I'll come at you fast, like the northern bullet – Howard TJ Moon.
Sawadika!! This is the first issue of The Northern Bullet it is a short-ish fanzine about music, art, film and anything else I'm interested in at the time! :) I hope you enjoy it, and if you don't, let me know what you think it's missing at my page: http://the-nothern-bullet-zine.tumblr.com/ or http://wemakezines.ning.com/profile/TheNorthernBull et Thanks....
Return Of The Kings! The (hopefully) triumphant return of Hewlett and Martin.
Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin (Tank Girl and other wonderful creations) have recently revealed that they will be collaborating again after many years of waiting from patient fans. This will be glorious. They made a Facebook page recently called ‘Hewlett and Martin’ in which the description read thusley: Everything you need to know about the dynamic duo of Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin. Be the first to find out about new projects, new merchandise, and exclusive and special offers. Fans all over the world peed their pants with excitement at the news that the experts that are Hewlett and Martin would be joining forces again to once more reign over the world of comics.
The terrible two-some met in the 80’s, started making comics and soon came up with the tank driving, kangaroo kissing, fire arm wielding, heroine we know and love today.
As you can probably tell I’m pretty dang excited about the joyous reunion whether or not they deicide to do more Tank Girl or just some other genius creation. So, hopefully they’ve still got it........
Dee Plume Documentary!!
I read earlier this year that the film maker Joseph Lynn will be teaming up with the electro neon super star robot that is Psycho Delia (Dee Plume) to make a documentary about her life and work. The film will focus on her solo career rather than her time in Robots in Disguise. In an interview about the film Lynne said “We both decided it cannot be a typical fly-on-the-wall or talking head documentary. Dee’s music doesn’t follow conventional patterns, it is sporadic and impulsive and so I want the film to have a similar feeling. We don’t want people to know where they are with it; it will be half scripted like sketches and half live footage of her performing and talking about her passion. It is going to capture Dee’s personality perfectly” The short film is due to be released later on in the year and will be shown at various film festivals, but there is a teaser trailer online right now which I recommend you watch You can find it on the Velvet Onion website and YouTube. I’m quite excited to see how this film turns out, though no matter what I’m sure there will be a lot of colour and craziness!! Dee's solo EP is also coming out this year too! Yipeee!!
Dan Andriano, Brendan Kelly and Sam Russo.
Stereo – Glasgow - 02/07/12
So on the 02/07/12 I walked in to Stereo to go and see Dan Andriano, there were already a few people hanging about outside in Alkaline Trio shirts but that was only just the beginning ď Š I had a lovely meal in the restaurant part of Stereo as more Alkaline Trio and Lawrence Arms fans flooded in, taking over the place. Then, I looked over at the stairs and saw Dan and Brendan walking up past me! So I immediately went and got a photo with Dan!
When it was finally gig time I queued in a long line of people with heart and skull tattoos and Lawrence Arms t-shirts. When the queue started moving we all marched down into the basement of the place, there was a merch table in the corner and a few people milling about with drinks. Then on came Sam Russo, the first act of the night......
Sam Russo...
Sam was the least known of the 3 acts so unfortunately there weren’t that many people around to watch him. He sheepishly walked up on stage and told us last time he played in Glasgow only 2 people stayed to watch his show, and one of them was the waitress who worked in the bar he was playing at. He opened with a new song, he was really passionate about that he was doing and totally in the zone the whole time. By the end he had won the whole crowd over (Admittedly there were few of us, but that doesn’t really matter! )
Next it was Brendon’s turn to take to the stage…
Brendan Kelly...
Brendan Kelly stepped on the stage with confidence and played a set of tongue in cheek acoustic punk songs. He was really funny and likeable (Even though one of his songs was about killing children – a song which he wrote to prove he hadn’t gone soft cause he was a Dad...) He had a bit more of a crowd then Sam, and there were people who were obviously there to see him who sang every word, that was a really cool atmosphere because the room was so small, he finished playing his set and handed the stage graciously over to Dan.
Dan Andriano
Dan was the person I came to see, and he did not disappoint. I’ve seen him quite a few times playing with Alkaline Trio, but this was even better. He played a mix of acoustic Alkaline Trio songs and songs from his own solo album. I’m pretty sure everyone in the room was singing in unison along with him for all the Alkaline Trio songs, which was brilliant, and a lot of us who knew his other stuff sang our lungs out to those songs as well, near the end he played ‘From This Oil Can’ and the audience sang the backing vocals un - planned and you could see a flash of a smile appear on his face. He doesn’t have a very out there and confident stage presence like Brendan did, but he didn’t need one, everyone was just standing there in awe listening to him. His voice is very unique and I can’t wait till he plays in Scotland again!!
http://www.samrussomusic.com/ https://www.facebook.com/bkandthewanderingbirds http://www.danandriano.com/
ÂŁ10 very well spent.
Roller Derby!
Roller Derby – An all girl full frontal contact sport on wheels!! Roller Derby is being re-born all around you!! Grab some skates and get involved! You don’t even need to know how to use them – most Roller Derby leagues will teach you all you need to know about skating.
Teams near you:
Join or go to a bout.
IRN Bruisers (Glasgow Roller Girls) (ARRG)Auld Reekie Roller Girls (Edinburgh) Nasty Nessie Roller Girls (Inverness) Wild Ness Roller Girls ( Inverness) Granite City Roller Girls (Aberdeen) Harbour Grudges (London Roller Girls) Steam Rollers (London Roller Girls) Suffra Jets (London Roller Girls) Ultraviolent Femmes (London Roller Girls) Belfast Roller Girls (Ireland) Limerick Roller Girls (Ireland) Dublin Roller Girls (Ireland) Cora City Firebirds (Ireland) (CROC) Cardiff Roller Collective (Wales)
Roller Derby in the 50’s
Roller Derby started out in the 30’s, but didn’t really get much notice till 1940 when more than 5 million people started watching it on TV!! It was more of a spectator sport and girls would skate around and show off skills and techniques. As the decades went by it started to become more theatrical and less about being a well trained athlete, anyone can join and paint themselves up like a warrior as long as they’ve got a pair of skates and allot of determination! It pretty much died out around the 70’s. But Roller Derby is being re-born right now!! (And it needs YOU!)
The Rules! Two teams of roller derby players skate around an oval track. The track can be flat or banked (raised up around the outer edges). There are 5 players on each team: • •
•
1 jammer, who races around the track faster than the rest of the team 1 pivot, who usually stays in front of the blockers and make them go faster or slower 3 blockers, who try to keep the other team's jammer from passing
Jammers get a 2-minute time period, called a jam, when they can score points. Before a jam starts the teams line up side-by-side: pivots first, then blockers behind them, then jammers farther back. The jam starts when a whistle blows. Then, everyone except the jammers start to skate around the track. They try to stay together in a "pack". Then another whistle blows, and the jammers try to catch up to pack. They have to get through the pack and go all the way around and catch up again before they can start scoring points. The first jammer to get through the pack without leaving the track gets to be the "lead jammer". The lead jammer can put her hands on her hips when she wants to stop the jam early. Stopping the jam early keeps the other team from having time to score points. Blockers and pivots try to help their own team's jammer get through the pack, and they try to slow down the other team's jammer. When the jammers are near the pack, everyone is allowed to bump into each other. If someone is trying to push someone from the other team out of the way, then they have to be careful how they do it. They can only push from the side, and they have to use their shoulders, the top part of their arms, their hips, or the top part of their legs—so tripping, shoving, punching, or pushing the other team's players from behind is not allowed. Even with these rules and safety equipment, roller derby players can get knocked down and get badly hurt, so usually only adults play "full contact" roller derby. There are junior clubs for younger players. They play without trying to knock anyone down.
The Roller Derby leagues we have now are armature DIY leagues, the re-birth is all still quite new – but everyone is very passionate and enthusiastic! A lot of the leagues have a punk/ feminist vibe to them, but usually consist of a verity of people including: stay at home mums, doctors, nurses, lawyers and shop assistants.
Get yourself some knee pads and join in! The Roller Revolution needs you!
Sue Denim – Album Review
Sue Denim (Of Electro-Punk duo Robots In Disguise) Put out her very first solo album last year. The melodic album of mellow nostalgic pop was entitled ‘And The Unicorn’
And The Unicorn was a beautiful début album, released on her own label Superhealthy beginning with the incredibly catchy single ‘Bicycle’. A song written simply for the love of Bicycles! The album takes us on a slightly melancholy journey and gives us songs that some how all have the same feel, but are totally unique. It’s completely different and a lot more personal than anything she has done with Robots in Disguise, but in a good way.(Even though I love the Robots) The album is very refreshing and never gets boring. I eagerly await a follow up and am still annoyed I didn’t get to see her live! (Next time!)
www.therealsuedenim.co.uk
Track Listing: Underlined tracks are my top 5.
Bicycle Brewster McCloud I'm Not An Island Hollow Superunicorn The Pleasure Gardens For JT & Carson & Emli Pick Me Up Walking Into Walls The Plan
Roberta Banana Interview! The Northern Bullet interviews ‘The Banana Sessions’ lovely lead singer..
1. Last year The Banana Sessions put their first ever full album "Mixtape", it has a different feel to the EP’s did you plan that or is that just how things came together?
Mixtape is a mix (whey) of tunes from both the Yellow and Green EPs, with some brand new songs thrown in for good measure. About half of the songs on the album were written when we first started out in 2007. We thought that, since our sound had developed somewhat over the four years, we'd develop how they sounded on the album as well. Any song that already featured on our first couple of EPs, we rearranged and made little changes - not only to make it more exciting for us to record in the studio, but also so our listeners would be excited by them again. We made a conscious decision at the start of the recording process that we wanted to use loads of different instruments, create different textures and produce an album that had loads of mental shit going on it - a bit like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
2. You play a lot of festivals, do you prefer playing in tents or venues?
We bloody love festivals. They're a such a mess. When we first started out, all we wanted to do was play shitloads of festivals and drink our own bodyweight in Buckfast. And we did both of those things very successfully. Venues are fun to play too, but the crowd seem to go that bit more wild when they're in a tent, in the middle of a muddy field. At the end of the day, a good gig is down to a happy crowd. 3. What’s your favourite song to play live?
The Prodigy Medley, obviously. Jukebox is fun too though. It's a really nice feeling when a song that you've written makes people go just as mental as they do to a medley of Prodigy songs. That's pretty cool. I used to get goosebumps every time we played it. Beautiful times. 4. What made you start a band?
Calum and I (the songwriters) met when we were studying music together. He was doing composition, I was doing singing. We got well stoned together one night and both had some work to do for the next day. We made an agreement that I'd help him out if he helped me. Calum had a composition to hand in the next day, and I had to record myself singing. He helped me to record an acoustic version of Baby I Love You (by Aretha Franklin), then I helped him to write a song. That song was called Bananas, and features on the Yellow EP. Now that you know we were stoned, I'll bet it makes more sense. After that, we wrote some more tunes, and the rest is history. 5. What are your main musical influences?
The Beatles. Billie Holiday. Super Adventure Club. Lau. The Doors. The Prodigy.Rossco Galloway.William Douglas and the Wheel. 6. You play quite a mix of different styles of music, If you could make up a name for the genre you play, what would it be?
Bi-Polar Pop Music.
7. How do you write songs? Do you sit down and try to write them or do they just come to you?
It depends. When we first started out, Calum would play something on the guitar, I'd sing some sort of melody along to it, sometimes words would come to me at the time, but most of the time we'd write lyrics once we had the melody. A lot of the time. we'd discuss the subject matter before - Calum would be like, "so, what do you want to write about?" and I'd be like "erm, I don't know - we could write one about how jukeboxes used to be amazing and now they're totally shit." and he'd be like, "yeah, that's a good idea. Or we could write one about how annoying it is when you wake up with a hangover and there's no teabags." and I'd be like, "yeah man, that's WELL annoying. Everyone can relate to that." And then other times, one of us would go away and write a little emotional number - like Green, for example - and take it back to the other, play it and get a bit embarrassed, until the other would say, "aye, TUNE." One of our funniest songwriting experiences was the whole band, sitting around a dining table, really stoned, and we decided to write an imaginary story about going on a trip to Buckfast Abbey (see The Buckfast Pilgrimage for more info). 8. Do you guys have any rituals that you do before you go onstage?
Drink Buckfast. Maybe have a little heated debate over something or other. Sing some tunes. And one of our favourite rituals was starjumps. We had a really funny moment in Lochinver where we all backstage, having a five-way starjump, and the promoter walked in on us. He looked pretty baffled. We didn't bother trying to explain what was going on, we just stopped in our tracks and grabbed our tinnies. 9. What’s the funniest thing that’s happened while you were on tour?
See above. There are a LOT more. Some highlights include playing in Newcastle where we started drinking at midday and didn't go on stage until midnight, by which time we were completely inebriated and had an argument on stage about whether or not we'd played a song (we were so drunk, we'd forgotten to write a setlist). Half of us thought we had, half of us thought we hadn't. We ended up having to ask the audience. They weren't sure either. Another hilarious moment was playing at Beatherder Festival in 2009. Again, we weren't sober, and Tom (Pickles) was so not sober that his flute went flying out of
his hands mid-Buckfast-waltz and landed in the grass in front of the stage. He quickly picked it up, and darted back to the microphone, at which point he realised his flute was no longer making a sound. There was a certain look of wild panic in his eyes, until out of nowhere, he suddenly produced a roll of gaffa tape, worked some magic on his music stick, and turned back to the mic, just in time for the Buckfast Waltz finale. Legend. 10. How did you come up with the name ‘The Banana Sessions’?
It all started with the song Bananas (see question 4). I also think it's cool that you can put a banana up against your face and make it look like you're smiling. Also, bananas are good for boosting serotonin. So, it's supposed to be indicative of music that makes you happy. Job done, I hope.
Photos taken from : www.thebananasessions.co.uk
THE COLOUR PAGE!! This is the one colour page in this zine! It's reserved for my wonderful little sister’s comic Reiko Noriko! She drew this especially for my fanzine!! The two characters are Reiko (Rei) and Noriko (Nori) who are friends in an un successful band, in the comic opposite they are getting ready for their first gig! I hope you enjoy it!! Here are some websites where you can enjoy more of her art: http://lumpyspaceprincess11.deviantar t.com/ https://www.facebook.com/pages/TheLove-Birds/321484837979034?fref=ts
Comic story and art by Onnagh Cuinn (Age 11)
That's all folks, until next time :)
I'd like to say thanks to all the people on Tumblr who I got most of the photos from!
BrEaGhA Two Hats xxx