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Boyeater

My names James and I’m twenty years old. I wrote my first fanzine, an atrocious self-indulgent piece of press office fodder named ‘Aiki Do’, at age fourteen. I carried this on for a further six issues and slowly but surely fell in love with punk rock. Inspired by organisations like ‘Slampt’ and ‘Spazoom’, and this thing called riot grrrl, and bands like Fugazi and Bis and the Make Up and The Pastels – things that I’d read about in other fanzines - I decided I wanted to do more. I fell in love with the notion of DIY. My record collection GREW. I began to understand the relationship between politics and pop. I started going to gigs in people’s front rooms and staying on sofas all over the land. That’s when I decided I wanted to be more than a nerdy boy sitting on tour buses talking to drug addled popstars who said nothing to me, that’s when I decided I wanted to listen to music, watch films, read books, go to events – WHICH ACTUALLY SAID SOMETHING TO ME ABOUT MY LIFE. Writing a fanzine had made me realise that it wasn’t just me who felt like I did. Pissed at the world, with doubts about myself, AND A SEVERE HANGUP WITH POPULAR CULTURE. That’s why I started this. This thing called Boyeater. The Boyeater Underground Organisation came to life at the start of nineteen ninety seven, initially to serve as an outlet to publish various examples of underground print press and to distribute records and fanzines I thought were cool. But then it became more. I started putting out c-90 compilations of bands I liked, and who’d let me release their music. I started writing ‘personal fanzines’, I started like, a million bands. In the September of nineteen ninety-eight I moved to Sunderland, a small city in the North East of England, to study Media and Cultural studies. I like it here. I like living by the sea and living in a place with such a rich musical past. I mean Leatherface and Kenickie came from here, two of my favourite bands ever! I’d always been in bands all throughout my teenage years, mainly because I like to scream into microphones in front of people. And so I formed ‘Mavis’, a slightly c-86 obsessed pop group who played fast and loud. Disgusted by the lack of places to play in Sunderland I realised that if we were going to play shows then I might have to put shows on myself. I mean, how hard could it be? You have to understand that at this stage there were NO gigs happening. There was no where to go if you didn’t like pop/dance nonsense. This would have to change. To date Boyeater has put on shows by the following bands and people – Milky Wimpshake, Remus, Brilliantine, Mos Eisley, UP/YZ, Comatose, Spraydog, Chyio, Milo, Dr Delta, Hoth, Math, The Mighty Book, International Strike Force, Pillbox, Jonny Yen, The Bubble Project, Aphasiac, 46 Itchy, Venus in Furs, The Tiger Hunters, The Digital Vocal Harmonics, The Futureheads, a boy called Steb, Ross Millard, Mosquito, Skip Day Toner, Moonraye, Nev Clay, No Hope Wunders, Pete Dale, Phaser, Formula for Failure, Secret Life, Paperkuts, Ian the song man, The Mullet Police, The Fontanelles, Alice Scum, Ugly Head, Snatch, Zero, This Ain't Vegas, Inline Sk8er Barbie’s, Allison Clough, Little Blue Dolls, Loudmouth, Solomon’s Burden… and Mavis have played at every single Boyeater ‘event’!!! Overkill – nah!!! We did put on POP! nites for a while there too, which will be resumed when a venue can be found that doesn’t object to kids dressed in granny dresses running around off their faces and dancing to The Ramones. All Boyeater events are held at The Royalty, Chester Road, Sunderland. All Boyeater events cost no more than two pound. All Boyeater events pay bands and will let ANYONE play as long as they aren’t racist sexist homophobic twats. All Boyeater events are non-profit making exercises and some have been benefits for worthy causes. All events have been fun fun fun and hopefully people have gone away with their heads humming and their hearts pounding. Because that’s what we aim to do, fundamentally. We aim to make kids THINK. To realise that ANYONE can do it. Everyone is a musician. Everyone can hit a guitar with a hammer. Everyone is an artist. Everyone can shit on a piece of A4. Everyone can with a fanzine. Everyone has thoughts and a corner shop with a Xerox. Putting on gigs is piss. Get a PA and a room and advertise the fuck out of it. Though if anyone wants any hints and advice get in touch for our ‘help sheet’ which we can post you if you’d like, or there's a shortened version linked on the left. Forming a band is easy, writing a fanzine is easy. You just have to BELIEVE and CARE. Do you want to get your pins and scratch the surface until you change the world? We do, and one day it might just work. We go on demonstrations, we say what we believe, we share ideas. It’s about building a community. About building a network. We all drink together, we all hang out… isn’t that an exciting thing? That people can get together out of a love of punk ideology and a desire to fuck shit up. Okay so we’ve done this in Sunderland and yes, in places it has been hard work. But what’s to say that you can’t do it too? In Rugby or Plymouth or Oldham or… ? Kids like us are all over the country… all over the WORLD. I can honestly say that if I had never read issue three of the fanzine ‘Fast Connection’ I would have never thought I could do this. And I know so so so many people who would say a similar thing. Remember - you’re ALIVE. You can do anything you want. Read books, hold hands, form bands, write stories, go travelling, dress up in 18th century costume, fall in love… This is what Boyeater is about. This is what we do. If you want more information or want to send us demos for potential gigs or your fanzine for review or simply to say hi, get in touch!