Jose Fritz wrote a review of The Stowaways Issue 21 for the new issue of Slingshot, Issue 144. Check it out HERE.
The Stowaways: Issue 21
80 pages – $5
romancandlesmusic@gmail.com
This beefy zine was put together by Christopher Gyorgyovich of the band Roman Candles. I think the writing in Stowaways has shown tremendous growth since the first issue back in 2011. This issue is chock full of interviews and show reviews. It’s thick like a novella, inviting you to curl up with it on a cold, snowy day and drink tea. I was reading up on the back issues and I discovered that Craven Rock kind of crapped on the last issue and had previously shat on issues 11 and 12. I asked Chris about it and he didn’t take it personally. Clearly he is much nicer than me.
Gyorgyovich usually describes The Stowaways as a “fanzine.” The terminology usually means that one is a fan of a certain genre or band. There have been many bands named “The Stowaways”. My hope had been that he is a fan of the 1970s Stowaways from Cologne, Germany, for no reason other than that it would be hilarious… but we need to know the truth.
So I asked, and he told me that the name actually came from his fascination with train hopping. At UC Berkeley, he wrote his senior thesis on the history of hobos, tramps, and trainhoppers. This is super cool, but I will resist changing the subject. I would absolutely rate Stowaways in a class similar to other fine zines like Ear of Corn, or Noise Widow.

