Why Fish Piss Matters: On the Last Authentic Bohemia

by Andy Brown

Called Canada’s most influential zine, Fish Piss ran for 11 issues, from 1996 to 2006. It began as a bilingual mash-up of the Montreal anglophone spoken word scene and the comics scene. Edited by Montrealer Louis Rastelli, and rooted in the DIY punk ethos, Fish Piss was a contact zone of literary material, comics, essays, interviews, politics, and music. Eventually the publication went from a scrappy photocopied zine to a 160-page publication with advertising and worldwide distribution through Tower Records. By the time it folded, Fish Piss was a calling card to a true bohemian community, and, due to timing, post-Referendum and pre-social media, perhaps the last of its kind.

In Why Piss Piss Matters, Andy Brown does a deep dive into the zine, highlighting the unique way it bridged its French and English influences, creating an exciting space for creative exchange. Some of its early contributors who went on to illustrious careers include Kid Koala, Genevieve Castrée, Catherine Kidd, Heather O’Neill, and Jonathan Goldstein. Brown, who lived in Montreal during this period, offers an insider’s reflection on the cultural significance of the zine and its lasting legacy. He explores the history of various bohemian communities over the past 200 years, and Fish Piss’s singular role in that history.

180 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2025

Reviews

[Tessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book! At certain points it got a little too descriptive into aspects that didn’t seem necessary but were interested nonetheless.