Whenever a new zine arrives at Mass Movement Towers, a shiver of anticipation runs through every fibre of my being, because when all is said and done, I’m a zine person.  I cut my teeth in the scene reading zines, they were my life blood and without them I wouldn’t have discovered some of my favourite records and I wouldn’t have met half of the people that I’m honoured to call my friends. Hell, I spent nearly twenty years making, and writing for zines and I wouldn’t change a single minute of that time for anything.  Zines are everything to me. They’re a passion that I share with multitudes of people from all over the world, and they inspire a level of joy in me that few other things do and, no matter how many, or how few, days remain in front of me I’ll never grow weary of that feeling.

Trapped Nerve is a little bit special. Not only is a it a deeply personal throwback to the nineties UK scene that features some crushingly good interviews with the likes of Maniac and Seconds Out, but it also opens a window on its architects inner turmoil, near endless creativity and perpetually hungry psyche.  And the fact the aforementioned author and designer also shares a similar nihilistic viewpoint to yours truly, and also happens to be one of my favourite scene people, is just the icing on the zine flavoured cake.

Hardcore was never just about the music, it opened a gateway to places and things that I never dreamed I’d see or do, and the older I get the more I understand that it’s also about embracing all of the things that I love and sharing everything that makes them special to me with everyone else. It doesn’t matter if they don’t get it or feel the same way about them as I do, all that ultimately matters is the process of just opening your soul to the world, consequences be damned.  And Trapped Nerve perfectly captures that idea and the feeling of grow old while being part of a continually evolving entry and the way that it, and you, change in communion with each other. I don’t care how you get it, or what you have to do to lay your hands on it, just make sure you read Trapped Nerve… Tim Cundle

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