Dear Jesus is known as the zine of Sam McPheeters but he started did it with Adam Nathanson (who had done the zine Paralyzed Veterans Of America before) & Neil Burke (guitarist & bassist of ‘Born Against’). I started corresponding with him when he was living in N.Y.C. (ABC No Rio scene), doing vocals for ‘Born Against’ and running his label Vermiform. I distributed heaps of his zines and records…
There’s 4 issues of D.J. in my collection: issues 36-39. It started in 1989 with #36; #37 got out in the fall of 1990; # 38 in the summer of ’91 and #39 in spring ’92. 2,5 years before D.J. he had done Plain Truth zine (together with Jason O’Toole, ‘Life Blood’s singer). Later on he would do other zines such as I, Yeast Roll (’93) and Error. Sam once sent met a spoof zine-history supposedly published in Newsweek.
I already did a brief post about Sam’s zine – with a ‘Rorschach’ interview (Dear Jesus #38) – but this is intended as a more complete overview. To get an idea of the persona Sam McPheeters people can read the interview in Seen Not Heard #1 (1992). Mind you nót to take everything serious… He had the reputation of being an “opiniated asshole” but that’s what I liked in him: not being afraid to tackle controversial issues (religion, record-labels, etc.).
After a period in Richmond (Virginia), Sam moved to California. He authored a couple of books (e.g. Mutations – The Many Strange Faces Of Hardcore Punk) and has written for bigger magazines (HC/punk and other). Hopefully he’s keeping up his sarcasm and uncompromising attitude…
There’s a self-published collection (anthology) of Dear Jesus that Sam published. He wrote about it: “D.J. was a hardcore punk fanzine. There were four full issues, and a mini-issue I made 50 copies of and sold at one show in 1990. Everything is included in this collection. (140 pages).”
Here’s my overview… #36: an article on corporate violence; interviews with ‘Life’s Blood’, Dan O’Mahony of ‘No For An Answer’, Richie Birkenhead (‘Underdog’), Ian MacKaye (Dischord recs), ‘Soulside’, Hilly Kristal of CBGB & ‘Nausea’; plus reviews & pics (by Richard Unhoch and others). #37: letters; talks with Mark Ryan (‘Supertouch’ singer), Mike ‘Bullshit’ (‘Go!’ vocalist), the Maximum Rock’n’Roll crew, Seth Tobocman; an article on the German reunification (by Stefan Riebesell), column on the ABC No Rio scene, reviews, etc. #38: more letters and reviews, article on the Gulf War; conversations with ‘Rorschach’ & ‘Econochrist’; brief intro to ‘Neanderthal’, Latin-American hardcore/punk, and more. #38 is with Mykel Board; punk-rock and municipal politics is an intro to interviews with people from the HC/punk-scene campaigning for mayor: Bob Beyerle/Barley (Vinyl Communications), Doc Corbin Dart (‘The Crucifucks’) & ‘Jello Biafra’; there’s also a report on ‘Born Against’s US tour, reviews; a talk with Jordan Cooper (Revelation recs), ‘Nation Of Ulysses’ pics, plus more…
I’ve also seen an interview with ‘Swiz’ (from Dear Jesus #36.5) floating around…
As another example of his work here’s the interview with Mike ‘Bullshit’ Bromberg, editor of Bullshit Monthly, ‘S.F.A.’ & ‘Go!‘ vocalist, gay activist and ABC No Rio ‘shitworker’…
Brob Tilt's zine-world 2 