About ZUM

zum started out as a small, photo-copied zine meant to serve as a forum for us (sibling team George and Yvonne) and our friends in 1990. We grew into an internationally recognized, well-respected indie music-based zine, and then label. We organized numerous shows in the SF Bay Area (including UC Berkeley noon shows and evenings at the Berkeley YWCA) and shared our love of music on college radio.
Zum #12 came out in 1999 and was the last print edition of the magazine. George is focusing on running the record label, but the site continues to maintain a show list and post occasional reviews. Here's a 2000 interview with Yvonne and George from Pennyblackmusic and a more current interview with George on Pitchfork and one with Sean Carnage.

REVIEWERS/CONTRIBUTORS

Abe Farnsworth wrote these reviews as nicely as he could. He's been in too many bands has over 200 copies of the Mur.der/Nervous System Split 7" if you want them, because he doesn't.
Alex Provan is our second official intern and the first from the mystical land of Providence. He lives in New York and jams as Decades.
Alan Salmassian has been a man about town for as long as we can remember. He works at Streetlight Records San Jose and is a braintrust on all things pop.
Charles Pettry hates it when you call him Chuck...or does he?
Dave Cranford has been a die-hard music fan for over 30 years and lives in Chicago. He works for Dusty Groove and still buys anything Paul Westerberg puts out.
Ethan Swan is in Silk Flowers and Car Clutch. He currently writes for the ANP blog and lives in Manhattan.
George Chen plays music in Chen Santa Maria and KIT. His day job is doing publicity and radio promotions for Alternative Tentacles
Jamie Stewart is the guy behind Xiu Xiu.
Jason Hull works at Lockheed and loves the Simpsons. He's also a movie buff and does a radio show on KSCU, Santa Clara.
Jason McGill is a Providence player, renowned equally for his propensities toward intrigue and sloth. He can generally be found silkscreening research papers in English and Library Science at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School. That is, when not blowing car horns with the high-imploding Barnacled Tres Bien Ensemble. Jason spends at least 45 minutes each day in meditation, and usually 15 minutes stretching, which all adds up to one Power Hour. Otherwise, spiritual, mental, intellectual, creative, and physical activities are kept to a sporadic minimum.
Jeff Walsh sells movie production software and is the man behind Turn Records.
Jeremy Crown is the other partner behind Otsu. He and his friend Greg also run the Scenester record label.
John Bacon likes bike riding and making up jokes.
Lance Hahn toured the world in his band J Church, ran the label Honey Bear, and researched Anarchist bands. He passed away October 21, 2007.
Matt Thompson is a self-appointed critic, audibly autonomous selector and talking-toy developer. He is responsible for the shenanigans at 333.
Michael Harkin is a freelance writer, an amateur Melville scholar, and a great listener.
Mike Kenny has a western heart. He has lots of mediocre ideas that never manifest themselves as a result, sort of.
Mr. Begha grew up in the south, moved to the bay area in his late teens, plays in a bunch of bands, and talks about food like most dudes talk about girls.
Nicholas Gitomer used to be in My Little Red Toe, and now DJs sometimes under the name DJ Freewheel, in addition to eating vegan bbq food, reading, and walking through the Magnolia Park district of Burbank (818!).
Robert MacManus is an artist from Melbourne, Australia who does occasional freelance writing for various publications and on line web zines including VICE, Inpress.
Scott Banachowski is now a UCSC grad student and still has pretty good taste in music.
Themba Lewis played bass in the Intima and Liar Bird, ran Mt. Pleasant Press, and is living in Oxford.
Trevor Johnson was zum's first official intern. He is now engaged and kickin' it large in Illinois.
Will Redman recently earned a masters in Music Composition at the University of Southampton. As a drummer and percussionist, he has played with International Soundscape Internationale, Krill, the John Dierker Trio, and other jazz, free-improv, and new music ensembles.
William Lynch is writing a novel about the second-largest building in the world, and sometimes he still misses the Cattle Club.
Yvonne Chen spends a good deal of her time working on her boutique and publishing company Little Otsu. She lives in Portland.

Last updated August 28, 2010. [ edit this page ]