The Zine UK

2025? WTF.

Firstly… Are you alright out there? Sincerely.

It’s 21 days into the new year as I write this, and it’s honestly taken that long to reflect on 2024 in the Zine-everse and beyond. It is - as ever - impossible to define what TheZineUK is. It has always been easier to define what we are not. We’re not a music magazine. We’re not a fan zine, we’re not a blog, nor a PR vehicle… Yet we have picked shards from the broken mirrors of all of those things. I can’t remember if it was myself or Caffy now, who came up with the fact that we are much more accurately a tapestry. Either way, it’s no doubt a name borrowed heavily from the golden thread that is Patrick Jones and his guerrilla tapestry.

It becomes increasingly clear that not only are we a tapestry, but we are symbiotically first the needle that pulls threads (read: playing class friends) together, as a great connector, second we can be the thread itself, with multicolours and different stitches, some strong and bright, some weakened but still penetrative, and third, we are - or more properly - this website is - the canvas to which we stitch.

…And last year that tapestry weaved itself into more stories, some Caffy has lamented on in her Jan. 5th article here, and some that can be referenced by skimming through the articles on this site. We have been at the forefront of new movements - sometimes only acting as a curious child, holding up a magnifying glass for people with much more understanding or eloquence to see. Last year, we found a tonic to our colonial scars in bands like Kneecap, who kindly let us into their world, and gave us lessons on not just Irish history but on unity and community. We saw the biblical return of MOSES, who after surviving their own personal ten plagues, made a triumphant return to the stage. If 2025 isn’t their year, then the timeline is well and truly broken. We become Soho Vampyres more than once - and how wonderful it was to meet the Kick Down the Doors PR team there, and discover one of our newest heavy rotation bands - Jojo & The Teeth (highly recommended, by the way).

Most of all last year was a lesson for us at TheZineUK that no matter how horrible the outside world becomes, with genocide, the constant threat of nuclear war and a second Trump presidency, our community of Playing Class Friends and 24Hour Party People, have kept us going and restored our faith in humanity when we’ve needed it. Our tapestry we have weaved together, has become a blanket to keep us warm against the cold of the world.

2024 saw a fair bit of professional development… TheZineUK get the highest traffic of our existence, both Caffy and I had moments of being talking heads and nattering as if we were proper professionals, professionally. We saw ourselves at film premieres, exclusive album release parties, speaking at top tables on arts, politics and music, and The Chaos Twins (myself & Ruby Blue) became an established entity all its own in the zeitgeist both here and in the North of Ireland… 2024 felt proper, at yet at the same time the surrealist backdrop of world events make it all both feel poignant and surreal.

Caffy and I, Talking Heads. (..And You may ask yourself….is this a terrible pun?)

So what next? 2025 means TheZineUK needs to be more vigilant that ever. We have to pull the goodness out of the cracks and showcase them to the world.

We’ve already started stitching. Friends meeting us on this journey are The Muso Awards - bands and artists reading can apply to play the awards ceremony at Electric Ballroom here. We’ll also be keeping our eye on Culture Matters, a labour movement co-op that promotes cultural democracy - Poets can submit works to their Peaceweavers Anthology and/or find out more here: info@culturematters.org.uk.

Click the image to check out Culture Matters.

Somewhat fittingly Patrick Jones has a new poetry album out, A Constellation of Sorrows , reflecting on his time in Palestine in 2023, and expressing his solidarity. (Tapestryingly enough, this was also reviewed in my usual haunt The Morning Star.) We have another Cro-Cro Land festival coming up in April - we’ve repped the festival, and the stars behind it since day 1, so you can bet we’ll be at the front of this one - Join us, get yer tickets now! Caff’s done a good list in her article (linked above), so I will shut up now - all this to say - It continues to ALL happen.

via GIPHY

…And as editor of TheZineUK, what can you expect from us this year? Well, after the huge success of the playlists last year, we will be continuing the #ZeenageDaydream playlists. Only this year, to be more efficient at bringing you the best music, we will be producing it at the end of the month, rather than the start. We’ll also do our best to export the playlist to other streaming sites, as we know Spotify isn’t ideologically ideal. We will be producing more regular content - and have an increased online presence going forward. You might even notice some stylistic changes to the site. Also, the Gig Guide will be live and updated every Wednesday, you got a gig you reckon we’ll dig? Send over an email and a photo and we’ll include it on the site, free!

And as always, you know where to find us, to reach out and chat, let us know what you’re up to, how we can help and how we can grow together. We need each other more than ever,

Dizzy.