Inside Front (special tour edition)

Inside Front was essentially a early/proto CrimethInc. zine from the 90s, put out as late as 2003 (back when CrimethInc. was really punk).

I had a small amount of overlap with Inside Front's original run, but somehow I never encountered in the wild at the time. I started going to shows in 2000 and I would grab any punk/hardcore zine I came across at shows (or anywhere else – I remember getting a copy of Punk Planet at the local magazine store sometime before I'd even been to my first punk show). There was also a lot of CrimethInc. stuff tabled at the early shows I went to, and I dunno if CrimethInc. is really cringe now but I was definitely one of those kids who graduated from ANTI-FLAG lyrics to CrimethInc. books in my earliest political trajectory. But Inside Front never made it up to my part of Canada with the rest of the CrimethInc. stuff, I guess. So I've never read a copy in-situ, just browsed the archived issues online (10-14 were posted by CrimethInc. with a little retrospective, and the rest appear on archive.org except Issue 3 which is noticeably missing!!).

Anyways, CATHARSIS (essentially the CrimethInc. house band) is back in 2025 with a new LP Hope Against Hope and with an upcoming tour, Inside Front is apparently also back for a "special tour edition."

The cover says "For anarcho punks and hardcore anarchists" and I could just stop the review right there. This might be the epitome of "perfect zine" for me. The first non-meta content is "Like Weeds – A Dialogue about HIS HERO IS GONE's Timeless Anthem" in which two thinkers trade increasingly deep and heady observations and anecdotes about the song and it's context (even more impressive when you realize both parties are almost certainly completely sober).

There's also a relatable story about en EXTREME NOISE TERROR CD triggering scrutiny at the US border, a show review from someone's first hardcore show ever, top-10 lists, a few reviews, ideas for a Stateless Fair, and a pair of parallel accounts from fighters in the Syrian civil war bonding over a Czechoslovakian hardcore song they all happened to know, and the struggle to finally download and listen to the song in the middle of a war zone.

It feels like a special and unique zine, since it draws on energy built up over 20+ years since the last issue. I'm not sure if Inside Front will return in a more permanent way, but I hope this issue gets wider distribution than just the CATHARSIS tour so more of you can enjoy it.

Here are the remaining 2025 tour dates:

• September 12 – New York City, New York: Property Is Theft, Brooklyn
• September 13 – Providence, Rhode Island
• October 10 – Raleigh: Kings
• October 11 – Richmond, Virginia
• October 12 – Washington, DC: St. Stephen’s
• October 13 – Philadelphia
• October 16 – Warsaw, Poland: Voodoo Club with POINT OF NO RETURN, GHOSTCHANT, MOIRA
• October 17 – Krakow, Poland: Alchemia with POINT OF NO RETURN, GHOSTCHANT, MOIRA REAGNITION
• October 18 – Budapest, Hungary: Turbina with POINT OF NO RETURN, GHOSTCHANT, VLKY
• October 19 – Zagreb, Croatia: AKC Attack with VLKY
• October 20 – Bologna, Italy: Freakout
• October 21 – Munich, Germany: Kafe Kult
• October 22 – Vienna, Austria: Tüwi with VLKY
• October 23 – Brno, Czech Republic: Kabinet MUZ
• October 24 – Schweinfurt, Germany: Stattbahnhof
• October 25 – Berlin, Germany: Neue Zukunft with CORRECTIVE MEASURE, MOIRA