Anti-Matter Matters

Between 1993 and 1998, Norman Brannon (then known as Norm Arenas) conducted interviews with post-punk and hardcore’s most interesting figures in the pages of Anti-Matter. The fanzine’s four issues are long out of print, but this newly-released anthology combines Brannon’s best interviews to make for a fascinating look at some of the era’s most important personalities. Focusing on the personal lives of his interviewees, and aided by his insider status as a member of Krishna-core band Shelter, Brannon’s interviews are shockingly delicate: Mike Judge discusses his mother’s death, Zack de la Rocha recounts how an interviewer once brought him to tears, and John Porcelly (of straight edge icons Youth of Today) admits to playing a show at CBGB with a hangover. Containing interviews with Sick of it All, Jawbox, Rancid, Samiam, Elliott Smith, Orange 9mm, and many others, this is a worthwhile collection for any fan of this under-documented era.