ATTN SCOTT!!! RE: AP DRAMA!

[scottheisel]

Trust me, putting Tom Gabel on the cover of AP does not sell magazines. The AM! cover was one of our worst-selling issues in years and years.

So you did it for shits and grins? I'm going out on a limb and saying AP has a reason for each and every person who's on the cover. Whether its to sell, to gain "cred" or whatever, there's a reason beyond doing someone a solid.

There are two types of bands we put on our cover: Bands we think that will sell issues, and bands we like. Frequently, those two types overlap, but sometimes, they don't -- we knew going into the AM! issue that it most likely wasn't going to sell gangbusters, but we believed in the band and the record, and thought they would reciprocate.

They never once mentioned the issue even existing. Not on MySpace, their website, anywhere. Their label didn't do any promotion for it, either (usually, labels make snipes--aka those big posters you see plastered all over major cities--to promote the cover). The band deemed themselves as too cool for AP and split, leaving us holding the bag.

But even after that, we still liked the band and continued to write about them. Until we saw this interview Tom did with Chris from Propagandhi, done for the now-defunct Blender (of all magazines!):

http://www.blender.com/blender-blog/76979/tom-gabel-of-against-me-interviews-chris-hannah-propagandhi.html

TG: I’ve heard that you aren’t a fan of Myspace, AP magazine, or meat. Which would you rather be forced to do: read 10,000 straight issues of AP Magazine front to back (no skipping articles and you have to examine every picture), answer 10,000 Myspace messages or eat one hamburger?

CH: I haven't seen a copy of that AP magazine since about 2004, but if it were anything like it was back then, reading it would be equivalent to committing suicide, so I might just cut to the chase and shoot myself in the face with a bazooka. I'm pretty sure we have a Myspace page that Todd maintains, so I can't really mount the old high horse on that one. Can the burger be made of people? I might eat it in that case.

Okay, so we know Chris Hannah is a misanthropic prick who has always said shit about AP to other people but never to us (I once cold-called him to try to get to the bottom of his beef, and he was surprisingly cordial--further proof that 99% of shittalkers will never actually own up when confronted). It's not like his remarks were anything out of the ordinary. But what got under our skin was how Tom totally telegraphed the question to make us look shitty. He might've been going for a laugh, but he completely disrespected us -- and considering we've been the only major magazine to consistently write about his band for nearly a decade, we took it as a pretty goddamn big slap to the face.

[jasonskanks]

that bad?

I've never listened to Daisy, so I have no idea what this means.

i thought daisy was horrible.

[flood]

people get all nuts about AP. of course chris hannah and tom gabel don't like AP.. they're 30-40 year olds. I'd go out on a limb and say its primary readership is probably 13-20ish and its aimed at that demographic. I'll admit i was alot more into the majority of the magazine when i was a teenager than i am now, simply because my tastes have changed (or are just too weird for most mainstream publications anyways).. but i still get it, and enjoy reading the reviews, the top ten lists (bring that shit back scotty!!), the flashback articles, and checking out interviews with friends that make it in there.. 10 out of 12 months i dont give a rats ass about the bands on the cover but my 14 year old intern generally does... and thats who the magazine is catering to, and should be catering to.

[drabley]

my 14 year old intern generally does...

Dude, you've got to get rid of your jailbait intern. She'll save her dress...

[flood]

my 14 year old intern generally does...

Dude, you've got to get rid of your jailbait intern. She'll save her dress...

haha nah its my mom's best friend's son... the only way his mom will let him go to shows is if he goes with me.... which has been a blessing because hes like 6'3" and makes the perfect packmule/merch guy.

[adamlikesmusic]

Their label didn't do any promotion for it, either (usually, labels make snipes--aka those big posters you see plastered all over major cities--to promote the cover).

Maybe it's something else, but I've got a 24x36 poster of that issue hanging all on my wall, that was actually given to me directly from them. (It's actually typo'd, as the issue # is that of the Tegan & Sara cover)

[silentgods]

man, its complicated listening to punk rock these days.

[Fartcat]

man, its embarrasing listening to punk rock these days.

[jhulud]

I let my subscirption to A.P. lapse about a year ago. Like flood, I just can't relate or be into 99% of the bands and most music featured. Plus it seems that every other page is an ad for Skelanimals, Hot Topic, Some shitty crunk-core band, etc.

BUT...I will not deny the relevance or importance that A.P. does have on its targetted reader demographic. If the kids are into the type of music, I guess the magazine will print it.

[silentgods]

punk rock = serious bidness.

[joshnotgood]

Maybe it was just joking around, and if it wasn't, good for Tom.

[scottheisel]

Their label didn't do any promotion for it, either (usually, labels make snipes--aka those big posters you see plastered all over major cities--to promote the cover).

Maybe it's something else, but I've got a 24x36 poster of that issue hanging all on my wall, that was actually given to me directly from them. (It's actually typo'd, as the issue # is that of the Tegan & Sara cover)

That issue was a split cover with Tegan & Sara, so it's the right number. And I've seriously never seen a snipe for it -- we never got any in the office. Could you take a picture of it and send it to me?

[jawbroken]

waaaaah

[partysmasher]

Now, Scott, lets be honest here AP puts Tom on the cover just as much as Tom wants to be on the cover. Its a two-way street, AP sells magazines because Tom is on the cover, Tom sells records because AP puts him on the cover. Seems both entities are "shitting where they eat" as you put it. And frankly, your EIC started it and it strikes me as extremely childish on his part.

Trust me, putting Tom Gabel on the cover of AP does not sell magazines. The AM! cover was one of our worst-selling issues in years and years.

Backed on this, as someone who works for a music magazine too, bands like Against Me! need mags more than mags need them.

[adamlikesmusic]

Maybe it's something else, but I've got a 24x36 poster of that issue hanging all on my wall, that was actually given to me directly from them. (It's actually typo'd, as the issue # is that of the Tegan & Sara cover)

That issue was a split cover with Tegan & Sara, so it's the right number. And I've seriously never seen a snipe for it -- we never got any in the office. Could you take a picture of it and send it to me?

Not the best picture, but as I'm not at home right now, it's the best I've got.

(And I know it was a split issue, but I think AM! was 236.1 and T&S was 236.2, but on the poster, AM! is 236.2)

[kirbypuckett]

I just downloaded an issue of AP.

[One Hundred Fifty-Two]

Yeah if he lost the mustache they would have sold a lot more copies.

[sgoodcore]

Backed on this, as someone who works for a music magazine too, bands like Against Me! need mags more than mags need them.

How so? I bet you if Against Me never showed-up on a single mainstream rag they'd have sold just as many albums. And the non-mainstream rags do need successful bands equally as much as the bands need them to be successful. If there were no bands at all, the rags wouldn't exist. Its at the very least a symbiotic, even if its not totally equal, relationship. Enough so that having an Editor-in-Chief call out bands is a bit unprofessional.

[scottheisel]

That issue was a split cover with Tegan & Sara, so it's the right number. And I've seriously never seen a snipe for it -- we never got any in the office. Could you take a picture of it and send it to me?

Not the best picture, but as I'm not at home right now, it's the best I've got.

(And I know it was a split issue, but I think AM! was 236.1 and T&S was 236.2, but on the poster, AM! is 236.2)

Huh, would you look at that. Thanks for the pic. Also, that's weird about the wrong number after the decimal point; the cover has the correct number on it. I have no idea how that would've happened.

[flood]

if it makes you feel better scott, my mom bought a copy of the magazine with AM on the cover... after what my father tells me was an amazing adventure having a clerk find it for her.

[Fartcat]

Yeah if he lost the mustache they would have sold a lot more copies.

Nothing says statutory rape like a mustache.

[theginwar]

I bet you if Against Me never showed-up on a single mainstream rag they'd have sold just as many albums.

wrong.

[cosmonaut]

Nothing says statutory rape like a mustache.

That's why they call it a molestache.

[sgoodcore]

I bet you if Against Me never showed-up on a single mainstream rag they'd have sold just as many albums.

wrong.

Am not. But Scott talked to this point when he said the rag with AM on it sold horribly. Obviously people who buy AM records don't buy AP and I bet they don't buy similar rags either.

[lonesomexloveus]

there's 2 teenage girls i follow on tumblr who have been stressing out about not getting their issue of AP in the mail and discussing how much they OMG NEEEED IT for approximately a week now. at first i was incredibly annoyed, now i just think of this thread. lulz.