By: Tricia Callahan

Jolie Ruin has been been putting together zines since she was in high school and there is no end in sight. She’s currently keeping the Riot Grrl movement alive with her zine Slutcake.

She also cranks out three other content and art-rich zines, The Escapist Artist, Ruin, and Double Chinchilla.

Artist, writer and avid cat lover, Jolie Ruin is one rad chick.

When did you start making zines?

I started making zines in the mid-late 90s when I was a teenager. A lot of my early stuff didn’t get printed for various reasons. But I was also doing spoken word and I started a label and distro called “Ego Records” that I did until about 2004. I used to trade my spoken word albums for zines since I didn’t really do a zine until 1997! I didn’t really get into making zines until about ’98.

From your first zine to today what has been the biggest change?

A LOT of name changes that’s for sure! I’ve done so many different zines, it’s ridiculous! My zines were more poetic and artsy, I guess you could say, when I first started out. They are more text-heavy now. I’ve never been a very good story teller but I try! I do several different zines for my many, many creative outlets! I do a personal zine called The Escapist Artist, a music/interview zine called Ruin, an art zine entitled Double Chinchilla and Slutcake, which I started because I wanted to do a zine that people could contribute to. I wanted it to be like the old school riot grrrl and feminist zines that I remember from my youth.

Who has been your biggest inspiration and support throughout your artistic ventures, whether they be zines, writing or art?

My biggest support is definitely my husband, Jamie. He puts up with my organized mess of zine files, half-finished projects, boxes of zines, piles of outgoing mail and all kinds of stuff! I have a room when I work on my art, but my zine stuff is pretty much spread out throughout our house! My number one inspiration is definitely CATS! But as far as people who I admire: I love Kathleen Hanna and Tobi Vail. I also love comedy and funny people. I have been writing more about comedy lately. My favorites include Margaret Cho, Sarah Silverman, Amy Schumer, Louis CK, Marc Maron and Dave Attell. And I totally adore my fellow zinesters that have inspired, influenced and supported me throughout the years. There are too many to name and I really don’t want to leave anyone out! They know who they are!

What is your favorite band, song, and album?

That is a really hard question! I love so many bands and different types of music. I listen to music when I do Cat Art, so that’s why so much of it includes lyrics from songs. I just incorporate whatever I am listening to into the art that I am working on at the time. Lately I have been listening to a lot of The Muffs, The Get Up Kids, The Julie Ruin, Dan Vapid and The Cheats. I also like to make mixes to listen to when I work on art, too.

A lot of your art reflects the ultimate cat lady. How many cats do you have? What are their names? Would you mind including a photo?

YES! I am the ultimate Cat Lady! I have always loved cats! In fact, my mom claims that my first word was “kitty-cat!” Right now we have seven cats! Five live inside and two live outside. Most of them have silly names because my husband and I have had so many different cats (a lot of them now live with my mom!) that we just call them whatever and it usually just sticks, no matter how stupid it is! Our cats that we have now are named Flea, Alli(short for Alli-Gator because she was a mean kitten!), Kiki, Loudmouth, Chomper, Little Brittle and Fatty Magoo.

Final thoughts or Shout-Outs?

Shout out to Tricia and No Apologies zine because it is very rare that someone actually interviews me! Always the interviewer, never the interviewee! Thanks again for interviewing me! It was fun.

Also, I love doing TRADES! So if anybody wants to trade zines, art or mixes, please email me at MrsNoggle@Yahoo.Com.

You can check out my art and zines on my website and my etsy store at JolieRuin.Com and TheEscapistArtist.Etsy.Com.

You can see what I’m up to everyday on Instagram at Instagram.com/JolieRuin.

And read my every little thought (that I should probably keep to myself) on Twitter at Twitter.Com/JolieRuin.