U of A students launch new zine ‘Dead End’

Dead End, a new zine collective by University of Alberta students had their launch party at The Aviary in January. It featured a couple local bands and their first issue. Two of the zine’s creators, Jude Scott, an English major, and Sophie Lamoureux, a history major, chatted with The Gateway about the project. 

With a team of only six people, they’ve come together to write, design, and illustrate their first issue in only six months. At the same time, they planned and hosted their launch event and show. “It was a project I had in the back of my mind for a long time. Basically as soon as I got to university, I knew I wanted to do some kind of publication or say something a little bit different or a little bit out there. And also highlight some of the interesting artists that we have here,” Scott said. 

The first issue’s name and theme, Edmonton is my New York, came from a joke. “It was just this really bad stupid joke,” Scott said. “The Talus Balls are my Statue of Liberty, Whyte Ave is my Wall Street, and Sepp’s Pizza is my dollar slice. Even though it’s like $8 per slice. We were just making all of these comparisons to New York,” Scott explained. 

Connecting different communities in Edmonton

While the joke’s a joke, it’s also genuine. “[Edmonton] is a place where a lot of us grew up, grew up outside of, or moved to. And we found that we really like it,” Scott said. “For a lot of people on the prairies, especially people who are marginalized or a minority in some way, if you grew up in a small town, it’s kind of like your only goal is to make it out,” Scott added. 

With the affordability of Edmonton, it becomes a place for many people looking for community, they explained. “Not every artist can live in Toronto,” Scott said.

They both said the zine as a whole has been a passion project and a way to give back to the community. All the money from their launch party went back to The Aviary. As reported by Fish Griwkowsky, the venue was recently affected by a fire in an abandoned property next door, leaving the venue’s future uncertain.

The Aviary is a place to protect, they both said. “This is a very important venue to me. This was the first [Do-It-Yourself] (DIY) venue here I went to, and this was the first place I ever moshed,” Scott said. “It was the first place I ever got that [comfortability]. I felt comfortable enough to let myself look silly and be vulnerable. I think a lot of people are very scared of that.”

For other events, Lamoureux said that plan to highlight smaller communities in Edmonton. “There’s an awesome drag and hardcore scene here. How can we try to connect them a little bit more and get them mixing up different kinds of ideas?” Scott said. 

Fostering community and giving others the tools to make zines

Lamoureux said they all have a lot of freedom and collaboration when it comes to choosing the zine’s content. “From the beginning, I was like, ‘this is a collective. I don’t want it to be hierarchical.’ And I think we have that,” Scott explained. 

“It’s like you’re doing a group project, but not for a grade,” Lamoureux added. “But in a good way because it’s people you enjoy spending time with, and because we wanted to do it.” 

Lamoureux said that as students, some of their studies were reflected in the pieces in the zine too. “It was cool to see what everyone was studying coming into what they were writing about,” they said. One example they said, is an article called “Rogers Place and Yankee Stadium,” written by one collective member who’s a U of A political science student. The article analyses budgeting and social issues surrounding Rogers Place.

And with the zine having intention to foster community, after their launch event, they said that they already have. “We’ve gotten a lot of people interested, which is so exciting. A lot of people want to volunteer,” Scott said. 

The aim isn’t only to get people interested in Dead End, but also to help others start their own zines. “We definitely want people making zines. For the people that are interested, because there’s so many, people have to start their own. And that’s scary, so it’s like, how can we give these people the tools,” Scott said.