Lit Bombast: Suburban Relapse

Oh, the information age. In which even those things which are meant to be impermanent, crude, DIY, and hyper-local, are now preserved for all and for eternity via digitization. If it sounds like I’m complaining, I’m not (for once). Behold my new/old zine obsession: Suburban Relapse, named after this song, of course.

SR focuses on the early-’80s southern Florida punk scene, but also features many other classic east coast groups like Bad Brains and Mission of Burma. There are also some international legends like (personal favs) the Birthday Party. Oh, and for some awful reason, they even talk to U2.

The best part about all of this? You don’t have to dig through stacks and stacks of papers at Thrillhouse hoping to stumble upon a copy of Suburban Relapse. You can simply download ALL 13 issues of the punk zine here, from the comfort of your own sad basement. (But for real, I’m into this digitizing cool old publications thing.) I highly recommend the Gun Club interview from Issue #5, in which Jeffrey Lee Pierce answers the question, “Favorite albums of the last year?” with “I wish there was a liquor store around here.”

Obvs you need to listen to this 3-hour Florida punk special whilst reading.

Maybe someone will make a book out of like Ablaze, We Got Power, Touch + Go…