Out of the Darkness: An Interview with Ex-Yugo HC Punk Zine Publishers

Serbia-based Out of the Darkness is without doubt among the best Balkan hardcore punk zines out there.

With 10 issues under their belt, you’ll get valuable insights into the ex-Yugo hardcore punk scene from past to present, as well as some great interviews with bands and people involved within the hardcore scene in rest of Europe and the world. In this interview, you’ll learn more about this great fanzine and the motivations behind their authors’ passion, straight from the source!

Let’s start with an introduction to your fanzine! What was the initial idea to start Out of the Darkness, and how did the zine change from its first issue to the epic latest one?

Zgro: It started about ten years ago; as a webzine by several people from the Novi Sad, Serbia punk scene. Nemanja and I became zine partners in; writing reviews, news and gig reports. In 2016, I’ve decided to do pilot the first issue of the printed zine. In my belief it is very important, and sought after for punk fans, to have a tactile copy of the fanzine. Nemanja joined, while previous collaborators left. Since then, we’ve published ten issues, currently we are working on Out of the Darkness #11 for the following Autumn/Fall.

Nemanja: At the beginning, I was indifferent as I thought printed matter won’t attract many people. I was rather wrong; we’ve been receiving positive reactions and are humbly overwhelmed by everyone’s support. If we were to compare the 10th and the 1st issue, it became obvious that we’ve gathered many supporters from Former Yugoslavia region. With that being said; this is something I was aspiring to, since we started taking our work seriously. As of now, there are 15 people from: Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and also Balkan diaspora, whom are also deeply involved in the punk scene, and willing to write and further assist. In the near future; I would like to pivot our model and include younger people. Right now, 90% of contributors involved in Out of The Darkness are age 35 and above.

What is your general process from start to finish for an issue of Out of the Darkness? Is this a collective effort? Basically, how many people have contributed with interviews, translations and writings so far?

Zgro: Nemanja and myself started from scratch, while many of our friends helped us with reviews, reports, columns, interviews, and art… He is connected well with sheer amount of people from the scene via social media, and we were both into punk rock for decades.

Nemanja: We conceptualize ideas thoroughly before each of the respective issues. However, we noticed a pattern, as we get to the final stage of the process, we’ve are continuously running out of pages as there is a set limit with our printer. Especially right now, as so many people are involved, it is impossible to satisfy everyone’s requests. In the new issue we even managed to convince Marko of Vitamin X for an interview, in addition to writing reviews for us. As for the website and social media, I am the only one working on these.

Igor doesn’t get involved in digital space, and social media. He is focused on the handling part of the zine process. (e.g. orders, printing, merchandise and shipping) With great help of Djole!

Why do you think it’s important for non-English speaking countries to have DIY punk zines in their native tongue? Are there any other active zines from the Yugo region that are doing the job of keeping the scene alive?

Zgro: People who write for the zine are all from Ex-Yu region. This is their ‘mother tongue’ (mutually intelligible across several different Balkan nations), hence we’ve never thought about writing it in English, or any other language. There are few printed fanzines in the Balkans.

Nemanja: Well, since the beginning I wanted to have columns, I like to believe that Punk is more than just a music. Although, our spoken English might be good, I think the best way to express ourselves is in writing on our native language.

I don’t see the point in writing in English anymore. The time has passed when people from the west were viewing Former Yugoslavia punk scene as novelty like it was in the 80s (Good example; mid-eighties Slovenian hardcore punk scene).

Better to have a strong impact on our stomping grounds, then try to impress someone that is far removed from what we do. Don’t forget the financial factor. Postage rates are high, and I don’t believe that someone from Germany, or Netherlands will pay €10 to get zine from Ex-Yugoslavia.

As far as I know, in Serbia, there is Oprem Dobro fanzine with 105 issues behind their back, these however are only in digital format. In Croatia, there’s Virus fanzine with one printed issue, and also new fanzine from Pula named OOPS, done by great young guy Luka.

Alex who plays in the band Disease (Skopje, North Macedonia) publishes Just a nightmare fanzine, and if I understood correctly, it’s a monthly publication. Check out his Instagram page for more info.

I have a bunch of zines from Serbia and Croatia from around 2000 to 2010, but I’d be really interested to learn more about the punk zine culture in Yugoslavia from past to present. I know this is a huge topic, but can you briefly go over some of the most important zines you know about?

Nemanja: Well, you might have more fanzines from Ex-Yugoslavia than me. They were left at my mom’s apartment, and she threw away my whole collection, hence I’m left only with the fanzines that I’ve personally made.

The most important fanzine for me is Tri Drugara, which is the fanzine that Zgro did back in 90s, this is how we got connected. I don’t think I’d enjoy it now, as much as I did when I was 14. With that said, I won’t forget what this zine meant to me back in the day.

As for brief history of fanzines in this part of the world, I suggest you to check this article that was written by Dario Adamić, great friend that did Zips and Chains fanzine in 80s and 90s and right know he is involved in reissuing punk hardcore classics on No Plan Records. he is also behind Goodwill Records, you might have heard of…

You’ve done some excellent interviews with bands like Chain Cult from Greece, King of Sorrow from Bulgaria, etc. Do you think it’s important to keep an eye on the Balkan scene in the surrounding countries outside of the Yugo region?

Zgro: There are plenty of good bands worth the interview, but we are running out of room as mentioned before. We are trying to cover local and regional scenes first, afterwards some European/World names… To us, we don’t differentiate bands from Portugal, Finland to ones from Greece and Bulgaria.

What are some of the highlights of the zine so far? Your favorite interviews, articles, etc.? Is there something you’re really proud of putting out there for people to read

Zgro: Almost every issue has some great and exciting content! I will mention few of the most interesting interviews: Red Dons, Chris Colohan from SECT, Mike Gitter from xXx fanzine and Apology, Dwid from Integrity, Battery, Grand Collapse, Jaded Eyes, together with lots of great Serbian and Ex-Yu goodies… Also, there was a splendid article in last issue—”Blast from the Past,” where we had people from the old school crowd, and bands who attended the shows in Ex-Yu in the late 80s, such as Verbal Assault and Youth Of Today.

Nemanja: I’m excited of the transcription of the interview I’ve done with Mike Gitter about his xXx fanzine book. I spent literally two weeks on that book. Swallowed each segment of it, and I was really psyched to have him in the zine. He was rather surprised with questions I’ve sent, and answered everything in less than 24 hours. I’m rather moved by the conversation I had with John Brannon of Negative Approach. After their show I hesitated to ask him about doing the interview. On stage that guy is pure evil, but behind that mask he is such a good person, and a great story teller. Career Suicide is a band I followed from the beginning of their career, hence that conversation was fun! We didn’t just recycle same old stories about the “good old times” and something that was in the 80s, but about the moments we all experienced.

I’m really impressed by the artwork of Davor Gromilović who did the cover artwork for your latest issue. Tell me about the artists you’ve worked with

Zgro: We prefer to keep the artwork fresh; we add new talent/artist for each new issue. Nemanja chooses most of them, they all very thankful for their work being promoted on our front covers. Besides these ten people, many others from Ex-Yu scene did some artwork on their own, which was printed as complimentary stickers.

Nemanja: Well, Davor is well known for his art, and it was such a great experience to work with him. Additionally, he is well established outside of the Balkans and we are so proud of his achievements.

I’ve been in contact with him since the early 2000s, yet we still haven’t met. He was deeply into punk, had his own label and band Csihás Benö. He is little older now, and is setting his priorities straight, and became more focused on his art. Thumbs up for that, as ‘punk is just a waste of time’. Everything that he is doing is superb! I really hope to have him again working with us.

As for other contributors, I find them via social media or word to mouth. Most of the times these folks are connected to the scene in some ways, or honestly I really like their work. Each cover of the fanzine was done by a different individual. Some of those artists include Doomsday Graphics, Cartbox, Contemporary Bart. They are great in what they are doing.

Cover page of the upcoming issue will be done by Ljuba, former bass player of punk rock band Red Union, and currently bass player in Vršnjacko nasilje. Old friend and great artist, he has done work for many others as well.

Besides publishing your fanzine in a printed form, you’re also putting out a lot of stuff on your website. What is your take on webzines and fanzine archives online? What do you think of MRR going digital?

Nemanja: Website is mainly there to showcase the presence of the zine, and to publish content we’ve printed. We don’t pay much attention to it; our main focus is printed format of the zine. That is why our website is missing materials published in the 9th and 10th issue.

Maximum rock’n’roll had to stop in the mid 00s, because their politics changed, and they were promoting stuff I’m not into. Their reviews were banal, and sometimes it seemed like that they don’t even listen to the music they are reviewing. I stopped following them, as I don’t like to read long articles over the computer screen.

You’re doing zine reviews. Let’s talk about your favorite fanzines from 2020 and 2021.

Zgro: The only zine, pardon, magazine which I’m reading cover to cover is about UK hardcore punk called; Down For Life. Keep an eye of the new Novi Sad zine which is coming out soon, and is done by Miljan (ex-The Bayonets) who runs Ljudi iz podzemlja podcast and plays in the the aforementioned band Vršnjačko nasilje.

Nemanja: I just finished My War fanzine from Belgium. Razorblades and Aspirin is good too. I’m glad Mike Thorn improved his interviews. I hope someone will get to publish that fanzine in Europe, as ordering stuff outside EU became impossible because of all the new regulations, tariffs and taxes.

How did the pandemic affect the hardcore punk scene in your region? What’s the state of hardcore at the moment?

Zgro: It is the same everywhere, not only in Serbia. Big names will survive, not only in music. The bigger problem is with smaller venues and promoters. In the other hand punk will always finds a way.

I saw lots of Serbian metal/punk/hardcore bands at Exit festival few weeks ago at Explosive stage, and they all sounded great. Everyone was enthralled to play live after a year and a half of hard stop.

Thank you so much. Anything else to add?

Thank you for the opportunity. Hope to see you somewhere soon!!!

OOTD #11 is on the way!

Follow Out of the Darkness on their website, Facebook and Instagram.

Source: diyconspiracy.net