I was down in Asbury Park, NJ this past week and I started remembering all the great shows I've been to out in Jersey... especially at the Stone Pony and the skate park right near there... What were your favorite Venue's and shows that you had experienced out in NJ?

Karen: I would have to say that my favorite venues in New Jersey  are Asbury Lanes, Court Tavern,  Stone Pony and Club Deep (rip). All three clubs have had some amazing shows and great memories. The best shows that I have experienced in these clubs are: Lifetime reunion in 05 at The Stone Pony, Gorilla Biscuits reunion at The Stone Pony and Define the Meaning one year anniversary show featuring H20 at Stone Pony.

At Club Deep I enjoyed seeing Murphy's Law. They are always a great band to see as they have plenty of energy and booze to share. When it comes to Asbury Lanes I enjoyed seeing Gaslight Anthem, With Honor and Strike Anywhere.

And for Court Tavern well pretty much just about every show there is great thanks to the big Andy Diamond. I had my 24th birthday show there this past Jan and it was so good!  I don't even remember half of the night except for the fact that Deathkiller rocked the fuck out and Gaslight Anthem headlined.

What was the first zine that you guys picked up that inspired you to forge forward and start creating DTM?

Rajon: The first zine I ever got my hands on was In Effect, a New York Hardcore zine, way back in 1994. I won the issue through a radio contest from a radio show called Hardcore Reality, which was aired on Seton Hall University's station, WSOU. This was the very first zine I have ever laid eyes on, and one of the only ways I found out about the New York Hardcore scene other than going to shows. Maximum Penalty was on the cover, a band I then have never heard of, along with other New York greats like Killing Time and a small band from Long Island called Vision of Disorder. Although the entire issue was merely 16 pages, a whole new world opened up to me. Having only been exposed to Hardcore a few months before I read this zine, I absorbed the information like a sponge. I read about new bands, new records, and an entire community that I wanted to be a part of. From then on, I wanted more information. More music, more shows, and more zines. I picked up other zines such as Guillotine, Anti-Matter, Back Ta Basics, and last but not least: Time Will Tell, which eventually became my favorite read. Constantly hungering to find out new information about the bands I loved and the community I became a part of, these zines became the journal of my teenage years. Mainstream magazines didn't cover Hardcore, newspapers didn't cover Hardcore, and the internet was still very young. These zines were the only way I can keep in touch with the things that I loved.

A lot of the bands that you've seen had done interviews and submitted articles for define the meaning... How do you normally go about getting artists to do stuff for your mag .... Asking them or shows or having to go through Management?

Karen: Hmm thats a good question! As far as getting artists to write for us I usually kidnap them, tie them up and tell them if they dont write for us i'll never cover their band again!  Mwahaha. I'm evil right? When it comes to getting bands covered for the mag, we usually cover the bands that myself, Rajon or Justin is listening to at the time. A lot of the times we can either catch the artists and be like "hey we want you in are mag!" or we'll have to go through their publicist / label. It can be a pain in the ass process sometimes but its all worth it when you get what you want in the end.

So who should we expect to be in the next issue artist wise and can you tell us what was the highlight of the issue so far?

Karen: Oh the next issue is going to be great! We have Toby Morse of H20 and Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio on the cover. It will be an exlusive shot in which we had our photographer take at H20's  video shoot for "What Happened!" We actually got it so Toby Morse of H20 interviewed Matt Skiba and Matt Skiba interviewed Toby Morse. It was the first time in which we did something like that. It was really a test to see how far we could go.

 

For the exciting part it will be our first issue with a color cover! (cover has been posted on our myspace page). I would say having the artists that we have on this  issue's cover is the most exciting part. We've worked with H20 in the past but working with Skiba and H20 was a great experience. Other artists you can expect in the next issue is: Paul Booth, Doomriders, The Loved Ones, Hot Water Music, Ian McFarland, The Kidney's and so on.

Coming out this August!!!

I know you guys released a compilations cd... any plans on any other comps or certain bands,,,, in other words a record label? Or like what other mags did package a CD comp with each issue they release or 7inch?

Karen: Yeah we recently released "Music By People Like Us," with Awake/Strong. As of right now there are no other plans for releasing another compilation. We're waiting to see how this one does. If anything we may plan to do a punk version of "Music By People Like Us" but that is up in the air. DTM record label? I wish! That could be something that we could start down the line but not as of now. We have to much on our plate to start a projet like that. 7" inches would be cool. Record labels get in touch!

Majority of hardcore songs have intense lyrics that stand up for causes and beliefs.... what are some of your own personal beliefs that you believe strongly about or causes  you think people should be more aware of?

Rajon: I'm the type of person that likes to keep my political, social, and religious beliefs to myself and act upon them privately. With that said, my awareness to several issues and causes has definitely stemmed from the Hardcore scene. A strong scene presents an open forum of discussion between individuals that hardly know each other outside of shows. Many shows have tables or areas with material on specific causes and issues. I support these type of open forum environments. There's a lot of shit going on out there in this world, and every single person can play a part in making it better.

Do you think you got the whole magazine formula down or do you think there is a lot more to learn?

Karen: Their is a big picture when it comes to the magazine formula. Do we have it all down? No. I wouldn't even say the biggest magazine publishers have it down all the way. There is so much to learn and there is always something to learn about it. I have a long ways to go before I get the magazine formula down. However, I do think we do a great job of putting together a great magazine.

Are you still doing the radio show ... how has that been going along?

Karen:   Yes, we are still currently doing the radio show and its doing well. We recently aired an hour long interview with Walter Schreifels. If you missed it you missed out.

Creation and thought is always something that pushes projects along... What future projects do you guys have lined up?

Karen:   We have a few major projects that are up in air but cannot announce them yet as they have not been 100% confirmed. However once they are we will be sure to post the news on our website. I'm pretty excited about our future.

 

Having a zine you get a lot of stuff sent to you for reviews..... tell us the top lesser known bands that are worth knowing about...?

Karen:   A recent cd we received was from a band called Braindead. They are a pretty sweet hardcore band from Philadelphia. Check out their new album "No Consequences."

   Other bands that are worth while are: the Subways (rock n roll from UK),  and The Real McKenzies thats about it. At least thats what I can remember. We also get a handful of shitty cds. Can't say who and that's why I'm not aloud to do reviews anymore. I can be mean. HAHA.

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