The story of demolisten is a long and boring one. So pull up a comfortable chair, get yourself a glass of freshly squeezed pumpkin juice, and enjoy.
chapter one
Kevin Clow, bored teenager. Music on radio is crap, so I start to go to local "moshes".
Usually 4 or 5 bands. Mostly loud music. Every 2 months or so. Good bands.
Being a skinny little guy, stay clear of the mosh pit. After one of the shows, one of the bands is selling a 4-song demo of original music.
I'm lucky enough to have exactly the $5 it cost. Very impressed. Then a band from another province comes to one of our moshes, and also sells demos.
And t-shirts. Impressed again. i listen and enjoy.
chapter two
A small local magazine has an ad that catches my eye. One of the staff is starting another project.
More focus on counterculture and non-commercial things. It's not a magazine, it's a zine. The ad is because he's looking for contributors.
Suddenly, an idea hits me. I should write reviews of the two demos I have, and submit them, then turn it into a regular column, so other bands who have demos will send them to me, so I can review them and give the bands exposure.
I call the guy who placed the ad. He likes the idea, and is really glad I'm so enthusiastic about it.
Okay, honest truth, the column wasn't an original notion. I've been reading and enjoying a demo review column in an international magazine for some months. It was called "demorandum". Clever name. Semi-common word, memorandum, altered to contain "demo".
I need a name, too. demo... demo... demo... demolition derby? um.. no friggin' waaaaaait a second. demolisten! demolisten! i listen to demos, and the word sounds like an existing word.
Besides, the Beavis and Butthead culture of "smashing things is cool" allows for something sounding like "demolition" to be embrace by a few. My column runs, and I never have to pay for another demo.
The artists get exposure and "free advertising" out of the deal, and I get to embrace myself in an incredible variety of music, and the pleasure of telling others about it.
chapter three
After two issues, the zine dissolves. The magazine which spawns it soon picks up demolisten. The zine was good, but unavoidable circumstances worked against it.
I decide to do a web site version of the column, with my limited web skills. demolisten goes strong. For awhile.
After about a year, the demos just stop coming. Damn. It was fun while it lasted.
chapter three
Flashback
Before demolisten, I had little ideas for a zine of my own. Okay, I called it a newsletter, because "zine" was not in my vocabulary yet. It was a loose idea. I called it "Provoke!" because it was supposed to be essays that were somewhat contraversial.
My first writing was a confused attempt to define myself as being simultaneously pro-life and pro-choice. It never got beyond a title logo, a tentative layout, and 3 articles. Hey, I was in grade ten, I had crazy ideas like that all the time, among the rock star fantasies and TV show concepts.
Return to present
demolisten has been dead for a year, and my newsletter idea is stirring around in my brain again. My brother in Toronto has started a rather thick and attractive zine with his girlfriend-soon-to-be-wife, which inspires me even more. I now have a computer, and a desktop publishing program with many possibilities.
Almost without noticing it, I plan a layout for a 16-page zine. I attend a mosh and convince two of the attending bands to give me review copies (read: free) for a zine that doesn't even exist yet. demolisten is born again, artists are sending me music, and my newsletter/zine finally happens.
The End
That little story thing was written kinda weird, I know. The present tense aside, I intentionally didn't name anything other than demorandum and demolisten. Here's what I was talking about:
The Buzz was the name of the first magazine, and it's still going. One of the Buzz's staff started Miscellany, the zine to first carry demolisten. AP magazine carried demorandum. AP still exists, but is very different, and doesn't carry demorandum any more.
My brother's zine was called Stained Pages, and it dissolved after 4 issues.
The Buzz has a web site, http://www.isn.net/buzzon. I started to archive the 2 issues of Miscellany on a tripod page, but i'm a terrible procrasinator, and it's hard to get motivated to sit down and type all those pages.
Stained Pages is a part of Stained Productions, which is a spiffy website.
I don't like AP magazine any more, so I don't feel like looking for a link to their web site, if they have one, and I haven't been able to find the demorandum web site (seperate from AP). The old URL doesn't work. I hope to have a link for it soon.
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