Time is a funny thing. When you want it to pass quickly, it moves at a snail's pace. When you want it to slow down, it zips by, and before you know it tomorrow is today and today is yesterday. Now, depending on how you look at it, both scenarios can be positive. Nate Ruess of The Format would have you believe that "snails see the benefits, beauty in every inch," while Ben Rispin of The Saint Alvia Cartel would insist that he "don't wanna wait forever."
On April 20th, 2008, PopZap!Music officially celebrated its first birthday. This past year has come and gone rather quickly; yet oddly it feels as though we've been doing this for much, much longer. To celebrate our anniversary, we've been secretly (aren't we sneaky?) developing this brand new layout, with tons of great new functionality. The launch date for the layout was originally meant to coincide directly with our April 20th celebrations. Unfortunately, sometimes things don't always work out as planned, and thanks to a slew of roadblocks, the launch was pushed back a week. Here we are, a week later and (somewhat) ready to go. But it hasn't just been a week, this has been a work in progress over the last year. So with that in mind, let's take a trip down memory lane...
When we launched one year ago, quite a few things were different. At the time, our writing staff consisted of Nick, Curt and myself. We also had Adam helping with development and hosting and a whole slew of other tedious yet required aspects of running a webzine. Our first major conversation (because, as you know, that's what we call interviews around these parts. You did know that, didn't you?) was with The Format (who have since gone on hiatus, sadly), and really set the tone for what has now become the signature "Pop Zap" approach. We said to hell with generic cookie-cutter Q&A type interviews, and decided to portray musicians for the people that they are, in a way that current fans (and fans who just don't know that they are fans yet) could relate to. Nate Ruess poured his heart out in a way that he had never done publicly before, and when it came time to try and trim off the extra fat, I was still left with over 3,000 words -- every single one of which held equal importance.
Aside from conversations, Nick enlightened us with his many Random Musings, and on occasion jumped behind a lens to capture a thousand words in picture form, and Curt was reminiscing about middle school mix tapes and how to be a leader in the era of the "scene" from day one. We portrayed new albums via the measures of emotion and feeling, rather than the oft seemingly obligatory (and heavily dated) numeric scale or starring system in our own rendition of the traditional review, titled Brand Spankin'. And since our policy is to expose great music and great musicians, we felt it appropriate to highlight every great artist, big or small, not just the popular ones.
Our readership quickly grew, as did our staff. Scott brought with him extensive knowledge of the obscure, and a wonderfully poignant view of all things media related; Collin signed on as our resident photographer, and still ranks amongst the most incredible talents I've ever had the pleasure of meeting; Zoe rode in with a little Southern hospitality, bringing us a constant look at music life in Austin, TX while also expanding our coverage to include music related literature; and the salsa dancing Sara applied a softer touch with her easily relate-able Lyrical Reflections, while simultaneously teaching us simple ways to be better people. Some contributors aren't able to be here all the time, but when they are, they make it worth our while. Both Bryce and Melissa helped us get to know some artists a little better at last year's Warped Tour; and in the photography department, Casey and Corey have been kind enough to lend us a helping lens.
One person that deserves far more acknowledgment than she gets is the incredibly talented Sanya from hati // sköll. Sanya has done a ton of graphic work for us over the year, including graphics for the site, business cards and even 1" buttons that many of you have probably seen or own. Oh yeah, and she created that fancy new logo and banner you see at the top of this page... Needless to say, she puts a face to the name when it comes to Pop Zap, and without her we wouldn't have the beautiful asthetic representation that we do today.
We also have two new editions coming on board who have been hard at work preparing our forthcoming video channel: Jason Ness and Alex Rongstad of SaveYourScene Productions. Jason and Alex have been catching bands live for a while now and will be transitioning to the candid realm of video interviews in the coming months, to be featured right here on Pop Zap.
Though I fancy myself a wordsmith, words are futile when it comes to emphasizing the gratitude that spills from my heart when I think about how all these people have helped turn the Pop Zap vision into a reality. Their profile pages will soon have far more info on them than this, but for now, some short summaries on what make the people of Pop Zap tick:
Nicholas Friesen, Winnipeg, MB - Nick is from Winnipeg, is a staple in the local film and music scene, and is a hopelessful romantic. The man has written, directed and produced several award winning films and hits the airwaves every Thursday on 92.9 Kick FM with the show he likes to call Mix Tape. You can also find his photos in the Winnipeg-based music mag Uptown, along with the writings of his girlfriend and love of his life, Jen.
Curt Baker, Minneapolis, MN - When he's not hitting the books on campus at the University of Minnesota, Curt is hitting up shows of every type. Probably the most varied taste amongst the Pop Zap staff, Curt could fall for Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis, Straylight Run's Michelle DaRosa or Paramore's little orange haired girl, with no bias one way or the other. A few years back he founded his own webzine, the Minneapolis based (and aptly named) MPLS Scene. Though he is a self-proclaimed "non-scenester", Curt has been known to occasionally sport "swooping hair-cuts" and can occasionally be found dancing the night away at First Ave. Curt also runs the political blog civicalert.org, not to be confused with Honda's Civic Nation blog...
Scott Olstad, Chicago, IL - Scott's pursuing his education at Illinois' Northwestern University, but still finds plently of time to play and beat virtually every video game to ever have graced this fair planet of ours. In between school, gaming, writing for Pop Zap and gaming, Scott maintains a blog (that he once updated every day for 365 days straight -- that's a year!), where he discusses such varied topics as... music and video games. Scott also joins Curt on civicalert.org, telling us the million top reason to vote Obama.
Zoe Cordes Selbin, Austin, TX - Zoe is the little rock girl that could. And did. And does! Zoe comes to us from Austin, TX, and has been writing for both Substream and Soundcheck for a few years now. She's met many of her music idols, having shared the mic with many of them in the studio at 91.7FM KOOP Austin on her show Youth Spin. She also has a knack for the political, and while she aspires to head a music label, I say "move over Hilary, Zoe Cordes Selbin will be the first female president!"
Sara Kuz, Toronto, ON - Sara is originally from Winnipeg, where she experienced many concerts working first hand at the historical Walker Theatre. She now resides in Toronto where she gets to take in nearly every great show that passes through Canada's largest city -- that is, if she isn't too busy salsa dancing. A passionate humanitarian, Sara finds ways to incorporate real world messages into her writing while still maintaining her personal touch.
Collin Hughes, Minneapolis, MN - Collin is capable of trapping a moment on film in a way that few people can. A fellow student of Curt's at University of Minnesota, Collin's work is lauded amongst the music photography scene and he is always in demand, never having a shortage of bands to shoot. His signature style is so sought after that some of his peers have even tried to recreate it, but have fallen far short. For just a glimpse at the genius at work, check out his portfolio at www.collin-hughes.com.
I could go on and on about the many amazing people that we have met along the way -- the musicians, publicists, managers, labels, fans, security guards, promoters, ticket-takers, hand-stampers -- but I think the point is clear: it takes a plethora of incredible, talented people to make a venture like this work. We will encounter many more of these people in the future, and I for one would like to say thanks to everyone who has been involved thus far, and to everyone who will be involved in the future.
Pop Zap is here to stay folks, and we're just getting started.
Yours humbly,
Tim L. Jones
Music Lover / Ediot in Chief
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