RUMPSHAKER #6
$10
-When people say, “Hardcore is Dead” or “there’s no good bands now”, what they should be saying is, “I stopped paying attention” –Eric Weiss
Rumpshaker #6 was a long time in the making. The last issue came out 12 years ago. As someone who writes a music zine that occasionally takes five year breaks, I get it, sometimes life just sneaks in there without much notice and puts things on hold for a while. I got this zine in the mail a few months back and am just now reviewing it, but when I received it, I read it cover to cover that day. I love music zines, I miss music zines. I have a plastic storage bin in my garage full of old Flipside, MRR, HeartAttack, and random music fanzines that, when in need of a fix, I can go to. So when a music zine arrives in the mail, I get a bit giddy, and when that music zine just happens to be a Hardcore zine, well that’s a good day. In the months after getting Rumpshaker #6 in the mail, I have read the zine three times, not all of it, but most of it. And it’s not just because it’s a music zine covering a genre I dig, Eric, the editor asks really good questions in his interviews, and he interviews interesting people. I wasn’t a fan of the band Ceremony before reading this. I have since become a huge fan of Ceremony. I didn’t like Judge before reading this, and I still don’t, but I really like Mike Judge now. Avail? I’ve always loved Avail, and the interview with Avail frontman (now solo singer), Tim Barry was a perfect example of why. Many of the people he interviews are close to my age and I think that’s why I responded to the interviews the way I did. When Damian from Fucked Up talks about being a father and how it’s made him respond to violent news stories in a more personal and profound way, I can relate. There are so many great interviews contained within this zine. Eric, the editor, has some personal writing as well. At one point he talks about breaking his long held straight edge commitment and the awkward ordering of his first glass of whiskey. Good writing, and some unique insight into the mind of an aging hardcore kid. I liked this zine so much that I ordered a couple extra copies to give to out of town friends, and, drunkenly gave my review copy to my buddy the other night while playing Ceremony’s ‘Sick’ far too loudly for anything or anyone in my quiet Northern Idaho neighborhood. So yea, good zine, get one.
