Not Just a Zine: the “Rollin Under” Zine and Thessalo niki’s DIY Musicmaking (1985 – 1990). Thessaloniki’s DIY Music Scene

F over 30 years now, musicians from different scenes, ages and educational backgrounds have been meeting at do-it-yourself (DIY) rehearsal and recording studios in Thessaloniki. These studios are located on the upper floors of old buildings, especially on the west side of the city centre, above stores and bars and outside of the recorded, official and local histories of musical life. From the mid1980s these places were the springboard for a series of crucial musical osmoses, operating as places of communication and networking but also the formation of musical collectives. With the DIY ethos as common ground and Thessaloniki as their urban site, several different kinds of popular music idioms (from hardcore, punk to reggae and trip hop) blossomed throughout these 30 years of ceaseless musical creation. But is it sufficient to describe these musical activities under the term “music scene”?

been defined in several ways. For example, Straw describes a scene as a space where different musical practices interact and coexist in a specific geographical region 2 or in a specific urban setting. 3 Similarly, Shank defines a music scene as a productive community that represents itself through music in a specific geographical place.
The concept of a community was used before "music scene" and is considered to imply a not so stable and homogeneous group of people. 4 Nevertheless, recent critical approaches use the term "community" to describe a more romantic and wider construction in which music is a common practice of its members and is exalted as a common way of living, away from the hierarchical relationships of the music industry. 5 In any case, if we try to describe the DIY music activities of Thessaloniki through the aforementioned concepts, we are faced with several problems. In the case of using the term "music scene", we will not be able to deal either with the plurality of the music idioms that we meet in the DIY music of the Thessaloniki phenomenon (because when we are talking about a "music scene" we usually talk about a specific music idiom 6 ) or with the historical background of the phenomenon. Moreover, DIY music studio activities have not been as clearly removed from the hierarchical relationships of the music industry as the concept of a music community (Stefanou, Graham) implies.
However, in this essay, I am exploring stories and activities from a specific period (1985 -1990) of DIY music-making in Thessaloniki, as they were written and documented in the Rollin Under fanzine. 7 We could describe Thessaloniki's music-making DIY activities during those years using Shank's scene definition.
We are therefore talking about a productive DIY music community in Thessaloniki that represents itself mostly through specific rock idioms, such as, punk, post punk, garage punk, new wave and hardcore.
DIY is the acronym of the phrase "do it yourself", which constitutes a political attitude 8 that was first expressed artistically through punk music. 9 However, this concept could be used to comprehend a broader context of autonomous artistic practices, as is the case of Thessaloniki's music scene. Spencer delimits DIY theoretically and historically to a more general basis, as an ethos that expresses "the urge to create a new cultural form and transmit it to others on your own terms". 10 So, DIY efforts can be seen as an attempt to recover a more active attitude towards artistic creation in general. DIY's starting point is self-organized, "bottom-up" creation. This practically means that music is created, for instance, in self-organized studios and distributed through independent labels, promoted by fanzines and pirate stations and performed in self-organized live gigs, festivals, parties and squats. This is exactly what was happening in Thessaloniki during the mid-1980s and 1990s. 11 The Zine: a "labour of love" 12 The fanzine seems to be the ideal embodiment of the DIY ethos 13 because it is, using Spencer's words, "a cultural form that it is transmitted to others on its own terms" under no control and censorship. 14 It is a small-scale, underground, self-funded 15 and self-organized publication created by music lovers 16 who are not professional writers; it has a non-profit goal and most of the time is produced and distributed at a financial loss. 17 The zine's editors and writers are not to be considered as pathetic fans 18 but as actively involved members of the scene 19 searching freely for their own voice. "When you are a part of a minority and out of the system, you create your own world and communicate with your own language […] you have to be free and do something on your own without a master." 20 In our case, we are talking about a music zine which usually referred to bands and their music, Greek or not, that were not promoted by the mainstream media. 21  intention was to promote the local scene, so in a way we are talking about a music scene zine. 22 In this essay I will focus on Thessaloniki's emblematic fanzine Rollin Under, which was active from 1985 to 1992. I will show the relationship between Rollin Under, the Thessaloniki music scene, the DIY ethos and Greece's historical and political context of that time. This will be mostly achieved through the following questions: Why and under what conditions was Rollin Under born? Who were the creators? What was the content and means of expression? What are the hidden stories that we can find in its pages? Ultimately, answering those questions will contribute to the description of fanzines as alternative cultural spaces through which we music historians can "hear" the voices and the untold stories of the participants of the music we are researching.

The 1980s in Greece: Music, DIY and its artifacts as a "way out" for youngsters
In 1981, Greek elections were won by the socialist Panhellenic Socialist Movement, or PASOK, and along with it the supposed and desired "change" 23 had arrived in Greece's reality. During Greece's modern history this was the first time that a leftist government was coming into power without any interference from the military. 24 In fact, Greek democracy was still pretty young at that time, because a military junta had been governing the country for a seven-year period (1967 -1974) as recently as 14 years before. From 1974 until 1981, Greece experienced the transition to parliamentary democracy (Metapolitefsi), with the right-wing government of the New Democracy party trying to restore the democratic state's institutions, but in general, being conservative. New Democracy couldn't or didn't want to follow the radicalization of Greek society, particularly of young people. 25 An example of this radicalization was the squatting movement that was born during students' reaction to a new educational law of the conservative New Democracy's government in 1979 -1980 ful, dynamic, radical, self-organized and autonomous, like a Greek analogy to the movements springing out of May 1968. 27 Specifically, through this "space" new subjects of problematization emerged: environmental issues, self-determination and sexual orientation, feminism and patriarchy. 28 We could say that the "signification of politics was broadened in order to conclude all the activities and relationships of everyday life". 29 Hence, the first steps of the DIY ethos in Greece and its artifacts, such as music scenes, zines and pirate radio stations, can be examined in this context. Under this light, it cannot be a mere coincidence that at least 40 new bands were born in Thessaloniki in 1980. 30 Those bands were searching their own sound and voice away from the political art of the popular Greek music that had dominated the left wing during the Metapolitefsi (democratic transition) and was promoted by the state of "change". 31 In general "Young people of the 80s were suffocated by the dominant political discourse, party guidance and conservatism of Greek society". 32 Punk and new wave, along with the DIY ethos, were the way that the new generation liberated itself.
As Giannis Aggelakas 33 wrote: "rock was a way out for us […] on the other side was the political songs of the Metapolitefsi, which were getting on our nerves […] in that period we had already lived punk and all this stuff, and we started to be more political beings, but we were not involved in parties […] it was something that was coming out of our music too". 34 So an increasing amount of DIY music appeared in Thessaloniki during the early 1980s, with the launch of the first DIY music studios on the east side of the city in the Depot and Kalamaria areas 27 SOUZAS, Nikos. "Stop Talking about Death, Baby": Politics and Culture in the Antagonistic Movement of Greece (1974 -1998 Greek instruments, like the bouzouki or the Cretan lyra, mainly by Mikis Theodorakis and Giannis Markopoulos. This music was forbidden during the junta years mostly because of its lyrics which were coming from leftist poets of that time. During the Metapolitefsi there was a massification of these songs and sometimes a commercialization that led lots of young people to react and try to find new ways to express themselves musically through rock idioms. Notably, PASOK, the new government voted in power in 1981, had a leftist and socialist background, so in a way it firmly promoted these music idioms during the 1980s.  (1979 -2015). Athens : Aprovleptes, 2015, intro.   only to the empowerment of their local scenes but to the connection of the local scenes with each other and with similar movements abroad. 52 Specifically, a fanzine called Papari (which is Greek slang for testicle) claimed that in 1985 there were 27 active fanzines in Greece. It is interesting to see the way their writers described their activities and efforts: "Notebook recording"; "alternative independent expression"; "It is just a hobby and a way to help the scene"; "A ma gazine for the never found passages"; "personal and fanatically amateur"; "determined to work for fun"; "amateur document that talks about music across mass media"; "a casual, amateur, dirty but so real press". 53 Thus, we are talking about publications springing from their writers shared love for music. These were not widely accessible and were not promoted by the mainstream music media. Writers were guided by their urge to share the music, local or not, that they were searching for, discovering and listening to, in their own way, through their own means. the distribution in smaller cities in the country. The maximum number of copies printed was 1500 and the minimum 300; they probably published 25 issues, one every two-three months from 1985 -1991 or 1992. 57 The zine was never handwritten. Writers sent their articles to Argyriou and he typed them out on his sister's typewriter. "Assembling the issue was a very joyful process, before we got involved with printers and book binders, when photocopies were getting in line, folded and stapled by the drafting group, in between the jokes and the badinage." 58 During the zine's publication, the group grew. Most of the members were friends before the zine started, and some were added along the way, among them Kostas Apostolidis, Lambros Skouz, Babis Halatsis, Pakis Tzilis, Dhmitris Veldemiris, Panos Konidaris, Vassilis Giatsis and others. Argyriou added photos and designed the titles with Letraset letters or letters cut out of other magazines 59 , and Plohoras sometimes drew the covers. It is interesting that there was no stable logo for the name of the zine. Almost every issue was bigger than the previous one (24 -68 pages) and some of the last issues were in four-colour print, too. As the issues became richer and bigger, they were typewritten by a printing centre and sometimes designed by a graphic artist. 60 As the years went by, the zine evolved and got bigger, richer and more elaborated. Thus, one might wonder: was it still a zine or was it becoming more akin to a music magazine? This is a question that arose during the early 1990s, as the DIY scene was becoming an alternative scene, occasionally promoted and subsumed 57 Babis Argyriou, live interview; Babis Argyriou, personal site: http://www.babisargyriou.gr/rollin-under-fanzine and https://www.fanzines.gr/rollin-under 58 Babis Argyriou, live interview. 59 "Everything was photocopied and then paginated and bound with scissors and glue." Babis Argyriou, live interview. 60 Babis Argyriou, personal site: http://www.babisargyriou.gr/rollin-under-fanzine   by more mainstream media and labels. Some mainstream music magazines were now referring to zines, and some zines were advertising small record labels in their pages. This evolution led to a public dialogue and problematization about the zines' identity and ontology. In Rollin Under's issue 23, Kostas Apostolidis wrote an article about this matter as an answer to the cruel critique about the fact that small labels were advertised through the zines. In his text, Apostolidis noted that the freedom of speech was a basic characteristic of a zine and could not be suppressed in any way. 61 Rollin Under ceased its circulation exactly during the time that this problematization was at its peak. Babis Argyriou stopped being involved with the zine two issues before the zine's last breath, as he felt really exhausted 62 , and instead focused on his Lazy Dog Records label and the publication and distribution of LPs. 63 The late 1980s in Thessaloniki...    at that time called it. They were probably referring to the playing field of an abandoned orphanage on the west side of the city (Stavroupoli) or to the now days famous open theatre of Thessaloniki "Moni Lazariston". Those two events were covered by four to five articles and interviews in two different issues, three and four. And this is indicative of their impact on the members of the scene and fans, as dozens of groups from Thessaloniki and all over Greece took part. Of course, through the zine's pages we are also informed about that year's releases and realize that the musical creativity of the groups was empowered from year to year.
After issue four, one notices that the zine was also enriched with articles about li terature and the cinema. 65 There were also some comic strips included. In issue 4 we can read an interview with a local band called Noise Promotion Company. 66 Through this interview we are informed that this band participated in the 2nd Bie nnale of Young Artists from Mediterranean Europe that took place in Thessaloniki in 1986 67 , along with No Man's Land 68 a band from Athens. Two years later, in 1988, Noise Promotion Company participated in Bologna's Biennale of Young Artists of Mediterranean Europe. 69 These events, along with the fact that foreign fanzines started to mention Greek bands 70 and Rollin Under was mentioned in the American zine Maximum Rocknroll (MRR) and described as a very rich-in-content music zine 71 , that lead us to the assumption that during the 80s the local scene of Thessaloniki tried to communicate and promote its artifacts to a broader international audience. 72 Moreover, Gulag, a very active punk band of that time, shared through a travel diary that was included in Rollin Under their experiences from their tour in Europe (25 October to 20 November) in 1988. 73 Gulag, along with Naftia, were bands from Thessaloniki that utilized the networks between the DIY scenes of Europe (Germany, Italy, Netherlands, etc.) of the 1980s and early 1990s. 74 Naftia actually made six European tours from 1987 -1994. 75 In 1988 the most talked-about event, even in Thessaloniki, was the Rock Festival in Athens, which was organized under the auspices of the General Secretariat for the New Generation and Municipality of Athens, with bands and artists from Greece, Britain, California and Australia. 76 The event concluded with brutal fights between the attendants and the police. The event was covered by articles and an interview with the bassist of PiL (Public Image Ltd), whose refusal to play was supposed to be the reason that violent fights started in the first place. 77 The years 1988 -1989 seem to be very vivid and productive years for Thessaloniki's musical life, but probably the most famous event was the concert of Siouxsie and the Banshees during the International Exhibition of Thessaloniki. It is interesting to see that it was covered at the bottom of the page five of issue 17 with really tiny letters. 78 It was described as a nostalgic and "out of time" event that was organized in a commercial and fully controlled environment. 79 All the aforementioned stories were written in a personal, funny and imaginative way. The nonprofessional writers expressed themselves freely in experiential and sentimental tone 80 , and this is one of the reasons that makes this zine so pleasing to read.

Rollin Under and the neighbors
From the research so far it cannot be assumed that there was any systematic communication between Rollin Under and similar DIY artifacts from the scenes of the neighboring Eastern Bloc countries. As Argyriou says: "There was no cooperation. If an author discovered anything, it was by chance. Our reporters were usually Greeks that lived or studied in a Western country, and they sent us reports, usually from concerts". 81 However, we can find some scattered references regarding performances or albums, mostly about Yugoslavia and some for Hungary and Bulgaria. 82 Specifically, information about Yugoslavia can inform us about the performance conditions there and lead us to interesting conclusions for both countries.
More analytically , there is a huge possibility that the punk groups Disorder 83 (Bristol) and Homo Detritus 84 (Oslo) played in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, in 1988, right before appearing in Thessaloniki. 85 89 This feeling that this "was more difficult there than in Western countries" 90 is common in Rollin Under's reporters. However, in our case this didn't work as a driving force to search more about the East Bloc scenes, as was the case for French fanzines, for example. 91 Probably the reason was that Greece in the 1980s was still a young democracy, trying to make up for lost time, and not a typical Western country. 92 Thus, Greek zinesters were maybe more occupied following and reporting mostly the West's developments, apart from their own scene's development.

Not just a zine…
Rollin Under was one of the longest lived, most informative 93 , self-organized, participatory and DIY-oriented fanzines of the 1980s and early 1990s. Through Rollin Under's pages a reader or researcher can discover lots of bands that were famous in their time but which are now facing near obscurity, can be informed about Greek bands' annual releases and learn about dozens of venues and live gigs. Therefore, I consider Rollin Under and zines in general not only as containing very important data and being a research tool for tracing the "messy" tracks that the DIY scenes left behind 94 , but as historical records that offer us "rich amounts of materials for research into subculture communication and community networks and marginalized subjects who are otherwise not present within archival holdings". 95 They narrate the raw hidden stories that most of the time are glossed over, ignored and assigned to oblivion. 96 Zines are often the "only representation of ephemeral and otherwise undocumented spaces", the only "archival traces of marginalized communities". 97 Moreover, when someone is researching the music activities of a small DIY music community there is very often no previous research background (bibliography). In that case the main research tool is live interviews from the people who were active participants on the scene. However, through a zine's interviews, such as those in Rollin Under, for example, the researcher has the chance to re-meet the same narrators in their mid-20s and analyse their discourses and stories from an entirely different point of view. So, from that perspective I recognize Rollin Under as a crucial preliminary data source that not only empowers our aspirations for bottom-up music historiography but also teaches us that "anyone can DIY their own history" 98 as music zinesters do in our case, through recording and sharing the music and musicians they love. Zines are living proof that "possessing the means of recording allows you to impose your own noise" 99 and why not "herald a society in which individuals and small groups dare to reclaim the right to develop their own procedures and their own networks". 100 In conclusion, zines can help us find and clarify the vague traces that DIY scenes left behind, reveal histories that would possibly otherwise remain hidden and untold and, most importantly, give us the opportunity to listen to the protagonists' voices and their historical narrations as they were written at that time. All the aforementioned zines' advantages enhance our effort for a bottom-up music historiography and teach us that we can all DIY our own history. Hence, Rollin Under and zines in general should be considered not just as zines, not only invaluable preliminary data tools that should at least "take their place among other sources such as letters, diaries, and oral history interviews" 101 , but, I would dare to say, as alternative cultural spaces that thrive in the system's ruptures and operate as silent revolutions. 102