Under the Radar (magazine)

It was the first American magazine to interview the following non-American bands: The Aliens, The Besnard Lakes, The Dears, The Duke Spirit, The Earlies, Editors, The Go! Team, Hope of the States, iLiKETRAiNS, I'm from Barcelona, The Long Blondes, Los Campesinos!, Love Is All, Lucky Soul, Mew, Mugison, Mystery Jets, The Pipettes, The Research, Serena Maneesh, The Sleepy Jackson, Taken By Trees, The Thrills, and Young Galaxy. It was also the first print magazine to interview Vampire Weekend and Fleet Foxes. [1][2]

Photographers who have shot for the magazine include: Crackerfarm, Wendy Lynch Redfern, Ray Lego, Koury Angelo, Ian Maddox, James Loveday, Autumn de Wilde, and David Redfern.

It is a three-time Plug Awards "Magazine of the Year" nominee.[3]

In 2003, Mark Redfern and writer Marcus Kagler interviewed acclaimed singer/songwriter Elliott Smith for an Under the Radar cover story and Wendy Lynch photographed him for the cover. It was the first interview that Smith had done in a couple of years and at the time he was hard at work on his album From a Basement on the Hill. Elliott Smith took his own life later that year and the Under the Radar feature ended up being Smith's last interview and photo-shoot. [4]

In 2004 and 2008, coinciding with the U.S. presidential elections, Under the Radar put together special "Protest Issue." In addition to politically themed articles, bands were photographed with self-made protest signs and the photos ran in the issue. The autographed protest signs were later auctioned off on eBay, with all the profits donated to the political action group Music for America. This trend continued for both the 2012 and 2016 U.S. presidential elections.

U.S. political magazine The Nation named Under the Radar the Most Valuable Music Magazine in their 2016 Progressive Honor Roll. [5]

From issue 7, 2004 through issue 22, 2008's editions of "The Protest issue", Death Cab for Cutie guitarist and indie rock producer Chris Walla has written a regular column for Under the Radar entitled "Chris Walla Explains It All".

From time to time, Under the Radar has a special feature where a current musician interviews for the magazine a musician whom they admire and who has influenced them. Versus features have included: Clinic vs. Can, Devendra Banhart vs. Donovan, The Dresden Dolls vs. Bauhaus, Love Is All vs. The Vaselines, Primal Scream vs. The Cramps, and The Thrills vs. Brian Wilson.

Issue 10, the Summer 2005 issue, featured the Britpop: A Decade On special section. The section featured new interviews with key members of mid-1990s Britpop bands.

For Issue 11, the Fall 2005 issue, Under the Radar ran a big 36-page special section on Canadian indie rock. The section included interviews with Canadian bands.

In Issue 17, the Spring 2007 issue, Under the Radar ran a 15-page special section entitled Music vs. Film. For the section, British band Kaiser Chiefs interviewed comedian/actor/writer Simon Pegg and Kevin Drew of the Canadian collective Broken Social Scene interviewed Irish actor Cillian Murphy. The section also included an interview with singer/actress Charlotte Gainsbourg. In addition, various bands wrote about their favorite movies.

Under the Radar has a website which features daily news items along with album reviews and artist interviews. A "Songs of the Week" list is posted to the website every week.