Punk And Publications Celebrate Pride (2024)
News Article
New Haven Independent
June 3rd, 2024
by ELEANOR POLAK
The New Haven Pride Center at 50 Orange St. was decked out this Saturday with colorful flags and even more colorful artwork.
Magik Press, a micro-press and arts studio run by Aly Maderson Quinlog and Ty/Tyasha Pace, was hosting its first-ever zine party and punk show. It was an event, the two stressed, about community, and the community was out in full force, from the vendors showcasing their creativity to the buyers eager to share in it.
In 2016, Pace saw a Facebook posting for flyers, zines, posters, and more, centered around protest and liberation. Together with Maderson Quinlog, they acquired a grant to “reveal the collection to the world,” they said. The collection is now on display in the New Haven Pride Center, where it can be seen and appreciated. Pace and Maderson Quinlog have collaborated in art education since 2017 or 2018, and in a way, the zine party served as a launch event for their efforts.
Magik Press’s mission is that “art connects the brain and the heart, but it’s also about connecting the community,” Maderson Quinlog explained. They came up in the punk scene, and recalled seeing zines at concerts. “I love to see the resurgence of zines, but I hesitate to see how they’ve become commercialized,” they said. For Maderson Quinlog, the zine party wasn’t about making money. It was about coming together and celebrating queerness.
“This is the space I see for queer liberation … us, the community, coming together to put this together,” said Pace. “The people power was overwhelming.”
Alice Prael, a vendor selling zines, prints, and stickers at the Pride Center, agreed that for them, zines were about community. “Part of what I like about zines is the communal aspect,” they said. “And the DIY. You really learn something about yourself.”
Prael has been making zines for eight years. Their style is a mixture of information, art, and memoir. Their most recent zine was about the Free Palestine protest at Beinecke Plaza, and the exhibit there on art and protest. Prael also organizes New Haven Zine scene meet-ups to connect with others in the community.
“I like that I can create a full story and have the agency to tell it and share it,” Prael said.
A few tables down, Sara Lareau and her partner Ari C. were showcasing two of Lareau’s zine series. One was a comic series called March 20th, which was based on online horror, creepypasta, and childhood memories.
“Zines were a go-to for March 20 because it’s all based on creepypasta, which can be shared online,” Lareau said. Zines were the non-virtual equivalent of that medium, and an artform that she has appreciated ever since she took a high-school class on zines that had a deep impact on her art.
Lareau’s other series was called This zine is about being transgender and only some of the complications that come with that. As advertised, the zine was about Lareau’s experience being transgender, and was designed to be accessible to both transgender and cisgender readers.
Lareau was excited to be a part of the zine party. “I like events for and by zine creators that make the community even more interlinked than it already is,” she said. “Even the people that have never met each other, they can have this instant connection through a love of zines.”
Alec Black was another zine creator sharing his identity and artwork with the community. His collection of zines and prints display his drawings about Asian-American topics and the intersection between pop culture and high art. One zine, How to spot AI images, dealt with the topic of AI artwork.
“I really enjoyed it because it was a good way to pair a topic I really care about with an art style I really care about,” said Black.
Black has been making zines for about a year, and has fully embraced the medium. “It lets you do whatever you want with it,” he said. “You don’t need a lot of studio space, and it’s easy to connect with other people.”
Come 6 in the evening, the crowd at the zine party migrated downstairs to the basement for the second half of the event: the punk show. For most of the night, the room was lit with a single strand of Christmas tree lights that migrated between performances from the floor to being draped around a pipe hanging from the ceiling. Behind the players, digital art by Jen Brown flashed across a wall.
The first band was Wasteworld, composed of Allie Falco on drums and backup vocals, Tony Mascolo on guitar and backup vocals, and Joe Russo on bass and vocals. They played a vibrant, intense rock set made up of originals like “Don’t You” and “Art World” and covers like “Reptilia” by The Strokes.
Their third song was a new number called “Knocked Up.” The song was a passionate celebration of life, complemented by the geometric and organic greens and blues in the video behind them, like the inside of a plant.
After Wasteworld came Wow OK Cool, featuring Tim Fitzpatrick on lead vocals, Julian Michaels on guitar, Ceej Wolf on percussion, and Ryan Duende on bass. Their music was high energy, an explosion of sound in the best way possible. Behind them on the wall, wavering faces dissolved into static and almost sinister cartoons flashed across it all.
Wow OK Cool’s original songs, like “Quite Amazing Buffer” and “Milquetoast Libs,” seemed to take up a physical space in the room. The audience headbanged along as the band commanded the basement floor like it was an amphitheater stage, all eyes drawn to their magnetic performance.
Next up came REvenge boDy, who describes his music as “devotional dark wave, like pop for reformed goths.” Behind them, nature scenes shot through with technicolor stripes decorated the wall. REvenge boDy’s smooth, serpentine movements and resonant vocals captivated the crowd.
“This song is about collective grief — free Palestine,” he said, before launching into “Parable,” which they performed next to a Palestinian flag and a single lit candle. The next two songs, “Encounter” and “The Stranger,” were inspired by dreams. REvenge boDy finished with a haunting cover of the Cyndi Lauper classic “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”
The final act of the night was angel piss, composed of Lys Guillorn on lap steel guitar, Beatrice Peccerillo on cello, Jordan Saucier on synth and vocals, Jeff Dragon on electronics, Peter Gaulin on sax, and Aly Maderson Quinlog on vocals. Their music veered between spoken word and singing to create an eerie, immersive effect.
Reds, greens, and blues staticked across the wall for the peaceful and melodic “Light Bringer,” which evoked the noises an animal might make in the dead of night. “Genderfucked,” on the other hand, felt sensual and brash. Maderson Quinlog harnessed the attention of the room with lines like “If there’s gonna be a gender, I’ll fuck it / Give me a lollipop and I’ll suck it.” Scenes of Pride parades past flashed across the wall behind them.
When the show ended, the crowd filed out into the warm New Haven night air. They left with ears still ringing from the music, as well as a new collection of zines, posters, and stickers to ornament their homes. On the first day of the month of June, it was clear to everyone that in New Haven, pride was very much alive and thriving.
