No Friends Maga(zine)

This month sees the release of Issue #1 of a brand new zine based right here in Chicago, IL called NO FRIENDS. No Friends is described by themselves as "a DIY (maga)zine from Chicago focusing on underground music, art, film, comedy, politics, and their surrounding communities and cultures."

In May 2015 Issue 0 was released as a, sort of, digital preview and can be downloaded for free right here. Issue #1 is in print and features interviews with Host of "The Best Show" TOM SCHARPLING, Australian punks, AUSMUTEANTS, Austin, TX punks CAPITALIST KIDS, Singer, photographer, film director MARTIN SORRONDEGUY, Editor of Pork Magazine and artist SEAN AABERG, Mallorca, Spain punks TRANCE and much much more.

I would be remiss to not mention that it is also the debut of my column "LET'S START A FIRE" in which I examine little known facets of the punk world or to state more clearly people, places and things that you wouldn't necessary consider being punk but, definately are. Column NO.1 is called "Carl Sagan Was a Punk"

If this at all sounds interesting to you, head on over to their site a pick up a subscription or just a single issue. But subscriptions are SUPER CHEAP and each issue comes with a bad ass flexi disc! Yes you read that right! A fucking flexi disc!!!!

Here is NO FRIENDS mission statement, i found it appropriate to include to further state their goals!

What No Friends is trying to do is add another voice to the conversation of DIY/independent music and art. We want to not only cover bands and musicians, but artists, comedians, podcasters, small indie businesses, and folks just generally trying to do their own thing. DIY/indie culture is huge and vast, incredibly nuanced, and ever growing and changing – we want to help document this and the people involved.

Everyone said zines have pretty much died, but we think that's bullshit. Yet we do understand that it's 2015, so we're trying to find a balance between the perfect zine to leave next to the toilet and the perfect digital read for your phone or device. So what we're doing is this, printing a tangible zine, but also making it available immediately as a downloadable pdf file to read. Now, why the hell would anyone buy a Maga(zine) when they could just download it? Good question. Because it comes with a record. The plan is to have every physical issue of No Friends to come with a flexi record that is a split between two bands we at the zine think are pretty fucking awesome. The music won't come with the download, so the only way to get it is to buy the zine/record. Yeah, it'll end up on the internet eventually – but so will all of us once the singularity comes. Til then, the real music fiends and collectors will have to buy an issue of No Friends to get these crucial tunes in their home.

What we're also trying to do here is to expand the way we use DIY/independent networks – and really show that we can get things out their ourselves. By having records with the zines, we will have bands selling zines on the road – exposing who knows who, in who knows where to our take on the world. At the same time, we're gonna have readers checking out brand new musicians and artists that they may not take the time to learn about otherwise. To some people this will be a zine that comes with a record. To others this will be a record series that comes with a zine. We couldn't care less which side you're on – as long as you're on our side. In a crass, business sense, it'll help us expand our distribution to places that only a zine, or only a record, wouldn't be able to reach. In a real, awesome sense we can get our stuff out there even more because of this.

We are a quarterly publication, based out of Chicago, IL. We are staffed entirely by volunteers who are in it for the sole purpose of supporting DIY/independent arts. We are contributor based and community oriented. Our outlook is that most of us have more in common than not. If you're reading this you probably have some kind of connection to the underground arts scene – and that alone puts us on the same side. We want to have a diverse groups of voices, with different opinions, all working together to make something that represents more than just a little corner of the independent underground.