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| Indie Press Projects >> Parcell Press |
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Launched in December of 2003, Parcell Press exists for the best reason there is for a distro to exist, to make zines and get them out to the people who will appreciate them. [We'll get out of the way right now that it's par-cell not parcel like a package, you dig?] There's a drive to educate people about the zine community and zines as art, and there's a drive to be a real working part of the community, contributing to do it's part in keeping it all happening. 'I really wanted to create a project through which I could promote zines and get them into new hands, educate people about zines, help the zine community sustain itself, and challenge zinesters and readers to consider zines a more valid artform.', says Taylor on the Press' site. While Taylor notes there is a backlog in adding new titles, he does have a system that runs well for him, 'I process orders a little more easily because I can pack them up as soon as they're paid for, ship them off the next day at the post office, and not have to fuss over little details as much. It's clear that order fulfillment is the most-greased aspect of this little machine, but it also needs to be. I wouldn't feel good if I were waiting weeks to fill and ship peoples' orders. When they're excited about getting new zines, they don't want to wait, and I don't want to make them.' For that last quote alone, Parcell Press is worth ordering from. |
 Taylor |
Balancing Parcell and the rest of his life isn't always easy, Taylor mentions he'd 'love to have more time to focus on Parcell Press and zine-writing in general.' When asked about Parcell Press sustaining itself as his 'day job' some time in the future, 'Yes, absolutely. I don't know, maybe. I sure hope so.' He goes on to describe a feeling I think a lot of us around this general age/time in our lives have, 'When I was younger I worried that my desire to live off of a project pertaining to independent art of any form bordered on selling out or casting aside my true passion for the project for a need to pay bills. As I grow older I realize that this doesn't apply, or at least it doesn't have to apply. As I see more and more of my peers successfully sustain themselves through their terrific, creative endeavors, I realize how possible and acceptable and even respectable it is to achieve that.' Taylor is aware that in order to take Parcell Press where he knows it can go, he needs to throw himself at it full time, 'I think Parcell Press is worthwhile and there are at least a few handfuls of people out there who agree. In order to be the most productive, publish important books and zines with frequency, legitimize this medium as an alternative arts culture, push new boundaries, and amplify more voices, I'll need to be doing this full time. Obviously I'm not trying to get rich, and my concern that anyone would assume that is definitely waning as I realize the absurdity of that notion. I'd love to partner up with friends, support ourselves together, and make a difference in the whole world from the independent publishing world.' Makes you want to get up off your ass, doesn't it?
Some background on the person behind the Press, Taylor found zines when most of us did, in his early teens, and was smitten from the start, creating his own zines. Still in to it more than six years later, Taylor founded Parcell Press as a way to get his zines out to more people, to create more zines and to get other people's zines out to people who may otherwise not happen upon them. And now, more than two years later, the entire operation is run from his closet-office, with various crates full of zines in precarious places and random bits of paper with notes on them littering his desk (this is how I imagine it to be, please don't spoil it for me). Notes Taylor, 'Most people who run businesses alone have a system for themselves but from the outside it appears completely disorganized. I suppose I run Parcell Press a little bit like that. It's going to be a mutual challenge when I eventually have a partner or employee or co-worker, that's for sure.' As it is now, mail sometimes piles up during the week, explains Taylor, 'The amount of mail I get can sometimes pile up real high during the workweek and I'll have to stack it in the corner of my closet (which is also my office) until Friday afternoon.' 'I try to attend at least a handful of zine fests or conferences each year. I go to the New Jersey Zine Fest (held in March or April in New Brunswick) each year, and the Philadelphia Zine Fest (a summer conference) as well', says Taylor, when asked about zine fests he checks out, 'Internationalist Bookstore in Chapel Hill, NC had their first annual indie book fair in 2005 and they're planning another in 2006 which I plan to attend as well. Others in Ohio, New York, Portland, OR, or Boston are more difficult for me to attend on account of their distance. There are long-standing annual conferences in New Orleans and San Francisco as well.'
The zines and books carried by Parcell Press are all over the place in terms of style and, though there are quite a few I haven't read, there are also some I have, and it's a varied catalog (links). From political to poetry, music, cooking and sex. Taylor, on the size of it all, 'I've always got a little bit of a backlog on new titles that are waiting to be added to the catalog, and while this is frustrating, it's also satisfying to know that I've got concrete work waiting for me.' Some zines of note when I asked Taylor what some of his favorites are; 'I love The Secret Files of Captain Sissy, blurt!, One Fine Mess, Ideas in Pictures, Cometbus or anything by Aaron Cometbus, Burn Collector, Invincible Summer, Clutch, King-Cat, Shotgun Wedding, Paping, anything by Christoph Meyer, and some of the better DIY guides such as Stolen Sharpie Revolution, Making Stuff & Doing Things, and The Ms. Films DIY Guide to Film & Video, which is going to be the first official book release from Parcell Press. Those are just off the top of my head, though. I have read hundreds of great ones and continue to see new ones that I love every week.' The zine shows, the Press itself, and all the individual zines in the Parcell catalog make up a part of a much bigger picture. We all know this, but it's nice to revisit from time to time. I asked Taylor about the importance of the need for independent press, and his response is loaded and well put, 'The need for independent press is very important, and always has been. It's from the independent press that the most creatively and intellectually challenging material is often born, and this has been the case throughout history', he says. 'Within U.S. history, for example, Benjamin Franklin is often recalled as a proto-zinester as he published his thoughts on his own printing presses, embodying an early example of an independent spirit that drives underground publishing today. To say that there's a 'need' for independent press, though, almost discounts its inherent existence. There's more than a need for it, there's a hunger for it that will always remain. Independent thinkers and activists will always rely on a non-corporate medium through which to communicate, share ideas, build community, and be productive. The independent press is alive and well and will remain an important, if often somewhat overlooked, collective voice in the publishing and arts world.' Benjamin Franklin, people! This Taylor is full of useful information. I also asked him about his thoughts on independent spirit and zine creation, he says 'Zines are inherently an extension of the independent spirit. They're created out of a passion for expression through words or artwork, and sometimes a little bit of frustration with mainstream or corporate-dominated media. They challenge norms, and give voice to those that may otherwise never be heard. They're produced independently and they remain independent. The zine community is an independent community, resisting co-option and supporting itself through a network of creators and workers who take publishing, distribution, marketing, organizing, printing, and research into their own hands, all the while often acting as the best and most reliable theoreticians on their own culture. What's more independent than that?' Well said.
It's this creativity behind the zines, behind the passion for spreading the zines, that produces these wonderful connections in the zine community. Comp zines and splits, I think, are an important way for great zinesters to either get together to create something that intertwines their styles/projects or as a way for several zinesters to add a few pages in to a mix. Taylor's thoughts on this, 'Compilation zines are one important form that zines can take. Combining voices on a specific theme or just sharing printed space as artists or writers is a terrific way to reach a wider audience, demonstrate community, and publish work that is substantial in its content and appeal. When zinesters team together to do good work it also shows how productive the medium is. Anthologies of voices and research on certain topics is a hallmark of the academic press, but it’s also something that exists in the independent press and zine publishing as well. People taking their art or writing seriously, working together to make available an important or necessary publication.' A visit to the topic of zines as a part of a bigger community and those zinesters hooking up to create together would not be complete without a little discussion about mail. In Taylor's case, it goes back even farther than other zine kids, 'My first passion as a kid was letter writing. I tried to establish a pen-pal connection for myself and for my pen-pals but most eleven-year-olds weren't as interested in mail and correspondence as I was. It was a difficult time, waiting for and receiving far less mail than I sent', he says. 'When I got involved with zines a couple years later, I realized that these were the sorts of people who wanted to write letters, send mail, and communicate through written words. Now about a decade later, there's not much better to me than a good mail day, and I still make daily trips to the post office. Communicating with readers, distro customers, other zinesters and distributors is all one of the most fulfilling and satisfying aspects of the zine community.'
Taylor’s Playlist (Bands)
1. Tinariwen 2. R.L. Burnside 3. Built to Spill 4. Andrew Bird 5. Modest Mouse Parcell Press |
