What made you start a magazine for the J-Rock / Alternative scene?
It all happened kind of by mistake. I was at Akon, the year An Cafe was there. At that time I was AnimeFood Magazine. There wasn't a lot of printed magazines catering to Jrock/Visual Kei music in America at that time. Purple Sky was really the only one. Anyway, there wasn't a lot of interest from the otaku media in interviewing them, but they wanted to be interviewed! So I went with Kimberly Whitfield (who is an awesome photographer for MadHatter and the previous magazines I've had) And I interviewed them. About 2 or so weeks later I went to Anime Expo. I had no idea who Gackt, Yoshiki or any of these people were. But the fans were wild! The day after the concert I was eating lunch next to Sugizo's table and my staff said, "Hey that's Sugizo the guitarist from S.K.I.N" so I went over and asked for an interview. That issue of AnimeFood sold like mad. And I suppose from that initial tripping onto the path, I just continued following it to see where it would lead me.
What were the struggles with producing the magazine? Finding Staff? Sponsors? Printers? etc.
Actually the only hard part is staff and of course sponsors. With staff there are always a few issues. Sometimes I can't tell if the person is sincere in their pursuit of japanese music journalism, or if they simply want to meet the artists. The other part is time. We are grass roots so everyone donates their help and time while dealing with their everyday life, school, work and such, so sometimes there isn't enough people to get it all done by the deadline.
The thing with sponsors is that there isn't any to be had. So anyone who is going into printing for this should probably look to japan for advertisements. The companies here are struggling to stay afloat. Illegal downloads aren't helping the cause.
Where you surprised by the show or lack of support from the readers/scene?
Like all scenes, it flows and ebbs. Right now there is a burst of support for MadHatter and I suspect its because of the surge of concerts and tours this summer and fall. When winter comes it will slow again most likely.
I think the thing that surprises me most is that everyone wants to start a website or magazine! I think its great and I hope more and more people continue writing about Japanese music to bring attention to and expand scene.
Looking back now how would you do things differently?
Maybe I wouldn't have rushed into everything. I mean I am an admitted otaku. I watch a lot of anime and read much manga, fantasy novels and in general books. I even write novels myself (though I am too shy to try to publish a whole novel) Of course now I am always listening to Japanese music while working, driving, cleaning...sometimes when I am just kicking back and reading. But back then, I knew nothing about Jrock and just dove into it head first. The thing about diving into something head first is that you don't know how deep the water is in different areas. So sometimes I hit my head on the bottom, and other times I nearly drowned. But I think now...I hope, I know how to swim. Haha
What can fans do to support domestic Jrock/ alternative magazines?
Go to live shows and support the bands. If there are no fans at shows, bands will stop coming to america. A lot of bands go to Europe because the fans there are so excited for all the concerts. Sometimes the fans here complain about bands, promoters, venues and such. With any small scene there are always bound to be problems, but if we hang on and support the scene until it's larger, every show could be awesome, which also translates to sponsors and support for magazines. They will want to give exposure to the bands through magazines by putting ads for CDs and whatnot.
There is also the illegal download thing. I mean I know its a fact of this scene. People find out about bands through file sharing...but it would help a whole lot if they buy the CD when its released stateside
What do you hope becomes of the J-rock/ alternative magazine scene?
Grow, grow, grow. The fashion, the concerts, the printed word. You know, a lot of what we know about historical places is from what's left behind- Hieroglyphs , cave drawings, scrolls... Magazines and newspapers are important.
What are your goals for your magazine in the future?
We have started holding monthly events to bring the fandom in chicago together. We all have so much in common! Our Magazine goal is to be able to come out on time (laughs) and have a circulation to make us go "woah". Monthly would be excellent
What would you tell someone getting ready to start their own magazine?
I would say do it because you love print, you love magazines. Do it for the long haul and not some immediate satisfaction. And most of all do it because you love the fans too. I do it to because I love books and the printed word. I also want give something to the fans I'm in love with, because there is so much joy in giving...I get enormous gratification when I meet someone who says, "Oh MadHatter! I know your magazine!" And when they do that, they are giving so much back to me.
Alot of J rock magazines seemed to have disappeared or gone out of business why do you think that happened? Lack of support from the scene? or something else.
I think there is a lot of reasons. Magazines are VERY expensive to operate (print). And there is the problem of getting content. If there is only 1 band touring every three months, there is nothing to really write about except what's happening in Japan. At MadHatter we try to stay away from what's happening with tours in Japan. This may make some people angry but I want to say that MadHatter is an American Magazine. There are Japanese magazines... Fool's Mate, Cure, Arena 37, Shoxx, Risk Note...so many many magazines that report exactly what's going on there and give the news faster than we ever could. Its like the whole sub/dub thing in anime. You can watch a subtitled anime 1 day after it has been shown in japan, but for the dub you have to wait months, and even YEARS. I don't want to do that in MadHatter. Already we are quarterly which means some things have happened more than a month before.
We do have a few "writers-at-large" in Japan that will cover a live here or there, but for the most part we try to report on concerts here. When it comes to interviews, anywhere the artist is, is fine. We want to know them and they want the fans to know them too.
We do also cover Gothic music and cyber music. But again its hard to grab the good interviews for bands people WANT to know about.
I am interested in how we in america take Japanese culture and fashion, including music, and make it our own...just as Japanese take american culture, fashion and music, making it entirely their own thing. I think its cool that they do it, and I think its equally cool that we do it.
But yes, magazines folding is in-part due to support. Yet I think more support will be for the magazines once we grow out of the phase that we have to try and become japanese to enjoy it. Anime, Manga and even kung fu movies went through a similar phase. Everyone wanted to wear chinese style clothes and shoes because they thought "you can't learn kung fu without it" Now these things are part of the norm and no one thinks twice about throwing on some sweats and learning kung fu from a man from africa who is just as knowledgeable as his counterpart in China. I think once jrock becomes more mainstream, then the acceptance of American run Japanese alternative magazines will follow and more magazines will start up.
I wish I could say more as to why the magazines folded, I am only guessing when it comes to the support. I only hope that those magazines will revive and fill the gaping holes with their splendor again. The fans who have been supporting want it!
By the way, I want to say in ending, that printed magazines smell better than the computer...and its very romantic to read something by candlelight when the lights are out- especially when its a bang-up interview on your favorite band.
Neon Darkness would like to Thank Carmilla for this Interview!!
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| Carmilla Kupritz |
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