CONFRONT is 2 years old
September 4th, 2008 - Written by AngelCONFRONT Magazine is 2 years old - can you believe it? I can’t get over the fact that this is our 25th issue and that we have done 100+ updates over the years. Looking back, it seems like a lot and I am overwhelmed with pride at the thought of how hard the entire staff has worked and continues to do so every single day.
Much like last year at this time, I wanted to usurp our normally more stringent Exhibit A exposé format, to take a look back at the past twelve months as well a gaze into the future as best I can.
I think it’s safe to say that CONFRONT Magazine’s second year was one of great change as well as one of new beginnings. We’ve made some new friends, lost touch with others and even branched out into other musically related fields.
The most notable of these changes was no doubt the departure of CONFRONT’s Arts and Visuals director, Christine. This development required some adjustments, to say the least, but we barreled through and managed to find our footing rather solidly. We are glad to say that despite her resignation from the aforementioned position, she has remained one of CONFRONT’s prized photographers.
Speaking of photographers, CONFRONT’s second year introduced us to new talent in the form of Gemma Pietrollino; a young lady of barely 18, whose talent and understanding of light and movement, despite her lack of education in the field, has stunned us all. She has been a great asset and we look forward featuring much more of her work. Some of her most notable shoots for CONFRONT have been:
Lifehouse Live at the Metropolis:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/confrontmagazine/sets/72157605951432809/
Chiodos, live during their 2008 spring tour:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/confrontmagazine/sets/72157605824092407/
Around the same time as Gemma joined the CONFRONT Crew, another major change took place when CONFRONT decided to alter its format as well as its look. Awesome Andy, our amazing web designer, spend most of the entire month of May revamping and remodeling our appearance and layout and finally, June saw CONFRONT’s first issue on the new platform. It took some adjusting but we love the new look; and apparently so do you guys as our readership has doubled since that issue.
The last month of this second year has also brought about the creation of a new project: CONFRONT Presents…
What is CONFRONT Presents… exactly?
Well, CONFRONT Presents… is the next logical step in the musical evolution of the CONFRONT Magazine Brand, as we leap from musical entertainment publication into musical event production. Much like CONFRONT Magazine, CONFRONT Presents… offers an innovative and all inclusive approach in order to assure the best possible live experience, not only for the audience but also artists.
Basically what that means is that we have branched out into event production and promotion. Ironically, the idea for this new endeavor came on a whim, much like the idea to launch a web publication two years earlier; and without hesitation, off we went. Our inspiration was the creation of a new non-profit organization, based out of Montreal, called MAPMusic (((Musicians Against Parkinson’s))), whose goal is to raise awareness of the disease through the use of music; which was something that greatly appealed to us. We proposed our services as event producers and proceeded to plan a big concert bash that took place this past August 23rd. I won’t go into too much details as for next month’s issue, SteveK plans on writing a full Exhibit A exposé on the show, which featured performances by six new up and coming local artists/bands, in which he will chronicle our experiences as first time event planners. Needless to say this experience has left us wanting to pursue this line of entertainment. So make sure you keep an eye out for our next shows.
Another novelty to CONFRONT this year was the launching of the CONFRONT Community which we hope to build into a sort of communal hang out where people can get their entertainment news as well as share their opinions and love of music. So far, it’s been a little slow going; but we hope to remedy that in year three, thanks to our newly started CONFRONT Entourage; a street team that we encourage all our readers to join. The Entourage offers great contesting opportunities so check that out as well.
Of course let’s not forget to look back at the great artists that have been featured in CONFRONT’s pages these past twelve months.
Notable mentions are of course our October 2007 cover story with electronic band, Blaqk Audio; a band comprise of front man Davey Havok and synth player Jade Puget, both members of the better known band AFI. To this day, this interview remains my favorite of CONFRONT’s second year. Not only were they interesting and involved in the discussion but we managed to also have a civilized debate on the current state of the music industry, which opened my eyes to certain aspects I hadn’t considered.
Read the Feature Presentation here
A few months later, in our December 2007 issue, came my most notorious interview to date: a feature presentation interview with the dance rock outfit, She Wants Revenge. As much as I enjoy Justin Warfield’s and Adam Bravin’s music, I still get a bit of a sour taste in my mouth when I recall this interview. As I stated in my opening paragraph: “To say this interview was easy would be rather untruthful. Interesting and animated, certainly; but easy and pleasant, not exactly.” To find out why, read the interview here
In February and March of 2008 we featured an Exhibit A on CONFRONT favorites’ Saosin and a cover story on Seether, after having spent the entire day with the bands when they stopped in town; Saosin while touring with Alexisonfire and Seether while touring with Three Days Grace. These were our first experiences in really getting the opportunity to see all the ins and outs of what was involved in a day on tour and we learned quite a lot. These two interviews also marked our first attempts at producing CONFRONT TV; which is still in the works but put on hold for a while as we try to refine the process and find the right team for the job.
Read the Saosin EA here
Read the Seether FP here
Round Tables and Beat Bazaars have also seen their share of great artists such as:
The Mars Volta - http://www.confrontmagazine.com/main/expose.php?archive=03-2008
Coheed and Cambria - http://www.confrontmagazine.com/main/beatbazaar.php?id=3146
Kenna - http://www.confrontmagazine.com/main/roundtable.php?id=2845
Paramore - http://www.confrontmagazine.com/main/roundtable.php?id=2986
Yellowcard - http://www.confrontmagazine.com/main/beatbazaar.php?id=2813
There have been so many that it would be to long to list them all but we are in the process of manually transferring all of CONFRONT’s past issues into the new platform’s Library of Content for your perusal. In the meantime, all issues prior to June 2008 can still be accessed on the old plateform which is still available here.
All in all it’s been a tremendous year. We’ve learned a lot, we’ve grown a lot, we’ve changed a lot… we’ve become more of our true selves and that can’t be a bad thing can it? Everyday we wake up with the desire to push forth and make new musical discoveries and experiment with new mediums and formats, the results of which make CONFRONT an organic and ever changing entity. Yes, that’s right… I said organic - even if I hate the expression and feel it’s over utilized, it’s the best fitting for this description.
We are learning as we go and we hope to keep it that way every year we continue on.
In early issues of our third year, you can expect to find interviews with many more amazing artists including Against Me!, Metro Station, Jack’s Mannequin, Anberlin and so many more. We are also going to be keeping you posted on more CONFRONT Presents… shows to come. Make sure to join the CONFRONT Community as well as the CONFRONT Entourage and keep an eye out for CONFRONT TV because it’s coming.
We want to say thank you to all our readers, those who read silently and those who chose to make their voices heard through comments and emails, we would have no reason to do this is it weren’t for you.
On a final note, I would like to thank the entire CONFRONT Crew for all their hard work, their dedication and their understanding and acceptance of our ever-changing ways. We can’t wait ’til birthday 3.
Angel Karmazenuk
Editor-in-chief
Note: we are still experiencing a few technical issues with our equipment so weekly updates might still be affected this month, however be assured that we will return in full form for the October 2008 issue. That being said, make sure to check back often because the issue might be resolved sooner rather than later.
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