MYSTIFICATION ZINE was created as an opportunity to interface with artists in a fanzine capacity, initially as an action against the surreal apathy and low-standard fare that’d arisen during recent pandemia. While the format continues to adapt in phases the main focus is longer form interviews with compelling bands/projects. Issues VII and beyond will continue to evolve the format and layout alongside some backwards-looking coverage of retro stuff and sub-genre interest. The larger goal is one physical issue per year, the popularity of the issues will determine how soon this happens. // Want to be interviewed? If I wrote about your work I’ll likely have questions. Don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or issues related to the zine: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com

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One year ago my second attempt at a Patreon campaign yielded the same irritations of the past: Waiting for others to meet monthly deadlines and (more importantly) the grating sensation of being “taxed” first by Patreon and then PayPal when gathering funds. For every five dollars made a minimum of seventy cents up to two dollars is taken (the actual taxes on the remainder are roughly thirty percent) and when trying to fund print issues with smaller digital releases the process became a “service” more than anything remotely fun or engaging as a fan of heavy music. Here in mid-2025 I’ve made an effort to prepare what is essentially a different, more sustainable focus for the fanzine which is focused on interviews, leaving longer-form features and ongoing projects as a separate entities.

The first step of this process was sending out roughly fifteen sets of interview questions within the first three months of 2025. Some are pending, some complete and others unused/never to see the light of day… but the best and most resonant items are included in this seventh issue. My approach to these interviews intends that they are both practical and personal, requests concerned with the craft and the experience of music sourced in earnest. The second step was actually an ongoing process, suited to my intent of developing new skills within each project I undertake. In this case a total of ~164 digital drawings were drafted over the course of six months as I began to teach myself to use digital tools to illustrate, starting in early January.

While these were initially small and exploratory events which began on my phone and produced 3-4 images per evening I’d eventually settled on modulating a generic airbrush type shape and developing a visual language from there, drawing whatever came to mind (often using mirrored effects to produce symmetry or shape) and adding and subtracting light, detail, and color until each one felt finished. If an image appears “blurry”, such as some of the background illustrations, it is for the sake of being drawn on my phone using a stylus before I’d began to zoom in and add finer details. Some of what I’ve chosen is for the sake of continuity throughout the issue and less for the exact resolution/precision desired. Rather than clutter the borders of the page with gore, ads, skulls, and obnoxious cut-outs the design of this new issue is as simple and uncluttered as possible while I fight against all the maximal notions learned from writing for both punk zines as well as metal magazines in the late 90’s/early 2000’s.

Why draw anything? To give the whole effort its own personal touch first and foremost. It was also important to not depend on artists or photography for the zine. I won’t ask folks to contribute art for free and the ones who have offered in the past were difficult to work with, even when paid. My own personal goal is to develop a variety of skills at once, to show the “work” of devout fandom can be more than throwing money at shit, and achieve a state where I am more knowledgeable than before. The hope that that is directly passed onto others in an entertaining or at least informative conduit. If you are opting to use generative AI to create images, words etc. I would offer some of this result as to what you could accomplish yourself by simply sitting down and drawing or writing every day. Rather than curse your music or creative output with false, useless AI garbage… opt to do it yourself. When you put in the work toward your intended goals -something- will come of it, even if you’re only just a slightly more capable person at the end of each day.

BARSHASKETH INTERVIEW

This is perhaps up there in my top five favorite interviews I’ve done to date. It took place between January 11th-April 24th and only for the sake of me taking several weeks at a time to produce anything. A death in the family heavily slowed my cognition for the first two months of the year and many things took much longer to realize as I didn’t want to present low quality work and reflect poorly on myself or the artists involved. As suggested this might be one of the better interviews I’ve conducted and with great respect and thanks to Krigeist.

Want to preview the first ten or so pages of the zine including the full Barshasketh interview? Click here to download a PDF which includes the cover, editors note, contents, and full interview.

COSMIC PUTREFACTION INTERVIEW

This is my second time interviewing the imposing, sharp-minded talent that is Gabriele Gramaglia and this was a planned interview pertaining to his 2024 released ‘Emerald Fires atop the Farewell Mountains‘. The interview finally took place between March 15th and April 24th and I’d greatly appreciated the honest and very different tone beyond the last interview, both of which were extremely informative and enlightening. Getting the real deal from an artist is so rare and I am grateful that he’d acknowledged that an interview should be a real snapshot of the artist and not some bland set of questions yanked from a press release. Learning some of the toll, just a glimpse of the work involved in reaching the standard within his music, was enlightening from my point of view and fostered a greater sensitivity when approaching artists in the future. This is the kind of stuff I, and I believe others really want to know beyond the fun of “Hey, what bands do you like?“.

JADE INTERVIEW

This interview was conducted between April 21st and May 5th as a general add-on to the premiere of Jade‘s latest album ‘Mysteries of a Flowery Dream‘ and I was grateful to get a chance to learn more about not only the themes found within the album but also the history of the band up to this point. They’ve long been at the top of my mind in terms of great potential with their own vision of atmospheric death metal and with this new album they’d taken it to a new height, an experience I wanted to know much more about. Needless to say I am also a huge fan of Spain’s (and adjacent) black and death metal scenes today and these folks are a brilliant voice in that greater realm.

AVAILABLE NOW:

Why spend five dollars on a PDF? This is the best way to support the site and my daily efforts. All money donated or contributed to the site since it began back in 2017 has gone directly back into the cost of hosting a custom domain as well as certain Spirit Coffin Publishing projects, including the print version of the first issue. It is also one of the most clear forms of feedback, a gauge as to where I should focus my efforts next. There will be an eighth issue in 2025 so if you’re not convinced yet expect another go of it later in the year.

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