At 4zzz, we acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we broadcast. We pay our respects to the elders, past, present and emerging of the Turbul and Jagera people. We acknowledge that their sovereignty over this land was never ceded and we stand.

In solidarity with them. You're listening to transm on 4zzz, amplifying the trans and gender non conforming voices of Brisbane and beyond.

Hello. Hello. You're listening to Transmission on 4ZZZ. My name is EZ. I use HE, him pronouns.

My name is Ray. I use they, them pronouns.

And we're talking zines today.

We are talking zines. I'm so pumped. Zines are a fantastic, amazing, beautiful thing. And if you haven't made one, well, we're gonna encourage you to later.

I don't know what they are.

If you're like, what is a zine? I mean, I don't know where you've been, but also buckle up.

Yeah, buckle up. And something else that's on today's episode is we're going to take a splash with Mil from Porpoise Spit, who's got an album coming out later this week. And I'm very, very keen for y' all to hear my chat with Mil. Take a splash.

I love it.

Take a Splash and Porpoise Spit. That's what we're gonna be excited to. Yeah, it was awesome. It was a great chat with Mel. So I'm keen to play that for you.

I'm so pumped.

But first up, community news. Oh, well, community events.

Yeah. Go attend some things.

Such as.

Yes. Such as Echoes from the Cave inn have their third birthday celebration on Tuesday 7th October, which is from 6pm and that's at our lovely Cave Inn, which We love here at 4zzz. We love the Cave and it's an amazing event that's hosted by Drew and Key and if you follow them on choes from the Cave and it's a safe, inclusive space and you can read a poem for a couple of minutes and then you can also participate in a speed poetry round at the end of the evening as well. So you can go perform poetry and write some poetry. And we're very lucky to have Key, who's one of the hosts from Echoes from the Cave, coming to, coming on the show next Tuesday, which will be awesome.

Oh my God. Get pumped for that.

I am so pumped. And they're gonna talk about poetry and echoes and all the good things. Oh, and they're gonna read some poetry on air, which will be awesome. Oh my. Gosh I am pumped.

Get ready for some poetry.

I was like, it's poetry time.

Yes, yes. But also another event coming up is Fashioning Queer Identities exhibition which is on Wednesday 29 October from 5pm at Queensland Multicultural Centre, Kangaroo Point. Fashioning Queer Identities is a multimedia project and exhibition exploring how art, fashion, performance and costume express define and sometimes camouflage LGBTQIA identities. Through co designed workshops, the project's participants have explored themes related to identity, belonging and living in Brisbane. So please join them for the opening and Pop up exhibition, the project's culmination. So, yeah, PS Ray will have trans art at this exhibition. I've just read.

Yes, I am. I am. Literally. I've been doing the workshops every Thursday and it's exciting. I've got some. It's basically going to be a poetry, visual art, fashion, protest piece.

Whoa, that's awesome.

So fingers crossed I can get it done in time. The idea is, is some like. Yeah, some really some. Just an interesting look at protest and trans fashion and poetry all at the same time. Because I don't know, I was feeling really sad and I was like, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna sign up for this thing and I'm gonna make some art.

Wow, you've never said that before.

Yeah, I know, right? This is how to work through your feelings. If you want to work through your feelings with zine making. We'll be back, I guess, maybe after some tracks and we'll talk about.

Yeah, definitely zines and yeah, speaking of, you know, art as protests.

Sterling, the only man in the world.

Who'S given birth to a child.

Someone might say, you're a bit of a queer. And they'd be right. And they'd be right. You're listening to Transmission on four Zzz Zines.

Hello. We love zines.

My name is ez. I use he, him, pronouns.

My name is Ray. I use they, them pronouns. And we are talking about zines, which. We use any pronouns. Yes, because it's your zine and you can do what you want.

That's right.

So if you ever looked at a blank page and just gone, you know what? I could do something really cool with this. You can fold it.

I've never looked at a blank page and be like, I know what to do with this. I'm always daunted. But yes, you could fold it.

I was like, you could, you could fold it and you could put some poetry and some art in it and then you can photocopy it and give a bunch of copies to People.

Yeah.

Or sell them at zine fairs. It's honestly, zines are one of my favourite things and I think that they're, you know, they have their roots in, you know, anarchy and DIY culture. And there's something that people, I don't know, I think everyone should make a zine at least once.

Yeah.

My favourite thing is seeing like when I run zine workshops is seeing young people embracing zines, but then also seeing people who are maybe like, you know, middle aged, like mums and stuff, just making a cool zine. I had an 80 year old lady once who she was making her first zine and it was amazing. Like it was just beautiful and it was like she just wanted to make something for her daughter. And I'm like, good, good.

Yeah, great.

Yeah.

Put some poetry and put some like pictures of flowers or whatever. Do you. Yeah, it was, it was just gorgeous and just like seeing people express themselves in that kind of way. There's no rules.

And they're awesome like that.

Right? Because I mean, you know, personally love having, personally, I love having books published. However, okay. Traditionally published, you know, it's hard to get traditionally published. And it's also something that's like a completely different beast. Like you can just.

Oh yeah.

Zines have no barrier to entry and you can literally just grab a scrap of paper and zines are like, get going.

They're like non conforming media and I.

Feel like that's why I've got currently in the studio. And we'll post a photo of this on social media later. I've got so many zines in the studio and so many trans zines.

Because I think you can hear the papers.

You can hear. I was like, you can hear the paper, Russell. Hang on. There we go. There's. Oh God. I could hear that through the headphones. Lovely.

There's a lot of zines.

Do you like. There must be a cross section of zine ASMR that people are into. And if you're into that. I don't know, I guess let us know also if you've made a zine. Let us know. Like text us. Let us know if you've made a zine.

Tell us if you've made a zine. What was it? Why did you do it?

Yeah, why would you do such a thing? Why did you do this?

But you're going to read from some of your zines.

I'm going to read from some of my zines because there's so many incredible zines. Like I've got some here. That are like really like small pocket sized zines that you can just fold out of one a four sheet of paper. And they're from various different authors and humans. Allison Evans, who's a fantastic author living in naam, has written a bunch of zines and one of their ones called Euphoria talks about gender euphoria. And having learned that, you know, masculine isn't neutral, breasts are not a solely female thing, Sex is a social construct. Gender is a social construct. And this doesn't mean that they're meaningless. You can present your gender how you want and being femme is okay, and it doesn't make you cis and you deserve to demand respect and that you are enough. And so that's some of the things that they've written in their zine. And like, if that's feelings that you're having and things that you want to express, you too can make a scene. I like how every time I go on air I'm just like, just someone start making some things, please, Ray.

My pronouns are make things.

Honestly, one of my favourite ones from Alison as well is called word school or Trans people are not their trauma. And it's about how they did a creative writing degree and they felt like they were told things like show, don't tell and, you know, told that, like basically let trans people, you know, are there, you know, are there trauma? And that's the kind of stuff that, you know, you should write and that should be, you know, is what sells. And then they talk about how when a lot of stories about trans people, yeah. Are focused on our transitions, gender dysphoria, et cetera, et cetera, and that it's easy to write those stories because that's what they've been taught to write. And they said I realised I wanted to write stories without queer trauma and that I don't know how to do that. Exactly. I've got a lot of unlearning to do. And they also said that they, that we deserve hope and that they're going to write hope. And that's when they, I think, wrote Euphoria kids. And they also quoted Navoza Sen's book Finding Nouveau and said, when I realised I was trans, I stopped imagining myself having a future. And that's the stuff that they don't want to be writing. And they put that in a zine. They put, they expressed that they popped it in a zine. And now I have feelings about this zine and I tell everyone about it because I think so incredibly important.

And it's great. You Know, you got to get these things out of you.

You honestly, you do. And, like, I think that's why there's, you know, I think a lot of poetry zines and a lot of collage zines and that kind of thing. And there's also a series of zines that was it. Was it early to mid 2000s called dude. I'm.

I'm looking up here.

I was like, I can't remember when the first one came out.

The first one was 2011.

2011.

Yeah. The first issue of Dude. Trans Masculinity.

Mmm.

Yes.

It's just a beautiful magazine.

This. This magazine. It's small. It's probably. Is this what, an A5?

I think that one would be like. Yeah, I think that's a five.

A five size. And what I quite like about this particular first issue is it's kind of like, what the hell is a trans dude? Here? Here is a rough guide of trans masculinity. Who we are, how we're not monolithic. Talking about genitalia, testosterone, body hair, all these things. It's quite sweet, too, because it touches on sexuality, but it also touches on how different trans men might experience their sexuality differently and how they explore that. There's a little cartoon in here as well. Some little cartoons. Really well produced, really well put together. I like. I just flick to a random page. This language and content warning. This one. This one's titled Faggy Boys. Bottoming for dominant femmes of any sex or gender is queer as a three dollar bill. I love a fag who loves a femme.

That is poetry.

That is 100% Bastian fox falan.

Oh, my gosh. Who has a incredible book out that I definitely forgotten the name of, but wrote a memoir. Yeah. Bastian's an incredible person. I was gonna say in crazy person. Incredible person. No, they're a fantastic writer and someone that I met at, I think, years ago at National Young Writers Festival.

Yes. And they contributed to the second edition of dude magazine as well. And I think Believe. Also the third edition.

Oh, my gosh. Amazing. And it's. Honestly, dude was. I think there was. Yeah, there was only three issues, I think. And it's also a very, like, beautifully produced magazine. And it's like, when I first saw it, I was, like, a bit intimidated, and I was like, I can't do this. It's like, real. It's real lush. Like, it's real nicely printed.

It's like hard paper, too. So.

Yeah, and I think that's. And I'm like, that's. It's just another type of zine or magazine that can be produced honestly. Zines. You can just photocopy them at home. I photocopy mine on one of the oldest printers. She's about 10 years old, and she takes like three hours to do 10 copies. Boy, does she try real hard.

It's about quality, not quantity.

Exactly. It's. And I'll do this well either, but that's the DIY aesthetic. We like printers we love. Someone please give me a printer. Before I was like, before we go to a track and I stopped telling you that you should go make zines. I want to read a poem from this scene that's literally just an A4 piece of paper that has been folded. That's the vibe. And it's got sketches and poetry. It's called Tooth and Nail trans poetry by C.S. potter. And this poem is called Boy Grows out of Girlhood. And I'd give it probably a trigger warning for dysphoria for some, a little bit of gore and body horror. I grow out of girlhood like an animal trying to chew off its own leg Something feral burns in my chest and I learn to love the way that smoke feels in my mouth I am not fond of fear but it's starting to feel like home the end of the world starts under your skin like fingers pressing against your pulse Boyhood means skinning my knees Picking fights and figuring that I could say the words that got stuck in my throat when they called me a girl Boyhood meant godhood and I'm feeling holy oh, I just got shivers. Honestly, I'm just. I'm all goosebumps right now.

Oh, I love that.

Wasn't that just phenomenal?

Yeah, we gotta put that up on the Transmission socials so people can check that out later as well. Fantastic. How many genders are there? I don't know. I just got here. You're listening to transmission on 4 triple Z. My name is EZ. I use HE, him, pronouns. And we're about to jump into an interview that I had with Mil just yesterday from Porpoise Spit. Talking album Talking, coming up to Brizzy. So, yeah, let's have a listen. Dive straight in. Woo.

Hi. How you doing?

I'm great. It's so good to have you here, Mil.

I'm thrilled to be here.

Not only are you here just to, you know, keep me company, but also, I believe your band has an album coming out. So tell us. Tell us what? All about Porpoise Spit. What's going on?

That's true. I mean, Primarily, I'm here to keep you company because being on this community radio station, on this community radio show, is an ambition. Always, yearly, weekly, monthly. But, yes, we do pop a spit. We've got our second album coming out on the 26th of September. It's called what's It Like Down There? Pretty excited, not gonna lie. It's a bit grittier, it's a bit darker. We've taken a lot more risks and we've kind of leaned into some. I don't know, some, like, different dynamics songwriting wise. And there's kind of some threads from, like, Old School Pops in there as well. But I don't know, I just think it's a really good mix of, like, fully realised, sophisticated, but also dark and also gritty. There's also some humour. I don't know, I just think it's like, it's. Yeah, it's quite. It's a bit of a theatrical album.

I think, and quite like an evolution from Don't Quit as well. I would.

I think so, yeah. I think, like, when we wrote Don't Quit, which is kind of the tale of Don't Quit, is that it took us so fricking long to write it that we're like, should we give up? No, we shouldn't. But that was written over six, five, six years, really. Like, we wrote a lot of those songs in 2019, 2018, and then weren't able to kind of develop them in studio because of the lockdowns in Nam, were so extravagant and extreme. And so by the time they were done, were songs that were like, we had kind of shoehorned together. And they were kind of still really had that core and essence of our DIY days. It was kind of like Chuck it Together anthemic. Let's go. Like, let's just keep moving. Let's keep moving. And so I guess, yeah, the progression with what's It Like Down There? Is that we really decided to take ourselves a bit more seriously as songwriters. And not in a way that, like, we still would never, ever take ourselves seriously as people, but we tried to lean into the idea of, like, we can expect a higher standard of ourselves, I guess. Like, we can. We can move this. We can. We can own it and have some authority around it.

Yeah. And I can see. I can see that you've also got Paul Mabry, who recorded as well, same for Cable Ties, Augie March and King Giz. Yeah, awesome.

He's done every band ever. We love Paul. He was amazing. So, yeah, Paul, we got in the studio with him he did a bit of producing on it. He had to deal with my intense neurodivergence around things being perfect. So shout out to Paul for being extremely patient. On a few occasions, he won. On a few occasions, I won. But he was just amazing. We've tracked the whole thing live, which is how we like to do it. He has an amazing space in Fairfield and it's like this big ramshackle old warehouse. And Cash Savage's studio is off to one side, and every other person in the whole world has recorded their albums here. The week before we came here in Cosmic Psychos did an album there, and then the week before that, Bad Bangs just did their album there with him. So we kind of came off the back of some really good energy or some really massive acts. So, yeah, he was awesome and we had a pretty awesome time in there. And I think there's some sounds in the album that are very unique to Paul Mabry Studio. I don't think if we did another album anywhere else, we'd be able to get that same feel.

Yeah, I mean, I particularly love. So there's like a few tracks. Like, I just listened to the whole album from beginning, end, when he sent God, you're good.

God, you're good.

And I was like, I've got a. Oh. I mean, like, you know, that's. What's the perks of volunteer radio if I'm not listening to these amazing bands before everybody else, you know.

That's right. You have bragging rights now.

Is that's it? That's it. And I. And I must say, I mean, the Boys, obviously, like, classic. One of your. Your best. Yeah, best tracks is in there. But also really loving Wild Daisies, which has just come out.

Yeah. Thank you.

What an evolution. I think that that song is probably just like. I don't know who quoted it, but there's a quote that I was reading that says Porpoise Spitz, most sophisticated songwriting yet. And I quite. I quite love Wild Daisies and I particularly like. I think it's not too late as well, so.

Oh, really great. That's a little. That's a little dark horse song on the album. We kind of slapped that together and we're like, oh, this is a fun. We had. We wanted to create a bit of a umi Heavy hearts kind of feel. We wanted there to be a bit of a breathing room after so many massive tracks. And so it's not too, like, kind of sat as a bit of a. Like, this is fun that you can just like sit and Enjoy and let it wash over you.

Oh, it's lovely. Oh, I was lying on the floor.

I'm glad you enjoyed that.

My fan spinning going, yes, this is. This is what I want.

Excellent. Yes, I played a bit of lap steel on that one, so. Oh, yeah, I was cheeky enough to even on the vinyl credit myself for lap steel, which is like two notes on one song. It's like, I want everyone to know that I played the lap steel once for four seconds.

And does that mean you're going to bring the lap steel with you when you come up to Brisbane for your gig?

Well, look, people out there on the airwaves will start a permission should mill. Bring the lap steel when we come to the junk bar on the 24th of October. Yes or no? Get back to me. I'll leave it in your capable hands. Oh, look, I'd love to. I don't own one. I just found one in the 150,000 pieces of vintage equipment that Paul has and was like, oh, I want to play. There was no reason for that to be there. I just really wanted to. But I guess back to what you were saying. Yeah, with like the Boys, that song, we rewrote that about 100 times. Actually. We wrote that song just as a ditty. Elle wrote it just like wasn't written. It was just like a made up jingle. When we were coming up to big sound in 2023, we had. We're like jamming out and then we're like, we're gonna rock around Big Sound Town. And we would just like sing that to each other and be like, that's a really fun melody because we're like just pumping each other up and be like, we're smash it. It's gonna be so fun. And we'd just like sing that as a little warm up. And then we're like, maybe this is a track. And then when Kelly Dingledye came on, who's also the lead singer for Ding Ding Ding, which used to be Zigzag Kel, like heard us kind of singing that and was like, this is great. Why isn't this a song? And then we kind of reworked it a million ways. So it was like quite a complex song for how silly it is. It was a really complex song to write. And I think with Wild Daisies, one of the big differences felt like, I guess like practising restraint. I feel like that song, it just like sits on this gallop, but it never like takes off until it really needs to. And I think something we used to do a lot before. And certainly me as a guitarist, I didn't really practise a lot of restraint in. I just kind of like just threw paint at the wall and was like, yeah, everything all at once, all the time. That's perfect. And that song really. It really like builds and builds and builds in this way that I think, like, I don't know, like bands like Good Morning Someone, like some of their tracks, they just kind of sit on this kind of like bedroom lo fi thing where they just sit on this repeated. You know, it's almost just like a repeat thing.

Even see in the set, in the sound wave, like the sound waves of it. It's just this. This track that really builds and it. And it fills itself too. Like it feels it itself in ways that. That you're not expecting as a listener, which I really love. It's actually a really warm, very full, very colourful track, so.

Oh, thank you. That's such great feedback.

I will be giving that a whirl.

Awesome. Thank you.

Yeah. And one last thing before we go. When. So when's the album out again? And when can we see you? Where can we go to get tickets?

Okay, so, album is out. It's called what's it. What's it like down There? So I forgot for one second, what's it like down there? Porpoise Bit is the band that I am in and we are talking about. So that comes out on the 26th of September, next Friday. And then we are coming on tour, touring nationally and we'll be heading up to Brizzy to play at the Junk Bar with Alison and soma's secret on the 24th of October. And I really hope to see you all there. We see Brizzy as like our favourite city to tour to. We always have the absolute best time there and we love. We love that so much. Like you. You all just our favourite people. Absolute favourite.

You're my favourite porpoises ever.

Oh, my God, yes. I'm gonna pass it on to all the porpoises.

Yeah.

But, yeah, my favourite from a porpoise.

As well, you know, just, hey, just.

Throw it all in there. But seriously, community. Community radio for life. Solidarity with everyone across the country. We've got to keep it. Keep it rocking, so. So, yeah, hope to see you guys there.

Sounds great, Mel, thank you so much for chatting.

No worries. Thanks for having us on.

We're now going to listen to Wild Daisies by Porpoise Spit. You're listening to transmission on 477.

Reach.

Once more for the Towel and borrow.

So.

Hold your cards to your chest Try to play them close. The colours for you are sharper Sharper than most.

It's all right.

It'S all right.

Please know that you're strong and there's somewhere that we both belong.

And yeah, that goes for everyone else.

What's ahead, what is now and what has been. We've been dancing this dance Long before we were 19.

And we're colder now that we are.

Older and a little ice cream but it's all right.

It'S all right.

We fucked up and I can't ignore this might be something we're paying for. And yeah, that goes for everyone else. Just see once more of the taste of the brutal sea breeze. The smoke and the fire and the floods brought us to our knees. Wild daisies they still push up despite the weeds. And I. I have got you. And you have got. You have guarded me. You have guard me. You have got me. You have guarded me.

And we'll fight.

Cause we know there are places we still have to go. And you that God is for everyone else. Just think once more of the taste of the fertile sa. Let the smoke and the fire and the flood Point us to our knees.

What takes these?

They still push up despite the weeds And I. I have got you and you have got. You have got me. You have got me. You have got me. You have got me. You have got me. You have got me. You have got me. You have got me. Have your name and you have your name. And you run your name. You have your name got me.

That there was Papa Spit Wild daisies. You're listening to transmission on 4 triple Z. My name is EZ. I use HE, him, pronouns.

And my name is Ray. I use they, them, pronouns.

And that song was so great.

It was so good.

It was very sweet. I love.

I love a bird and a snake reference.

Yeah, yeah. Oh, we've been chatting zines. We've been chatting to. To mill from Porpoise Spit. So much love. Shout out from Salty to Mill if you are listening. Yeah. Been so good to have you in the studio or my home studio and chat. So, yeah. Album comes out this Friday 26th September. I'm very keen hoping, fingers crossed that it is album of the week before Triple Z. We'll see.

Well, I was like fingers crossed. Crossed.

Fingers crossed. I'll cross all my fingers and my toes.

And also your toes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Unfortunately, Porpoise can't actually any limbs. I don't think flippers crossing their flippers yeah.

Flap your flippers if you like this.

Song Flap your flippers Flap your flippers yeah if you're driving don't do that.

Oh my gosh, no, don't do that.

Just. Just don't do that.

I just feel like it's like when I was like driving home. I don't drive, but like being driven. Being driven home with a blur high in the car and just being. I wonder what other people think is happening in this car. Like it was. It was on my, like on my lap.

They're probably like small child on their way back from Pride.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like, it was. It was, you know, late 30s, adult, on their way back from IKEA. But yeah, same vibe. Yeah.

Speaking actually of Pride, attended Pride over the weekend and Transmission actually had this impromptu panel with. With Sev Brody from Queer Radio and bet and we had a nice time chatting about the history of our broadcast. Yeah. So if you were there, thank you so much for attending and checking all us out and actually meeting us and had a. Had a real blast. And yeah, it was a really nice day. It was a wholesome day as well out there. And also special props as well to me. Engines, People's Pride for continuing to show up every year out the front of Corporate Pride. Pride and yeah, really appreciate. I really. I just love the community we're in. I love how dedicated the Brisbane Trans movement is and yeah, just feeling more warm fuzzy about it today. Yeah, it's beautiful.

And I think, yeah, Pride was. It was. It was a good time. I saw lots of colourful dogs.

Oh, yeah, there was a dog parade. It was all right.

There was so many dogs. I danced with the Brazilian cat.

Did you see the bangle cat?

No. Oh my gosh.

There was a bangle. It's really pretty.

I was busy. I was busy being corralled into dancing with the Brazilian Association.

Okay, that's completely fair.

It was really.

Yeah, that's. That's allow. I'll allow that. We're gonna head off. Thank you so much for tuning in to Transmission. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you all next week.

Bye bye. Thank you so much for listening to Transmission. See you next Tuesday, 9 to 10am on 4ZZZ.