SLUG Magazine

Last updated
SLUG Magazine
SLUG Magazine 325 15 Top 5 Albums.jpg
SLUG Magazine Issue #325 (Dec 2015)
EditorAngela Brown
Categories music, art, events, community
FrequencyMonthly
Circulation 20,000
PublisherEighteen Percent Gray
First issueDecember 1988
CountryUnited States
Based inSalt Lake City, Utah
Language English
Website www.slugmag.com

SLUG, an acronym for Salt Lake UnderGround, is a free monthly magazine based in Salt Lake City, Utah. SLUG Magazine features music, lifestyle, arts and events with interviews, reviews and articles. [1]

Contents

Established in 1989, SLUG Magazine has remained in print for over 34 years, making it one of Utah’s longest-running independent magazines. [2] They distribute over 20,000 copies across Utah each month. Angela H. Brown took ownership of SLUG Magazine in 2000, and is the current owner of the publication. Under her ownership, SLUG launched slugmag.com, which publishes online-exclusive content not found in the print issues.

The magazine’s current tagline is “Causing A Scene Since 1989,” [3] a reference to the magazine’s important role in documenting and promoting Salt Lake City’s local music scene since its inception.

History

SLUG Magazine was founded in 1989 by JR Ruppel in Salt Lake City, Utah. Created in the back room of Salt Lake City Weekly (then The Private Eye) with the help of John Saltas, the first issue of SLUG was only four pages long, had a print run of less than 100 issues, and was printed using a photocopier. [4] Early issues of SLUG were distributed in Salt Lake City and surrounding areas. In 1994, Ruppel sold the magazine to Gianni Ellefsen, who distributed SLUG nationally, as well as locally. [5]

On November 9, 1999, Rick Ziegler, then owner of Salt City Records, received a cease and desist letter from Anne M. Wall, Brand Protection Manager for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic Winter Games of 2002, regarding ads that ran in the magazine. [6] The magazine printed the letter in its December issue and adopted a phrase from it, “Neither Humorous Nor Appropriate,” as its slogan. In 2000, SLUG managing editor Angela H. Brown, an employee of SLUG since 1997, purchased the magazine from Ellefsen. [4] Brown, a freelance writer and photographer from Utah, took the magazine back to its local roots, while also continuing the magazine’s coverage of national music acts.

In 2014, SLUG received 9 awards from the Utah Headliners Chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. [2] SLUG is now printed in color on newsprint. Since 2000, SLUG’s circulation has increased from 15,000 to 20,000 copies distributed to local businesses throughout Utah. In July 2011, SLUG launched its weekly podcast SLUG Soundwaves, an interview-format program that serves as an audio extension of the magazine’s coverage. SLUG’s monthly Localized showcase highlights the local alternative music culture of Salt Lake City.

"Brent Courtney works a photo enlarger--which casts light through a film negative and onto photo paper--into a phone booth, celebrating old techniques. The presence of photo-paper trays underscores the many photo-making options we have in a contemporary setting amid digital photography.". Artist: Brent Courtney June 2019 Issue Slug Magazine.jpg
“Brent Courtney works a photo enlarger—which casts light through a film negative and onto photo paper—into a phone booth, celebrating old techniques. The presence of photo-paper trays underscores the many photo-making options we have in a contemporary setting amid digital photography.”. Artist: Brent Courtney

Coverage

SLUG Magazine 317 Bike Issue SLUG Magazine 317 Bike Issue.jpg
SLUG Magazine 317 Bike Issue

SLUG Magazine’s core focus is the Salt Lake community. However, SLUG is also known for its interview-based features with well-known personalities of underground music culture, like Henry Rollins, Michael Gira of Swans, and Dale Crover of Melvins—as well as local Utah bands such as The Stench, SubRosa, Cult Leader, and many others. SLUG has also maintained their monthly “Localized” feature, which spotlights two local Utah bands/acts and provides pre-coverage for a correlating show for the bands written about in the feature. It began in the May 2001 issue and has been a consistent feature ever since.

In the way of album/EP reviews, SLUG has provided review coverage of non-Utah acts since the second issue in January of 1989, and local album reviews since the June 1989 issue, which are a cornerstone of the publication today. Since the first issue, SLUG has published show reviews of concerts, which currently run mainly on SLUGMag.com, though there are some print exceptions.

Beyond music, SLUG Magazine covers underground lifestyle, action sports and events throughout the region. Their coverage includes features about local Utah businesses and institutions, as well as people who are active in producing or promoting these subjects both locally and worldwide.

"For our second Local Literary Issue, David Habben (Habbenink) captures the physical, gestural and conceptual in-betweens of this figure's act of reading--an imprint of how we assemble words in our psyches.". Artist: David Habben (Habbenink) December 2018 Issue Slug Magazine.jpg
“For our second Local Literary Issue, David Habben (Habbenink) captures the physical, gestural and conceptual in-betweens of this figure’s act of reading—an imprint of how we assemble words in our psyches.”. Artist: David Habben (Habbenink)

SLUG has long provided coverage for local professional and amateur skateboarding in Utah, and their coverage of snowboarding and skiing began in 2001. Photo features of skateboarding and snowboarding/skiing appear in the print magazine. SLUG Magazine also organizes two action sports event series: SLUG Games and Summer of Death. SLUG has hosted a number of columns that have changed from year to year. A prominent column was the letter to the editor–style “Dear Dickheads,” which ran from 1989 to 2014. In addition to music, SLUG reviews movies/film, DVDs/TV series, products, books, comic books, zines, beer and video games.

SLUG projects

The staff members of SLUG are avidly involved in the local underground scene of Salt Lake City. They can be found hosting local music showcases, producing skate and snowboard events and creating floats for the Utah Pride Parade.

SLUG also produces a local music compilation series, Death By Salt. In December 2007, SLUG released Death By Salt III, the first local compilation of its kind to be released on vinyl. In addition, SLUG hosts Localized, its own monthly showcase of local and upcoming artists. Over the years, SLUG organized two mainstay local music events each year: Sabbathon and its anniversary party. [4] Sabbathon, a benefit concert featuring local bands, was held sporadically from 1989 to 2001 before being replaced by Localized. The SLUG Magazine anniversary party takes place every February. [8] In July 2011, SLUG launched their own weekly podcast on iTunes titled Soundwaves From The Underground. An interview/variety program which features audio interviews and music both local and national, serving as an audio expansion of the magazine's coverage.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salt Lake City</span> State capital and largest city of Utah, United States

Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which had a population of 1,257,936 at the 2020 census. Salt Lake City is further situated within a larger metropolis known as the Salt Lake City–Ogden–Provo Combined Statistical Area, a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along a 120-mile (190 km) segment of the Wasatch Front, comprising a population of 2,746,164, making it the 22nd largest in the nation. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, it is the 117th most populous city in the United States. It is also the central core of the larger of only two major urban areas located within the Great Basin.

Music of Utah has long been influenced culturally by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The local music scene thrives. The musical history of Utah, and much of its current distinctiveness, is owed to artists from a variety of beliefs.

Maximumrocknroll, often written as Maximum Rocknroll and usually abbreviated as MRR, is a not-for-profit monthly online zine of punk subculture and radio show of punk music. Based in San Francisco, MRR focuses on punk rock and hardcore music, and primarily features artist interviews and music reviews. Op/ed columns and news roundups are regular features as well, including submissions from international contributors. By 1990, it "had become the de facto bible of the scene". MRR is considered to be one of the most important zines in punk, not only because of its wide-ranging coverage, but because it has been a consistent and influential presence in the ever-changing punk community for over three decades. From 1992 to 2011, it published a guide called Book Your Own Fuckin' Life.

Exclaim! is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes seven issues per year, distributing over 103,000 copies to over 2,600 locations across Canada. The magazine has an average of 361,200 monthly readers and their website, exclaim.ca, has an average of 675,000 unique visitors a month.

<i>Salt Lake City Weekly</i> Newspaper in Utah, United States

Salt Lake City Weekly is a free alternative weekly tabloid-paged newspaper published in Salt Lake City, Utah. It began as Private Eye. City Weekly is published and dated for every Thursday by Copperfield Publishing Inc. of which John Saltas is majority owner and president.

The Salt Lake City, Utah, area includes many diverse media outlets, not only found within the official city boundaries, but also in the greater Wasatch Front urban area.

<i>Deseret News</i> Newspaper published by the LDS Church

The Deseret News is a multi-platform newspaper based in Salt Lake City, published by Deseret News Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Founded in 1850, it was the first newspaper to be published in Utah. The publication's name is from the geographic area of Deseret identified by Utah's pioneer settlers, and much of the publication's reporting is rooted in that region.

The Universe is the official student newspaper for Brigham Young University (BYU) and was started in 1956.

Tragic Black is an American deathrock band formed in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2000 by musicians known as Vision and Vyle. It has incorporated elements of darkwave music into each of its albums. Lyrically, Tragic Black's themes for the songs deal with religion, political issues and spirituality.

<i>Hating Life</i> 1996 studio album by Grave

Hating Life is the fourth album by Swedish death metal band Grave. It was released on May 7, 1996 through Century Media Records. The band continues to experiment with their sound by incorporating a groove metal style on this album.

<i>Jockey Slut</i> Defunct British music magazine

Jockey Slut was a British music magazine which ran between 1993 and 2004, focusing mainly on dance music and club culture. It started as a self-published bi-monthly fanzine in 1993, and became a monthly by 1999, following a buy-out by Swinstead Publishing. By 2004, it was published quarterly, with more content on its website, a change which only lasted three and a half months before closure in late May that year.

Death By Salt is SLUG Magazine's signature local music compilation series. Its name refers to the vulnerability of slugs to salt. Beginning in 2004, there are currently 6 volumes in the series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cat Palmer</span> American photographer

Cat Palmer is an American queer photographer and artist best known for images of women. She began shooting at age 15, on the streets of Los Angeles, and often shooting underground musicians. She is known for the images she took of iconic cult punks, Spoon and Squid from the Decline of Western Civilization series. At age 21 (2001), she moved to Utah. She currently has a monthly column with City Weekly, "Small Lake City".

Stefania Noelle Barr is an American actress, singer, songwriter, composer, and lead vocalist of indie-alternative rock band Shrink the Giant. She is perhaps best known for her role as Maysilee Donner in the fan film, The Hunger Games: Second Quarter Quell.

Juana Ghani is a band based in Salt Lake City, Utah, that performs a mix of Eastern and Central European and Romani influenced original music and Old World traditional folk songs combined with modern melodic punk. Juana Ghani's Gypsy punk music, generally played in a minor key, is more melodic, harmonious and traditional than the usual "punk" genre, but the lyrics reflect punk, often dark and at times macabre.

Callow is a Dream Doom duo based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its members are Gared Moses and Sami Knowles. They are known for their dark and doom-y music, and evocative live shows.

Milk Money (band)

Milk Money is an American 4-piece hardrock/post-hardcore band from Salt Lake City, Utah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swim Herschel Swim</span> American ska band

Swim Herschel Swim was a ska band formed in Provo, Utah and active 1989 to 1993. The band's initial members were Rod Middleton, Jon Armstrong (keyboardist), Rich Hillquist (drums), Russell Cluff (bass), and Rick Anderson (guitar). Jeff Hubbard replaced Cluff on bass shortly after the band's formation, and Sam Reisner (saxophone) joined in 1991. Middleton and Armstrong continued in the band when the remaining members changed around 1992 to Pat Campbell (drums), Matt Corry (trombone), Kent Carter (bass), Andy Warr (saxophone), and Lou Eastman (guitar). Their manager Dave Merkley was also involved in many aspects of the band's development. Swim Herschel Swim opened for national bands Skankin' Pickle, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and No Doubt in 1992. While their charismatic performances and enthusiastic audiences made it difficult to find repeat venues, the band is praised for jump-starting the local music scene in Utah, specifically in ska music.

The Mellons is an American Psychedelic rock/Baroque pop band formed in 2020 and based at Salt Lake City, Utah. The band consists of Ian Francis, Denney Fuller, Andrew Beck and Rob Jepson. The band are signed to Earth Libraries. The Mellons first album Introducing…The Mellons was released on October 21, 2022.

The Bountiful Davis Art Center is an art center created in 1974. It is based in the city of Bountiful, Utah.

References

  1. ↑ "Craft Lake City | Be Dazzled". cityhomeCOLLECTIVE. July 24, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "NEWS:SLUG Magazine receives 9 awards from the 2014 Utah Headliners Chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJS) « Utah Cultural Alliance". Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-08-24.
  3. ↑ adnews Q3 2012
  4. 1 2 3 Rosemary Winters (2005-06-26). “Slugging it out SLUG Magazine speaks up for Utah’s underground.” The Salt Lake Tribune
  5. ↑ "RED Archives". www.saltshakermagazine.com.
  6. ↑ http://www.slugmag.com/pdf/132-December-1999.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  7. 1 2 "Past Issues". SLUG Magazine. 29 April 2015. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
  8. ↑ Dan Nailen (1999-08-27). "Sabbathon 1999 Lets Local Bands Rock for a Good Cause". The Salt Lake Tribune .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.