I’m so excited! Finally! We’ve reached the halfway point in the Conversations with Punx limited edition zine series. The start of September also marked a whole year since this project was launched out into the world at the very first Paper Cuts Collective event in Brisbane, Australia. Conversations with Punx #6 ‘Faith’ is 80+ pages, with a light blue card cover, hand bound tied with purple raffia! As always the issue is limited edition—to order a copy please contact me at: conversationswithbianca [at] gmail [dot] com. Also, as I’ve mentioned recently I have been nominated for Australian Zine Maker of the Year and Conversations with Punx has been nominated for Best Zine Series of the Year too! I’ll love you forever if you take a moment to vote for me (Bianca Valentino) and CWP here at the Golden Stapler Awards.

 
Ray Cappo (Shelter / Youth of Today…)

This conversation meant a lot to me as Shelter are one of my favourite bands. It took a little while to track Ray down – he has mostly been out of the public spotlight and hasn’t done too many interviews in the past decade while he’s been fairly quiet in terms of music making. I’m going to be totally honest and let y’all know that I paid for this interview. It is the one and only interview in the 17 years of interviewing musicians that I have parted with $ for. I really wanted to speak to Ray as Shelter’s music had such a positive impact on my life and paying for the time spent chatting is the only way it was going to happen. Ray chats about how he got into spirituality and Krishna Consciousness, the struggles in his life, the Krishna-core movement in ’90s hardcore, of working on humility and more.

Ari Up (The Slits…)

I feel so blessed I was able to speak with my favourite punk rock frontwoman before she passed. She was one of the greatest true individuals I have ever known. It was so interesting hearing about the early days of punk rock in England, hip hop in New York and so much more. Ari even spent part of her life living in the rainforest with tribes people. Read an extract from the conversation here at Collapse Board.

Frank Portman (The Mr. T Experience / author: King Dork…)

I had a blast talking to Frank, he was drinking wine as we spoke. I got in contact with him after I spoke with Ben from Screeching Weasel; Ben suggested Frank would make a great interview subject. We spoke on Christianity, Atheism, New Age ‘stuff’, music as therapy and of spirituality and religion in the punk community. Super interesting!

Mike Herrera (MxPx / Tumbledown…)

When I spoke with Mike he was in the middle of building his own recording studio at home. He was so excited and pumped about it. Mike spoke about growing up as a Christian punk rocker, of being scrutinized by punks and religious people, on creativity, love and of spiritual challenges.

Sena Hussain (Secret Trial Five)

My conversation with Sena was interesting to say the least! Sena is in an all-girl Muslim punk band and is also an openly queer Drag King.  Read an extract from this conversation here on Collapse Board.

Rob Fusco (Most Precious Blood / One King Down)

Rob’s a wonderful friend, the conversation with him featured in this issue was done the first time I ever met him when his band Most Precious Blood came to my hometown Brisbane. It’s one of my favourite chats for the project, to find out why you’ll just have to read it! ;)

Tim Barry (Avail)

I found Tim to be an amazing guy, the way he lives, the way he thinks about music and life is all so inspiring! He believes that the key to life is being peaceful.

Create forever!!
Love & light,

I hope you all have been well! Just in time for the holidays, CWP Zine #2/12 [Courage] is now available!! 

Cover art (design, handpainted screen + screenprinted) by Jhonny. 

The featured conversations on punk, spirituality & creativity in Zine Two of the limited edition 12 zine series include:

Larry Livermore (Lookout Records, the Potatomen, the Lookouts)

Henry Rollins (Black Flag, the Rollins Band)

Dan Jones (God So Loved The World, Seraph’s Coal…)

Jason Cruz (Strung Out, Blackheart & the Pistoleros)

Porcell (Shelter, Youth of Today, Judge, Young Republicans, Violent Children)

Heidi Minx (Built On Respect, Punk Rock Domestics, Franky & Minx)

Photography by: Stephen Booth, Nat Thompson, Natalie Lorenz, Kim Wheeler, Eric Vogel & Benjamin Nichols.

Zine Two’s foreword is written by my dear friend Greg Attonito, frontman for the Bouncing Souls. They’re on tour here in Australia right now with the most excellent Hot Water Music. Get along to one of their shows if you have the chance, I promise it’ll be neat! :)

I mailed out all current subscribers’ a copy of CWP Zine Two [Courage] yesterday! As it’s a busy time of year for the worldwide postal service—with the holiday season upon us and the extra gift/card mail and all—please allow for a slight delay.

Apologies, that I am a little behind in getting the zines out. I will be working hard through the holidays though to catch up and start the New Year as up-to-date as possible.

Announcements about Conversations With Punx Zine Three will be made soon. Thank you for all of the love, support & encouragement!!

Be excellent to each other…

It’s almost time to retire CWP Zine One featuring: Ian MacKaye, Don Letts, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Johnny Siera, Greg Attonito and Shanti Wintergate. Thank you to everyone who ordered a copy, subscribed, came to the launch or wrote me saying they enjoy reading the site—your correspondence, feedback, encouragement, love & support is appreciated.

I thought I’d share with you some thoughtful correspondence I have received in relation to CWP Zine One:

 I got your zine yesterday and dived into it last night. You know how you stated all of those conversations happened at the right time in your life? Well this has arrived at the right time in my life when I needed such uplifting insight and positive brain food. You will help a lot of people with your words and your interviews and I’m really grateful. ~D.M

I’m similar to you I have at times found myself branching away from punk that meant so much to me growing up. Punk rock Is certainly still a big part of who I am, although amongst our exceedingly desensitized culture I found a large part of my punk fraternity were lacking interest or ability to relate or intrigue with their deeper side, making me all the more determined to go searching mine with other interests and genres. From folk to dub, dance and back again I’ve found some lack of feeling or ways for people to express their beliefs not a thing limited to the rougher genre. Music In its essence I suppose even if only subconsciously allows people to connect with deeper emotions and hopefully provokes thinking for these people like my fav punk lyricists instilled in me long ago. Tis refreshing to read these interviews from such intelligent artists I respect whom share similar views to each other and indeed myself but all have different ways of sharing or expressing how it works for them in their day to day lives. ~R.

Conversations With Punx Zine Two is almost done and will be available for order shortly. The line-up has been finalised. CWP Zine Two features:

Larry Livermore (Lookout Records, the Potatomen, the Lookouts)

Henry Rollins (Black Flag, the Rollins Band)

Dan Jones (God So Loved The World, Seraph’s Coal…)

Jason Cruz (Strung Out, Blackheart & the Pistoleros)

Porcell (Shelter, Youth of Today, Judge, Young Republicans, Violent Children)

Heidi Minx (Built On Respect, Punk Rock Domestics, Franky & Minx)

Ordering options for that particular issue will be available soon here at Conversations With Bianca. All of these conversations are some of my favourite yet! Subscriptions are available now here.

Photo: Dan Jones of God So Loved The World (one of my all-time favourite Australian hardcore punk bands) by Alex Newton.

Cover art by Jhonny Hobo for CWP Zine Two will be posted soon!

Create forever!

PS – If there are any conversations you’d like to see sooner rather than later in a upcoming issue, let me know :)

I’ve only really started using mantras on a regular basis over the past year. My astrologer Vic DiCara (he also plays in hardcore punk band 108*) drew up my astrological chart using Vedic Astrology last year. After interrupting it he decided to prescribe a certain mantra that would help in manifesting my dreams to reality. You’re probably going ‘what the hell is a mantra?’ Let me explain:

Mantra is a practice that involves the repetition of a word or a phrase of words. At first it may feel mechanical but once you get into it you start to (hopefully) embody the quality or essence you are trying to invoke. You should try to be sincere when saying your mantra.

My friend Vic described the usefulness of mantras by telling me, “Practice the mantra with a given intention and need and you will find that need, will be addressed… the power of mantra is to open your mind and free it from habit. So doing the mantra enables you to learn the lessons of the planets as quickly and painlessly as possible, even enjoyably and blissfully in fact.”

Art by Abhi Ryan

I have found that putting both meditation and chanting a mantra (along with yoga) into my daily routine has helped give me a grounding and solid base in which to start my day in.

Mantra are used across many cultures (it’s not just an Eastern exotic thing), faith and philosophies. I have found that they help to give me clarity and boost my energy.
For more on mantras check out: The Power of Mantra, Gently Returning and History & Info on Mantra.

A song from the album Mantra by one of my favourite hardcore punk bands Shelter.

*108 trivia – 108 is a semi-permanent number; malas have 108 beads for use when reciting mantras; according to Ayurveda there are 108 pressure points in the body…

Art by Chainsaw Panda

Om mani padme hum…
With Metta,

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If from reading the title you think this is a post about my lady lumps sorry to disappoint… however If you just groaned at reading ‘happy mid-week’ this post could be for you (ha,ha). It’s the time of the week where we’re half way from last weekend and halfway to our next weekend…

Live for the weekend, every night- Hardskin

I’ve heard many refer to this time of the week as the mid-week hump (or bump): by now some of you will be starting to feel tired (or bored) with your week and wish the working week was over, hence the importance of doing something you love for a living. My ma and pa, always told me that: If you do what you love with your days you’ll never feel you’re working a day in your life. And, when challenges arise you’ll rise to the occasion and rule it! I love my folks they’re so smart!

*Note: In the Urban Dictionary ‘mid-week hump’ is also a term for having sex on a Wednesday apparently. That’s something that could definitely work to cure the mid-week blues! He, he… ;)

Suggestions to help you reach the weekend:

Music. Listen to it! Make it! Share it! Go see it! Dance to it! No matter what my mood there’s always something in my record collection to suit. Music has never failed to cheer me up… perhaps the only constant in my life (but that’s a whole other story for another day).

When I need motivation out comes: Sick Of It All –Built To Last, Blackalicious – Blazing Arrow, Shelter – When 20 Summers Pass, Jay-Z – the Blueprint and Rancid – Indestructible, among oodles of others. What music kicks you in the butt when you need motivation? Please share, I’m always on the lookout for new tunes/artists to check out. One of my best friends in the entire world, Ant once told me that music can give us hope for a better tomorrow. My homie Efrem from Fullerton, Orange County also told me that, “I think writing songs is an attempt to be happy. It’s part of the pursuit of happiness.”

Check out what the planets are doing. After all, we are all connected—humans, animals, trees, the Sun, Moon, planets etc. My friend Vic shares some wonderful information on what the Universe is up to over at his Vedic Astrology site and his Astro-blog. You can check out what planet is ruling today! Vic did a reading for me about a year ago & seriously he was so spot on with so many things. The insight he gave me to where I’m at in my life cycle and where it’s headed helped me to better understand things in my life. I’ll be expanding on this idea more in future posts.

Practice gratitude. In my experience if you’re truly thankful for what you have you’re not worrying about the things you don’t have. It’s all a state of mindset. Did you wake up this morning? Do you have a roof over your head? Is there food in the cupboard? Clean water to drink? Are there people in your life that love you? If you answered ‘yes’ to the aforementioned let me tell ya, you’re a rich, rich person indeed, you have everything you need… all the other stuff is icing on top of the cupcake of your life. Maybe tomorrow morning when you first open your eyes ask yourself ‘what am I thankful for?’ I take the time to give gratitude for my wonderful life in the morning before I do my Morning Pages and/or meditation or at night. Why not every day think of just three things you’re thankful for. It’s not super hard and costs you nothing… give it a try!

A thought to carry into your day: Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful. ~Buddha

Do you guys do anything to help beat the mid-week hump? Please share…

A wonderful tune to inspire your day:

*(thanks Tizmond for introducing me to such an awesome band)

Up an early for the hope of a brand new day
See a homie you ain’t seen since back in the day
Fresh haircut fitted wit a fat ass fade
End of work, we chilling on a Saturday
How you felt when you first heard the Daddy Kane
Rakim, KRS hey I had that tape
Cooling out with ol’ girl on a fat ass date
Find a hundred dollar bill wow man that’s great
Get promoted at your job up to management
Plot a long time finally a plan has made it
Time I feel I wanna shout, man it’s real that way
Wanna think of things that make you feel that way
~Blackalicious

Wishing you greatness!

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