Alternative Press 25th Anniv. Art Show
July 9, 2010 – The Merry Karnowsky Gallery in Los Angeles hosted Alternative Press Magazine’s VIP Art Show celebrating their 25th Anniversary.
Merry Karnowsky with two featured artists
Featured artists included: Marylin Manson, Tim Armstrong (Rancid), Miss Derringer, Derek Hess, Shirley Manson (Garbage), Jordan Buckley (Everytime I Die), Marc “Porter” McKnight (Atreyu), Adam Jones (Tool), Black Francis (Pixies), Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy), Travie McCoy (Gym Class Heroes), Colin Frangicetto (Circa Survive), Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance), and MORE!
Porter McKnight (Atreyu) with his piece
by Miss Derringer
Tim Armstrong with one of his pieces
by Adam Jones (Tool)
Some AP models enjoying the event!
I spoke with Editor in Chief of Alternative Press, Jason Pettigrew, before the night began. We discussed everything from the beginning of the magazine to what’s coming up in the next 25 years. Check it out!!
Jason Pettigrew, Editor in Chief, AP Magazine
PWV: So this is a big thing for you, 25 years! Did you ever think, 25 years ago, that you’d be at this point?
Jason: No! I can honestly say that because there were times in our history where we didn’t like the way the culture was going. We weren’t expecting it to last 25 years. Now someone people are going to be like “I can’t believe he told you that,” but it’s the honest truth!
PWV: Are you referring to when punk started kind of dying out?
Jason: The problem is everything gets co-oped. I mean, when America was in throws of Nirvana-mania, you had a lot of opportunists come in. Guys that used to be in poodle-metal bands suddenly tuned to drop D and thought they would get a new lease on life, and it was really frustrating in a lot of aspects. But getting back to your original question, we didn’t think we’d be here for 25 years but it feels great that it happened. I’m really happy about this particular event because it’s not about the last ten years of alternative press where everything’s been really successful. This is about the magazine as a work in progress from the very beginning. Thing like… when Mike Shay, the owner of the magazine, would put the spray adhesive all over his mom’s kitchen table and lay out the columns himself, all the way to supercalfragalistic-digital whatnot that we have now. It IS a work in progress.
PWV: Where did all this start from? Are you in LA?
Jason: Nope, it all started in Cleveland and we’re still in Cleveland now!
PWV: How do you all choose what artists to feature on the cover?
Jason: The key to our success is that we are very intuitive to our readers. We read every email, fax, smoke signal, ya know, the hate flames, we read all the sincere things and just try to understand what everyone wants at that level. Lots of magazines are like, “Oh, we’ll tell you what’s good.” And we’re intuitive for what people are asking for.
PWV: Do you have a favorite issue?
Jason: I like certain issues for certain reasons. A lot of the covers with Marylin Manson are visually striking. A lot of the Nine Inch Nails covers, you get to understand the workings of what Trent Rezner was thinking at the time and what was happening. It’s a hard question because there are different reasons for liking things. This is the first one I was a contributor on. *points on the wall to the March 1986 cover* I was doing the Pittsburgh scene report, so that one’s kind of special to me. Although, no one knows who the hell the Cleveland punk band Numbskull were!
PWV: It’s such a huge step in a band’s career to get on the cover of AP. Do you feel like you really help these bands out by picking them for the cover?
Jason: I mean…. yes. I’m trying to answer this so it doesn’t sound like, “Yeah, I’m the king maker, ya see! Yeah!” *in an awesome 1940’s newspaper reporter accent* I wouldn’t want to say it like that, but a lot of bands have thanked us, saying we’re the first magazine to put them on the cover. I mean, we were the first American rock magazine to put Radiohead on the cover. The basis of what Mike Shay was doing was reacting to everything on commercial radio, MTV, and so on. The name Alternative Press doesn’t come from the word ‘alternative’ ya know, we hate radio, we hate the music video channels, there’s gotta be something different than that. It’s not alternative music, but alternative like, another option. There’s a news weekly, now it’s called Cleveland Scene but back then it was just called Scene Weekly and those guys were all really cocky and arrogant. They did a half page ad in one of their papers with a list of all the people that tried to do music magazines and Mike was like, “I’m NOT gonna be on that list!” He’s always had a vision for it. And back then, we’re talking mid 80’s, you’ve got people that are into hardcore and you’ve got people into maybe like, British imports and electronic music and ya know, Mike’s into all that stuff and he thought, “Why can’t we bring all this stuff together?” And it’s working!
PWV: Do you think you’ll have 25 more years?
Jason: I don’t see a reason for it not to continue for 25 more years. It may be not a paper thing, it could be a little chip that you go to the dentist and they insert a chip that gives you the new issue! *laughs* Who knows what they’ll have in 25 years for us!
PWV: Do you have an iPhone app?
Jason: We’re working on that, too. It’s one of the things that’s on the drawing board.
***
by Tim Armstrong
Hanging with Mr. Armstrong!
A rabid Marylin Manson fan awaits his arrival…
my favorite spot!
Check out AP’s new website, www.altpress.com!
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About the Author
Denise Borders 39, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.
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