
For anyone that has not come across Hand Job zine before how would you describe it?

What inspired you to start it?
We decided to produce the zine
due to disillusionment with the mainstream literary publications; we
feel that their pieces tend to be hollow and seem to stand at a
distance from their subjects rather than being an honest part of
them. To be honest with you, I didn’t really know that zines were a
thing before we started to make Hand Job. I was just talking with
Sophie about how shit all the literary magazines tend to be and
suggested we make our own, it was Sophie who then showed me this sort
of zine world.
You and Sophie Pitchford run the zine together, do you each have designated jobs or do you both do a bit of everything?

Your on to your seventh issue now, do you have a personal favourite issue or a particular favourite piece of writing that you've published so far?
Well I guess it’s the same
with most people as each time we’ve made a new issue it’s
instantly my favourite, so in that case it’s issue 7.
As far as a favourite piece
goes there are a few that always stick out in my head. My favourite
would have to be Raif Mansell’s True Love Steals Something in
issue 2, it is a stand out piece to me. It’s shocking, but not just
for the sake of it, it’s a very indulgent read. I think that it’d
have to be my favourite yet.
The writing is of the same
stupidly good quality as always with a very funny piece by Joseph
Ridgwell and an alarmingly good story by newcomer James Kelly. I
don’t want to give too much away on this front though.
The main thing to note is the
change in the layout; only the back page is cut and paste. We have
gone for a completely new look, but, like the best bands, you have to
change things up to keep people interested, and yourself to a certain
extent. We wouldn’t have done this if we weren’t confident though
and Sophie really has pulled out the stops on this one. She worked
non-stop on it and I think she scrapped the whole thing and started
again at least three times, it looks unreal!
As a
writer yourself does doing the zine help or hinder your own writing?
The thing is that it’s all
hobbies, writing and making the zine. I don’t see myself as a
writer or a zinester but a person who writes stuff and makes zines (I
am aware I run the risk of sounding like a twat here). But, my point
is that, by keeping them as separate hobbies they don’t really
clash at all. If I’ve got something I need to write then I’ll put
the zine to one side or visa versa. I suppose I could be writing more
with the time I spend on the zine but then I also know I have
somewhere to put my writing if I want to, so it works both ways.
So, no plans to write a
novel then?
I'd love to write a novel! I
got half way through one last year before I decided it was shit but I
think I'll get cracking again this year, it's just time that's the
problem at the minute! It'll probably end up being lots of
interlinking short stories so that it feels more achievable. There're
a few ideas there already I just need to get to work.
Outside of the zine, what are your interests?
I have the usual interests
you’d expect, music, reading, films but I also like to keep myself
busy doing different things. I’ve always been a skateboarder, we
didn’t know it when we were younger but it was sort of our punk,
our counter-culture movement, waxing ledges, climbing fences,
graffiti-ing our logos, smoking weed and getting pissed. It was all a
beautiful rebellion and I wish everyday that I could go back to it.
It’s not quite the same now with all of these big skateparks
popping up all over the place and I don’t have the time for it like
I used to but when I do get the chance on a nice day I never turn it
down. I keep myself occupied with various other things as well,
woodcarving at Newstead Village Woodcarving Club, going to see Forest
on the occasion. Loadsa shit really.
What
was the last book you read that totally blew you away?
I
actually finished probably the oddest and one of the most brilliant
books I have ever read recently. It’s Julian Cope’s One
Three One: A Time-Shifting Gnostic Hooligan Road Novel. There
was such a freedom with the language used throughout it, it was like
he really didn’t care about how it should
be
written, but that’s probably the reason that it took on such an
organic flow and had such a strong narrative voice. He goes between
his path in Sardinia, back to Italia 90 where the tragic events took
place and then for some reason he keeps going through these
monolithic doorways to 10,000 BC or something. It really was crazy
and even though I knew that it was bound to be mainly fiction
throughout, I did have to keep checking if stuff really happened
because he’s so convincing. I think it got a lot of bad reviews
because people didn’t really get it but I think you’ve just gotta
ride this novel, let it take you and just not question where he’s
going or why he’s going there.
If you
could pick any writer, dead or alive, to be in Hand Job, who would it
be?
This is a hard one. I think I’d
have to say, after a long period of contemplation, William Blake. One
of the poets that got me into literature as whole and who’s work
has never felt dated even though he talks of chimney sweeps and the
like. He was a pure anarchist who hated all institutions, the church,
the school, the government, as they were all symbols of oppression.
People dismissed him as mad and he wasn’t ever really respected in
his time yet he, like we are doing, self-published his works but on
beautifully engraved plates that must have taken forever instead of
cheating with computers. A real visionary who has inspired many
people since.
What's
your favourite movie?

I do like a range of films
though, from The Holy Mountain to Kingpin, the only
thing that I don’t really get is all of that Hollywood shit. It
just seems to be the same clichéd stories regurgitated in a
different setting. It’s boring. There are some films like
O’Horten, Stroszek and Bombon el Perro that are
fantastic in their simplicity. Each has really endearing main
characters that make you feel so much, in a really honest way. I
suppose the last thing to mention though is how big and influence
Shane Medows is, anything by this fantastic director is good for me.
What's
your drink of choice?
I’m a man of simple
pleasures; larger most of the time with a bitter every now and then.
I’ve never really got the real ale shit or cocktails. I’ll have a
spirit and mixer when I wanna calm down my pissing!
If you
could get drunk with any three famous people, dead or alive, who
would you pick?
First
off, Lemmy from Motorhead. The coolest motherfucker to walk the
earth, I just fear that I’d get pissed and he’d laugh at me.
Antwuan Dixion (the pro skateboarder) looks like a mint bloke to get
drunk and high with. He’s a fucking nut job but that’s where all
the fun is! Then last, after a heavy session with those two I’d
probably like to just chill with Vic or Bob and have a laugh. Sorry
about the lack of writers…

Hand
Job, Paper and Ink and PUSH all started up around the same time in
2013, and now there are more and more lit zines popping up all over
the place, what's going on? Is it just a coincidence or something
more?
Me and
Sophie were trying to work out when we started up and we thought it
was 2012! Turns out your right and we’ve already got a mistake in
issue 7, haha. More to the point, I’m not really sure. I think a
lot of people just have the same feelings about the state of the
publishing industry and through their own efforts find likeminded
people. You know, this is how the best things always unfold though.
The best bands do something new, get dismissed for a few years and
then people realise, ‘shit, this stuffs pretty sick.’ There’s
already quite a community built and I have a feeling it’s only
going to get bigger, better and stronger. It just seems so much more
accessible, both the writing and how people can just email us and
we’ll get back to them as a human being. We’re not focusing on
money, face and respectability, we’re here because we love it and
that’s why we’ve got time for people. That’s what’s unique I
think. I’ll help anyone out the best I can, I know you will Martin
and plenty of other people I’ve met through doing this are the
same.
What
does the future hold for Hand Job Zine?
Well… we have got plans for a
book but they’ve been put back for a little while and the concept
of it is constantly changing so I don’t want to say too much. Also,
I really want to do a night of poetry readings and music, the only
thing that stops me is that I’m really busy all of the time so it’s
hard, but it will happen! Hopefully in the summer time!
Apart from that we’re gonna
crack on with the zine and take each day as it comes…
Thanks for answering these questions Jim!
Hand Job issue #7 is OUT NOW. Keep up to date with all Hand Job comings and goings, calls for submissions and extra content on their blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment