Clinton
Clinton was a sometimes controversial Htown music zine, published from late 1999 till 2001. For a list of individual Clinton issues and scans, please see Clinton Issues.
The Early History[edit]
Started by future NZ Musician writer Emma Philpott, Clinton's very first issue was printed on a single sheet of folded up A4 paper, and came out in November 1999. Virtually a solo effort for the first couple of issues, Clinton was notable for being a zine that didn't focus on the punk/hardcore scenes, and was (at first) fairly apolitical. From around the third issue, Emma was joined in producing the now eight A5 page (2 sheets of A4 stapled and folded) zine by Jed, Amy, and Dan Duran whom were all members of noise-pop band SophieXEnola at the time, and Ben. Clinton was produced using photycopying generously provided by Bill of Hindsight CDs. Clinton enjoyed a following in the Hamilton music scene as an entertaining (and most importantly, free) way to follow gigs, gossip and goings on.
Up until issue ten, the majority of the material was written by the five above, and usually put together by Emma. As the group weren't widely known amongst the Htown music crowds of the time (all being teenagers whom had only just acquired the rights to go to bars, bar Jed), Clinton was able to push any buttons the writers wanted to without fear of backlash. Within two months of beginning, Clinton was already banned from JBCs, one of the only regular live venues of the time, for an article slamming coffee and jazz culture - two of JBCs' main revenue flows. Sticking to their goal of promoting Hamilton music however, the group decided to continue promoting the bar's gigs regardless.
After ten issues, Emma left Hamilton for Wellington, and the others continued to produce the zine as a team up until issue #17.
The Middle Ages[edit]
After issue #17, Dan Duran took over production of Clinton, as the others' enthusiasm had waned a little since its beginnings. One of the first desicions he made proved to be perhaps the thing for which Clinton is best remembered, for better or worse - the publication of an anonymously submitted damning article on UFM, its staff and culture (Issue 19).
The article, received a month earlier, was published with all identifying information blacked out; but to those in the know, the targets in the article were obvious.
Afterwards, a short break was taken to let the dust settle (during which Mark Tupuhi published an unauthorised issue of Clinton (#21), largely based around the adventures of Dolf de Datsun's bass guitar), and Clinton resumed publication with issue #22 (recognising Tupuhi's rogue issue as canon), concentrating on covering the 2000 Battle of the Bands and Band Experiments competitions. These competitions would usually be held on a Thursday night, at which Dan Duran would get horribly inebriated, solicit opinions from others, take notes of his own, and generally make stuff up. The next morning, hungover like hell, he'd try and make sense of the notes, piece together an article, print it off on the Macs at WINTEC, trudge over to Hindsight CDs, copy it, distribute it, walk home and go back to sleep.
Just prior to the commencement of the Battle of the Bands, UFM management decided that any band who entered the Band Experiments would not be allowed to take part in the Battle Of the Bands, which was happening around the same time. This lead to the farcical situation where bands were entering both anyway, but using a fake band name for one of the competitions. Clinton's response was to slam UFM, and publish a cover with an army of droids from Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, bearing the initials 'UFM' on their chests.
Throughout this period of Clinton's history, several others also contributed material, most notably future NZ Musician/NZ Herald writer Kiran Dass and future Vetox bass player Tonamu. The impending release of Radiohead's Kid A began to dominate the pages also, climaxing in an entire issue devoted to the album on its release in October.
The Decline and Fall Of[edit]
Clinton continued publication into 2001 a little less regularly than before, and a little less anarchically. Highlights of this later period included an ongoing cartoon satire on Linkin Park and the mainstream music industry from Tonamu, slightly higher production qualities and a more consistent focus on Hamilton music news and events.
Eventually the zine ended production quietly in mid 2001, after 54 issues. The Hamilton Music A-Z which had begun in Clinton lived on in the pages of Nexus.
In the early days, it was suggested that one day Clinton would return, as Clintron. To date, this has not occured.
