There is something special about leaving a gig with more than just ringing ears and a setlist memory. For Brighton-based illustrator and musician Amy Charlton, that something is a hand-folded zine.
Murphy’s Medicine MediZine is a self-made publication created for her band, Murphy’s Medicine. Each issue is hand-drawn and hand-painted before being scanned, compiled in Photoshop and printed. The band gives them away for free at gigs, creating a physical link between audience and music that lasts long after the final chord.
A new zine is made for every single they release. It includes full lyrics, drawings, and comics tied directly to the themes of the track. Their latest issue accompanies the single Butcher’s Choice, a song about eating meat, with imagery and visual storytelling that expand the music into another form.
Charlton’s process is intentionally tactile. Many of the drawings begin in the rehearsal room or recording studio, sketched between takes or while sitting around at practice. Paint blobs, pen scratches and small mistakes are all left intact. The imperfections are part of the language.
“I love the process of zine-making; embracing the flaws you get from pen scratches and paint blobs and from scanning things in.”
The work moves between physical and digital space. Drawings are scanned and arranged on screen, then brought back into the physical world through print. The final stage is communal. The band spends time folding each copy by hand, turning flat sheets into individual booklets ready to be handed out at shows.
“Each image is processed through my computer and then I get to touch them again when they arrive, repurposed, out of the printer, and I fold them into individual zines.”
There is a deliberate shift away from the smoothness of iPad illustration here. Charlton embraces texture, ink bleed and uneven edges. The zines are inspired by 80s underground fanzines, carrying that raw energy into a contemporary band setting.
For Amy, combining music and art is not an add-on. It is central to her practice. The MediZine becomes a physical extension of the band’s identity, something to hold, keep, and revisit. In a time when most music exists as a stream or a file, these folded pages feel personal and immediate.
It is grassroots, handmade and direct. A reminder that print culture still thrives in rehearsal rooms and at the merch table.
ARTIST LINKS:
Website
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/murphysmedicineband
https://www.instagram.com/amyccharlton
Maybe listen to Murphy’s Medicine’s new single Butcher’s Choice while you look through the zine.
