So it was a cold, rainy Saturday. My allergies were driving
me insane with a constant sneezing and runny nose. Needless to say I felt two
steps behind in my energy level. What also didn’t help was the fact that I had
been out late the previous night. So with those complaints, I was out driving
to the record store, Vinal Edge to be exact.
Finally arriving my destination, I did my normal routine of
scanning the front area looking for show flyers or whatever promo items. The
first thing that caught my eye was a Xeroxed, black and white zine. This sort
of the thing always interests me. The cover featured two guys holding bottles of
alcohol with their eyes marked over. I figured it was a new music zine with
reviews. So of course I grabbed one.
Fast forward 5 days later. I finally had an opportunity to
sit down and give it a proper read. To my surprise, it was not a music zine. It
was a fictional narrative of some strange, unrelated (at least that’s what I
got out of it) short stories.
The editorial, written by J.C. Spann, rambles on about
procrastination, late night drinking and solitude. Basically it is self
deprecating giving the reader negative reasons of why to not read his
publication. Well I know that type of psychology. He really is using those
words to entice the reader. People in general are more attracted to negativity.
So, for me, the intro worked in grabbing my attention.
The stories seem to jump around in different situations. The
beginning tells about someone in a car going to Thanksgiving dinner with George
Bush senior and junior. However they make a stop in a trailer park. To the
narrator’s surprise, inside a trailer there was a rape shower with a leather
collar and chains hanging from the ceiling. The narrator fights his way out of
the trailer to evade a presidential rape.
The other stories tell about long, drunken drives at night, working
a boring clerical job at Huntsville
prison and going to a High On Fire concert. None of the stories are abundant in
action, but they do paint a realistic picture of some strange scenarios. So I
say the stories work in regard to keeping my attention. My verdict is that I do
look forward to reading the 2nd issue.
As for the author, I know very little about him other than a
picture collage in the zine. That section features images of Gorgoroth records
surrounded by beer cans, a guy wearing a Darkthrone t-shirt and a hooded person
pointing a rifle. So I can conclude they like good music. I am all about
supporting independent thinking artists. So go check out their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ROUGHDALE/624979220886879?fref=pb&hc_location=profile_browser
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