Hi, there. Nice to meet you.
I used to know someone who told me I take too many pictures. This person had just joined a newly formed band with an unsteady lineup that had practiced less than a handful of times and not played a single show. Yet, the band was hell bent on putting together a press kit, band bios, the whole works. They were engineered to be ready for discovery but lacked heart.
Paradigm started in 2004 out of a bedroom in Orange County. It was created from a Toshiba laptop and crappy digital camera supplemented with shots on 35mm film. The point was to interview local, unsigned bands that cared more about supporting a scene or simply playing in front of friends than manufacturing an image for a record label that might never materialize.
Every other month I drove to record stores dropping off the zines after they came back from the printer, my hands black from ink by the end of the day.
The zine went on hiatus years ago, reemerged in 2015 and then fell to its knees once again. Now, upon this writing in 2018, it's back for a third go.
The point is still the same as when it began: Cover Southern California punk bands (unsigned or on small labels), who aren't looking to strike it rich, get famous or even be noticed. No advertising. No attitudes. No egos. No press people. No brands whose bios include the words "authentic" or "genuine."
Paradigm is a diary looking to capture snapshots of individuals who are proud of what they're doing rather than waiting for someone to validate their existence. There are a lot of people and companies out there looking to rent this culture in the name of selling a few more pairs of shoes or to move more units of T-shirts so that their investors are happy, Wall Street analysts are off their asses during quarterly calls and their workforce can say they work for a "cool" company. They're rarely in it for the long haul, nor do they care.
Remember that. Question motivations. Question trends. Question everything. Value people over paid experiences.
Read. Think. Act.
kari@paradigmzine.com
