Jersey Beat #57 (Weehawken NJ)

The mid-to-late '90s were a golden era for music zines, one that we'll probably never see again. First of all, the record labels are going broke because of their incompetent business practices, and have little or no money to spend on print ads. Music journalism has largely fled from publishing on paper, moving towards the flying electrons and random snark of the worldwide web. With issue #57, Jim Testa's Jersey Beat zine hit another milestone, breaking the 100-page mark in its 15th year of publishing.

So, what does this super-fat issue of Jersey Beat include? How about interviews with punk legends Murphy's Law, Weston, Footstone, Kid With Man Head, Tommy Griggz, Trip 66, hip-hop band Illness and emo forebears the Promise Ring. This issue also includes even more reviews and columns than ever, as well as Testa's coverage of the 1996 Asbury Music Awards, held in Asbury Park NJ, and coverage of the WE Festival of D.I.Y. culture in Wilmington NC.

I know that I've got more issues of JB tucked away, so we'll pick the story up another time!

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VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #57
• Summer 1996
• B&W, 104-pages, newsprint (plus slick green covers)
• Style: music zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Murphy's Law interview
Weston interview
The Promise Ring interview
Trip 66 interview
WE Festival 1996 coverage
--> also live show reviews, album & zine reviews, review columns and lots of photos

Jersey Beat #56 (Weehawken NJ)

Issue #56 of Jersey Beat represents the music zine's 14th anniversary...a rare milestone in a zine world where publications fly by the few newsstands that carry them, squeezing out a few issues before disappearing into the ether. One of the keys to the zine's long-running, moderate success is that editor/publisher Jim Testa had a good eye for writing talent and enlisted contributions from entertaining columnists like David Brock, Greg Matherly and Rodney Leighton as well as reviewers like Bill Lutz, Donny the Punk, Tom Brebric and, well, yours truly....

This anniversary issue also said goodbye to a punk rock institution, the Ramones, whose farewell tour is covered by a great Testa editorial and article "Last Dance With The Ramones." As part of this issue's coverage of the notorious NYC punk club, Donny the Punk's guest editorial asks "Is ABC No Rio Worth Saving?" while a lengthy article covers the clubs checkered history. Testa's "How I Spent My Spring Vacation" covers the 1996 SxSW Music Conference and punk rocker Johnny Puke's tour diary documents his band Cletus and their cross-country trip.

Band interviews include Chisel, Hell No, the Melting Hopefuls, Solution A.D. and Birthday Girl. The issue also includes an obituary for Philadelphia scenester Carol Schutzbank, the editor of the city's very cool B Side music zine. Like usual, a lot of review columns and tons of reviews (including my words on albums from Junebug, the Nukes, Slip, Sven Gali and the Time Lodgers) wrap up a bigger-than-ever issue of Jersey Beat.

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VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #56
• Spring 1996
• B&W, 88-pages, newsprint (plus slick covers)
• Style: music zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Chisel interview
Melting Hopefuls interview
Solution A.D. interview
"ABC No Rio" article
Cletus tour diary
--> also live show reviews, album & zine reviews, review columns and lots of photos

Jersey Beat #55 (Weehawken NJ)

This is Jersey Beat's "Old Punks Issue" and it includes some ground-breaking coverage of the emerging punk rock revival that was being spearheaded by the overwhelming commercial success of the Offspring and Green Day. As part of this punk rock coverage, issue #55 includes interviews with All's Bill Stevenson, Jawbreaker, CIV and the Circle Jerks, as well as what could possible have been Green Day's first interview, from 1989 in Testa's Grot music zine, a Jersey Beat spin-off that covered non-NJ bands.

This issue also features Testa's coverage of Lollapalooza 1995 and a photo gallery of the Warped Tour 1995, along with interviews/articles on the bands Urchins, Mars Needs Women and Into Another plus the usual review columns and big ole review sections for demo tapes, records, zines and the like.

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VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #55
• Fall/Winter 1995
• B&W, 80-pages, newsprint (plus slick covers)
• Style: music zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Green Day interview
Circle Jerks interview
All interview
CIV interview
Jawbreaker interview
Lollapalooza '95 coverage
--> also live show reviews, album & zine reviews, review columns and lots of photos

Jersey Beat #54 (Weehawken NJ)

A couple more years have passed, and I must have found this issue of Jersey Beat at the long lost Tower Records store in Nashville. The zine looks a lot like it always has, only fatter (with more pages), and a return to the slick cover.

This is a special D.I.Y. issue with a lot of information on home recording, running an indie record label, promoting basement shows and other valuable stuff that is still relevant today. The D.I.Y. special report includes interviews with notable do-it-yourselfers like Jack Rabid of The Big Takeover zine, Tom Cassar of Vital Music and Mailorder, Jeff Thies of Too Damn Hype Records and others.

Issue #54 of Jersey Beat also includes the zine's typical well-rounded music coverage, including Q&A interviews with American Standard, One Nature, Empty Stares, Flatus, Halo Boots, and Dog Pound. The issue also features a lot of (expanded) review pages for singles, live shows, demo tapes, records and zines. A few columns cover 60s garage rock and indie music. All in all, one of the most entertaining and informative music zines that you'd find at the time....

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VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #54
• Summer 1995
• B&W, 80-pages, newsprint (plus slick covers)
• Style: music zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
American Standard interview
Halo Boots interview
Empty Stares interview
Jack Rabid interview
Special "D.I.Y" section
--> also live show reviews, album & zine reviews, review columns and lots of photos

Jersey Beat #49 (Weehawken NJ)

A couple of issues into their eleventh year, Jim Testa's Jersey Beat was still a vital, growing publication with its finger on the pulse of the NJ/NY music scene. Issue #49 presents a "state of the state" report on New Jersey rock, but unlike a lot of music zines, JB broke the scene down into separate articles on each city/area's scene: New Brunswick, Hoboken, Jersey City and South Jersey. This "Joisey" section includes band features on local bands like Crocodile Shop and the Swales as well as an article on New Jersey rap music.

The issue also includes pieces on the bands Mind Over Matter, Black Train Jack, and the Sons of Elvis as well as Testa's coverage of the 1993 South By Southwest Music Festival and his "Confessions Of A Club Rat" diary/column. As always, this issue of Jersey Beat includes a slew of cassette and record reviews and a couple pages of zine reviews.

(Click on cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #49
• Summer 1993
• B&W, 64-pages, newsprint (including covers)
• Style: music zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Black Train Jack interview
Mind Over Matter interview
Sons of Elvis interview
Special "Joisey" scene report section
Jim Testa's SxSW '93 coverage
"Confessions Of A Club Rat" diary/column
--> also live show reviews, album & zine reviews, review columns and lots of photos

Jersey Beat #46 (Weehawken NJ)

Issue #46 of Jersey Beat was also the zine's tenth anniversary issue, an impressive accomplishment for any small press publication. Sure, other music zines, like Jack Rabid's The Big Takeover, have shown an amazing longevity, but you can count the number of zines that make the big 1-0 on the fingers of both hands. Editor/publisher Jim Testa states that he tried to make the issue a special occasion, attempting to set up interviews with the Beastie Boys or the Smithereens, to no avail. Then, as now, there are barriers between a publication or music journalist and the artist, the gates often manned by (as Testa calls 'em) "deadheaded dead wood corporate flunkies."

Call them managers, publicists, record labels or fucking morons (the Reverend's preferred adjective), but the efforts of the gatekeepers to shield their meal tickets often do more harm than good. In the 35 years that the Reverend has been doing this rockcrit thing, I've found only a handful of musicians that were less than willing to talk about their art. During that same time, the number of truly helpful and efficient label publicists, PR people or band managers that would help out an independent writer can also be counted on those two hands. These days, the hotter a band or artist, the more likely that you'll be asked to submit your questions in advance, or sign some sort of restrictive agreement... neither of which should be acceptable to any publication or writer with any scruples.

The Reverend's rant aside, Testa nevertheless put together a fine effort for Jersey Beat #46, a sort of double-sided issue that featured two different front covers and a reversible lay-out that had material that looked backwards at the past as well as towards the future. Interviews include Sweet Lizard Illtet, L7, Noise Culture, fireHOSE, and False Prophets. There is a great article from Jim DeRogatis on "Remembering Lester Bangs" with several insightful quotes from the scribe. There is a tour diary from NJ band Trusty and articles on the new bands Sex Pods and the Misconceptions.

Of course, this wouldn't be an issue of Jersey Beat without columns and reviews, and this 10th anniversary party has plenty of both. A new rap column, "Notes From The Hip Hop Nation" by Mattatude does a fine job in discussing artists like Boogie Down Productions and Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy as well as rap labels and events. Mick Hale's "Danse Assembly" column offers Die Warzau, Peter Murphy, Insekt and Skinny Puppy and Testa's "Diary Of A Rock Critic" column documents the events at South By Southwest 1992. The regular record review section includes coverage of LPs from the Afghan Whigs, Bad Religion, Dag Nasty, Jazz Butcher, Miracle Legion, Sebadoah and Superchunk, among many others. There are seven pages of 7-inch single reviews (a zine rarity, even in '92, Testa and JB being one of the few publications to cover singles to any extent) and a zine review section, where they call the Reverend's Radical Pizza zine "a little heaver (idea-wise) than your usual zine."

With ten years under their belts, Jim Testa and Jersey Beat were just getting started. Stay tuned for more JB reviews in the future (as I dig copies out of the boxes they're hidden in).

(Click on cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #46
• Summer 1992
• B&W, 64-pages, newsprint (plus slick covers)
• Style: music zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Sweet Lizard Illtet interview
L7 interview
Noise Culture interview
fireHOSE interview
False Prophets interview
"Remembering Lester Bangs" by Jim DeRogatis
--> also live show reviews, album & zine reviews, review columns and lots of photos

Jersey Beat #44 (Weehawken NJ)

Best as I can tell, Jersey Beat #44 was the first issue in which the Reverend's words appeared. It was only a handful of album reviews – Mary's Danish, Mecca Normal and Fatima Mansions – but it was the start of a relationship with Jim Testa's fine music zine that would run for 15 years. Yeah, I'd disappear for an issue or three as other responsibilities, work or relationships would interfere, but a note or email to editor/publisher Testa would put the Reverend back on the masthead. I always enjoyed writing for JB because of the interesting mix of indie CDs that Jim would send me to review, which widened my musical knowledge and turned me on to some fun bands.

Issue #44 includes more of the same that readers came to expect and enjoy with Jersey Beat, including interviews with former Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins, the Fiendz and Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia. Testa's love of the 7-inch single is well-known, Jim once saying something along the lines of "every band has at least three good songs," making the little vinyl platter with the big hole the perfect format for young bands. Back in the '90s the 45rpm 7-inch single was still going strong, and Testa even published a single issue of a review zine called Glut that was dedicated exclusively to the 45rpm single. In this issue of JB, Testa put together an excellent article, "Still Going Steady: Singles In The 90's" (the title a clever play on words taken from a Buzzcocks' song). The article was derived from a roundtable discussion about the beloved 7-incher by a group of indie label folks, musicians and retailers and it's as quaint in retrospect as it was interesting at the time (and boy, do some of us miss the 45rpm 7-inch single!).

Jersey Beat #44 also includes the usual columns and review sections; Michael Hale's "Danse Assembly" column tackles industrial music from Consolidated, Life In Sodom and Machines Of Loving Grace. Craig Donner's "Hard Rock" column covers LPs from Warrior Soul, Enuff Z' Nuff, Primus, Anthrax and Cycle Sluts From Hell. There are six pages of 7-inch single reviews, zine reviews, Rodney Leighton's "Cassette Culture" column of demo and tape reviews, and Testa's "Diary Of A Rock Critic" column of live show reviews. The local bands section features reviews of music from NJ/NY/PA bands like Bouncing Souls, Honeymoon Killers, Throttle and the Black Rock Coalition compilation CD and the regular album reviews section includes the Blake Babies, Crime & the City Solution, Fishbone, the Godfathers, the Neighborhoods and Mr. Bungle. All in all, another solid issue of Jersey Beat from Jim Testa and friends.

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VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #44
• Fall/Winter 1991
• B&W, 64-pages, newsprint (plus slick covers)
• Style: music zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Henry Rollins/Rollings Band interview
Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia interview
The Fiendz interview
Motel Shootout interview
"Still Going Steady: Singles In The 90's"
"Letter From Minneapolis" by Jim DeRogatis
--> also live show reviews, album & zine reviews, review columns and lots of photos

Jersey Beat #43 (Weehawken NJ)

Nine years in, Jim Testa's wonderful Jersey Beat music zine began to take shape, developing the basic look and format that the zine would follow for the next fourteen years. Testa points out in his opening editorial that when JB first began in '82, he couldn't get a major label to return his phone calls, much less send records for review, and the term "alternative rock" didn't yet exist. In '91, though, former indie bands like Nirvana, Material Issue, the Feelies, Redd Kross and the Goo Goo Dolls were all signed to major labels and with alt-rock beginning to explode, Testa and JB were inundated with promo discs and constantly pestered with label phone calls.

Unfortunately, those same major labels that were so keen on getting free publicity for their alt-baby bands in music zines were reticent to cough up the cash for advertising to promote the bands. The early-to-mid-90s zine boom was mostly fueled by indie label advertising, for which they may or may not have ever gotten paid. Cash flow was a problem for a lot of music zines, and I'm sure that Jersey Beat was no exception. Testa would have liked to expand his page-count and offer more musical coverage, but the money just wasn't there.

Nevertheless, Jersey Beat #43 offers up its usual spate of fine music journalism, starting with interviews with folks like the Butthole Surfers, the Junk Monkeys and the Deviators, as well as regional bands like Bewitched (Hoboken NJ), Jack Rabid's Springhouse (NYC) and ...But Ugly (Princeton NJ). One thing that JB had moved towards by issue #43 was individual columns by fans of a certain style...a smart move that allowed Testa to increase the range of his coverage and thus potential readership. Mick Hale's "Danse Assembly" column covers industrial and dance music, a hot genre in the early-90s, covering bands like Consolidated, Front 242, the KLF and Pigface. Craig Donner's "Hard Rock" column reviews albums (and demos) from headbangers like RDP, Iced Earth and Morgoth while Testa's "Diary Of A Rock Critter" column offers live show reviews.

There are a lot of other type reviews, also, including LP reviews of albums from the Butthole Surfers, Alex Chilton, Flat Duo Jets, Leaving Trains, Napalm Death, the Replacements and Dinosaur Jr. A local band section includes reviews of albums, EPs and 7-inch singles from Alice Donut, Crawlpappy, Hypnolovewheel and the Fiendz. There is also a demo reviews section, and a section dedicated exclusively to 7-inch singles from the likes of Counterpunch, Jello Biafra, Nation of Ulysses and Pegboy, among others. Of course, there is a zine reviews section, and a scene report from Israel. For my money (and at $2.00 for an issue, cheap), Jersey Beat offered up some of the best music coverage in both diversity and quality in the zine world at the time.

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VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #43
• Summer 1991
• B&W, 66-pages, newsprint (plus slick covers)
• Style: music zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Paul Leary/Butthole Surfers interview
Junk Monkeys interview
Bewitched interview
Deviators interview
Springhouse interview
"Israel Scene Report"
--> also live show reviews, album & zine reviews, review columns and lots of photos

Jersey Beat #41 (Weehawken NJ)

A few more years pass by and I dig up another issue of Jersey Beat, either from Tower Records or maybe even by sending editor/publisher Jim Testa a couple of bucks in the mail. Either way, by this time Jim had moved over to a more cost-efficient newsprint format (instead of photocopied) that allowed him to expand the zine's coverage without going broke.

As a result, issue #41 has a bunch of cool stuff, including an interview with Jersey's own Yo La Tengo, an interview with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and interviews with indie bands like Soulside, Crawlpappy and Chikara. This issue also includes "The Lost 1990 Tour Diary," an insightful accounting of the summer '90 regional tour by Erie PA rockers the Lost. Of course, there are a bunch of record reviews here, of both local NJ/NY bands and artists like Richard Barone (of the Bongos), Crawlpappy and Adrenalin O.D. as well as a diverse collection of national bands like Gwar, Datura Seeds, Jane's Addiction, Love/Hate and Pavement.

There are two full pages of 7"/45rpm singles reviews, another couple pages of demo reviews, and an interesting plea for readers stories about crappy bookings at CBGBs. I've heard this complaint about the legendary club before, that during the late-80s/early-90s owner Hilly Kristal would load bills with as many bands as possible to try and maximize income for the night. Testa uses a show featuring Ween, Alice Donut and False Prophets as an example – two new local bands were added to the existing advertised bill of six bands, so Ween was forced to perform early (in front of few people) and at 2:15 AM, neither Alice Donut or False Prophets had hit the stage yet.

Testa argues that the strategy doesn't work, that the bands used to "pad" the line-up are often awful and don't draw and because people know that the headliners won't go on until way late, they just don't go to the show in the first place. I don't know how Testa's fight with CGGBs went, but unfortunately clubs still use this tactic of overbooking shows, resulting in fewer patrons and lost opportunities.

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VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #41
• Fall/Winter 1990?
• B&W, 64-pages, newsprint (including covers)
• Style: music zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Yo La Tengo interview
Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails interview
Crawlpappy interview
Chikara interview
Soulside interview
"The Lost 1990 Tour Diary"
"Baboon Dooley" cartoons by John Crawford
--> also live show reviews, album & zine reviews, lots of photos

Jersey Beat #34 (Weehawken NJ)

I lost track of Jim Testa's Jersey Beat music zine for a couple of years, and from the sticker on the cover of issue #34 that I found in the archives, I probably picked up this copy at the long-gone Tower Records in Nashville. While I wasn't paying attention, Jersey Beat had grown both in size and stature during my absence, and issue #34 is chock full of some meaty musical coverage that extends far beyond the state of New Jersey in interest to the average zine reader.

First up is an early interview with the Goo Goo Dolls, one of the first articles written about the band outside of their Buffalo hometown (the Reverend's article in Music Retailing around the same time being another). With a lone album under their collective belts, the Goo Goo Dolls had yet to make anything considered a splash in the music world at this early date, putting JB well ahead of the curve. There's an interesting conversation with underground icon Eugene Chadbourne, interviews with the Stand, Stax, Carbonic Smog, Pagan Babies and metal band Black Virgin. Zine reviews were fleshed out a bit with this issue, and there are a few live show reviews, including Testa's "Confidential Diary Of A Rock Critter" column, and Ben Weasel's "Skate Report" column.

As was usual with every issue of Jersey Beat, there are a bunch of album reviews included in this issue, such as feature reviews of discs from Mission Of Burma, the Splatcats and Tiny Lights along with shorter reviews of the Meat Puppets, Phantom Tollbooth, Alice Donut, Throwing Muses, Prong, Sonic Youth and Adrenalin O.D. As you can tell, Jersey Beat didn't restrict itself to covering just local bands (although the zine did feature NJ/NY/PA bands whenever possible) and offered readers a diverse range of musical coverage.

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VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #34
• Spring 1988
• B&W, 36-pages (including covers)
• Style: music zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Goo Goo Dolls interview
Eugene Chadbourne interview
Pagan Babies interview
Stax interview
Carbonic Smog interview
The Stand interview
Black Virgin interview
"Baboon Dooley" cartoons by John Crawford
--> also live show reviews, album & zine reviews, lots of photos

Jersey Beat #26 (Weehawken NJ)

Although publisher Jim Testa hasn't put out an issue of Jersey Beat in some time, his impressive little music rag can boast of 77 issues published during nearly 25 years. Considering that Testa's zine was more of a labor of love than a business with an actual staff (i.e. Maximum Rock 'N' Roll or Punk Planet), that's no mean feat. An integral part of the North Jersey music scene, a talented writer and critic, and an engaging, entertaining songwriter, Testa's one-man-show often times showed up publications with bigger budgets. Through the years, Testa's eye for talent resulted in folks like Jim DeRogatis, Ben Weasel and Howard Wuelfing writing some great material for Jersey Beat. In the interest of disclosure, the Reverend has also written for Jersey Beat, contributing record and DVD reviews to the zine for almost 15 years.

Issue #26 seems to be the first that I have in my archives, a relatively early issue from 1986 that is smaller and more scattered than later issues. This issue includes coverage of the second annual "Noise Fest," a showcase for NJ metal bands, as well as articles on the band Fahrenheit 451 and Bob Cianci, record collector and producer of the Attack Of The Jersey Teens collection of '60s garage bands. There is a very cool "metal underground" column by "Metal" Mike Farris covering bands like Deathrash, Matriarch and Bloodlust as well as a bunch of record reviews, including discs from Jersey's own Yo La Tengo, Rage To Live, the Feelies, and Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel. There are a few 7-inch reviews and a handful of John Crawford's hilarious "Baboon Dooley, Rock Critic" cartoon strips. Not quite the JB that we would later come to love and anticipate, but Testa and his crew were well on the way.

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VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #26
• May/June 1986
• B&W, 20-pages (including covers)
• Style: music zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
"Noise Fest" heavy metal festival
Fahrenheit 451
Bob Cianci (Attack Of The Jersey Teens LP producer)
"Baboon Dooley" cartoons by John Crawford
--> also live show reviews, album & zine reviews