More Make Do & Mend....

Our Make do & Mend exhibition is still on at Salford Zine Library until April 1st, but if you can't make it along, here are some pics....

Make Do & Mend Exhibition

My Year in Lists...Seleena....

As I emerge from the fiery pits of 2016 (aka Retail at Christmas) I'm going to remember some parts of 2016 fondly with my annual year in lists.
Yes we all now 2016 was a bit of a shit show, politically, generally and personally. I think about how I had my first solo exhibition, but then remember how I left my aunties funeral early to go to my opening. The shittest thing for me this year though was losing my BFF (best furry friend) of 15 years, Ned the cat. He will be missed.
I did some good stuff too though....

-Zines: halfway through the year I panicked that I hadn't made any zines, then I remembered at the start of last year I made a mini zine about reunion gigs. I also (just about managed) two co-make 2 Sugar Papers, No Brown Girl or Poor Lass emerged, but who cares because *Drum Roll please* My infamous Crisp zine emerged!!! Yes I finally (with the help of a bunch of rad folk) made a zine about crisps!
I also got to table at loads of zine fairs and run a workshop or two, plus made my panel debut at an event about zines, I love talking about zines, have me on your panel!!

-Art: So yeah, I had my first solo exhibition and it was rad! I was really pleased with the new work I did for it and wanna take What, Is She Black Now? on the road, let me come to your town!
I had a few argh why am I even doing this moments, and Yiiikes! had a few 'yes great opportunities...sorry no' moments. But I'm surrounded by loads of creative people and I wanna make shit as awesome as they do, so I ain't stopping now.
I'm also approaching my 5th year or maybe it's 6th, of being a volunteer youth arts worker.

-Music: So I formed a Clueless Concept pop band with Sugar Papers better half Kandy. We made some songs, matching outfits, a tape (A TAPE) and a ridiculous amount of merch. We played some gigs and went on another summer tour with THEE BEST PEOPLE!! and honestly summer tour is the best time I have all year, hanging out with a bunch of the best humans, eating hash browns, going to new places, seeing more of the best humans along the way. SWOON!

-Friends: As usual I wish I spent more time hanging out with friends but when you get older it gets harder (see: you just wanna stay home and be tired in comfort) I got inspired and supported and had a great time with my friends, I even got to see two of them bring tiny badass humans into the world.


For 2017 I hope to not hoard as much, be more honest, learn new crafts (hello needle felting) do more with my love of tap dancing, make zines and art (obvs) and hang out with more tiny humans!

Here's my photo of the year....

Sugar Paper #17 OUT NOW!

The unicorn and rainbow issue!

with vegan ice cream and unicorn bread recipes, friendship bracelets, furry pencil case, scrunchies and crochet yin yang.
With a centre fold comic by Kellie Huskisson.
comes with free stickers.

get your copy HERE!

International zine month

It's July tomorrow, which means International zine month.
As with every year, I will try to follow it and realise I haven't done anything the day before it turns August!

I do have a few zine things I might try and complete during July....

Sugar Paper:
I think issue 17 is over halfway done and should definitely appear before July is over. It's full of sparkly things, unicorns, sweet things and bffs, and should be sponsored by food colouring!

Poor Lass:
We're still taking contributions for issue 7 of the zine I co-edit with top lass Em about being working class. This issue is about race and I have yet to write my piece for it.
for more information about the zine or contributing to issue 7 GO HERE!

Crisp zine:
After a few years of saying I am going to make a zine about crisps, I am FINALLY making a zine about crisps!
I've started some pieces I want to feature and already had a few submissions, it turns out lots of people love crisps!
If you do too and want to write a piece, a list, a love letter, a poem, draw a picture about your love of crisps, then email me: seleenalavernedaye@gmail.com

Brown Girls:
Been thinking about making Brown Girl 3 for a while, but not wanting to ask for any submissions whilst asking for submissions for Poor Lass and my crisps zine. Hoping to have a new one by Autumn, so for now I might start on a few pieces I have I want to put in myself. Think I'm going to write a lot about dancing in this issue!

Sick Sad World Tour:
I get to go on tour with a bunch of my faves again this year!! And I think we're going to do a split tour zine to take with us in August!

I'm also gonna try and get through my pile of to read zines I've picked up at zine fairs this year!

North West Zine Fest

That's right North West zine fest is back!

SATURDAY 18th JUNE

This year it's being held in Salford, but pretty much Manchester and I'm always super excited when there's a zine fest on my doorstop.

The new Sugar Paper won't be ready (in fact wont have any new zines) but will have a bunch of Sugar Paper's, Poor Lass, Brown Girl and other treats like stickers, pin badges, post cards, stickers and totes!

Be great to see you all down there.

More info HERE.


poster by Saffa K who did the cover for Sugar Paper #15!

ZINE TALK!

We love zines!
We love making them, we love reading them we also love talking about them....

This was the time I was talking about making zines, the zine community and more for Emily Steele's mini documentary (along with a bunch of other rad babes)



The start of this month my friend Em, who I make Poor Lass with, got to do readings from issues of Poor Lass for the zine 'stage' at Sounds From The Other city, curated by Salford Zine Library

Speaking of Salford Zine Library, here is 1/4 of SZL and top banana, Steve talking about zines on Radio 6 Music

Bank Holiday zine weekender...

Last Bank holiday weekend it was my birthday, it was also a weekend of fun, hangtimes and zining!!

It kicked off at Sheffield zine fest on the Saturday.
Sheffield Zine Fests is one of my favourites, it always has a nice atmosphere and I get to see a load of my favourite people at once!

It was also the debut of the My Mad Fat Zine (a zine about My Mad Fat Diary) that I made with my long time zine pal Holly, it's the first zine we've made together since 2001!!!

Sharoon Rooney approved!!!

It was a sell out!
(some copies still left here though!)

Then back to Manchester for birthday pizza and 90s dancing.

The zine theme continued on Sunday.

As part of Sounds From The Other City, Salford Zine Library took over the Deli Lama café for some zine readings. Steve from SZL started the day off with a reading from his Lil Rem Stadt zine (which was so good).

Em and myself read pieces we contributed to Poor Lass zine and Holly read from her Bruce and my Dad zine.
Then we hot footed it to a church to watch Tacocat followed by a run over the road to see Martha in a warehouse!

A quick band practice then topped off with a late night roast dinner down Toby Carvery.

An awesome birthday weekend!

Springtime zine time

Zine season is upon us and to get things started we are tabling at one of our favourite zine fairs,
Sheffield Zine Fest.


This one is on Saturday 30th April 11-4pm  (and is the day before my birthday)

It's a bit of a double trouble zine weekend as on my actual birthday, I am doing a reading as part of Poor Lass for Salford Zine Library's 'stage' at Sounds From The Other City, on Sunday 1st May.

Get to dance to Tacocat and Martha too, best birthday ever.

I am likely to be accepting payments of cake* for zines in Sheffield! 

*I like a nice lemon drizzle or sticky ginger cake, fruits, nuts and flowers welcome (hello pistachio and rose!!!)
just not chocolate.

Colouring Outside The Lines #7

It's fairly well documented on this blog that Colouring outside the Lines is my favourite zine (and editor Melanie one of my favourite people)
So you can imagine my excitement when issue 7 landed on my door mat. But can you imagine my excitement when I got interviewed for it!!!!!!

This issue is slightly different to previous ones, it still features in depth interviews with all different types of female artist, but these artists all happen to be people Melanie knows on a personal level, basically she interviewed her mates, I'm one of them as are two of my besties Kandy Diamond and Alison Erika Forde.

I urge anyone who is interested in art, an artist themselves or is just really nosey and likes to hear about peoples lives, to get yourselves a copy.

GET IT HERE!

Inspiring Sugar Paper #17

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weirdo Zine Fest

We're still only in the first month of 2016 and we are tabling our first zine fest!!

In that there big London town this Sunday (30th January) is Weirdo Zine Fest

It's gonna be filled with the best zines and the best weirdos!
You'd be a fool to miss it!

More info HERE.

My year in lists: Seleena!

I was determined to get my end of year list out within the first week of January, and I just made it.
2015 seem to disappear quicker than 2014 did.
I mot definitely think less procrastinating is in order for 2016.

Anyway, here it is, some of my 2015 highlights....

- GIGS! lot's of fun gigs happened in 2015, Girlpool, Gerard Way, Ex Hex, Sleater-Kinney, Babes in Toyland, Frank Iero, The Julie Ruin, Babes in Toyland, L7, Queer Fest, Martha, The Potentials, Jack Off Jill and loads more. It was of course the year of the reunion gigs!

-Zinefests. I tabled four times last year. A return to my favourite one in Sheffield, Leeds in an old church, the debut of North West zine fest in Manchester and at Ladyfest Manchester. I love doing zine fests because I get to sit behind a table eating snacks and selling things and buying things and seeing a bunch of great stuff but mostly hanging out with people I don't see often enough!

-Sleater-Kinney!!! Yes Sleater-Kinney returned and I didn't think I was gonna be that arsed about it, but it turns out I was! Saw them in Manchester and one of my favourite places to visit, Glasgow. They were amazing and spending a couple of days with a bunch of my favourites was even better.

-Amsterdam. I said it in last years end of year post, but the best thing about getting older and turning the big numbers I that it means your friends do too, so May saw me celebrate Alison's 30th birthday in Amsterdam. How I had never managed to get to Amsterdam before I don't know, but I shall be returning!

-Babes in Toyland. Another reunion gig that blew me away, going to London and Manchester meant I got t see a whole load of faces (it's nice to have events that pull older people out of the house!) also meant I got to see faces I only knew of online, it's great finally meeting people you've only spoken to in the virtual/postal world (hey Rachel!)

-SUMMER TOUR! this was probably the highlight of my year. August is always a fun month as three of my bests have their birthdays then, but this year was a dream. Yiiikes! decided we needed to play a gig, so what better way to force ourselves to do this than go on a week long tour of 6 gigs with two bands, that just so happen to be yr mates!
Got to hang out with my bffs and new bffs for a whole week whilst travelling up and down the country and playing songs! From the southern seaside to finally getting to the north east, this was like the best free holiday ever!

-Yiiikes! It's been a great year for Yiiikes! we didn't get any art out, but we made a bunch of great songs, toured, played a few gigs after the tour, had matching stage outfits and ace merch and most of all had fun doing it! SLIME POP FOR LIFE I.D.S.T.

-Zines. I didn't make anywhere near enough zines what I wanted to make, my infamous crisp zine still hasn't seen the light of day (watch out 2016) and I think I spent most of the year talking about what zines I was going to make. Did manage to put out the annual tradition of two issues of Sugar Paper, two issues of Poor Lass and a second issue of Brown Girl.

-Jack Off Jill. The end of a year of great reunion gigs came in the form of JOJ, a band I never thought I would get to see, a band who blew me away. Seeing them in Manchester and London, witnessing Jessicka perform and probably being one of the greatest front people I've ever seen. <3 font="">

-Slayerfest. Halloween is always one of my favourite times of year and in 2014 when we were trying to egg ourselves on to play a gig we made a pact to play on Halloween 2015. Our dreams came true when we got to play Slayerfest '98 (2015)!!!
Our great mates (and my new fave band) The Potentials, organised a night off great bands and disco dancing and Yiiikes! got to play, I also got to do a tap dance to the Buffy theme whilst dressed as a yellow crayon. Good times!

Other highlights include....
attending the indiepop wedding of the year where Bearsuit played, indie pop royalty attended, and had a great dance. Probably going to Karaoke more times then I ever have and adding more staples to my Karaoke repertoire aside from Lisa Loeb's Stay. Sorting my 'studio' space and making it more organised and inviting. Meeting Patrick Ness who was a total sweetheart. Remembering how much I love to make things and just staying home!

Photo of the year is this one with all my favourite weirdos....

Zines of the year!

You get  lot of end of year lists round this time of year, mostly music ones, but seeing as my tradition from 2000 onwards seems to be that I don't get more than two new albums a year (forever stuck in the 90s) that would be a boring list.
I do however get more than 2 zines a year and this year I got some great zines.
here are my top 5....


BRUXCORE A zine about Irn BruHolly Casio
March 2015

My favourite zinester Holly made a few zines this year, but I think this is my favourite.
With a bright orange front cover and blue inside pages, a zine full of stuff about one of her main loves, Scotland's finest import, Irn Bru!
The zine has all about Holly's love for Irn Bru, Irn Bru imposters, Irn Bru in different forms, contributions and a bunch of recipes.
It's a zine for anyone who likes the orange fizzy pop!
GET IT HERE!


SCRATCH THAT ITCH #5Kathleen
July 2015

Kathleen is someone I have known for years, but never spent lots of time with. But I had the pleasure of doing that in August when she drove us round on our super summer tour!
Kathleen also brought a mini zine distro with her, which included her latest issue of Scratch That Itch zine.
Scratch That Itch is always a treat, but this one is particularly great, for a start it looks great.
It's an A6 affair that Kathleen hand bound (there ain't nothing Kathleen can't do!) and is a tour diary!
It's a diary of the month in spring 2015 Kathleen spent driving top notch band Caves round on tour with Against Me!
It has some highs, some lows and some pretty great scenery! It made me want to get out more and visit places.
It was like reading someone's diary and Kathleen writes so well, would recommend this to anyone!


GO FIGUREA.K
August 2015

In 2015 Holly an I went to a comic con in Las Vegas and we made a great friend.
Fast forward to 2015 and this awesome friends makes her first zine!
She has been making really intricate and awesome dioramas with her vast collection of star wars figurines and then turned them into this zine!
The zine is ascetically amazing, full of detail, heart and passion, just like the diorama.
You don't even need to be a Star Wars fan to enjoy it.


AFTER GRRRL small stories from big livesCarrie Jo Tucker/ Jessicka Addams
October 2015

A zine full of short pieces written by all my favourite artists and musicians! what more could you ask for!
It has Allison Wolfe talking about her Cool Mom and rubbish boyfriend, Camille Rose Garcia talking about being told girls can't do art and Lori Barbero on learning drums and SO MUCH MORE!
It also has a page where you can write your story!
I wrote a lot more about it HERE.
And you can get yourself a copy HERE!


SHAPE AND SITUATE 7 posters of inspirational women in Europe
Melanie Maddison
December 2015

Melanie compiles some of my favourite zines (her Colouring Outside The Lines zine will surely top next years list) and this one just made it out before the end of the year!
Shape and Situate is a zine made of posters people make of women they have found inspiring for one reason or another, artists, educators, activists, community pioneers. I love tis zine because you learn about so many great figures you may not have heard of otherwise, plus you get all the different styles of posters the contributors send in, from illustrated to written.
This is the last issue of S&S (boo) but fear not Melanie will still be working on other zine projects.
Also I co-produced a poster for this one, so get it now.
Get it HERE!


Special mention goes to Poor Lass #6 Health Issue, a zine about working class people from working class people, that I co edit with top lass Em!
Get it HERE!

Sugar Paper #16 OUT NOW!!!!

*just* in time for the festive season, here is issue #16....

this is the SPACE issue with all sorts of out of this word things to make and do, alien biscuit recipe, crocheted planets, X Files cross stitch, fabric marbling, fizzy bath stars and much more.

Comes with headpins and beads to make your own constellation jewellery and  holographic card cover!

get it HERE!

Happy International Zine Month!

That's right it's July (already) and so it is International Zine Month!
Even though I know every year it happens at the same time, I always seem to think 'shit, International Zine month and I don't have time to do anything!'
I am currently working on, I think 4 zines, hopefully at least half of them will materialise, it would be great if all 4 did.
We are tabling at Leeds zine fest the first week of August, so July may just be spent getting ready for that.

In the meantime, here are my favourite zine things!

Favourite Zine:
I always bang on about this zine but I think it is because it is soo good, the zine is Colouring Outside The Lines.
Edited by the ever lovely Melanie Maddison, it is a zine that features interviews (conducted by Melanie) with female artists.
Melanie has made 6 issues (with number 6 appearing, much to my joy, after a brief hiatus) and has featured some of my favourite artists (Tara McPherson, Elizabeth McGrath, Dame Darcy, Sarah Utter and Lisa Petrucci, Christy Road, Nicole J Georges, Marion Peck and a shit load more!) and introduced me to many artists I may never heard of!
I don't think old issues are in print, but if you're ever round mine I will let you have a read!
Get issue 6 HERE!

Favourite Zinester:This one goes to my old friend Holly. We became penpals via Teletext in like 1999 when we were just 15. Holly was the first person I knew in real life who made zines, we used to make zines together, we are currently trying to make zines together again. She makes zines about the things she loves (mostly all the Bru's, Bruse Springsteen, Bruce Wayne and Irn Bru!) about queerness and class and being a fan of stuff, all the best things in life really!
See her stuff HERE!
Favourite Zine fair:I think this goes to Sheffield zine fest. The one I have tabled at the most. I have done other cities, London, Leeds and my own fair city, Manchester. But I really like the Sheff one, it could have something to do with the fact I see all my favourite Yorkshire faces there and the venue has a giant slide in it!

Favourite type of Zine:I make a craft zine, I love a good skill sharing or recipe zine, I also edit Poor Lass which is the stories of working class folk, told by working class folk, so I guess that could be called perzine (personal zine), I guess my zine Brown Girl has a perzine touch to it, but my one true love, the first zines I ever got sent in the post as a teenager were Fanzines, zines about the stuff people love.
These are my favourite zines, I feel they don't get made as much anymore, but maybe now I don't have ten penpals and friendship books and zines covered in glitter dropping through my door anymore all the time, I am just out of the loop!

Favourite Zine place:Whenever I go on holiday I seek out the zine shops and zine libraries, but my favourite place is at home.
It's Salford zine library (that is no longer in Salford but in Manchester City Centre).
It's housed in Nexus Art Café off Oldham st, next door to my favourite comic shop, Travelling Man.
I reckon the fact it's just a 10-15mins bus ride from my house makes it my favourite place to peruse zines, but it also has a great collection!
Check their new website HERE!

Favourite way to make a Zine:
I am a cut 'n' paste kinda gal! For many reasons; my favourite zines growing up were made this way, it's how I learnt to make zines, it's the only way I know and it's accessible for lot's of people to make zines this way.
I have gotten a little modern from when I first made zines, I used to hand write or type on my typewriter, but I then eventually got a computer so typed all my writing out and sourced backgrounds and drew pictures and cut and pasted it all together. I don't understand computer programmes or have photoshop, I do have scissors and a glue stick and a long armed stapler so this is what I use!
I like to show people how to make a zine with one piece of paper, a pen, a pair of scissors and access to a photocopier.

Favourite Zine I have made:I have made a lot of zine about a lot of things (being brown, My-So Called Life, EMO music, teenage crushes, Gerard Way's jackets to name a few) and Sugar Paper is the longest running zine I have made (14 issues, I reckon in like 7 years!) and had the pleasure of making with one of my best friends, But I think I am most proud of Poor Lass Zine.
A zine I edit with my friend Em about being working class, it's a contributions based zine and the fact people keep wanting to share their stories and people keep reading them is s heart warming. We have received such a great response from this project I think it's the most important zine I have put my name too and therefore my favourite.
Check Poor Lass out HERE.

May: birthdays, bands and from A(rt)- Z(ines)

What the fuck is that title?!?!?

ANYWAY as mentioned in the previous post I love May, but holy fuck where did it go?!?1 how is it June already? WHERE IS THE SUN!?!?

I started May in Amsterdam and ended it completely tired out on my sofa, but I had the best time.

I (again see previous post) had all the birthday fun (and received my last birthday present last week, love to drag my birthday out for the whole month!), but the fun didn't stop there!

Here is what I got up to in May.....

I visited the new home of The Cornerhouse, HOME, several times. twice for the cinema (Girlhood= so good and Clouds of Sils Maria= I love you Kstew!) and last week I checked out the two exhibitions on there at the moment.
The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (that I was alerted to several times by friends as I have a tattoo of those words, I was a teenage JT Leroy fan, what can I say!) is a collection of works by several artists centring around the theme of love and loss.
My favourite pieces were Douglas Coupland's 'Slogans for the 21st Century', 148 pigment prints on watercolour paper with bold slogans on, a lot about the internet.

Irina Gheorge's piece, John, you Like Her, Don't You? 1994-1996, stood out as it featured a framed poster of 90s Mark Owen (with his nose ring and all), now I am NOT a Take That fan, but this piece was great. it Was a selection of her notebook entries she made with a friend about the 100 hottest boys in their school. My favourite bit was where she said she wanted to throw something at Robbie's head as she thinks he is the reason TT split up and how is solo career is shit HAHAHAHAH!).

My favourite in the whole exhibition though was Gemma Parker's The Tattooed Lady. It's an oldschool vending machine that dispenses a temporary tattoo when you turn the handle. Each tattoo has a story on the back. The design relating to a tattoo that people have regretted! So good!

There is also a Magda Archer exhibition on, #givemeverythingandnnothingbaby . Featuring paintings and posters that show our love/hate relationship with the internet!

Birthday's are big business in May, it seems like 80% of the people I know are born in May, September must be a popular month for parents to be getting jiggy with it! Anyway this meant I consumed lots of cake in May, and that's always a good thing.

My sister was up for her birthday which was nice. On her actual birthday though I went to see The Julie Ruin.
Now that morning I woke up in a bad mood (tiredness and moontime combo) then I went to work and working Saturdays is never fun. After work I hot footed it over to Leeds, trying to make myself feel excited.
I got to the Brudenell and got excited about seeing a bunch of my favourites and faces I haven't seen for a while. the excitement still didn't kick in. I spoke with a friend and we decided it was because we were just not that into The Julie Ruin album. A couple of friends I was with were excited to see Kathleen perform for the first time so I tried to steal some of their excitement.
The band came on and it was great to see Kathleen do her thing again for the first time in ten years, it was good to see Kenny on stage again for the first time in 13 years and to FINALLY see Kathi on stage for the first time ever. They played a mixture of songs from the new album, some Le Tigre tracks and Kathleen's solo Julie Ruin album (which I absolutely love) some of the versions of those songs they played I was not so sure about. The crowd had a few idiots in it, people who don't know about personal space and one idiot who was super drunk and it seemed managed to annoy everyone I spoke to at the gig, he made his way to the front and called some women 'fucking stupid cunts' so we all decided it was time to leave and chucked him to the bag of the venue where someone I know turfed him out! that sucked, but the song they played after this was Radical or Pro Parental and I had much love for that!
I had fun, they are a party band, and the whole show was like a works of Kathleen Hanna cabaret and I am glad I got to see them, but I didn't leave sweaty, with a stitch and feeling like I could take over the world (I decided it was because I was getting old!)

A few days later saw me heading to London to see Babes In Toyland!!!!

I had excitement for this. I had seen Kat perform in Katastrophy Wife and As Babes (with members of Angelica!?!?) before, but never Babes In Toyland themselves.
We Missed Skating Polly (boo) but made it in time to get a good spot for Babes, squashed in between the dreads, babydolls and punks, the room smelt of patchouli and old clothes, 90s heaven!
The moment they hot the stage I didn't stop and neither did the crowd! Everyone went wild, moving, jumping dancing, every song I was in a different place in the venue, at one point I was stood next to some people from Manchester, another point in the pit, then three rows away from Maureen. IT WAS SO GOOD!
All the hits, so much noise, Lori's drumming SWOON and Kat's voice still has it!
At one point I was experiencing some Gregg Araki film shit, I was close to the front dancing away, to my left some attractive guy with long hair was throwing his pint, to my right a woman in a pink faux fur gilet was dancing like she was listening to techno, behind me a couple were having almost full on sex to Maureen's bass lines and I thought IS THIS WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO ATTEND A GIG IN 1995?!?!

I left the gig on a total high, I haven't been to a gig like that in years. The next day however my body ACHED. I hoped on the train back home to do it all again!

Manchester was a much smaller venue, the crowd wasn't as wild (which my aching body was thankful for!) but it was twice as loud! I got to see Skating Polly (who were so good) and no middle support so babes were on just after 9. They looked happy to be playing, I saw more of my favourites (being spoilt this year!) and met an internet friend for the first time IRL. the gig finished just after ten, my ears were ringing and I had some tasty peri peri chips. both nights were some of my best gigs ever!

Band reunions 4eva, roll on L7!

I had a couple of days to try and ease my achey body and catch up on sleep before tabling at NorthWest zine fest in Manchester.

This was such a fun day, chatting to out of town friends, making new ones, seeing a bunch of amazing zines in one room and being inspired to want to make a million more zines!

Well done to the Salford Zine Library guys for organising such a great day!
Ahhh May you were good to me, now I must spend June doing nothing but sleeping!

The month of May and all the fun things it brings....

Just dusting the cobwebs off this blog! Posting is slow these days, I think now we are in the 5th month I can't blame my slowness on 'getting over working retail at Christmas' (note to self I can't keep using this excuse for all areas of life!)

We should be making a start on Sugar paper #15 right now, but we aren't, we half a list! maybe when the sun appears so will the zine!
I always look forward to May though, mostly because my birthday is the 1st and who doesn't love birthdays?!?!?

I started this month in Amsterdam, celebrating Alison's 30th birthday. I had a great time, looking at art, relaxing on canal boats, getting exited by things that glow under UV, hanging with friends!

I celebrated by birthday a day late with a trip to Jodrell Bank where I stood in fron of the Lovell telescope on the 2nd of May (this is a reference for Placebo fans there!) then went home and had a 90s Leo D film sleepover, because Romeo and Juliet is the best!

Now that is all over I can get excited (and ready!) for the rest of  May.
Seeing bands (The Julie Ruin and BABES IN TOYLAND!!!!!!) and soaking up zines! Sadly, as hard as I tried to fit it in, we won't be at DIY Cultures in London, but we will be at North West Zine Fest in Manchester!!!!!

Sheffield Zine Fest 2015....

We will be tabling at Sheffield Zine Fest this Saturday!

It's going to be a good one, get to sell zines, buy zines and see a lot of our favourite faces! We also get to go down a big slide!

We will have issues 5-14 of Sugar Paper, all issues of Poor Lass (including new issue #5!) and a whole host of other zines made by myself, Kandy and friends!

GET YER SENS DOWN THERE!

Viva La Megababes

The other day I was sat with my mum watching episodes from the first series of Absolutely Fabulous, and we were joking about Bubble's style and how this is how I dress now (also commenting on the fact my mum let me watch such programmes at age 8! I watched This Life aged 12 and Queer As Folk aged 14, MOTHER!)

It's no secret that the 90s are a big influence on me, fashion, music, everything, so of course Bubble with her bright colours and 'wacky 90s' sense of style was going to be an influence on me.

But it got me to thinking about some other 90s ladies that I realise have been a HUGE influence on me, and I'm not just talking about fashion.

I'm talking about SHAMPOO!

I don't know where I first saw/heard Shampoo, I'm guessing it was maybe performing Trouble on Top Of The Pops in 1994, or maybe in the pages of Smash Hits or Top Of The Pops magazine!
Wherever it was it changed my little 10 year old life!

Here was a band who had so much attitude and impeccable style (they did so shut it!). A couple of school mates who loved boy bands, like me (East 17 and Take That -for the record I was always purely East 17), loved being a fan of things, like me, liked Sindy dolls, like me, I was destined to be a fan of Shampoo.

Carrie and Jacqui were not just pop lovers, they used to write a Manics zine, I fact I found out aged 10 and before I even knew what a fanzine was! They to me embodied Girl Power, in fact they taught me about girl power long before I was devouring riot grrrl and writing angry feminist slogans on my pencil case.
Yeah they made pop songs, but they were witty and bratty and full of GIRL POWER!

I remember being young and tagging along as my sister shopped at Piccadilly Records in Manchester and seeing a girl that worked there wearing chunky bright foam wedge shoes and big plastic jewellery and I knew that was a look I was after! Shortly after I headed down to C&A to stock up on plastic rings!

Who didn't want a t-shirt with doll faces on? To be dripping in plastic accessories? To mix faux fur and PVC? To have over processed hair? To be big in Japan?
Because I sure did!