I posted this on my personal blog back in March and forgot to post this here. I plan on doing a handful of updates in the future, but like I say below this site is no longer an updated web zine.

Only a handful of people will care, but those people have been supper supportive over the last few years.

The writing has been on the wall for the last year or so; it looks like Bystander is a sunken ship. After 6 years of writing reviews, doing interviews, videotaping and shooting pictures of bands every weekend I have realized there are other things in life. In the last year content has been sparse. Each time I would try and get myself excited, but the truth is I am losing interest in covering the current hardcore scene. I am slowly becoming one of those old guys, and it is apparent in my reviews, scene commentary and lack of attendance at shows.

A few people have tried to help, but keeping on people about content is just as much work as doing things myself. The site has always been independent, and I think in some ways lost support because of its honesty. It doesn’t help that I have a big mouth, especially on message boards, as well as in my writing for this and other zines. I always asked those who contributed to be as honest as I am, I rarely edited or censored anything they did. I have gotten way to many angry e-mails and I am barely able to keep up with the personal Internet beefs with people I have never met to really care anymore. Instead of letting the zine slowly and pathetically die I am going to change its format.

The current content won’t change much, I am switching my CMS, but anything in the blog and review sections will stay up. I will still do an occasional interview, but I am 86’ng the review section for good. There are a million awesome webzines out there who do a much better job of covering the scene then I have over the last few years, and won’t compare every new band to the same 5 bands I love or hate.

I owe hardcore my life to a degree, I still love the music and a good show, but I have become too bitter and jaded. I don’t want to be that guy. All the things I have written about over the last few years in my zine and blog can easily explain my loss of interest in doing a zine. As I said the content isn’t going anywhere and once in a while I will put up something new, but for the most part what you see is what you get.

Time to pack it in and just be a bystander.

Last baseball season my love for the game, especially the Mets, was renewed. Since the season has started up again I have created a new message board dedicated to the Mets and Baseball.

Mets’ Board

Our Friends over at C…RAP is doing a contest where they will be picking 1 band to appear on the Awake/Strong comp, “Music By People Like Us”. The bands confirmed for the comp are:

Agnostic Front, Ambitions, Blacklisted, Deathcycle, Deathkiller, District 9, Fahrenheit 451, Flashlight Arcade, H20, Ignite, Kill Your Idols, Madball, Modern Life Is War, My Turn To Win, Olde York, One4One, Sick Of It All, Skare Tactic, The Pledge, Walter Schreifels and Wisdom In Chains

Go to www.c-rap.com for details on how to enter. Btw, we’re only accepting cassette demos for entry in the contest. Spread the word.

Check out the Reptar interview in the ASxHC section. I also put the Clockwise demo up in an Audio Blog. Some new reviews have also been posted.

New Capital Photos are up. I forgot to charge my battery before the show, so I only got to take a few pictures on Sunday.

Speaking of Sunday, the show ruled. WCDB (SUNY Albany) and thier staff did a great job. I still can’t believe how many kids were there. Thank you to everyone who watched 8 Miles High, we were nervous about our first show, but we seemed to pull it off. Look for a demo in the near future.

If you haven’t noticed the review section has really slowed down. I have no interest in doing them, and have yet to find anyone reliable to pick up the slack. If you are interested contact me at bystanderfanzine@gmail.com.

Got my USB record player set up today, check out 6 songs by one of the most under rated LIHC bands, Loyal To None. Look for more Audio Blog updates coming soon. 2 New interviews should be up fairly soon.

I got off my ass this weekend and went to a few shows, including one in my basement. Check out video from Lion of Judah and a bunch of photos I took at shows in Albany and NJ.

Speaking of NJ, I don’t think I have ever gone to a show in that state and not gotten lost.

The holidays are thankfully over, this is by far my least favorite time of year. I have been missing shows left and right, so content has been thin. I put up a handful of reviews a few weeks ago and a few more should be up in the next day or two.

I want to mention is a new project called from Dave K of Hardware Media and Radio Fame, it is called Quickfix, it is a great concept for those who loved print zines. It is a print zine availiable for download as a PDF that ties together whats been done on various online sites. Anyone who liked Hardware Fanzine should love this: Dowload it Here It has the Jury interview in it and the Ramallah interview, I am really pumped bystander was a part of it. I may have some at shows for people who want a physical copy

Ramallah Interview: I actually put this up a few weeks ago, but my friends Shane did an awesome interview with White Trash Rob of Blood For Blood and Ramallah Fame.
Featured Review: Palehorse: Amongst the Flock
New Reviews: Lion Of Judah - Universal Peace, No Turning Back- Holding On, Dead Hearts: Bitter Verses, Ritual: Precious Times
And more
Photos: More photos have been added to the Photo Archive. Check out old stills of Palehorse, Crime in Stereo, Haunted Life, MLIW, OAFA, VERSE, Youth Attack and more.

Yes the site has a new look, I like it and I have gotten some awesome feedback about it.

New review is up of Plane’s Mistaken for Stars record Mercy. This is probably my favorite current band so I took some time to let the new album sink in. It is the longest review I have ever written.

There is also a new section for the site, ASxHC. I realize over the years I haven’t given Albany hardcore that much attention, so once in a while I will interview a band from the local scene. You’ll also see reviews of local bands featured there, those same reviews will make it to the regular review section as well.

I am very behind on reviews, but I am currently working really hard to catch up. Look for a ton of new reviews up over the next week, as well as a new interview.

The board is back up, most of you know this already.