Punkgirldiaries was started by two grown-up punkgirls, first as a blog site punkgirldiaries.com and, since May 2020 as a quality printed zine.
Lene Cortina and Vim Renault were too young to join in with the first ripples of punk, but they quickly got the message that girls could be in bands, you could write your own songs, design your own fashions and even start your own record label or zine. Although they didn't know each other growing up, the appearance of Eddie and the Hot Rods on Top of the Pops in August 1977 with the song 'Do Anything You Wanna Do' was a moment of realisation for both girls. Both formed punk bands in their respective small towns, both went on to be guitarists in indie-pop bands of the 1990s who met a couple of times before giving up and doing everyday jobs. But in 2017, they had a conversation about how punk had impacted their whole lives. Lene and Vim realised that the cultural shift, the politics, the empowerment for girls that punk had brought about was enormous. Academia was beginning to analyse the whole period, but punkgirldiaries was created as an authentic direct voice of women linked with punk. Yes, they loved the music, but the main focus is on getting the history written. Punkgirldiaries is a small DIY not-profitable affair, but the zines have barcodes and ISBN numbers; they're in the British Library for a reason.
"When lockdown hit, we decided to produce a printed zine. We wanted it to have great graphics, humour, loads of great writing. Most of all, we wanted to collect as many original interviews with women musicians as we could. We're so pleased that they've been willing to talk with us - mostly via zoom, and every time we have these conversations, we see how sparky, resilient and clever all these women are. We've spoken with those who were already doing music when punk hit, to those who got inspired at a Sex Pistols concert, the generation like us that was just a bit too young so got involved in post-punk indie music. But we have also traced the thread through Riot Grrrl to this century's girls and women in music, where a new generation plays punk-pop with attitude, and women are getting into management, production and those important gate-keeping roles. Punkgirldiaries is not just a nostalgia zine; we combine the new and the old"
Issue 8 is out in November. Interviews include Pat Place and Cynthia Sley of New York band Bush Tetras, all-women trio Peaness, jazz guitarist Deirdre Cartwright, who taught us how to play on the 70s BBC Rock School, Karen Yarnell, drummer in The Gymslips and Michelle Brigandage, who was at the front of the queue for the 100 Club punk fest in 1976. Earlier issues of punkgirldiaries printed blogzine include interviews with Pauline Murray, Shirley Manson, Big Joanie, Gaye Black, Miki Berenyi, Exene Cervenka, June Miles-Kingston, Helen O'Hara, Chas Hines, Toyah Willcox, Kristin Hersh, Rose McDowall, Lesley Woods and many more. The contents of each zine are listed on the store page of the blogsite punkgirldiaries.com/store/ and you can follow punkgirldiaries on Twitter and Instagram .@punkgirldiaries
Review comments
“Beautiful work my friends. I recommend it to everyone! “ Pete Wylie
“Just wonderful - part cultural history, part gender polemic and part just a great magazine. With some of the most creative layout around. Brilliant stuff.” - Liz Naylor
‘Sumptuous … A feast for the eyes’ - Gary Crowley
‘Fabulous content…badass design’ – Louder Than War
‘Top zine! Buy it!’ – Jon Savage
‘Classy and brassy’ – Scottish Post Punk
‘It’s the poshest zine I’ve ever seen’ June Miles-Kingston drummer Mo-dettes, Communards
‘a great punky zine that gathers great info and puts a new twist on it with great production value. Well worth getting.’ Independent Bookshop.com
‘Great content and presentation, featuring interesting interviews from strong and creative women…highly recommended’ – Pauline Murray