and submit if your idea is approved.
To send submissions: email hello@anothersubculture.co.uk with 'ISSUE TWO' somewhere in the subject. To send your letters, either email us or send through the post: Another Subculture, Flat 10, 16-18 Devonshire Road, London SE23 3TJ. (We could also do a zine swap if you post yours?) To enquire about an advert: email us with 'ADVERT' somewhere in the subject.
What else has happened... oh yes! An extremely large thank you to everyone who came down to the Alternative Strategies afternoon at the Avalon Cafe last weekend. Considering that it felt like every fucker was at one of three festivals (K-Town, Outbreak, Glastonbury; one of those surely had pints under a tenner?) we ended up with a relaxing, sun kissed and noize filled evening. Vanity Crystal provided deep listening, Fluid Tower sang mechanical pop bangers, Skitter's bass could be heard scraping through the front room's PA, Middleman are my favourite new band and Sniffany and the Nits came with the cartoon riffs - and their cameras. There will be another afternoon, cleaving together the city's multitude of repetitive music and basking under the recycling centre with the cheapest pints in town - keep in touch and keep the end of August free.
And of course, you can enjoy the whole set online thanks to Creg Clarrrk and his wizardry, achieved through determination and borrowed kit. Turns out the kind of kit that gamers use to yell at polygons can be used to capture sets as well - we will be writing up a how-to guide for you to copy in the very near future.
Thank you once again too for making the first zine a success and for your great feedback (the articles and yes, the fonts). Someone said that "London needed us," which is obviously going a bit far but we're tickled all the same? All of it will be worth it if you lot end up making zines of your own - if you ever need any help or advice, throw us a DM and we'll see what we can do. The answer to 'can I make this' should always be a yes.
Right, I'm going to book a week off for early September (one day to sleep, four days for the festival, two days to sleep), get stoked to see Rachel Aggs and Low Life and resume bidding on forty year old sheets of plastic letters. Take care - - B P / A S