Meet Mike Stax of Ugly Things

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Stax.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started Ugly Things in 1983 as a self-published rock & roll fanzine, covering what I considered to be the best overlooked bands and musicians from the 1960s and beyond. In the beginning, it was just a hobby, an outlet for my writing, fueled by a passion for the music and culture of that era.

This was the pre-digital era so issues were put together using an electric typewriter and cut and pasted onto art boards by hand. All the photos had to be shot as halftones on film and pasted into place. I printed 200 copies of the first issue and sold them at local record stores or gave them away to friends. It grew more or less organically from that point.

The stories I was writing became more detailed. I started tracking down musicians from seemingly forgotten garage bands and interviewing them at length as well as accessing their old photos and scrapbooks — people like Sean Bonniwell of the Music Machine, Sid Herring of the Gants, and Sky Saxon of the Seeds.

I also located San Diego area bands from that era and documented their stories. One of the first was the Lyrics, a teenage band from North County who released a handful of great but rare singles back in the mid-60s. Other writers also came on board and their contributions added immeasurably to the quality of the ‘zine. We started to build a loyal readership around the world.

Circulation increased and it began to attract advertisers, mostly specialist record labels and record stores. With the arrival of desktop publishing software, it began to take on a more professional look. By the late ’90’s, our issues were commonly 200 pages or more and perfect-bound, more like a book than a magazine.

Finding content has never been a problem, there are literally thousands of stories waiting to be told. Also, there’s a constant stream of reissues and archival releases for us to cover in our review section, as well as rock & roll-related books and films.

Today the magazine publishes three times a year and has a print run of around 5,000 copies, about half of these are sold via subscription or via mail order through our website, the rest go out through our distributors to record and bookstores around the world.

There’s also an Ugly Things record label, mostly focusing on releasing rare music from the ’60s, but occasionally putting out singles by local bands. Ugly Things also promotes local shows featuring live music and DJs, including a bi-monthly event at the Space Bar and occasional gigs at other venues.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road has never been smooth but it’s never been boring either. Over the past 34 years, the publishing industry has been through massive changes and we’ve had to adapt and evolve with not only the changing technology but also the way the magazine is sold and distributed.

As many brick and mortar stores closed we lost some our sales outlets. We took a pretty big hit financially when Tower Records closed its doors and declared bankruptcy. A couple of other stores and distributors also went down over the years leaving bills unpaid. Since then a lot of our business has shifted over to mail order.

We put a lot of work into building an efficient and cost-effective online store, and that’s been working out very well. Packaging up and shipping out individual orders takes up quite a lot of my time day to day, but I find it quite enjoyable, and it feels good to be reaching our readers in a more direct and personal way.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Ugly Things story. Tell us more about the business.
We are very much a niche publication. We cover the kind of music and musicians most people have never heard of, and that’s what sets up apart from other music magazines.

We don’t do big stories on any of the ‘classic’ bands — the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix — because their stories have already been told and retold so many times that they’ve become ossified. And we don’t cover any new music at all, which means we’re not beholden to publicists kissing up to us or record companies offering advertising revenue in return for cozy puff pieces on their latest flavors of the month.

We’re known for publishing well-written, in-depth feature stories about bands and musicians whose stories have never been told before, and for having a review section that will give our readers honest and helpful guidance on which new reissues or books are most worth spending their hard-earned money on.

What I’m most proud of is the loyalty and respect we get from our thousands of readers. I think it’s clear to them that Ugly Things is motivated by passion, not commerce. That reputation is what has sustained us for so many years.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I don’t place much importance on luck. You have to make things happen for yourself. Life is about making the right choices and staying true to yourself.

Contact Info:

• Address: 3021, La Mesa, CA 91944
• Website: www.ugly-things.com
• Phone: 619 337-1966
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: instagram.com/uglythingsmag
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uglythings/

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