Once again the big news is that Big Takeover issue #96 Spring 2025 (Special 45th Anniversary Issue) is at the printer now, from completed sessions in Brooklyn, NY and Oakland, CA this month! The issue stars beloved, still-going, ageless legend Bob Mould, plus part two of our equally long interview with Matthew Caws of Nada Surf, plus other lengthy interviews with long-serving underground veterans Frank Black, Doves, Swans, My Morning Jacket, and Alan Sparhawk formerly of Low, and newer band Deep Sea Diver, plus a fabulous history interview with late ‘70s Vancouver punk scene original, I, Braineater!
Plus there are shorter chats with Laughing Chimes, M(h)aol, Brief Candles, Rhymies, Bosses, Clinic Stars, Jeff Shelton of Well Wishers, Tisburys, Will Stratton, and Todd Trainer of Shellac!
A full description of its contents is just below!
The magazine will begin shipping any week now, so you should see it quite soon! Remember, we only come out twice a year, every Spring and Fall, so you don’t want to miss one of our jam-packed 164-page issues!
IMPORTANT! If you are a subscriber and you need to update your address, please tell us right away. The post office almost never forwards our issues even if you have a forwarding order in place. Quickly, send updates to me at jrabid@bigtakeover.com
ALSO IMPORTANT: IF YOU’RE A FOREIGN READER including in Canada and want to order the new issue 96, subscribe including it, or renew including it, if you order in the next few days before we have to give the mailing list to the printer, it’s only a couple dollars for postage instead of $10-15 per issue it will be after that (it’s much more expensive when we mail it air mail instead of the printer). So don’t delay!
REMEMBER, ALSO, since this upcoming issue #96 will soon be shipped to subscribers and those who pre-order it by itself, but will sometimes be unavailable in your local stores (they don’t tend to reorder if they sell out quickly or used to carry us), so it is imperative if you want a copy of the magazine that you order it now, so that we can put in the right number of copies for our order with the printer! It is likely we will sell out of our own office stock thereafter, and once they’re gone, they’re gone. Don’t delay!
LASTLY, if you want the issue, you should order right away before the printer finishes its work, so that we can ship it directly from there in the appropriate number of copies!
This you can do by ordering just the one issue from our online catalog. (You can also buy any or all of our 95 back issues there that have been released over the past 45 years!), or subscribe if you’ve been meaning to, or renew your subscription if it has run out! (Feel free to email me at jrabid@bigtakeover.com if you fear your subscription has run out!)
And just a reminder that there’s still time for the perfect Father’s Day, Graduation, holidays, birthday, or whatever type of gift: Big Takeover magazine subscriptions and back issues! Give the gift of music appreciation and good reading to those you love! (And maybe to yourself while you’re at it.)
Speaking of which, for more super gifts, here’s a reminder about our t-shirts, CDs, and our other fun stuff like Big Takeover beer cozies and signed posters that might be just the thing!
That’s right, Big Takeover issues, subscriptions, back issues, t-shirts in three colors, black, white, and burgundy red in thirteen sizes (including our children’s sizes, 2T, 3T, 4T, and 6MO, 12MO, and 18MO baby onesies!!!!! The coolest gift ever for the kids!), and our accessories (BT beer cozies for only $5 and 12 × 18 color BT Anniversary Festival Posters for $4, which I will sign if you want me to!), as well as our related CDs (including the original limited edition Springhouse CD album before its recent reissue, From Now to OK), also make the perfect birthday, or holiday) gifts! Especially in this time when we are all trying to economize.
This means our t-shirts still come in three colors (black, white, and burgundy red) and are only $16.
Also, all but four of our back issues are still available (if your friends like a specific band we’ve featured) and there’s always the mega-deluxe gift, the complete set of all of our 95 issues to date, including xeroxes of the four that are out of print! Check the back issues page and you will see that offer.
And we are also offering used, good-quality CD copies of the three out-of-print SPRINGHOUSE CDs from 1991-1993 as well as sealed, limited edition art-package copies of Springhouse‘s 2008 third LP From Now to OK (See why it got an 86/100 in Paste!), as well as CDs by EVEN WORSE, LAST BURNING EMBERS, DOUG GILLARD, NON-LINEAR THINKERS and EDP!
If you want to subscribe or renew or give the gift that keeps on giving, just go to our online store and feel free to indicate which issue you’d like to start with (or have your friends start with); issue #95 (Nada Surf cover), the upcoming issue #96 (Bob Mould cover), or the Fall 2025 issue #97 (April Wine cover – Ha! Just kidding. Just wanted to make sure you were still reading). It’s only $24 for four issues (save 23% off the newsstand price including average sales tax), or $36 for overseas, or $32 for Canada. Or, for those in the U.S., you can send us a check made out to “Big Takeover” for $24 to the following address:
The Big Takeover
356 4th St. 2nd fl.
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Or if you want to order just issue #96, you can send us a check (or make a PayPal or Zelle payment to jrabid@bigtakeover.com) or venmo to @paul-corradi-1 for $10.50 (including postage) to that address, or order it at the Big Takeover website.
Here, again, is what’s in issue #96!:
Interviews: Bob Mould (on the cover) * 45 Years of Big Takeover Covers * Nada Surf pt. 2 * Frank Black * Alan Sparhawk (Low) * My Morning Jacket * Doves * Swans * Deep Sea Diver * I, Braineater * Laughing Chimes * M(h)aol * Brief Candles * Rhymies * Bosses * Clinic Stars * Jeff Shelton (Well Wishers) * Tisburys * Will Stratton * Todd Trainer (Shellac)
Editorials: Rabid: “45 Years and Still Taking Over” * Kelson: “My 50 Favorite Albums of the 1970s” * Orzeck: “Amid Republican Threats to Democracy, Idaho Stands Up and Shines (And a Connection Between Music and Current Politics Becomes Evident)”
Live: American Darlings * Avengers * Bevis Frond * Downstrokes * Frank and Walters * Gerald Love & the Magic Influence * Ride (and Rocket) * The Saints ’73-’78 * Slowdive * Tobin Sprout with Bevil Web (and The Moles) * Tetsuians, Kestrels, Skymender * Zeros * SXSW 2025: Yndling, Steve Wynn, Voxtrot, Five Eight
CD/Vinyl/Cassette/Digital/Book Reviews: Above Me/The 1981/Grey Causeway * Tunde Adebimbe * Airport 77s * Allo Darlin’* American Darlings * Greg Amici * A.M. Nice * Art Schop * Corin Ashley * Greg Antista & the Lonely Streets * Paul Arámbula * Bag People * Julien Baker & Torres * Peter Baldrachi * Bantom Woods * bdrmm * Beckies * Beirut * Craig Bell & the Dead Man’s Handle * Bevil Web (Tobin Sprout) * Frank Black * Black Tape For a Blue Girl * The Black Watch * Blasters/Phil Alvin * Blueboy * Blue Oyster Cult * Bongos * Dennis Bovell & Friends * Bromide * Burning Limos * Andi Camp * Can * Chappaquddick Skyline * Chills * China Crisis * Gene Clark & Carla Olson * The Clean * Clipping * Cloakroom * Cmon Cmon * Compulsion * Celeste Corsano * Coward Brothers (Elvis Costello/T. Bone Burnett) * Cracker/David Lowery * Crisis Actor * Julee Cruise * Lucy Dacus * Danny & the Doorknobs * The Darkness * Darkside * Dauber * Dean & Britta & Sonic Boom/Dean Wareham * Deep Blue Something * Dennis Davison * Richard Dawson * Des Demonas * Destroyer * Dez Dare * Dogs * Dotsun Moon * DoubleVee * Doves * Dr. John * Dr. Strangely Strange * Dropkick * Drop Nineteens * Dunkirk Riots * Joe Ely * Escape-Ism * Wayne Everett * Evil Nature * Ex Norwegian * The Faint * Fake Plastic * The Fall * Feeders * Fine China * Craig Finn * Flavor Crystals * Fleshtones * Flying Vipers * Robert Forster * Fotoform * Gentle Spring * Doug Gillard/Bunnygrunt * The Gits * Glorybots * Go-Betweens * Alan Goldberg * Great Unwashed * Grip Weeds * Guided By Voices * Victor V. Gurbo * Pearl Harbor & the Explosions * Francoise Hardy * George Harrison * Harsh Symmetry/ Justin Warfield * Lee Hazlewood * Heaven * John Lee Hooker * Horsegirl * Greg Hoy * Humdrum * Huntingtons * Ida * Los Idiotas/Psychic Pigs * Johnny Iguana * Immersion W/Suss * Innocence Mission * Interpol * Jason Isbell * I Was a King/King Husky * Elmore James * Janus 4-14* Japanese Breakfast * Jetstream Pony * Steve Kilbey/Jack Frost * King Ropes * Kinski * Krayolas * Ed Kuepper & Jim White * Ben Kweller * Lambrini Girls * Laughing Chimes * Legendary Pink Dots * Jeffrey Lewis * Librarians With Hickeys * Limps * The Loft * Loons * Lowest of the Low * Lunchbox * Lumineers * Barbara Manning * Marina Rocks * Paul McCartney & Wings * Mekons/Nightingales * Melanie * Miss Massive Snowflake * Mobelisk Grove * Mogwai * Bob Mould * The Move * MSSV * Mt. Misery * Mumford & Sons * Peter Murphy * Muster Point Project * Jeff Myers * My Morning Jacket * The Names * The National * New Model Army * Alyssandra Nighswonger * Ian North/Dwight Twilley/Graham Parker * Nourallah Brothers * Oasis * Sean O’Brien and His Dirty Hands * October Days * Onsetter * Optdemics * Buck Owens & His Buckaroos * Pains of Being Pure at Heart * Pale Saints * Panda Bear * Fernando Perdomo * Perfume Genius * Physarum * PillowPrince * Pink Turns Blue * Pleasure Pill/Plight * Plush Machine * Pocket Gum * Poke a Brain * Doc Pomus * Iggy Pop * George Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners * Preoccupations * Pulsars * Raging Nathans * Rain Parade * Reagan Youth * Restless Mosaic * Riot For Romance * Rozz Rezabek * Roach Squad * Rocket * Royal Blunder * Royal Chant * Royksopp/Saint Etienne * Todd Rundgren * Running Man * Salem 66 * Scientist Meets Blanc Du Blanc * Scratch Acid * Screaming Bloody Marys * Seefeel * Shannon & The Clams * Sixpence None The Richer * Skin Yard * Sleepersound * Elliott Smith * Smithereens * Smoking Popes * Smug Brothers * Sonic Youth * Sorrows * Souled American * Spool * Springhouse * Stalwart Lovers * Starflyer 59 * Ringo Starr * St. Divine * Σtella * Stereophonics * Rick Street * Stress Dolls* Suburban Resistance * Sunflower Bean * Swans * Swervedriver * Talking Heads * Tearaways * Benmont Tench * Television Personalities * Tennis * Tetsuians * Textbook Maneuver * Throbbing Gristle * Throwing Muses * Translator * True Primitives * Tubs/Ex-Void * 20/20 * Two-Man Giant Squid * Unrest * Unstable Shapes * Vampisoul Records Roundup * Eric Van Dijsseldonk * Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory * Vapors * Vida Vella * Waves Crashing * Weather Station * Wet Leg * Clarence White * Dmitry Wild * Lucinda Williams * Wut * Zabrecky * Various- C92 box * Various: Just Like Heaven-a Tribute to The Cure * SOME JAZZ: Nels Cline * Ella Fitzgerald * Vince Guaraldi Trio * William Hooker * Fred Moten & Brandon Lopez/Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio * Art Pepper * ECM Records Roundup * ESP-Disk’ Roundup * SOME BOOKS: Eric N. Danielson’s Wipers Book, Glen E. Friedman’s Bad Brains Photo Book, Jon King’s Gang of 4 Book, Fiona Mcquarrie’s Fountains of Wayne Book, Malcolm Wyatt’s The Jam People’s History Book * And Hundreds More!
Lastly, thanks to our Patreon sponsors, who make our magazine and weekly radio Big Takeover Show at Real Punk Radio (all archived at The Big Takeover online) viable, without whom we’d have to stop one or both! If you’d like to join them and help support and sponsor us, it is easily done at that Patreon site, or you can always send a check to Big Takeover to our address as a kind donation. We’re very grateful!
Hope you all buy the magazine now that it’s coming out! And/or hope you subscribe, as that is still by far the best way to support the print magazines you love if you want them to keep going. It means a lot to them – and us!
And hope you can share the gift of reading and passion for music with your family, friends, and anyone else who is interested! If we can help you, let us know!
And in this unusual time, we hope you are all well and staying that way.
Cheers!
Jack R
