I read about this zine in an issue of Raising Hell (early 90s): the contacts mentioned were Wiktor Skok & Wojtek Draz (from Łódź, Poland) The latter wasn’t an editor but probably someone who sent the zine out (Wojtek Drążkowski a.k.a. Chudy?)… I found 2 issues on the www:
#3 (20 pages) contains a feature on ‘Misfits’, an interview with ‘Fugazi’, Mykel Board’s Scumrock story, a talk with ‘ZygZak’ Krzysztof Chojnacki (singer in a punk band), info on the industrial band ‘Throbbing Gristle’, an interview with the avantguarde band ‘Pere Ubu’, translated lyrics by ‘Swans’, ‘Chaos UK’ & ‘Sonic Youth’, and more.
#5 (68 pages; subtitled Todays World Is Now / Punk Is Here Today / If You Don’t Like Our Way / Fuckin’ Go Away!) presents ‘The Adverts’, ‘Black Flag’ (Henry Rollins), ‘The Cramps’, ‘New York Dolls’, ‘Jingo De Lunch’ & ‘Einstürzende Neubauten’; there’s interviews with ‘Disorder’, ‘ForceFed’ & the graphic artist Jeff Gaither; lyrics by various bands, zine-/audio-/gig-reviews, more on ‘Throbbing Gristle’, etc.
Zygoma was published from 1988 to 1993 (? issues). In ’93 Wiktor founded the industrial/experimental outfit ‘Jude’ (of which he was/is the vocalist)…
Brob
From the www: >>Wiktor Skok is a protagonist/pillar of industrial culture in Łódź and a long-time animator of the hardcore/punk scene; the vocalist and frontman of the band ‘Jude’ and publisher of the zine Plus Ultra. He’s a musician, visual artist, publicist, DJ, promoter (Wunder Wave; independent concerts, screenings integrating the local punk and hardcore community), curator of music- and art-projects. He explores the possibilities of various media, platforms of communication and expression. Author of graphics, posters, leaflets, logo’s, videos, etc. He usually combines visual arts with music or noise (industrial, electro-industrial, EBM, power-noise).<<
I just loved the idea of doing a zine; (trying to) presenting music, ideas, visuals in my own way; spreading my vision on punk (knowing there’s a lot of other ways)… Zygoma is a part of facial anatomy [the zygomatic bone is a bone of the human skull, the cheekbone], the name sounded good…
Wiktor Skok
In June ’90 I helped ‘ForceFed’ touring because it was the band of (ex)’Heresy’s Kalvin Peiper. They had already done a Smurfpunx show 90-02-17. Besides Kalv on bass, the band consisted of Jamie Sims (vocals) and brothers Nick (guitar) & Nige(l) Clark (drums). After that Kalv left the band to be replaced by Neil Pitfield, and they took Mike Knowlton (of Sycophant recs) as their new singer. This interview dates from 1991.
[Translation below]
+ We’ll start with a short introduction. Tell us something about the band’s history and what you have released so far.
– ‘ForceFed’ was formed in April 1989, consisting of: Jamie [Sims] (vocals), Kalv(in) [Peiper] (ex-‘Heresy’; bass) Nick [Clark] (guitar), Nige(l) [Clark] (drums). First we released Claustrophobia (In Your Face recs [Kalvin Peiper], Nottingham, UK) which was recorded in September 1989. Immediately after touring England and Europe, John Peel (Radio One/BBC [90-03-18]) asked us to do a recording-session for his programme in March 1990.
Then we recorded our first 7” Full Up And Loaded (Limited Edition recs [Till Neurath], Bremen, Germany) in April 1990. It was then that we had a line-up change: the former vocalist was replaced by Mike [Knowlton] and after the second European tour, Kalv also left the band and was replaced by our current bassplayer Neil [Pitfield]. We finally recorded the second ‘ForceFed’ album Elounda Sleeps (Sycophant recs [Mike Knowlton], Nottingham, UK) in November 1990 after having recorded the second 7” Fast Forward/Big Dig (Sister recs [René Herbst], Rülzheim, Germany).
Since the release of the second album Elounda Sleeps, we’ve been invited to do another recording-session at the BBC for John Peel for the second time; that happened in January this year [91-01-08].
We have future plans to record another single and a new LP later this year.
+ Why did you start playing?
– We started playing as a band because we had similar musical tastes and because there were a lot of bands playing at the time that had a huge influence on us. We like bands such as ‘Poison Idea’ and ‘Bad Brains’.
+ What does ‘ForceFed’ stand for and how would you interpret the name?
– It’s simply an idea for a name to reflect the effect of being subjected to something you can’t escape, i.e. powerful music or other experiences that happen in life. ‘ForceFed’.
+ What can you say tell us your music? What kind of definition would you give to someone who has never heard you?
– Actually, sometimes it’s very difficult for us to describe what we play because it’s hard to define. It’s best if we just say it’s a mixture of hardcore and heavy metallic rock. We listen to a lot of different kinds of music but when we play, we play hard-hitting music, which is mainly based on very powerful guitar and vocals.
+ Tell us about your lyrics, what influences them? Are they the result of your experiences and reflections? Are they intended to move the public?
– All the lyrics are written by Mike, the vocalist, and are generally based on his personal experiences. Sometimes these lyrics mean something completely different to other people. So you don’t really know what effect a song like this will have. In the past, people completely misunderstood our lyrics.
+ What is the relationship between ‘ForceFed’ and ‘Heresy’ & ‘Ripcord?
– As explained in the beginning, our first bassplayer was in ‘Heresy’, and as far as ‘Ripcord’ is concerned, we’ve got nothing to do with them so far. However, ‘Heresy’ did share a guitarist with ‘Ripcord’.
+ What are your shows like in the UK?
– Most of them are very good even the smaller ones. But sometimes when we tour with well-known bands from the States, they seem to get a bigger reaction from the audience, which you probably know well. The same happens with other bands touring Europe. And sometimes it seems to us that we’re better received in Europe when we play as the main band of the night (headliner) after a local band (support band).
+ What’s the scene like in your area and what place do you have in it?
– We’ve had a well-developed scene in our city of Nottingham for a good few years now. It mainly started in the mid 80s with bands like ‘Heresy’ & ‘Concrete Sox’, and a few good clubs where you could go to see HC bands. Since then it has all grown and although tastes are more varied, there are still many places where you can see bands live.
Since we started playing as ‘ForceFed’ we’ve always been well received in Nottingham and we still play gigs in our area. Our records also sell well in Nottingham. Most of the bands here help each other to organise rehearsal- and concert-venues.
+ How do you think the band should be connected to the scene?
– I think the idea is that the band organising their own promotion and maintaining interest in by doing what they can to help the local scene. We have a lot of people in the area playing in bands and running their own small businesses, but also bigger ones like Earache [Digby Pearson; Nottingham, UK]. This all gives bands a better chance of releasing something on vinyl and keeping interest in smaller bands.
+ What’s commercialism in your opinion?
– Most people will say that commercialism is bad, it kills people and destroys natural values. But that’s only one side of it, because we’re all affected by it in some way, whether we like it or not. Commercialisation means exchanging material on a large and small scale. Everyone who buys records, T-shirts, etc. is affected by commercialism. And I think that’s why bands are so easily accused of selling out. I think people should know how much efforts a band makes to get somewhere, that they don’t get much money for a show or a record. There needs to be more understanding, especially when people don’t think about the fact that they’re overpaying for the latest imported record from America, for example.
+ What do you think of all those music-press dinosaurs like N.M.E. [New Musical Express], M.M. [Melody Maker], Sounds? Can you find articles about independent groups in them?
– Mostly these publications have been quite lazy in respect to providing information about independent bands. Mostly it’s a chore for the music-journalists working for these newspapers, because of their narrowminded musical tastes, and their complete lack of interest in smaller companies and independent bands. Although recently Sounds has started to feature a lot of hardcore and independent bands, like ourselves (‘ForceFed’), with articles and album-reviews. Unfortunately, Sounds has recently ended up as a music-magazine, so it seems that we will still have to rely on magazines that focus on non-independent music.
+ What do you do besides playing in the band? What does your everyday life look like?
– The members of ‘ForceFed’ have to eat and play eqaully! So to earn some money, we work when we can. Mike (vocals) runs his own record-label Sycophant and this takes up most of his time, as well as singing in ‘Meatfly’, his other band. Nige (drums) works for a construction-company. So does Neil (bass). Myself (Nick), I work when I find a job, and also read and write new material for the band.
+ Is there anything you would like to say to Polish readers?
– I would just like to say that in the UK we’re very interested in what the scene is like in Poland, and the members of ‘ForceFed’ are looking forward to touring Poland in September this year. We’ve heard lots of good things about the people in Poland and their willingness to see bands live. So we look forward to meeting you soon!
CLAUSTROPHOBIA [lyrics] * LIES [lyrics]
Brob Tilt's zine-world 2 