Suburban Relapse was a South Florida fanzine I started in 1981 that produced 13 print issues over a 4 year period. Made in the “do it yourself” punk spirit of the day it covered the local punk and music scene as well as national and international acts that were not getting mainstream press coverage.

Those were crazy times. The scene was our world! The scene was everything! Controversies emerged. Discussions became heated. Battles were waged. You had to be there to understand. People were very passionate about the scene!

The zine was started to give the South Florida punk scene another voice. I also felt the scene needed more exposure nationally so larger national distribution became a goal of mine. Gradually as the zine developed and distribution grew I began focusing a bit more on acts from outside South Florida, and even eventually including articles on film and featuring interviews with legendary film directors such as Russ Meyer and Herschell Gordon Lewis. I also expanded and did a special one/off VHS issue (one of the first of its kind) featuring video interviews and performances, in addition to running a small indie label for local acts, Sublapse.

When I moved to NYC in the mid-'80s I wrote a few articles for some area publications such as Seconds and Flesh and Bones, still thinking of restarting Suburban Relapse (Urban Relapse perhaps?) and its video counterpart up north. Eventually I lost interest in the current music scene as I started to renew my interest in '50s and '60s R&B and Soul music which I was into when I was younger. There was too much cool and exciting old stuff to uncover and discover. With that I lost any interest I had in ever reactivating Suburban Relapse.

Barry at Record Show With Better Half, Candy