Sick of Goodbyes

Today in the mail I received a bunch of Issue 2 of Sick of Goodbyes (famous for his work with Give Blood zine). In it is a review of Issue 2 of Capital Eyes. This is the first review of the zines that I have seen, it's pretty much spot on the money. Here is what it says...


This is the second issue of Canberra zine Capital Eyes and while it's certainly an improvement on the first issue, Dan needs to put in some more effort before he can hope to produce something great. I think the main problem with Capital Eyes is that like a lot of zines these days, it just feels somewhat half arsed, like c'mon Dan, none of your layouts even have backgrounds (!) and he reprinted a 4 Dead interview from Snapshot zine because he couldn't be fucked doing his own haha. Anyways, there's interviews with Slowburn and Samsara, a review of Big Day Out, a diary of the Samsara/Dropsaw/Slowburn (which actually includes yours truly, thanks for the lift and the place to stay Dan), a few rants and some reviews as well.
To finish up here, as I said earlier, Dan just needs to put some more effort into his future issues and he'll be fine, but for now, this is pretty forgettable.

There was something that happened leading into the second issue that made me do a really rushed job going into it. I was printing the zines at my sisters work, because I could photocopy for free...she later told me she would probably lose her job if I caught doing it again, so I decided to just use Officeworks instead. But anyway, she said on a particular day I should come in, and of course I wasn't ready, but I wanted to have them done. Really, I should have just waited and done a better job.

But anyway, it's only early days for me as a zine man. I think I am a long way off doing anything that's really, really impressive. There's a lot of things I lack for that, especially a certain artistic flair. Back in high school, I came 3rd last in art class in year 8 or something. The kid in last place tried to electrocute himself somehow, and the other bloke never came to class. So yeah, don't have great artistic talent! Anyway, I should be working on a 4th issue in the next few weeks, I hope it will be a bit of an improvement again.

Anyway speaking of Sick of Goodbyes, I quite like it. Chris has called it "The Isolation Issue". I'm not sure if that is a reference to Carpathian's new album, "Isolation". He talks about some personal things he is going through, and it is interesting that the name of the zine is taken from the Life. Love. Regret album, Sick of Goodbyes.

Take a look at the tracklisting of that album, and what would you expect from a zine of the same name?

1.Lets start with my nervous breakdown, 2.Autopsy, 3.Spitting teeth, 4.Help me not die, 5.Fucking up and falling down, 6.chapter 6, 7.Car crashes and other sad stories, 8.The living dead, 9.Loyal to none, 10.In memory of..., 11.Waking up to an empty life

Anyway, a lot of the feelings that are mentioned are feelings that I often feel myself, especially parts about just leaving, going somewhere else, or going to the most secluded place you can find, the place you can be the most alone. The zine also features interviews with Jungle Fever, Fuck It I Quit, and there's a reprint of a Jawbreaker interview. I like it...I have a few copies, so if you live in Canberra and what one, come see me at a show or something.

I've picked up a bunch of other zines lately, which I may talk about at a later date. In regards to the Carpathian album which I mentioned before, they have put it up to stream on their myspace. It sounds very different to all of their older stuff. I never really liked any of their old stuff, I don't know if this is really up my alley either, but it's different anyway. A lot of the songs seem to sort of blend into each other. I will be interested to check them out on the weekend.

There are a lot of shows on in Canberra this week. Unfortunately for me, I got really drunk on Saturday night and spent stupid amounts of money, so it will be a struggle to get to all the shows.

But I am hoping to see

Tuesday 29/7- Graf Orlock, Robotosaurus, 4 Dead- ANU Bar
Wednesday 30/7- Vices for Virtues, Dead Kings, someone else- Bar 32
Thursday 31/7- The Gaslight Anthem, A Death In The Family- The Green Room
Sunday 2/8- Carpathian, Break Even, The Broderick, Rex Banner, Homewrecker- The Green Room (this show has changed venues from Tuggeranong)

So it seems these days that every man and his dog has a blog...but what I can't understand is that it seems that no one ever updates them!