Seit einigen Jahren beteiligen wir uns am International Zine Month, so auch in diesem Jahr. Die Beiträge bündeln wir unter dem Hashtag #IZM2020. Bisher haben wir als Mitarbeiter*innen hauptsächlich Zines vorgestellt, die uns wichtig sind oder die wir neu in der Sammlung haben. Für dieses Jahr haben wir uns eine neue Rubrik überlegt: „Who’s that Zinester?“
Wir stellen euch in den kommenden Wochen Zinemacher*innen vor, deren Zines wir toll finden und in der Sammlung haben, mit denen wir arbeiten oder einfach so in einem engen Austausch sind. Wir haben eine kleine Auswahl an Menschen unsere Fragen geschickt und hier sind ihre Antworten.
Heute stellen wir euch Evelyn vor. Kennengelernt haben wir Evelyn und ihr Zine Vinyldyke 2019 über Twitter, woraus dann ein IRL Besuch im Archiv folgte und wow, das Zine ist seitdem ganz schön durch die die Decke gegangen. Evelyn scheint da wohl einen Nerv getroffen zu haben. Wir finden es jedenfalls ziemlich super.
Tell us about your zine/ project
I make a zine called ‚Vinyldyke‘. It is an old-school looking music fanzine, all cut and paste with scissors and gluestick, and type-written. I call my writing style diy rock journalism, to move away from classic music journalism, always adding personal comments and stories.

What was the reason to start your own zine? Did someone or something inspire you?
My friend Nina from Gent, Belgium, produces the zine ‚Same Heartbeats‘. She writes about her travels, feminist events and (her own) music, from a very personal perpective. You can find such an enthusiastic attitude and so much encouragement in her zines, you’ll have to make your own zine after reading them.
What is the first zine you ever fell in love with?
I remember the first zines I came across in the early 2000, punk and riot grrrl zines, had letters so tiny, I wasn’t able to read them. Only a few years ago, I’ve found zines that were using bigger fonts…
A zine you would recommend because it deals with issues you care about
All issues of ‚Same Heartbeats‘ that I mentioned earlier. You can learn a lot about making zines from those. I recommend doing a lot of zine trades with various people, so you’ll get a lot of new ideas and inspiration.

Zine related places you visited or want to visit in the future? Tell us why!
I have done so many zine trades with people in so many different countries. A number of small stores in the US and the UK even sell my zines. One day, when I was preparing a lot of US orders, I decided, why not travel where my zine are going? So I started planning a trip across the USA for summer 2020. It has fallen through now during the pandemic, but I hope I’ll be able visit all those places and fellow zinesters as soon as possible.
What projects are you involved in besides publishing zines?
I play in a Berlin-based grunge band called Passionless Pointless. Jyoti, Kate and I have released our demo tape as a real cassette in March and we’re going to record our first album in August. Playing in a band is very similar to making zines, I think. You’ve got the writing, the creativity, the creative output and the best thing – meeting other people who are into the same kind of stuff. Also, I can write about our music in my fanzine, just the way I like it.
A collaboration you are dreaming about?
More comics, drawings and illustrations, that’s what I’d like for the next issue of Vinyldyke. I’m so bad at drawing, there surely need to be collaborations.
What would you be more interested in? A zine about cats or dogs?
I once did a zine trade and the mini zine I got was called ‚Do You Have a Male Cat?‘. I’m allergic to both cats and dogs, so it didn’t sound that interesting to me. But it turned out it was a zine about language
learing! if you’re hung over, you have a ‚male cat‘ in German! And if you worked out too hard, you’ll have a ‚muscle cat‘ the next day. I loved it. The zine was written by stolzlippen.
A zine about your teen crush would be about?
I don’t think I had a teen crush. Maybe I’ll do a zine about my teenage role models one day – Axl Rose, Jon Bon Jovi, Kurt Cobain and Nick Cave, just to see if other queer people experienced the same.
Which fellow zinester would you rob a bank with and why?
There are so many!
Your life motto or a message you want to share
Passionless=pointless. I love nerdiness in people and seeing how much they’re into what they’re doing. Put your time and energy into what you love and what’s important to you.