†The zine explains itself; the gonzo approach, the etymology, and why one person does all of it.
Breakbone is a Brisbane-based DIY magazine (called a ‘zine’) which is dedicated to sharing the shit about the local Brisbane music scene people are too afraid to say. Unlike your usual magazine which just rambles on about what happened, who played blah blah blah, Breakbone takes a different approach. Inspired by the ‘gonzo’ approach of writers like Hunter S Thompson, this zine’s all about putting you into the shoes of what it’s like to actually be in the scene.
Because I thought it sounded cool. Yeah nah, it’s actually a bit more deep than that. The city of Brisbane was named after this British bloke with a big ass named Thomas Brisbane. British people have terrible looking teeth, and guess what? Teeth are bones. Well that, and also the fact that his last name ‘Brisbane’ literally makes ‘to break bone’ in Gaelic and Old English. I think the name really suits the fact that its based around the Brisbane music scene, and it sounds edgy enough to be the name of a punk zine.
It’s a one man operation. I used to sell physical copies of this but it didn’t sell well because apparently, people’s attention spans have been nuked to the point where they can’t bother to read something beyond five words. I’m just a guy who likes writing, and I think that writing about the scene is a pretty cool thing to do.
I have to give credit to Natasha Ellis of the Brisbane Music Spew for inspiring me to do what I do. I saw what she did and saw that it looked like something I could do, so I just did it. I also found the scene to be a very interesting place where you have some interesting characters and can meet new friends and fucking rock and roll all night at the same time. I thought, you know what? I could stop being just the guy watching from the nosebleed section and be the guy who does shit. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, except some people do that at the expense of creating creatively inspired work where you can feel the soul behind it (you know who you are).
I had known about the scene for a couple of years before going to my first gig. My parents were pretty strict and had weird ideas about gigs and people who are part of alternative subcultures. Well, they softened up and on May 4th 2024—one day before my birthday, I went to my first gig and the rest is history.
You go to a gig. Well, it might not that be that simple anymore because what happened was a bunch of eshays did stupid shit at gigs and made gig organisers lose their deposit money because you have to rent venues to hold gigs. There are all ages gigs but the scene, even though a lot of scene veterans and old people like to say it’s ‘not dead’ just isn’t really the fun, fantastical world where everyone knew each other and it seemed like sunshine and rainbows anymore. No, it was never like that. It was a timebomb waiting to explode. I’m planning on holding all ages gigs dedicated to the original spirit of the scene and to raw, unfiltered rock and roll, the way it should be. Come join us.
From the Breakbone back catalogue, re-set piece by piece. More from the archive ›