Black Velvet is a quarterly independent rock magazine based in the UK. The zine was founded in 1994 and is published/edited by Shari Black Velvet. The zine includes in-depth interviews, concert reviews, album reviews and more. Sugarcult's Marko 72 also wrote a regular column for a while although now a different musician writes a column each issue. The zine changed from a printed mag to a free online mag in 2014.
Black Velvet primarily features rock and pop-punk bands. Bands/artists that have appeared on the cover of Black Velvet include Good Charlotte, My Chemical Romance, Sugarcult, Pitchshifter, Jon Bon Jovi, Less Than Jake, Yellowcard, The All-American Rejects, Madina Lake Papa Roach, Shinedown, Forever the Sickest Kids, Framing Hanley, AFI, The Used, Metro Station, Boys Like Girls, Goldfinger, City Sleeps, The Audition, Paramore, Bullets and Octane, Sugarcult, The Starting Line, Billy Talent, Simple Plan, Funeral For a Friend, Finch, Steriogram, Taking Back Sunday, Lostprophets, Midtown, Bush, Lit, Set It Off, Escape The Fate, Sixx:A.M., Lifehouse, Black Stone Cherry, Nothing More, Andy Black, Hardcore Superstar, and more.
Black Velvet began as a photocopied black and white fanzine in 1994. Its first colour cover was of Nicky Wire (Manic Street Preachers) on issue 23. The zine added colour centre pages to mark its tenth anniversary and went full colour to celebrate reaching issue 50 in 2006. It was on sale in a number of independent record stores as well as Tower Records and some HMVs. Issue 80 saw Black Velvet convert to a free online pdf magazine. Every issue can now be read online for free. Black Velvet reached its 100th issue in March 2019.
A fanzine is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest. The term was coined in an October 1940 science fiction fanzine by Russ Chauvenet and first popularized within science fiction fandom, and from there it was adopted by other communities.
A zine is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very small group, and are popularly photocopied into physical prints for circulation. A fanzine is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest. The term was coined in an October 1940 science fiction fanzine by Russ Chauvenet and popularized within science fiction fandom, entering the Oxford English Dictionary in 1949.
Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with electronics. The genre emerged within the indie and underground music scene of the 1980s and early 1990s. However, due to its abandonment of rock conventions, it often bears little resemblance musically to contemporary indie rock, borrowing instead from diverse sources including ambient, electronica, jazz, krautrock, dub, and minimalist classical.
White Light/White Heat is the second studio album by American rock band the Velvet Underground. Released on January 30, 1968, on Verve Records, it was the band's last studio recording with multi-instrumentalist and founding member John Cale. Recorded after Reed fired Andy Warhol, who had produced their debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico, they hired Steve Sesnick as a manager and hired producer Tom Wilson who had worked on the band's debut. White Light/White Heat was engineered by Gary Kellgren.
Maximumrocknroll, often written as Maximum Rocknroll and usually abbreviated as MRR, is a not-for-profit monthly zine of punk subculture. Based in San Francisco, MRR focuses on punk rock and hardcore music, and primarily features artist interviews and music reviews. Op/ed columns and news roundups are regular features as well, including submissions from international contributors. By 1990, it "had become the de facto bible of the scene". MRR is considered to be one of the most important zines in punk, not only because of its wide-ranging coverage, but because it has been a consistent and influential presence in the ever-changing punk community for over three decades. From 1992 to 2011, it published a guide called Book Your Own Fuckin' Life.
Profane Existence is a Minneapolis-based anarcho-punk collective. Established in 1989, the collective publishes a nationally known zine, as well as releasing and distributing anarcho-punk, crust, and grindcore music, and printing and publishing pamphlets and literature. Stacy Thompson describes the collective as “the largest, longest-lasting, and most influential collective in Anarcho-Punk so far.” The collective folded in 1998, although its distribution arm, then called Blackened Distribution, continued operating. It restarted in 2000. "Making punk a threat again" is the group's slogan.
Palm Trees and Power Lines is the fourth studio album by American rock band Sugarcult, released through Fearless and Artemis Records. A year after the release of their third studio album Start Static (2001), Kenny Livingston became their new drummer. Shortly afterwards, they started writing new material for the follow-up album. Recording started in March 2003 and ended in September 2003, in between various tours. Sessions were heled at Full Kilt Studio and Third Stone Recording, both in North Hollywood, California, with producer Gavin MacKillop. Palm Trees and Power Lines is a pop-punk and power pop album that recalled the work of Blink-182.
Punk Planet was a 16,000 print run punk zine, based in Chicago, Illinois, that focused most of its energy on looking at punk subculture rather than punk as simply another genre of music to which teenagers listen. In addition to covering music, Punk Planet also covered visual arts and a wide variety of progressive issues — including media criticism, feminism, and labor issues.
Start Static is the debut studio album released by Sugarcult, released on August 21, 2001 by Ultimatum Music. It was their first album to receive mainstream success.
Record Mirror was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the NME, it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in Record Mirror in 1956, and during the 1980s it was the only consumer music paper to carry the official UK singles and UK albums charts used by the BBC for Radio 1 and Top of the Pops, as well as the US Billboard charts.
British small press comics, once known as stripzines, are comic books self-published by amateur cartoonists and comic book creators, usually in short print runs, in the UK. They're comparable to similar movements internationally, such as American minicomics and Japanese doujinshi. A "small press comic" is essentially a zine composed predominantly of comic strips. The term emerged in the early 1980s to distinguish them from zines about comics. Notable artists who have had their start in British small press comics include Eddie Campbell, Paul Grist, Rian Hughes, Jamie Hewlett, Alan Martin, Philip Bond and Andi Watson.
Static Line was an email-based ASCII Ezine that focused on the PC demoscene. It was a monthly publication with strong roots in the music aspect of the demoscene. It ran for 52 issues starting in July 1998 and finishing in March 2004.
Donna Dresch is an American punk rock musician, perhaps best known as founder, guitarist and bass guitarist of Team Dresch.
Record Collector is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide.
Sound on Sound is an independently owned monthly music technology magazine published by SOS Publications Group, based in Cambridge, United Kingdom. The magazine includes product tests of electronic musical performance and recording devices, and interviews with industry professionals. Due to its technical focus, it is predominantly aimed at the professional recording studio market as well as artist project studios and home recording enthusiasts.
SLUG – an acronym for SaltLakeUnderGround, is a free monthly magazine based in Salt Lake City, Utah. SLUG Magazine features music, lifestyle, arts and events with interviews, reviews, and articles.
Classic Rock is a British magazine dedicated to rock music, published by Future, who are also responsible for its "sister" publications Metal Hammer and Prog. Although firmly focusing on key bands from the 1960s through early 1990s, it also includes articles and reviews of contemporary and upcoming artists it deems worthy of note. Despite starting as an on-off project it became one of the UK's best selling music magazines. In September 2010 it published its 150th issue.
Sluggo! was an Austin, Texas fanzine covering the late 1970s punk rock/new wave music scene.
Stealth Magazine was an independent hip-hop magazine from Sydney, Australia. Founded by Mark Pollard, it debuted in June 1999 with Arsonists on the cover. Its first three issues were zine-like in format. In 2000 it went full colour and had a bonus CD attached to it and was quickly picked up for distribution by Tower Records worldwide.
Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. Riot grrrl is a subcultural movement that combines feminism, punk music, and politics. It is often associated with third-wave feminism, which is sometimes seen as having grown out of the riot grrrl movement and has recently been seen in fourth-wave feminist punk music that rose in the 2010s. The genre has also been described as coming out of indie rock, with the punk scene serving as an inspiration for a movement in which women could express themselves the same way men have been doing all along.