Interview: Max of Hexarc zine.

The Power of the Printed Word

It looks like the zine renaissance is upon us.  Crawling out of the woodwork and back onto the page.  Maybe it was a Covid boredom that actually produced something positive – not just ill planned children (not referring to my own Covid-era child, of course) or overgrown diaper babies talking about getting back into playing in hardcore bands.  Hexarc is tromping to the top of the heap.  From the start they’ve espoused plans for something bigger.  Coming out of an era where the zine scene was running pretty dry, it’s great to see someone with a little oomph behind ‘em.  

Two issues deep and they’re building with each one.  Number One leaned toward the local Delaware happenings a bit more, which is cool.  Who knows about Delaware outside the greater-Delaware area (not meant as a slight)?  Well, the readers of Hexarc do now.  Highlight of Issue One is a great interview with early Texas punk photographer Pat Blashill. A real page turner!  Issue Two, a little less regional action, but that’s fine cuz they’ve got bigger pictures on their collective mind.  No dip in readability, which is all ya can really ask for.  Issue Three is forthcoming with the promise of a larger format.  Full-size glossy heel turn?  Nah.

Sit back and enjoy this chat with Max from Hexarc zine.  

What was your initial spark to start Hexarc?

It mainly started out as a lockdown-era boredom killer, to be honest. I never really had much of an interest in social media before the pandemic but I decided to give Instagram a try as it seemed like the best option at the time, which it was. At first, there wasn't much of a plan for Hexarc beyond just sharing different photos that I liked from the history of punk, post-punk, and hardcore, and connecting various bits of information about them for anyone interested. I've always loved the visual side of punk rock the most, from the art to the photography, and I thought it might be a fun thing to do for a while. I never expected it to grow as much as it has, but it's been cool to be able to connect with a lot of different people from around the world, including quite a few who either took the photos I've posted or those who were featured in them somehow. I always enjoy reading the stories and learning new pieces of information that I never knew about, that's what keeps it interesting to me.

What motivated you to do a physical zine in the digital age?

As the page grew bigger, I started getting the urge to create a printed off-shoot like the ones I made when I was in my teens, especially after seeing the potential and overall interest. It'd been years since I had last made a zine and it seemed like a good way to get back into it. Smaller DIY zines, for the most part, have withstood the digital age really well; there's a very large community of zine makers around the world covering just about every subject imaginable, as well as people who regularly put on events dedicated to them, and a whole network of libraries with zine-specific collections in them. They just offer something different that can never be replicated digitally on the internet. I'm not even sure if it's the tangibility, entirely, it's just unique to zine culture itself. So, I knew it was a possible thing to do on an underground level, at the very least. I'm under no delusion that screen culture will go away entirely, and it shouldn't, but it's been refreshing to work on something primarily focused 'in the real world' again, even if computers do play a part in the process.

What is your writing background? Have you written a zine before? Were you playing music at all?

I was a music journalist by trade for most of my teens and 20s, I've been writing professionally since I was 13, around the same time I first got into zines actually. For most of that time I was either contributing to magazines or freelancing to others, while making my own zines on the side. I'm 31 now and I've seen first hand just how the print industry has shifted, and not for the better. I was fortunate enough to catch that last wave of diverse print media and regular freelance opportunities before the recession of '07 wiped so many of them out, including a few publications I had actively been contributing to at the time. It's been up and down since then, and my own 'career' interests have shifted quite a bit as well, but I'll always have an interest in music writing to some degree. The concept of music journalism still holds weight to me; documentation is important, but it's easy to get burnt out in that industry, if you can even call it that anymore. I think being able to do things more myself without the constraints of other people's schedules and conflicting editing styles has definitely revived some of the motivation in me, personally. Seeing how the music writing world has changed in terms of relevance, quality, and payment also made starting my own project seem even more sensible, as well. Nowadays, the biggest uncertainty toward the future of journalism in general is AI, and that's an alarming thought for a lot of us. I do hope to see more journalists in every style and focus branch out and form their own publications, even digitally if it has to be, because they are absolutely not safe from corporate interests, not to mention the potential for easier censorship and the corruption of narrative and fact-based reporting, which already exists anyway, but will likely get much worse under AI control. The blueprint for DIY culture can save a lot of things in this world, or at least present a viable fighting chance for those willing. As far as the music side goes, I'm also a drummer as well and that's what I've been focusing on most in life aside from the zine these last few years. I go back and forth.

What prompted you to expand the size? What's your publication schedule?

The reason I decided to move up to a more standard sized magazine format from the 3rd issue on is that it's more affordable in the long run and there will be much more room for content. I want to make bigger issues and that's not the easiest thing to do with smaller sizes, especially with content that has a lot of text. Nobody wants to read 10 or 12 pages of the same interview, at least I don't! Everything has to be smaller, as well, which can be difficult to work around. I do like the compact sizes, though. I wanted to do the first two issues that way as a nod to the first zines I ever made, but I think I'll only use smaller sizes again for special issues in the future. I think they could work well devoted to something like tour diaries or specific gig photography, so ideally Hexarc will get to a point where the main zine is standard size, and then there will be these smaller sized periodic special issues devoted to whatever seems right for those. Maybe even in a handwritten style, like Cometbus, or something. We'll see what happens. Right now, I'm sort of on a loose bi-monthly schedule with the zine, but I'd like to go monthly at some point when I have enough regular contributors to rely on and work with each issue. It's actually quite easy to publish a collaborative printed zine if you have all of the pieces in place, but it really does rely on that and the people you're working with.

Do you have any concerns about trying to do too much with it too soon?

I do, from time to time. I'm definitely prone to thinking too far ahead. Once I do develop an idea that I like, I tend to go way overboard with it and plan it all out for miles ahead, instead of taking the less stressful approach and letting things develop naturally on their own. I'm trying to do that more with this, and also remember that it takes time to build something from nothing, especially these days. Still, I absolutely have a fully formed vision of how Hexarc should be in my head, and it certainly isn't there yet. That's been frustrating at times, but the only answer I've found so far is to just keep working on it with the hope that it'll get where I want it to be at some point.

Any aspect of zines that you hate?

I can't think of any particular aspect of zines that I 'hate', but there's definitely some frustrations involved with making a music specific one that I think a lot of fellow music journalists in general can relate to. The worst for me is always when people don't follow through on things they either offered up themselves or agreed to do when kindly asked. I understand that we're all busy in life and time is a factor, it's okay if you can't complete something at that moment in time, but at least let someone know so they're not left wondering and waiting. There's a lot to be said for common courtesy, even when it's not face to face. I like to believe that most people are sincere in their intentions, but it's curious how some people can switch that off so quickly when you simply never hear from them again. I'll give you an example; I recently had an idea for a piece on independent vinyl record plants around the country, so I contacted 3 different companies with the pitch and every one of them responded immediately, claiming to be really interested and willing to be interviewed for it. After all, it's essentially free promotion, right? So, I wrote out a nice intro and sent out some questions with a very reasonable and adjustable deadline, and I never heard back from any of them, despite repeated attempts to contact them, and that was that. This is what you deal with more and more, and it can really be a drain. In addition, people who don't pay for advertising on time, or at all, despite claiming they will, which has also happened lately, especially with a few locals that was unfortunate. Our rates are some of the most affordable out there, and I'm not beyond discounts as well, so it's frustrating. We obviously need the content and it also helps printing costs. I know some people in punk are against advertising for profit completely but I've always believed that it can serve a mutually beneficial purpose. I remember how fun it was to flip through all of the ads in issues of Maximum Rocknroll, it was always a useful place to find out about new records and bands, and that's something I want to continue because I still believe it's important to keep an underground network strong and connected. Moving forward, I absolutely want to increase the amount of ad space in each issue, but only for relevant and like-minded projects. To me, there's a clear difference between promoting a simple record release or an upstart label then something like big tobacco or booze or even tech companies. There's no comparison. Advertising is like money itself; the concept itself is sketchy, sure, but it's really what you do with it that determines its true moral character.

What do you hope to accomplish with Hexarc?

The goal for Hexarc now is to keep growing the zine and create a viable, regular space to document underground punk and all of its related subgenres. Also, to be more transparent about the many problems in the scene, and better represent marginalized individuals within punk itself. This is especially important because there should be no barriers or inequalities in such a so-called subculture, yet so many do unfortunately exist and we need to keep addressing that. I want Hexarc to become an equally beneficial resource for everyone in the scene, and I want them to feel welcome in reading and contributing. Along those lines, I definitely want to develop a diverse base of regular contributors but also feature more reader submitted content as well. That was always another useful part of Maximum Rocknroll. Maybe the content wasn't always the best at times, but at least they offered a place for everyone to voice their opinions and ideas. There's definitely some really good punk zines out there at the moment, there probably always will be, but nothing has really come close to filling the void left by MRR since they stopped publishing, and that might be somewhat of a goal as well because it's still needed and I'm foolish enough to want to take on that responsibility. I've played around with the idea of opening the zine up to all types of music, but I've struggled to find a coherent way to present it, and that goes back to your question of taking on too much at once, which would likely be the case. So an additional, more free-form type of music zine may appear at some point in the future, if Hexarc can get to a place of self-sustainability. As I stated before, it's really not that difficult to do, in my experience. Layout and design is a breeze for me, and you usually know what to expect when actually going to print. It's the content that really makes or breaks an issue, but if you have that kind of help, it's still pretty feasible to do a printed publication. The interest is certainly there, we just need more help and follow through.

How do you handle distribution? Where can people get issues?

I'll be printing more copies of each issue from #3 on, and those will always be available through us directly for $5. International shipping has become a lot more difficult lately, unfortunately, so until I can establish some kind of solid distribution options overseas we may start offering high quality digital copies for interested readers outside of the US, likely at a cheaper cover price. Locally, we usually distribute through record shops, and I'm definitely interested in expanding to other record and book shops throughout the US. If we can get to a point where it makes sense, affordable subscription plans will also be introduced.

Favorite zines, blogs, or general music writing.

There's a lot of cool stuff happening at the moment. As far as printed punk zines go, Negative Insight, General Speech, and Razorblades And Aspirin are always solid choices. Burn Barrel Press in New Orleans is publishing these really incredible photo zines at the moment, some of which focus on different punk scenes. I like the photo zines a lot because in many ways photography is the ultimate form of music journalism, visual documentation will always be more truthful than the written word as it's all there to see. I still love reading Fluke and Cometbus, whenever those come out. In the UK, there's the revived Raising Hell Fanzine which is just as good as it ever was, and a host of others from different countries as well, namely Sweden and Japan. I'm probably forgetting some other crucial ones, actually. For non-punk zines, I have to shout out Dead Bird Chronicles for the art and writing alone and Green Fire, which will be put out by my dear friend Colette about ecology and environmental issues and aided by her very cool illustrative work. I don't read too many blogs anymore, Yellow Green Red is a good one, but I'm not familiar with too many current ones. There are quite a few good other punk photo accounts on Instagram that are worth a follow, however. My friend Hector posts a lot of rare crust, d-beat, and noise pictorial history on his @noise.raid account, which is a favorite. The photographer Rachael Shorr is always posting really cool gig shots that I love @worldupmyflash. I also have another good friend who posts different records from her collection, which is cool because it's a lot of rare 60s garage and psych finds, and that can be found at @van_cortlandt. Instagram can be pretty tiring but like anything it's all in how you use it, and I always enjoy checking out the music related accounts.

Top 5 releases or bands to come out of Delaware.

Delaware's kind of a weird place, a lot of people leave it for good reason. I don't even know how much longer I'll be here, to be honest. As far as the best bands to come out of the state, I'd have to say:

-The Enfields: (1960s)

-The Numbers: (1970s/1980s)

-Smashing Orange (1990s)

-Spindrift (1990s)

-Plow United (1990s)

For newer bands, I'd say Eyebawl, Grace Vonderkuhn, and Lemmeno, who are all pretty different from each other stylistically. There's no one sound here, for better or worse, but there's definitely talent and potential going around. Sadly, the kind of hardcore I've always liked has never been too prominent here, there were some good bands on the "Delaware Hardcore" tape that was put out in the 80s (long since out of print, but perhaps due for a reissue) but most were short lived and not widely known outside of the state. Instead, we had a large post-hardcore and early emo scene in the mid to late 90s and into the 2000s for whatever reason, that still gets mentioned. Different strokes, I guess. Thanks for the interview, by the way, I appreciate the interest.