Posted on: October 10, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Under the Volcano was always a zine I wanted to buy, as I had heard that it had an extremely long period of publication, and that it was always in the Vital Music Mailorder catalog, as one of about 10 zines that you could buy. Where Lollipop magazine was practically all reviews, Under the Volcano is practically all interviews. This issue, which only has 52 pages, has 5 interviews (Sleater-Kinney, Channel 3, Division of Laura Lee, Northstar, and One Day Savior Recordings), also has 9 pages of reviews blocked in-between 9 pages of ad, review, ad, review, ad style. The quality in reviews in Under the Volcano really depend on the reviewer, as some are strong, describing the general sound with cues eliciting other bands, and some are just incredibly weak (as one reviewer takes time out of a 50 word review to talk about sad state he is in pining over the singer of Mazzy Star, in an album that the reviewer only actually reviews for one sentence. By far, though, the power of Under the Volcano is in these interviews, which try to approach bands with different methods than asking “what are your influences”, which is actually a banned question for UtV interviews. The columns in the magazine really do not contribute much to the magazine in the whole; they do not provide the humour of a Rich Mackin or Nardwuar, or the DIY ethic of Ecopunk or the like. UtV also reels from the heavy inclusion of ads to amount of content in this issue. Much more of a buy than the higher-priced zines with high ad content, due to the lower cover price.

Rating : 5.3/10

Under the Volcano #72 ($2.95, PO Box 236 , Nesconet, NY 11767) (For Jersey Beat)

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