4. What would you want to change about MRR? Be specific.

The two main things would be the layout as well the way that the columns/features are handled.

The columns are regular draw. You guys sporadically feature some sort historical component: a look back at a band or scene that was an important component in helping punk arrive where it is today. But if there were a regular space for a feature like that, I think that it’d help keep readers coming back on a monthly basis.

That being said, some of the more feature style pieces – the queer issue specifically – could have used a more newsy approach to them. It wouldn’t necessarily need to be straight journalism, but there’re certainly enough creative people contributing to the mag that a few alternative storytelling techniques could be incorporated. It doesn’t need to all be grids and maps, but sometimes the dense pages of text can be intimidating.

In regards to the reviews section, from the time that I began reading MRR to now, the change (less cluttered) is most certainly a positive. But even the disparate parts of the section (books, music, zines, etc.) look different. The rest of the mag, while understandably copping a punky/photocopied aesthetic, can be really distracting. I don’t think that every page or section needs to be treated the same, but clutter isn’t good.        Referring back to Skyscraper, part of what attracted me to them was how clean it was. There’s text and a picture, not splattered backgrounds that change article to article.

5. What are some ideas you have for articles or theme issues?

I just tipped my hand a bit, but features culling lost bands from the past in towns that folks wouldn’t necessarily think of is always interesting. I don’t believe that the MRR should devolve into Ugly Things. The historical component to not only the music that MRR is dedicated to, but the political ideas that it supports begs for historical explication.

With the demise of Punk Planet a few years ago, there’s a bit more room to maneuver within the realm of political thinking – not just social stuff either. And considering that Berkeley is right there and boasts some of the most forward thinking scientists on the planet, interviews with those folks would be interesting – there are solar panels atop a good many campus dwellings, for instance. DIY implications of Silicon Valley technology and its subsequent developments are right there as well.

I don’t propose to leave the niche of punk/hc, but reaching out to readers that might be hesitant to pick up a punk mag might find incentive with a bit more of news component.

6. How would you describe your political beliefs?

I won’t ever align myself with a political party. And the word liberal is a rather disgusting thing to me. Having said that, the first election I was able to vote in, I tapped Nader. That might not have been the best decision, but Democrats are as ridiculous as Republicans.

I’m left of most folks I know, but probably not left of the people who congregate at the LongHaul/Infoshop in Berkeley.