Editing
I was the Toronto editor for punk and metal music genres for The Scene Magazine between the years 2012-2015. I increased readership of the genre from the least to the second most-read topic in the magazine. During my time at the magazine, I managed a team of 25 journalists and photographers, applied strategy and musical know-how to the selection of coverage, communicated with promoters and booking agencies to attain credentials, copy edited and proofread incoming articles, used design expertise to select images for the articles, published the finished materials on the magazine’s website. I also promoted the content on social media platforms. In addition, I successfully ran the magazine for two months, overseeing all national initiatives and coverage, in absence of Editor in Chief.
Writing
I personally wrote over 130 articles for the magazine, ranging from live concert reviews to album reviews, news and promotional pieces. I shot and edited photographs, conducted interviews with musicians and promoters to increase engagement.
Here is a fragment of my interview with Jeff Walker of death metal band Carcass:
“Walker explains that “you gotta package these days. You’re not just gonna risk going on tour in the States, cause there are so many bands out there, it’s quite a jaded audience that way down there. Same in Europe, the people are kinda spoilt in big towns […] cause there are bands coming through town all the time.” And it was logical to do a tour with The Black Dahlia Murder, who Carcass shared a stage with before, because both bands released new albums last year.
Walker also sounds very excited about seeing younger people attend their shows – “It’s surprising. I think we would just bring the old dogs out of the woods, you know, all the fans, but I’ve seen a lot of people who are probably your age” (Editor’s note: who knows what age group he meant?)”
Testimonial
“I’m proud of you! You did a fantastic job. Thank you.”
–Darrell Shelley, Editor in Chief, The Scene Magazine