A few weeks ago, I was interviewed by, or better: had a conversation with, the people behind Superbeast podcast. It was fun to talk about art, music, zines, politics, and the ongoing pandemic. I also chose a few songs that they played on the show and they even invited me to make a jingle for the podcast! Listen to Episode 15 here and check their previous jingles on Bandcamp.
More info and the zines we reviewed:
So Valentines is coming up and in my opinion that’s an excellent moment to make a zine for someone you love, write a zine about your crush, and/or publish a zine about love, friendship, or relationships.
I have a few zines in stock that could make excellent gifts too:
(Not that I want to contribute to the overcommercialisation of February 14th and I mostly encourage you to make your own gifts but I’m quite proud of these zines)
Chainsaw Bunny loves cards and cake! She’s a bit disappointed that the cake is not real though…
I got these postcards printed in the end of 2020 by Zwart op Wit and plan to make new ones soon. Zwart op Wit are producing 100% CO² neutral which is one of the main reasons why I chose to work with them. The “queercore/home-recording” card is printed on ecological cardstock. I wanted to test it and it turned out really great.
Do you want to send a card to a friend, pen pal or family member for a special occasion or just because? Take a look at all of my postcards here.
2021 has started and it’s my plan to read at least 210 zines this year. That new year’s resolution will likely be succesful because I’ve already read a few dozen this month! Probably more than during any other “Zines I’ve Read” editions that ever came before…
Take a look at those amazing covers! Wouldn’t you be tempted to read them? And they are pretty on the inside too, and interesting, and engaging, and entertaining, and funny. So much creativity, that’s typical for zinesters. They are creative with words, images, layouts, binding, folding (there are some very peculiarly folded zines among this selection), printing techniques… And what can you find inside? Writings, collages, and drawings about menstruation, the cartoon show Daria, suffragette herstory in Leeds, how dating women is nicer than dating men, how to make the most of “working” from home, how to support bands in the digital age, riding a trike as a fat woman, travelling to Vienna, what it’s like to be a rural queer, life stories from working-class people of colour, phrases that minimise abuse within queer circles, and so much more.
More photos and contact details below:
Hello and happy Bandcamp day! Today, like all first Fridays of the month in 2020, Bandcamp gives their share of the sales to the artists and bands. So I thought, why not add some zines to the Lost Luna / Echo Zines webshop on Bandcamp?
You can now buy a set of 13 postcards (all postcards I’ve made so far) and a bundle of 5 Same Heartbeats zines (issues #13-17) in my Bandcamp shop.
I know I’ve written before about why I hesitated about opening a webshop for my zines but this way I have both options available: it’s possible to buy any zines and postcards by contacting me via email or facebook message OR you can buy postcard and zine bundles on Bandcamp. The choice is yours!
Because Bandcamp is mostly targeted at bands and musicians, I’ll use it for Lost Luna music and merch too. More news of Lost Luna soooooon… For now, take a look at the webshop! ❤
So you may or may not know that I play guitar and do backing vocals in a band called Lavender Witch since we were founded in 2017. This feminist band is based in Brussels and plays a mix of punk, doomy grunge, indiepop, and 90s alternative rock with feminist, personal, and political lyrics.
Like for every other band, 2020 was a strange year for us. But despite the ongoing pandemic, we still managed to do some fun stuff like play a livestream concert, make a video, and release our debut album Awakening. We also started rehearsing and playing (a few) shows with our new fantastic drummer Nathalie, were interviewed for several alternative media (zines, webmagazines, radio shows, vlogs…), and continued working on new songs.
It’s kind of weird to think about what I want to do in 2021 when it’s still unsure what the pandemic situation will be like and what the consequences will be. But a grrrl can dream (and it keeps me going). To be honest I am really lucky that a lot of my passions and occupations can be done at my home, like drawing, making zines, playing guitar, sewing… Even though it would be nice to be able to travel again next year, I admit the quietness of the lockdown was at times really welcome too. I’d like to keep some of that quietness but without any anxiety or risk of getting infected by or passing on a dangerous virus like covid-19…
2020 has been an unusual year to say the least… I’m extremely privileged in several ways so I really can’t complain and I won’t do that, even though it was hard for me too at times. I’ve also been lucky to find a lot of energy and motivation to work on creative projects which have been an excellent form of distraction, and which were also just fun to do. Having things available at home that you are passionate about can be a life-saver in these times. Even if there are people and activities and places that I miss and that I can’t meet/do/visit right now, I’m so grateful for the existence of zines and for my passion for drawing and for making/listening to music. Reading books and watching tv series have been entertaining for me as well, as were walking and exploring my neighbourhood.
Recently I’ve started writing some posts about what 2020 was like for Echo Zines. In this post I’ll look back at the new year’s resolutions I made for 2020 and at things I did and made last year. So this is a little creative overview of the past year:
Music can be magic sometimes. I’ve bought and listened to a lot of new music in 2020. Because it made me feel good, because I spent more time at home, because it offered a wonderful kind of distraction, because of the Bandcamp Fridays, because it gave me inspiration to continue working on my own songs (and those of Lavender Witch) at home, because the lyrics gave me something to relate to, because there are so many awesome bands and artists out there, because my CD player and youtube playlists filled the void of missing out on live concerts…
Here are some bands whose albums and songs (and sometimes livestreams) I’ve listened to repeatedly in 2020. Some of them released new music in 2020, some of them I (re)discovered them last year, and all of them I will keep listening to in the future. I highly recommend you to check them out.
I wanted to read at least 20 books in 2020 and ended up reading 21. Maybe not so impressive but I’m a slow and distracted reader and I’ve also read several hundreds of zines last year (you can see all of those in my monthly posts).
Among the books I read are a few memoires by musicians (Juliana Hatfield and Ani DiFranco), several graphic novels and illustration books, a cookbook (I added every book I finished reading entirely, whatever the genre), a novel, a children’s book, manuals (for activism, printing techniques, and self-sufficient living), and books about philosophy, political theory, alternative media, feminist herstory, DIY culture…
I already have a bunch of awesome books in line for this year and can’t wait to dig in…
What did you read in 2020 and what is on your reading list for 2021?
 | rebelsister on Zines I’ve read in 2021… |
 | Yurena on Zines I’ve read in 2021… |
| rebelsister on My plans and dreams for 2… |
 | Nyx on My plans and dreams for 2… |
| rebelsister on My plans and dreams for 2… |
