An Interview with Jim Testa on U.B.R.S.

One of the finest journalists and music lover around who has been supporting NJ music since before us two label kids were even born. Mr. Jim Testa, folks. Photographer, Show-goer, and writer James Damion interviews Testa for his blog, United By Rocket Science.

Here's a snippet: 

James: Fanzine culture was a lot different back then. Aside from writing for Discords, were there any fanzines, mags or rock writers that you particularly looked to for inspiration?
How would you describe your approach to writing the zine back then? Has that blueprint changed much in the thirty years you've been doing this?

Jim Testa: One of the things I think it's hard for people today to grasp is how small a community the zine/indie rock/college radio world was back in the Eighties. There were relatively few people involved and it seemed like we all knew each other.  I wrote for lots of other zines and magazines, including The Bob, Matter, Boston Rock, and for one issue (before it went bankrupt,) New York Rocker.  That was pretty common.  Steve Albini and Gerard Cosloy also wrote for Matter; try to imagine the three of us writing for the same publication today! Jim DeRogatis and Karen Schoemer wrote for Jersey Beat when they were still in college, then for Matter and The Bob, and eventually went pro;  Jim wound up at the Chicago Sun-Times and Karen wrote for Newsweek and the NY Times.

My two favorite writers were Lester Bangs (who died about a month before the first official issue of Jersey Beat came out, oddly enough) and Hunter Thompson, but they were such originals that I never considered them role models.  They influenced me to be passionate and creative, but in terms of style, my real hero was Jimmy Breslin, the hard-boiled newspaper columnist.  There's a famous story that at JFK's funeral, all the other press covered the ceremony and the Kennedy family and other politicians.   Breslin found the gravedigger who dug JFK's grave and talked to him.  That's the kind of angle I try to look for when I'm writing a story.  Try to look at the person or event and put a little spin on it.

My real guiding principle when I started Jersey Beat was that I'd write about anything that interested me.  In 1982, when all this started,  I was a regular at Maxwell's and writing about bands like the Bongos and Feelies, but I was also really into the early NJ hardcore scene and bands like Adrenalin OD.  There were a lot of great zines that kept a pretty narrow focus (like Al Quint's excellent Suburban Voice, which only covered hardcore and punk.)
I never wanted to do that.  Jersey Beat has always been about any and all kinds of music, which is why there was a "Quiet Corner" column for years about folksingers. In the Nineties, we had a ska column when that was hugely popular. We've had various people do metal columns over the years.  I really wish I had someone right now who was heavily into EDM and could cover that for us.

 Read more here: http://unitedbyrocketscience.blogspot.com/2012/07/an-interview-with-jersey-beats-jim-testa.html