073 Howard Weulfing on his 80s DC Fanzines, Descenes and Discords

On this episode, Marc talks with Howard Weulfing. He's the author of Descenes and Discords, an anthology of two fanzines he edited in the early 1980s, documenting the burgeoning underground rock scene in DC at the time. Descenes featured interviews, record reviews, live reviews, and more, with most of the focus on DC. Discords also covered scenes around the country, publishing reports from writers such as Gerard Cosloy in Boston, Jim Testa in New Jersey, Tesco Vee in Michigan, and John Foster in Olympia.

This new anthology includes explanatory introductions by Howard for each zine issue, as well as a conversation between Howard and Ian MacKaye, reminiscing about what things were like in DC back then.

As Howard writes, "Our contributors were out in this community and readily accessible. We were playing shows, running record stores, simply hanging out. We got plenty of letters of criticism, clarification, and sometimes praise. We tried to process it constructively: broadening the coverage, questioning our judgements, while keeping the tone conversational and direct though often with tongue planted firmly in cheek."

You can buy Descenes and Discords here.

We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Howard Wuelfing!