A Band That Plays Together Stays Together

Remembering Three Years of Zouch Magazine

Three members of The Rolling Stones have been playing together for over 50 yrs

There's an old adage in rock and roll that goes something like: "A band that plays together stays together". This adage has certainly held true for me in my life, in more ways than one. Some of the bands I was in in my teens and early 20s seemed as though they might be successful. Yet in the end, all save one of these music projects crumbled without achieving anything at all. One group quit because a band member went away to college, another time we lost a jamspace, etc. The reason these projects failed was simply that we did not follow the adage. There were no dramatic breakups for me, only a series of gentle decampments mostly owing to logistical difficulties.

I've been running an online magazine called Zouch Magazine for three years, and I just now realized that the old adage has a parallel to my publishing experience. It relates to publishing in a different way. A magazine doesn't have a single sound, or a single voice, as a rock band does. We've showcased the work of literally thousands of artists and writers in various ways. Maybe there are some direct creative relationships serving as a foundation for the thing, but the front end experience is truly a mixed bag, a cascade of separate voices.

Through all of the perils that come with navigating the web media space, and the hardship that comes from working part-time on a startup that does not generate enough income to pay any salaries, Zouch has persisted. We have persisted not because all of our creative voices have continued to sing in unison, but rather, because we have continued to do the best job we can publishing content we believe in. We've halted the presses only a few times, and have resisted the temptation to leave the thing behind.

The Zouch project has legs. There are several people engaged in the day to day, and nobody wants to let go. I know that Zouch Magazine is my first true success in life, because it's been three years. After all of the hard work, we stand more popular now than we have ever been, looking forward to publishing more.