"Sure there are other music zines out there" says Editor-in-Chief Mandee Stock, "but what we offer is wholesome family goodness and the warm, fuzzy feeling in that void in yoru soul."

Some people wonder, with good reason of course, about the "wholesome family goodness" that Scratch! offers the net, but there' no end to the music source that it is.  Concert listings, venue links, and of course the interviews and CD reviews. What would a zine be without those?

 

You have to wonder how some thing called Scratch!, with a mascot that came from stories featuring penguin hookers came to life.

 

"Well, I'm kind of like satan in a way." Mandee says laughing. "Once upon a time, in a deserted wasteland called Bulverde/Spring Branch Texas, I worked for a "magazine" of whose name we shall not speak. Well, god in a sense, waged war with me and fired me. However, this story book ends with the Devil winning. Okay, enough blasphemy for one day, I'm going to bed."

"I really don't think we offer god and satan wars" staff writer Jess says "But we do offer some things that most zines don't offer. Most zines are only local or national mainstream. They're never local and national underground. We do both. And we're proud of that. Also, we cover all genres of music, which is more than most zines out there can say."

 

A zine springing in controversy, it was started back in August of 2004 after Mandee was fired not by god, but by another magazine out of Spring Branch (which is now out of print). Attempting to prove to herself, and the world, that she could be a successful writer, Mandee signed on to Tripod and build what is now Scratch!. On a hope and a wing and a prayer to every god, supernatural being, and entity in the universe, she slowly started to post more interviews with local bands. In October through February of the next year, Scratch! was featured in numerous Tripod newsletters, with word spreading to more people and more places.

 

In November Jess joined the site as the poetry editor and a staff writer. In Decmber, Ret joined as a staff writer and under-study editor. The word spread faster and quicker as more people learned of the small niche in the internet wall.

 

But with more word, comes more controversy. After all the hard work they had geared towards the site, Tripod sent them a letter threatening shut down due to "inapropriate site content". Well, not being one to give up a fight, Mandee and the staff put up the fight of a lifetime, gaining more attention with MySpace petitons, emails and even a few phone calls to Tripod's main office in Boston.

 

Needless to say, they fought the good fight and won.

 

"One for the underdog!" was the victory cry on the site's headline for the next week. But even if that "vendetta" was ment to silence them, it only gained them more attention.

 

"We've been issue free with Tripod since about July of 2005, so we're doing pretty good. I guess they figured we can really gather them in droves. That should piss the Christians off, after all, they were the ones who waged jihad on us." Said Mandee on the whole incident.

 

With more and more bands siging up to do interviews, more and more CD flooding their mailbox and more and more shows to see, Scratch! is showing no signs of stopping or even slowing down in the near future. Look out for the sin-wagon, it's coming to an IP address near you!

 

~DJ Jacker

[Fuck me, I'm hardcore News Media]