CREEM returns

On the relaunched rock magazine's second issue.

20 Apr

Daisy Alioto interviews CREEM's VP of content Fred Pessaro.

It’s been almost a year since CREEM relaunched. For those in the know, the reboot of the gritty music mag–long considered the anti-Rolling Stone–represented a welcome return to music criticism that isn’t encapsulated by a starring system. The Detroit-native publication, first launched in 1969, was dormant for 33 years before JJ Kramer, son of the late co-founder Barry Kramer, revived it. Talents associated with the heyday of CREEM include journalist Jaan Uhelszki (a co-founder of the magazine), its marquee writer Lester Bangs, and the likes of Cameron Crowe, Patti Smith, and illustrator Robert Crumb. 

If you want to learn more about the history of the magazine, I strongly recommend the 2019 documentary CREEM: America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine, available to stream through The Coda Collection and Prime. I caught up with VP of content Fred Pessaro to find out how he is keeping the CREEM cream-y and the dream dreamy. — Daisy Alioto

Daisy Alioto: What are the barriers to maintaining a sex, drugs and rock and roll brand in 2023? Are the Zoomers rocking with CREEM? 

Fred Pessaro: I think the only true barriers are an awareness of the times and the way that we talk, and an awareness of history and where we fall in it. Besides that it's more of the same maniacs making music for the same reasons as they did back then. Except for all those gross "we make music for TikTok" types, but then again you probably won't see much of that in our pages.   

DA: What’s your favorite piece from the spring issue? 

FP: Well it's hard not to be partial to my own piece on the reunited BOTCH, but I'm also a huge fan of the Tom Waits piece, Martin Sorrendeguy, Zach Lipez everything and Sam McPheeters everything. It's hard to pick, but I think that's what makes our mag so great.  

DA: CREEM’s working class, midwestern (specifically Detroit) origins were a huge part of its appeal when it launched–what are you doing to preserve some of that regional specialness?

FP: Well first of all we have the honorable Joe Casey from Protomartyr dispatching from Detroit in every issue, but we also pay close attention to what's going on down there as well. I think that in a lot of ways the CREEM (and the midwest) mindset is that of dirty, hard-driving rock n roll, and that will always be our focus, through and through– not to mention the kind of stuff that stays in the collective staff's forever rotation.  

DA: Do you have a favorite letter to CREEM from the archives? Are you still seeking crazy correspondence with stars and readers? 

FP: I mean, does it get any better than the CLASSIC Joan Jett exchange from May 1977? It just oozes her personality.  

As far as looking for correspondence, absolutely. Why? You think people are scared? Yeah I do too.

DA: What do you think of CREEM's old rival Rolling Stone today?

FP: As honest as I can be, I never really read Rolling Stone? The great irony is I grew up with a subscription in the house, but that was always my dad's magazine. I definitely picked up issues here and there and read articles over the years– lots of great ones– but Rolling Stone always felt so buttoned up. I grew up a fan of SPIN magazine, read a lot of Maximum Rock n Roll, also loved everything from The Source to XXL but really was inspired by lots of punk zines, as well as Ego Trip, early Vice and Wax Poetics. 

I think Rolling Stone lives in a very specific place today, a lane that is specific to them and their audience– not for me. Personally, I like to learn about new artists, new scenes and with new and unique voices talking about ideas that I haven't heard before. Everything that I grew up loving did all of that, and that's what we look to achieve at CREEM.

DA: In 1976, CREEM reported that John Denver is god and Bruce Springsteen is not god, do you stand by that reporting?

FP: Ha. I don't. That said, show me a magazine with a legacy and I'll show you some reporting that I guarantee they wish would disappear. Look at the way that bands like Sabbath and Zeppelin and Ramones and many many others were treated by many of the critics. All that said, there is a LOT of reporting in CREEM that I do stand behind. The kind written by legends, that has been reprinted in books and dissected ad nauseam. The kind that is the foundation of what music journalism is and can be.    

The Dirt: America's only rock 'n' roll magazine.

JOIN THE DIRTYVERSE

  • Join our Discord and talk Dirt-y with us. It’s free to join! Paid subscribers have access to all channels.

  • Follow @dirtyverse on Twitter for the latest news and Spotify for monthly curated playlists.

  • Shop for some in-demand Dirt merch.