Keep Me Satisfied

Alongside following grind/metal band Razoreater on tour around the UK and Europe, Pat Sampson managed to juggle his final year of uni and running a skatepark. The resulting zine, Keep Me Satisfied, is an awesome account of a band on the road. It charts the journey from the monotony of their home town of Peterborough, to the energy of their live shows and the delights of discovering new places.

When and why did you start making zines?
Keep Me Satisfied is actually the first zine I’ve ever put out. I wanted a way to showcase some of the work I’ve been doing over the last year. A zine seemed to be an appropriate format for the subject matter and was something I could have full creative direction over.

What do you like about the medium?
I favoured a zine as it seemed fitting for the genre of photography and I like the disposable nature of zines, the fact that they are cheap to create and can be swapped with other people.

What’s Keep Me Satisfied all about?
KMS is a documentary project focusing on the lives of the members of UK grind/metal band Razoreater. I wanted to contrast the monotony of everyday life in Peterborough against the explosivity of their shows and innocent, childlike nature of the guys exploring new places while on the road.

What’s the UK metal scene like in 2014?
Well, from an outsider’s perspective looking in it seems pretty healthy. There are a good amount of shows being put on across the country and decent new bands are popping up everywhere. There’s also a really strong sense of community these days that wasn’t around before. I suppose it’s dependent on the local scene, though. I know where I’m from in Nottingham we used to have a really active hardcore scene, but these days there’s next to nothing. I suppose it’d dependent on your local promoter.

Do you think this subculture gets misrepresented in the media? Did you want to present a new perspective?
I think a lot of today’s youth gets misrepresented, but not necessarily the metalhead kids. In fact I don’t think they get represented at all.

When were the photos shot and how did you decide to present them together in this way?
The photos were taken over the course of two tours with Razoreater. The first one was around the UK, the second was around Europe. I aimed to present Keep Me Satisfied in sections: the first depicting the monotony of life in Peterborough, contrasted against the explosive nature of Razoreater’s shows in the second section. The third intends to show the innocent and almost childlike nature in which the guys explore the new places and countries they visit.

What were the challenges in embarking on the Keep Me Satisfied project?
KMS took a year to put together, and I had taken a huge amount of photographs. The costs of films and processing ended up piling quite high, so that’s one challenge. The other main challenge was the editing process, cutting down so many photos into a coherent body of work that didn’t drag on. Otherwise those few weeks were some of the best of my life. Travelling around with a bunch of guys that I’ve grown to love like brothers and listening to brilliant music isn’t massively challenging.

What do you do for a living and how does zinemaking fit into your life?
I’m currently a ramp builder for Flo Skateparks, although I’m looking to move to London and start working in galleries or in publishing. Whilst putting KMS together I was in my final year at uni and managing a skatepark, so I was fortunate enough to be able to organise my time around shooting.

Have you swapped Keep Me Satisfied for any other good zines?
I’ve swapped KMS for Marc Vallée’s Writers which I really liked and as a Nottingham skateboarder, I swapped a couple of zines for a couple of issues of Varial, a Nottingham based skate zine by Tom Quigley.

What are your favourite zines?
I really liked Concrete Canvas by Ben Gore, he’s a great photographer and I’m hoping to get more of his zines.

You can grab a copy of Pat’s awesome ‘zine Keep Me Satisfied here.