Zine Review: Papercore #13

The international DIY punk community suffered a devastating blow this past week with the sudden passing of Bill Chamberlain. Bill was one of the kindest, most genuine people I’ve ever encountered. He was also an incredible guitarist who played in more bands than I can count. Over the past few years, we kept in touch through social media, and I had been meaning to interview him about his numerous projects (Mankind?, Aus-Rotten, Behind Enemy Lines, The Pist, The Brood, etc.), and especially his latest band The Dissidents and the benefit comps he was working on for Gaza. I regret that delay deeply now. All my love goes out to his wife Rachel and everyone close to him.

To be honest, I haven’t felt like listening to many new records lately. Recently, I’ve preferred to spend as much time as possible outdoors, or to take a break from screen time by reading a book or zine. It feels fitting, then, that July is International Zine Month. I’ve always made an effort to review at least a few zines around this time each year. And much like DIY Conspiracy, Papercore bills itself as an “International Punk Zine” that covers similar parts of the scene. However, it’s strictly a paper affair, living up to its name.

Issue #13 of Papercore hit all the things I love about small presses. It brought back what I’ve always loved most about punk zines: scene and tour reports. That style of writing is fading fast in our online-centric world, but it takes center stage here. Actually, there are no band interviews at all. Instead, there’s a dive into the Polish DIY punk scene from Borys (of Laxity and Pisuar), plus loads of tour stories.

The standout is the second part of a Balkan tour report from No Sanctuary, which means you’ll need Papercore #12 for the first half. No Sanctuary is a slow, weird crust punk band from the Basque Country with a heavy Psychic TV influence. Their recent tour took them through often-overlooked corners of the Balkans, alongside Bulgarian comrades Voyvoda and Snakeatsnake. No Sanctuary are sharp thinkers and articulate storytellers, and while their music might feel like an initiation into the weird and esoteric, I hope more zine editors start featuring bands like this instead of giving space to the same hyped hardcore bands with so little to say.

Another favorite piece came from Manual de Combate, the Chilean anarcho-jazz-post-hardcore group, detailing their short February 2025 tour. We’ve covered them many times before on DIY Conspiracy, including a review of their latest experimental release. Toulouse-based sci-fi punks Space Bucket also contributed a piece about the DIY venues they’ve played, and there’s a show recap from Hot Sauce Party’s gig in Marseille, written by a band member. I’ve seen a lot of people pushing back against AI art lately and calling for real artists to get the support they desrve, so it was cool to see this issue include a feature on some of the best DIY punk visual artists. Folks who can design your band’s artwork, merch, gig/tour posters, etc.

There’s also the usual review section. Ironically, my least favorite part of the zine was my own review of Liz Pelly’s book Mood Machine, which takes an in-depth look at why Spotify sucks so much. This book review turned out way longer than any other review in the zine and reads more like an extended rant than anything. It takes up too much space that could’ve easily gone to five other record or zine reviews. I wish I’d made it shorter and more to the point so it wouldn’t stick out so awkwardly.

Anyway, you can reach out to Papercore on Instagram and find about back issues via their blog. They’ve got 13 issues so far, and they have distributors across Europe. Keep it real, read more zines, spend less time online (unless you’re checking in at DIY Conspiracy), and fuck Spotify forever!