Zine Library Highlight

Two hands holds zines titled "STRANGE NOTES" and "SWAMP MAGIC" in front of a table with many more zines displayed.

Music and Sappyfest-inspired Zines

To celebrate the long weekend of music, art, and community love that is Sappyfest, we have highlighted our favourite indie music and Sappy-inspired zines from the Owens’ Teeny Tiny Zine Library. These zines document Sappyfests of years gone by, offer tips to enjoy the festival, review beloved bands, share playlists, and fill in missing gaps in mainstream media coverage of music.

Zines and music have always gone hand in hand, with early music fanzines dating back to the 1930s and flourishing during the 1970s as a vital source for spreading information about punk music. Today, music zines cover all genres, often containing art, record reviews, and interviews with artists.

Sappyfest-inspired Zines

Text "The Sappy Post" appears in a grey oval, overlaid on a green forest scene.

Various Artists
2020

A zine that appears on occasion during SappyFest, The Sappy Post has evolved and changed greatly from year to year. Maybe you knew it as The Rag & Review, Scraps of Time, or Telegraphic—either way, these publications serve to document the festival through art and writing. The Sappy Post was inspired by the inimitable Sappy Times, created by Sean Michaels to “collect my thoughts on all the marvels I heard” each SappyFest. Michaels would stay up all night preparing The Times and have it available at sunrise each day of the festival.

Capturing the festival and impressionistic memories, The Sappy Post creates an “ad hoc memory bloc.”

This issue is a retrospective of The Sappy Post, including contributions from nearly every previous contributor, as well as an essay by Geordie Miller and an interview with Sean Michaels.

On a yellow background, text reads "sappy survival guide (locals edition)."

Tori Weldon
2019

Tori Weldon’s Sappy Survival Guide contains tidbits of wisdom from an experienced Sappy attendee. It is filled with good reminders—like having coffee, checking the schedule, and wearing a hat—to ease you through the long weekend.

On the cover of the zine "Gritty by Delia and Theo Crocker" is a black and white illustration of a surreal landscape with large robotic structures partially buried in the ground. To the right, a seated figure looks over the land, a flying cat creature is silhouette against the sun.

Della and Theo Crocker
2020

Perfectly fitting for the year 2020, SappyFest: Near and Far‘s mascot was “a flying cat with a forest/world growing on its back with a population of children that hatch out of eggs.” Do you remember it glowing across the Cube? This fantastic creature also serves as the backdrop for the otherworldly stories in Gritty by Della and Theo Crocker.

Above a grayscale illustration of a music festival tent, is the large, bold title of this zine "SWAMP MAGIC." The background features silhouettes of buildings and people, under a cloudy moonlight sky.

Patrick Allaby

With four-panel comic strips, Patrick Allaby recounts some of his Sappy memories, including discovering new musicians, applying to work as a SappyFest summer intern, and scandalously sneaking in underage as a high school student.

Music Zines

On the cover of this zine, is an illustration of a cassette is labeled "Mixtape Vol 1 Valentines/Love". Below, its accompanying case sleeve is labeled "Mixtape V.1.1" with a heart symbol on yellow masking tape.

Evan Furness

In the most apt, tape-like format, Evan Furness’ Mixtape Vol. 1 illustrates 14 of his top Valentine’s Day tracks and love songs.

When you get halfway through this zine, you can flip it over and read the B-side. From Joy Division to Björk, Tom Waits to Sun Kil Moon, this zine will have you feeling the love.

Two tall thin publications lay side by side. On the left; "Pentagon Black Information Pamphlet No. 1" features concentric circles creating a target-like pattern. Below the graphic, the title reads "Black Dots: An Afropunk Primer" by Chris Murdoch and essay begins under that. On the right; "Pentagon Black Information Pamphlet No. 2," includes an illustration of a cowboy hat with various symbols inside, including a rainbow, heart, and others. The title "25 Queer Country Hot Hits, 1938-2020" by Stacey Easton is below the image, and essay begins under that.

Published by Pentagon Black
2020

Black Dots: An Afropunk Primer is the first installment of the Pentagon Black Information Pamphlet series from Pentagon Black. This essential eight-page pamphlet profiles Black punks of the early British and US punk and hardcore scenes, written by Chris Murdoch.

The second pamphlet in the series, 25 Queer Country Hot Hits, 1938–2020, includes writing by Steacy Easton which fills the LGBTQIA+ gaps that you might be missing from your country/western repertoire.

Both zines include illustrations by Raymond Biesinger and are the perfect pocket-sized resources to expand your music history knowledge.

The cover of this monochromatic zine is divided vertically. On the left side is a stylized photograph of grass. On right side is an abstract grey texture with a partially visible cross. In the top right corner text reads " >> untitled" and ">jeff_oulton."

Jeff Oulton
2022

>>untitled was made by McKenzie College student Jeff Oulton for a graphic design course assignment that asked students to each make a zine on the theme of spring. Oulton’s illustrations and paintings accompany lyrics and song titles from Nine Inch Nails’ album The Fragile.

A black book is displayed laying flat. "POP QUIZ" appers on the cover in white handwritten, scratchy font.

Dave Dyment
2010

Pop Quiz by artist Dave Dyment is a nearly comprehensive collection of all of the questions posed in pop songs from the artist’s music collection. Each copy from the edition of 500 includes a unique handwritten question. Our copy reads “Don’t you know I breathe in fire?” from tUnE-yArDs’ Fiya.

The cover of a zine is dominated by the words "STRANGE NOTES" printed vertically in bold blue letters on a lighter blue paper. At the four corners of the cover, there are black and white images of people faded into the background.

Tara Bursey and Ben Needham

Continuing your deep dive into esoteric rock’n’roll and musical movements across time and space, Strange Notes is a printed companion to Tara Bursey and Ben Needham’s radio show of the same name. This issue documents the show’s themes, playlists, and artists featured in episodes 10–16.

Each zine comes with QR codes to access the show on its two stations, CHMA 106.9 in Sackville, NB and CFMU in Hamilton, ON.

At the top, of this zine, inside a jagged circle, is the number "36" written in a bold, hand-drawn style and the handwritten title "BAND NAME IDEAS" followed by the subtitle "TAKEN FROM THE PAGES OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE." Below this, a decorative rectangular box contains the text "VOL. 141, NO. 2," surrounded by a hand-drawn leaf pattern. Further down, the handwritten word "FROM" is placed above another decorative box, similar in style, with the text "FEBRUARY 1972" inside.

Sophia L
2022

With all the new knowledge and inspiration from these music-inspired zines, if you feel tempted to dust off an old instrument and join some friends to make a band, Sophie L.’s zine, 36 Band Name Ideas, could help you name your new ensemble.

On the cover of the zine "MUSIC IN GALLERIES" a cartoon cat wearing headphones is surrounded by doodles.

Ben Beaumont
2025

This zine describes the author’s personal experience with using music in galleries to combat the brightness and quietness of the traditional gallery setting. The sensory environment is something many people struggle with in museums. Music has been a personal remedy for Ben. Included in this zine is Ben’s playlist for traveling through the museum space in a calm, relaxed manner.

Musical notes surround the text "The World of Music", on the cover of the zine "by: Lila."

Lila
2024

In this short zine, Lila reminds us just how many different kinds of music there are in the world, and that it’s perfectly okay to like different things. Some of their favourites are Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, and Adele.

A triangular shape, drawing with shaky lines is drawn on a brown background on the cover of this zine. Black thread binding appears on the left hand spine.

Amanda Fauteux
2018

Inside the pages of songs unsung by Amanda Fauteux are remnants of karaoke song requests. Most are torn or crumpled, obscuring the singers’ selections, but we can read a few requests like Summer Nights for Tara and Eye in the Sky for Ad + Amanda.  

The text 'DEMON PIE' appears in jagged font with red stars and black hearts on a white background.

Demon Pie
2022

Created in the spirit of trickery, false expectation, and outright lying, Demon Pie is an art band created by Jerry Ropson’s FINA 3611 Intermediate Open Media class as a surprise for Jerry. Meet the members behind the mischief in this chaotic, clever bio-zine: Hazel Bite (Libbie Farrell), Atomic Chivalry (Olivia McCarthy), Monarch Motel (Chloe Mantrom), Dishrag Maya (Daisy Graham), Charlie Weapons (Sophia Lawrence) and Lichen Lunar God (Chloe Lundrigan).