2009 – YEAR OF THE BOOMBOX

in News by BBtBB Team — December 31, 2009 at 5:58 pm | 1 comment

2009 – YEAR OF THE BOOMBOX

Reviewing the Past Year

by Diego Silva (Publisher/Founder)

The Year of the Boombox was a short one, as it technically only began in July when Bring Back the Boombox Online Music Magazine was launched. Looking back at all that we have accomplished since July, it’s easy to say we have come a long way and hopefully paving the path for a very bright future. Here is my first column “The Evolution of the Revolution – Letter From the Editor” which laid down what I believed the magazine was about, but much has changed since. Here’s a review of the Year of the Boombox, including the highlights of rookie year.

Our first ever interview, personally my own first as well, was with Reel Big Fish on July 18th and thankfully it was a hilarious interview! My eyes were opened to the possibility of making the website strictly music, trimming the fat and keeping things consistent – and if you search for any film/art/fashion articles, they are long gone. Recruiting writers from Toronto eager to attend shows and get their work out, we hit the ground running. When Fucked Up played the Phoenix, we were there, and months later, we interviewed Damien “Pink Eyes” Abraham. July was a trial month, where we experimented with new things and learned how to properly run the website.

August was a stacked month, beginning with a very busy weekend at the Cutting Edge Music Festival (Protest the Hero, Bedouin Soundclash, Andrew WK, Moneen, and more) . At this point, we were in over our heads. Stephen Shaw, the creative genius behind the website’s design, was also the full-time photographer for BBtBB during the first couple of months. Struggling to maintain the website and sift through hours of interviews, hundreds of photos, while trying to plan the following weeks, we decided we needed help. Recruiting writers, photographers, and editors in August certainly took a big weight off the shoulders of Stephen Shaw and myself.

September came quickly, but it was an amazing month filled with great material that helped solidify BBtBB as a serious magazine. Opening the month with a feature on our good friends Rebel Emergency, we were off to a good start. Photos began to take a bigger part in the magazine, as everyone loves to look at pretty photos when they’re too wasted to read! (Between the Buried and Me, Killswitch Engage, Moneen) The biggest moment of my writing career came as I had the opportunity to interview the great Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead. It is obvious even in the written transcription that I was extremely nervous, and I left my mistakes in the transcription to one day look back and see how much I’ve improved. Regardless, the interview was seminal for the magazine, as we gained recognition from the pros and gained readership from Motorhead fans. This was evident when we covered Marilyn Manson two weeks later at the Air Canada Center, a great way to wrap up the month.

With a calendar loaded with upcoming concerts, October was a very busy month. We opened with some TIFF and Manifesto Love, covering the Burning Brides, Art of Fresh, and God Made Me Funky. The content started piling in as more writers came onboard, and more photographers helped cover the five shows per week we were averaging. The best photo of 2009 comes from the great Cancer Bats show at Sneaky Dee’s on October 18th. One of our best interviews also came in October, when we sat with Keith Buckley of Every Time I Die.

BEST PHOTO OF 2009 - #1

November was not much different, with the exception that we were now adjusted to the workload and had built a solid team. The introduction of Tanya Tonon as Chief Editor and Kieran Meyn as Photography Editor was a major leap forward, and Brandon Ross joined in as the Director of Media Relations. We popped our cherries in the men’s bathroom of Sneaky Dee’s with Liam Cormier of Cancer Bats – our video interview cherry that is. We also had great interviews with Silverstein, The Mad Caddies, Bouncing Souls, Between the Buried and Me, and Carpenter. Photo highlights include Gwar, AFI, Skinny Puppy and Dragonforce.

The amount of content being posted was now getting overwhelming and we had to find new ways of posting material. Summarizing the past week of events into a NEWS article was somewhat successful, but we still had more to feed our readers! With a team of almost 20, we cranked out over 40 articles in November, doubling what we had done in previous months. Things were looking up, and there was no stopping us now! As we wrapped up 2009, December was a slower month with less concerts, but we had plenty of material saved for the slow time during the holidays. Highlights of December include Glassjaw Interview and Photos, Chatting with D-Sisive, Getting Noisy with Fuck Buttons and Partying Hard with White Cowbell Oklahoma!

I hope you enjoyed what we gave you in 2009! Get ready for 2010 as we get set to re-launch the website with a new design, host monthly events at Sneaky Dee’s, and bring you more great exclusive content that you won’t find anywhere else!