As Frank Zappa once said, “Great googly moogly!” I can’t believe the first issue of our little zine is all done. To be perfectly honest, this whole thing sort of started out as a joke. We sort of wanted this zine to be a vehicle for us, myself and my wonderful staff of three other very talented people, to use to write pithy words about local bands and artists. We saw a need for these acts to receive the coverage and recognition they deserve for putting themselves out there and creating art - especially in the stupid times of COVID19 when the whole music business seems to be on its ass. We saw that some of the traditional means of coverage weren’t necessarily always doing the trick. So enter our “little engine that could” into the fray. I honestly didn’t anticipate as positive a reaction that we have received so far from many within the local music community here in P.A. It’s truly been amazing to behold!
Selfishly for me, I also wanted to use NSMZ to write about what I wanted to write about. I didn’t want to be at the mercy of an editor telling me what I can and can’t do. I didn’t want to be at the mercy of deadlines and word counts. What you see is what you get with NSMZ. I put very little constraints on myself and my writers. We certainly hunt for leads like anyone else does but in the end the best thing about this little zine is we write about what we choose to write about. That fuels our passion and determination. And hopefully this passion and determination to help out artists and venues in the Prince Albert and Saskatoon areas is contagious enough that you all will enjoy what we have written and also eagerly anticipate the release of each issue.
For now, a huge shoutout to my writing team of Will Yannacoulias and Mark Allard-Will, our photographer Deanna Roos of Contingent Colours Photography, all the artists that are represented within these pages and to the staff at the EA Rawlinson Centre For the Arts who provided us with some of the pictures used for our articles. Also, special mention to Robert Duncan, former managing editor of Creem magazine, for his words of support and guidance. I can't even begin compare our small staff to the classic 70's lineup of heavy hitters that Creem had but I can say that NSMZ writes and publishes in that same brash spirit. At any rate, Duncan's first work of fiction entitled Loudmouth is set to release this Tuesday, Oct. 6th. It's a great read and you should all check it out - after you read our zine first of course!
Finally, I'll just say that NSMZ has been an amazing journey so far and we are already working towards the November issue. In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you. If you have any comments about this first issue be sure to drop us a line at thenorthsaskmusiczine@gmail.com
Scott Roos (Managing Editor)
OH! I almost forgot, Will made a spotify playlist so you can all follow along as we take you on our musical journey this issue: