The sheer longievity of this truly classic fanzine should prove its status among the Top 10 of absolutely essential olde'n'undrground US Metal media. Chris Forbes kept his brainchild Metal-Core alive and well into the 90's, 00's and beyond, albeit in different formats through the years and it is with great pleasure that we present an essential interview of a zine editor legend, once again from the hands of Our Man In Hungary, László Dávid!
Chris, how did you discover music and hard rock/heavy metal music in particular? What did you find so exciting with this music?
I have a 4 year older brother (i'm 59) and he would let me listen to his Kiss alive album and also I would listen to the Bay City Rollers and also the band Sweet when I was 10 years old. I moved then from finding rock n roll records in our local mall of such bands as Aerosmith, Grand Funk Railroad, Foghat, Cheap Trick, Journey. AC/DC, Reo Speedwagon, Boston, Rush, Triumph, etc. The list is endless. This is due to me having a subscription to a weekly rock magazine called "Circus" where I would read about all these bands, even hear them on the radio and then absolutely going out and buying their albums. AC/DC is my favorite band of all time, even today.
At which point and how did you turn to the underground world? How did you discover fast, brutal music?
A local music store (since closed), which had a chain across the US called Listening Booth started stocking a weekly magazine from England called "Kerrang", which featured a lot of NWOBHM bands such as Raven, Diamond Head, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, to name but a few, plus other bands such as Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Motorhead, and Venom to name a few more. Listening Booth stocked stuff from these bands and of course I went and purchased the band's music. I fell in love with this music right away as it was different and faster than the rock bands I had heard. Now just to let you know I never stopped listening to my rock bands even today, but this new metal music was like a drug to me that was a must have. I wanted more, more, more.
"...A weekly magazine from England called "Kerrang", which featured a lot of NWOBHM bands such as Raven, Diamond Head, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden ../.. this new metal music was like a drug to me that was a must have. I wanted more, more, more... Now I would say about a year later, I found out about this other record store up in North Jersey (NJ) called Vintage Vinyl and while tons of record stores have closed over the years they stayed open until about 2 years ago when the owners decided to retire. This store was insane. They stocked rock n roll, metal, punk and hardcore as well as lots of imports. They stocked a magazine from England called "Metal Forces", which had more underground stuff than "Kerrang" and reviewed more indie label stuff, which again drove me more nuts. I was like a kid in a candy store on my monthly trips up there. Buying tapes and that mag and reading it from cover to cover and discovering Metallica, Slayer, Possessed, Death, Hirax, Nasty Savage, Megadeath, and everything on such labels as Combat, Metal Blade, Earache, and Megaforce to name but a few in the US drove me crazy. What did/does underground, respectively to be underground mean to you?Well there is still a underground scene today. It is obviously not as close knit like it was back in the 80's where you had fewer labels, tape trading, printed fanzines, letter writing, printing flyers up etc. Now it is emails, social media and downloads. I notice for the smaller bands, it is tough to get people out to shows. Hell, you have You Tube for that. Everyone holds phones at shows too. Too many bands and too many labels these days unfortunately in my eyes and opinion. For bands too, it is hard to get people to buy your music as well. I have seen bands release stuff and 2 days later, their full album is up on You Tube! What the hell is that. Unfortunately it is what it is though. Did you also get involved in the tapetrading scene? How did it happen? I didn't do much tape trading back in the day I'm afraid to say. I know plenty of people who did back then and it was a way for bands to get their name out there back then. It pretty much was that, fanzines, and college radio to get your name out there.t which point did the fanzines enter in your life? Do you still remember which fanzines you got in your hands for the first time?
I first saw a fanzine at a local thrash show in Phila, Pa and there was a guy selling one, called Total Thrash. I didn't even have to look through it, I just brought it on the spot and read it the next morning. The editor's name was Scott Helig. How did you like them? Was this a brand new world for you?
OMG it was a brand new world to me! Demo bands! Unsigned band interviews! I would read all of his reviews and would order certain ones that sounded good and interesting. I also read his interviews, which were quite good and interesting as well. He seemed to know the bands quite well with his questions and this is from a fanzine that came out in the mid 80's and sadly nobody seems to know where Scott is these days. Now he lived in Phila, PA at this time and rumor has he moved to South America. I have looked for him on Facebook with no luck and a Google search only brings up his zine. I'd love to just said "hi" to him and thank him for all he did for me, which I'll get to shortly.
Being based in New York, what were your views on the scene of the city? Would you say, that it was divided into two parts? There were the thrash/speed outfits and the famous hardcore ones?
I have never lived in NY, I lived in South Jersey (which is across the river from Phila, PA. Now I went to NY over the years, I went to many shows that to me was the best club, which is sadly closed, that would be Lamours in Brooklyn, NY. Slayer in 85 (Hell Awaits tour) which is still the best show ever live for me. Other bands I saw up there over the years were: Celtic Frost, Nuclear Assault, Blessed Death, Hallows Eve, Possessed (this was 86, Slayer came out and did a 15 min set as they were in town recording RIB). At War, Anthrax, Anvil Bitch, Overkill, Carnivore, and so many more. 1st band would go on at 11pm, and the headliner at 1:30am and I got home at 6am, with it being a 2 hour ride home at least ha ha. I loved every show there.
I never got to go to any hardcore shows in NY except, out in Long Island, where a band I was co-managing with Mike Minnick called Deadly Blessing (who were signed to a label called New Renaissance Records) and had a album out called "Ascend From The Caldron" and we played with The Crumbsuckers 2 times out there. Surprisingly they got over well because they had high pitched vocals and The Crumbsuckers didn't and damn they were awesome live too. Wish I did have a chance to go to CBGB'S, which was where all the Sunday matinee hardcore shows. I did go to many hardcore shows though. I'll touch on that below. The Crumbsuckers were a hardcore band which made it even more weird that we went over well. By the way, do you think, that the forerunners of the N. Y. metal scene were bands, such as The New York Dolls, Twisted Sister, Kiss, Manowar etc.?
Yes. without a doubt. Twister Sister played a million times at all the clubs in NY in 80/81 before breaking out with their hit on MTV called "Were Not Gonna Take It" on album # 3. Hell, their 1st album came out overseas on Secret Records in 1982. MTV had such an influence back then and Twisted with that video took the ball and ran with it. I don't know much about the NY Dolls, but so many hair bands and other bands would mention them in their interviews it wasn't funny. If they came out in say 1983 or 1984, the sky would have been the limit for them.
Kiss OMG what to say about them. Beyond huge band and influence on so many bands it isn't funny, and early thrash bands as well. Back in the day, there was a $10,000 reward if someone could get a photo of them without their make-up on and nobody could do it. Their albums in the 70's and 80's along with that amazing stage show were 2nd to none and it couldn't be topped. Then disco came along and they released a disco song. Fans hated it including me. They finally gave in and appeared on MTV for the 1st time without make-up on. Never regained the early magic as Ace and Peter doing too much drugs and drinking. Still stayed popular with other band members, but not like the 70's. Recently retired. Never followed Manowar at all and barely heard any music from them. They can't tour or sell out clubs here, but are super huge in Europe and other places overseas. What about the New Jersey scene? Did it belong close to NY or was it an independent one? Now my home state ha ha. Now back when thrash started out there was only like 2 clubs in South Jersey. One was The Galaxy Club and all they booked was that hair metal crap. Bonnie's was booked by Mike Minnick and they had shows on Sunday's and he mixed it up. He also managed Deadly Blessing who played there a lot. Some of the bands he booked were: Anvil Bitch, Faith or Fear, Autopsy, Overkill, Machine Dog, Damnability, Fates Warning, and lots more that my dumbass doesn't remember off the top of my head. Now North Jersey had a ton of clubs in the 80's and 90's, but only one is alive and cooking and that is Dingbatz. Other clubs were Escapades, Obessions, City Gardens, The Stony Pony, Club Bene, Birch Hill, Studio One, and I am sure there were others. Metal was so alive back then with underground bands playing clubs out the ass. Lots of NJ bands too. Both thrash and hair metal too playing these clubs as well.
"Henry Rollins from Black Flag comes out with a pentagram written on his hand chanting "satan", omg it was hilarious..."
Now one that I really miss and I saw some wild shows there was City Gardens in Trenton, NJ. Randy Ellis would book punk and some metal shows there and the club also did other shows, but you would catch me up there on Sundays quite often. Some shows I saw were Black Flag (several times), Sick of it All, Murphy's Law, Leeway, Agnostic Front, DRI, Rollins Band, and for metal how about this line-up: Venom/Black Flag/Overkill. Henry Rollins from Black Flag comes out with a pentagram written on his hand chanting "satan", omg it was hilarious. Voivod, Kreator, Violence, Dark Angel, Possessed, Faith No More, Slayer (85/86), Megadeth, Overkill, Heathen's Rage, SOD, and others I'm sure. Now I used to go in the mosh posts and even stage dive at hardcore and metal shows. At Slayer I dove off the stage and the crowd moved and I splatted on the ground and couldn't walk for 3 days ha ha. That club held about 1000 people and Lamour's around 2500. Seeing Slayer play there 2 times was priceless. (Hell Awaits/RIB) tours.
Another great club in South Jersey was booked by a girl named Ann Bowman. This place was and when I say undergroud I mean underground. The place was right across from Phila, PA and she was bring down bands like Immolation and Incantation, Autopsy all before they were signed. Other bands like Paineater, Nuclear Death, Morbid Angel, Crucifier, Carcass, Repulsion, Goreaphobia, Brutal Truth, Bolt Thrower, Sacrifice, Suffocation, Ripping Corpse, Revenant, Hellwitch, Napalm Death, Candlemass, Obituary, Sepultura, Sadus, Annihilator, Type O Negative, Goreaphobia, Violence, Vital Remains, Baphomet, Disharmonic Orchestra, Sadistic Intent, Exit 13, Death, Razor, Pestilence, Deadly Blessing, Malevolent Creation, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Anacrusis, Demolition Hammer, and many others too. A great club.
Do you perhaps recall Kick Ass Monthly? Was it one of the first fanzines and became influential later on?
I discovered Kick Ass Monthly (my favorite fanzine) at Jon Zazula's (rip), where would metal be without him, record store. I was over in Phila, PA hanging with the guys in Anvil Bitch and they said hey "Overkill is playing Lamours tonight let's go see them. So we head up and we stop over at Jon's store called "Rock N Roll Heaven". I had never been in there and OMG this store was way more underground than I have ever been in and I picked up a copy of Kick Ass Monthly. The next day I read through it and was blown away. His reviews so in depth and mind blowing spot on, as well as the interviews. I managed to grab every further issue he put out. Shame Bob passed away. Another zine that needs to come out as a book. Overkill were great too ha ha. Yes, his mag down the line helped me start mine.
When did Metal Core start exactly?
Here is the whole story. I read where Scott Helig was looking for people to help with his zine as far as reviews and stuff. I started sending him stuff and after a couple of issues I was sending Scott so much stuff, he suggested I start my own fanzine. I took that up as a bit of a challenge so I did. I came up with the name due to seeing an ad in the East Coast Rocker mag of the 7 date tour SOD was doing with Overkill on the East Coast (one of the shows was at City Gardens in Trenton, NJ), I went to and the tour was called the "Metal Core" tour. So that's how I got the name of the zine. The 1st issue came out in late 1986. I started putting it together and it came out around December of 1986. It was a half size zine, with no photos, no logo (metal core was just hand written by me on the cover really big) along with the bands I interviewed. The bands interviewed were all local NJ ones, short demo and record reviews of stuff I brought. a couple concert reviews, and some zine address. I printed up 150 of them and sold them for a buck.
Did you, I mean the fanzines, help and support each other or was it rather a competition among you? Did you also trade with each other?
I think we very much supported each other, trading ads, magazines etc. Not so much competition, as we were all quite different. Blackthorn was strickly metal, but I was also into punk and what later became known as crossover. But I was good friends with the other fanzine people, especially Tom Hallbäck from At Dawn They Read in Sweden - he was later in God B.C.
How about the staff? How did you get to know each other?
I did everything. I had no staff and I was fine with it that way.
Did you have contributors/helping hands as well?
No, and nobody really asked over the years. For years. it was a cut and paste thing until later on when I started writing stuff via a computer. Now cut and paste is putting something on a blank 8x10 piece of paper and putting glue to it and then getting something else like a band picture (if it was part of an interview let's say) and that would get put on the paper or an ad whether 1/4 page or 1/2 page and now this isn't like Elmer's glue this was a glue stick. So now I started writing on my dad's (rip) old typewriter he let me use and then it graduated to a word processor, which at the time I thought was the greatest thing ha ha, to finally a computer, which I still use today. Interviews for years were either done through the mail or done on a little hand held tape recorder and those were a pain in the ass because you had to rewind the tape back and forth to make sure you had everything he said right. Now you email the questions off and they come back and you just kind of put it together. In some cases, I send interviews out in sets, like 6 or 7 questions to make it easier on the subject, depending on who it is.
"My dad was a sportswriter, first for a newspaper out of Phila PA, and then for a national newspaper called USA Today that was based all across the US here..."
What was your motivation, goal with the fanzine? What did inspire you founding a fanzine at all?
Well my dad was a sportswriter, first for a newspaper out of Phila PA, and then for a national newspaper called USA Today that was based all across the US here. I kind of was inspired by him in a way and then also Scott Helig pushing me to start my own as well. That was the motivation part. The goal was just to help bands out through interviews and reviews. I was always honest in my reviews and still am to this day. That is one thing I can say I never kissed ass to get into free shows or to get promos from this label or that label.
Did you, I mean the fanzines, help and support each other or was it rather a competition among you? Did you also trade with each other?
I never considered another fanzine competition. We all helped each other back in the day. I would always print up little ads by the 1000's and have other bands and other fanzines put them in with their snail mail (letters) they were doing at the time. I had a desk down in my cellar of my house that had my envelopes, 8 x 10 envelopes, Etc. I also had all the little ads that would get sent out whether it was mine, other bands/zines, etc. I had a stack of paper for my letter writing and pens and some markers as well. I also had my cassette player down there to play for reviews or just listening to music. It later on became a CD/cassette player, then just a CD player. A trash can for trash, it filled up quickly and a pile nearby where my mail was at.
How did you get in touch with bands that were interviewed/featured in each issues?
Issue 1 was just local bands and they were easy to interview. The reviews were just stuff I personally brought and show reviews were ones I attended. It was a very small issue to say the least ha ha..Were they a kind of in-depth ones?
No, looking back they were very basic questions and just a handful of questions.
How did you choose the bands that you wanted to interview/to feature? Did it depend on your personal musical taste or…?
Every interview I have ever done, even up to now in 2025, has been done of my choosing. Of course, publicity people would try to get you to interview their bands on their label, now it's pr firms, but I only interview bands I like and want to simple as that.
Was it easy to get in touch with the outfits?
Oh yes. Here is a bunch of them: Dream Death from Pittsburgh, PA. They sent me their demo way back in 1987 to be reviewed. I loved it upon hearing it. I wrote them back saying I was interested in doing an interview, next thing you know questions were sent, answers sent back, published in issue # 2. In issue # 3, I met Overkill and Dark Angel at 2 separate concerts and did those by tape recorder. Same with Kreator for issue # 4. Issue # 7 The Crumbsuckers were easy because we were playing with them. Issue # 10 I had Metallica on the phone for a 10 minute only interview. So many others Exodus, Violence, MOD, Destruction and many others. After a few issues and starting to get promos from labels, it was easy. You call so and so and if say Exodus is coming to town, they would put me on the guest list and I would interview the band before the show. Demo bands, those were done through the mail. So back then it was either phone interview or in person at show interview.
Did you always use your own material or did you perhaps borrow articles from other fanzines, too?
No never. Everything in all my 31 issues is 100% mine. Even after the print zine stopped I always used my own stuff and still do in 2025.
I would ask you to give us every details about the issues of Metal Core! I mean, how were they done, what about the content of each issues, how in depth were the interviews, how were the reviews, how many issues were released, how much time did pass between each issues etc.. I'm interested in everything what come to your mind!
It would take a whole book my man. So after issue one, I decided to go 8x10 and put some bigger bands in issue 2. I had a cover drawing as well. I knew I needed some kind of cover. A hardcore person shaking hands with a thrash dude as the crossover scene was big. Still love that cover by the way. I had interviews with Dark Angel, Possessed, and Hallows Eve, who I all saw live, so those were tape recorder interviews. 5 others were Savage Thrust, Dream Death, At War, Savage Death (who I helped get their stuff put on CD a few years back) and Desecration. There was also demo reviews, record reviews and live show reviews.
"31 issues were released total which is up there as far as fanzines go.."
So the early issues were done in my cellar at my old house in Marlton, NJ and then In my apartment when I moved. They were copy and paste and you would have to copy the writing and photos (there was just a few) onto the paper and make it look decent. The interviews were basic and not very in depth as that would come later. 31 issues were released total which is up there as far as fanzines go. Consider that I am still doing interviews and reviews even today (more on that later) it must be a record of sorts for being an underground writer. My reviews have always been short, but honest. For me to like something, the music needs to catch my ear. The riffing, then the vocals last. Bad vocals can really ruin it for me. I'm not a fan of clean, opera like vocals in metal. I'm not a fan of doom metal, ala Candlemass, but I respect the band. I love heavy metal, Thrash metal, power metal, death metal, some doom, hardcore, punk, rock n roll, and some black metal.
So I released issue # 1 in December of 1986 and the last issue came out sometime in 2000. The internet was becoming so popular that I stopped, plus I had my website up (it is still up www.metalcorezine.com) and I was running a distribution service for underground metal, full time job, managing bands, etc. I just decided to end the print zine and go on the internet only. There really wasn't many print zines left around this time as well.
I released at least 2 issues a year. There wasn't a set number of pages reserved for each issue. When I did was, say it was 5 months or so since the last one, I would set a deadline up for reviews for say issue # 15 and then after that like a week later issue # 15 would come out. So 2 issues a year was about right. You can see all 31 issues covers here:
https://www.slickpic.com/users/ChrisForbes189/albums/MetalCoreFanzineCovers/?wallpaper Did the fanzine satisfy the demands of the underground fans? I think people liked my interviews and reviews. I never heard any complaints ha ha. Some demo bands who sent me stuff for review may not have liked it when I gave them a bad review ha ha. How were they sold and distributed/promoted? Were all of the issues sold out? I had a few local stores in the area that took some copies and I also had Vintage Vinyl up in North Jersey that took a bunch. Now with every live show I would attend I would run out to my car and bring a bunch of copies towards the exit and sell a bunch as people were walking out. Of course through the mail as well. With each issue being put out, sales went up and it began easier to sell them. Yes, every issue sold out. Did you receive letters from other continents too? I would say starting around issue 3 the ads that were being spread must have trickled out overseas and yes mail from Mexico, Canada, and overseas came in. Remember now, when you would trade with other zines, I would put up a page "other zines to buy" (that's what I did) and I would list the name of the zine, editor name, cost, and address. Once my name and address would be in other zines it just opened the floodgates. Back in the 80's and early 90's any unsigned bands were looking to get any kind of press they could and would send out demos to other fanzines. I do miss the days of hanging out with other fellow zine editors at shows. Were you also in touch with record labels? Did you get promo packages? How often?
Since this question was next I can touch on it here, not above. I didn't have to get in touch with them as they got in touch with me. Cassette tapes from labels as well as demo bands started appearing at 13 Carriage Lane, plus all the letters I was getting other fanzines etc. I got packages every day. Each issue more and more mail. Soon it got to be too much and I got the now semi famous PO BOX 622 Marlton, NJ as the mailman was ringing my doorbell everyday to hand me a stack of mail I have been to my old PO BOX once. I took a ride to it and it took me back to some fantastic memories just seeing it.
Soon I was getting packages from all over the US, Canada and overseas. Letters, fanzines, you name it. Now eventually tapes turned to CD's and I would usually get a yellow slip saying to much mail to fit in my box because remember I was also doing my distro service and doing trades with other labels and stuff. Great memories and times. I loved it all always wondering what was coming today? On which format did you get the releases? At first it was tapes, then when they started to fade away it was CD's and soon all CD's as tapes pretty much faded away. Now all of it is through email and it is mostly publicity companies that labels hire to send me stuff. One guy I know he works with several labels sending me stuff. Some stuff sent through does come directly through a label publicity person. When a label hires a outside pr person, what he does is send their releases through email for a person to either stream or download for review. In the email is the band's bio, photos, and links to include in the review and in some cases a link to a track from the release to include in the review. Now if it turns out to be some music I really like/love and I want to interview the band, I either contact them directly on Facebook or in my most cases reach out to the publicity person saying I am interested in interviewing the band. Then I usually will send them some questions for the band to answer, the publicity person sends them back with some photos and I have my interview.
Did it happen that the materials, that you've got from bands or labels, weren't featured in the issues because of lack of space or did you always have enough material for every issue?
Back in the old days, ha ha, no, if you spent money, on either a label or a band, and you sent me something to review, it was getting reviewed. As I said before, say it had been five months or so since issue # 6 came out. I would set a deadline when I was going to review stuff and that was it. So I would go through any and all cds or tapes up to a certain date and that was it. Interviews would already be done as well as any ads, the zine address page, etc. Reviews would be done last. If anything came in through the mail after say 6/1/1995, then that stuff would get reviewed in issue # 7. Now today with the amount of promos I get through the mail Nowadays, unfortunately, I just can't review everything I get. Right now I have over 500 emails sitting in my mailbox. Some is spam mind you, some are press releases, but a good amount is reviews. I just have to pick out some that look interesting, though I do open up most. Just not enough free time these days with work, going to the gym, caring for my family and spending time with them too. I'm sure you get it.What about the production cost of each issues? Were the costs you were investing in them covered?
Well for the first 24 issues they were done on just standard 8x10 white paper. Issues 25 through 31 I moved over to newsprint. Now the first couple issues, I probably lost a little money as there was little or no ads in them. I would say from issue 5 onward, since I had been around a bit I was starting to get ads from record companies to help with the cost of printing the zine. I was printing them at a local store near me called Staples (still in business/huge chain of stores) that sold all kind of tools, but had a printing section. I would go there and the issues would be done in a day or so.
Eventually I had a friend that ended up working at Kinko's named Eddie, who worked the overnight shift and he would print up more copies there than he would charge me, so I started going there. I ended up doing all my little "Metal Core" ads at the big copier at work and when I say ads, there would be like 10 or 12 ads on a page and I would print pages by the 100's every couple of days. Then I would have to go home and get the scissors out after work and cut and cut and put my ads at the top of my desk with all the other ads for other zines and bands I had. When I was sending out a letter I would stuff the letter with other zine address ads, other bands, and a few of mine. My zine was $ 3 through the mail in the US and $ 4 overseas back then. "New Renaissance Records was a horrible run record label as the owner Ann Boleyn, was only interested in her band Hellion, who sucked and as you can see as they never went anywhere..." During the 80's a lot of compilations were released by several labels, such as the famous "Metal Massacre", "Speed Metal Hell", "Thrash Metal Attack", "Beyond Metal Zone", "Stars On Thrash" to name a few. Did it help a lot for the bands to make a name for themselves? Were these samplers good things to introduce newer bands for the fans? I remember the "Speed Metal Hell" comps on NRR and as bad as that label was/is, they had some pretty good bands on it such as At War, Whiplash, Savage Grace, Vol 2 they had locals for me, Anvil Bitch, Deathrash, and Flotsam and Jetsam. Vol 3 has some nice bands like Necrophagia, Bloodfeast, Dream Death, Prong, Papsmear, and Wehrmacht. New Renaissance Records was a horrible run record label as the owner Ann Boleyn, was only interested in her band Hellion, who sucked and as you can see as they never went anywhere. They had some good, solid bands on her label that she never pushed them therefore, the label tanked. The 3 comps above did ok, but she ended up signing some of the bands anyway, but never pushed them sad to say. I have never heard of the other 3, but the Metal Massacre series played a HUGE role in the underground for sure. What do you recall of the fanzine world of the 80's as a whole? Blackthorn, Metallic Beast, Deathfuck, Violent Noize, Shock Power, Metal Mania, Headbanger, Aardschok to name a few…
Blackthorn I thought was great as I managed to get a couple copies getting them up at Vintage Vinyl. Metallic Beast can't comment on as well as Deathfuck because I have never seen a copy of either. Violent Noize, now I have never seen a copy but I have heard about this legendary zine over the years. This was put out before the metal core days and Borivoj Krgin was the editor. I know he did some writing also for Metal Forces and a huge newstand mag Metal Maniacs and now is the head of the site blabbermouth.net
Metal Mania, I assume your talking about the fanzine done by Ron Quintana and not the newstand magazine, which came out years later after he stopped. That mag, for being on the newstand was a mix of hair metal crap and the bigger thrash bands. Ron's mag I traded with and wrote to Ron for a time and am friends with him on Facebook. I did a interview with him on my website. (www.metalcorezine.com) Some book company should bundle up all his issues and put them out in a book. Was it a kind of impenetrable scene? I mean, there were a very big amount of fanzines, as every day or week popped up a new one… Well the deal with that is, yes fanzines popped up quite a bit in the 80's and 90's, but most released a couple issues and then quit as doing a zine is a label of love. Your not making money doing one that's for sure and back then it took up a lot of your time. Whether it's typing out a interview, or oh lord, doing one via a tape recorder and going back and forth so I know what Mille or Gene Hoglan was saying to me literally took hours. Then the letter writing, going to the post office, spending money mailing out packages, etc. I am not complaining mind you, it's just something not for everyone. Now there are no trips to the post office, no letter writing (replaced by emails), no live interviews. I just do my interviews and send them to the editor of the webzine and same with my reviews. Do I miss the old days? Yes 110% I do, but it is what it is. Back then it was a labor of love for sure. Because of the big amount of fanzines, was it hard to pick up fanzines for the fans/collectors? Well. things were a bit different for me as I didn't pay for fanzines. I traded with everyone. I can safely say there was not one fanzine editor over the years that did not trade with other zines. If it was a zine I was not familiar with, I would write aletter offering to trade and he would, we traded, and now I had a new pen pal.
What is/was the importance of the fanzines in your opinion?
Super important. In the very early days, you had 3 ways to go if you were an unsigned band. Tape trading, college radio, and fanzines. As time went by and more fanzines sprung up they became more and more important. Hell a band could get signed just off a few reviews in different fanzines. Tape trading, which was so big early on had faded a bit and to me fanzines became easily the most important thing of the 3 things I mentioned if you were a unsigned band. When you are a unsigned band and your putting together a press kit to send to say Metal Blade, Combat, or Roadracer back then, I think seeing a bunch of great reviews in various fanzines that were around at the time would better serve the band more than showing off how many lists the band was on. Not that, that didn't help. But for me, fanzines would be # 1 important of the 3, because they were also helping you sell copies of your demo as well.
During the existence of Metal Core did the staff remain constant or were there guys that got out of the fanzine and others joined instead of them?
Yes. because it was always me. I never let the mag overun my life neither.
"After issue # 24 I made the decision to go to newsprint and print 10,000 copies and make the fanzine free!"
What about the prime cost of the certains issues?
Ok I touched on this earlier with going to Staples and then moving on over to Kinko's where my friend Eddie worked. 
After issue # 24 I made the decision to go to newsprint and print 10,000 copies and make the fanzine free! You must be like Chris that is quite a big step to take? Yes it was and many other fanzines were doing It at the time so I decided to join in. There was a local printing company not far from where I lived that did printing like that, 10,000 copies on newsprint for a reasonable price. Now with me already having released 24 issues and going to 10,000 copies, it was no problems getting ads, and getting labels to give me full page or half page ads and paying me in advance as they knew I was good for it. I had a good working relationship with labels. So I bring over issue # 25 to them and a week later I am filling my car up with stacks of 100 copies wrapped up to 10,000. I take out 9,000 copies out of my car and head right up to Vintage Vinyl with a 1000 copies in my trunk. I get up there and let the store owner know what is going on and my zine is now free and he lets me put them right as you're exiting the store along with all the other goodies of flyers and stuff. A month later they are all gone and I bring him up another 1000. So 2000 gone there every issue. At every live show, if I knew the band well enough, they would let me put some at there merch table and I would always have a bunch in my car and hand them out as people exited the show. I also had some stores in Phila, PA that would take like 100 at a time. With them being free believe it or not getting rid of 10,000 was no problem. It got easier after Issue 25 too. Lots of stores and shows back then to get rid of them. No shot of that today. Not even a 1000 copies today. No stores to put them at and not as many shows. Vintage Vinyl owner's retired 2 years ago.
Were all of you satisfied with every Metal Core issues?
I would say yes to all of them, even issue # 1 which was half size and no logo or pictures. My feeling is you have to start somewhere. Later on down the line I started branching out and interview people at record labels, other fanzine editors and of course still bands as well. I was then reviewing tons of stuff as well. My reviews were short, but I was always honest in my reviews. Why and when did you stop doing Metal Core?
I mentioned it above. The internet was becoming huge and I just decided to stop the print version and go to the internet only. I was also managing bands, working full time and my webmaster was in the band I was managing it just made sense. I was sad to see it go trust me.
Did you go on writing for other fanzines/magazines?
No other print zines. I did interviews and reviews right on my own website as well as managing bands. Besides the zine, I helped manage Deadly Blessing back in the 80's and they released "Ascend From The Caldron" on New Renaissance Records, Immolation, who I got signed to Metal Blade Records, Symphony of Grief who I got on Wild Rags Records, and Necrodemon as well. I also sang in a SOD like kinda fun band in the 80's with 3 members of Deadly Blessing in 1989 called The Log. We did a demo, which sold 3000 copies. We did a few live shows too. I was a maniac on stage live, running and jumping all around ha ha.
So around 2018, I started writing for Pest Website and for the past 2 years or so I write exclusively for the website below. I am given 100% freedom to interview whoever I want and they publish it no questions asked and I send over my reviews and they go up as well: https://www.extreminal.comAre you still proud of Metal Core these days, by the way? Yes, I am 100%. I love all the interviews I did over the years and shows and bands I saw and spoke to at the live shows. From going to Lamours in Brooklyn, NY in the 80's and 90's as well as City Gardens in Trenton, NJ to Bonnie's in Atco, NJ to all the other clubs as well. The trips to my PO Box, to the post office to mail stuff, etc. Seeing 10,000 copies of my zine and thinking how am I getting rid of them all and it ending up being no problem at all. Lots were like "it's free, I'll take one". Or they would see it is a new issue of Metal Core and grab one. I would not trade it in for a minute. Who are/were your best friends from the scene? Are you still in touch with them? Sadly my best friend. Scott Kerr is no longer with us, I won't go into details, but I saw so many shows with him. John Verica is someone I have known through the years and I see him at shows from time to time. I talk to him on Facebook as well. I have a friend Yader, I have been going to some shows with him and he is probably 20 years younger than me ha ha. Do you often read webzines? What do you think about them? I do at times, but I just don't have much free time these days, with working, going to the gym and raising my 2 teenage daughters, nevermind doing reviews and interviews for the current webzine I write for. "Now it's about Facebook "likes" and trying to drive people to your "bandcamp" site. If you weren't around back in 1985/86 or even 1993, it is difficult to explain. I wouldn't trade those memories for a minute..." Do you often go to concerts, festivals these days? Do you still keep an eye on what's going on in the underground? How do you view the scene these days?I do to a point through the stuff I get to review and also seeing stuff on Facebook, various metal groups and bandcamp stuff and tours that are going around. The scene is nowhere near as good as in the old days. Back then the scene was more Close knit and you would see the same people at every show, I was friendly with tons of bands and record labels and fanzine editors. Now you don't have that closeness. Sending a email is not the same as a letter. When you used to open up mail I would check out the ads and write to those bands as well. I would read fanzines from front to back. Now it's about Facebook "likes" and trying to drive people to your "bandcamp" site. If you weren't around back in 1985/86 or even 1993, it is difficult to explain. I wouldn't trade those memories for a minute. In your opinion, did the mp3 files/downloads cause a lot of troubles, problems, harm for the metal scene? It's a catch 22 as they say. It hurts because nobody wants to buy physical product music anymore. Smaller labels, which I get promos from, have a hard time selling copies of their stuff when someone has uploaded the release to You Tube let's say. Now on the flip side they can go any put up a song of the band's release on their "bandcamp" page hoping someone will buy the release. The labels have to be careful and not print up too many copies because if they do, they will be stuck with them. The band AC/DC had their new album up on You Tube a day after it's release. I'm sure it did not sell a ton of copies and they are a huge band. The way bands at least make money is touring and merchandise. Chris, thanks a lot for your answers, what are your closing words for our readers? First off thanks for all your great questions and bringing back lots of great memories of decades ago and then some. Letter writing, glue pasting, fanzine trading, going to all those shows back then, the pen pals, the demo bands, etc.
I still write today believe it or not. Don't as why ha ha. I do interviews/reviews for. My stuff goes up all the time at https://www.extreminal.com
I have free reign to interview whoever I want so I mix it up from bands of today, to bands of yesterday, ex fanzine editors and even label owners. The interviews are all interesting I can tell you that. I am on Facebook if you want to find me there too:
https://www.facebook.com/metalcorefanzine
My email is: metalczine [at] aol (dot) com
And here on Facebook as well: https://www.facebook.com/chrisbforbes
I have a 4 year older brother (i'm 59) and he would let me listen to his Kiss alive album and also I would listen to the Bay City Rollers and also the band Sweet when I was 10 years old. I moved then from finding rock n roll records in our local mall of such bands as Aerosmith, Grand Funk Railroad, Foghat, Cheap Trick, Journey. AC/DC, Reo Speedwagon, Boston, Rush, Triumph, etc. The list is endless. This is due to me having a subscription to a weekly rock magazine called "Circus" where I would read about all these bands, even hear them on the radio and then absolutely going out and buying their albums. AC/DC is my favorite band of all time, even today.
At which point and how did you turn to the underground world? How did you discover fast, brutal music?
A local music store (since closed), which had a chain across the US called Listening Booth started stocking a weekly magazine from England called "Kerrang", which featured a lot of NWOBHM bands such as Raven, Diamond Head, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, to name but a few, plus other bands such as Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Motorhead, and Venom to name a few more. Listening Booth stocked stuff from these bands and of course I went and purchased the band's music. I fell in love with this music right away as it was different and faster than the rock bands I had heard. Now just to let you know I never stopped listening to my rock bands even today, but this new metal music was like a drug to me that was a must have. I wanted more, more, more. "...A weekly magazine from England called "Kerrang", which featured a lot of NWOBHM bands such as Raven, Diamond Head, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden ../.. this new metal music was like a drug to me that was a must have. I wanted more, more, more... Now I would say about a year later, I found out about this other record store up in North Jersey (NJ) called Vintage Vinyl and while tons of record stores have closed over the years they stayed open until about 2 years ago when the owners decided to retire. This store was insane. They stocked rock n roll, metal, punk and hardcore as well as lots of imports. They stocked a magazine from England called "Metal Forces", which had more underground stuff than "Kerrang" and reviewed more indie label stuff, which again drove me more nuts. I was like a kid in a candy store on my monthly trips up there. Buying tapes and that mag and reading it from cover to cover and discovering Metallica, Slayer, Possessed, Death, Hirax, Nasty Savage, Megadeath, and everything on such labels as Combat, Metal Blade, Earache, and Megaforce to name but a few in the US drove me crazy. What did/does underground, respectively to be underground mean to you?Well there is still a underground scene today. It is obviously not as close knit like it was back in the 80's where you had fewer labels, tape trading, printed fanzines, letter writing, printing flyers up etc. Now it is emails, social media and downloads. I notice for the smaller bands, it is tough to get people out to shows. Hell, you have You Tube for that. Everyone holds phones at shows too. Too many bands and too many labels these days unfortunately in my eyes and opinion. For bands too, it is hard to get people to buy your music as well. I have seen bands release stuff and 2 days later, their full album is up on You Tube! What the hell is that. Unfortunately it is what it is though. Did you also get involved in the tapetrading scene? How did it happen? I didn't do much tape trading back in the day I'm afraid to say. I know plenty of people who did back then and it was a way for bands to get their name out there back then. It pretty much was that, fanzines, and college radio to get your name out there.t which point did the fanzines enter in your life? Do you still remember which fanzines you got in your hands for the first time?
I first saw a fanzine at a local thrash show in Phila, Pa and there was a guy selling one, called Total Thrash. I didn't even have to look through it, I just brought it on the spot and read it the next morning. The editor's name was Scott Helig. How did you like them? Was this a brand new world for you?
OMG it was a brand new world to me! Demo bands! Unsigned band interviews! I would read all of his reviews and would order certain ones that sounded good and interesting. I also read his interviews, which were quite good and interesting as well. He seemed to know the bands quite well with his questions and this is from a fanzine that came out in the mid 80's and sadly nobody seems to know where Scott is these days. Now he lived in Phila, PA at this time and rumor has he moved to South America. I have looked for him on Facebook with no luck and a Google search only brings up his zine. I'd love to just said "hi" to him and thank him for all he did for me, which I'll get to shortly.
Being based in New York, what were your views on the scene of the city? Would you say, that it was divided into two parts? There were the thrash/speed outfits and the famous hardcore ones?
I have never lived in NY, I lived in South Jersey (which is across the river from Phila, PA. Now I went to NY over the years, I went to many shows that to me was the best club, which is sadly closed, that would be Lamours in Brooklyn, NY. Slayer in 85 (Hell Awaits tour) which is still the best show ever live for me. Other bands I saw up there over the years were: Celtic Frost, Nuclear Assault, Blessed Death, Hallows Eve, Possessed (this was 86, Slayer came out and did a 15 min set as they were in town recording RIB). At War, Anthrax, Anvil Bitch, Overkill, Carnivore, and so many more. 1st band would go on at 11pm, and the headliner at 1:30am and I got home at 6am, with it being a 2 hour ride home at least ha ha. I loved every show there. I never got to go to any hardcore shows in NY except, out in Long Island, where a band I was co-managing with Mike Minnick called Deadly Blessing (who were signed to a label called New Renaissance Records) and had a album out called "Ascend From The Caldron" and we played with The Crumbsuckers 2 times out there. Surprisingly they got over well because they had high pitched vocals and The Crumbsuckers didn't and damn they were awesome live too. Wish I did have a chance to go to CBGB'S, which was where all the Sunday matinee hardcore shows. I did go to many hardcore shows though. I'll touch on that below. The Crumbsuckers were a hardcore band which made it even more weird that we went over well. By the way, do you think, that the forerunners of the N. Y. metal scene were bands, such as The New York Dolls, Twisted Sister, Kiss, Manowar etc.?
Yes. without a doubt. Twister Sister played a million times at all the clubs in NY in 80/81 before breaking out with their hit on MTV called "Were Not Gonna Take It" on album # 3. Hell, their 1st album came out overseas on Secret Records in 1982. MTV had such an influence back then and Twisted with that video took the ball and ran with it. I don't know much about the NY Dolls, but so many hair bands and other bands would mention them in their interviews it wasn't funny. If they came out in say 1983 or 1984, the sky would have been the limit for them. Kiss OMG what to say about them. Beyond huge band and influence on so many bands it isn't funny, and early thrash bands as well. Back in the day, there was a $10,000 reward if someone could get a photo of them without their make-up on and nobody could do it. Their albums in the 70's and 80's along with that amazing stage show were 2nd to none and it couldn't be topped. Then disco came along and they released a disco song. Fans hated it including me. They finally gave in and appeared on MTV for the 1st time without make-up on. Never regained the early magic as Ace and Peter doing too much drugs and drinking. Still stayed popular with other band members, but not like the 70's. Recently retired. Never followed Manowar at all and barely heard any music from them. They can't tour or sell out clubs here, but are super huge in Europe and other places overseas. What about the New Jersey scene? Did it belong close to NY or was it an independent one? Now my home state ha ha. Now back when thrash started out there was only like 2 clubs in South Jersey. One was The Galaxy Club and all they booked was that hair metal crap. Bonnie's was booked by Mike Minnick and they had shows on Sunday's and he mixed it up. He also managed Deadly Blessing who played there a lot. Some of the bands he booked were: Anvil Bitch, Faith or Fear, Autopsy, Overkill, Machine Dog, Damnability, Fates Warning, and lots more that my dumbass doesn't remember off the top of my head. Now North Jersey had a ton of clubs in the 80's and 90's, but only one is alive and cooking and that is Dingbatz. Other clubs were Escapades, Obessions, City Gardens, The Stony Pony, Club Bene, Birch Hill, Studio One, and I am sure there were others. Metal was so alive back then with underground bands playing clubs out the ass. Lots of NJ bands too. Both thrash and hair metal too playing these clubs as well.
"Henry Rollins from Black Flag comes out with a pentagram written on his hand chanting "satan", omg it was hilarious..."
Now one that I really miss and I saw some wild shows there was City Gardens in Trenton, NJ. Randy Ellis would book punk and some metal shows there and the club also did other shows, but you would catch me up there on Sundays quite often. Some shows I saw were Black Flag (several times), Sick of it All, Murphy's Law, Leeway, Agnostic Front, DRI, Rollins Band, and for metal how about this line-up: Venom/Black Flag/Overkill. Henry Rollins from Black Flag comes out with a pentagram written on his hand chanting "satan", omg it was hilarious. Voivod, Kreator, Violence, Dark Angel, Possessed, Faith No More, Slayer (85/86), Megadeth, Overkill, Heathen's Rage, SOD, and others I'm sure. Now I used to go in the mosh posts and even stage dive at hardcore and metal shows. At Slayer I dove off the stage and the crowd moved and I splatted on the ground and couldn't walk for 3 days ha ha. That club held about 1000 people and Lamour's around 2500. Seeing Slayer play there 2 times was priceless. (Hell Awaits/RIB) tours.
Another great club in South Jersey was booked by a girl named Ann Bowman. This place was and when I say undergroud I mean underground. The place was right across from Phila, PA and she was bring down bands like Immolation and Incantation, Autopsy all before they were signed. Other bands like Paineater, Nuclear Death, Morbid Angel, Crucifier, Carcass, Repulsion, Goreaphobia, Brutal Truth, Bolt Thrower, Sacrifice, Suffocation, Ripping Corpse, Revenant, Hellwitch, Napalm Death, Candlemass, Obituary, Sepultura, Sadus, Annihilator, Type O Negative, Goreaphobia, Violence, Vital Remains, Baphomet, Disharmonic Orchestra, Sadistic Intent, Exit 13, Death, Razor, Pestilence, Deadly Blessing, Malevolent Creation, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Anacrusis, Demolition Hammer, and many others too. A great club.
Do you perhaps recall Kick Ass Monthly? Was it one of the first fanzines and became influential later on?
I discovered Kick Ass Monthly (my favorite fanzine) at Jon Zazula's (rip), where would metal be without him, record store. I was over in Phila, PA hanging with the guys in Anvil Bitch and they said hey "Overkill is playing Lamours tonight let's go see them. So we head up and we stop over at Jon's store called "Rock N Roll Heaven". I had never been in there and OMG this store was way more underground than I have ever been in and I picked up a copy of Kick Ass Monthly. The next day I read through it and was blown away. His reviews so in depth and mind blowing spot on, as well as the interviews. I managed to grab every further issue he put out. Shame Bob passed away. Another zine that needs to come out as a book. Overkill were great too ha ha. Yes, his mag down the line helped me start mine.
When did Metal Core start exactly?
Here is the whole story. I read where Scott Helig was looking for people to help with his zine as far as reviews and stuff. I started sending him stuff and after a couple of issues I was sending Scott so much stuff, he suggested I start my own fanzine. I took that up as a bit of a challenge so I did. I came up with the name due to seeing an ad in the East Coast Rocker mag of the 7 date tour SOD was doing with Overkill on the East Coast (one of the shows was at City Gardens in Trenton, NJ), I went to and the tour was called the "Metal Core" tour. So that's how I got the name of the zine. The 1st issue came out in late 1986. I started putting it together and it came out around December of 1986. It was a half size zine, with no photos, no logo (metal core was just hand written by me on the cover really big) along with the bands I interviewed. The bands interviewed were all local NJ ones, short demo and record reviews of stuff I brought. a couple concert reviews, and some zine address. I printed up 150 of them and sold them for a buck.
Did you, I mean the fanzines, help and support each other or was it rather a competition among you? Did you also trade with each other?
I think we very much supported each other, trading ads, magazines etc. Not so much competition, as we were all quite different. Blackthorn was strickly metal, but I was also into punk and what later became known as crossover. But I was good friends with the other fanzine people, especially Tom Hallbäck from At Dawn They Read in Sweden - he was later in God B.C.
How about the staff? How did you get to know each other?
I did everything. I had no staff and I was fine with it that way.
Did you have contributors/helping hands as well?
No, and nobody really asked over the years. For years. it was a cut and paste thing until later on when I started writing stuff via a computer. Now cut and paste is putting something on a blank 8x10 piece of paper and putting glue to it and then getting something else like a band picture (if it was part of an interview let's say) and that would get put on the paper or an ad whether 1/4 page or 1/2 page and now this isn't like Elmer's glue this was a glue stick. So now I started writing on my dad's (rip) old typewriter he let me use and then it graduated to a word processor, which at the time I thought was the greatest thing ha ha, to finally a computer, which I still use today. Interviews for years were either done through the mail or done on a little hand held tape recorder and those were a pain in the ass because you had to rewind the tape back and forth to make sure you had everything he said right. Now you email the questions off and they come back and you just kind of put it together. In some cases, I send interviews out in sets, like 6 or 7 questions to make it easier on the subject, depending on who it is.
"My dad was a sportswriter, first for a newspaper out of Phila PA, and then for a national newspaper called USA Today that was based all across the US here..."
What was your motivation, goal with the fanzine? What did inspire you founding a fanzine at all?
Well my dad was a sportswriter, first for a newspaper out of Phila PA, and then for a national newspaper called USA Today that was based all across the US here. I kind of was inspired by him in a way and then also Scott Helig pushing me to start my own as well. That was the motivation part. The goal was just to help bands out through interviews and reviews. I was always honest in my reviews and still am to this day. That is one thing I can say I never kissed ass to get into free shows or to get promos from this label or that label.
Did you, I mean the fanzines, help and support each other or was it rather a competition among you? Did you also trade with each other?
I never considered another fanzine competition. We all helped each other back in the day. I would always print up little ads by the 1000's and have other bands and other fanzines put them in with their snail mail (letters) they were doing at the time. I had a desk down in my cellar of my house that had my envelopes, 8 x 10 envelopes, Etc. I also had all the little ads that would get sent out whether it was mine, other bands/zines, etc. I had a stack of paper for my letter writing and pens and some markers as well. I also had my cassette player down there to play for reviews or just listening to music. It later on became a CD/cassette player, then just a CD player. A trash can for trash, it filled up quickly and a pile nearby where my mail was at.
How did you get in touch with bands that were interviewed/featured in each issues?
Issue 1 was just local bands and they were easy to interview. The reviews were just stuff I personally brought and show reviews were ones I attended. It was a very small issue to say the least ha ha..Were they a kind of in-depth ones?
No, looking back they were very basic questions and just a handful of questions.
How did you choose the bands that you wanted to interview/to feature? Did it depend on your personal musical taste or…?
Every interview I have ever done, even up to now in 2025, has been done of my choosing. Of course, publicity people would try to get you to interview their bands on their label, now it's pr firms, but I only interview bands I like and want to simple as that.
Was it easy to get in touch with the outfits?
Oh yes. Here is a bunch of them: Dream Death from Pittsburgh, PA. They sent me their demo way back in 1987 to be reviewed. I loved it upon hearing it. I wrote them back saying I was interested in doing an interview, next thing you know questions were sent, answers sent back, published in issue # 2. In issue # 3, I met Overkill and Dark Angel at 2 separate concerts and did those by tape recorder. Same with Kreator for issue # 4. Issue # 7 The Crumbsuckers were easy because we were playing with them. Issue # 10 I had Metallica on the phone for a 10 minute only interview. So many others Exodus, Violence, MOD, Destruction and many others. After a few issues and starting to get promos from labels, it was easy. You call so and so and if say Exodus is coming to town, they would put me on the guest list and I would interview the band before the show. Demo bands, those were done through the mail. So back then it was either phone interview or in person at show interview.
Did you always use your own material or did you perhaps borrow articles from other fanzines, too?
No never. Everything in all my 31 issues is 100% mine. Even after the print zine stopped I always used my own stuff and still do in 2025.
I would ask you to give us every details about the issues of Metal Core! I mean, how were they done, what about the content of each issues, how in depth were the interviews, how were the reviews, how many issues were released, how much time did pass between each issues etc.. I'm interested in everything what come to your mind!
It would take a whole book my man. So after issue one, I decided to go 8x10 and put some bigger bands in issue 2. I had a cover drawing as well. I knew I needed some kind of cover. A hardcore person shaking hands with a thrash dude as the crossover scene was big. Still love that cover by the way. I had interviews with Dark Angel, Possessed, and Hallows Eve, who I all saw live, so those were tape recorder interviews. 5 others were Savage Thrust, Dream Death, At War, Savage Death (who I helped get their stuff put on CD a few years back) and Desecration. There was also demo reviews, record reviews and live show reviews. "31 issues were released total which is up there as far as fanzines go.."
So the early issues were done in my cellar at my old house in Marlton, NJ and then In my apartment when I moved. They were copy and paste and you would have to copy the writing and photos (there was just a few) onto the paper and make it look decent. The interviews were basic and not very in depth as that would come later. 31 issues were released total which is up there as far as fanzines go. Consider that I am still doing interviews and reviews even today (more on that later) it must be a record of sorts for being an underground writer. My reviews have always been short, but honest. For me to like something, the music needs to catch my ear. The riffing, then the vocals last. Bad vocals can really ruin it for me. I'm not a fan of clean, opera like vocals in metal. I'm not a fan of doom metal, ala Candlemass, but I respect the band. I love heavy metal, Thrash metal, power metal, death metal, some doom, hardcore, punk, rock n roll, and some black metal. So I released issue # 1 in December of 1986 and the last issue came out sometime in 2000. The internet was becoming so popular that I stopped, plus I had my website up (it is still up www.metalcorezine.com) and I was running a distribution service for underground metal, full time job, managing bands, etc. I just decided to end the print zine and go on the internet only. There really wasn't many print zines left around this time as well.
I released at least 2 issues a year. There wasn't a set number of pages reserved for each issue. When I did was, say it was 5 months or so since the last one, I would set a deadline up for reviews for say issue # 15 and then after that like a week later issue # 15 would come out. So 2 issues a year was about right. You can see all 31 issues covers here:
https://www.slickpic.com/users/ChrisForbes189/albums/MetalCoreFanzineCovers/?wallpaper Did the fanzine satisfy the demands of the underground fans? I think people liked my interviews and reviews. I never heard any complaints ha ha. Some demo bands who sent me stuff for review may not have liked it when I gave them a bad review ha ha. How were they sold and distributed/promoted? Were all of the issues sold out? I had a few local stores in the area that took some copies and I also had Vintage Vinyl up in North Jersey that took a bunch. Now with every live show I would attend I would run out to my car and bring a bunch of copies towards the exit and sell a bunch as people were walking out. Of course through the mail as well. With each issue being put out, sales went up and it began easier to sell them. Yes, every issue sold out. Did you receive letters from other continents too? I would say starting around issue 3 the ads that were being spread must have trickled out overseas and yes mail from Mexico, Canada, and overseas came in. Remember now, when you would trade with other zines, I would put up a page "other zines to buy" (that's what I did) and I would list the name of the zine, editor name, cost, and address. Once my name and address would be in other zines it just opened the floodgates. Back in the 80's and early 90's any unsigned bands were looking to get any kind of press they could and would send out demos to other fanzines. I do miss the days of hanging out with other fellow zine editors at shows. Were you also in touch with record labels? Did you get promo packages? How often?
Since this question was next I can touch on it here, not above. I didn't have to get in touch with them as they got in touch with me. Cassette tapes from labels as well as demo bands started appearing at 13 Carriage Lane, plus all the letters I was getting other fanzines etc. I got packages every day. Each issue more and more mail. Soon it got to be too much and I got the now semi famous PO BOX 622 Marlton, NJ as the mailman was ringing my doorbell everyday to hand me a stack of mail I have been to my old PO BOX once. I took a ride to it and it took me back to some fantastic memories just seeing it. Soon I was getting packages from all over the US, Canada and overseas. Letters, fanzines, you name it. Now eventually tapes turned to CD's and I would usually get a yellow slip saying to much mail to fit in my box because remember I was also doing my distro service and doing trades with other labels and stuff. Great memories and times. I loved it all always wondering what was coming today? On which format did you get the releases? At first it was tapes, then when they started to fade away it was CD's and soon all CD's as tapes pretty much faded away. Now all of it is through email and it is mostly publicity companies that labels hire to send me stuff. One guy I know he works with several labels sending me stuff. Some stuff sent through does come directly through a label publicity person. When a label hires a outside pr person, what he does is send their releases through email for a person to either stream or download for review. In the email is the band's bio, photos, and links to include in the review and in some cases a link to a track from the release to include in the review. Now if it turns out to be some music I really like/love and I want to interview the band, I either contact them directly on Facebook or in my most cases reach out to the publicity person saying I am interested in interviewing the band. Then I usually will send them some questions for the band to answer, the publicity person sends them back with some photos and I have my interview.
Did it happen that the materials, that you've got from bands or labels, weren't featured in the issues because of lack of space or did you always have enough material for every issue?
Back in the old days, ha ha, no, if you spent money, on either a label or a band, and you sent me something to review, it was getting reviewed. As I said before, say it had been five months or so since issue # 6 came out. I would set a deadline when I was going to review stuff and that was it. So I would go through any and all cds or tapes up to a certain date and that was it. Interviews would already be done as well as any ads, the zine address page, etc. Reviews would be done last. If anything came in through the mail after say 6/1/1995, then that stuff would get reviewed in issue # 7. Now today with the amount of promos I get through the mail Nowadays, unfortunately, I just can't review everything I get. Right now I have over 500 emails sitting in my mailbox. Some is spam mind you, some are press releases, but a good amount is reviews. I just have to pick out some that look interesting, though I do open up most. Just not enough free time these days with work, going to the gym, caring for my family and spending time with them too. I'm sure you get it.What about the production cost of each issues? Were the costs you were investing in them covered?
Well for the first 24 issues they were done on just standard 8x10 white paper. Issues 25 through 31 I moved over to newsprint. Now the first couple issues, I probably lost a little money as there was little or no ads in them. I would say from issue 5 onward, since I had been around a bit I was starting to get ads from record companies to help with the cost of printing the zine. I was printing them at a local store near me called Staples (still in business/huge chain of stores) that sold all kind of tools, but had a printing section. I would go there and the issues would be done in a day or so. Eventually I had a friend that ended up working at Kinko's named Eddie, who worked the overnight shift and he would print up more copies there than he would charge me, so I started going there. I ended up doing all my little "Metal Core" ads at the big copier at work and when I say ads, there would be like 10 or 12 ads on a page and I would print pages by the 100's every couple of days. Then I would have to go home and get the scissors out after work and cut and cut and put my ads at the top of my desk with all the other ads for other zines and bands I had. When I was sending out a letter I would stuff the letter with other zine address ads, other bands, and a few of mine. My zine was $ 3 through the mail in the US and $ 4 overseas back then. "New Renaissance Records was a horrible run record label as the owner Ann Boleyn, was only interested in her band Hellion, who sucked and as you can see as they never went anywhere..." During the 80's a lot of compilations were released by several labels, such as the famous "Metal Massacre", "Speed Metal Hell", "Thrash Metal Attack", "Beyond Metal Zone", "Stars On Thrash" to name a few. Did it help a lot for the bands to make a name for themselves? Were these samplers good things to introduce newer bands for the fans? I remember the "Speed Metal Hell" comps on NRR and as bad as that label was/is, they had some pretty good bands on it such as At War, Whiplash, Savage Grace, Vol 2 they had locals for me, Anvil Bitch, Deathrash, and Flotsam and Jetsam. Vol 3 has some nice bands like Necrophagia, Bloodfeast, Dream Death, Prong, Papsmear, and Wehrmacht. New Renaissance Records was a horrible run record label as the owner Ann Boleyn, was only interested in her band Hellion, who sucked and as you can see as they never went anywhere. They had some good, solid bands on her label that she never pushed them therefore, the label tanked. The 3 comps above did ok, but she ended up signing some of the bands anyway, but never pushed them sad to say. I have never heard of the other 3, but the Metal Massacre series played a HUGE role in the underground for sure. What do you recall of the fanzine world of the 80's as a whole? Blackthorn, Metallic Beast, Deathfuck, Violent Noize, Shock Power, Metal Mania, Headbanger, Aardschok to name a few…
Blackthorn I thought was great as I managed to get a couple copies getting them up at Vintage Vinyl. Metallic Beast can't comment on as well as Deathfuck because I have never seen a copy of either. Violent Noize, now I have never seen a copy but I have heard about this legendary zine over the years. This was put out before the metal core days and Borivoj Krgin was the editor. I know he did some writing also for Metal Forces and a huge newstand mag Metal Maniacs and now is the head of the site blabbermouth.net Metal Mania, I assume your talking about the fanzine done by Ron Quintana and not the newstand magazine, which came out years later after he stopped. That mag, for being on the newstand was a mix of hair metal crap and the bigger thrash bands. Ron's mag I traded with and wrote to Ron for a time and am friends with him on Facebook. I did a interview with him on my website. (www.metalcorezine.com) Some book company should bundle up all his issues and put them out in a book. Was it a kind of impenetrable scene? I mean, there were a very big amount of fanzines, as every day or week popped up a new one… Well the deal with that is, yes fanzines popped up quite a bit in the 80's and 90's, but most released a couple issues and then quit as doing a zine is a label of love. Your not making money doing one that's for sure and back then it took up a lot of your time. Whether it's typing out a interview, or oh lord, doing one via a tape recorder and going back and forth so I know what Mille or Gene Hoglan was saying to me literally took hours. Then the letter writing, going to the post office, spending money mailing out packages, etc. I am not complaining mind you, it's just something not for everyone. Now there are no trips to the post office, no letter writing (replaced by emails), no live interviews. I just do my interviews and send them to the editor of the webzine and same with my reviews. Do I miss the old days? Yes 110% I do, but it is what it is. Back then it was a labor of love for sure. Because of the big amount of fanzines, was it hard to pick up fanzines for the fans/collectors? Well. things were a bit different for me as I didn't pay for fanzines. I traded with everyone. I can safely say there was not one fanzine editor over the years that did not trade with other zines. If it was a zine I was not familiar with, I would write aletter offering to trade and he would, we traded, and now I had a new pen pal.
What is/was the importance of the fanzines in your opinion?
Super important. In the very early days, you had 3 ways to go if you were an unsigned band. Tape trading, college radio, and fanzines. As time went by and more fanzines sprung up they became more and more important. Hell a band could get signed just off a few reviews in different fanzines. Tape trading, which was so big early on had faded a bit and to me fanzines became easily the most important thing of the 3 things I mentioned if you were a unsigned band. When you are a unsigned band and your putting together a press kit to send to say Metal Blade, Combat, or Roadracer back then, I think seeing a bunch of great reviews in various fanzines that were around at the time would better serve the band more than showing off how many lists the band was on. Not that, that didn't help. But for me, fanzines would be # 1 important of the 3, because they were also helping you sell copies of your demo as well.
During the existence of Metal Core did the staff remain constant or were there guys that got out of the fanzine and others joined instead of them?
Yes. because it was always me. I never let the mag overun my life neither.
"After issue # 24 I made the decision to go to newsprint and print 10,000 copies and make the fanzine free!"
What about the prime cost of the certains issues?
Ok I touched on this earlier with going to Staples and then moving on over to Kinko's where my friend Eddie worked. After issue # 24 I made the decision to go to newsprint and print 10,000 copies and make the fanzine free! You must be like Chris that is quite a big step to take? Yes it was and many other fanzines were doing It at the time so I decided to join in. There was a local printing company not far from where I lived that did printing like that, 10,000 copies on newsprint for a reasonable price. Now with me already having released 24 issues and going to 10,000 copies, it was no problems getting ads, and getting labels to give me full page or half page ads and paying me in advance as they knew I was good for it. I had a good working relationship with labels. So I bring over issue # 25 to them and a week later I am filling my car up with stacks of 100 copies wrapped up to 10,000. I take out 9,000 copies out of my car and head right up to Vintage Vinyl with a 1000 copies in my trunk. I get up there and let the store owner know what is going on and my zine is now free and he lets me put them right as you're exiting the store along with all the other goodies of flyers and stuff. A month later they are all gone and I bring him up another 1000. So 2000 gone there every issue. At every live show, if I knew the band well enough, they would let me put some at there merch table and I would always have a bunch in my car and hand them out as people exited the show. I also had some stores in Phila, PA that would take like 100 at a time. With them being free believe it or not getting rid of 10,000 was no problem. It got easier after Issue 25 too. Lots of stores and shows back then to get rid of them. No shot of that today. Not even a 1000 copies today. No stores to put them at and not as many shows. Vintage Vinyl owner's retired 2 years ago.
Were all of you satisfied with every Metal Core issues?
I would say yes to all of them, even issue # 1 which was half size and no logo or pictures. My feeling is you have to start somewhere. Later on down the line I started branching out and interview people at record labels, other fanzine editors and of course still bands as well. I was then reviewing tons of stuff as well. My reviews were short, but I was always honest in my reviews. Why and when did you stop doing Metal Core?
I mentioned it above. The internet was becoming huge and I just decided to stop the print version and go to the internet only. I was also managing bands, working full time and my webmaster was in the band I was managing it just made sense. I was sad to see it go trust me.
Did you go on writing for other fanzines/magazines?
No other print zines. I did interviews and reviews right on my own website as well as managing bands. Besides the zine, I helped manage Deadly Blessing back in the 80's and they released "Ascend From The Caldron" on New Renaissance Records, Immolation, who I got signed to Metal Blade Records, Symphony of Grief who I got on Wild Rags Records, and Necrodemon as well. I also sang in a SOD like kinda fun band in the 80's with 3 members of Deadly Blessing in 1989 called The Log. We did a demo, which sold 3000 copies. We did a few live shows too. I was a maniac on stage live, running and jumping all around ha ha.So around 2018, I started writing for Pest Website and for the past 2 years or so I write exclusively for the website below. I am given 100% freedom to interview whoever I want and they publish it no questions asked and I send over my reviews and they go up as well: https://www.extreminal.comAre you still proud of Metal Core these days, by the way? Yes, I am 100%. I love all the interviews I did over the years and shows and bands I saw and spoke to at the live shows. From going to Lamours in Brooklyn, NY in the 80's and 90's as well as City Gardens in Trenton, NJ to Bonnie's in Atco, NJ to all the other clubs as well. The trips to my PO Box, to the post office to mail stuff, etc. Seeing 10,000 copies of my zine and thinking how am I getting rid of them all and it ending up being no problem at all. Lots were like "it's free, I'll take one". Or they would see it is a new issue of Metal Core and grab one. I would not trade it in for a minute. Who are/were your best friends from the scene? Are you still in touch with them? Sadly my best friend. Scott Kerr is no longer with us, I won't go into details, but I saw so many shows with him. John Verica is someone I have known through the years and I see him at shows from time to time. I talk to him on Facebook as well. I have a friend Yader, I have been going to some shows with him and he is probably 20 years younger than me ha ha. Do you often read webzines? What do you think about them? I do at times, but I just don't have much free time these days, with working, going to the gym and raising my 2 teenage daughters, nevermind doing reviews and interviews for the current webzine I write for. "Now it's about Facebook "likes" and trying to drive people to your "bandcamp" site. If you weren't around back in 1985/86 or even 1993, it is difficult to explain. I wouldn't trade those memories for a minute..." Do you often go to concerts, festivals these days? Do you still keep an eye on what's going on in the underground? How do you view the scene these days?I do to a point through the stuff I get to review and also seeing stuff on Facebook, various metal groups and bandcamp stuff and tours that are going around. The scene is nowhere near as good as in the old days. Back then the scene was more Close knit and you would see the same people at every show, I was friendly with tons of bands and record labels and fanzine editors. Now you don't have that closeness. Sending a email is not the same as a letter. When you used to open up mail I would check out the ads and write to those bands as well. I would read fanzines from front to back. Now it's about Facebook "likes" and trying to drive people to your "bandcamp" site. If you weren't around back in 1985/86 or even 1993, it is difficult to explain. I wouldn't trade those memories for a minute. In your opinion, did the mp3 files/downloads cause a lot of troubles, problems, harm for the metal scene? It's a catch 22 as they say. It hurts because nobody wants to buy physical product music anymore. Smaller labels, which I get promos from, have a hard time selling copies of their stuff when someone has uploaded the release to You Tube let's say. Now on the flip side they can go any put up a song of the band's release on their "bandcamp" page hoping someone will buy the release. The labels have to be careful and not print up too many copies because if they do, they will be stuck with them. The band AC/DC had their new album up on You Tube a day after it's release. I'm sure it did not sell a ton of copies and they are a huge band. The way bands at least make money is touring and merchandise. Chris, thanks a lot for your answers, what are your closing words for our readers? First off thanks for all your great questions and bringing back lots of great memories of decades ago and then some. Letter writing, glue pasting, fanzine trading, going to all those shows back then, the pen pals, the demo bands, etc.
I still write today believe it or not. Don't as why ha ha. I do interviews/reviews for. My stuff goes up all the time at https://www.extreminal.com
I have free reign to interview whoever I want so I mix it up from bands of today, to bands of yesterday, ex fanzine editors and even label owners. The interviews are all interesting I can tell you that. I am on Facebook if you want to find me there too:
https://www.facebook.com/metalcorefanzine
My email is: metalczine [at] aol (dot) com
And here on Facebook as well: https://www.facebook.com/chrisbforbes
