The way of D.I.Y. Rocking

Cover of issue 4 with silkscreen print

The way of D.I.Y. Rocking was a D.I.Y. perzine from Dublin, Ireland. It was the fifth zine in a series of zines made by Eugene from Loserdom zine between January 1999 and December 2001. These five zines had different names but as they were all from the one author and because they documented a specific time period, they could for simplicity all be referred to as The way of D.I.Y. Rocking series.

The first zine was called "Wake up Baby yeh! It hits you right between the eyes" and was released in January 1999. It contained comics, writings and illustrations. The first comic was meant for Loserdom and contained the Loser brothers but the other comics contained anonymous characters and themes and the writings were mainly abstract accounts of cycling or walking.

The second zine was released in September 1999 and was called "And they are saying." It contained writings, quotes and illustrations. The general theme was alienation. The back cover was a one colour linoleum print of an illustration from the previous zine. The zine also had cut out colour photocopies of two small drawings and a photograph pasted onto some of the pages. Several of the zines had colours painted onto the sketch of the front cover. Two hundred copies were made on recycled paper and were distributed around Dublin.

The third zine was called "Open shirts and raised collars" and was released in March 2000. It was a fictional story with illustrations. The zine contained three separate lino prints one on the back cover and two throughout the 16 or so pages. Again 200 copies were made on recycled paper.

The fourth issue was again a fictional story zine except that it also contained writings. It was released in April 2001 and was called I was looking back to see if you were looking back at me to see me looking back from you - a famous quote from music. As well as the fictional story it contained a short account of a cycle tour around Ireland. Again for visual effect, four cut and pasted colour photocopied pictures were included in the zine as well as the zine cover being a one colour brown silkscreened print. This print made the production of the zine expensive which caused the price to be increased to two Irish pounds which was seen as a lot to ask at the time. Two hundred copies of the zine were made and it was sold in shops in Dublin.

The final issue was called "The way of DIY Rocking" and was released in January 2002. It was a return to a more traditional and basic zine format with no linoprints, screenprints or coloured picture but it did contain illustrations in the forms of sketches and it was produced on recycled paper. There was also a return in style of writing to more direct writing/accounts; there was an account on a cycle tour in France, Belgium and the Netherlands together with reports on protests in Scotland and England as well as an article on the Anti-Nuclear power campaign in Ireland in the seventies. There was also some references to DIY gigs being organised in Dublin and hope for more environmentally friendly waste disposal schemes. 100 copies were made and the zine was distributed in Dublin and Cork in Ireland.

After the fifth issue, Eugene joined up with his brother Anto to continue their original zine together, Loserdom.