What is this issue all about, then? Dave’s managed to get another baby on the cover, revealing an obsession for fatherhood that is slightly worrying, and then we’ve got a load of interviews with people who haven’t had the call for their fifteen minutes of fame yet and some who never will.

Call it a return to our roots if you want, fanzines don’t usually get interviews with top ten stars and don’t usually have interview lists to challenge the Weeklies and glossy monthlies. Why? Well, partly because it’s difficult to get those sort of interviews when you only have a little circulation but also because when you’re obsessive about music to the extent that you start to spend all of your life writing about the stuff, you have a tendency to seek out the little known and the eccentric. So, this is an issue where we have just written about bands that we really like, that we’re interested in or just think you might like to read about. Not much different from usual then. So over the next few pages you will find Kenicke and Embrace, who might well be very big; Solar Race, who could be; Imperial Teen, who have a member of Faith No More in their ranks; Soul Coughing, who should be bigger than Moses; Eleventh Dream Day and Yo La Tengo, who will probably never be very big but aren’t in it for that anyway; Railroad Jerk, who have a great name and Built To Spill, who are just straight out brilliant. That’s why we interviewed them. It’s fairly simple; we enjoy these people’s music.

Ben.