Difference between revisions of "Clinton"

Revision as of 14:40, 30 April 2006

Clinton was a sometimes controversial Htown music zine, published from late 1999 till 2001.

Clinton's Early History

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.

Aided by the free photocopying facilities provided by Hindsight CDs, Clinton quickly became an eagerly awaited part of many people's week. Up till issue ten,The majority of the material was written by the five above, and put together by Emma (apart from issue six, which was put together solely by Dan Duran, the rest being away doing more interesting things for the millenium weekend). As the group weren't widely known amongst the Htown music crowds of the time (all being teenagers (whom had only just acquired th rights to go to bars) bar Jed), Clinton was able to push any buttons the writers wanted 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

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 single 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.

The article, recieved a month earlier, was published with all identifying information blacked out; but to those in the know, the targets in the article were obvious.

After a short break to let the dust settle, Clinton resumed, concetrating on covering the 2000 Battle of the Bands and Band Experiments competitions. Routinely coming out every Friday morning throughout mid 2000, production of the zine had switched to the G3 Mac room at WINTEC (largely due to the free printing, as opposed to the 10c a sheet being charged in the PC room next door).

This article is yet to be completed.