Hellacious New Item

So here is the deal, if you have looked over at the My Space site you will see that I have become one of the unemployed as of late. I won’t go into any form of tirade about it due to my love of my two immediate bosses. What I will say though is that this actually bodes quite well for the future of Sonic Ruin. How so?

Here is the deal, I have a ton of CD’s sitting here in front of me right now. I mean, a crapload. I let myself fall WAY behind on these reviews. I mean, really, this is stupid how many CD’s I have to review.
Now, whereas the print form of the ‘zine is obviously going to continue to suffer (laziness and being too busy killed it before, now it is a matter of the fact I will be having a hard time affording generic frozen pizza for dinner), the online form should thrive. That dang website is paid for until December of 2010. Add that to the fact that I have a buttload of free time now…and you have the makings for me to be able to create the most kickass website you can imagine!

So, what does this mean exactly?

Well, for starters, one of the things I was planning with my reviews previously was for me to shorten them up, just because I was tired of trying to find the time to REALLY review the things. Now, however, I have time. LOTS of time. I have so much time that I will be able to be the most analytical asswipe you have ever encountered in reviews! I will be able to do the ridiculously indepth reviews that Sonic was looking to offer up with the first issue.

This is both a good thing and a BAD thing. If you are one of the bands who has sent in a disc, doing something outstanding, you will be getting a stellar review and a hell of an indepth review that will praise the simplest of cymbal crashes (I’m looking at you December Peals).
But, if you have sent me crap…well…may the lord have mercy on your soul, because I sure as fuck won’t.

But if you send me shit, it is now time to call it such. It is now time to dig in and expose the junk. If there is something good there, I will write about it though and I will be fair. Lord knows I will have the time to find the good and bad in everything.

So, what about the feature pieces? The ones such as the Rock City Angels I have sitting here? Well, time will tell. I’m giving my life a month or so in this state. If by then shit is still stagnant, then the RCA piece will be posted to here. If things start to look up somewhere, then a print form will come out.
Then there is the third possibility of my saying “fuck it all” and figuring on something else for it, with Bobby Durango’s approval. But again, time will tell on this shit.

So there you have it! Yes, my bad fortune might turn out good for you kids!

Rock on kids,
Carl

p.s. I do have ad space for sale if you would like to take out some ad space… hahahahaha… uhhh… seriously….

Let’s call this “The Great Catch-Up Incident Of 2009”!!!

O.K., so I have a TON of backlogged CD’s sitting here for review. So many of these things are CD’s I never would have asked for, but they were sent in by labels, bands, friends of bands, people who got stuck with a shitty CD and thought it might be funny to send in to a magazine that sure as fuck would never ever in a million years cover the type of shit they sent in, and other places and people of the sort. These reviews are going to be quick bursts, honest reviews, no punches pulled. This is unless something REALLY catches my ear and I want to ramble on a bit about it. But for the most part, expect quick shots.

Note: I also don’t have many of the promo materials with me as I do this, so some of this is without knowledge of the little “interesting tidbits” about the bands. Sorry.

So let’s get this shit done with! YEEEEE-HAAAAWWWWWW!!!

HOLY HELL, I am still alive!!!

Hey kids, how you all doing? Yes, I know it has been a good bit of time, but I am still here and kicking. I don’t have any good excuses for my being so damn late on doing updates here or even getting issue 4 fired up and going other than life being life and procrastination being procrastination. I’ve been looking for a fire to place under my ass to get me moving again, but sadly every time I think I find one the old procrastination comes rolling back around.

The main goal is to get these reviews caught up right now. The second goal is to get the next issue off the ground.
What exactly is issue 4 going to be all about? Well, there are two issues in the works, as to which one gets the launch will be up to the issues themselves.

Issue 4a is more like issue 2, being made up of a couple bands and interviews. Granted, these interviews are now ages old and about as relevant as interviewing me for my band Misty Beethoven, which has been dead since 1990. Well, maybe more relevant than that as all of these acts are still active, but the interviews are for their “new” albums, which came out back in the beginning / middle of 2007! Yeah, “current” is not the word I would use to sell the interviews or ‘zine. I know one of the bands is willing to re-do their interview. I’m not sure about one of the others as that one didn’t respond to a few emails. The last band that was slated for issue 4 was interviewed on tour and the interview itself was pretty bad, due to my own part. I asked a few REALLY stupid questions. O.K., I could work with a “few”…it was more like I asked a whole shitload of stupid questions.

Issue 4b is another issue along the lines of issue 3. One band, one issue. Thing is this issue will be all research and interviews with the artist being covered, as the person the issue is about is dead, so actual interviews there will be non-existent. This issue will also have a guest contributor as long as he is willing to work on it also. I know he has shown great enthusiasm for it, but as is the case when anybody goes to work with me, that enthusiasm can be short-lived. But we shall see.

So meanwhile we chase down some reviews. I am going to try and do a review a day at the least. As I look over the stack though, my heart drops. I guess I finally have to face it, there is some BAD shit in here I really don’t wish to talk about. In all honesty, that has been a problem I have been facing. I don’t care to rip into stuff, but some of this you just can’t find anything nice to write about it. Or it is just boring as can be.

Welp, lets all hold on and see what happens here. Can I pull off a bunch of reviews???????????
As is usual, if you have sent something in for review, I apologize about my delays. I am not trying to screw ya over, it’s just sometimes inspiration is fleeting and when certain aspects of life are a bitch, it’s that much tougher.

Rock on kids,
Carl

By now those of you who have stopped by in the past few weeks may have noticed a new addition to this site. Those of you who have not stopped by for a good while might wish to start stopping by more often now days.
With this news item begins the new direction in the Sonic Ruin world. It’s being broken down into three different areas to best promote the bands featured within Sonic.

Website
The website will from now on feature all of the reviews. No reviews will see light of day in the print form on Sonic Ruin. Even if I decide to ramble on for days and days about an album it will end up here on the site. So if all you want to do is read album reviews, the website is the place for you to hang out at.

Fanzine
This is where I will begin to really attack what issue 3 was meant to be. Every issue of Sonic Ruin that sees print will be a tribute to the artist featured in its pages. Consider them mini-biographies, mini-books if you will. I am attempting issue 4 to be a tribute to Rene Berg.

Podcast
Ah…the new addition to the family! THIS is the area you bands might be most interested in! THIS is where you will hopefully get the best of everything! The whole intent of the podcast, The Sonic Underground, is going to be to expose you bands! The whole purpose will be interviews. I’m looking to give the bands about 15 minutes to just shoot the shit and let everybody know who the hell you are. In the past I was very specific about who got in to be interviewed, choosing only bands I was familiar with. Not anymore. Now all you need to do is fit the criteria of what Sonic is about. I’ll be chasing many of you down, but if you think you fit the style (that means look at the other bands interviewed, reviewed, covered, etc. and see if you fit), drop me a line. Overseas bands and out of the US bands might need to spring for the call, as if I get too many of you there will be no way I can afford it, at least at first. Down the road…we will see. Every band interviewed will also have their tunes played.
This weeks podcast features interviews with Valentine Failures, the whole blasted band, and Danyell from Chop Suicide. Both interviews went fairly well, but I am surprised at how much work they are going to be and how troublesome they can be. You will notice the volume on the Valentine interview is pretty loud, so turn your speakers down before that one begins. Plus both interviews crackle and get too loud at times, though I did lower the volume on the Danyell interview to make the noise less painful. I did do a good amount of editing and cleaning up of the sound before posting them to the show, but I just could not take out all of the noise.
So that is where I am at as of now with this. Let’s see what kind of doors we can kick down together!

Thanks again to all of the usual folks, Staci and Michael. Also thanks go out to the guys in Valentine Failures (Justin, Dillon, Bombs, Wayne 15) and to Danyell.

Rock on kids,
Carl

Ah, and so we begin. Reviews, reviews, and more reviews are what you can be expecting around these parts over the next few weeks. I’ve got a ton of these things clogging up my rooms, and it’s about time I give the bands and labels what I owe them. Now, not always will these be super-long, super well thought out reviews. These puppies will be changing in their styles and I will be reviewing them as I feel fit. Some of them I will be sitting down with and listening to very intently, many times over. Others, as you will see with the review found in these parts with the Harlots of Babylon, will be rattled off as I listen to them. Seriously, that was the best way I could find to do that review. It also seemed to fit best with their style.

If you are in a band (or with a label) and you sent something along at any point and have not heard back from me yet about it, please be patient, it will be up here soon. Everything that has been sent my way is finding it’s way to the reviews here. Seriously, I work for an engineering firm and my desk here is cluttered with CD’s, NOT engineering plans.

You will also see a few changes in the writers. Yes, I’ve taken on a couple other people to try and keep things interesting and moving around here.

Michael Toland used to run High Bias and is a fine writer. He had planned to stop writing, but as time away passed, he realized he missed it. We shared emails for sometime there, but he finally asked if I would mind if he wrote a few things for Sonic, just to get his feet wet again. I’m not an idiot, so I said “yes”. I expect you’ll like his writing, he does know his shit.

Ken Zalewski is a buddy of mine. I sent him the disc he reviews here knowing he is a fan of Thin Lizzy. Not sure if I can get Ken to write more…but we will see. He has a great taste in tunes and also knows his shit. The only thing I could ask for more out of Ken is for him to get his sense of humor into these reviews, but I need to find something really bad to send him for that to come rolling out.

Yes, there will be other people wandering along reviewing stuff. The writers on the website will change quite often I presume, with only a few choosing to stick around for the duration of life here. The print ‘zine though will remain 100% me.

So that is it for this update. Hopefully it all comes through just fine.
Again, thanks to Staci for his work on the site.

Rock on kids,
Carl I.

Welcome to a new chapter for Sonic Ruin, the ever evolving magazine!

First let me explain what is going on here. No, the print version of Sonic is not going anywhere. I enjoy the idea of holding an actual print ‘zine too much to jump ship so soon. But being a person who has a family and not a whole lot of time or money and is running a ‘zine by himself poses a few problems.

The main problem I face: bands want reviews done, and they want them ASAP. This is understandable as the bands and labels send me material at their expense. They would like a review and would rather not have to wait the 4 – 6 months it will take me to get a review into print. By that time many labels have moved on to promoting other CD’s, and many bands have moved on to working on their next batch of songs.

I also kept running into CD’s being sent that were not exactly what I wanted Sonic to cover. Many times these CD’s were close, but not quite there. I’m limited to space in Sonic as I do 32 pages, 3 of them spoken for by the cover, inside table of contents, and the back page ad. So a whole bunch of CD’s get left out and I don’t like having to do that. Many of these bands might be of interest to you the readers still. So even if I just do a sentence or two, in my opinion that is still worth it to the band, label, and you.

So my idea for Sonic is this: the website here will house the reviews. The magazine doesn’t sell blockbuster numbers, but I think the website will be getting a decent number of hits, if I judge by the My Space site and the blog there. This will benefit the bands and labels a whole lot. No CD will be passed over. Everything sent will get a mention from here on out.

By doing that one move that means that the reviews will not be in the ‘zine anymore. But by doing that it will free up more space for me to be able to turn Sonic into what I really want it to being. This will allow more room for interviews and band coverage.

The print ‘zines will also be partially available online. This is to try and hook people into thinking about getting the print someday by letting you see what I am trying here. I want it to be different than other print ‘zines and webzines. I’m trying a whole new creature, one that utilizes both the web and the power of print.

So, from here on out drop me into your bookmarks if you would like, and check back often. I plan to have updates happening quite often between here, print, and even a bit over at the My Space site.

HUGE, massive thanks go out to Staci T. who is the wonderful webdesigner and man behind Slugernaut Designs (and guitarist/vocalist from Chop Suicide). Just drop by some of the links on the links page to see just what the gentleman is capable of, and give him a call if you should find yourself in need.

A big thanks to Mark Bell and his Swordfish Graphics again for issue 3’s cover. Look for more from Mark in the future. Also, whereas Mark did the computer work to make the logo work (and Staci continued on with it for the site here), Marcus Calzada did the original design. Thanks Raggz.

O.K., let’s see what happens next…

Carl I.

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