Out now: Head Full of Snakes #2

I ride a Vespa, which could hardly be more different to the bikes featured in Australian motorcycle fanzine Head Full of Snakes. But I understand the obsession for bikes, and love the way this zine transfers that obsession to print.

Hand-printed on a Risograph machine and assembled and glued by a team of volunteers, the 116 lightweight but bulky pages make the most of the process. Typography and images are lovingly sourced and carefully printed, the multiple passes necessary for full-colour reproduction lending pictures a delicate blur that renders the magazine almost timeless; is this a modern pastiche or an original piece of fifties print?

The one-off contrast of a blast of flouro ink, the sudden change of paper colours (each page is printed as single item), a fold-out graphic all make this a special object as much as a magazine.

And of course motorbike culture carries a tight visual aesthetic: tattoos, decorated leather jackets, fuel tank art. The look always has influenced pop culture, and included here is music, film, art as well as the more personal experience of jumping on a bike and spending two years driving from the UK to New Zealand.

If you’d like to see more, we still have a few copies of Head Full of Snakes left in our shop. SOLD OUT