Anji Bee’s late 80’s hardcore punk zine, Positive Influence, is featured in the new archival book, Cut and Paste: The American Hardcore Fanzine, released by Tribal Publishing. This 300 page full color book collects the covers of over 400 zines, as well as a selection of personal photos and interviews with zine creators. Several pages are dedicated to Anji’s interview, zine, and photos — including a shot of Anji and her brother, Brian, with a bag of fanzines between them.
A new interview with the DIY Conspiracy website discusses the Positive Influence Fanzine Anthology and how DIY ethics have continued to fuel my entire career from music to vidcasting to cookbook creation. I also talked about some of the difficulties I experience as a female creator in a male dominated world, my transition from vegetarian to vegan, as well as the difference in the fanzines I created post Positive Influence days. Quite a few images are shared in this well crafted feature, as well as a link to my Positive Influence Playlist on Spotify. Read Anji Bee: The Story of Positive Influence Zine on DIY Conspiracy.
Anji Bee Interview in DIY Conspiracy
The concept was both being inspired by Posicore music and trying to inspire others in return. As I talked about in my intro, I was living in a fairly dark time and wasn’t in the best life circumstances, either. My partner Buster was going through a lot of personal stuff, as well. I thought this project would be a good way for us to channel our energies in a positive direction, to have something to work on outside of our jobs to give our lives meaning and purpose. I wanted to be a part of the scene, meet the bands, and have interactions with people at shows. Sharing our thoughts about the music, the venues, and the scene itself gave us much needed connection.
In a new video for the Happy Healthy Vegan show, Anji sat down to discuss the Positive Influence Hardcore Fanzine Anthology released by Shining Life Press. Anji explains the process of putting the book together featuring her 1988 posicore and straight edge hardcore fanzine as well as archival materials from her personal collection. Get a peek at her photo books, show flyers, original layouts and more as she shares her story.
GOT MY COPY!!! Kinda surreal to see my 1988 zine back in print. This anthology features all 6 issues plus a 21 page intro with bonus photos, artwork and ads/flyers composed and designed by ya girl.
So amped to announce that Shining Life Press is now taking pre-orders for the long awaited Positive Influence Fanzine anthology. This project has been over 2 years in the making so I’m both excited and relieved to have reached the finish line! Not only does this soft-bound book feature all 6 issues of Positive Influence, it also includes 21 pages of bonus material such as archival photos, flyers, ads, plus an introduction written by yours truly that goes into the history of the ‘zine with many stories from those times. It was quite a process to dig up all of the ephemera that went into this project, and honestly it’s a small miracle that so much of it had survived decades of moving around Southern California!
Kevin ‘Kev Insted’ Hernandez shares the mic with an eager crowd. Photo by Jeff Ladd.
In 1988 I created an illustration of the vocalist of Norwalk band, Walk Proud, for the cover art of their debut New Age Records release, “Be Yourself.” A credit on the back cover of the 7″ states “Cover Art: Anji,” though I didn’t create the cover artwork, per se. Chris Cole drew the logo and I have no idea who did the transfer letters of the title or the overall layout. My pen and ink illustration was used on the original cover art for the first pressing on black vinyl.
Front and Back Cover of Walk Proud ‘Be Yourself’ on New Age Records
Interestingly, the cover art was initially composed of just my drawing of Lalo (in a smaller size) and Chris’ graffiti style logo (in a larger size) placed in a stacked formation. I found an entry on Discogs with a photo of this original design layout. In a 2018 interview with No Echo Mike Hartsfield of New Age Records said:
During the discovery phase of compiling the upcoming Positive Influence anthology, I cam across a drawing I did for Against the Wall back in 1988. This thin marker sketch with a bit of stippling and a bit of cross hatching is very indicative of my style at that period. The simple black and white designs xeroxed well thus were perfect to use for zines and flyers. This is the same drawing style I used for the New Age Records logo graphic. If memory serves, this drawing was done as a potential cover for the first Against the Wall single that was going to be released by New Age, the label of Against the Wall member, Mike Hartsfield. The ‘Identify Me‘ single ended up being released by Nemesis Records in 1989 with a completely different cover.
In the lead up to releasing the Positive Influence anthology book on Shining Life Press, Anji has launched a new Instagram account. Follow @positiveinfluencezine for photos, artwork, behind the scenes stories and updates on the book launch. The new account will show a different side of Anji’s creativity, from pen and ink drawings, graphic design and layout, as well as live band photography. It will provide a unique look into the late 80’s So Cal hardcore punk scene with a focus on straight edge and posicore bands.
Youngblood Records recently released a t-shirt featuring a doodle I drew for my late 80’s straight edge hardcore fanzine, Positive Influence. This was taken from issue #4, released February 1988. The first run of this “Scene News” design was on a goldenrod tee to match the color of this issue’s cover, but this new run in pink is super cute. If you want a piece of Anji Bee OR straight x edge history, pickup this limited edition tee while you still can! Available at shop.youngblood-records.com
Tickled that @youngbloodrecords wanted to collab with me for their vintage hardcore found art t-shirt collection! This is one of several pen and ink drawings I made to headline the Scene News section of Positive Influence zine. This particular doodle appeared on the inside cover of issue no 4 and the original piece of art reads, “Scene News For Feb.”
