magazine
A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
established in 1983, based in
La Mesa, California
La Mesa () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, located east of downtown San Diego in Southern California. The population was 61,121 at the 2020 census, up from 57,065 at the 2010 census. Its civic motto is "the Jewel of ...
. The editor is Mike Stax (born 1962 in
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
). The magazine covers mainly 1960s
Beat
Beat, beats, or beating may refer to:
Common uses
* Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact
* Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact
* Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of inte ...
,
garage rock
Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock music that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The style is ...
, and
psychedelic music
Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as Dmt, DMT, Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, mescaline, ...
("Wild Sounds From Past Dimensions"). The name ''Ugly Things'' is a pun that refers to the band
The Pretty Things
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
.
History
Contributing writers include such names as
Mick Farren
Michael Anthony Farren (3 September 1943 – 27 July 2013) was an English rock musician, singer, journalist, and author associated with counterculture and the UK underground, who had a significant influence on the development of British proto ...
Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger (born 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.
Life and writing
Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily P ...
, Doug Sheppard, David Biasotti,
Bill Wasserzieher
Bill Wasserzieher is an American writer who focuses on music, film, and travel topics. He also writes fiction.
History
His earliest articles appeared during the late 1960s and early 1970s in the then Knight-Ridder-owned ''Independent'' and ''Press ...
, Michael Lynch,
Miriam Linna
Miriam Linna (born October 16, 1955) is a Canadian-American drummer who has run the Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York-based independent record label Norton Records since 1986, originally with her husband, the late producer and singer-songwriter Bill ...
, Phil X Milstein, Bill Shute, Gray Newell, Don Craine, Mark St John, Pete Innes, Lenny Helsing and Michael Lucas. San Diego City Beat reviewed ''Ugly Things'' in an article entitled "Mike Stax of Ugly Things: A local scenester's internationally known music magazine."
The Lama Workshop editor Patrick Lundborg has stated about ''UT'' and editor Mike Stax: "1980s (music) zines have retired into the great recycling container in the sky (it's down to UT,
Shindig!
''Shindig!'' is an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles,Head Press by David Kerekes sums up the publication: "When it comes to garage rock and everything associated with 'wild sounds from past dimensions', there is little to compare to the magnitude that is the mighty Ugly Things."
In "My Rock and Roll Magazine Rack", Mark Boudreau (of rockandrollreport.com) writes: "Absolutely encyclopedic in its knowledge of arcane rock and roll, Ugly Things is a rock and roll fan's delight.".
The Mod-Sixties Webring says of ''Ugly Things'', "For fans of '60s beat, punk, R&B, garage, psych and freakbeat Ugly Things magazine has been the place to go for over 15 years".
UT Records
In 2002, Mike Stax started his own
record label
"Big Three" music labels
A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...
and released an album by
The Misunderstood
The Misunderstood were an American psychedelic rock band originating from Riverside, California in the mid-1960s. The band moved to London early in their career, and although they recorded only a handful of songs before being forced to disband, ...
on UT Records that received international media coverage.
UT Publishing
Currently Stax is working as co-writer (with Rick Brown) on a feature film about The Misunderstood. A novel based on the script, and entitled ''Like, Misunderstood'', was published in October 2007.
Music
Mike Stax is also lead singer of his own band, The Loons.