Touch and Go and Part-Time Punks - The Books

Touch and Go and Part-Time Punks - The Books

It may not be obvious to a lot of newer Giant Robot readers, but GR was spawned from punk rock zines. Eric and I both contributed to them before we made GR, which was basically an Asian culture-related mutation. If you look at the earliest issues, the handmade-looking layouts, intensely personal opinions and tones, and rough overall aesthetic match up with them. So when it was announced that Touch and Go was going to be compiled into a squarebound collection, I immediately pre-ordered it. When I was getting into music, I was informed by zines like Flipside, Ink Disease, MRR, and Thrasher, and then followed second-generation publications like Cometbus, No Idea!, and Punk Planet and aquired back issues of Slash and Search and Destroy. In the end, these weren't just about documenting music, but a way to create culture.