(Answers/Mirrors vet Dave Fleminger gets between the covers of a great rock-‘n’-roll read.)
Dan McLain was a larger-than-life character who ran one of San Diego’s first alternative record stores (Monty Rockers); played drums for the Penetrators and the original lineup of the Crawdaddys; and led numerous other groups including Country Dick and the Snuggle Bunnies and the Pleasure Barons. And of course, he is internationally known as Country Dick Montana from the Beat Farmers, the world’s greatest bar band. But along with being a truly great performing talent, he also generously brought everyone into the party with ‘zines like Snare.
In late-70’s/early-80’s San Diego, if you wanted a scene you had to make one, and Dan helped make the sprawling town feel closer to a rock-‘n’-roll neighborhood with such labors of love as Snare Magazine. Every issue was hand-written and peppered with cartoon portraits of the bands interviewed, along with ads that either made fun of the sponsors or were completely fabricated (such as the infamous “Rock and Roll Heaven” store in Santee). A new issue would be the highlight of my record-shopping experience and I’d study each one harder than any of my schoolbooks.
I have no idea how many of these he printed. I assume he distributed them himself to all the stores — or was there really a publisher named Flash Randall? Other names for McLain mags included Hobogue and New Hippie, and there were probably others … along with enough obvious pseudonym names in the bylines to make one think he did nearly the whole thang himself.
Snare Issue #3, which I believe came out sometime in ’82, features tasty, enlightening interviews with DFX2; the Standbys (later The Nutrons and then Battalion of Saints); The Injections; The Unknowns; Mature Adults; and Lydia Lunch … yow!!! Along with capsule music reviews; advice; decidedly un-PC humor; show flyers (anybody catch Iggy Pop at The Roxy? Wish I had!); info-bits regarding band cross-pollination; Beef ‘n’ Bun …
Homegrown to the bone, and freshly scanned for your enjoyment.
— David Fleminger