Thursday Blog 1.7.16

Here is my first blog of the new year, and even though I’m looking forward to 2016, this is going to be a look back at Urban Guerrilla Zine in 2015.  I attempted to post a new blog every Monday towards the end of last year, which pretty quickly turned into every other Monday, but even so I’ve decided to commit to posting a couple a blogs a week in 2016.  Now, let’s take it back to time not so long ago.

In 2015, I managed to put out two zines, which isn’t that impressive.  On the other hand, when you’ve been putting out a zero zines per year for the last seven or eight years, two’s pretty good.  Urban Guerrilla Zine has never really gone away or stopped being active.  When there wasn’t a new issue of Urban Guerrilla Zine there were over a hundred UGZ Presents shows that I booked and promoted, like the UGZ Speed Trials for example, and when I stopped booking shows there was the internet.  When the internet started to feel a bit too isolating and detached, I decided to make zines again.  For most folks Urban Guerrilla Zine existed from 1997-2006, and that was pretty much it until 2015.

Urban Guerrilla Zine #17 was made to accompany a UGZ themed art show that took place in early 2015 at 1-2-3-4 Go! Records in Oakland, at the urging of Pat Libby for which I am grateful.  Urban Guerrilla Zine #17.5 was a half issue entitled “Summer Of No Love”, which was supposed to be out by late summer, but didn’t actually see the light of day until the fall due to issues with the printer.  In fact both zines had printer issues, and in both cases I found myself at Inkworks Press (a worker owned collective) in Berkeley, having to photocopy what were intended to be offset printed zines.  Inkworks doesn’t have the best copy machines, but they are well maintained, so the zines looked pretty good.  The biggest drop off from offset to photocopy would be the photo quality.  In the case of #17 I had to have it done in time for the art show, which we’d also advertised as a zine release party.  As far as the “Summer Of No Love” half issue went, I wanted that out as quickly as possible because I know me, and if I’d waited any longer then it would’ve ended up with all of the other unfinished projects cluttering my work area.

Urban Guerrilla Zine #17.5 is a very personal issue, but not a “personal zine”.  Maybe I should’ve made that distinction a bit more clear when describing it in previous posts.  I wasn’t that concerned with how much the graphics or stories resonated with the reader as much as I wanted to recreate this one summer in Emeryville, standing at a bus stop next to a casino that was in the process of being torn down, surrounded by elderly Asian gambling addicts and crack addicted prostitutes from the stroll a few blocks away on San Pablo Ave.  The vibe I felt while waiting to transfer to the bus I rode to my summer job at a bookstore, where I spent all day indoors when all I wanted was to hang out on Telegraph Ave with my friends.  I didn’t actually write any of that in the zine, but it’s there.

Looking ahead, I plan on doing more zines in 2016, one or two of those will be newer issues of UGZ for what has admittedly become a somewhat limited audience.  On the other hand, I don’t miss printing a thousand zines at a time, and distributing them, then trying to collect the money I’m owed from all the various distributors around the country.  I’m making zines at this point because I enjoy the process, and so I’ll see where that approach takes things from here on out.

If you didn’t get a copy of Urban Guerrilla Zine #17, the only remaining copies I know of are at Needles and Pens, 1173 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA

If you want a copy of Urban Guerrilla Zine #17.5 aka “Summer Of No Love”, then you can still purchase a copy at:

1-2-3-4 Go! Records, 420 40th Street #5, Oakland, CA

Issues Magazine + More, 20 Glen Ave, Oakland, CA

Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA

Bound Together Books, 1369 Haight St, San Francisco, CA

IRON LUNG

Iron Lung from the first UGZ Speed Trials at Burnt Ramen in Richmond, 2003.

The following year we held them at the Slaughterhaus in Oakland, and then a couple of years later we held a few at Gilman, but even then I had to come out the pocket at first for posters, decorations, and trophies.  Thankfully Will Rutherford (who also painted the walls behind the Gilman stage for us) stepped in as treasurer at some point and I was able to get reimbursed for some of that stuff.  The trophies were from a spot in Fremont, and I used to drive out there from Berkeley to pick them up, usually a day or two before the shows.  Gilman was never that supportive of the UGZ Speed Trials, but there were always enough of us to win the vote.

IRON LUNG

Iron Lung - full set from the 2005 UGZ Speed Trials at 924 Gilman.  

Filmed by Paul Godstomper

UGZ Speed Trials

Here’s a Larry Wolfley photo taken at Burnt Ramen, and in the background you can see the top of a UGZ Speed Trials poster from 2002, the first year we did one.

NOISEAR

Noisear - full set from the 2007 UGZ Speed Trials at 924 Gilman

P.L.F.

P.L.F.'s  crushing set from the 2010 UGZ Speed Trials.  2010 was the last time we held a Speed Trials show at Gilman, which had become home to the event after a couple of short stints at Burnt Ramen and the Slaughterhaus in Oakland.  The economics of pulling off an event like the UGZ Speed Trials finally caught up to us, so we've put it on hiatus until the particulars can be sorted out.  The cool thing about the Speed Trials shows were how completely independent and D.I.Y. they were, with zero sponsorship or even promotional support from the bands' record labels, just two or three people on their phones, computers, and in the club the night before painting, hanging banners, cooking food, and making it happen.  The turnouts were always around 300 paid, which isn't that big for a UGZ Presents show, but it was the perfect size for a UGZ Speed Trials show.  Thanks to Dan and Kill That Cat for filming this.

CALIFORNIA LOVE

California Love at the Oakland Metro in 2005. We really hustled to find a venue for this last minute show (two weeks notice or something like that), which we finally did at the original Oakland Metro location on Broadway, next to the porn shop. The bill also featured Iron Lung, Unpersons, and Laudanum. Photo by Lars

GODSTOMPER

How about some GODSTOMPER to get you back on track post what has to be one of the most callous, bullshit holidays ever (not here because Berkeley changed it to Indigenous Peoples Day, but the rest the country). This video is from a Limpwrist, Lebenden Toten, Bruise Violet show in 2008, booked by Ariel Awesome and Ale "Nunca Mas". Back in 2008, on most Tuesday booking nights (there used to be booking nights every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night between 7-10pm at Gilman...long story), Carlos Antagony, Ale, Cassondra, Pete Benumb, and myself would bring all the shit we'd been working on for the past week to the table, then try to figure out which shows Godstomper would fit on...joking, kind of...but for real, we did that a lot.

50/50

50/50 clocking in at just under ten minutes at the 2008 UGZ Speed Trials.  Just a post to help you get over the hump this Wednesday.  Grind!

IN DISGUST

San Jose's IN DISGUST, killing it at the UGZ Speed Trials at Gilman in 2008.  We booked In Disgust numerous times between 2006 and 2010, and before that both Uzi Suicide and Hostile Takeover.  Uzi Suicide was Jose's previous band, who played a bunch of shows we booked at various east bay venues between 2004 and 2006, including the infamous Slaughterhaus in Oakland, site of the 2004 UGZ Speed Trials.  Hostile Takeover was Rich's former band, and they played the 2005 UGZ Speed Trials, which was our first at Gilman.

UGZ Speed Trials were always D.I.Y., always independent (no record labels, no sponsors), and always all ages.  For the record, no one cared less about who the trophies went to than we did, and we're the ones who paid to have them made.

Dystrophy

A couple of photos from Libertatia 2002, which took place at Warm Water Cove in San Francisco, CA.

If the turnout looks small, that's because it was. 2002 was a busy year for the Ear2TheGround Punx, which was basically UGZ Presents & friends holding down the fort at places like Burnt Ramen, and also doing our best to support the Pyrate Punx crew by including them on bigger events like the Rampaging Insane Depravity Fests. 2002 was not such a busy year for the Pyrate Punx, and by the end of the year the only active members of the crew were (to the best of my memory) Russ, Marcus, Jeremiah, and eventually myself when I was voted in as head booker (Marcus' old position). That caused a riff in the Pyrate Punx, and long story short, Marcus and I kind of broke off and did our own thing for a couple of years after that. Pyrate Punx remained a relatively small operation until the fateful day that I convinced Marcus Da Anarchist to sign up for a Myspace account, and the rest is history. Now the Pyrate Punx thing is international, or so I've been told by newer members of 'da crew'.

Our staff photographer Sam Bortnick snapped these photos of DYSTROPHY, along with some others that I'll post at a later time. DYSTROPHY were one of the best young Bay Area hardcore bands at the time, and they played a bunch of shows for us, including the Rampaging Insane Depravity Fest and the first ever UGZ Speed Trials.

UGZ Speed Trials 2005

All photos by Lars Knudsen

From top to bottom: Iron Lung, Brutal Death, and Reagan SS.

UGZ Speed Trials

Throwback Thursday: Oversized poster for the 2007 UGZ Speed Trials hanging next to the stage at 924 Gilman.

IRON LUNG

Filmed at the first UGZ Speed Trials, which took place at Burnt Ramen in Richmond, California back in 2002.

This trailer has a very short clip from the 2007 UGZ Speed Trials in it. More specifically it has a don't blink or you might miss it cameo of Moses Saarni from CALIFORNIA LOVE unloading a barrage of blast beats. The graffiti pieces, which are partially visible behind him, were done by Will Rutherford the night before the big show at 924 Gilman.