Name: Eric T. Miller
Position: Editor & Publisher of MAGNET Magazine
Recent Cover Stories: B.R.M.C., Interpol, Tom Petty, Wilco, Stephen Malkmus
More information: www.magnetmagazine.com
What Eric Says:
What is MAGNET Magazine?
I always like to describe it to my parents, for instance, as a magazine about a bunch of bands you've never heard of. We cover music that's sort of underground, sort of alternative, sort of whatever. But we try to do it in a way that's professional and journalistic, not like some fanzine.
How did MAGNET start?
It started in 1993. I was still in school, and a bunch of us were working on a local free magazine and decided we wanted to do a national magazine -- so we sort of planned it from January of '93 until the first issue came out in July. Personnel changed, and then I started owning it in '95 just because the first publisher wasn't interested in doing it anymore.
Would you consider MAGNET a niche magazine?
We try to have stuff in the magazine that even if you are completely into the kind of music, you'll still find stuff you might not have known about. We try to do that stuff so it's not always just whatever everyone else is covering, or whoever has a new record out this month. We're not trying to appeal to the kids who are into Limp Bizkit who hang out at Hot Topic at the Oxford Valley Mall.
What direction do you think music is headed?
I'm terrible at predicting what's gonna be popular and what's not gonna be popular. The thing that's good about MAGNET is we can look at those trends but we aren't having editorial meetings looking at how many records Dashboard sold in a week in Toledo.
Eric's Top 5 Desert Island Albums:
Guided By Voices -- Hardcore Ufos Box Set
Bob Dylan -- SACD Catalog Box Set
R.E.M. Dead Letter Office
Styx The Grand Illusion
The Wrens The Meadowlands
Eric's Current Favorites:
The Long Winters When I Pretend to Fall
Okkervil River Down the River of Golden Dreams
Clearlake Cedars
The Wrens The Meadowlands
Calexico Convict Pool
Kevin Lo
