Zines an' t'ings an' t'ings

I woke up this morning thinking about the days I spent as a teen producing a fanzine with my childhood friends. It was high school in the Bay Area, and our scene of choice was metal -- speed metal, death metal, thrash ... you name it. Keep in mind the year was 1987, and no one was more important in the Bay Area than bands like Metallica, Testament, Death Angel, Exodus, Vio-Lence and countless other acts who played constantly at the various clubs across the Valley. More than a few crazy nights were spent at venues like The Stone (San Francisco), The Omni (Oakland) and the Mountain View Theater (an old renovated movie theater cum concert hall in the South Bay).

Among the most memorable evenings was an '88/'89 show that Death Angel headlined at The Omni. All the brass was in attendance, as it was James Hetfield's birthday. So the 'tallica boys were there, along with friends from Faith No More (Jim Martin, if memory serves). Prior to this evening, we had made attempts to snag an interview with Metallica for the zine. We'd already interviewed the scene's up-and-comers about 100 times each, so we were looking to one-up ourselves. Unfortunately, those attempts were thwarted, quite swiftly I might add. I recall one evening in which our pal (and fellow contributor) Trip was brushed aside by Hetfield with a short but hard-to-misunderstand "Don't bother me. I'm drinking."

On this particular evening, we figured we'd hit up Jason 'Newkid', with him being the freshman of the band and all. And although not as harsh in his response, a clearly uninterested Newsted replied, "Yeah, I don't know. You'll have to talk to our manager." Whatever! They hadn't even scored big yet with "One" and were still years from the Black Album, yet the local zine punks had become too unimportant. C'est la vie, right?

Before I get much further, we should probably return to the topic at hand -- the zine itself. It was dubbed Monthly Fire Starter (whichever of my friends came up with that is a genius ... best name ever for a metal fanzine). This thing was a true labor of love, as I guess most zines are. Friends illustrated the covers, the five or six of us wrote sophomoric show and CD reviews, we conducted some fairly comical interviews, and it was all done using the most basic tools of paper, scissors and tape. Crude, but that was its appeal, and in many ways I miss its simplicity and how poetic that approach was.

The zine wasn't my idea. As someone who prides himself in being creative, I'm never THAT GUY -- the one who comes up with a great idea and puts it into action. I've always been a hanger-on, which is okay with me for now as I've always done a decent job as contributer. But what's interesting is I never set out to become a zine contributor, yet here I am nearly 20 years later, and I still write for various publications. Consider the history:

After graduating high school -- and after the metal scene and MFS had run their courses -- I was off to college in Ft. Collins, Colo. Not the most likely place to start a zine, but I missed that creative outlet and how it kept me connected with local music. So, I made the decision to start up The Collins Files. It followed the same low-budget philosophy as MFS, and relied on fairly similar content. This time, however, we included creative writing pieces and poetry from local scenesters. I was even somewhat successful in getting local merchants to subsidize the project via advertising, although most often the production still cost me some cash. The second issue seemed to be the biggest success, perhaps as a result of the condoms we put in each issue. Again, another great idea that I didn't dream up.

By then, my interviewing skills had evolved from absolutely pathetic to so-so. Looking back, I'm happy with that progress. And the timing of the zine was just about right ... Ft. Collins was at the beginning of its population boom, so the scene was just beginning to take wings. Bands like The Jonez and Lord Groovey and the Psychodelic Zombiez became household names; west coast melodicore pioneers All visited the city and played there many times, so much so that they eventually decided to make Ft. Fun their permanent home (and thank god for that ... where would we be without the Blasting Room?). Alas, The Collins Files lasted only three issues, but it was well worth the time and trouble. I then went on to become an entertainment writer and editor for the college paper, The Collegian (I even got paid for a change). It was great to keep this line of work going, as I had even more opportunities to meet and interview some of my favorite bands. In 1993 alone, I interviewed Fishbone, No Doubt, Tool and Jellyfish. Plus, I had the pleasure of teaming up with a classmate to write a weekly literary series called "Sceneboy and Syriah." I'd have to say it was one of the better periods in my life -- a time when responsibility and early career success were beginning a new and happy marriage.

Again, not by any dedicated action on my part, the zine jobs kept coming. After college came an online ska zine. I wrote CD reviews for a few issues, then jumped ship to another ska zine, this one called Skatastrophe. These guys were pretty serious ... not only online, but a full glossy print version as well. Good stuff, and great experience. I was back to doing it for free, but I never could walk away from free CDs and concert tickets; it's almost impossible to walk away from that type of hookup once you have it.

Which leads me to today and my work with KaffeineBuzz.com. My buddy Paul from San Jo hooked me up with the editor, Kim Owens, and I've been writing for Kim for more than two years now. Strange how time flies. By now, my interviewing skills have become decent enough to pass for something that resembles real journalism. With Kaffeine Buzz, I've had the opportunity to chat with Scott Ian of Anthrax and Les Claypool from Primus, among others. More importantly, I've listened to a ton of new music at a time when the music scene remains at its least prolific.

Ironically, despite nearly two decades of doing this stuff for fun, the one person from the old MFS days to actually make something out of this whole zine business was my good friend Jonathan. For a number of years now, he and his Santa Cruz buddies have been producing one helluva zine -- Concussion. I'm not sure if he would consider it a zine or not, as it is a fully tricked-out magazine with national distribution, decent advertising revenue and pretty broad appeal. It's focus is slick too -- skating, surfing, snowboarding, music and art. It's the last true rag of the West Coast hardcore, and I take my hat off to Jojo & Co. for sticking with this labor of love. I'm sure he'll tell you it hasn't been the easiest thing he has ever done, but I'm told nothing worth doing ever is. It seems I've yet to believe this, hence my lifelong roll as contributor vs. innovator.