Polish film posters, old matchboxes, pulpy book designs, escort calling cards from the 90s and Julia Fox – these are just a few of the visual inspirations behind Scary Boots, an arts and literature zine published “roughly quarterly” with each one themed and Risograph printed in limited runs. The harness of all of these influences is Elias Myer, a zine-maker in East London who is moved by homemade, self-published magazines made by artists who seize their means of production, including works like Ted Berrigan’s C Magazine, Edward Sanders’ Fuck You as well as Wyndham Lewis’ iconic and short-lived Blast magazine. Inspired by their vibrant, unapologetic styles, Elias was inspired to create something that had a similar roughness – an undeniably human quality to print, which is evident in the recent third issue of Scary Boots, which is all about “nostalgia”.
“I felt that I was surrounded by people with brilliant, creative minds, so giving those people a platform (a tiny platform, but a platform nonetheless) was a really exciting prospect,” tells It’s Nice That. “I developed a loose criteria that the work in Scary Boots should be truthful, incisive or innovative.” With a mission objective in mind, Elias set out collecting poetry, prose, essays, photography, illustration, collage and more from submissions. The third addition of the zine series features the “clean tramp” himself: Richard Hell, a counter cultural king whose work in 70s New York City was dirty, truthful and essential. “I fully expected him to say no. Unbelievably, he didn’t,” says Elias. “That’s probably the coolest thing that ever happened to me.”