There were 22 issues of Scram published between 1992 and 2006, chronicling the neglected, the odd, the nifty and the nuts. From Tiny Tim to Brute Force, Emitt Rhodes to P.F. Sloan, Deniz Tek to Linda Perhacs, Johnny Ramone to Fred & Toody Cole of Dead Moon, Scram charted the outer recesses of the American creative life.
The zine inspired two acclaimed anthologies co-edited with David Smay: Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth (book, website) and Lost in the Grooves (book, website).
Cover artists included Dan Clowes, Peter Bagge, Dave Cooper, Tom Neely, Christine Shields, Andrice Arp, Lark Pien, Bartley Johnson, Steven Weissman, Gene Sculatti, Doug Allen, Mari Kono, Tim Hensley and Margaret Griffis. Many of their designs can be found on t-shirts and other neat stuff.
Since the zine’s hiatus, editrix Kim Cooper has written a little book about Neutral Milk Hotel and a mystery novel starring the young Raymond Chandler. Most Saturdays she can be found on the Esotouric bus revealing the secrets of Los Angeles. And each spring, David Smay gets on the bus to lead a tour inspired by his book about Tom Waits’ Swordfishtrombones.
Many Scram back issues are still available for your reading and collecting pleasure. You can browse by cover here.