Well during The Althea Era all Q & A's were stopped. Completely. She didn't want 'em so we didn't run 'em. She even exerted fascistic control over the blog section. The. Blog. Section. Fuck my life.
I don't think a single idea that one of the four original staff made it onto the site without some sort of mutation first. Outside writers were brought in and we had no say in it. Something as innocent as wanting to post a story called "AirRaid Summer 2008 MixTape" literally led to three full days of bickering and infighting. Six months later I still can't even process that.
Timmy Hefner, the man behind the yearly Chaos In Tejas festival in Austin did Joe and I a huge solid by getting us on the list for all of the main shows in 2008. The intent for this was to talk to him and do a feature length story/interview on how Chaos In Tejas has grown into one of the largest punk rock festivals in the world yet still remained completely devoid of corporate sponsorship. That was what it was supposed to be, what it was before Althea came in and flat out told me that wasn't going to happen. "Why would we run a story about something that already happened?" she asked. Well, it wasn't just a wrap up because that could easily go into the live reviews portion. This was a profile piece and a damn interesting one I thought. Nope, not allowed! We had to water it down into a less than 500 word piece about "Punk Fest Trends." I had so much golden stuff in my interview with Timmy that it could have been a great piece. That was how it was going to go.
The Forgotten piece never even got a chance to run because by that time their album had been out for a whole month. A whole month! Never mind that once again Josh over at TKO Records had done me a favor and gotten me in contact with the guys and helped set stuff up, or the fact that the band had been on hiatus and gone through some turmoil in getting the new album recorded because THE RECORD HAD ALREADY BEEN OUT FOR A MONTH SO OBVIOUSLY NO ONE WAS GOING TO CARE WHAT THEY THOUGHT!!!!!!!!!!!
The DIY Comics thing came out alright in her eyes from start to finish because by that point I was so thoroughly defeated that I didn't give a flying fuck.
The Jack Rabid piece I originally wrote as a sophomore in college and had been on AirRaid for months by the time she came in. It was the only thing that survived her cleanse when she started. I'm not quite sure how to be honest but it did. I'm extremely proud of it and got an A+ when I handed it in.
Punk Fests
Organized Chaos
Bill Molloy & Joe Carson
Imagine walking down the pristine streets of downtown
Upon closer inspection there is an overabundance of black shirts with stark images of war printed onto them, countless denim jackets covered in patches, and an as yet undiscovered body odor smells become apparent. Panic sets in. Frantically scurrying away to catch a cover band down the street tearing through its inspiring take on “Sweet Caroline” and slamming down $1.50 domestics, the harsh image of hundreds of dirty punks all but fades away. For now.
This is obviously not a
Inspired by fun and not profit, these fests are a reflection of the mastermind’s personal tastes more than the urge to profit off of the underground. Mike Petryshyn of
One guy who is expanding the notion of what a punk rock fest can be is Timmy Hefner, the man behind
Hefner noted “Roky brought out new faces, a lot of older people and more just random hipsters.” Past years have had unconventional “punk” bands like Clockcleaner and Dead Moon stacked against numerous crust and hardcore bands. Hefner’s ambitions for diversity haven’t been quenched either: “I want to mix it up even more next year; more shows at different clubs.”
One of the more interesting things about punk fests versus most other corporate rock festivals is the dedication to traveling that fans have. People trek far and wide to see the odd combinations of bands in one concentrated setting, explore different towns and make new friends. “The amount of people from the local area interested that actually attend and are interested in this fest is usually dwarfed by the people that come and travel to it from many other places . . . The people willing to travel to the fest are very passionate and interested in the bands playing and it makes for an awesome time,” says Black.
More than anything else, these fests are done out of a love of the music, not a sense of obligation or higher purpose. When asked what the impact of his fest is, Heffner replies, “I doubt much more than everyone seeing all of their friends from all over the world, drinking and watching good bands with said friends; but that’s enough for me.”
The Forgotten
Rising From The Ashes
Bill Molloy
The cover art of the new self titled album from The Forgotten is fairly apropos, with a phoenix determinedly rising from a pit of fire, just about to start flying anew. 2008 signals a new starting point for The Forgotten, who have weathered lineup changes, marriages, record label switches, and overall realities of life, resulting in four years of inactivity. “No hiatus was planned,” guitarist Johnny Gregurich explains, “the cards were just dealt and we played ‘em the best we could.”
Vocalist Gordy Carbone chimes in “I had hit burnout too. There were like three years where I was touring 10-11 months out of the year. Usually that is nothing to complain about but I was really grinding myself down mentally without knowing it… in ‘05 I took time off and got married and recharged my batteries.”
Any fans showing up to see The Forgotten they remember from 2002 might be a bit confused. Founding guitarist Craig Fairbaugh left the group in 2003, prompting then bassist Johnny Gregurich to switch positions. Other personnel switches ensued over the years, with the current lineup playing its first show in December 2006.
Despite the musical chairs, Gordy remains optimistic: By hook or by crook, (The Forgotten) is better than it’s ever been and all the time off got us the right people with the right mindset”
With the new lineup finally intact, The Forgotten went back to the basics, rehearsing and crafting music slowly, demoing the new self titled album twice before heading into the studio. According to Johnny, “Although it delayed the album's release date quite a bit, I believe it had a huge factor in the success of the recording and quality of the songs. We're super proud of it and hope everyone enjoys it as much as we do.”
The result is The Forgotten, a record that combines the best elements of all the band’s previous LPs; it contains ’77 style rave ups, hardcore head smashers and anthemic rock shout alongs.
The new full length also sees the band moving back to their old stomping grounds of TKO Records. Johnny explains the split in saying “… with BYO Records, we signed a 1-record deal (2002’s Control Me) with an optional 2nd record. (They) decided to pass on our new material for whatever reason.” He then ads “We continue to stay in contact with BYO Records and consider Shawn Stern and Mark Stern life-long friends.”
Gordy philosophizes: I feel that everything happened for a reason with this album… (it) required a lot of personal attention from everyone, including the label, and I believe only TKO has the personal investment and history to really care as much as we wanted someone to care about this album.
Despite all the commotion in the world of The Forgotten over the last few years, don’t expect the band to stop any time soon. Gordy emphatically states: I guess if I had one thing to say it would be to my brother and sister punks out there; I know a lot of them are like me and don’t take their punk with milk nor sugar. I just want to say thank you to them. Every scene will have the tourists and the lifers. It’s the fucking lifers that make this shit go ‘round.
Underground Comics
Imagine funny pages that are actually funny
Bill Molloy
Getting bored with
One of the more successful DIY comics in recent years is Multiplex by Gordon McAlpin, which he describes as “the infantile antics of a bunch of kids working at a movie theater.” Originally started as a fun offshoot of a more rigid web project, Gordon now publishes Multiplex twice a week on Multiplexcomic.com.
McAlpin’ vehicle of choice for getting his comics out is the internet. Outside of the obvious financial ease, he sees the internet as giving more artistic license as well. “I like that I don't need to think about space; if I need eight panels to do an idea, I make it eight panels. I don't need to try to squish down my idea into whatever little tiny box a newspaper has given me,” McAlpin continues “Another advantage is that you can take an idea and put it online in far less time than in print.”
Mike Conway of the zine Hot Food follows the same free-form muse, but has chosen a different model for distribution. Instead of simply making a blog,
Born out of lazy nights watching TV and getting wasted with buddies, Hot Food, according to Conway, is drawing “tons and tons of pictures to… make a few of my friends crack up.” Hot Food follows no strict formatting rules, with single panel, non-sequitur drawings transitioning into stories that go on for several pages.
However, where others see limitations, Jason Swearingen sees opportunity. A staunch devotee of the daily newspaper format, Swearingen’s currently developing a project titled The Treehouse, which he explains as “a newspaper comic about a boy, his sister, a butterfly, a penguin, a squirrel/dog hybrid and the girls that live next door.”
Swearingen grew up idolizing the giants of newspaper comics like Bill Watterson and Gary Trudeau, and wants to bring meaning back to the dailies. He protests “the newspaper comic is one of the few art forms left that is this unexplored, yet it remains stagnant.” He laments that newspaper comics have been left to “…the likes of Cathy or, God help us, Frank and Ernest.”
Within this scene, the promise of hitting big acquires different reactions. When speaking about the possibility of doing traditional newspaper work, McAlpin deadpans “Not a four-panel strip like
Attempting to define the world of small cartoonists with blanket generalizations is slightly ignorant and ultimately impossible, as seen by the varying opinions and methods of McAlpin,
Headline: Rabid Fervor
Subhead: Twenty-seven years of The Big Takeover
Journalist Profile: Jack Rabid
By: Bill Molloy
Jack Rabid is the editor, publisher, ad director and chief writer for The Big Takeover, a magazine born out of the DIY spirit of punk rock and based in
Rabid along with friend Dave Stein started The Big Takeover in 1980 as a one page ode to their favorite local band The Stimulators. Jack and Dave took their one page zine and made one hundred copies at the public library, one dime at a time. These were then given away for free at local shows. Rabid claimed “this vital music needed coverage. There was no mainstream coverage of bands I loved like The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, or The Clash. At the time the popular bands were Fleetwood Mac,
In its current formation The Big Takeover is published twice a year and has a print run of 20,000. The days of stapling together photocopied pieces of paper are long gone. An average issue of The Big Takeover now contains at least 250 pages and retails for six dollars. Rabid declares “I don’t feel very limited by the format. It’s not a news organization that needs information out now. He likens the size of the magazine to putting out a new book every six months instead of a typical music magazine.
Rabid went on to say “I still like reading books and magazines. A lot of the instantaneous news seems inaccurate so I’d rather not be instantaneous.” The average issue contains around ten to twelve feature articles that focus on one major band. The features generally begin with an introduction by the writer (most of the time it’s Rabid) and then, unlike other music magazines like Rolling Stone or Spin, a direct transcription of the interview. Many times the interviews are so long that they have to be broken up and published over two issues. Rabid, in sarcastic shock, exclaims “what, me talk for a long time? No!”
The internet has radically democratized the world of music journalism and Rabid is a bit skeptical, but hopeful. “Is it too easy now?” Rabid pondered when the subject of the internet came up. He continued “you might not be able to see the forest through the trees. It’s not just a town crier anymore; it’s anyone with a computer. But given the choice I’d take this one… I just hope the web does not make it too hard to find the good stuff.”
One more distinguishing trait is the reviews section. Because of the twice a year publishing schedule the backlog of reviews can get pretty large. Jack presents his “Top 40” of the last six months and the rest of his personal reviews, and then other writers tackle the rest. The reviews section regularly tops one hundred pages and takes up nearly half of the magazine.
Objectivity is difficult to achieve in music journalism. Jack says “most of what we do is subjective; one person is going to like something and someone else won’t.” One way that objectivity comes into play is in who gets covered in The Big Takeover. At a time when other fanzines like Maximum Rocknroll were tightening their coverage in an effort to maintain a ‘punker-than-thou’ attitude The Big Takeover actually expanded its coverage away from pure punk rock. Rabid exclaimed “I make the decisions, it’s my magazine. I can do it if I want. No one tells me what I can and can’t write.”
According to Rabid “you try to be an expert and tip people off. You see an article about Belle & Sebastian and then maybe they’ll find out about Left Banke from the same issue.” The only requirement to be covered in The Big Takeover is, per the slogan, to be “Music with Heart.” However, Jack is quick to add “I’m not going to cover the Red Hot Chili Peppers or the Smashing Pumpkins or other bull crap pop stuff.”
Another thing that sets The Big Takeover apart from other music magazines is the emphasis on editorials in the front section of every issue. Jack, who graduated from
He continued “hopefully someone who bought it for the music won’t say ‘what’s this healthcare stuff?’… I hope what they get out of [the editorials] is to pay attention to things. You need to seize an issue and bring discussion.” Rabid adds that “[The editorials] can become politically partisan but these things are fact.” However, even if the readers skip over the editorials in favor of the music related articles, Rabid does not plan to stop writing them. He states that “the main thing is that it keeps me using my brain.”
One more differentiating factor about The Big Takeover is Jack Rabid’s musical background. He drummed for three different bands over the course of the last twenty-five years: Even Worse, Last Burning Embers, and Springhouse. He likens his position to that of a former baseball player who makes a second career in the broadcasting booth. Jack explains “You can’t help but have a different perspective, whether it’s good bad or indifferent.” Another colorful explanation revolves around the Wizard of Oz and the great Wizard himself. With his experience in the music industry as a band member Rabid has “gotten behind the curtain. I’ve seen the Wizard, and it’s a great show. It definitely makes me different. Most journalists haven’t done albums and tours. It’s a leg up for sure.” Rabid says that he has to use his experience otherwise “it won’t be interesting, it will just be another airhead opinion.”
The Big Takeover has hit several rough patches in its twenty six years of existence. One particular hard time came in 1995; Jack was unsure if he wanted to continue writing and working on the magazine and contemplated becoming a high school history teacher. Rabid recalls “as you get older you think ‘is music all that important?’” Thankfully the internet began to grow in popularity around the same time frame. According the Rabid the net “made it easier, made me take a look at the magazine again. Plus, teaching will always be there.” Ten years later another hit occurred, except this time it was not personal. Within the last few years several leading distributors have gone out of business and left smaller magazines in danger of financial ruin. The Big Takeover alone was never paid $14,000 it was due from its largest distributor for the spring and winter 2005 issues. According to Jack “the people pay for the magazine and you get nothing. Consignment is stupid. We’ve come back a little bit but it’s still hard. It’d be nice if I was on the New York Times staff but I’m not.”
Problems with distributors are only the tip of the iceberg though. In fact, Rabid goes as far as saying “contemporary journalism sucks. It’s set up to sell ads, not to tell the truth.” At this point George W. Bush and the Iraq War come into the discussion. Jack believes that the industry “…is failing people when it comes to the Iraq War. It’s their fault for not covering the dissent. They parroted the administration’s claims, even when they were wrong.” When this happens, Rabid simply states “humankind is disserved.”
At the end of every interview Jack asks if the subject has any last words or thoughts. When presented with a mirrored situation, he responded with “find things that inspire you. You’ll become and expert and inspire other people. An inquisitive mind is the best. I’m 44 and I’m still learning; that’s the way it should be.”
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