Barely Human: THIS IS OUR BRAIN ON OUR IDOLS Zine + CS

Although the digital preamble to the physical zine seems a proven driver of subscriptions, it feels a little arbitrary or cynical today so in auto-protest, I'm gonna fart this out on my phone while waiting for a train (and now, on my lunch break; and now waiting for a mate at the pub.)

'Volume 2’ of the barely human project has unintentionally developed into a look at the diy underground canon. It started informally with T-SHIRT PUNK's attempt to look into how DEAD MOON and WIPERS became an international clothing presence, but instead became a typewritten love-in to the defiantly independent musician. Later, GIVE PHILISTINISM A CHANCE turned to the (depends-who-you-ask) canonical quadrant of FLIPPER, NO TREND, URINALS and CRUCIFUCKS, and searched for a new identifier that more closely represents the instinct that underlies the antagonistic anti-X sensibility of the world of punk & hardcore that we all (think we) know and (think we) love: a new/neo-philistinism that can hold up the diy ethic as oppositional to the co-opted & financialised 'arts.’

Now it seems this next zine & tape is losing shape too… inspired by a photograph of DEAD KENNEDYS' Jello Biafra gazing admiringly at Mark E. Smith of THE FALL, and planned to be a spiel on the permanent nixing of idol worship….I hate to admit that it is now diving into a feeling that…. ~maybe Jello & M.E.S. were right~

In both these bands, forming nearly concurrently in late-70s Manchester & San Francisco, are mirrors and echoes of the post-punk movement: via whatever THE FALL are (“The Fall is a genre of music!” - Ben Wallers) and the punk/'hardcore' (proto-hardcore???) of DEAD KENNEDYS. Both were vital contributors to making the case for the DIY imperative: making, releasing, distributing music without (or with very little) external intervention. Hatred of the major record label, distaste of the pop star, and in their own disparate ways, evidence of why the whole music racket is better when it pushes up from below.

Yet both bands are now mired by mixed legacies. THE FALL's mythology hinges on Mark E. Smith as a boozed up, cruel, tyrant of a figurehead, with the dozens of band members kicked out of the band over the years so prominent a part of the band's history that they have a book dedicated to them. The retrospective view is more or less, 'sure The Fall are great but Mark E Smith was a fuckhead!’ On the other hand, DEAD KENNEDYS in the contemporary punk imaginary seem to be treated as a silly side note to hardcore history: agreed to be influential on the movement, but reticently so, because Jello did not shut up for 40+ years and ended up a parody of himself. (Whether that's his fault entirely or a side effect of punk comedy's ‘90s co-option is a longer story.)

The zine and accompanying tape (featuring music and interviews) will go some way to exploring that so I won't spoil it... other than to say that on looking back on their roles in 'the great international underground music project,’ something/someone like them is sorely missing. Bestow upon us a punisher of the highest order!

Instead of Jello Biafra and the San Francisco punk community building a campaign for Biafra to run for SF mayor (where he pulled 4% of the vote and was a genuine (if satirical) televised mouthpiece of the community)… we have bands posing giddily in photos with the new Australian Prime Minister. Instead of Mark E. Smith using every interview opportunity to highlight the bullshit everyone swallows in order to enjoy the Top 40, we have ‘poptimism’ and 'dont yuck my yum' as hegemonic artistic sensibilities. Where is the equivalent of THE FALL's 'Prole Art Threat,’ or DEAD KENNEDYS 'Lynch the Landlord' in THESE times of all times? Why isn't a band deathly afraid of an MES figure throwing a shoe at them for signing a sponsorship deal with [COMPANY REDACTED]?? Not saying that doesn't exist in some form in some place, but it feels to me like the broader project of the DIY underground is missing some…party discipline? Now watch this drive. - Max Easton